Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Chapter 103: Zi Yang's Plan: One Against Eight
Between the inner and outer rings of the Dongxu Mountain Secret Realm, stands a circular mountain range thousands of feet high.

This mountain range is like a huge wall reaching to the sky. Halfway up the mountain, it is covered with white snow. The strong wind locks the abundant spiritual energy in the inner ring and also keeps the disciples of various sects in the outer ring.

There are only three passages that lead through the ring of mountains and into the inner ring.

One of the passages is a narrow canyon with steep cliffs on both sides and a small path in the middle that can accommodate several people walking side by side.

Follow this road for a mile or two and you’ll enter the inner ring.

At this time, the sky gradually darkened, the sun set and the moon rose. Outside a strip of sky, a dozen monks were scattered on both sides, guarding the entrance to the path.

There are nine people on the left, all dressed in purple, and they are disciples of Zi Yang Sect.

There are seven people on the right, wearing plain white clothes with Tai Chi patterns painted on them, and an ancient Chinese character "Yuan" painted on their cuffs. They are the disciples of Guiyuan Sect.

The disciples of the two sects were clearly divided and would occasionally sneer at each other, but on the surface they seemed peaceful.

The disciples of Guiyuan Sect were all silent, looking around, wary of the disciples from the other four sects approaching the passage.

The disciples of Zi Yang Sect were much more leisurely, led by a handsome young monk with broad shoulders and a tall stature, surrounded by three other disciples of Zi Yang Sect.

Four people sat cross-legged on a cushion with a low black wooden table in front of them, sipping tea and chatting. Their manners were elegant, like literati and scholars going out for an outing.

A small formation was set up beside the few people, which had the effect of soundproofing and at the same time blocking the penetration of spiritual consciousness.

A long-faced disciple smiled and said:
“During this trip to the secret realm, our sect will join hands with Guiyuan Sect to block the disciples of the four sects from entering the passage. We will definitely be able to plunder all the spiritual herbs in the inner ring and recreate the grand occasion when our sect monopolized the secret realm of Dongxu Mountain ten thousand years ago!”

Another person echoed:

"Brother Ji is right, but we still need to guard against the disciples from the other four sects from entering the inner circle. If we let them in and disrupt our sect's plans, the elders will blame us and we'll be in trouble."

After these words were spoken, the atmosphere became a little dull.

This trip to the secret realm is of great importance and is highly valued by the Jindan elders. If something goes wrong, the consequences will be disastrous.

The handsome monk didn't care and sneered:
"My fellow apprentices and I have been guarding this line of heaven for a whole day, and no one has been allowed into the inner ring. Even though we have no credit, we have worked hard. On the contrary, if Qin Xuanning fails to collect enough spiritual herbs, Elder Xie will blame him, hehe..."

The handsome cultivator is named Qi Hong. He possesses the dual spiritual roots of wood and fire. He is one of the top disciples of Zi Yang Sect and has great strength. Although he is not well-known in the immortal cultivation world of Qi State, he has many fans in Zi Yang Sect.

He and Qin Xuanning had often fought with each other, but Elder Xie was slightly inferior to him in strength. During this trip to the secret realm, Elder Xie arranged for him to guard the passage, while the task of collecting spiritual herbs was given to Qin Xuanning.

Qi Hong did not dare to make any comment on the elders' arrangement, but he felt quite resentful in his heart and did not hide it in front of his trusted junior fellow apprentice.

The long-faced disciple who spoke first smiled sinisterly:
"Don't worry, Senior Brother Qi. Elder Xie arranged for Du Yu to search for spiritual herbs with Qin Xuanning. Du Yu has a violent temper and will never follow Qin Xuanning's instructions. In my opinion, these two people are hindering each other and are likely to fail."

These words were exactly what Qi Hong wanted. He was very happy and said:
"That's right! I want to see how many spiritual herbs Qin Xuanning can collect this time. Senior Brothers Lin, Pang, and Gu and I will block three passages to eliminate his worries. If he can't find the spiritual herbs that the elders want, it is not impossible that the elders will be furious and strip him of his position as a true disciple."

As a thousand-year-old sect, Zi Yang Sect has a profound foundation. It has established the position of true disciples and has devoted all its efforts to cultivating disciples with outstanding talents and providing them with a large amount of resources. The other five major sects do not have such conditions.

But the requirements for becoming a true disciple are extremely strict, with only one vacancy every ten years.

Three years ago, Qin Xuanning stood out and got the support of Elder Xie to become a true disciple, which made Qi Hong extremely indignant and he wanted to snatch him away all the time.

At this point, Qi Hong suddenly frowned, raised his head and glanced at the dark sky, and said:
"Junior Brother Gu has been chasing Ren You for several hours, but he hasn't returned yet. Could it be that he has run into some trouble?"

The long-faced disciple smiled and said:

"Senior Brother Gu has four fellow disciples accompanying him. Even if Ren You knows the art of splitting light and transforming it into shadows, he can't be a match for Senior Brother Gu. However, sword cultivators are very good at long battles. It must be that Senior Brother Gu couldn't defeat him for the time being, so it took him so long."

