Chapter 433: Capturing a Nascent Soul, Total Victory
Sensing the disturbance behind them, True Monarchs Ten Thousand Crane and Guo turned pale with shock, their faces full of disbelief.
“Lan Changqing? Why is he here in Yuanliu City?!”
They were just about to break True Monarch Black Feather out of his predicament, when suddenly Lan Chang'an attacked from behind, forming a deadly pincer formation.
It was already bad enough that Lord Earthrock had been hidden beside Fairy Xia but even Lan Chang'an himself had arrived in person.
A burly man in a purple python robe, True Monarch Guo, wore a suspicious and uncertain expression.
“Could it be there’s an informant among our upper ranks, and this kid discovered our plan?”
True Monarch Fang was stronger than most early Nascent Soul cultivators, and he had a fourth-rank war beast. He should have easily held Lan Chang'an at bay.
So how had Lan Chang'an arrived at Yuanliu City first?
Only if he knew the plan in advance would he dare to abandon his frontline fortress and rush here at any cost.
If that fortress was breached by the fourth-rank Demon King, it would open a hole in the frontlines and allow Beast King Valley to invade unchecked, the consequences would be dire.
“True Monarch Guo, go rescue Black Feather! I’ll use the Ten Thousand Crane Formation to stall Lan Changqing.”
Elder Ten Thousand Crane made a swift decision.
Now that Lan Chang'an had arrived, it meant the entire plan had collapsed, there was no longer any hope of capturing Fairy Xia.
Rescuing Black Feather came first. Once their Nascent Soul numbers were equal again, they could choose to attack or retreat as needed.
...
Whoosh! Whoosh!
True Monarch Guo and Elder Ten Thousand Crane darted toward the breach in the city’s formation to rescue Black Feather.
Elder Ten Thousand Crane lagged slightly behind.
He rapidly formed hand seals, manipulating the Ten Thousand Cranes Soul-Extinguishing Formation above the immortal city.
In that instant, the piercing cries of ten thousand cranes echoed for dozens of miles. Low-level cultivators across the battlefield clutched their ears in agony, their minds thrown into chaos.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh!
Thousands of spirit cranes circled at high speed in the skies, their auras connected, their luminous feathers forming a massive cylindrical vortex of blade-like wind.
Nearby stone and wooden structures were dragged into the vortex, instantly pulverized into dust.
Cultivators on the battlefield who were caught off guard let out terrible screams as they were shredded into bloody mist.
“This Ten Thousand Crane Formation can indeed delay a normal early Nascent Soul cultivator for a moment.”
Lan Chang'an felt the immense suction from the surrounding ten li of wind pressure. His flight speed was reduced as the massive feather blade storm roared toward him with incredible speed.
But then, his Black Heaven Wings flared behind him, stirring up a storm of black wind and light as he soared above the formation at even greater speed.
In that instant, the sharp high-pitched crane cries pierced Lan Chang'an’s consciousness, shaking his blood and qi slightly. However, with his powerful spiritual sense and physical body, the effect was far less than what other Nascent Soul cultivators would suffer.
Just then, the Ten Thousand Crane Formation shifted, forming a massive blade of radiant feathers at its peak.
With a sharp whoosh, the blade slashed through Lan Chang'an’s figure.
Boom! Splat!
His protective barrier exploded, and his body was pierced by the feather blade, only to shatter into a flurry of wooden chips.
In the next instant, the black heaven wings reappeared a hundred zhang away.
Lan Chang'an had used the speed of Black Heaven Wings along with his mastery of the Illusory Wood Doppelgänger Technique to successfully evade the Ten Thousand Cranes Soul-Extinguishing Formation.
Still, the formation delayed him for a breath or two.
Taking advantage of that brief window, True Monarch Guo and Elder Ten Thousand Crane led their cultivators into the city through the formation breach to rescue True Monarch Black Feather.
...
“You sinful beast!”
Clad in a python robe, True Monarch Guo had just charged into the city’s formation when he was stopped in his tracks by Lord Earthrock, now in his giant rat demon form.
Before True Monarch Guo had entered, the Spirit Devouring Black Threads around Lord Earthrock’s neck transformed into a mass of eerie black strands, like the horrifying long hair of a female ghost, entangling True Monarch Black Feather’s entire body, wrapping him up like a black cocoon.
