Chapter 187: Chapter 46: Vajra Talisman
The carriage moved swiftly, and two hours later, they disembarked in front of a manor.
Li Yue’an said, “Lord Ling, Elder Feng and I agreed to meet right here!”
Zhang Xuan looked over.
It was a small estate, its doors shut tight, eerily quiet with not a sound to be heard from inside.
“My guess was correct, this is indeed where you reside,” Zhang Xuan said.
“Yes!” Li Yue’an nodded.
Zhang Xuan gave a slight smile, said no more, but turned to the girl beside him, “Do you want to go in?”
Fu Yingying nodded, “Of course!”
Having come this far, how could she wait at the doorstep.
“Lead the way!” With a nod, Zhang Xuan had no interest in small talk and followed her into the manor as the door opened.
The courtyard was small but impeccably tidy, not a single weed in sight. Li Yue’an looked around and quickly moved forward. Seeing that the two behind him were not paying attention, he slapped his palm onto one of the stone pillars.
Hum!
A gust of wind sounded and mist began to rise within the courtyard, followed by a powerful surge of energy that enveloped the entire space.
“There’s a formation, this is bad!”
Fu Yingying’s face changed.
Although such formations couldn’t harm a true Divine Soul Realm expert, they could cause substantial interference. In a high-level duel, sometimes it all hinged on such a small margin.
“Now you realize, but it’s too late… Elder Feng, Ling Buyang has been brought over by me. Our deal is complete, and the rest is up to you…”
Li Yue’an no longer had the submissiveness from before, replaced by a cold harshness. As a wandering cultivator who had reached such a realm, he couldn’t possibly be simple.
Hum!
With his renewed betrayal, a trickle of Heavenly Mandate Vitality still flowed to him. Though it wasn’t much, it provided some relief to his recently crippled strength.
“Well done! As previously agreed, all the prize money will be yours after his death… Of course, you will have to bear the infamy of being his killer.”
The doors opened, and more than ten figures emerged from all directions, led by an elder with a detached gaze—Feng Zhaoting, Elder Feng, vying against Ling Buyang for the position of Vice Hall Master!
The cultivation of the rest wasn’t weak either; the least of them had reached the Peak of the Jade Bone Realm, and a few were at the peak of the Divine Soul Realm, just like Fu Yingying!
They were likely the secret forces cultivated by this Elder, now all mobilized for the sole purpose of killing him.
“Good!”
Li Yue’an snarled, “After killing him, I want his body so I can chop him to pieces and feed him to the fish!”
Feng Zhaoting nodded, “Rest assured!”
Li Yue’an warned, “Elder Feng, be careful. His strength is not what you previously thought; I am no match for him…”
“What does it matter if it’s different? With the formation and so many of us, he is doomed today!”
Looking at Zhang Xuan, Feng Zhaoting snorted coldly, releasing a potent aura, and behind him a towering phantom emerged, as if a mountain.
This phantom, wielding weapons, was almost tangible.
“Dharma Form?” Fu Yingying’s pupils contracted.
He’d actually broken through!
Before, she had been quite confident about fighting Ling Buyang, but now she was unsure.
As Primordial Spirits, those with sect inheritance like Feng Zhaoting were not to be compared with wandering cultivators like Li Yue’an.
“You didn’t expect that, despite taking half my pills, I still managed to break through, did you?” With his Dharma Form revealed, Feng Zhaoting smiled coldly.
“I hadn’t expected it, but it doesn’t matter!” Zhang Xuan shook his head.
At the peak of the Dharma Form Realm, he would find it a tough fight, but someone who just broke through— that didn’t count for much.
“Doesn’t matter? Quite the arrogance! Let’s see if you can still be so haughty when death is upon you!”
After Feng Zhaoting’s mocking laughter, he turned to Fu Yingying, “Miss Fu, I didn’t expect you to side with him. Here’s your chance to choose: join us in killing him. Once it’s done, I’ll go to our black market and buy ten million worth of goods as a reward. Otherwise, don’t blame me for not being polite.”
“So, Elder Feng means that if I don’t agree, you’ll kill me too?” Fu Yingying’s face was ashen.
She’d thought with Ling Buyang and Mo Xiaosheng around, taking down someone like Li Yue’an would be easy, a boost to her life’s journey. She never dreamed such a twist would occur.
Her subordinate turning out to be Li Yue’an, and now surrounded by Feng Zhaoting’s men…
Even if she wanted to leave now, there was no escape.
Feng Zhaoting sneered, “Miss Fu, you exaggerate. It will be said that Ling Buyang plotted with Li Yue’an to kill you first, then turned on the latter due to a dispute over the spoils. What does that have to do with us? Today, I’m in seclusion at the Heaven Mandate Hall, witnessed by many…”
Fu Yingying clenched her fists.
If she worked with them against Ling Buyang, she’d effectively submit and would likely be spared; if she refused, they’d certainly move against her.
Turning to look at Ling Buyang, she saw he was neither tense nor worried, but smiling, “You decide for yourself, stand with me and you might die, join them, and perhaps you’ll live.”
