A journey through the world of martial arts

Chapter 139 The Storm of Nine Mountains
Seeing the flying shuttle approaching, Xue Ming's blood energy surged, and he brought his two swords together in a cross slash. A blood-red light quickly met the attack. The lightning shuttle collided with the blood-red light, and white and red light flashed for a moment. Then, the blood-red light shattered, and the lightning shuttle spun back and landed in Wei Feng's hand.

"Master Yin, this blood puppet is already of superior grade, and I have also sensed an incongruous spirituality within it. It is this spirituality that is supporting it. Master Yin, please be careful."

Wei Feng had obtained some useful information from that brief probing move, and he immediately told Yin Zhong. The latter nodded, drew his longsword, took a few steps closer, and stared directly at Xue Ming.

“This person’s skill is extraordinary, I am no match for him.” Blood Demon’s eyes flashed red as he examined the four people who had suddenly appeared. The other three were nothing special, but the one in the lead had an aura as majestic as a mountain and as vast as a river, and there was a power within him that he found extremely repulsive.

Seeing Yin Zhong's actions, a red light flashed in Xue Ming's eyes. He roared and ignored the unconscious Fang Wei. With a clang of his twin blades, he attacked Yin Zhong. The latter was fearless. His long sword shone with a dazzling white light. He moved in an instant and slashed down with his sword. His unparalleled and powerful force was like a tidal wave, which forced Xue Ming to retreat several steps, leaving a deep trench in the ground.

"Master Wei, you go and rescue Mr. Fang. I'll deal with this evil spirit."

After speaking, Yin Zhong took a step forward and charged forward like lightning, stabbing at Xue Ming. The latter warily raised a blood energy shield, but when the sword light pierced into it, it seemed to sink into a quagmire.

The pressure on the sword suddenly increased, but Yin Zhong's expression remained unchanged. With a flick of his wrist, the sword suddenly shone brightly, and a chilling sword aura swept through the air like a whirlwind, stirring up the blood energy. Before Xue Ming could react, a terrifying sword wound had already appeared on its shoulder.

Yin Zhong pressed his advantage relentlessly, leaning forward as his sword flashed like lightning, its cold light piercing Xue Ming's eyes, its weak point.

Just as Yin Zhong suppressed Xue Ming, Wei Feng brought Meng Yu and Wang Xiao to Fang Wei's side. After checking his condition, Wei Feng's heart sank. Fang Wei's condition was extremely bad. Both arms had been cut off, his blood energy had been drained, and his vital energy was severely damaged. Even if he was saved, he would be a cripple.

"Junior Brother Wang, take out three 'Blood Qi Pills'."

Upon hearing this, Wang Xiao took out the Blazing Furnace, lifted the lid, and pinched out three blood-red pills, handing them to Wei Feng. The latter fed them all to Fang Wei, then placed a palm against his back. Stimulated by a surge of true energy, the blood pills took effect, slowly replenishing Fang Wei's depleted blood energy.

"Junior Brother Wang, you're in charge of looking after this person. Junior Brother Meng, let's go lend Master Yin a hand."

Upon hearing this, Meng Yu nodded.

Knowing that his skills were slightly weaker and he probably couldn't be of much help, Wang Xiao immediately replied, "Be careful, senior brothers," and then flew towards Jiushan City with Fang Wei.

On the other side, Yin Zhong relied on his profound skills to firmly suppress Xue Ming. However, in just a short while, the blood energy around Xue Ming had weakened considerably and could no longer protect him. These revelations were all flaws in Yin Zhong's eyes.

Stunned and forced back, Xue Ming's eyes flashed with intense red light. He threw his twin blades toward the sky, where they swirled and transformed into a massive, blood-red blade that, reflecting the blood moon in the sky, cleaved through mountains and cleaved down.

Even before the giant blade reached him, the pressure increased dramatically. Yin Zhong let out a deep shout and brandished his long sword. Streams of white light shot into the sky like flying arrows. When the giant blade and the white light intersected, a series of shocking explosions created rolling waves of air, forcing both sides of the battle to retreat simultaneously.

Relying on the spiritual power of the Blood God, Xue Ming was the first to regain his footing, sheathed his twin swords, and headed towards Yin Zhong in the dust. Just then, a flying beam and a beastly shadow threatened him. Xue Ming's eyes sharpened, and he swung his sword to defend himself, a hazy blood light protecting the area in front of him.

The flying blades, beast shadows, and blood light collided, each retreating backward before charging forward again. Seeing this, Xue Ming advanced instead of retreating, shooting two red beams from his eyes, freezing the flying shuttle and beast shadow in place for a moment. With a horizontal slash, the flying shuttle wailed, and the beast shadow shattered.

"This scoundrel is cunning."

