Born with immortal seed

Chapter 9 The Bloody Battle of Hanxiu Peak (Part Two)
One after another, ferocious ghost heads rushed towards the Four Symbols Heavenly Origin Formation, carrying with them a chilling wind and malevolent energy. They surged forward relentlessly, and in an instant, the formation began to shake.

A flash of crimson light appeared, and a Vermilion Bird several meters tall took flight from the center of the formation. The moment it appeared, the air temperature rose sharply, and the surrounding fire-type spiritual energy surged towards it.

Under the command of the array manipulator, the Vermilion Bird circled in the air, took a deep breath, and a large amount of fire-type spiritual energy caused its body to expand even more, rushing towards the densest area of ​​ghostly figures.

The weaker, more ethereal ghost heads were instantly obliterated by the Vermilion Bird's attack, turning into wisps of green smoke. However, there were too many ghost heads; as soon as one group died, another immediately surrounded it.

Each time the Vermilion Bird flapped its wings, countless sparks would fly out, hitting the ghost's head and igniting it like oil poured on a raging fire. But after a few times, the Vermilion Bird's figure clearly dimmed a bit. At this rate, the fire-elemental spiritual energy would be exhausted before the ghost's shadow was completely burned away.

This "Hundred Ghosts Parade at Night" spell is a scaled-down version of the Core Formation stage spell "Ten Thousand Ghosts Howling." It is cast by two Foundation Establishment stage cultivators and dozens of Qi Refining stage disciples, along with array flags, summoning far more than a hundred ghostly figures.

A flash of white light, and a white tiger suddenly pounced out, its murderous aura soaring to the sky.

With a roar, sharp white light shot out from the white tiger's body, piercing countless ghostly figures. At the same time, an unfortunate masked cultivator in black was also hit, letting out a wail as a bowl-sized hole appeared in his stomach, rendering him basically dead.

"It's actually a complete Four Symbols Heavenly Origin Formation! The Bai family is really rich!"

The older of the two Foundation Establishment cultivators sneered upon seeing this, "A second-tier high-grade protective formation could support a small sect and serve as its facade. Junior Brother Chen, the information the sect provided didn't mention anything special about the Bai family that requires special attention, did it?"

"Just an ordinary family, not one of the few that need to be avoided. These cultivation families are extremely protective of their lives, and they might have spent all their spirit stones on formations."

This junior brother Chen was a bit shorter, and his voice was like a broken gong being struck: "Senior Brother Shen, luckily I acted quickly, didn't I? I wiped out the neighboring family and still had time to come and support you. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to break this Four Symbols Heavenly Origin Formation by yourself, and you would have been punished by the sect leader when you got back."

"Stop talking nonsense. Use the Profound Yin Fiend Qi that the sect leader bestowed upon you before we set off to break the great formation. I'll give you half of the souls of the cultivators here!"

"Alright, senior brother has given the order, and I will obey!"

When this Junior Brother Chen wiped out another cultivation family, he had already collected the souls of more than a dozen cultivators. If he could replenish his energy here, he could condense a new Hundred Ghost Banner when he returned.

Demonic cultivators often practice spells and acquire treasures that involve killing. Once they enter the path, their progress is rapid.

However, this approach may not be favored by Heaven. The cultivation bottleneck of demonic cultivators is several times more difficult to break through than that of righteous cultivators, and they are prone to developing inner demons, making it difficult for them to embark on the true path.

Various restrictions have enabled the righteous forces in the cultivation world of Liang Kingdom to consistently suppress the demonic path.

Although the Four Symbols Heavenly Origin Formation was troublesome, it was not taken seriously by the two Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Ghost Spirit Sect. If a cultivator of the same level were presiding over the formation, the two would turn around and leave without saying a word. But a group of Qi Refining cultivators were nothing but chickens and dogs.

If it weren't for the fear that things might change over time, there would be at least five or six ways to easily break the formation.

The two men each took out a jade bottle, cast a spell, and spewed out two streams of dark, pure malevolent energy. They wrapped the array flags around the spirits, and all the ghost heads were as if they had taken a super tonic, becoming full of energy.

The leading few had clearly defined facial features on their heads, and their figures quickly became thick and solid, even conjuring different types of weapons in their hands.

These two streams of Xuan Yin evil energy were condensed by a Core Formation stage demonic cultivator using a special demonic technique. They are equivalent to containing the essence of a Core Formation True Person's magic power and have a great effect on several demonic spells of the Ghost Spirit Sect.

The Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts received two streams of profound Yin energy as a boost, increasing its power several times over.

Led by those few leading ghostly figures, Vermilion Bird and White Tiger had completely fallen into a disadvantageous position, their figures shrinking smaller and smaller.