“Not good! What kind of strange treasure is this?!”
True Monarch Black Feather, already weakened by the earlier freezing effect, could only control about half his mana, and now the black threads were continuously devouring his remaining spiritual energy.
Worse still, the Spirit Devouring Black Threads seemed to be imbued with a type of fourth-rank poison, one that he recognized all too well.
True Monarch Black Feather was now in a dire crisis.
This scene mirrored the day Lan Chang'an had ambushed and destroyed his physical body.
The humiliating part? Lan Chang'an hadn’t even needed to make a move this time, just his woman and spirit pet were enough to control him completely.
Under the double bind of the Ice Chain of the Divine Lotus and Spirit Devouring Black Threads, True Monarch Black Feather had lost any possibility of escaping on his own.
Fortunately, his allies were arriving.
True Monarch Guo summoned a rod-shaped magical treasure adorned with purple-gold dragon carvings. As he activated his Nascent Soul-level mana, the python robe on his body billowed violently.
Skyward Strike!
The purple-gold dragon rod transformed into a sky-piercing pillar, its surface glowing with golden patterns and swimming purple dragons. It thrust upward and violently pierced the weakened section of the city’s formation.
Boom! Bang!
The giant rod weapon slammed down toward Lord Earthrock, who stood guard at the formation breach.
Lord Earthrock summoned a stone armor that covered its entire body, along with a silver-scaled shield, a superior-grade defensive magical treasure floating in front.
However, it was also controlling the Spirit Devouring Black Threads at the same time, splitting its attention between restraining Black Feather and defending. It couldn’t focus fully on either.
Clang! Bang! Boom!
The massive rod, like a divine pillar, struck again and again. The silver-scaled shield was knocked away, the stone armor cracked open, and blood splattered from Lord Earthrock’s massive body, leaving a deep wound.
Even a Demon King-tier physique couldn’t withstand such a direct assault from a heavy magical treasure.
Still, Lord Earthrock gritted its teeth and endured.
It had received orders from its master to capture True Monarch Black Feather today and take down the Nascent Soul.
“Tough hide and thick flesh indeed!”
True Monarch Guo felt the pressure. This fourth-rank demon king’s massive body completely blocked the breach, making it hard to bypass it and get to Black Feather.
If Lord Earthrock were fighting with full strength, Guo likely wouldn’t gain any advantage either.
At that critical moment, Elder Ten Thousand Crane arrived, just a step behind, and instantly took in the whole battlefield.
Without sparing Lord Earthrock even a glance, he silently flicked his sleeve behind his back.
Whoosh! Hiss—!
Three Feathered Needles curved around in the air, flying in a semi-circular arc, their presence completely concealed. In the blink of an eye, they shot straight toward Fairy Xia.
The needles targeted her head, abdomen, and lower body.
Lord Earthrock was being pressed hard by the massive dragon rod and only sensed the Feathered Needles as they passed in front of it, it was too late to block them.
“Those are Ten Thousand Crane True Monarch’s infamous Feathered Needles, known for their venom and stealth, especially effective against protective mana. Each carries a fourth-rank poison. At best, they’ll at least severely injure the target; at worst, they could force the Nascent Soul to leave the body or even cause instant death.”
True Monarch Guo noticed the needles passing and felt secretly pleased.
If Fairy Xia were struck and lost her combat power, the situation would immediately turn around and Black Feather’s crisis would naturally resolve itself.
With the Ice Chain of the Divine Lotus and Lord Earthrock’s aid, Fairy Xia had already succeeded in completely restraining True Monarch Black Feather.
Now, the three Feathered Needles were only a breath away, radiating deadly intent that caused Xia Wenyue’s heart to race.
Crack!
The hastily activated protective shield around her was pierced with ease by the Feathered Needles.
In that split second of life and death, Xia Wenyue’s face turned pale, and she instinctively activated her life-preserving magical treasure.
Her dress billowed, snowflakes swirling.
A dreamlike, crystal-jade lotus artifact floated out from her body.
