Eighty-one: Taiyi Burns the Heavenly Tribulation.
The strong winds carried the bronze bells on the Azure Underworld stone steps, and the flowing cloud banners hanging from the twelve eaves of Taiyi Pavilion were shredded into dust by the Sword Qi.
Gu Jiuyuan crushed the blood jade thumb ring in his palm, and three hundred and sixty Mountain Suppressing Talismans burst forth from the earth veins, but froze into ice crystals the moment they touched the green-clothed afterimage.
Crimson blood trickled down the spine of the Taisu Sword, making the lazy smile in the young man’s eyes appear even more demonic.
"Why is that old guy’s Profound Ice Nine Tribulation Talisman even more brittle than the frozen pears from Drunken Immortal Pavilion?" He flicked away the ice cone embedded in his shoulder with a finger, and the gourd at his waist suddenly burst forth with a crimson glow.
The sky full of Talismans were actually melted into golden liquid by the Sanwei True Fire that shot out from the gourd, pouring onto the Taiyi Pavilion’s mountain-protecting formation with a sizzling sound like a branding iron quenching in water.
A crisp sound of bones dislocating came from the sea of clouds, and seven qing tong (bronze) puppets entangled with purple lightning arrived through the air.
Each Puppet had a Nascent Soul Cultivator’s Natal Golden Core embedded in its brow, and as they moved, lightning wove into a net of heaven and earth.
However, Gu Jiuyuan plunged the Taisu Sword into the ground, and seventy-two foul-smelling beast hide Talismans flew out from his sleeve—they were clearly Illusion Talismans refined from the eyes of thousand-year-old clam demons.
The moment the lightning touched the Talismans, the Golden Core Cultivators in the Puppets’ eyes transformed into the appearance of their beloved ones whom they had been in seclusion with for many years.
"Despicable!" The Taiyi Pavilion Elder watching the battle had his eyes wide with fury, but he saw Gu Jiuyuan seize the opportunity to bite his fingertip and draw complex blood patterns on the sword body.
When the seventh stroke fell, the Taisu Sword let out a dragon-like tremor, and the Sword Qi split into nine Azure Dragon phantoms with scales and claws clearly visible.
Each Dragon phantom held a ball of Chaos mist in its mouth, which was precisely the Innate Ren Water Essence he had devoured in the Eastern Sea Secret Realm.
The moment the qing tong (bronze) puppets were entangled by the Dragon phantoms, Gu Jiuyuan suddenly clutched his chest and staggered half a step.
A needle-like stinging pain came from his Dantian—the backlash from forcibly fusing the Five Elements Origin had finally arrived.
He spat out a mouthful of blood foam with a golden glow, and with a backhand, poured all the Nine Revolutions Returning Spring Pills he had secretly kept in the gourd into his mouth.
This greedy action, however, caused the medicinal power to rampage through his Meridians, almost dispersing the nascent Nascent Soul prototype that had been so difficult to condense.
"How dare you, brat!" A furious roar exploded in Gu Jiuyuan’s ears, and the Taiyi Pavilion Master finally appeared.
The old man created lotuses with each step, and each golden lotus blooming brought forth waves of Buddhist chants.
A pale white flame rose from the bronze lamp in his hand, and indistinctly, the Dharma forms of successive Ancestral Masters of Taiyi Pavilion emerged in the firelight.
However, when the eighth golden lotus bloomed, Gu Jiuyuan suddenly grinned, and an inconspicuous clay pot flew out from his sleeve.
The moment the pot’s lid was opened, Spiritual Qi within a hundred-mile radius poured in frantically.
The Taiyi Pavilion Master was startled to find his Natal True Fire uncontrollably flowing towards the clay pot; it was actually the legendary Gluttonous Flame Swallowing Urn, which specifically countered fire-attributed Cultivation Techniques!
The old man decisively shattered three ribs and used his essence blood to activate the jade pendant at his waist.
The Northern Underworld Profound Frost sealed within the jade pendant poured out, but was knocked off course by the Azure Dragon phantom summoned by the Taisu Sword just as it was about to freeze the clay pot.
