novelraw Chapter 400 - 351 Hope
Chapter 400 - 351 Hope
Ghost Shovel’s pupils suddenly dilated. His body trembled, his divine soul shuddered, and his hair stood on end. Every limb and bone in his body was screaming: Run!
Regardless of whether Ghost Shovel liked the experience, he had once been a member of the border army of the Protectorate. He had long fought against elite Turkic Scouts, bandits from Jing Country, Demon Cultivators, and demons. From the still bushes, a volley of cold arrows would suddenly shoot out. A tripwire would unexpectedly rise on a normally tranquil forest path. A huge rock might mysteriously fall from the sky onto a deserted valley trail. Lying in his army camp bed, he would abruptly hear the urgent sound of enemy hooves and the clang of steel. Gradually, Ghost Shovel seemed to have developed an intuition—the intuition of knowing how he would die.
This ability had helped him escape countless explicit threats and invisible ambushes. Even after defecting, it helped him survive the prolonged pursuit from Yu Country.
Until now.
Lian Xuanyao was merely standing in midair, holding his longsword. He hadn’t drawn any divine talismans nor dived down, but Ghost Shovel still felt his scalp tingle, as if a huge mountain was slowly pressing down from above him.
There was no hope of survival.
On the ground in the courtyard, Yuan Sou swiped his sword to fend off Qi Ji, the Vice Commander of the garrison, then looked up at the robed figure high in the night sky. He instinctively gripped his sword hilt tighter, murmuring, "The world’s number one, peerless with talisman and sword..."
He had grown up with the White Ape Demon before being retrieved by a family of Sword Masters. He began his Sword Dao Cultivation at ten, mastered Rain Listening at twelve, and reached Cloud Patrol at fourteen. At eighteen, he slaughtered most of his clan and escaped from Zhao Jun, thus beginning his life in the Jianghu. Unlike those cultivators who secluded themselves in deep forests for focused cultivation, he enjoyed eating, drinking, and merry-making, loving fine wines, beautiful women, and luxurious debauchery. He robbed caravans and seized wealth. Sometimes, during drunken excursions, he would even invade the estates of noble families, slaughter the family head, and then, standing amidst a pool of blood, command the terrified servants to prepare feasts. Even with such reckless indolence, he still broke through the Cloud Patrol threshold at the age of twenty-nine and ascended to Candle Cloud.
There were cultivators in this world stronger than him: Lin Hongbo, the Garrison Commander from Yu Country; Lu Qingya, the Mountain Master of Lu Li Academy; the High Priest of the Turkic; the old monster beneath the Zhou Kingdom Imperial Palace; and the leader of the Barbarian tribe from the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains. But when it came to talent in Sword Study, Yuan Sou considered himself unmatched in the entire world.
Until now.
The hand that held the sword trembled slightly, his carefully groomed hair and beard fluttering in the wind.
If he couldn’t win, the only option left was to escape.
Yuan Sou made his move. His longsword swung towards the garrison’s main gate, releasing a continuous stream of Sword Qi like a cascade of white silk, sweeping straight toward the residential houses across the street. Wherever the Sword Qi passed, horses were split sideways in half, and the brick walls crumbled from the middle.
Lian Xuanyao’s left hand moved, all five fingers working in unison—pointing, stroking, sweeping, flicking—as he instantly sketched a complex and obscure talisman in the air: Divine Talisman—Wind Prison.
Nature’s spiritual energy, omnipresent, converged towards the talisman, flowing and operating along the lines of its strokes.
BUZZ—
The air solidified. This wasn’t merely a description of the atmosphere; it was a chilling reality. The air, originally light and ethereal, turned as dense and viscous as gel. The Sword Qi, swiftly moving along the street, was continuously slowed until, by the time it reached the courtyard gates of the residential houses, it decomposed, disintegrated, and vanished into nothingness, making it impossible to breathe.
Yuan Sou’s face quickly reddened. His chest heaved violently, but he could not draw even the slightest bit of air. The garrison soldiers around him also suffered the same suffocation, their faces turning purple as they knelt to the ground. But with a flick of Lian Xuanyao’s finger, all the garrison personnel, including Qi Ji, were propelled by an invisible force, landing outside Banzheng Square.
Now is the time!
Seeing Lian Xuanyao distracted by managing the garrison soldiers, Ghost Shovel’s pupils contracted, and he forcefully stomped on the ground.
BOOM!
