48: Breaking the Formation with Qi

The gray needles fell denser like cold rain. One grazed Lin Yang's shoulder and embedded itself into a stone pillar, leaving a tiny hole. Ling Feihong's Star Splitting Sword was already before his eyes, the cold Qi from its blade making his pupils constrict. The gray light of the Spirit Sealing Array grew thicker and thicker, and his Chaos True Essence felt like frozen water, sluggish even when circulating. If this dragged on, he would truly be trapped in this canyon.

"I'll risk it all!"

Lin Yang fiercely activated the strand of Protective Aura Origin within his Dantian. The faint golden Protective Aura surged along his Meridians towards his palm, intertwining with the gray-gold Chaos True Essence—like a red-hot iron bar wrapped in ice, sparks burst forth upon contact. He gripped this interwoven energy and smashed it fiercely against a nearby stone pillar: "Bang!" Sparks splattered onto the pillar, which was covered in runes. Amidst the flying rock fragments, a finger-width crack actually appeared on the pillar, and the gray light within the Formation instantly dimmed a few shades.

"He actually swallowed the Protective Aura Origin?!" Elder Wu's expression changed drastically. He sped up the waving of his horsetail whisk, trying to mend the gap in the Formation. But Lin Yang had already seized this momentary opening, sidestepping Ling Feihong's sword. His left hand suddenly gripped the sword blade—Chaos True Essence wrapped around the sword body like greedy vines, beginning to devour the purple Sword Qi on the blade.

"My Sword Qi!" Ling Feihong realized his sword moves were sluggish and tried to pull back his longsword, but Lin Yang held it in a death grip. Lin Yang, using the force from devouring the Sword Qi, kicked Ling Feihong's chest fiercely with his right leg, which carried the lingering power of the Protective Aura—a crisp "crack" sounded. Ling Feihong crashed into a stone pillar like a kite with a broken string, blood spurting from his mouth onto the sword blade, splattering into tiny blood blossoms. Even the hand holding the sword began to tremble.

Seeing this, the four Xuantian Sword Sect Disciples roared and surrounded him, their sword moves more vicious than before. Lin Yang circulated his newly recovered Chaos True Essence and suddenly remembered Chu He's Thick Earth Shield. He gathered his True Essence in front of him, condensing it into an earth-yellow shield. As soon as the shield surface formed, two swords hacked down. With a "clang," the blades were repelled by the shield. Lin Yang seized the opportunity to convert the devoured purple Sword Qi into a sharp metal-element force, which he shot out along the shield surface like a cold light, grazing a Disciple's arm. Blood beads instantly seeped out.

"Useless!" Elder Wu, seeing the situation spiral out of control, finally entered the fray himself. The gray threads on his horsetail whisk suddenly spread out like living vines, climbing up Lin Yang's ankles: "Xuantian Sword Sect Secret Technique—Spirit Entangling Silk!" As soon as the gray threads touched his skin, a numbing sensation spread, and Lin Yang's True Essence instantly slowed down, making even lifting his arm difficult. Elder Wu seized the chance to strike with a palm, the palm wind carrying the pressure of the Gang Qi Realm, smashing fiercely towards Lin Yang's chest: "Today, I shall cripple your chaos star core!"

A fierce glint flashed in Lin Yang's eyes. He abruptly gathered all the energy in his body—Chaos True Essence, Protective Aura Origin, and the newly devoured Sword Qi—in his chest, taking the palm strike head-on. "Bang!" The Qi wave sent shattered rocks flying across the valley floor. Lin Yang spat out a mouthful of blood onto the bluestone slab in front of him, but he used the recoil to break free from the Spirit Entangling Silk wrapped around his ankles. He gathered his last shred of strength in his right hand and smashed it into the crack in the stone pillar again—"Crack!" The stone pillar completely shattered, and the light curtain of the Spirit Sealing Array dimmed instantly like a broken lantern.

"The Formation is broken?!" Ling Feihong's face was pale. He looked at Lin Yang's blood-stained figure, and suddenly fear arose within him. Just then, the sharp sound of ice silk breaking through the air came from afar, and Su Qingyue's anxious voice followed: "Lin Yang! I'm here!"

Elder Wu's pupils constricted. Su Qingyue was a Core Disciple of the Star Moon Sect's inner sect. If she arrived, it would be difficult for him to escape. He glared fiercely at Lin Yang, threw down the words, "Consider yourself lucky today; I'll take your dog life after the Five Elements Spirit Pool," then grabbed the paralyzed Ling Feihong from the ground, pulled over two injured Xuantian Sword Sect Disciples, and transformed into a gray shadow, drilling into the dense forest. As the gray shadow swept past the cliff face, the stirred-up dead leaves spiraled down, and the light of a communication talisman flashed in the dark forest like a peeking eye, vanishing in an instant.

Lin Yang collapsed onto the shattered rocks, his chest throbbing with pain. The chaos star core in his Dantian rotated slowly, gradually repairing his damaged Meridians. Su Qingyue rushed over. The ice Qi from her fingertips probed into Lin Yang's Meridians, helping him stabilize his surging Qi and blood: "Don't be afraid, I'm here. You weren't fatally wounded, were you?" She looked at the shattered Formation stones all over the ground and then towards the direction Elder Wu had fled, her eyes filled with anger, "Xuantian Sword Sect actually dared to ambush within Star Moon Sect territory. I will definitely report this matter to the Sect Master!"

Lin Yang shook his head, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and clenched the Secret Realm jade token in his hand. The sunlight finally pierced through the morning mist, falling on his blood-stained martial attire, reflecting the determination in his eyes: "They came for the chaos star core. They failed this time, but they will come again. I must enter the Five Elements Spirit Pool as soon as possible; becoming stronger is the only way out."

Su Qingyue nodded and helped him slowly stand up. The two walked out of the canyon over the scattered rocks. The damp cold in the wind gradually dissipated, but Lin Yang knew that this ambush was just the beginning—the covetousness of the Xuantian Sword Sect and the shadows of the Misty Immortal Palace were like the mist in the canyon, not yet truly dispersed.