The ice lotus split into three, transforming into three blooming ice-crystal lotus flowers that spun around her. As if sentient, they moved precisely to intercept each of the incoming needles.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Ice fragments flew. Frost spread in all directions.
The three Feathered Needles from Ten Thousand Crane True Monarch were blocked by the three crystal lotuses, missing Fairy Xia by just inches, narrowly sparing her life.
Seeing his assassination fail, Ten Thousand Crane True Monarch’s face turned grim.
“So close…”
“How can a newly-advanced Nascent Soul like Xia Wenyue possess such a mysterious and powerful magical treasure? Even the rat demon has strange, high-grade magical treasures…”
The two demonic faction True Monarchs were deeply shocked.
Even in this brief exchange, the equipment and treasures wielded by Fairy Xia and Lord Earthrock were shockingly high-end.
What they didn’t know was that these strange and powerful magical treasures originated from the far more advanced cultivation civilization of the Great Yuan.
Outside of the Central Region, any of the other three regions in the Great Yuan could easily overpower a realm like Great Qing.
Most of these powerful magical treasures were spoils of war from the battle in the forbidden zone of the Central Region, where Lan Chang'an and Jing Wufeng had jointly defeated the Seven True Monarchs.
The Spirit Devouring Black Threads came from Netherwater True Monarch, a mid-stage Nascent Soul expert and were no ordinary item.
Fairy Xia’s Ice Chain of the Divine Lotus and Profound Ice Flying Lotus came from True Monarch Soaring Snow who had amazing opportunities.
Her cultivation technique and innate Dao body made her a perfect match for these cold-element magical treasures.
...
“Fellow Daoist Ten Thousand Crane, what should we do now?”
Despite Ten Thousand Crane and Guo True Monarchs' attempts to turn the tide, they hadn’t been able to break the encirclement.
From behind, Lan Chang'an, under the empowerment of the Black Heaven Wings, had already broken through the Ten Thousand Crane Formation and was rapidly closing in.
“All three of you today will stay behind!”
With Lan Chang'an’s approach, the enemy would be caught in a pincer attack, besieged front and rear.
The immortal city formation roiled, as flames and thunderbolts streaked across the skies.
Numerous Core Formation cultivators from the Righteous Dao Alliance led the charge with their armies, launching a full-scale assault. Meanwhile, formation masters waved their array flags, rapidly repairing the formation.
The army of demonic faction cultivators, war beasts, and flying creatures that had followed the three Nascent Soul True Monarchs into the city suffered devastating casualties.
This wasn’t a matter of individual strength, defense always held the natural advantage.
“I didn’t expect the Ten Thousand Crane Formation could only stall Lan Chang'an for such a short time... and that Fairy Xia and Lord Earthrock would be so much stronger than anticipated.”
Elder Ten Thousand Crane glanced at the bound and immobilized True Monarch Black Feather and couldn’t help but feel a surge of retreating intent.
If Lan Chang'an’s woman and spirit beast were already this troublesome, what kind of divine techniques must the man himself possess?
If they were sealed within the city, the situation would be disastrous.
But abandoning a fellow Nascent Soul cultivator, and one who was also his grandson-in-law, would deal a serious blow to Ten Thousand Crane’s reputation.
“Prepare to retreat!”
True Monarch Guo noticed Elder Ten Thousand Crane’s hesitation and immediately gave orders to his own forces.
He didn’t hesitate in the slightest, he withdrew his Purple-Gold Dragon Rod and swiftly retreated through the partially mended breach in the formation.
As a Nascent Soul cultivator from a vassal force, True Monarch Guo had no personal ties to this fight and certainly wouldn’t throw his life away. On the battlefield, his first priority was always preserving his own faction.
Whoosh!
Before Lan Chang'an could arrive, True Monarch Guo had already withdrawn from Yuanliu City, leading his troops in an orderly retreat.
Lan Chang'an knew full well that he couldn’t trap all three demonic faction Nascent Souls.
With a sweep of his Black Heaven Wings, he turned into a bolt of black lightning, racing to the city’s edge and intercepting Elder Ten Thousand Crane.
“As expected, you can’t rely on vassal sects’ Nascent Soul cultivators!”
Elder Ten Thousand Crane cursed inwardly, not expecting True Monarch Guo to flee even faster than himself.
