Chapter 243. The Power of 'Imitation' (2)

Ninety-five against seven.

This wasn't a fight—not even close. It was impossible to even call it one. Yet, for some reason, the majority seemed tense while the minority appeared unnervingly calm. It was an odd sight.

Cultists were vicious and aggressive, often making the first move. But this time, things were different.

No, the first strike came from a Daoist of the Righteous Faction, a Swordsman.

"Heup!"

As he took a breath, his muscles contracted, and his body bent like a bow. It felt as though his entire body was compressed.

Bang!

His bent back suddenly straightened, and his contracted muscles released, propelling him forward with the stored kinetic energy in his body.

"Flicking Bow Moving Shadows!" someone shouted, surprised.

Everyone froze in shock. Zhou Xuchuan could feel the weight of every gaze turning toward him, like an invisible pressure on his skin.

He surged forward, closing the gap between himself and his enemies in an instant. His sword swung magnificently, slicing through the air.

Shing!

A line was drawn horizontally, dividing the heavens and the earth. Everywhere the sword passed split into two as if he had truly cleaved open the heavens.

Squelch!

"Huh?"

Four members of the Wind Yin Squadron stood stunned. Their vision spun as they tried to comprehend what was happening. Before they could make sense of it, a horrifying realization dawned on them.

"No! My body!"

Their screams echoed as they saw their upper and lower halves separate. Four experts, all at the Peak Realm, were cut down in a single stroke.

"How am I supposed to do it with women like this?!"

Zhou Xuchuan wondered if their brains were somehow connected to their lower bodies as the agonized screams of the Wind Yin Squadron members on the verge of death echoed around him.

Time seemed to slow down, passing leisurely as everyone froze, stunned by the sight of the fallen cultists. It was as though time itself had stopped just for them.

What just happened?

Including their vision, their senses couldn't keep up with their minds.

Their senses couldn’t keep up with their minds, let alone process what they had seen. While they could understand that the bodies had split in two, it wasn’t a metaphor when they said it happened in the blink of an eye. The hero of the Righteous Faction, who had been a few zhang away, had flung himself forward, slicing their comrades to pieces.

It felt like they had been struck by a ghost.

Meanwhile, Zhou Xuchuan landed lightly. The soles of his feet, which had been floating in the air, touched the ground. Before he could even adjust his stance, he took another step forward, channeling his qi toward his Yongchuan acupoint.

Boom!

As he continued his next step, his Yongchuan acupoint exploded outward, releasing an immense burst of qi. With that, he kicked off the ground, propelling himself upward with explosive force.

The body that had barely landed rose again, moving twice as fast as before.

"

Gasp!

"

"Heup!"

The members of the Wind Yin Squadron finally came to their senses. They quickly retreated, knowing that their lives would be in danger if they stayed still.

Possibly because they had timed the moment well, when Zhou Xuchuan swung his sword again, it barely grazed their collars. Five members of the Wind Yin Squadron members smiled in relief. His sword had almost hit them, but thankfully, they had been able to dodge.

Now that they had time to think, Zhou Xuchuan’s movements didn’t seem impossible to counter. He was fast, sure, but still dodgeable. They could definitely handle this.

Or, so they thought.

Squelch!

"Huh?"

A dumbfounded sound escaped the mouths of the Wind Yin Squadron members, who thought they had successfully evaded his attack.

No, they had definitely dodged it. They had only felt their collars brush against the sword tip.

However, for some reason, their internal organs spilled out through their split stomachs, stretching out and protruding grotesquely.

"Nine."

The number the God of Death called out became a reality.

Nine had died, including the five just now added to the four from before. None of them had even understood how they’d been killed.

The seemingly frozen time returned to its natural flow. The silence broke, replaced by cries of astonishment and terror.

"What's going on?!" the Wind Yin Squadron Captain yelled, his voice trembling with confusion and fear of the unknown.

"Is this all you amount to?" Zhou Xuchuan asked indifferently, tapping the ground with the tip of his sword to shake off the blood.

We really are on different levels.

Zhou Xuchuan was also surprised by what was happening. This wasn't the Wind Yin Squadron's fault, it was his cultivation that had reached another level entirely.

The gap between the Transcendent Realm and the Harmony Realm was already wide, but the difference between the Harmony Realm and the Coruscant Realm was even wider.

