Chapter 275 - 261: [Four Seasons] Acquired
Starlight erupted, and dark-silver ripples of destruction spread out, completely engulfing the area.
Three Righteous Masters were left charred black and smoking. They were in a sorry state; though they hadn’t perished, their injuries were severe.
"This isn’t a simple Star Art... That Demon is also an expert in Arrays. He can even interfere with and manipulate the Earth Vein!"
A well-informed Master shouted.
After this battle, no one dared to rashly deploy a large-scale defensive Array again.
Who knew if that Demon would once again exploit some unexpected "crack" to trigger an Array’s backlash.
The morale and tactics of the Righteous Dao’s side were thrown into complete disarray.
Everyone grew paranoid, feeling as if their every move was under scrutiny.
Yet Qi Yun, the architect of it all, was now frowning slightly.
He looked down at his hands. Faint, dark-silver Star Dust drifted from his fingertips.
’Activating Omen Star Shining High to interfere with the Array and Earth Vein consumes more Heart and Spirit and Magical Power than I anticipated,’ he silently assessed.
’And while the Evil Star’s attack is difficult to guard against, its threat to top-tier Masters with truly profound foundations and extremely fast reactions is limited.’
The three Star Pillars had only managed to severely injure those three because it was the perfect opportunity, taking advantage of the Array’s backlash and the opponents’ faltering Heart and Spirit.
If his opponents had been fully on guard, they might well have been able to dodge or withstand it.
’But it’s enough.’ A sharp glint flashed in Qi Yun’s eyes. ’What I wanted was this "sword of Damocles" effect—to force them to divide their attention and throw them into chaos.’
Meanwhile, the Northwest Masters, sensing the shift in the situation, also began to move.
...
"Old Ghost Blood-Bone, you feel it too?"
In a ruin shrouded by a dense, sanguine demonic aura, a skeletal old man in a tattered blood-red robe licked the corner of his mouth. He whispered to a being beside him, one completely enveloped in distorted shadows.
A hoarse laugh echoed from within the shadows:
"Heh heh, those ’gentlemen’ of the Righteous Dao from the south... each one is like a castrated rooster. They’re fighting with their hands tied, constantly glancing at the sky..."
"Something’s definitely got them spooked."
"It’s Star Power."
From another direction, a one-eyed old man sat cross-legged on a floating, pitch-black reef. A stellar vortex seemed to swirl in the depths of his single remaining eye.
"Very pure and tyrannical Destruction Star Force, coming from the heavens."
"Someone is helping us."
"Who cares who it is!" A booming voice like rolling thunder rang out. The speaker was a thirty-foot-tall giant with cyan-gray skin covered in strange, stone-like patterns.
"This is a rare opportunity! This pack of Southern Barbarians has fallen into disarray. If we don’t kill them now, when will we get another chance?!"
"Indeed." The last to speak was a woman in a plain white dress. She was breathtakingly beautiful but deathly pale, and her voice was as cold as ice, devoid of emotion.
"Relay this to all comrades we can reach: we’re switching from defense to offense. Form groups of three and assassinate any Southern Barbarian Master you find isolated or in a weakened state."
"Avoid the tough nuts who are clearly on guard or in Array Formation."
"Use speed to overwhelm the slow, and numbers to overwhelm the few."
"Strike and retreat. Do not get bogged down in a fight."
These few were all infamous old demons of the Northwest Demon Path, seasoned veterans with profound techniques, despite their Cultivation only being at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage.
But they were highly experienced, with sharp and vicious judgment.
They quickly reached a consensus.
The next moment, a series of clandestine Demon Dao messages erupted throughout the shadows and chaos of the Valley of No Life, like ice water thrown into boiling oil.
The Northwest Masters, who had previously been fighting on their own and were even wary of one another, acted on this clear signal to counterattack.
They swiftly displayed a level of combat discipline and coordination that far surpassed the Righteous Cultivators.
They didn’t rally blindly; instead, they broke up into smaller units.
