Chapter 1546: Trapped in the Formation
“It’s definitely the Nine Aperture Profound Connection Mushroom,” Song Wen confirmed.
Rong Shao’s gaze burned as he scrutinized the mushrooms, but the intensity gradually faded, replaced by a hint of regret. “What a pity. None of the six mushrooms have reached ten thousand years of medicinal age yet.”
“With this Yin Spring and Lu Ling’s constant sacrifices of flesh and blood to nourish the Yin Energy, the two mushrooms already over nine thousand years old should reach ten thousand years within a few decades,” Song Wen replied.
Hearing this, Rong Shao suddenly remembered something and changed the subject. “By the way, Fellow Daoist Gu Huang, how did you arrive here before me? Where’s Lu Ling?”
“I engineered a confrontation between him and the Ghost-Faced Demonic Python. They’re likely locked in a life-or-death battle right now,” Song Wen said, glancing northwest.
The sounds of their fierce clash were gradually diminishing.
“Fellow Daoist, your strategy of ‘driving wolves to chase tigers’ is truly a brilliant move—killing two birds with one stone!” Rong Shao exclaimed in admiration.
“Judging by the fading sounds, their battle must be concluding. The Ghost-Faced Demonic Python has likely fallen to Lu Ling’s hand,” Song Wen concluded.
“Fellow Daoist Gu Huang, why are you so certain that Lu Ling emerged victorious, rather than the Ghost-Faced Demonic Python?” Rong Shao asked.
Song Wen was about to reply when his brow suddenly furrowed.
“Let’s go! Follow me out of the Stone Bamboo Forest.”
With that, Song Wen soared into the air and sped northwest.
“Fellow Daoist Gu Huang, what’s happening?” Rong Shao asked, puzzled, but he quickly followed Song Wen.
“Lu Ling is approaching. He likely set up a formation within this Stone Bamboo Forest beforehand. It’s best we avoid engaging him here,” Song Wen explained.
“Lu Ling is coming?” Rong Shao looked perplexed. “But why didn’t I sense him? As a cultivator at the peak of the Body Integration Stage, while ‘Gu Huang’ is only at the Late Body Integration Stage, my sensory range should theoretically be greater.”
Song Wen offered no further explanation. In truth, he hadn’t sensed Lu Ling himself; the shadow void had alerted him.
Soon, the pair exited the Stone Bamboo Forest and traveled another twenty miles before finally encountering Lu Ling returning with Tu You in tow.
Seeing Song Wen and Tu You emerge from the direction of the Stone Bamboo Forest, Lu Ling flew into a rage.
“What are you two doing here? Did you dare to pluck the…”
Before Lu Ling could finish his sentence, Song Wen interrupted him.
“The Nine Aperture Profound Connection Mushroom hasn’t reached its ten-thousand-year maturity yet. We wouldn’t touch it. But we must thank you, fellow daoist, for your painstaking efforts in nurturing it.”
Lu Ling’s face turned ashen, and a palpable killing intent surged from him.
“Good! Very good! You still dare to scheme for my Nine Aperture Profound Connection Mushroom? Since you’ve sought your own deaths, today your flesh and blood will nourish the mushroom!”
Before his words faded, a crimson chain shot from Lu Ling’s sleeve, hurtling straight toward Song Wen’s face.
The moment Lu Ling attacked, Song Wen immediately sensed that his aura was significantly weaker than before.
Clearly, though Lu Ling had defeated the Ghost-Faced Demonic Python, the battle had taken a considerable toll on him.
Song Wen raised his hand and made a grasping motion in the air. The Nine Calamity Heaven-Measuring Sword materialized in his grip.
As he channeled spiritual power into the short sword, it instantly blazed with a jet-black sword radiance.
Song Wen swung his sword, striking the approaching end of the chain.
Clang!
With a crisp, resounding clang, the chain was sent flying, writhing through the air like a wounded serpent.
“You have some skill, but nothing more,” Lu Ling’s voice suddenly rang out. His hands had already completed the magic seal for the Haotian Divine Thunder.
Crack!
A thunderous roar exploded high above.
Dark golden lightning tore through layers of nether ghost qi, hurtling toward Song Wen.
“Haotian Divine Thunder! I know it too!” Song Wen murmured, tossing the Nine Calamity Heaven-Measuring Sword skyward to intercept the descending lightning.
Simultaneously, his hands began forming the Thunder Incantation.
By the time the Nine Calamity Heaven-Measuring Sword had shattered the lightning bolt, Song Wen’s Thunder Incantation was complete.
Lu Ling stared at the dark golden lightning descending from the heavens, his eyes wide with disbelief.
Not only did his opponent know the Divine Blood Gate’s most closely guarded secret—the Nine Great Heavenly Thunder Secrets—but this Haotian Divine Thunder, with its awe-inspiring power, even surpassed the thunder he had summoned!
“This…” Lu Ling stammered, momentarily speechless.
Yet his hands moved with lightning speed. He raised his hand and lightly tapped the sinuous chains coiling before him.
Instantly, the chains rapidly coiled upward, weaving into a massive shield spanning over thirty meters above his head.
Rumble—
Dark golden thunderbolts crashed against the chain shield.
The corpse qi rising from the shield, like spring snow meeting the sun, instantly melted away.
The thunder’s momentum remained undiminished, violently piercing through the chains themselves!
Cracks spiderwebbed across the chains, and under the explosive force of the dark golden thunderlight, they shattered into hundreds of fragments that scattered in all directions.
The destruction of his natal magic treasure struck Lu Ling like a mountain collapsing upon him. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, his body convulsing violently as he staggered backward, his face ashen.
Song Wen waved his hand, unleashing a gale that sent the dozens of chain fragments hurtling toward him flying.
Immediately afterward, the Soul Cleaving Blade tore through the air, seizing the opportunity to deliver a fatal blow while Lu Ling’s injuries had temporarily disrupted his spiritual power.
Suddenly, Song Wen noticed that Lu Ling, despite being wounded, showed no signs of pain or panic. Instead, a cold smirk curled his lips as he glared menacingly at Song Wen.
A blood-red array disk materialized before Lu Ling.
He swiftly executed a series of magic seals, channeling them into the disk.
Instantly, the array disk blazed with a blinding crimson light.
At the same moment, the scattered fragments of the shattered chains began to glow with a scarlet blood-light.
Some of the fragments, closer to Song Wen, instantly connected with each other through crimson beams of light, forming a massive prison tens of miles across, trapping Song Wen and Rong Shao within.
The remaining fragments, farther away, seemed drawn by an unseen force, hurtling toward the prison to reinforce its weaker points.
Song Wen’s heart jolted with alarm.
He had never imagined that Lu Ling’s “shattered natal magic treasure” was actually an elaborate trap!
A deliberate act of feigning weakness!
All to secretly deploy this Entrapment Formation.
But now that the trap was sprung, regret was futile.
Before the formation could fully materialize, Song Wen channeled all his power into the Nine Calamity Heaven-Measuring Sword, thrusting it toward the prison formed by the chain fragments.
(End of the Chapter)