357: Earthwalk

Hum!

Purple radiance bloomed from the old man's palm, and eight ribbon-like things, emitting a purple glow, swept towards Sha Wujing.

Hearing him speak, Sha Monk already knew this was a Magic Treasure for trapping people. He was slightly surprised, then immediately flashed his body and retreated several dozen to a hundred meters. However, among those eight rays of light, two blocked his rear, sticking right against his back. Following that, a flash of purple light appeared before his eyes, and Sha Wujing disappeared, trapped inside a purple glass sphere.

However, it was only for an instant. Countless golden rays of light shone through from within this purple sphere, and in the blink of an eye, countless sword lights had already torn the purple light barrier to shreds.

However, when Sha Wujing came out, he had already lost his target.

That old man had actually completely disappeared!

Sha Wujing was confused and turned to look at Shi Jingmo. Shi Jingmo couldn't help but shake his head, saying with a serious expression: "His movements were too fast; I didn't see his actions clearly, but..."

As he spoke, Shi Jingmo looked around, then looked at the ground, and said in a deep voice: "If I had to guess, he should be beneath this ground!"

"Earth-Walking Technique?"

Sha Wujing exclaimed in surprise, "This old man can actually use this technique? This is one of the Divine Abilities from the ancient period. There are only two people in heaven and earth who possess this ability: one is Earth Mansion Star Lord Tu Xingsun, and the other is Seven Killings Star Lord Zhang Kui. This old man is just from the Yao Race; how could he know such a great technique?"

Shi Jingmo asked in surprise: "Is this kind of technique... very difficult?"

"Ordinary tunneling is not difficult, but when using the Earth-Walking Technique, entering and exiting the ground is silent. When moving underground, all objects and obstacles underground are as if they don't exist. Even the sand, stones, and tree roots in the soil—anything connected to the earth's Qi—will not hinder them. It is just like... flying in the sky. Moreover, the Earth-Walking Technique is extremely fast, like teleportation, and when coming out of the ground, not a speck of dust will touch the body!" Sha Wujing said, "Only in this way does it deserve to be called a Divine Ability!"

"In other words... he intends to launch a sneak attack?"

Shi Jingmo couldn't help but curl his lips and say, "We are still more than ten zhang away from the ground here. Isn't a sneak attack from this distance a bit too far!"

Sha Wujing chuckled: "Junior Brother, you are thinking too naively..."

Bang!

A stream of light suddenly stabbed over from diagonally below behind him; it was clearly a Flying Sword. Sha Wujing reacted extremely quickly, turning his hand to deflect the Flying Sword. The Flying Sword suddenly turned, and with a 'swish', it dove into the ground and disappeared.

"This is the powerful part of the Earth-Walking Technique!"

Sha Wujing narrowed his eyes and explained to Shi Jingmo, "Junior Brother, can you see what's going on?"

"The person using the Earth-Walking Technique..." Shi Jingmo's eyes lit up, "All objects on him will be affected by the Earth-Walking Technique, becoming intangible and formless underground, and he can control them to attack at any time. And as soon as they leave the ground, these things will instantly become tangible entities!"

"That's right, this is the powerful aspect of this technique!"

Sha Wujing suddenly turned around. In mid-air, there was another 'clang' sound. This time, two Flying Swords were knocked away simultaneously, but in the blink of an eye, they dove into the ground and disappeared without a trace.

"Senior Brother, actually, although this technique is powerful, it's not completely impossible to break, right!" Shi Jingmo smiled.

"Indeed, there are many ways to break it. For example, Tu Xingsun's Master, Ju Liusun, knew a technique called 'Pointing at the Earth to Turn it into Steel', which specifically counters this Earth-Walking Technique. Since we don't know this technique, we can only use other methods. If one understands the technique of X-ray vision, one can easily grasp its movements, or if one's reaction is fast enough, one can determine his position when he launches an attack. Of course, there is also using a Formation to seal the entire ground nearby, or unleashing a large-area attack to collapse the ground—perhaps these could all break this situation!"

Sha Wujing chuckled, "But as you can see, the location of our battle is too close to the city. Once a large-area, high-power move is used, it will inevitably cause some damage to the soil under the city wall, and it is even very likely to damage the city wall itself. Therefore, even if there is a defensive Formation, this risk cannot be taken. And although Senior Brother once taught me the X-ray vision technique, my Aptitude was too poor, and I only learned a half-baked version that is completely useless, so..."

"So we can only rely on reactions to counterattack..."

Shi Jingmo said, "Do you need my help? We are on the battlefield now; even if you and I fight him together, it's a common occurrence. I don't think he will complain about that!"

"But I am still a bit concerned about my Face!"

Sha Wujing narrowed his eyes and sneered, "The guy in front of us being able to use this move shouldn't be because his Earth-Walking Technique is so brilliant, but because of his own innate Divine Ability..."

Swish!

A ray of light suddenly appeared. Sha Wujing suddenly turned his head, only to see that the old man had appeared behind him at some point, and the golden mace in his hand was smashing towards him with great force.

Sha Wujing suddenly raised his zen staff, but he was blasted down from the sky by the sheer force of this strike. However, he was not injured and stood firmly on the ground. When he looked up, he saw that figure, fast as lightning, falling into the ground from the sky again, without even kicking up any dust!

"Heh, interesting..." Sha Wujing simply closed his eyes, because sometimes, eyesight actually affects his reactions; the most intuitive things are often the most accurate. He released the Immortal Yuan energy from his body, distributing it within half a foot around his body, carefully feeling the movements and the flow of air around him.

The water-polished zen staff in his hand tilted slightly, pointing at the ground.

Suddenly, a fluctuation in the air came from the side-rear. He suddenly turned his hand and flung the water-polished zen staff out. The water-polished zen staff, as if it had grown eyes, rotated half a circle in the sky and fiercely knocked away the Flying Sword stabbing from behind. Then, as if Sha Wujing were commanding the zen staff, he formed a seal with both hands, his right hand turned into a sword finger, and he suddenly slashed forward. The zen staff traced a graceful arc, completely deflecting the two Flying Swords directly in front of him.

Following that, a spectacular scene appeared. Hundreds of Flying Swords suddenly emerged from the soil, surrounding and attacking Sha Wujing from various tricky angles, but he commanded the zen staff, sweeping back and forth in mid-air, blocking them all completely.

His movements were bold and unconstrained, dodging and maneuvering, utilizing every possible change. The Flying Swords dancing all over the sky suddenly appeared and then suddenly disappeared, as if countless flickering fireflies had appeared on the battlefield, only these "fireflies" held intense murderous intent.

"Hmm... the position of the Flying Swords... although they appear in different locations, but..."

Sha Wujing suddenly opened his eyes, "But, I can faintly feel that the Flying Swords are being guided by the same force, and the source of this force is right at that location..."