After retrieving the electric shuttle, Wei Feng checked it and was immediately heartbroken. The spiritual light on it was weak, indicating that it had been severely damaged and could not be used again for a while.

Meng Yu fared slightly better. Although the wolf spirit beast shadow was broken, as long as the white jade fan was not destroyed, the beast shadow could be recalled. However, the beast could not help in the short term. Fortunately, there were five other beast shadows.

Although Xue Ming successfully severely injured the flying shuttle and the beast shadow, it paid a heavy price. Its already thin blood energy was now showing signs of dissipation. Yin Zhong, who was standing to the side, obviously would not miss this opportunity. He slashed diagonally with his sword, and the sword light swept across the sky, making Xue Ming feel that it could not resist.

With a "bang," Xue Ming took a direct hit from Yin Zhong's sword, sending one of his blood blades flying and cracking the other with several fine lines.

"hateful"

Blood Demon's eyes changed as he was controlled by Blood God, and his aura began to become erratic. Upon seeing this, Wei Feng shouted, "Master Yin, hurry!" At the same time, he and Meng Yu attacked together, trying to stop Blood Demon's transformation. However, the latter raised his Blood Blade high, and with a clang, dozens of pieces of the Blood Blade shattered and flew towards Wei Feng and Meng Yu.

Yin Zhong understood Wei Feng's meaning. The moment Xue Ming's aura stabilized, he reached out and summoned the "Blood Luo Heavenly Instrument." The magical artifact spun in the air, and streaks of blood quickly wrapped around Xue Ming.

Upon seeing this, Xue Ming's expression changed drastically. He immediately stirred up his blood energy, attempting to break free of the blood threads. However, the more he struggled, the tighter the blood threads wrapped around him. Before long, he was entangled into a large red cocoon. Yin Zhong manipulated the magic weapon. Although Wei Feng nodded, the latter called out to Meng Yu.

The two took to the air, each holding a blood talisman. After lighting it, they threw it down, and it transformed into two blood-red flying swords that pierced the blood cocoon. In half a breath, the blood swords pierced the blood cocoon without any resistance, and a shrill roar came from inside.

The blood cocoon kept shaking, and some of the blood lines began to break. Yin Zhong remained calm and continued to pour his true energy into the "Blood Luo Heavenly Instrument," quickly suppressing it again. Soon, there was no more movement inside.

Yin Zhong remained unmoved and persisted for half an hour. After exhausting most of his true energy, Wei Feng took out a bronze mirror, looked it at the blood cocoon, and then put it away, saying to Yin Zhong, "Master Yin, you can stop now."

Wei Feng had just used his magic artifact to investigate and found that there was no longer any life force inside the blood cocoon. Yin Zhong nodded, put away his magic artifact, and looked at the blood cocoon in the arena.

Without the support of the "Blood Net Celestial Instrument", the blood lines began to slowly peel off. After three or five breaths, the true appearance inside was revealed. A blackened white skeleton fell to the ground and was blown away by the wind, turning into ashes and scattering. Only a skull, as white as jade, was smooth, lustrous, and dazzling.

"Master Wei, this is..."

Yin Zhong fiddled with the sword. This thing looked very strange. It was an evil object, but it had a good appearance. It was a treasure, but it came from a blood puppet.

“This thing cannot be kept,” Wei Feng said in a deep voice. Although he did not know what it was, he knew that anything left behind by a blood puppet was definitely not a good thing.

That's certainly true.

Seeing that Yin Zhong had no objections, Wei Feng immediately took out a talisman, recited the incantation, and then a stream of emerald-green fire landed on the skull.

The skeleton was burned by the ghostly fire and melted away as quickly as wax. In less than half a moment, it vanished without a trace, leaving no trace behind.

“Master Yin, this formation has already broken down. I can try to repair it, but the blood puppets over there won't give up so easily. We must remain cautious.”

"The Taoist priest is right."

Yin Zhong nodded upon hearing this. Even this ingenious formation couldn't stop those blood puppets. No matter how powerful they were, they absolutely couldn't deal with tens of thousands of blood puppets. The only way was to work together and use a human wave tactic. Although this method was brutal, it was the only effective one at present.

“Perhaps someone will be able to resolve this matter later,” Yin Zhong sighed, then helped Wei Feng repair the damaged array point.

Just as the blood-red sun began to rise, as the light flowed, the array points were repaired and reconnected with the previous array mechanism.

"Master Yin, my cultivation is shallow, and this is all I can do. If the Blood Puppet attacks this place, I'm afraid we can only hold out for half a year."

"Six months is enough."

Yin Zhong pondered for a moment. At worst, he would use Jiushan City as a base and the Blood Luo Heavenly Instrument as the array base to set up a large array, firmly pinning this place down and preventing the Blood Puppet from taking another step forward.

