Wayfarer had only been able to destroy the seal before the Water Altar restrained his tremendous might. He lay prone on the altar, roaring with rage and frustration.
Scattered again, the dim crimson glow about the nine bloodcorses was almost nonexistent. Fortunately, ghostface maggots continued burrowing into the undead hag’s body, devouring its rotten flesh and slowing it down. However, the chimera’s corpsefish head and tail remained strong, and its tentacles relentlessly tore through Feinie’s formations.
“Help Yueshen fight the monster, Feinie. Leave the altar to me.” Lu Yun dashed in the opposite direction with Violetgrave. Even the slightest ripple from a fight between immortals could end him. If Feinie hadn’t set up a myriad of defensive formations around him, he would’ve already been reduced to dust several hundred times over.
He reached the other side of the altar in no time at all, where its power could temporarily shield him from the terrifying energies unleashed by the fight between the bloodcorpses and the chimera.
“Be careful, sir!” Feinie deployed another 108 miniature defensive formations on Lu Yun before smashing into the monster with the Formation Orb, buying Yueshen a short window of repose.
Both of them had pulled their punches when Lu Yun was close by, worried that their master would be caught in the crossfire. But now it was a no-holds-barred match.
……
Around the altar was an enormous boundary that isolated the space within so that even the greatest power fluctuations couldn’t reach the altar. Nevertheless, Lu Yun didn’t dare approach it just yet.
Wayfarer might be restrained, but he’d been able to break Feinie’s seal with a single punch earlier.
Gradually, the power keeping him sprawled on top of the altar abated. He rose to his feet, coldly staring at Lu Yun.
The Dusk governor silently etched formations into formation stones. To be precise, he was setting up a feng shui layout. Given that Wayfarer could destroy formations from an empyrean immortal with a single punch, Lu Yun’s formations definitely wouldn’t survive either.
So he’d turned to feng shui layouts instead.
Formations could be destroyed with raw power, but feng shui was different. Layouts were a mysterious power, born of the influence that formations exerted on nature. Brute force didn’t work on them. As long as Lu Yun kept the formation stones intact, Wayfarer would never be able to destroy the layouts.
It was several times more difficult to set up a feng shui layout than a formation because not only did he have to rely on the innate power of formations, but he also had to consider the environment.
The same formation would give rise to different feng shui layouts in different environments. At the same time, two different formations might create the same layout in certain places. That was the fascinating thing about feng shui layouts.
When she’d first acquired the knowledge of feng shui from Lu Yun, Feinie’s first thought had been that feng shui was a much more complicated art.
Lu Yun brought out seven of the formation stones that Feinie had fleeced from Qin Xianhuo and stored in the Gates of the Abyss. He etched seven different layouts on the formation stones in order to change the environment around them.
The strength of feng shui masters was that they could make the impossible possible. Since the local terrain and environment wasn’t conducive to the formation of a seal, Lu Yun would just change the environment.
Hum.
The seven formation stones erupted with dazzling light and hovered in the air, injecting vibrant life into the desolate cavern.
Someone sealed the air above the abyss using the altar as a core, but the altar’s properties created the life-absorbing power. I’ll just establish a layout of life to counter it!
Some deliberation led him to the most appropriate conclusion. This life-absorbing power not only sealed away the abyss, but also drained the life essence of every living being that had died in the burial mound, transferring it to what had once been a layout of resurrection.
It was a much bigger threat than the power in Diexi’s tomb for the living.
Lu Yun’s layout was different from Feinie’s formation, in that it targeted only the life-absorbing properties to temporarily block them, but kept the altar functional. Her formation would not only offset the life-absorbing power, but also suppress the altar, which might have unwanted consequences.
“If you hadn’t broken Feinie’s formation just now and allowed it to seal the altar, you would’ve broken free,” Lu Yun remarked faintly as he set up the layout. “Seems like your brain’s gone to mush after being trapped here for too long.”
Wayfarer scowled with regret. He’d been too focused on stopping Lu Yun earlier, and neglected his own condition. “But you’re also setting up a formation,” he spoke his mind. “I’ll be able to break free once it comes into effect.”
“You can certainly try.” After completing the seven formation stones, Lu Yun ate a pill to recover some of his qi and stamina.
“How about this,” Wayfarer changed his tune, alerted by Lu Yun’s response. “If you let me go, I’ll order the monster to leave.”
“No need.” Lu Yun opened his eyes and began etching lines on an eighth formation stone. “Although the monster possesses the power of a peerless immortal, it has no intelligence. Feinie and Yueshen, on the other hand, do. If they can’t defeat it together, I’ll destroy them again myself.”
……
As he’d expected, Feinie and Yueshen were gradually able to gain the upper hand by fighting together. The monster was indeed pure instinct and no brain.
Feinie had set up a dozen illusory formations to twist its perceptions, tricking it into attacking air instead of the bloodcorpses. The bloodcorpses took advantage of the distraction to lunge and tear at the monster. They’d picked clean a titanic undead hag before, so this monster would be nothing more than another feast for them.
“Go back, Feinie, Yueshen!” Lu Yun exclaimed after an indiscernible period of time.
“Understood!” responded Feinie. She deployed another dozen formations to trap the monster, then entered the Gates of the Abyss with Yueshen.
“Xuanxi!” ordered Lu Yun. “Leave the abyss in eighteen breaths!”
Under the abyss, Xuanxi burst into azure flames. “Activate the Divinewater Talisman. We’re leaving!” she quickly alerted everyone.
The endless Dusk River transcended the obstruction of space and swept them away. An enormous black wave wrapped around Lu Yun at the same time.
Hum.
Emerald light rose from around the altar. The power of life and vitality instantly locked it down.
“I’m stuck!” Wayfarer tried to break free, but the altar kept a tight grip on him. Desperate, he threw another punch at the green light.