Facing the incoming golden longsword, Wang Ping couldn’t gauge its power and didn’t dare block it head-on. He had no choice but to use "Void Escape" again to dodge.
When he reappeared ten zhang to his right, Yu Lian called out a warning, "I see him!"
Connected to her consciousness, Wang Ping saw his attacker at the sa instant. He was a middle-aged man dressed in the simple linen short clothes of a commoner. His hair was a ss, and his skin was dark and weathered, the kind you’d expect from soone who often toiled in the fields.
"You have violated the justice of order and the Human Dao. Your sins are monstrous. You are the most suitable sacrifice!"
His cold yet pious voice echoed in Wang Ping’s ears. The golden longsword had returned, now hovering at his side. He ford a strange Magic Formula with his hands, looking like a great monk of the Buddhist Sect facing his tribulation.
"Be careful, he’s a Gold Spirit Cultivator!" Yu Lian warned gravely. "And an Ascetic, at that. He’ll be very difficult to deal with. He also carries the blessing of a ’First Day’ false spirit. It’s so strange... two conflicting energies are sohow in perfect harmony within him."
BANG!
Another muffled boom echoed from the sky.
Wang Ping could no longer afford to worry about the fight in the sky. Gold Spirit Cultivators were the natural counter to Wood Spirits, and this one was no amateur like Gao Zishi.
"I will wash away your sins!"
As the cold voice rang out again, the man charged, flanked by his two golden longswords.
Wang Ping retreated as fast as he could. Fighting a Gold Cultivator in close quarters was suicide. As he fell back, he quickly summoned seven iron bamboo swords to block the man’s charge.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
A series of tallic clashes rang out. The opponent’s charge was indeed halted, but the Sword Array ford by the seven longswords posed no threat to him. The defense granted by the Gold Spirit Vein within him was enough to block most of the attacks.
Wang Ping steadied his breathing, his mind racing to find a counter-strategy...
In that split second, the opponent ford another Magic Formula. He used the fused Gold Spirit within him to generate a golden protective layer on his skin, then completely ignored the Sword Array’s attacks and charged straight for Wang Ping.
Wang Ping instinctively wanted to leap into the air to dodge, but the booms from the sky made him abandon the idea. He could no longer care that he was in the middle of a city. He imdiately ford a Magic Formula, driving the Spirit Communication Talisman inside him with all his might...
In the next instant, all the Spiritual Qi in a radius of dozens of zhang around Wang Ping was converted into Wood Spirit. The power of the seven longswords in his Sword Array suddenly doubled, forming a new killing formation centered on the Gold Spirit Cultivator’s path. At the sa ti, Wang Ping scattered a handful of plant seeds...
Before the seeds even hit the ground, they began to rapidly root and sprout. By the ti they landed, a dense jungle had sprung up around him. In that sa mont, the Sword Array of seven longswords carved more than a dozen two-zhang-wide gashes in the ground, nearly destroying an entire street.
But even this failed to stop the Gold Spirit Cultivator’s assault. Wang Ping leaped onto a newly grown giant tree. With his right hand, he maintained the Sword Array’s lethality through Magic Formulas. With his left, he continuously transford the new flora into soldiers, trying to overwhelm the charging Gold Spirit Cultivator with their roots and poisonous thorns.
"Your sins must be cleansed!"
The Gold Cultivator’s voice was now laced with anger. Streaks of cold, tallic light flashed, and the dense ranks of plant soldiers were instantly cut down. The seven longswords of the array were batted aside by the expanding light, and the two golden longswords once again shot toward Wang Ping...
"Let !"
Yu Lian returned to her original size. As the Spiritual Energy Vortex around her expanded, she assimilated the ambient Spiritual Qi from within the Wood Spirit-infused environnt. In an instant, fine droplets of water appeared out of nowhere, dotting the newly grown jungle. The incoming tal longswords were imdiately beset by the droplets and began to erode. Just as they were about to be corroded through, they were hastily recalled.
