77 Flame Step. (1/2)
Li Yang undid his fusion with Shenlong and Huanglong, quickly leaving the area where he had fought Gao Gang and swiftly heading towards the center of the palace. He passed by a few more sect disciples as he moved, so he quickly killed them as he passed by them. After moving through the various hallways and rooms for a little over a minute, Li Yang reached a rather spacious hall.
”This should be the center of the palace.”
The grand hall stretched out a few hundred meters in each direction, statues of heroic people and ferocious Demonic beasts spread around as decorations. There were a few large pots spread around the corners of the room, contorted trees that had yellow and red leaves growing out from the pots.
At the very center of the room stood six ashen pillars, each around one meter thick and ten meters tall. A faint gray mist seeped out from the pillars, a low howling sound barely audible as one got closer to the pillars. Each of the pillars was engraved with a myriad of faces, most belonging to various types of Demonic beasts, but there was one that was engraved with a shrieking human face. Strangely enough, as Li Yang looked at the face, it moved slightly, seemingly trying to say something.
Li Yang could easily guess what these pillars were, they were the Soul Storing Pillars of this sect. These types of pillars were exactly what they sounded like, a place where one could store the souls of living beings. Depending on who set up the pillar, the souls stored inside it would experience either heaven or hell, purifying them or turning them into vengeful wraiths. Li Yang glanced at the six pillars, his eyes settling on the one with the human face.
”The pillar with the human face...this one?”
Gao Gang said that the entrance to the treasury was located beneath the pillar with the human face, so it should be the one he was looking at. He didn't know if there were any traps or the like, so instead of walking closer to the pillar, he backed up a bit, raising his right arm.
A crimson light, an azure light, and an icy blue light gathered above his palm. The icy blue light turned into a hollow spear of ice, the azure light filling the handle of the spear with lightning, and the crimson light filling the tip of the spear with blazing flames. After forming the spear, Li Yang grabbed it and gave it a jerk, sending it soaring through the air like a blur.
The tip of the spear hit the Soul Storing Pillar, shattering and unleashing the stored up flames. The flames melted the rest of the spear, unleashing a scalding blast of steam and releasing the stored up lightning. The fire and steam mixed with the lightning, the three different forces immediately trying to extinguish the others, resulting in a loud and uncontrollable explosion.
All six Soul Storing Pillars were shattered under the force of the explosion, the lightning extinguishing the souls that were stored within it, returning them to the cycle of reincarnation. A large hole appeared in the ground, revealing a staircase that descended into the darkness. Looking at the staircase and the hole, Li Yang's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
”No traps? Were they really that confident in their own strength?”
The explosion hadn't set off any arrays, nor revealed any traps, had they not set up anything to protect their treasury? Li Yang raised his arm, creating nine orbs of ice and tossing them at the hole. Only after all nine orbs fell down the stairs without anything happening did Li Yang feel that it was safe to step forward and descend down the stairs.
He lit up the path in front of him using a few floating orbs of fire, carefully examining the walls and steps as he made his way down. But even when he reached the bottom of the stairs and arrived in a round cavern, there were still no signs of any arrays or any traps.
The cavern was filled with wooden shelves that were neatly lined up, small notes pasted onto the sides of the shelves detailing what sort of items were stored on the shelves. Other than the books that were placed in the back of the cavern, everything else was placed in small boxes that were made out of either wood or crystal, it was far neater than Li Yang had expected from a sect like this. Looking at the fully stocked treasury, Li Yang was pleasantly surprised.
”Huh, there are more things here than I thought there would be, seems like the leaders of the sect didn't have the time to empty it before they started trying to flee.”
He had expected the treasury to either have been emptied or for all the most valuable items to have already been taken. But now it seemed like none of the sect leaders had the time to empty it before Xiang Wuying and the others started their attack on the palace. Li Yang once again took a few steps backward, creating a few orbs of ice and tossing them at some of the shelves. Only when several boxes were knocked down and nothing happened did he step forward, chuckling lightly.
”Well, since they wish to hand me such a gift, how could I possibly reject?”
He quickly swept through the entire treasury, storing everything into his interspatial ring. Even the herbs or items that were useless to him were taken, after all, you'd never know when you would need them. And even if he didn't end up needing them, he could give them to others if he felt like it.
