Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way - Chapter 79
Chapter 79 – Main Formation Eye
Immediately after he stepped into the formation, Gu Suihan felt his entire world spin. Silvery stars flickered nonstop as the scenery around him changed. He now seemed to be standing in the middle of a galaxy in outer space and the stars twinkled brightly above his head. He couldn’t help but squint from the glaring light.
“Where are the rest of you?” Xi Ran’s voice suddenly floated into Gu Suihan’s ear from afar but when he looked around, he didn’t see anybody else. He was entirely surrounded by this starry sky.
“The formation has separated the four of us to prevent us from working together to break this formation. But it also means that its power is split into four. Everyone, be careful! Find the formation eyes, destroy them and let the rest know!” Wang Mingzhi’s angry shouts came from somewhere else, mixed in with other muffled sounds of fighting. He was clearly having a hard time.
“These things are still going to evolve?” Gu Suihan ignored the angry shouts he heard from time to time and just stared straight at the stars that had suddenly become even brighter with a disdainful smile on his face.
As if the stars knew that Gu Suihan wasn’t easy to handle, the stars suddenly became blindingly bright and in the next moment, countless soldiers in sparkling armor charged toward Gu Suihan with all sorts of sharp weapons in their hands.
The army was so large that it was impossible to see where the soldiers ended. To Gu Suihan, they looked like one huge wave of stars coming at him.
The sound of war drums echoed loudly and a murderous aura filled the air. The murderous Qi of the army combined into a huge and threatening-looking beast. Its facial features were unclear and it flew above the heads of these star-turned-soldiers.
“Not bad. It’s exactly as I thought.” Gu Suihan’s eyes glinted brightly and Questioning Heaven flew out of its sheath, sending ripples into the air. He charged at the massive army as if they were nothing but ants to him.
He left nothing but a trail of wind and mist everywhere he went. As he charged on, the violent aura in the air became more intense each time Questioning Heaven shone brighter. He was now like a demon lord bathing in a bloodied mist of dead bodies, except that these soldiers turned into stardust and did not bleed. Each time he swung his sword, a few dozen soldiers would fall.
During the battle, not a single howl or cry of pain was heard. The only sound in the air was the sound of armor and weapons colliding.
The soldiers never seemed to end, but the glow around Questioning Heaven continued to shine as brightly as before as a murderous aura spewed from the blade. The icy, deadly sword Qi sliced through the soldiers as if they weren’t there in the first place.
“This one.” Gu Suihan swung his sword the other way to block the arrows flying toward him. His gaze was fixed on a soldier covered in magnificent armor with a longbow in hand.
Gu Suihan pointed his sword at this soldier and thrust it powerfully like an arrow that had just been released from its bow.
That was one out of the thirty-six down.
“There’s one more here.” While staring intently at his first target, he also noticed another soldier with a spear in hand.
“That’s two.” He roared loudly and his sword glowed brilliantly as his body suddenly split into many clones of himself. Each one dashed into the army and headed for the innermost section.
The other three had heard that roar and their expressions shifted. The crisis they were in right now made it impossible for them to look for the formation eyes at all.
“Damn it!” Xi Ran had a sullen look on his face as a threatening glint flashed in his eyes. He made a hand seal and waved his ghost-controlling flag. Countless fierce and murderous ghosts howled as they flew out of the flag and charged toward the enemy.
The enemies they were facing were clearly different from the ones Gu Suihan was facing. Instead of a sea of unending soldiers, they were faced with just a few figures made out of starlight. Their facial features were blurred and the movement of their hands stirred up a violent and harsh wind that was as threatening as a sword.
“Three down.” Gu Suihan flicked his fingers and caused the soldier next to him to crumble instantly. He quickly spotted his next target.
He had found a pattern among these soldiers. This formation was not being controlled by anybody and was working according to its original design. That was why the formation eyes were revealing themselves so easily without any change in pattern and the difference in their prowess was also obvious. Every soldier that wore an armor different from the rest was definitely a formation eye.
“This one…” Gu Suihan suddenly paused in his footsteps and slowed his actions down. He made a hand seal in one direction, then ran the other way like crazy. He only turned back in horror after he was at least a few kilometers away.
“You shall die!” an angry roar resounded loudly. A soldier in heavy armor had a furious expression on his rugged face as he held up a long and large saber. Gu Suihan’s rampant killing of the other soldiers had clearly enraged him. Unfortunately, the soldiers did not know how to work together to fight Gu Suihan, so this particular soldier had no choice but to appear and fight Gu Suihan himself.