The three of them inspected other areas again, made some repairs, found Wang Xiao, and returned to Jiushan City with the unconscious Fang Wei.

Just as Yin Zhong and the others eliminated Xue Ming, a humanoid blood shadow began to solidify deep within the Corpse Bone Plain of Xiyuan Prefecture, while the blood mist surrounding it thinned out.

Jiushan City
When City Lord Wang Hao saw Yin Zhong and the others return, he immediately went to greet them.

"Lord, we have failed in our mission. We were a step too late and could only manage to rescue Mr. Fang. All the others have perished. The blood puppet has temporarily retreated, but Lord, you must remain vigilant."

Wei Feng bowed, his heart filled with extreme anger. Besides the martial arts practitioners, more than twenty disciples of the Supreme Path had also sacrificed themselves for the Dao. This loss was considerable.

Upon hearing this, Wang Hao's face showed sorrow. He remained silent, stepped aside to make way, and gestured for Yin Zhong and the others to bow in greeting before heading into the city.

"City Lord"

Wang Hao turned to his trusted aide and said, "Go and take all the nourishing medicinal herbs from the storeroom and send them to Master Yin and Daoist Wei; they might find them useful."

"Yes," the confidant replied and hurriedly went to prepare.

"City Lord, with Master Yin and Daoist Wei here, Nine Mountain City is safe for the time being, but we must plan for the long term."

"I'll discuss this matter with Master Yin and Daoist Wei to see what their plans are. By the way, is there any news about reinforcements from the rear?"

"The three cities in the rear have replied one after another, and reinforcements are already on their way. Judging by the time, they should arrive soon."

"That's good. The Blood Puppet has retreated for now, but who knows when it will return. Give the order to the soldiers to be on high alert. If they discover any unusual activity, report it immediately. Anyone who neglects their duty will be executed without mercy."

In the courtyard, Wang Xiao was using the "Flaming Cauldron" to heal Fang Wei. Half an hour later, Wang Xiao put away the magic weapon, his face slightly pale.

“Senior Brother, Master Yin, Mr. Fang is temporarily out of danger, but when he will wake up is up to fate.” Wei Feng looked at Yin Zhong and said, “Mr. Fang was on his last legs, held together only by sheer willpower. It’s already quite an achievement that he’s survived.”

"I understand, but it's a pity that such a hero met such an end. It's truly heartbreaking. He's a scourge of the world, and I will make sure he dies a gruesome death."

"Master Yin, I don't know what to do next," Wei Feng asked in a deep voice.

After Yin Zhong helped them hunt the Ink-Scaled Dragonfish, Wei Feng held Yin Zhong in high esteem, admiration, and a bit of scheming. But after this incident, all that scheming disappeared.

"I, Yin, plan to use my magical artifact as the base of an array, drawing upon the earth's spiritual energy to set up a magic array in Nine Mountain City. This array might be able to hold off the Blood Puppet army for a short time, and the Taoist priest's help will be indispensable in this endeavor."

"This is the proper course of action, but we need to inform Lord Wang first, as the cost would be too high."

When Wei Feng heard that Yin Zhong wanted to extract the earth's energy, he was first surprised, then agreed. If Jiushan City fell, the earth's spiritual energy would also be eroded. Why not extract it now and use it where it's needed? Even if it fails, this place will become a barren wasteland, leaving nothing useful for the Blood Puppet.

"This matter will be handled by Yin. As for finding suitable locations for the array, we will leave that to the Taoist priests."

Although Yin Zhong was good at setting up formations, everyone has their own expertise, and Wei Feng and the others knew more about formations than he did.

Wei Feng nodded upon hearing this. As the group was discussing, a guard knocked on the door and said, "Master, City Lord Wang has sent someone to deliver a large quantity of medicinal herbs."

"understood"

Yin Zhong opened the door and saw one of Wang Hao's trusted confidants standing behind the iron guards, with wooden boxes placed behind him.

"Master Yin, this is a small token of the city lord's appreciation; please do not refuse."

Upon seeing Yin Zhong emerge, his trusted confidants immediately stepped forward, displaying utmost respect.

"Please thank the city lord for his kindness; I will accept these gifts."

Upon hearing this, the confidant immediately felt relieved. After saying a few more words, he was about to take his leave when he heard Yin Zhong's voice.

"Please convey my message to Lord Wang that Yin Zhong has important matters to discuss."

"I will certainly convey your message. Farewell."

After watching his confidant leave, Yin Zhong checked the items and left behind an old ginseng root and several other precious medicinal herbs, intending to use them on Fang Wei.

"Collect the rest and save them for when necessary."

The guards agreed and carried all the wooden crates downstairs.

The following day, Yin Zhong and Wang Hao discussed the deployment of troops.

"Master Yin, if we follow your method, how long can this formation be maintained?"

