Chapter 1128: Chapter 1128: Life for a Life
Upholding this idea, Pei Yan spread out the Sword Qi that countless Sword Cultivators regarded as their core trump card like a flood of mercury pouring down, flooding the entire field and forcing Zhangsun Zhize and his junior to retreat again and again. Seeing that if they retreated any further they would be driven back under the eaves of the Heavenly Guardian Pavilion, with nowhere left to retreat, the two of them, shamed into anger, finally mustered the courage for a fight to the death.
"Pei Yan! You’ve gone too far!" Zhangsun Zhize shook out his sleeve, which had already turned into ragged scraps, and simply cut it off with a single sword stroke. Then he raised his hand to point at Pei Yan and shouted sharply, "You really think this is enough to pin us down? Junior Brother!"
After this furious shout, Junior Brother Shi at his side instantly understood. He thrust the Longsword in his hand straight into the ground, completely ignoring the Sword Qi raining down from the sky. His legs spread in a horse stance, feet rooted, both palms pressed against his abdomen. As his chest rose and fell violently with one breath in and one breath out, his mouth opened wide and he roared.
"Break!" The moment that single word left his lips, the Sword Qi that filled the sky actually exploded to pieces in an instant. A blast of air, wrapped around the shattered Sword Qi, surged toward Pei Yan.
Words as law? Seeing this, that thought flashed through Pei Yan’s mind. He had long heard that in the Daoist Realm there were people who cultivated this kind of Cultivation Technique—no spell, no sword, they poured their life’s blood into a mere handful of characters. Precisely because the cultivation process was so harsh and specialized, once those condensed characters were shouted out, their power was boundless.
A similar type of superpower also existed in the Investigation Bureau: the current chief instructor of the Action Squad, General Ni, who had once specially trained Pei Yan in the rainforest. That was the first time Pei Yan underwent a rebirth-level transformation, and from then on his ruthless combat style was set. This General Ni possessed the word-type superpower—usually silent, but once he opened his mouth, whatever character he spoke would turn into power and act upon his target.
Pei Yan had long harbored wariness toward Elder Shi, so when faced with this kind of attack he merely offered a slight inward praise and did not feel particularly surprised. The one he truly focused on was the higher-realm Zhangsun Zhize. Sure enough, once his junior had blasted open a path forward for him, Zhangsun Zhize also flung aside his Longsword, formed hand seals with both hands, and unleashed his ultimate move at the same time.
"Heaven and Earth Prison!"
"Hahahahaha!" Pei Yan felt a pressure descend from the heavens. Not only did he not fear it, he instead threw his head back and laughed wildly. He had already witnessed this move when he first arrived in the Daoist Realm, during the battle between Yirong Pavilion and the Celestial Secret Pavilion. At that time he had been rather wary of this technique. This kind of spell, which severed all connection between oneself and the outside world and sealed a person away, left him no choice but to rely on nimble Body Technique to dodge and not dare to take it head-on. But now things were different; Pei Yan was no longer the ordinary Tier Seven superpower user who had just advanced when he first entered the Daoist Realm.
He was a Child of Origin! He simultaneously possessed the Power of Origin from two great planes within his body, had fused seven Divine Artifacts, wielded two kinds of Bloodline Power, and close to ten different superpowers—among them, his Qi-based powers had even reached the Great Perfection Realm of Tier Eight Superpower!
"Heaven and Earth Prison, hehehe! Zhangsun Zhize! I want to see whether the sky and earth of this Heavenly Guardian Pavilion can really trap me, Pei Yan!" The words he spoke were truly domineering and bold, but the moment he finished speaking, his own aura receded like the ebbing tide. His entire person became as still as an old monk in meditation, gradually entering a state of deep focus.
What arrived before the Heaven and Earth Prison came down was the shattered Sword Qi that rebounded after Elder Shi blasted the Sword Qi apart. Those shattered, uncontrolled strands of Sword Qi swept across the field like a tornado; wherever they passed, anything they touched was ground to powder. After leaving the ground a wreck, covered in scars and debris, all the Sword Qi surged in a rush to gather in front of Pei Yan.
"Break!"