Fortunately, the Four Symbols Heavenly Origin Formation flashed twice, and a black tortoise appeared in the northern corner, slowly crawling; a dragon roared, and the Azure Dragon appeared, accompanied by the sound of wind and thunder.

With all four symbols appearing, the formation has been pushed to its absolute limit.

At the core of the formation atop Hanxiu Peak, the Second Elder, his eyes bloodshot, removed the twelve dull, mid-grade spirit stones and replaced them with new ones. In just a short time, the Four Symbols Heavenly Origin Formation had become like a bottomless pit, devouring over fifty mid-grade spirit stones.

The Second Elder's heart was bleeding, for the dead and wounded members of his clan, and for the fact that the clan's accumulated spirit stones of a hundred years had been used up in an instant, equivalent to more than five thousand low-grade spirit stones.

"There are only twenty mid-grade spirit stones left. The low-grade spirit stones simply can't keep up with the array's absorption rate... Everyone listen up! Once the spirit stones are exhausted, use your own mana to inject into the array's core. Every second you can hold on is precious!"

"Yes, elder!"

Bai Zichen's palms, gripping the ironwood crossbow, were sweating profusely. It was the first time he had witnessed a battle between cultivators that was both dazzling and dangerous.

Whether the mountain-protecting formation could actually hold Hanxiu Peak was a rollercoaster of emotions for him, rising and falling with the changing situation.

"It seems... it's blocking it?"

The Vermilion Bird exploded, the White Tiger scattered into starlight, and the Black Tortoise crashed to the ground, scattering rubble everywhere. Only the Azure Dragon released a blinding light, breaking through the Hundred Ghosts and overturning more than a dozen array flags before slowly disappearing.

With the battle flags destroyed, the remaining ghost heads lost their source of power and instantly became barely visible. Sunlight shone through the dark clouds, melting into wisps of blue smoke like melting snow.

Before Bai Zichen could even rejoice at the effectiveness of his own magic array, he saw the ghostly figures descend once more, this time accompanied by several sky-supporting banners that blotted out the sun. The Four Symbols Heavenly Origin Array only lasted a few breaths before, like a fragile eggshell, a crack appeared, followed by a second, a third... until it collapsed with a deafening roar.

"The formation has been broken..." Bai Zichen said with difficulty, feeling as if he had gone from heaven to hell in an instant.

Without the Four Symbols Heavenly Origin Array to block it, the foul stench immediately rushed in, threatening to drag the last piece of pure land in the Bai family's territory into hell.

"The Hundred Ghost Banner!" The Grand Elder stood up, gritting his teeth. The broken formation didn't break his spirits or make him resign himself to death. "Everyone, proceed according to plan!"

Seeing the masked, black-clad cultivators charging towards them, Bai Zichen bit his tongue hard and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Everyone, fire the crossbow bolts!"

On the high platform, several crossbow bolts shot out at an angle, but soon turned into hundreds firing in unison, and a continuous rain of arrows blocked a small area of ​​space.

The two masked cultivators who charged the fastest were riddled with bullets and died without uttering a sound.

The masked monks in the second row had time to react. Only one of them was hit by two arrows, and he rolled to the side in a spray of blood, losing his fighting ability. The others were unharmed.

"Change to a crossbow!"

He simply tossed aside the used ironwood crossbow, picked up the new crossbow that was already loaded with bolts, took aim briefly, and fired another volley.

But a burly, masked cultivator unleashed a shield the size of a door panel, bracing it in front of him. Countless crossbow bolts struck the shield, making only clanging sounds, without leaving a single mark.

"Ordinary disciples, retreat to the back mountain; all cultivators, go to the storeroom!"

Bai Zichen threw down the ironwood crossbow in his hand and ran desperately towards the warehouse. This was the final plan that the Grand Elder had arranged beforehand.

In a short time, the casualties on Hanxiu Peak were already heavy. The Bai family cultivators were inferior to the sect disciples in terms of combat experience, cultivation techniques, and magical artifacts, and it often took three or four people to deal with one of them. As for the mortal clansmen, a single fireball spell burned more than ten people to ashes.

A gentle breeze swept across Hanxiu Peak, the stench of blood permeating the entire peak. The sounds of clashing magical artifacts, shouts, and curses mingled together, and people were falling every moment.

Limbs and severed bodies were scattered everywhere on the ground, including black-clad, masked monks, but mostly members of the Bai family.

Perhaps because he was too young to attract attention, Bai Zichen successfully rushed into the storeroom deep in the bamboo forest. There were already more than ten clansmen inside, and the Second Elder and others were lying on the ground, exhausted from injecting magic power into the great formation.

"Is my life really going to be protected by this tiny stone door...?"

(End of this chapter)