Fortunately, Guo hadn’t simply escaped alone, he was at least covering his army’s retreat and maintaining formation discipline from afar.
Boom!
Suddenly, a massive explosion shook Yuanliu City, accompanied by a Nascent Soul-level surge of power, almost reaching mid-stage Nascent Soul.
It was True Monarch Black Feather, who, in despair, had chosen to self-destruct his physical body.
“If his Nascent Soul escapes, at least he can keep his life.”
Elder Ten Thousand Crane heard the blast and, while fending off the formation’s restrictive force, charged out of the city without looking back.
“Grandfather Ten Thousand Crane, save me-!”
Within the city, a soul-level scream of despair and agony echoed.
Something… didn’t feel right.
The two fleeing demonic faction Nascent Souls turned to look, hearts sinking.
They saw that after True Monarch Black Feather self-destructed his body, his Nascent Soul spirit body, a black-robed miniature man, was now frozen in a layer of frost, with toxic blood leaking from his eyes and nose.
Not only that, but his Nascent Soul was still entangled by the Spirit Devouring Black Threads, leaving him visibly weak and powerless.
The spirit body attempted to form hand seals, coughing up vital essence as he tried to use a Nascent Soul escape technique.
Boom!
His Nascent Soul abruptly expanded, unleashing a burst of deadly black soul flame, which forcefully blasted off the Soul Devouring Threads.
In the next instant, the mini spirit flickered and before the city’s formation could fully mend, escaped through the breach.
However, heavily injured, poisoned, and weakened, his escape speed was less than half what it should’ve been.
After escaping, the black-robed Nascent Soul, eyes filled with hatred, glared at Elder Ten Thousand Crane who had fled ahead of him.
But the moment he passed through the breach… His vision went black.
Whoosh!
A strange, ghostly green web spread out dozens of zhang wide and enveloped the fleeing Nascent Soul like a net.
“Lan… you damn turtle!”
The Nascent Soul’s body went numb. He was instantly caught in the Ghost Spider Soul Net, which transformed into a cage, tightening with every moment.
Ghost energy from the net seemed to squeeze his very spirit, binding him tighter and tighter.
The Nascent Soul struggled in terror, looking ahead to see Lan Chang'an approaching, wearing a half-smile.
With a flick of his hand - Whoosh!
The Ghost Spider Soul Net dragged the trapped Nascent Soul over.
Lan Chang'an cast several sealing talismans, affixing them onto Black Feather True Monarch's Nascent Soul, then sealing it within a rune-covered jade box.
The black-robed miniature spirit let out one final shriek before being sealed completely.
“Black Feather…”
The fleeing True Monarchs Guo and Ten Thousand Crane both felt a chill in their hearts.
They had assumed that after self-detonation, True Monarch Black Feather’s Nascent Soul could safely escape.
After all, there were no mid-stage Nascent Soul powerhouses present, and in the Eastern Region of Great Qing, treasures that could trap a Nascent Soul were incredibly rare.
They had never imagined that Lan Chang'an possessed a soul-capturing treasure capable of sealing a wounded Nascent Soul and that he would capture True Monarch Black Feather alive.
...
Lan Chang'an put away the sealed jade box, then with a single flap of the Black Heaven Wings on his back, he shot forward like a black meteor, pursuing Elder Ten Thousand Crane, who was the closest target.
Ten Thousand Crane had withdrawn slightly later than Guo True Monarch, losing a few seconds to retract the Ten Thousand Crane Formation.
Meanwhile, Fairy Xia and Lord Earthrock charged out of the immortal city, eliminating any remnants of the demonic army that hadn’t retreated in time, and joined Lan Chang'an in chasing down True Monarch Ten Thousand Crane.
Being pursued by three Nascent Soul combatants, even the old and experienced Ten Thousand Crane True Monarch couldn’t help but feel panic rising.
Especially with Lan Chang'an, whose movement speed far surpassed that of most early Nascent Soul cultivators rapidly closing the gap.
Go!
Lan Chang'an slapped down a fourth-rank frost-type talisman, named Frostbound Heaven and Earth.
A sky-filling cold mist swept down, along with countless giant hailstones falling from above. The area where True Monarch Ten Thousand Crane fled was instantly transformed into a world of silvery frost.