Whether intentionally or not, Pei Yan imitated Elder Shi’s earlier posture and also uttered a single "break." Only, one was earth-shattering, the other subtle and soundless. When this soft "break" left his lips, the raging Sword Qi maelstrom in front of him that seemed unstoppable instantly melted away. The fierce Sword Qi lost the will and momentum it contained, returning to its original form, turning into strands of spring breeze brushing past Pei Yan’s cheeks, lifting his newly grown short hair as they swept by.
As he finished doing all this, the Heaven and Earth Prison in the sky descended as well. At this moment, having just cast the spell, Zhangsun Zhize flipped his wrist and, facing Pei Yan, rapidly switched through several hand signs as he cursed through gritted teeth, "I know this technique may not be able to hold you, but as long as it can delay you for a while, it’s enough!"
Seeing the hand seals he was forming, Elder Shi at his side paled drastically. His mouth opened and closed, making inarticulate sounds, but no words came out. In his anxiety he was about to rush forward to stop him, only to be halted by a single vicious glare from Zhangsun Zhize. Just as he hesitated, unsure whether to move, two figures suddenly shot out from the Heavenly Guardian Pavilion, shouting urgently, "Brother Changsun, don’t be reckless!"
"Brother Changsun, withdraw your technique quickly!"
The two figures swooped down from the sky and landed beside Zhangsun Zhize, intending to intervene, but realized it was already too late—the momentum was set. When they looked toward Pei Yan in the distance, the Heaven and Earth Prison had already descended, and just as Zhangsun Zhize had said, the moment the prison made contact with Pei Yan’s palm, it instantly split open a large hole. The Source Qi composing the spell spilled out, and once the trapping formation was broken, it lost all effect.
Since they couldn’t stop one of their own from using this life-for-life ultimate move, the only option left was to join forces to drive Pei Yan back and deprive him of a target to attack. Even if Zhangsun Zhize’s spell missed and he suffered some backlash, that would still be lighter than the injury he’d take from forcibly stopping it at this point—and far better than losing his life outright.
Having made up their minds, the two of them leaped toward Pei Yan, who was still standing where he had been. Seeing this, Elder Shi also understood the intent of these two elders and followed closely behind to join the assault.
"We agreed on one versus three, and now more helpers show up. We’ve been backing down again and again for your sake—did you really think the rest of us tagging along were just spectators?" A thunderous shout rang out from the crowd, and two figures shot out at the same time.
Bang! With a dull thud, the elder of the Heavenly Guardian Pavilion who was rushing at the very front was kicked back like a cannonball. His momentum was so great that even after he tried twice to release Source Qi to stabilize himself, he still couldn’t manage it. In the end he slammed directly into the outer wall of the Heavenly Guardian Pavilion. The defensive Array on the wall rippled with waves of light; he spat out a mouthful of old blood, shocked and enraged, then raised his head to look at the one who had struck him—a person who was none other than one of the Children of Origin from the Investigation Bureau, Zheng Jia Ru.
As for the other side, the one who attacked was none other than Xia Yu. Facing the remaining two who had charged up together, Xia Yu disregarded Elder Shi, who was following behind, because she knew Elder Shi was Pei Yan’s target. With Pei Yan’s temperament, if she snatched away the opponent he had already marked, even if he didn’t say anything, he definitely wouldn’t be pleased.
So Xia Yu locked onto only the other Heavenly Guardian Pavilion elder who had come to support. As she raised her arm, immense gravitational pressure crashed down on her opponent. However, the newcomer seemed to have witnessed Xia Yu’s combat methods before and had predicted that she would use this move. The instant she struck, his entire body actually turned into a sheet of paper and fluttered to the ground. Then his form became like a swimming serpent, melding with the earth as he slithered swiftly forward along the surface.
Seeing this change, Xia Yu remained unfazed and simply smiled faintly. Her figure drifted lightly downward, and just as that figure was about to burst out of the ground and slip past her, Xia Yu lightly tapped her toe on the earth. At once, countless cracks split open across the ground in front of her, and the entire section of land where that elder lay was forcibly torn out of the ground and flung into the air.
