Controlling the Five Thunders and the Two Worlds

Chapter 373 The Ink Dragon Reveals Its True Colors

Changping Prefecture, Qinglu County, in the wilderness.

The air was crisp and clear, the sky was high and the clouds were light. Wisps of white clouds drifted in the sky, birds flew by, the branches on the ground rustled in the breeze, and there were chirping insects and birds singing. Everything seemed normal.

But when the white clouds drifted to a certain spot, they were suddenly shaken apart, and the birds, while flying, let out a cry of surprise and changed direction.

A gentle breeze suddenly appeared, carrying a faint aura imperceptible to mortals, but the occasional glimpse of dragon might that it carried also silenced the chirping of insects and the calls of birds in the forest below.

Occasionally, a few passing fairies and monsters would suddenly realize something was wrong. Although they could not see anything unusual or sense any magical fluctuations, they would still hurriedly scatter in all directions.

But in this seemingly normal mid-air, there is actually a huge space covering tens of miles in radius that is covered by an array.

The outside world is calm and peaceful, but inside, a fierce battle rages.

"boom!"

Thunder and gale, flames and colorful light, the dark Tai Chi symbol, sword energy, and celestial beasts filled the array space, wreaking havoc on heaven and earth.

In the center of the formation, a huge dragon hundreds of meters long coiled in a black cloud. Its claws were sharp, its body was hard, and its might shook the heavens. It spewed out boundless black water from its mouth, which turned into giant waves that raged and resisted the formation.

……

This is the tenth day since the black dragon fell into the formation.

Over the course of ten days, the Ink Dragon tried to break out of the formation multiple times, but was blocked each time. Instead, it consumed a great deal of magical power each time, and was nearly injured several times when the other cultivators took advantage of its weakness.

Seeing the profound mystery of the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation, although the many old Taoists who cast the spells and set up the formation were far inferior to him, the combined power of the formation could indeed contend with him, not to mention that there was also the most powerful one sitting in the central palace.

The black dragon exerted its full strength, and although it managed to shake the formation at times, it was ultimately stopped by the central palace's power.

Mo Jiao clearly sensed that if he insisted on confronting the formation head-on, he might be able to break it, but he would inevitably be injured, and the injury might not be serious.

Then he stopped being in a hurry.

Although the opponent's formation was powerful, the person who set it up was far inferior to him. Moreover, as a mobile formation, it could not absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and could only rely on the magic power of the person who set it up.

In this way, as the one with more profound magical power, Mo Jiao felt that there was no need to risk injury to break the formation. It would be better to delay for a while and break the formation in one fell swoop when the opponent's magical power was insufficient to support it.

The advantage is his!

Mo Jiao's mouth twisted into a ferocious grin. He was just waiting for the formation to show signs of weakness and defeat before he would break it. At that time, none of these dozen or so human mages, whose cultivation levels were neither high nor low, would be able to escape!
So the black dragon gathered dark clouds in the center of the formation, coiled up and sat down, and began to resist the formation.

The ringing of the copper bell kept echoing in his mind, a crisp and rhythmic sound that sometimes made him dizzy and sometimes made him feel disoriented.

The one who roused the copper bell was Gu Zhao, whose method was "Five Tones Breaking Illusions" learned from Daoist Hanxuan, and whose rhythm was the suona and drum learned from Daoist Jinghong and Daoist Taixian.

The sound of the bell, accompanied by the murmur of the "Scripture of Salvation," swirled in Mo Jiao's mind, forcing him to concentrate and guard his soul, which was extremely taxing.

Outside the circle, the power of the Bagua Formation exceeded his expectations.

The Eight Trigrams circulate and the Eight Gates interchange, containing Yin and Yang and the Five Elements within, and manifesting various methods without. Although the person who activated the formation was not highly skilled, once the magical power was gathered, he had to fight back with all his might to ensure that he would not be injured.

During these ten days, he was exhausted by everything, from the seven divine prisons representing the underworld to the statue of Tianpeng representing the heavens, and the unparalleled five-colored lightning, as well as the sharp and piercing sword and saber energy.