Though fourth-rank talismans weren’t life-threatening to Nascent Soul cultivators, they were exceedingly rare in the cultivation world.
“Guo True Monarch, help me quickly!”
Ten Thousand Crane True Monarch’s flight speed was already slower than Lan Chang'an’s. Now, under the suppression of Frostbound Heaven and Earth, his speed dropped another 30%.
“You old bastard dared to plot against this True Monarch’s woman? Today, you’ll accompany Black Feather to the afterlife.”
Lan Chang'an closed in quickly, and behind him, the Black Heaven Wings swept out a vortex of black wind, followed by several giant black wind blades binding and entangling Ten Thousand Crane True Monarch.
Farther away, Guo True Monarch was about to turn back to assist Elder Ten Thousand Crane.
But at that moment, from within the Righteous Dao Alliance’s territory, a cold golden streak of light, radiating the spiritual pressure of a Nascent Soul cultivator, was rapidly approaching Yuanliu City.
Reinforcements from the Righteous Dao Alliance had arrived.
With a city on the frontline surrounded by three Nascent Soul combatants, the Alliance, no matter how slow to react, would eventually dispatch reinforcements.
The reinforcements came in the form of a female True Monarch, wearing a golden robe and a phoenix crown, with a cinnabar dot on her forehead and phoenix-like eyes filled with icy authority.
She was none other than True Monarch Golden Moon, the Palace Master of Proud Moon Palace, Fairy Xia’s master.
And she happened to be flying in from a direction closest to Guo True Monarch.
Guo True Monarch’s heart sank. The enemy now had too many Nascent Souls. And remembering Black Feather’s tragic end, he immediately lost all fighting spirit.
“Elder Ten Thousand Crane, I can only hold off True Monarch Golden Moon…”
Guo True Monarch sent a helpless voice transmission, then flew off to intercept the oncoming Golden Moon True Monarch.
This pulled him away from the main battlefield between Lan Chang'an, Ten Thousand Crane, and the others.
“As a Nascent Soul cultivator from the demonic faction's vassal sects, why risk your life in a losing battle? You’d be better off withdrawing now.”
True Monarch Golden Moon assessed the situation and launched both verbal pressure and probing attacks.
Both sides understood, they were simply delaying each other, not engaging in a full-scale battle. It was just wasting time.
To be fair, Guo True Monarch not fleeing outright and at least trying to help Ten Thousand Crane already made him more loyal than most.
...
Elsewhere, things went much worse for Elder Ten Thousand Crane.
Now tangled with Lan Chang'an, he was soon joined by Fairy Xia and Lord Earthrock, falling into a three-on-one situation.
Elder Ten Thousand Crane, with just over a hundred years of life remaining, was nearly a millennium old. Now, brutally beaten by three Nascent Soul cultivators, he had no way to resist.
To prevent Ten Thousand Crane from going berserk and taking someone down with him, Lan Chang'an didn’t rush to kill him, opting instead to wear him down through encirclement.
Lord Earthrock unleashed a sandstorm spell, surrounding and draining his mana.
Fairy Xia focused on limiting his movements.
Around her floated seven crystalline Profound Ice Flying Lotuses. Three revolved around her for defense, while the other four shot out, each one at treasures and protective shield.
Elder Ten Thousand Crane’s face went pale, blood trickled from the corner of his lips. His summoned legion of spirit cranes was shredded by the three Nascent Souls, leaving corpses everywhere.
He was shielded by a dark green robe projection, but it had lost its luster. Under Lan Chang'an’s Dragonwood Staff, cracks spread across its surface.
Though his cultivation was deep and his divine powers were strong, he could not withstand a three-on-one beating, this was even worse than being chased by a mid-stage Nascent Soul.
Against a mid-stage opponent, he could at least run in a single direction. But now, he was surrounded.
“Now!”
Lan Chang'an found an opening. His hands clasped together, and a twisted, profound beam of withering green light formed between his palms.
Boom!
The divine light, imbued with the passage of time and decay, pierced through the fragmented robe projection on Ten Thousand Crane, corroding a withered hole in his chest.
“You—!”
