Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 387 The Death of Sun Ping
Time seemed to slow and viscous in an instant. He didn't try to block or dodge the deadly black arrow; instead, he used all his remaining strength—

Whether it was the remaining spiritual power, the energy transformed from the broken spiritual root, or even the power of the soul that came from being taught without a teacher, or the origin of life, all of it was poured into the Xuan Song Han Feng.

The sword emitted a mournful buzzing sound, yet its icy blue aura was more intense than ever before, and the extreme cold even froze the ground beneath his feet into a spiderweb of white frost.

This sword strike is bound to hit, and can only hit.

With this thought in mind, Sun Ping faced the black arrow and resolutely swung the Xuan Song Han Feng sword, unleashing a fatal blow!
"Uh--"

"Pfft!"

Almost simultaneously, a black arrow pierced Sun Ping's chest. He groaned, but the momentum of the Xuan Song Han Feng in his hand did not diminish in the slightest.

He endured the excruciating pain that made his very soul tremble, and pierced the shadow with his sword.

"what--"

Tang Mingming's screams became even more shrill. Xuan Song Hanfeng's sword light was like a red-hot iron piercing into the ice and snow, instantly piercing and freezing his already chaotic and unstable soul. The black energy formed by his soul dissipated wildly, and the connection with Ancestor Mingfeng's body became barely perceptible. The process of seizing the body was almost forcibly interrupted!
"Fellow Daoist Sun!"

Tang Mingming's injury caused Zhuang Wansong and Li Zhi to pause in their attack. Zhuang Wansong rushed over with his sword immediately, took out the [Bone Strengthening Powder] and [Angelica Decoction] that Zhang Chengdao had specially prepared for the two of them before their departure from his Qiankun bag, and helped Sun Ping feed the medicine.

Although these two medicines are not the highest-grade medicines in Zhang Chengdao's cheat system, they are still much higher-grade than the [Kudzu Root Decoction] and [Trauma Powder] that he usually uses. Their efficacy is a full 100 points, while the [Kudzu Root Decoction] and [Trauma Powder] drawn from the member's red envelope only have 30 points, a difference of more than three times!
However, Zhuang Wansong fed Sun Ping two bowls of "Du Huo Tang" and sprinkled several bottles of "Dieda San" on him, but to no avail.

No, or rather, it was actually effective. Sun Ping's external injuries were visibly healing, and when Zhuang Wansong took his pulse, he also found that his internal injuries were improving rapidly. However, Sun Ping just fell into a coma. It was as if his soul had left his body, leaving only a physical body.

"Beast!"

Tang Mingming's sudden withdrawal allowed Ancestor Mingfeng to react quickly.

He roared, and a shockwave formed from spiritual energy burst forth from his body. It not only shattered Tang Mingming's soul, but also caused Zhuang Wansong and Sun Ping to collapse to their knees, spitting out blood, unable to withstand the pressure.

Even if a Nascent Soul cultivator's attack wasn't intended to kill anyone, it was enough to seriously injure the two of them.

Of course, the main reason for Ancestor Mingfeng's outburst was to deal with Tang Mingming.

Now that he has a chance to catch his breath, he certainly won't sit idly by and wait for his death.

After unleashing this burst of spiritual power, he then took out many more talismans and scattered them into the air.

The talismans then flickered with various kinds of spiritual light, scattered and floated in mid-air, gradually arranging themselves into an array.

At the four corners of the array diagram, the four illusory images of the four symbols, outlined by spiritual light, then appeared—

An isolation formation that allows entry but not exit was set up by Ancestor Mingfeng in the blink of an eye.

Ancestor Mingfeng shouted, "This formation can suppress the ghostly energy on its body. I will slowly suppress and expel it. You all should treat that fellow Daoist first. Don't worry about me!"

With this formation, the black mist emanating from Ancestor Mingfeng was indeed contained within it, allowing Zhuang Wansong and Li Zhi to finally catch their breath. Unfortunately, since Tang Mingming dared to leave, she must have had a backup plan—

It was only a moment after it was dispersed that it reassembled and gathered above the head of Ancestor Mingfeng.

It turns out that although he withdrew, he still left behind a fragment of his soul to contend with Ancestor Mingfeng. Although he lost control of Ancestor Mingfeng's body for a moment, he was able to merge his main body with the fragment of his soul and once again be locked in a stalemate with Ancestor Mingfeng.

However, after a moment of relaxation, even though he had to fight against Tang Mingming's possession again, Ancestor Mingfeng finally had enough strength to set up an isolation formation that allowed entry but not exit, and even had the energy to talk to the two of them.

"This fellow Daoist just exhausted his soul in order to control that Heavenly Rank Spiritual Sword, so no matter how useful your spiritual medicine is to his physical body, it will be of no use."

He answered their questions, then sighed with self-reproach and continued, "Alas, it's all my fault for being careless and falling into this beast's trap. Otherwise, I wouldn't have ended up like this, and a junior would have to pay such a price to save me..."

Li Zhi asked incredulously, "Senior, does this mean there's no way to save him?"

Ancestor Mingfeng shook his head: "There's no way. If he does this, it's no different from his soul being scattered."

Looking at Sun Ping lying on the ground as if he were dead, Li Zhi felt the grief and indignation that had been suppressed in his chest erupt like a volcano.

too weak.

I'm too weak.

If I weren't so weak, how could I have stood by and watched Fellow Daoist Sun die without being able to do anything about it!
I... am known to all as a born swordsman, a genius that is one in a million!
But now, he can't even protect the people around him. What kind of genius is that?!
Resentment, anger, regret, bitterness, and self-loathing for his own incompetence—all these emotions swirled together in Li Zhi's chest like a tangled ball of yarn.

He stared intently at the dark figure locked in a stalemate with Ancestor Mingfeng within the formation, the culprit who had killed Fellow Daoist Sun, and roared in fury:
"I want you to pay with your life!"

He stopped looking at Sun Ping, whose life was fading, and instead focused all his attention and thoughts on the sword pellet that hovered in front of him, its spiritual light dim.

If I cannot protect it, I will use the sword in my hand to demand revenge!
"Om-"

The sword pellet, whose spiritual light had already become very faint, seemed to sense its master's pure and resolute killing intent in an instant, and suddenly emitted a clear and incomparably melodious ringing sound.

An unprecedentedly sharp aura erupted from Li Zhi's body, causing the surrounding spiritual energy to surge back wildly, flowing into his body like hundreds of rivers flowing into the sea.

A massive storm of spiritual energy arose out of nowhere, causing the already fragile roof and walls to collapse completely. If the people inside hadn't all been cultivators, they would likely have suffered some injuries.

Li Zhi's spiritual power, which was only at the sixth level of the Foundation Establishment stage, was frantically compressed and tempered by this massive external spiritual energy and his inner resolute will, and then surged.

His eyes were bloodshot, his nostrils flared, and he was breathing heavily, as if in anger or pain. But soon, accompanied by a gale and thunder, the clouds gathered overhead, and a heart-stopping rumble of thunder sounded incessantly, as if warning something.

"Hahaha! What a great opportunity!"

(End of this chapter)