“It’s the main formation eye?” Gu Suihan raised an eyebrow at the burly soldier charging at him while roaring angrily. A smile spread across Gu Suihan’s face. If he managed to take this fellow down, that would be equivalent to taking down the formation’s central source of strength. Besides weakening the formation greatly, he might even be able to break the formation at the same time.
The soldier let out an angry shout as the illusion of a panlong[^note1] rose from his saber. When he was still 10 meters away from Gu Suihan, he stomped hard on the ground, unleashing a burst of starlight from his body and a brilliant gleam from his blade as he swung his saber down at Gu Suihan confidently. It seemed as though his saber was able to slice through anything.
Nothing could escape this attack. The soldier had put all of his energy into this attack and it was meant to kill anything in its way. The sheer force generated by this attack sent everything around it flying. Its incredible power seemed to weigh 5,000 kilograms as it crashed heavily on Gu Suihan. The air liquefied on the spot and trapped Gu Suihan, as though he was lying in a muddy swamp.
“You think you can hack me with that? You’re not good enough.” Gu Suihan’s blood and Qi surged wildly within his body and the strong stench of blood slowly surrounded his entire body. As he held Questioning Heaven in his right hand, a glow measuring a foot in width shot out from the sword, a golden glow that could turn heads.
“The Sword Shakes the Clouds!” The glaring golden glow of the sword was sharp and ruthless as it shot up and collided with the soldier’s saber, charged with immense violent and murderous Qi.
CLANG! The sound of the two metal objects crashing into one another echoed in the space for a long time. Visible ripples spread out from the battle site as if it was the epicenter of an explosion, turning anything within 300 meters into nothingness.
The panlong roared, and the sword buzzed like a swarm of bees. The collision between the sword Qi from Questioning Heaven and the saber of the soldier had made such a loud noise, that the sound waves were visible.
The soldier was furious but also shocked, and he moved several steps backward. His armor of stars flickered rapidly and tiny sparkles flew out. He was clearly badly injured.
Gu Suihan’s face was pale too. He stumbled several meters backward and blood dribbled from his lips. The murderous Qi that was as thick and dark as ink around him just moments ago had been shattered and was fading slowly.
He wasn’t a cultivator of the body after all, so when it came to battles of strength, he was at a disadvantage.
He quickly executed the Sword Mantra to calm his surging Qi and blood down again. He brandished his sword again and dashed towards the soldier once more. He knew the advantage he had over the soldier. He was a cultivator and he could replenish his Qi with pills. But the soldier was fighting him with his own strength. Every clash with Gu Suihan made him lose more and more energy.
“Azure Dragon[^note2]! Out of the Sea!” The sound of crashing sea waves filled the air and one could even smell a saltiness in the air. Questioning Heaven vibrated loudly and the roar of an azure dragon resounded loudly.
The soldier gripped his saber tightly and the panlong appeared again, becoming one with the soldier as he let out a loud roar. The saber gave off a glow that looked like shooting stars, causing the stars in the sky to suddenly light up and rush into the soldier’s body.
ROARRR! The soldier let out another roar as the intricate and complex pattern of his starry armor suddenly glowed brilliantly. A silvery light glowed continuously over the army and the panlong of his saber became even more powerful.
The soldier’s eyes met Gu Suihan. One’s eyes were completely emotionless, while the other had nothing but rage.
The golden dragon from Questioning Heaven moved in tandem with the sword, changing its position again and again as it tried to find a good opportunity to attack the panlong.
The panlong had a furious look in its eye as it sat in the palm of the soldier. It looked as tense as a coiled snake on the lookout, ready to fight anytime.
“I’m sure I can break you.” Gu Suihan had a hardened look in his eyes as he suddenly made hand seals with his left hand.
“Three Fingers of Yama – Ask Creation!” The wind and clouds gathered in an instant as the area within a 300-meter radius turned into a sinister gathering of ghosts that roared and howled miserably. Gu Suihan pointed at them, as though he were the lord of Hades judging the dead. As his finger came closer and closer to the ghosts, the sound of their howling became more and more intense. The soldiers around them silently burst into stardust and flickered faintly in the sky.
The soldier paled and the panlong looked a little afraid now.
He let out a mighty roar, as though he hoped that doing that would help him feel braver. His eyes gleamed resolutely as he raised his saber and charged towards Gu Suihan as the panlong roared just as loudly.