After he stored away everything and made sure he hadn't overlooked anything, he picked out a that was bound in gray leather. But just as he wanted to start reading it, the white paper talisman that Xiang Wuying had given him lit up with a blinding light, flying out of his interspatial ring and turning into a line of light as it shot into the distance. Looking at the scene, Li Yang couldn't help but click his tongue in slight annoyance.
”Tch, can't even let me check through the books in peace? Oh well, time to work.”
It was clear that someone had encountered the sect leader and was notifying the others of his location. This meant that everyone had to rush over there so that they could deal with the sect leader, preventing any accidents from happening. Li Yang put away the book and left the treasury, following the line of light that his talisman had turned into.
The line of light led Li Yang towards the back of the palace, so Li Yang guessed that the sect leader tried to stealthily escape once he noticed that an array had been set up around his palace. Li Yang only had to run after the talisman for a little over a minute before it finally stopped flying.
A short distance ahead of him, the muscular yet short Xiang Wuying, as well as the three other disciples, had surrounded the square-faced sect leader, Teng Jiang, as well as the second sect vice-leader, Gao He. The area around them looked like it used to be a hallway, but the walls and ceiling had already been shattered by battle, creating an open area covered in rubble and flames. Noticing that Li Yang was arriving, the strangely feminine Yu Chao quickly called out to him, waving his hand in a dismissive manner.
”Junior Brother Yang,you just stay back and try to not interfere.”
Li Yang's cultivation was just too low, so Yu Chao was worried that Li Yang would just die if he were to try and join in on the battle. But contrary to Yu Chao's dismissive manner, Xiang Wuying gave Li Yang a deep look.
”Junior Brother Yang, can I trust you to provide us with a bit of assistance and making sure that they don't get to escape?”
Yu Chao and the others didn't know, but as the one who directed from which direction everyone entered the palace, Xiang Wuying knew that it was Li Yang who had entered the palace from the same direction as that horrifying bolt of lightning. There was also the fact that the other sect vice-leader wasn't responding to the calls of Teng Jiang and Gao He, so Xiang Wuying guessed that Li Yang might have actually killed him already.
He didn't know if it was truly Li Yang who launched that attack, or how he might have done it, nor did he care, all that mattered was that it was rather likely that Li Yang could launch an attack like that. If Li Yang was truly capable of launching an attack like that, Xiang Wuying found that it made more sense that he would be accepted as an outer disciple despite his low cultivation.
Li Yang could mostly tell what Xiang Wuying was thinking, but he wasn't too bothered by it. After all, even if Xiang Wuying was going to accuse him of something, he had no proof. Li Yang took up position a bit behind Xiang Wuying and the others, giving a slight nod of his head.
”Leave it to me.”
If it was just providing support and being a nuisance to Teng Jiang and Gao He, that was something Li Yang was quite capable of. Xiang Wuying gave a light nod of his head, turning back to face the two enemies. He took a step forward, the wind around him starting to pick up in strength, a low bell-like sound ringing through the area.
Xiang Wuying was going to be the main attacker, with Yu Chao and the two others only serving as backup for him, tying down Gao He and interrupting Teng Jiang whenever Xiang Wuying pulled back.
Battle quickly broke out, with Xiang Wuying clearly having the upper hand most of the time. The two laws he specialized in seemed to be wind and sound. He used the wind to lighten his own body and increase his speed, as well as using it to control several small daggers that he threw around, allowing him to attack from all angles. He also used the wind to move around some of the flames in the surroundings, throwing them at Teng Jiang.
His law of sound seemed to be what he used for most of his attacks, using two different versions at once. One version came in the form of the sound of a bell, resounding in the ears of his enemies and messing with their vestibular system and throwing them off balance. The other version only produced a low grating sound and focused completely on the vibrations of the sound, each of Xiang Wuying's attacks penetrating their defenses and piercing deep into their bodies, attacking their bones.
Even Li Yang could not help but let out a slight sigh of praise when he saw Xiang Wuying's control. Not only did he control two laws at once, but he also controlled several weapons at the same time, as well as using two different versions of one of his laws. His control had already reached a very exquisite point.
If Li Yang were to compare it with himself, he would have to admit that while his control over lightning was great, he was still rather lacking when it came to his control over fire and ice, often only using the elements in their raw form.
The battle continued to drag on, Gao He's situation slowly getting worse as he had to face the attacks of three different people. And right after Gao He blocked an attack and had to take a step back to disperse the remaining force, Li Yang saw his chance and took action. A small part of the ground beneath Gao He froze, a layer of ice appearing at the spot where he was about to lower his foot.