The bluestone brick surface cracked into a spiderweb pattern, and the entire section of ground caved in. Ghost Shovel, like an arrow released from its bow, charged straight towards Lian Xuanyao in the sky. The patchy rust on the surface of his chopper continuously oozed foul-smelling, filthy blood. This blood sliced through the solidified air before him, forming a conical, pale airflow around his body.
Under the cover of night, a roar of anger, shrillness, and resolve echoed. Ghost Shovel bellowed, breaking through the Wind Prison barrier, gripping the chopper handle with both hands, his blade slashed relentlessly towards Lian Xuanyao.
The Academic Palace Master slightly lifted his eyelids. His pupils reflected Ghost Shovel’s fierce expression, the bloodthirsty giant mouth with its interlocking canine teeth on Ghost Shovel’s abdomen, and the filthy, blood-stained blade.
CLANG!!!
The clash of sword and chopper. The gelatinous air undulated violently, like a tsunami. Shockwaves, in the form of pale wave fronts, spread madly in all directions, eventually breaking through the outer perimeter of the Wind Prison Divine Talisman.
BOOM!!!!
The deafening explosion echoed through Chang’an City. A raging wind howled, even suppressing the Giant Tooth Whale Oil fires on the roofs of the nearby workshops. Several Masters, who were busy extinguishing fires throughout the city, simultaneously froze. Most of the Cloud Patrol Realm cultivators in the city also sensed the terrifying fluctuation of Spiritual Energy and unanimously looked towards Banzheng Square.
"Rao He’s Frost Cold Blade?" the Academic Palace Master asked indifferently, parrying with his sword. "I never thought it would end up in your hands, and transformed into such a state."
Ghost Shovel didn’t answer. His facial muscles twitched, and crimson blood seeped from between his teeth.
CRACK!
Countless splashes of blood burst from Ghost Shovel’s body. His right arm, due to the immense concussive force, shattered inch by inch, completely severing at the elbow and turning into unrecognizable mangled flesh that plummeted to the ground.
ARGH—
The giant mouth on Ghost Shovel’s abdomen, which had been tightly shut, suddenly snapped open and lunged towards the Academic Palace Master’s wrist.
In the blink of an eye, the Academic Palace Master released his grip on the sword hilt. Spiritual Energy surged from his palm, pushing the opponent away. Simultaneously, he retracted his longsword and, with a reverse slash, severed Ghost Shovel’s legs.
The giant mouth on Ghost Shovel’s abdomen failed to bite him. It immediately opened and shot out its tongue, the tip of its tongue struck the body of the longsword. Using the repelling force, it propelled Ghost Shovel towards the ground.
Opportunity!
Yuan Sou immediately soared into the sky, catching the one-armed, legless Ghost Shovel in mid-air. He desperately swung his sword to slash open the Wind Prison barrier before them and flew towards the western gate of the city with his companion.
Escape!
Yuan Sou panted anxiously. Along the way, he continuously threw hundreds of pre-prepared talismans, casting them down towards the workshops below. Severe Heat Talisman, Sand Sinking Talisman, Electric Light Talisman, Exhausting Talisman, Water Dragon Talisman...
Although these talismans were all Cloud Patrol Realm grade, the aura of their brushstrokes indicated they originated from the pinnacle of Talisman Dao Practitioners: a Divine Talisman Master. Heatwaves swept across the ground. Soil melted into sand. Electricity burst and scattered. Cloud Patrol Realm talismans meticulously crafted by a Divine Talisman Master with their Spirit Power not only had their might multiplied severalfold but also cost the user significantly less energy to activate. This allowed Yuan Sou to casually toss them out as he fled.
However, Lian Xuanyao, as the Academic Palace Master, had to consider the safety of Chang’an’s common people. Indeed, just as Yuan Sou had expected, after he bombarded Chang’an City with talismans, the oppressive feeling that had clung to him like a persistent disease quickly diminished.
Yuan Sou, carrying the profusely bleeding Ghost Shovel, flew over the western city wall and finally escaped Chang’an City. He glanced back with the corner of his eye and was almost scared out of his wits—
Lian Xuanyao flicked the fingers of his left hand. Remarkably, using his profound realm, he remotely delayed the activation process of all the talismans. Then, with a wave of his hand, the talismans shot straight into the sky. They exploded high above, transforming into flashes of fire and bolts of lightning, without harming any of Chang’an’s common people.