Fu Yingying had a conflicted look on her face, and after a while, as if thinking of something, she looked over: “When you asked me at the door if I wanted to go in, did you already know that it would be dangerous to come here?”
Zhang Xuan nodded: “Otherwise, why would I ask?”
“Since that’s the case… I’ll go with you! Although my strength is far inferior to yours, I have quite a few valuable items. Breaking formations and escaping… I can manage that…”
Fu Yingying reached into her robe and several talismans appeared in her palm.
“You refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit!”
Seeing that she had her chance yet still chose to collude with Ling Buyang, Feng Zhaoting’s face darkened and he turned to give the order: “Do it!”
Whoosh!
Following his words, the people around them immediately charged forward, with the one leading them being none other than Ah Zhu.
At this time, Ah Zhu was controlled by the Thousand Threads of Heaven, devoid of any emotion, nothing but a killing machine.
Hum!
Simultaneously, the formation spun wildly, countless Yuan Powers surged into it, and in the blink of an eye, a powerful force enveloped both Fu Yingying and Zhang Xuan.
With a light snort, a talisman in Fu Yingying’s hand ignited, instantly forming a circular shield. Protected by the shield, the impact of the formation disappeared without a trace.
The talismans in her hand were all drawn by Dharma Form Realm powerhouses, each one incredibly valuable. While others might hesitate to use them, she did not care at all.
Being in control of the black market, she had access to an abundance of resources, even Elder Ling Buyang of Heaven Mandate Hall couldn’t compare.
“A Vajra Talisman? That’s quite the item, but let’s see how many you have and how long you can hold out!”
With a sneer, Feng Zhaoting reached out, and tens of silken threads shot out from his fingertips. Moments later, ten more shadowy figures burst into the room, fearlessly charging towards the shield.
These ten, just like Ah Zhu before, had no emotional fluctuations, only murderous intent.
“Yu Fei, Xiaoying?”
Zhang Xuan’s face changed.
Among the crowd, there were two familiar faces, Yu Fei and his companions, who were supposedly dead and buried. Unexpectedly, they had been controlled by the Thousand Threads of Heaven and turned into puppets.
Not only that, the figure of Xiaozhuo was also among them.
It was bad enough that a three or four-year-old child was killed, but to be turned into an inhuman monster…
Zhang Xuan felt a surge of rage so intense his head was about to explode.
For a moment, the scene when he had first met the trio flashed through his mind.
“You did nothing wrong; the fault lies in being born in this world… Don’t worry, I’ve taken your money, and I’ll definitely avenge you… Feng Yizhou was just the beginning, and him, along with Yunshan Hall behind him, will be completely wiped out!”
Zhang Xuan’s gaze flickered.
Had it been before, he would have merely loathed Feng Zhaoting, without the intent to kill. But now, if that man didn’t die, who knows how many more families like Yu Fei’s would be ruined.
Thump, thump, thump!
As he clenched his fists, the Vajra Talisman forming the shield, assaulted persistently, grew thinner and thinner and would break at any moment. Fu Yingying, now without her calm composure, began to sweat profusely.
“We won’t be needing this anymore…”
Shaking his head, Zhang Xuan stepped forward, and the talisman-formed shield was immediately torn apart, revealing a crack.
“Be careful…”
Fu Yingying was frantic with worry. She hadn’t even finished speaking when Zhang Xuan made his move.
Elder Ling moved quickly, stepping outside the shield, he appeared in front of a puppet and landed a thunderous punch. The Jade Bone Realm opponent didn’t stand a chance and was sent flying in an instant, turning into a puddle of mud mid-air.
One strike, one kill, no hesitation. Zhang Xuan’s body twisted, an elbow striking another puppet, while at the same time, his knee bent and rammed another.
The next instant, his fingers turning into a blade, saber qi howling, he sliced another charging puppet in half in the blink of an eye.
Another fifty thousand strands of Heavenly Mandate Vitality merged into the Mo Blade Water Flow, deepening his understanding of these weapons. Every movement was imbued with Sword Intent. Based solely on his grasp of the Mo Blade, no one would believe him if he denied being Ling Buyang.
After killing several puppets in quick succession, Zhang Xuan pressed down lightly, and the bodies of Yu Fei, Xiaoying, and the others were immediately sent flying, pinned to the ground, unable to move.
“This…” Fu Yingying was stunned.
Luckily, she chose to stand by him rather than backstab him. Otherwise, being so close, she might have been killed by now.
“So strong… No wonder he dared to publicly kill Yizhou…”
Upon seeing this, Feng Zhaoting’s face also grew darker.
He had guessed that this man must have relied on something to dare upset the balance, but he didn’t expect him to become this fierce.
It seemed this return to the Zhou Yi Dynasty was not fruitless, but had brought him significant benefits.
“But so what if you’re strong? You’re using your full strength with every strike; let’s see how long you can keep that up!”
Feng Zhaoting scoffed.
To his knowledge, Ling Buyang was only at the Fifth Grade Source Pool, with limited power inside his body. To use such violent power with every move was stylish and shocking, but… it wouldn’t last long!
And over the years, with the help of puppets controlled by Thousand Threads, he had hundreds of them at his disposal. Once that guy ran out of energy, killing him would be a piece of cake.