"It could take three years at most, or as little as one year," Yin Zhong told him truthfully, without hiding anything.

Upon hearing this, Wang Hao stood up, pondered for a moment, and said, "Master Yin, I agree to this matter, but for now, please don't let anyone else know. This matter is far too significant, and I will bear all the responsibility afterward."

"Lord Wang, what are you doing?"

"Master Yin, there's no need for further words. What Master Chen and Mr. Fang can do, I can't help with. Now, I, Wang, will contribute whatever I can. Master Yin, you are free to mobilize the manpower for setting up the formation."

"it is good"

Having received Wang Hao's order, Wei Feng and his team found a suitable array point within three days. Yin Zhong immediately arranged for people to set up the array base, claiming it was for purifying the earth's veins.

Just as Yin Zhong and the others were setting up the formation in Jiushan City, the blood shadow deep in the Corpse Bone Plain of Xiyuan Prefecture gradually transformed into a human form, and the blood mist that enveloped the entire prefecture flowed back like rivers converging into the sea.

In Lianyun Prefecture, Gu Xu, who was in seclusion, had black and white auras crisscrossing around him. The moment he opened his eyes, a flash of light disappeared. He sensed the strange phenomenon in Xiyuan Prefecture. After silently observing for a moment, Gu Xu made up his mind.

"If it hadn't taken shape, I wouldn't have had much trouble dealing with you. But since you've come this far, you've chosen your own death."

With a cold laugh in his heart, Gu Xu closed his eyes and accelerated the completion of the final accumulation.

Several months later, in Xiyuan Prefecture, a loud rumbling sound was heard, as if the sky had collapsed. The sky above was clear, except for the blood sun hanging high. The Waiting for Me Formation set up by Gu Xu was also torn open. Although the formation tried its best to mend it, there was an unusual force blocking it, and it could not be restored to its original state.

The nearby Jiushan City was as if struck by an earth dragon, but fortunately, the formation dispersed the earth's energy, thus preventing too many casualties.

Looking at the clear blue sky, Yin Zhong frowned, silently sensing for a moment, then turned to Wei Feng and asked, "Daoist Master, have you noticed anything unusual?"

Yin Zhong had just felt a jolt, as if something bad was about to happen. Coupled with the dissipation of the blood mist, he couldn't help but suspect that it was the work of those blood puppets.

"Master Yin, trouble has arrived."

What kind of trouble?

"The supreme being within the blood mist, who is also the creator of the blood mist, has appeared in the world."

Wei Feng stared at the distant sky with a gloomy expression. As a person of the Supreme Dao, he was all too familiar with the aura originating from the Blood Shadow Divine Art.

"Blood Mist Supreme"

Yin Zhong muttered something, then his figure flashed and he arrived on the city wall. The "Blood Luo Heavenly Instrument," which served as the array element, was buzzing and spinning rapidly, as if it had been stimulated by something.

"Master Yin, this is..."

Although Wang Hao didn't understand formations, he knew something was wrong, since the treasure had been spinning very slowly for a while.

"Lord Wang, things have changed. You should retreat for now and leave the rest to us."

Wei Feng led Meng Yu and Wang Xiao up and replied.

Upon hearing this, Wang Hao knew he couldn't get involved, so he said, "Then I'll leave it to you two."

After speaking, Wang Hao led his trusted men down the city wall. On the way, he instructed his men to inform the martial arts practitioners to prepare for battle.

"Master Yin, this demon is newly born and will inevitably need a period of stabilization. During this time, we are safe."

"Master, what do you think if we take the initiative to go there, wouldn't it be..."

"No, this demon needs a lot of essence to stabilize its cultivation. If we give up our advantage to fight it, we have no chance of winning, and we will only needlessly shorten its lifespan. The best course of action now is to wait. With the natural defenses of Nine Mountain City and the array formation, we may still have a fighting chance."

"The Taoist priest seems to be stalling for time. Could he perhaps have some other trick up his sleeve?"

From Wei Feng's heavy tone, Yin Zhong sensed another meaning: could it be that someone from the sect would intervene, or was there another reason?

"This humble Taoist priest is merely speculating; the Zhenwu Temple of Lianyun Prefecture will not stand idly by."

"I've heard of the True Martial Hall. Aren't they busy clearing out the Blood Puppets in Lianyun Prefecture? Even if they can spare some resources, it probably won't make a difference."

Yin Zhong only recently learned of the name Zhenwu Hall. Its strength is indeed extraordinary, but it is still not enough to deal with such a demon.

"Master Yin, you may not know this, but the truly powerful figure in the True Martial Hall is that Supreme Being."

"Sir?
"Slaying the Crimson Blood Demon Lord, sealing off the Demon Buddha sect, and purifying the Shangyuan River veins—Master Yin, do you understand the significance of this person?"

(End of this chapter)