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Chapter 81: Ninth Heaven’s Thunder Formation
Xiao Clan, About 1000 Meters High in the Sky:
Xiao Chen executed the Gravity Spell and flew high in the sky; his hair and clothes fluttered about in the cold wind.
He released his Spiritual Sense, and the dark night was unable to obstruct his senses. The entirety of the Xiao Residence appeared in Xiao Chen’s mind.
Ever since he came out of Xiao Yulan’s room, he saw many injured Xiao Clan disciples leaving the dispensary. His heart was unable to find peace; it was only five Martial Saint Experts, but they were able to slaughter the Xiao Clan without significant resistance.
Actually, Xiao Chen had the opportunity to prevent this tragedy from happening; there were many records of formations on the Compendium of Cultivation. All he needed to do was to lay down a large formation and it would definitely be able to obstruct those five Martial Saint experts.
However, the amount of energy this formation required was far more than what his current cultivation level could provide. Furthermore, he had thought that within Mohe City it would be impossible for the Xiao Clan to suffer from such a huge attack.
It seemed that his previous thought was too naive. The attraction of Seven Horn Mountain was much greater than he had imagined.
Suddenly Xiao Chen opened his eyes and descended slowly towards the ground, landing on a piece of high ground in the southwest of the Xiao Residence. He used his senses again and muttered to himself, “This should be the Qian position; the Qian position represents the heavens, and the Kun position represents earth. With the Qian position settled, the other position should be easy to find.”
[TL notes: 乾 Qian and 坤 Kun are positions on the Eight Trigrams. The meanings are explained above, but when the two characters are placed together it means heaven and earth, or universe. This is where the name of the Universe Ring came from, the Qiankun Ring.]
After he muttered that, Xiao Chen took out some Talisman Paper, a brush, and the purple fluid made from a mixture of Spirit Beast’s blood and Demonic Core. Then, he took out a small knife and made a small cut on his hand.
Xiao Chen circulated the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation, infusing the Essence in his body into his blood. Instantly, the blood that flowed out from the cut in his hand gave off a faint glow. As it dripped into the purple fluid, he gave off a golden light.
His face slowly turned pale and his lips turned purple; Xiao Chen felt dizzy, but he gritted his teeth and persisted.
This is the Ninth Heaven’s Thunder Formation. It was not something that he should be able to lay at his current cultivation level. In order to forcibly do it, he had to use his own blood essence.
When the purple fluid in the ink bottle completely turned a golden hue, Xiao Chen stopped circulating the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation. His complexion improved when he stopped the bleeding from the wound.
Holding the brush in his right hand, Xiao Chen dipped it into the amber-colored Spiritual Fluid. He had a solemn expression as he drew rapidly on the Talisman Paper.
The Talisman Paper gave off a brilliant, yellow glow as he did so. When Xiao Chen finally completed his last stroke, the Talisman Paper immediately burst out in a golden light, then it folded itself up rapidly and landed in Xiao Chen’s hand.
Xiao Chen held the Talisman in his right hand as he drew an equally gold-colored circle on the ground with his left hand, then a faint golden äšž (Qian) character appeared within the circle.
The right hand holding the Talisman pointed towards the ground, and with a quick wave of his hands he quickly threw it into the golden circle.
“Boom!”
There was a sudden clap of thunder, and a streak of lightning tore across the sky. As though guided by something, it went directly inside the glowing circle. The light faded off and the ground looked normal again, as if nothing had happened to it.
However, via Xiao Chen’s Spiritual Sense, he could tell that the Talisman, which was filled with Xiao Chen’s blood essence, was brimming with the boundless energy of heavenly thunder. It just required a thought from him and it could be immediately activated.
“Qian, Zhen, Li, Xun, Kun, Dui, Kan, Gen… The next position is the Zhen position. It’s corresponding nature is thunder. I have to find the location where the thunder attribute is the most dense. I also have to look for locations that correspond to the other positions of the Eight Trigrams,”
[TL notes: 乾 Qian, 震Zhen, 离 Li, 巽 Xun, 坤 Kun, 兑 Dui, 坎 Kan, 艮 Gen. These are the eight positions.}
Xiao Chen said to himself. He had already found the suitable position for the Eight Trigrams when he was in the sky earlier. All that was left for him to do was to find the location with the densest thunder attribute.
Two hours later, Xiao Chen inserted a Talisman full of his blood essence into each of the eight positions: Qian, Zhen, Li, Xun, Kun, Dui, Kan, and Gen; as well as their corresponding nature: heaven, thunder, fire, wind, earth, marsh, water, mountain.
Xiao Chen closed his eyes gently and, within his Spiritual Sense, a majestic formation appeared around the surroundings of the Xiao Residence. There was faint flickering lightning high in the sky, and the entire Ninth Heaven’s Thunder Formation was finally completed. Xiao Chen raised both his hands to feel this boundless and surging force of heaven and earth. With just a hand seal, even if there was a magnificent army with thousands of men and horses, he had the confidence this could destroy them all.
When he opened his eyes, a strong sense of fatigue overwhelmed his brain. Xiao Chen felt dizzy and his legs trembled. After a while, he could no longer withstand it and he fell unconsciousness onto the ground with a ‘pu tong’ sound.
…
Mohe City, Tang Clan, Within the Secret Chamber:
The Zhang Clan Head and the Tang Clan Head as well as the five Martial Saints that just returned from the Xiao Clan were present...
“Clan head, let’s not wait for the Promise of Ten Years. After I recover from my injuries, let’s go destroy their Xiao Clan. That Xiao Chen is too vicious,” the Martial Saint humiliated by Xiao Chen said angrily.