At this moment, his actions went beyond merely following the commands of his brain. The delay between thought and movement had vanished entirely, operating instead at an instinctual, unconscious level.

His body moved fluidly, without the need for focus or deliberate thinking.

This was a reaction speed that bypassed all thought processes. He had experienced something similar during his battle against the Blood Demon, but fighting like this again left him astonished even at himself.

The enemy appeared to be moving so slowly, it was as if they had done it intentionally. Even though they were all at the Peak Realm or higher, they seemed to have stopped moving altogether.

Above all, Formless Aura was really useful. He hadn't realized that it would be this powerful just because it wasn't visible.

Against someone of equal strength, it would still be a formidable weapon, even if it consumed more qi. Fortunately, for Zhou Xuchuan, that wasn’t a concern.

"...!"

The Wind Yin Squadron Captain bit his lip hard, trying to steady his trembling arms and calm his pounding chest.

The things that happened in that split-second were shocking.

His instincts screamed at him that this opponent was dangerous. His hair stood on end, and an icy sensation ran down his spine, as goosebumps prickled his skin.

Could that bastard really be in the same Realm as me?

While the Wind Yin Squadron Captain wasn't well-known due to the nature of being a part of a secret unit, he was still a strong expert who could easily be one of the One Hundred Experts Under Heaven.

In terms of strength, he was equivalent to the Harmony Realm. In other words, he was in the Extreme Demon Stage. Even if Zhou Xuchuan was at the completion stage of the Harmony Realm, he shouldn't have anything to fear.

In exchange for its many side effects, the Demonic Art that he cultivated gave him strength that was above average. Even if his opponent was in the same realm, due to his demonic qi, he should be stronger.

However, what was this? His eyes couldn't even keep up with Zhou Xuchuan's movements. There was no extreme speed nature within Mount Hua's cultivation methods.

Wait, does that mean this bastard has surpassed the Extreme Demon Stage? No! That can't be! That's impossible!

Humans are creatures who often refuse to believe what they see if it’s too extraordinary. The Wind Yin Squadron Captain was the same.

"Set up the Cooperation Formation!" the Wind Yin Squadron Captain shouted, shaking off his anxious thoughts.

"Kill him!"

As soon as their leader's order was given, the members rushed in.

All thirty of them surged forward from different directions, blocking every possible escape route.

Zhou Xuchuan stood still as the Wind Yin Squadron members released a dark, ominous haze.

The trails of qi that followed behind them, which clearly showed the unique demonic qi of their demonic cultivation methods, would make anyone watching feel terrified.

The demonic qi released from the cultists' bodies soon transformed into wind, altering the air pressure around him.

Crunch!

Gravel and sand swirled upward, caught in the wind, forming a spiraling wall of flying debris.

"So, this is the Cooperation Formation of the Demon Cult."

It was a rare sight.

There was no such thing as cooperation among demon cultists. While they didn’t lose control as completely as Blood Cultists, they were still prone to being overwhelmed by their own madness during battles.

That was why they didn't generally use techniques like formations that required them to work together and or to be careful.

While things may have been different if the cultists used the Soul Assimilation Art to brainwash their fellow formation users, it was difficult to get this level of cooperation formation to succeed with cultists.

"Hahaha!"

The members of the Wind Yin Squadron laughed as they surrounded Zhou Xuchuan.

"You've given up on your life just because you arrogantly decided you didn't need to flee!"

No matter how skilled their opponent was, he had fallen into their cooperation formation.

With thirty cultists surrounding him, and the massive black wall of wind trapping him, there was no escape.

The members of the Wind Yin Squadron couldn't help but laugh. Their eyes, seething with demonic qi, glowed with joy.

"No." Zhou Xuchuan said, his gaze fixed on the wind wall.

"It was just that I thought this wouldn’t be enough, even as it is."

"You crazy bastard!"

He seemed as crazy as their fellow cultists. The squadron members assumed that Zhou Xuchuan was so scared that he had lost his mind.

The Wind Yin Squadron Captain thought the same. Even from the outside, there was no way to break the formation. He was caught in this formation of death.

Even if there were a gate of life, it would be impossible to find. He imagined the Righteous Faction hero being torn to pieces.

"Die!"

WOOSH!