It was precisely because he clearly sensed that these people's cultivation level was only a few hundred years when he set up the formation, which was far behind his own, that he might have been tempted to risk damaging his own essence by violently breaking the formation.

However, after ten days of intense combat, even Mo Jiao felt his magical power gradually dwindling, but the bell in his sea of ​​consciousness remained stable and continuous, and the attack power of the Bagua Formation showed no signs of weakening.

"What's going on?" Mo Jiao's eyes revealed confusion and anger.

But the Daoists who were in charge of the formation were in much better spirits. "The dark clouds beneath the Ink Dragon's mount are becoming unstable," Daoist Yansong said with keen insight.

"His scales, scorched by the Southern Ming Fire, are healing more and more slowly," said Daoist Shenhao, holding up the Golden Fire Bell, his white eyebrows fluttering as he spoke in a deep voice.

"The protective demonic aura is not as strong as before." Daoist Yihong and Daoist Yuanhe were most familiar with the fact that the sword and flying sword attacks were all-pervasive.

The Eight Trigrams Formation confined heaven and earth, preventing the Black Dragon from recovering its magical power during battle.

But the old Taoist priests are different!

In the eyes of ordinary people, Taoist practices emphasize health preservation, but what does health preservation represent?
It represents endurance!
These old Taoists have cultivated for many years, and their daily walking and breathing are all forms of cultivation. Recovering while fighting is instinctive for them, not to mention that the evil energy absorbed by the Thunder Seed is constantly being released and replenished within their bodies.

Therefore, not only could the elders recover during battle, but their recovery speed was also much faster than that of the Ink Dragon.

Ten days had passed, and the black dragon's demonic power had been nearly halved, but the old Taoist priests still had 90% of their magic power remaining.

Master Qingyuan and Master Qingwei combined their swords, one yin and one yang, to form a Tai Chi diagram directly below the black dragon. The yin and yang flowed, like a vortex that devoured everything, slowly rising towards the dark clouds.

"Humph!"

With a snort, the black dragon moved its feet, and the dark clouds crashed down, mingling with the Taiji diagram. The dark clouds spread, and the water vapor was eerie. Under the wear and tear of the demonic power, the Taiji diagram was quickly worn away.

But a sword light flew out from the eyes of the yin and yang fish in the Tai Chi diagram. The bright silver sword light pierced through the black clouds, penetrated the demonic aura protecting the black dragon, and swept past the weakest point of its scales.

"choke!"

"Ding!"

Although the sound of metal clashing rang out, the sword light flashed, blood splattered, and the two sword lights flew out of the dark clouds, disappeared into the formation, but the blood splattering after the sword light was seen by everyone.

The Ink Dragon was injured for the first time by the swords of Daoist Qingyuan and Daoist Qingwei!

"Roar—" The dragon's roar resounded.

The unexpected injury enraged the black dragon, and a surge of violence suddenly welled up in its heart. Pulls of black energy also surged within its body and then unconsciously arrived at the site of its injury.

Black energy surged, and the wound on the black dragon's leg healed rapidly, but a wisp of demonic energy also drifted out, which was sensed by the people who were manipulating the formation.

"Demon energy?"

"Demon energy!"

“It is indeed demonic energy, but it is definitely not something that the fish demon I killed accidentally picked up; it must have been cultivated with demonic arts.” Master Jingfeng said with certainty.

At the same time, sensing that the power of those two sword lights had not diminished at all compared to ten days ago, the black dragon also realized what was happening.

While I was procrastinating, the other party was also procrastinating, and their expenditure was actually much less than mine!
Enraged by being fooled, the black dragon roared, and the dragon pearl inside its body suddenly vibrated, unleashing a powerful demonic aura. In a flash, it reached the edge of the formation, its dragon claws poised to tear through the void!
The old Taoist priests' eyes narrowed, and they also activated their magic power and controlled their magical treasures. The Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation transformed into a chaotic and flawless world, where lightning flashed, thunder roared, and swords clashed, unleashing an even stronger power.

"boom!"

A shockwave, a mixture of Daoist magic and dragon's might, emanated from the array, flattening a patch of the surrounding forest.

"coming!"

"The decisive battle has begun!"

(End of this chapter)