Chapter 298: Imminent Defeat
Somewhere among the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators, Bai Suyuan's clothes had already been completely stained black by blood, and the drenched fabric was clinging to her body, further accentuating her alluring curves. Even the pair of white earrings that she was wearing were covered in a layer of dried blood.
However, most of the blood on her body belonged to Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators, and there was also a lot of blood that had splashed onto her from nearby Holy Puppet Sect cultivators. The only injury that she was carrying was a gash on her right arm from a sneak attack from a Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivator.
The attack had been aimed at her heart, but the peachwood talisman gifted to her by Bai Fengyi had saved her in the nick of time, diverting the attack away so that it had only managed to graze her arm.
She had retreated to the center of her crowd and taken her final regenerative pill to replenish her magic power, but she wasn't actually as fearful and uneasy as she had been at the beginning of the battle.
In the past, she had only ever been involved in small-scale battles that couldn't even have held a candle to a battle of this magnitude and this degree of brutality.
Not only did Bai Suyuan possess exceptional aptitude, she had been forced to fend for herself from a young age, so she was certainly no vulnerable little girl, and the battle unfolding around her had brought the cold and decisive side of her personality to the fore.
Not only that, but her cultivation bottleneck was also beginning to display signs of budging, and she was confident that if she could survive this crisis, then she would definitely have been able to make a breakthrough after no more than 20 years of seclusion.
However, was this a crisis that she would be able to survive?
A grim look appeared in her eyes as this thought crossed her mind, and she looked up at the sky to find that a massive hole with a that was over 1,000 feet wide had been torn into the dark clouds up above, and it extended for several thousand kilometers.
Inside the hole, countless streaks of sword qi were surging incessantly, plunging the world's origin qi into complete disarray while relentlessly tearing at the very space itself amid bursts of deafening rumbling.
An enormous snow lotus flower projection could be seen slowly revolving within the hole, and glowing white petals that were giving off powerful energy fluctuations were flying off the lotus flower one after another.
A massive sword projection was bearing down upon the snow lotus flower projection with tremendous might, but it was unable to break through, and an impasse had ensued between the two.
Yun Ni was standing at the center of the lotus flower projection, making a string of hand seals while chanting an incantation that struck the listener with a sense of intoxication. Furthermore, there was a pink glow in her eyes, and her entire body was enveloped in a hazy floral projection, giving her an extremely seductive and unforgettable appearance.
As her chanting continued, countless barefoot women stepped out from the stamen of the snot lotus flower projection before springing up into the air from the flower's petals.
A massive artwork was unfurled within the clouds, and there were hundreds of barefoot women depicted within it. There were colorful silken belts around their waists that spread open like the canopies of peacocks as the women danced through the sky, presenting an incredibly beautiful sight to behold.
If a mortal had even witnessed this scene, even for just a split second, their soul would've come straight out of their body and entered the artwork to become sustenance for the dancing celestial maidens.
Even cultivators who were lacking in cultivation base or mental fortitude wouldn't have fared much better than mortals if they were to get too close to the artwork. At the very most, they would've only been able to last a few moments before their souls were also sucked out of their bodies.
Directly in front of the artwork stood Lu Ji with his sword held in his hand.
His clothes were smooth and pristine, not creasing in the slightest despite the ferocious wind blowing through the sky.
At this point, he appeared more like a peerlessly sharp sword than a human, and it was as if no amount of wind, no matter how fierce, would be able to crease his clothes even in the slightest.
Instead of looking at the artwork in the sky, his gaze was focused intently on Yun Ni inside the snow lotus flower projection. A layer of faint pink coloration had already appeared in his left eye, but his right eye was completely clear and unchanged.
Meanwhile, in the sky above the sea several thousand kilometers away, a nine star golden sword that was over 10,000 feet in length was glowing radiantly as it came crashing down upon Xue Han.
The sword left layers of golden sword projections in its wake alongside countless specks of dazzling white light, resembling a spectacular golden starry sky.
Xue Han's robes were tattered in many places, but there was a mocking look on his face as he sneered, "It's very impressive that a pair of mere True Immortals like yourselves were able to keep me occupied for this long, but unfortunately, you won't get to live to tell the tale."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a hand through the air to summon a large black flag that was around 10 feet tall.
The flag was torn in many places, and at the center of it was embroidered a series of golden vortex designs, around which were numerous antiquated runes that were giving off an incredibly formidable aura.
Xue Han closed both of his hands around the shaft of the flag, then chanted an incantation before swinging the flag through the air.
The surface of the flag immediately began to ripple like the surface of a turbulent sea, and the runes that were embroidered onto its surface flew out one after another, releasing dazzling golden light that obscured the entire sky.