The Gold Cultivator also retreated from the range of the water droplets with maximum speed. Then, with a wave of his hand, he pulled three deep-red flags from his storage bag. The mont they appeared, the flags plunged like three nails into the misty droplets Yu Lian had summoned, and scorching flas erupted.
The intertwining fire and water, combined with the fresh jungle, created a violent chemical reaction. Steam, waves of extre heat, and sun-blotting dust and smoke instantly engulfed both Wang Ping and the Gold Cultivator.
Wang Ping imdiately recalled his seven longswords and activated two more Armor Talismans. Calling out to Yu Lian, he retreated from the smoke-filled area as quickly as possible.
In his Spirit Sea, Yu Lian warned, "He ca prepared! Everything he’s doing is specifically designed to counter us!"
Wang Ping had realized that as well. ’And there’s sothing else Yu Lian hasn’t considered,’ he thought. ’I’m in the middle of the city. It’s been less than a hundred breaths since the attack started. Reinforcents should have arrived by now, but there isn’t a soul in sight.’
’Then again,’ a second thought occurred to him, ’in the five elents, shouldn’t water overco fire?’
"That Magical Artifact of his is too powerful," Yu Lian retorted.
Just then, Wang Ping heard the familiar sound of tal slicing through the air. Sure enough, he saw the two golden longswords streaking toward him, following the path his own seven longswords had taken when he recalled them. Simultaneously, the Gold Cultivator burst from the swirling dust, charging at him with a speed Wang Ping could barely follow.
Wang Ping imdiately commanded his Sword Array to intercept...
After a brief flurry of tallic clashes, the Gold Cultivator opposite him said, "It’s ti for your sins to be washed away..." He once again condensed a protective layer using his Gold Spirit Vein and, wielding the two golden longswords, charged Wang Ping with complete disregard for his own safety.
SCREECH!
The Protective Shield from the Armor Talisman flared with brilliant sparks under the golden longswords’ edges before a clean gash was cut through it. The Gold Cultivator’s charge ca to a halt right in front of Wang Ping.
RIIIP!
The Armor Talisman’s Protective Shield was about to give way. With a light flick of his sleeve, Wang Ping brought out the Purgatory Banner and shouted, "Tongyu Taoist, you’re up!" As he yelled, he injected a stream of True Essence into the Tongyu Taoist’s Primordial Spirit.
"Imprison!"
The mont Wang Ping’s True Essence entered his body, the Tongyu Taoist ford a Magic Formula and issued an Imperial Decree.
In the next instant, an intangible, transparent, hazy gray curtain of light unfurled, completely enveloping the Gold Cultivator. The ferocious golden longswords froze an inch from Wang Ping’s chest. The Gold Cultivator’s body trembled, his eyes went vacant, and the protective layer covering him rapidly faded away.
Wang Ping wasn’t about to miss such a golden opportunity. He imdiately ford a Magic Formula to command his Sword Array. In the blink of an eye, all seven longswords struck, instantly dicing the Gold Cultivator’s body into several pieces before lopping off his head.
"What a waste! A Gold Cultivator is pri material, could’ve sold for a lot of money!" the Tongyu Taoist lanted before returning to the Purgatory Banner.
Wang Ping had no ti for that. He saw soone flying over from the distance and quickly collected the two golden longswords and the fallen storage bag. Then, fighting back his nausea, he grabbed the dead man’s head.
Just then, the person who had been flying over landed beside him.
It was Leng Qianhu.
"What happened?" he asked.
"An Evil Cultivator from ’the First Day.’ I suspect he’s connected to the stolen Corpse Soldiers case!" As he spoke, Wang Ping used the Soul Searching Technique on the head in his hands.
Leng Qianhu said nothing, rely staring at the head’s unblinking eyes, carefully studying the face to morize it. He then gave a slight bow to Wang Ping, who was busy absorbing the assassin’s mories, and flew off again in the direction of the Commander of the Imperial Guard.
He had co to check if Wang Ping was safe. The battle in the sky was still raging, and since Wang Ping was out of danger, Leng Qianhu needed to get back and make sure the whole place wasn’t torn apart.
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