Today was the full moon.
As soon as night fell, Lin Ling felt her cultivation constantly fluctuating.
She was a bit apprehensive, unsure if this would cause any harm.
After arriving at the agreed-upon location, Lin Ling followed Gong Xuance’s instructions and stood in the center of a patch of barren land.
As soon as she stepped onto the bald earth in the middle, ripples rose from the ground one after another, gradually constructing a unique formation.
Gong Xuance hurriedly pushed away the sword blade Xiu Jiming had pressed against his neck, explaining, “Don’t be nervous, Junior Brother. This is a trap set by that kid. How can we catch him if Little Ling’er doesn’t step into it? Rest easy, it’s definitely nothing dangerous.”
Lin Ling became curious and crouched down to examine it.
Confirming it was a type of formation she had never seen before, she felt a sense of intrigue.
Just as she was about to sit down and study it properly, Gong Xuance sent a voice transmission: “Little Ling’er, what are you doing? Quickly reveal your soul’s Original Form!”
Hearing this, Lin Ling let out a somewhat reluctant “oh” and gave up on inspecting the charms.
‘Sigh, it’s late at night anyway, so I can’t see the charms very clearly. Once they catch this guy, I’ll have plenty of opportunities.’
She sat in the center, reciting the GLIMMERING MOONLIGHT HEART SUTRA in her mind.
Using the moonlight to temper her body, she allowed the True Essence within her meridians to complete one perfect cycle after another.
Then, following the method in her memory, she released her Original Form.
In the next moment, the Little Fox’s tail flicked uneasily.
Soon, the silhouette of a petite white fox gradually emerged behind Lin Ling.
Just as Lin Ling was wondering what use this had, she suddenly felt the ground give way beneath her feet.
Her entire body felt as if it were falling into an abyss.
A strong sense of weightlessness enveloped Lin Ling.
She instinctively clawed at the air, but found she could grasp nothing.
She began to panic, and right at that moment, a majestic sword light fell from the sky.
“SWORD ECHOES THROUGH THE HEAVENS!”
Xiu Jiming shouted as he raised his sword.
As the strike arrived, Lin Ling felt as if the entire space were being sliced open by the blade.
An incredibly vast sword intent enveloped her, leaving her somewhat at a loss.
Another wave of dizzying weightlessness hit her.
In the next moment, Lin Ling felt herself fall into someone’s arms.
Looking up, she saw Xiu Jiming’s face, and her heart immediately relaxed.
Xiu Jiming gave Lin Ling a gentle look before looking up at the person who had appeared before him and Gong Xuance.
His expression was none too pleasant.
Standing before the three of them was an old man over seventy years old.
He looked at his own palm with an expression of utter disbelief, then muttered in confusion, “How did that manage to cut me?”
For a moment, the old man was unsure how to proceed.
Gong Xuance’s figure rose from the shadows like a ghost.
His right hand’s five fingers spread slightly as he pressed forward in a seemingly slow motion.
However, in the old man’s eyes, that palm magnified infinitely the moment it was pushed out.
The patterns on the palm transformed into mountains and ravines, carrying a terrifying power that locked down all eight directions as it slammed toward his body.
The old man failed to dodge.
He let out a muffled groan as a circle of protective green light erupted from his body, only to shatter with a loud *crack*.
His entire body was sent flying as if hit by a mountain. He exclaimed, “CLOUD-HIDING HEAVEN-SEIZING PALM! Good kid! I know who you are now. Stop, we come from the same lineage!”
Gong Xuance didn’t listen to his nonsense.
Palm print after palm print flew out, giving him no room to breathe.
Lin Ling hid to the side and watched the two of them cornering the old man.
She marveled at the sight and immediately thought about cheering for them.
—
At that moment, Gong Xuance suddenly shouted, “Little Ling’er, watch out! It’s not that simple!”
Sure enough, the old man was being beaten until he was out of breath by the two-pronged attack.
Just as it looked like he was about to be cut down by Xiu Jiming’s sword, he suddenly formed hand seals and roared, “Good kid, you forced my hand! YUXU GROTTO-HEAVEN!”
As he completed the hand seals, rings of light appeared behind him one by one.
A total of seven rings flew out, separating the group in an instant.
Xiu Jiming’s face darkened, but his reactions were swift.
With a single sword strike, he broke the ring of light that was wrapping around Lin Ling.
Afterward, both he and Gong Xuance were pulled into an unknown space.
Suddenly, Lin Ling was the only one left standing blankly on the spot.
Lin Ling was puzzled, but soon, cries of agonizing wails reached her ears.
This caused her to look around warily, though she couldn’t see anything.
‘Am I haunted???’
Just as she was about to slip away, she witnessed a terrifying scene.
One after another, grayish-black silhouettes of Xiemo crawled out of the ground, constantly closing in on her.
Lin Ling’s face darkened with frustration.
She decided not to complain about how their appearance looked exactly like monsters spawning in a game.
Instead, she hurriedly retreated while throwing out yellow paper charms.
As she continued to kill the Xiemo, even more of them crawled out from underground.
‘What the hell, can someone explain to me what exactly is going on?’
Clearly, there was no one around who could explain the situation.
Xiu Jiming had fallen into a valley.
He looked toward the sky with a grim expression and muttered quietly, “Senior Brother, don’t let me down.”
In another space, Gong Xuance had been running around for a while but couldn’t escape the violent storm.
He scratched his head somewhat helplessly.
‘I really underestimated this guy a bit. But it should be fine, right?’
Gong Xuance looked around at the situation and felt slightly relieved; it wasn’t a major issue.
He smiled slightly, guessing that the Little Fox should be able to handle things on her end.
‘But things are troublesome on my side. It’s been so long since I’ve fought. I might not be able to withstand it if he throws something like this at me.’
Gong Xuance sighed.
An unfamiliar figure appeared before him, holding a long spear with a cold, indifferent expression.
Through his recent investigations, Gong Xuance roughly understood that the Mysterious Stone from Beyond had been stolen by a recently rising newcomer.
This fellow was someone who called himself the Heavenly Lord of Yuxu Purple Pole Heaven.
Because Gong Xuance had been in prison for nearly twenty years, he was quite cut off from the outside world’s news.
He hadn’t managed to grasp all the powers of the Yuxu Grotto-Heaven immediately.
He only knew it was a treasure that had fallen from the Star Realm.
After obtaining this treasure and some unknown stroke of luck, that man had begun calling himself the Heavenly Lord of Yuxu.
The man specifically targeted treasures that fell from the Star Realm.
After learning that the Mysterious Stone from Beyond had fallen from the sky, he had focused all his attention on it.
Gong Xuance had investigated for a long time before finally finding a few clues.
The man known as Elder Yang had seen the power of the Yuxu Grotto-Heaven, so he hadn’t wanted Gong Xuance to take the risk.
However, Gong Xuance knew that his Junior Brother possessed the true legacy of the Sword Echoes Through the Heavens, so he had grown ambitious.
He had wanted to use this opportunity to catch the kid in one fell swoop.
But who could have known?
After he and Xiu Jiming attacked together, he realized this Yuxu Grotto-Heaven was somewhat beyond his expectations.
Still, there shouldn’t be any issues.
As for Xiu Jiming’s sword strike, it might not have been enough to fully break the seal on Little Ling’er’s side.
The Little Fox would likely just have a slightly lighter burden.
Gong Xuance thought to himself with a smile.
Wait, that’s not right!
He suddenly realized that since he had tricked Xiu Jiming and the girl into coming here, Xiu Jiming would probably catch him and give him a severe beating once they got out.