Like a pack of sharks that had scented blood, they silently melted into the complex terrain and chaotic Spiritual Mechanism of the Valley of No Life.
The Demon Daoist Masters of the Northwest were like the most cunning and cruel of hunters. They fully exploited the weaknesses of the Righteous Dao side—their rattled minds and inability to coordinate effectively.
They were further aided by the perfectly timed interference and disruptions from the mysterious Star Art.
They set ambushes, lured enemies, launched fierce assaults, and engaged in hit-and-run skirmishes.
Every strike was like a thunderbolt, perfectly coordinated, giving their opponents no chance to catch their breath.
They demonstrated the superb Magical Combat skills of the Northwest Masters!
And Qi Yun’s Evil Star acted like a cold, precise divine archer hidden behind the curtain.
He didn’t aim for wide-scale destruction.
Instead, he condensed his power to its absolute limit, carrying out cold and deadly assassinations.
The starlight never appeared on the front lines, yet it always managed to create fleeting, fatal opportunities for the Northwest Demon Path’s assailants at the most critical moments and in the most unexpected ways.
In just two short days, three Righteous Masters fell in succession, brought down by the Northwest Demon Path’s calculated assassinations and the precise support of the Evil Star.
High above the Valley of No Life, on the illusory chessboard, three more points of light representing the "white pieces" went dim.
The gap in top-tier combat power between the Righteous and Demon Daos began to shrink.
...
Deep underground, Qi Yun slowly withdrew his power. The dark-silver starlight in his eyes gradually subsided.
A strange, fist-sized orb of cyan-gray light floated before him. Inside it, countless microscopic Cause and Effect Threads writhed and coiled.
The orb emanated a mysterious Dao Rhyme, one of "the budding of all things," of "the genesis of causality."
This was the very key he had long sought, the one crucial for his advancement to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
The first of the Four Seasons’ miraculous items: the Origin Mechanism!
Over the past two days, he had used the Evil Star as his eyes, personally participating in, guiding, and amplifying the causal vortex of the great war between the Righteous and Demon Daos in the Valley of No Life.
He had ultimately come to dominate the entire battle!
Now, this wisp of the Origin Mechanism had finally begun to condense and take form!
’Although it’s still very faint, far from enough to support my advancement.’
’But... I’ve finally grasped the thread and taken the first step.’
Qi Yun gazed at the cyan-gray orb of light, a flicker of satisfaction in his eyes.
He could feel that as long as the causal slaughter in the Valley of No Life continued to fester and evolve...
...he would be able to continuously draw Daoist Intent from it, gradually strengthening this wisp of the Origin Mechanism.
He might even glimpse clues to the other items of the Four Seasons.
’The gambit for the Imperial Soldiers, the conflict between the Righteous and Demon Daos... it truly is a great nexus of causality...’ he muttered, carefully storing the Origin Mechanism in the depths of Daluo Heaven to nurture it.
Then, he looked up again. His gaze seemed to pierce through the thick layers of rock, casting itself upon the Valley of No Life, where the slaughter was intensifying and the stench of blood grew thicker.
’The game is getting interesting, and the slaughter is at its peak.’
’But progress is still too slow. The longer this takes, the greater the risk. I need to add more fuel to the fire!’
Whispering softly, Qi Yun turned his hand over, revealing a brilliantly shining Treasure Bead. Within it, a hundred stars seemed to swirl and wander, emitting a clear, bright light.
This bead was called the Hundred-Star King’s Button.
It was another of Xuan Hengzi’s Magical Treasures, and its power was formidable. It normally accumulated the Power of the Stars, transforming it into a hundred stars that could be used to advance one’s Cultivation and temper the physical body, among many other wondrous uses.
As he grasped the Magical Treasure, a bright light glinted in his eyes.
Instant Refinement!
He would use this Magical Treasure’s Daoist Intent to push Omen Star Shining High to a whole new level, raising this Magic by another grade!
...