Chapter 133: Havoc at the Pill Sect (Part Four)

"Supreme Elder, say no more. If sacrificing myself alone can save the entire Pill Sect, then I am willing." In truth, Master Changshan felt a sense of relief. Had his spiritual consciousness been forced to leave his body under normal circumstances, there would have been no hope of survival. But things were different now; with the aid of that secret technique, provided his luck wasn't catastrophically bad, Changshan felt seventy to eighty percent confident that he could return.

Master Changshan was himself a cultivator at the Tribulation Transcendence stage. Once he weathered the heavenly tribulation, he would step into the Mahayana stage, so his cultivation base was naturally formidable. His divine sense was likewise at the pinnacle.

Ordinarily, the separation of spiritual consciousness from the physical body could only be achieved through the support of an immensely powerful divine sense. The stronger the divine sense, the longer one could remain separated; however, this was akin to damaging the very foundation of one's soul. As a result, those who attempted this often ended up either dead or severely crippled.

"Very well. Since you have made your decision, I shall do my utmost to protect you," said Sovereign Yuding, immediately preparing to cast the spell.

He rapidly wove several hand seals, striking them one by one onto Master Changshan’s body. Shortly thereafter, Changshan’s spiritual entity detached from his physical shell.

"Hurry, everyone! Swiftly!" Sovereign Yuding did not dare to show even a moment of slackness. He continued to weave more hand seals, casting them upon the other cultivators present.

"The soul remains undying, this is form! Dissolving into the void, this is spirit!" All those present felt a blade of blood, condensed from their own divine sense, drift out from their bodies.

"Ah!" Changshan’s spiritual entity let out a shriek as the blood blade began to merge into his form.

"Endure it! You must endure it, or all our efforts will be for naught!" Sovereign Yuding was deeply anxious. This blood blade was a manifestation of divine sense; the process of integration was agonizingly painful.

Changshan groaned in agony, his entire being feeling as if it were being pierced by needles and shredded by knives. Under normal circumstances, he would have collapsed long ago, but a guiding force within his heart compelled him to grit his teeth and persevere.

One incense stick of time passed...
Two sticks of time passed...

***

"What is this? I have waited so long. Can your so-called seniors not even break a simple formation I set up on a whim? If you do not emerge soon, I shall be forced to be impolite." Gu Shi was growing impatient. He had great confidence in his formation—he did not believe they could break it, so he treated this as mere amusement to pass the time.

Ever since Gu Shi had become a jiangshi—a hopping vampire—all those years ago, not only had his mastery of formations returned to his peak level in life, but to his surprise, he had transcended his previous limits, gaining new insights into the art.

In his mortal life, Gu Shi had been a top-tier grandmaster of formations. Having now made a breakthrough, the level of his current arrays was unimaginable. Even he himself was unsure what realm he had reached.

"What kind of formation is this? How could you possibly be a formation master!" Master Jinming was on the verge of despair. Nearly half a day had passed, yet there was still no sign of the sect's seniors. The only conclusion was that, just as Gu Shi had claimed, they were all trapped within his formation.

"Hmph, why could I not be a formation master? The array I have laid is called the Nine Dragons Supporting the Heavens Array." Even if he told them, what did it matter? No matter how powerful they were, they could not escape the fate of being slaughtered by him.

"How have I never heard of this formation?" Master Jinming was baffled. While he couldn't claim to know every formation in the world, he should have recognized an array of such power. The only explanation was that this formation did not exist in the world at all.

The surrounding elders looked at one another, equally bewildered. It was unheard of.

"Hmph, of course you haven't heard of it, for this is a formation I created myself," Gu Shi sneered, looking at the crowd as if they were mere jesters.

A sudden, deathly silence descended upon the scene. Everyone was stunned. This was beyond belief! That a jiangshi could be a formation master was one thing, but to create a divine-level array? Were even zombies capable of creating formations these days? And a divine one at that?

"AAHH!" A deafening roar erupted, shaking every cultivator for miles around.

"What is this? Are they still unwilling to give up?" Gu Shi immediately realized the sound came from the place where the Pill Sect seniors had been in seclusion. His expression grew solemn; it seemed the situation had taken a turn.

***

"Hahaha, your formation is nothing more than this! It is about to be broken!" Master Jinming was instantly overcome with ecstasy. Truly, when one reaches the end of the road, a new path appears. Once the sect seniors arrived, this monster would be nothing; any one of them could strike him until his soul scattered! Or rather, he had no soul to begin with.

"So, you are the one causing trouble in our Pill Sect? I wondered who it was! It is merely a zombie who has just reached the rank of a drought demon." A cynical, sharp voice rang out.

"Greetings, Master Changshan. You have arrived just in time," Master Jinming said happily. Among those of the same cultivation level in the world of cultivation, Master Changshan was easily in the top ten. Although no one else had appeared, he believed Master Changshan alone was more than enough to deal with the intruder.

"Hmph, you are currently nothing more than a spiritual entity detached from its body, yet you dare to spout such wild words? You only resorted to this desperate measure because you couldn't break my formation, didn't you?" Gu Shi saw through Changshan’s state immediately and sneered.

"Hmph, then I shall show you the power of this detached spiritual entity!" Master Changshan struck first, filled with hatred. If not for Gu Shi, he would never have risked so much.

"Master Changshan, be careful! This thief is quite powerful," Master Jinming shouted from the side, his heart beginning to pound with worry. He realized that since Changshan was in a detached state, he must have been forced into it, meaning he likely couldn't defeat Gu Shi.

Lin Yanghao, watching from the sidelines, knew he could not intervene in a battle between those at the Tribulation Transcendence stage. He simply felt that Master Changshan was extraordinary, radiating a sense of extreme danger.

Master Changshan unleashed a "Heaven-Turning Palm Print." Gu Shi, relying on the hardness of his physical body, actually intended to take the blow head-on. Was he truly so reckless? Lin Yanghao was frantic.

"Be careful! Dodge it!" Lin Yanghao knew he could not let anything happen to Gu Shi; if Gu Shi died, how was he supposed to escape?