The black wind grew fiercer as the circle narrowed, completely engulfing Zhou Xuchuan.

"Finish him!"

"We know, Captain!"

The thirty demons moved in unison, each swinging the arm that wasn’t holding a sword. From their sleeves, daggers emerged and were sucked into the black wind, ensuring that their enemy would draw his last breath.

This was the pride of the Wind Yin Squadron, the Wind Flying Dagger Formation (風秘刃陣)!

As its name suggested, the Wind Flying Dagger Formation was a formation that created a storm of blades.

To an untrained observer, the formation might appear to be a natural weather phenomenon. But in reality, it was anything but. The principle behind it lay in creating dagger-infused winds.

It extracted dagger qi, gathered it, turned it into the wind, spread it outward as intense wind pressure, and then rotated it within an area. Then, it would turn into black wind that pressured the enemy.

Anyone caught inside would see the sword winds closing in and hesitate, unsure of what to do. However, hesitation was the wrong choice.

As time passed and the space narrowed, the rotating sword winds would overlap, increasing their destructive power and becoming nearly impossible to escape.

The best chance for survival was to break through forcefully when the formation was first deployed, while its members were still spread out. But failing to act quickly would result in being surrounded by the sword winds—and ultimately being struck by flying daggers hidden within the storm.

The wind itself was dangerous enough, but the hidden blades that appeared at the end were what sealed the victim's fate.

"Ahahaha! How easy! Easy!"

"Sword Dragon? Ha! Plum Blossom Order Sword? Ha!"

"I didn't know the hero of the Righteous Faction would be this weak!"

The cultists' mocking laughter echoed through the wind.

They were all embarrassed that they had frozen in the first battle.

"Haha!"

The Wind Yin Squadron Captain joined in, laughing as he shook off the anxiety he had felt earlier. The tension and fear that had gripped him a moment ago seemed almost laughable now.

As expected of a brat of the Righteous Faction. He could only talk.

The Squadron Captain wondered just how Zhou Xuchuan would look when the wind finally cleared. He would be torn apart into unrecognizable pieces, no doubt.

However, the Wind Yin Squadron Captain felt a sense of foreboding instead of anticipation.

Woosh!!

The wind seemed to clear, but just like before, a blinding ray of light pierced through it. It looked like falling meteors.

The trajectory of his strike, drawn in a clean and precise line like the character '一,' extended neatly and reached all of his subordinates who had spread out the Wind Flying Dagger Formation.

Squelch! Squelch, squelch, squelch!

"Ugh!"

"Agh!"

One scream turned into thirty.

Even as their eyes widened in disbelief, none of them could comprehend what had happened.

Right on their foreheads, necks, or above their hearts, the daggers they had just thrown had been returned, embedded deep into their bodies.

"...!"

The Wind Yin Squadron Captain was speechless.

When the wind fully cleared, Zhou Xuchuan stood there, completely unharmed without even a single cut to his collar.

Calmly, he brushed a bit of dust from his shoulder and let out a faint chuckle.

"It wasn't as bad as I thought."

He had never experienced the Wind Flying Dagger Formation, but he had seen it before.

Countless members of the Righteous Faction had lost their lives to this cooperation formation. When dealing with the Wind Demon Squadron, one could never forget the existence of the Wind Yin Squadron, and if they were present, one was told to be careful of the Wind Flying Dagger Formation.

For ordinary martial artists, it was best not to get caught in it. As for masters like Harmony Realm Masters, as long as they knew how to respond, they could block it.

The sword wind could be blocked by deploying a defensive qi barrier the moment it closed in.

Moreover, if one paid attention to the hidden blades and daggers in the wind that would fly out suddenly, they would be able to block them perfectly.

Of course, this was easier said than done. It was incredibly dangerous.

If one deployed a defensive qi barrier the moment the sword wind closed in, they would end up consuming an incredible amount of qi. However, if one deployed it too late, they would end up suffering at its hands regardless. Even if one managed to time it perfectly, there was still the risk of being caught off guard by the hidden daggers, especially if their qi reserves were already depleted from the barrier.

What Zhou Xuchuan had just done was a reckless feat, made possible only because he had never come close to exhausting his qi reserves because of the countless elixirs he had consumed since his youth.

"Thirty-nine. So, how many of you are left now?"

Zhou Xuchuan laughed eerily.