Upon hearing this, Qi Hong frowned even tighter and shouted:

"No, Junior Brother Gu has always been a man of his own ideas. How could he delay for so long just for Ren You? He must have met with an accident!"

He waved his sleeves, put the black wooden table into the storage bag, stood up, and said:

"Ren You is a man of great courage. If Junior Brother Gu dies at the hands of Ren You, he will definitely gather his fellow disciples and force his way through the passage after he escapes!"

He immediately removed the formation and said loudly:
"Ren You is very likely to have escaped Junior Brother Gu's pursuit. Everyone, please be careful and be on guard to prevent anyone from breaking into the passage!"

When everyone heard this, whether they were disciples of Ziyang Sect or Guiyuan Sect, they all felt a chill in their hearts. Gu Zhaoshi, like Qi Hong, was a cultivator with earth spirit roots, gifted with extraordinary talents and powerful means.

He led four disciples of Zi Yang Sect, but they were unable to kill Ren You. Could it be that sword cultivators are really invincible at the same level?
As Qi Hong spoke, a blue flying sword came shooting out from a distance, as powerful as thunder and as fast as lightning.

Qi Hong's expression changed and he shouted:

"Meet the enemy!"

He touched the storage bag and a shield flew out, blocking in front of him.

Everyone took out defensive weapons to protect themselves.

But the blue flying sword was extremely fast. Even though Qi Hong reminded everyone, he still found a flaw and cut a Zi Yang Sect disciple into two pieces.

Everyone else's expressions changed, this was the sword cultivator, his sword was flying everywhere, coming and going without a trace!

At the same time, a purple flying needle suddenly rose from the bushes and pierced into the throat of another Zi Yang Sect disciple, killing him on the spot!

At this time, Chen Yuan and his seven men rushed out from behind a small hill and headed straight for the disciples of the two sects to kill.

After they decided to take action, they sneaked within a hundred feet of the passage and waited for an opportunity.

Chen Yuan's spiritual awareness is powerful, and he has been secretly eavesdropping on the movements of the disciples of the two sects.

When he saw that Qi Hong was on guard, he let Ren You attack first, and then he controlled the purple bee needle and sneaked close to the ground. After everyone's attention was attracted by the flying sword, he suddenly jumped up and successfully killed one person.

The surprise attack was successful, and the next step was a frontal assault. The seven people used different methods to attack.

Yang Caijun and Mu Peng released two flying swords and found two Ziyang Sect disciples.

They were not as strong as Ren You, but the flying swords in their hands were also extremely sharp. They flew back and forth very quickly and killed the two men in a very miserable state. They only had the power to defend but no ability to counterattack.

Xue Lin threw the folding fan in his hand forward, and the landscape painting on the fan shone brightly. A fairy crane spirit flew out and pecked at the long-faced disciple, then took out a flying sword and slashed at the man.

This flying sword in Xue Lin's hand is far less swift and sharp than the ones in Yang Caijun and Mu Peng's hands.

But this flying sword is also a top-grade magical weapon. When combined with the fairy crane spirit, it was hard to separate the two from the long-faced disciple.

Song Qingru took out a wooden hairpin and transformed it into nine wooden hairpins, which were difficult to distinguish between the real and the fake. He attacked a disciple of Ziyang Sect. Although he could not do anything to him, he made this person unable to take care of other things.

He Xin took out a copper bell, which made a shrill sound and attacked a disciple of Zi Yang Sect.

The sound of the bell was invisible, but when it hit the disciple's protective magic weapon, it made a series of sounds of metal clashing, which made him dare not be careless at all.

They all used their best skills, and Ren You did not hold back at all. He pointed his fingers and shouted:

"point!"

The blue flying sword split into two sword shadows, a total of three flying swords, all slashing towards Qi Hong!

Chen Yuan had the greatest momentum, controlling seven dark short blades to attack the seven Guiyuan Sect disciples respectively. He then threw out the Chixiao Sword to capture the last remaining Ziyang Sect disciple.

The seven Guiyuan Sect disciples became furious upon seeing this.

This disciple of Lingyun Sect is so arrogant that he can fight against eight people alone. Who does he think he is?

They are all disciples carefully trained by Guiyuan Sect, and are not those independent cultivators with low strength and crude magic weapons!

Even the top figures from each faction, such as Qin Xuanning, Zhong Mianye, Dai Qing, and Ren You, would not dare to be so arrogant!
Seeing that Chen Yuan was actually trying to hold back eight people by himself, Qi Hong was overjoyed and shouted:

"Fellow Daoists from Guiyuan Sect, first work together to kill this man, and then help me and my fellow disciples to keep them all here!"

Thanks to EricWSC for the tip!
I have been spending the New Year in my hometown these days. I will go home tomorrow and resume normal updates starting the day after tomorrow.

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(End of this chapter)