At the same time, the golden vortexes on the flag also began to rapidly revolve as if they had sprung to life, then flew out of the flag as well to send bursts of tremendous force surging through the air.
As soon as the golden starry sky came into contact with these vortexes, it was immediately sucked in by the immense suction force that the vortexes were releasing.
As the starry sky rapidly diminished in size, the aura of the nine star golden sword was also becoming weaker and weaker, and by the time it actually fell upon the flag, the sword had been reduced to no more than 1,000 feet in length. In its weakened state, it was barely even able to move the flag before it was repelled.
Qilin 9 raised a hand to catch the golden sword, and he couldn't help but stumble backward. He had expended so much immortal spiritual power that his immortal spiritual power circulation was becoming a little stagnant.
"How are you doing?" he asked as he turned to the figure beside him.
"I'm just about ready to go. You can take some time to recover now," Bai Fengyi said as she rose to her feet with a slightly pale complexion.
Just now, she and Qilin 9 had attacked Xue Han together, and Xue Han had intentionally displayed a façade of weakness to lure her in, only to unleash a golden ring treasure that struck her on her left shoulder. She was able to avoid major injury thanks to her protective treasures, but her immortal spiritual power was scattered, rendering her temporarily unable to draw upon it.
Thankfully, Qilin 9 had stepped in to protect her, allowing her the respite that she needed to take some pills and recover somewhat from her injuries.
At this moment, her left sleeve had already been completely torn away, and a large gash had also been torn into her collar, revealing a large patch of fair and delicate skin.
As a result, one could see that she was wearing layers of strapping around her chest beneath her robes, restraining the voluptuous peaks there to make them appear smaller and more compact.
She switched positions with Qilin 9 so that she was facing Xue Han, while Qilin 9 tossed a couple of pills into his own mouth before focusing on digesting them.
Xue Han gave a cold harrumph, and he was just about to close in on Bai Fengyi when his expression suddenly changed slightly, and he cast his gaze toward the main island of the Holy Puppet Sect.
After a brief hesitation, he raised a hand to stow the black flag away, then sped away as a streak of light, quickly vanishing into the distance.
An alarmed look appeared on Bai Fengyi's face upon seeing this, and she hurriedly set off in pursuit.
If she couldn't keep Xue Han occupied, then he would be able to join forces with Lu Ji, and that would place Yun Ni in grave peril.
However, as a True Immortal, there was no way that she could catch up to Xue Han, and he arrived beside Lu Ji in what seemed like no more than the blink of an eye.
A hint of wariness appeared in Xue Han's eyes at the sight of the alluring artwork in the sky, and he took a glance at the peculiar pink coloration in Lu Ji's left eye before calling out to him in a low voice.
Despite the low pitch of his voice, it was extremely penetrative, and the pink coloration in Lu Ji's left eye instantly faded away as both eyes returned to their original clarity.
Immediately thereafter, he took a stride forward as he raised his longsword, and he swept his joint index and middle fingers of his other hand over the blade of the sword to release streaks of pristine white sword qi that transformed into a series of white dragons that revolved around the sword.
It seemed that all of this had come out of nowhere, but in reality, he had been preparing this attack for a long time.
Prior to this, he was on the verge of unleashing the attack, but at that critical juncture, he had fallen prey to Yun Ni's secret technique, and that was why the attack had been delayed up to this point, but it was also exactly because of this prolonged stage of suppression that the attack had accumulated even more formidable power.
All of a sudden, a clear draconic roar rang out, and a streak of white sword qi that was over 10,000 feet in length swept through the heavens. All of the white dragons revolving around the sword also instantly swelled to over 100 times their original size before pouncing at Yun Ni.
All of a sudden, thousands of dragons were surging through the sky, churning up the dark clouds and stirring up gusts of ferocious wind.
Yun Ni's expression remained unchanged as she witnessed all of this from inside her snow lotus flower projections, but she couldn't help but heave an internal sigh.
An ordinary Golden Immortal cultivator would've already lost control over themselves after being exposed to her Illusory Celestial Maiden Artwork for so long. Even if they didn't fall under her control, at the very least, they wouldn't have been able to oppose her any longer.
However, Lu Ji's mental fortitude far exceeded her expectation, and even though it appeared that he had fallen prey to her secret technique, he was able to immediately shut off his six senses to protect his own mind.
If Xue Han hadn't intervened, it would've taken Yun Ni at least several more minutes to completely immobilize Lu Ji, at which point she would've been able to turn her attention to Xue Han, and perhaps this crisis could've been averted, but as things were now...
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