Gu Jiuyuan seized the opportunity to form a hand Seal, and behind him, a slowly unfolding Incomplete Manual of the Rivers and Mountains Painting appeared.
What flew out from the painting were not ink-and-wash landscapes, but the hundred thousand wronged souls he had collected during his travels in Southern Xinjiang.
The moment the resentment Qi collided with the Profound Frost, the entire Taiyi Pavilion’s earth veins trembled violently, and the Corpse-Nourishing Tomb, where the bodies of successive Pavilion Masters were sealed, suddenly burst open with nine cracks.
"So, the so-called leader of the Righteous Path is nothing more than a group of hypocrites who cultivate corpses to attain Dao," he sneered, swinging his sword to cut the Soul Locking Chains wrapped around his ankles, deliberately deflecting the sword edge three inches to slice across the hem of the Taiyi Pavilion Master’s Daoist robe.
As that piece of cloth fell, a bloody Talismanic Incantation was revealed—it was actually a secret technique for prolonging life used to absorb the Lifespan of Disciples.
The enraged Taiyi Pavilion Master formed a treasure vase Seal with both hands, and a Lightning Tribulation cloud the size of a house condensed above his head.
However, Gu Jiuyuan plunged the Taisu Sword into the ground and rapidly formed three hundred and sixty different hand Seals.
With each hand Seal completed, a strange Magical Artifact appeared in the air: from the Demon Subduing Pestle of the Western Regions Buddhist Kingdom to the Heart-Devouring Gu of the Nanzhao Witch, even mixed with several Demonic Path Magic Treasures.
These Magical Artifacts, which should have been mutually exclusive, actually formed a Reverse Five Elements Immortal Slaying Array under his control, and at the eye of the array floated the stolen branch of the Fusang Divine Wood.
When the first Heavenly Tribulation lightning bolt struck, Gu Jiuyuan did something that stunned everyone.
He suddenly tore open his clothes, revealing a hideous old wound on his chest, where half a turtle shell embedded suddenly burst forth with a faint blue light.
The moment the Heavenly Tribulation lightning touched the turtle shell, three-tenths of the entire Taiyi Pavilion’s earth vein Spiritual Qi was drained, and the mountain-protecting formation shattered in response.
The backlash caused him to bleed from all seven orifices, but his eyes gleamed with a gambler’s madness.
"It’s time to reel it in," the young man wiped the blood from his chin, bit his tongue, and spat out a ball of essence blood.
The essence blood condensed into ancient demon script in the air, which was precisely the Incomplete Manual of the Heaven Burning Art he had memorized in the Langhuan Secret Realm.
The Lightning Tribulation cloud, eroded by the demon script, churned violently, actually changing direction and striking towards the Immortal Cave where the Taiyi Pavilion Master was in seclusion.
A grating cracking sound came from underground, and a crack appeared in the Luck Suppressing Stele, which sealed the Luck of Taiyi Pavilion.
When the smoke and dust dispersed, Gu Jiuyuan knelt half-propped on the Taisu Sword amidst the ruins.
His left arm was unnaturally twisted, but his palm tightly clutched a gilded token—it was precisely the core Talismanic Key that controlled the Taiyi Pavilion’s mountain-protecting formation.
Exclamations of surprise came from a distance from the Disciples, the "Taiyi Azure Sky Record" on the top floor of the Scripture Pavilion moved without wind, and a wisp of light blue mist drifted out from between the pages, silently entering the gourd at his waist.
"Next time you set up a formation, remember to use more cinnabar," the young man grinned, revealing his blood-stained teeth, to the unconscious Taiyi Pavilion Master, "The thousand-year cinnabar in your storeroom is much smoother when drawing Talismans than the stuff on the market."
He swayed to his feet, deliberately stepping on and shattering a jade plaque inscribed with "Acting on Behalf of Heaven" as he walked through the mess, not caring that the fragments pierced his sole.
When the last ray of sunset swept across the Taisu Sword’s edge, a new inscription was faintly visible on the sword body: Greed Wolf Devours Moon.