Elder Ten Thousand Crane’s body froze. As an old cultivator, he was keenly aware of the massive loss of longevity on his body.
In that instant, his vital energy rapidly withered and decayed, his lifespan was shortened by twenty years.
This not only cut one-fifth of his remaining life, but also severely depleted his vitality, dropping his combat power by 20%.
“So… that’s it!”
Coughing up blood, Elder Ten Thousand Crane’s face shriveled, looking like a walking corpse.
In that moment, he seemed to realize how Lan Chang'an had arrived so quickly to support the city.
His robe was in tatters, and the three Feathered Needles circling him lost their glow and fell powerlessly to the ground.
Boom!
But then, the Nascent Soul power within his body, after a brief pause, erupted like a volcano.
“Watch out!”
Lan Chang'an’s warning came just as a mass of black sun-like flame and spiritual force exploded from Elder Ten Thousand Crane’s core.
The self-destruction of his physical body unleashed a force on par with a mid-stage Nascent Soul, forcing the trio to rapidly retreat.
Swish!
Lan Chang'an vanished into a flicker of black-winged light.
Whoosh!
The Ghost Spider Soul Net spread wide, aiming to capture a fleeing, elder-shaped Nascent Soul.
However, Elder Ten Thousand Crane’s escape trajectory was unexpected.
At first, he flew toward Yuanliu City, then abruptly turned in an arc, veering toward Beast King Valley’s territory, blinking a few times before vanishing on the horizon.
Lan Chang'an’s net missed the prediction, he didn’t succeed in capturing him.
“What a pity…”
“This old fox… his Nascent Soul escape technique is refined, and he knew I had a nascent soul-capturing treasure. He actually used reverse psychology to throw me off.”
Lan Chang'an retracted the Ghost Spider Soul Net with some regret.
Still, in a cultivation war, to destroy the bodies of two Nascent Soul cultivators and capture one of their Nascent Souls alive, was already an extraordinary feat.
Moreover, most of the spoils of war from the two fallen Nascent Souls had been left behind.
Though Ten Thousand Crane wasn’t completely destroyed, Lan Chang'an’s attack had cut twenty years from his lifespan. Even if he found a body to possess and rebuilt his foundation, he would never rise again.
And most importantly, Lan Chang'an hadn’t even used some of his most powerful trump cards in this battle, such as the Barbed Arrow, the Exotic Spirit Puppet, or the fourth-rank Green-Armored Puppet.
None of them had been revealed.
...
On the other side, True Monarch Guo, the moment Elder Ten Thousand Crane self-detonated, he didn’t hesitate and burned his blood essence and executed an escape technique, fleeing at full speed.
True Monarch Golden Moon’s cultivation was close to his own. In a one-on-one fight, he couldn’t stop her nor did he plan to.
Meanwhile, the trio of Lan Chang'an, Fairy Xia, and Lord Earthrock, caught off guard by the violent blast of Ten Thousand Crane’s self-destruction, had no opportunity to give chase either.
Squeak squeak!
Lord Earthrock, returning to its small rat form, quickly collected the battle spoils left behind by the two fallen Nascent Soul True Monarchs and hunted down a few high-ranking demonic faction cultivators who tried to escape.
“This battle, where two demonic True Monarchs were slain and defeated, is of great significance.”
Far off, True Monarch Golden Moon was filled with delight. She hadn’t expected that this mission to provide reinforcements would lead to such tremendous military merit.
She thought to herself, since she had come as aid reinforcements, then aside from contributing to the merit tally, she should also be entitled to a share of the spoils, no?
Lan Chang'an, however, didn’t pay attention to the approaching True Monarch Golden Moon flying in from the city.
His gaze turned toward a far-off direction.
Roughly between the Seven Kingdoms Alliance and the Righteous Dao Alliance, leaning toward the region of the Black Fog Mountain Range.
After today’s Nascent Soul-level battle, the Evergreen mana in Lan Chang'an’s body was churning violently.
Right now, he was suddenly struck with an intuition, a flash of inspiration, and the Evergreen Dao Fruit within his Nascent Soul began to resonate with a subtle, inexplicable sense of connection.
“Strange… why would True Monarch Cyanwood appear in that area?”
(End of chapter)