The blue clothed man said, “Leng Zeyu, did you not see that the Xiao Clan head already came out of isolation and is a Martial King? Do you think we stand a chance?”
“You as a Martial Saint are not even able to handle an Inferior Grade Martial Master. I truly feel ashamed for you.”
Leng Zeyu’s expression darkened as he said angrily, “Lan Chaoyang, what do you mean? If you truly ran into a Martial King expert, you probably would not be alive.”
“What I mean is…” Lan Chaoyang sneered, “you are not focusing on the that fact you were beaten up and are recklessly giving commands.”
“Alright! Stop fighting!” the Leng Clan Head, Leng Zhengyun suddenly said. His voice was not loud, nor did it carry any emotion, but the two people arguing did not dare to say anything else.
Leng Zhengyun glared at Leng Zeyu, “Zeyu, stop speaking nonsense in the future. Although Xiao Xiong played a part, the responsibility of the failure of this operation lies with you. This is because you took too long to do your job.”
Leng Zeyu felt dissatisfied and pouted, but he did not dare to retort to that, “I understand. It was my fault. I did not grasp the opportunity.”
Leng Zhengyun shifted his gaze to Lan Chaoyang, “Chaoyang, in this matter of the Seven Horn Mountain, without a doubt, your contributions are the greatest. However, do not carry over your personal grudges into this operation.”
“Founding a sect... What this means is that my Leng Clan is betting our wealth and foundations on this. I do not wish for anything to go wrong. If we end up failing, you know what I will do…”
Lan Chaoyang lowered his head and said, “I understand. I just could not resist. I will pay note of it in the future.”
When Leng Zhengyun saw the attitudes of the two man, the expression on his face turned warmer. He said, “When a big ordinary clan reaches a certain stage, and wants to progress further, there are only two paths: starting a sect, or turning into a Noble Clan.”
Leng Zhengyun carried on, saying as he sighed, “Our Leng Clan does not possess any god given bloodlines, thus the only path we can take is that of starting a sect. If it were not for the fact that there is only Seven Horn Mountain within the Qizi County, I truly would not have wished to take actions against the Xiao Clan.”
The envy of a god given bloodline could be seen in Leng Zhengyun’s words. If he had such a bloodline, then he would not have to bet the efforts of hundreds of years of the Leng Clan’s effort to take action against the Xiao Clan.
The risk involved was not something an ordinary person could understand. Although the Xiao Clan’s might could no longer compare to what it had been in the past, they were still not an existence that anyone could just trample over.
Tang Tian stood at the side, listening for a long time. Now that he had the chance, he said somewhat worriedly, “Elder Leng, is Xiao Xiong really out of his isolation and now a Martial King?”
The Zhang Clan Head standing at the side was also very concerned about this. The two clans had been fighting against the Xiao Clan for a very long time. They were very clear on what Xiao Xiong was like. When they heard that Xiao Xiong was now a Martial king, they felt fear in their hearts.
When Leng Zhengyun heard this, he smiled indifferently, “Brother Tang, you don’t have to worry. Xiao Xiong has indeed come out of his isolation, but his cultivation is only at peak Martial Saint. His Martial Spirit is a wind attributed Martial Spirit, thus he was able to fly.”
“In another three days, the final Martial Saint elder of my Leng Clan will be leading fifty Martial Grand Masters over in case anything happens. However, I hope that we will not need to utilize this force. It is best if your two clans can defeat the Xiao Clan in the Promise of Ten Years. That would save us a lot of trouble.”
When the two clan heads heard this, they breathed out in relief. Then, Tang Tian suddenly remembered something, “I heard earlier that Xiao Chen was not injured. If this is so, then according to the rules of the competition, our two clans do not stand much of an advantage.”
According to the rules of the Promise of Ten Years, the Xiao Clan, Zhang Clan, and Tang Clan would have to select three participants beforehand. On the day of the competition, one of the two Clans must challenge the Xiao Clan. The victor of this battle then battles against the final clan. The final victor receives the rights to Seven Horn Mountain.
Tang Tian said, “With Xiao Chen’s strength, even when going one against three, we might not win. The result is still unpredictable, especially after letting him rest for a day before battling the other clan.
The Zhang Clan Head stood beside and nodded his head in agreement. When Leng Zeyu heard this, he had an unnatural expression on his face. Now that there was such a situation, the responsibilities all fell onto him.
Leng Zhengyun’s expression did not change as he said indifferently, “That is not a problem. I will think of something when the time comes. Even if we lose, there is still our final move. I just hope we don’t have to resort to that.”
…
The next day, Within the Great Hall of the Xiao Clan:
Before the morning dew evaporated, the elders of the Xiao Clan all gathered in the great hall.
The Xiao Clan head, Xiao Xiong, sat on a chair in the middle. He said to Xiao Qiang beside him, “First Elder, what do you think of our current situation?”
Xiao Qiang immediately replied, “The situation now is very clear. The Leng Clan is working with the Zhang Clan and Tang Clan against us. Without any external assistance, cannot resolve this.”
The few others beside also agreed with this. Without any external assistance, not only would the Xiao Clan lose the Seven Horn Mountain, it would be difficult for the Xiao Clan to even survive.
Xiao Qiang continued, “Actually, Miss Feng is currently in Mohe City. A few days ago, she came by the Xiao Clan to visit.”
When Xiao Xiong heard about Feng Feixue, the expression on his face instantly turned incredibly scary. He said in a sullen voice, “What is she doing here? Did that aunt of hers tell her to come here and see our sorry state?”
Xiao Qiang quickly explained everything that had happened that day. After Xiao Xiong heard this he said, “I will not interfere with their choice, but it is impossible for me to seek help from the Feng Clan. Call for someone to send Xiao Chen over.”