Chapter 225: The 28 Constellations in the Immortal Palace (1/2)

Chapter 225: The 28 Constellations in the Immortal Palace

Translator: TransnEditor: Transn

Junior Leopard radiated an overwhelmingly cruel and fierce spirit. Green sword light exploded from his body and surrounded him instead of bursting outward. In the same moment, his endless killing intent spread all over the place.

”This is—!”

As Golden Rooster stood beside Junior Leopard, he felt the unmistakable sensation of Junior's Leopard's physical presence disappearing in a flash. His body instantly vanished, cloaked by the Free Will Demonic Smoke, while the green light surrounding Junior Leopard seemed to isolate him from the outside world. If Junior Leopard's Poison Cold Shield had not been protecting Golden Rooster, the Junior Leopard before his eyes would have seemed to be nothing more than a phantom left behind by the real person.

”What's this? A sword formation?”

The lady in white silently admired Junior Leopard's prowess as she hid in an out-of-the-way location. She was astonished by the amazing scene before her eyes, an astonishment stirred by Junior Leopard's sword light. Her eyesight was superior to Golden Rooster's, so she immediately recognized that the sword light emitted by Junior Leopard had formed into a forward-facing formation. However, she failed to identify the formation type.

Of course, she could not analyze this formation. Junior Leopard had formed his Yin and Yang Dust Formation out of Sword Qi. With his current cultivation and understanding of the Yin and Yang Dust Formation, he could only deploy the Death Gate portion of the Yin and Yang Dust Formation.

The Yin and Yang Dust Formation was a kind of formation that combined attack and defense but only manifested its real power when completely deployed. Presently, Junior Leopard had only deployed the Death Gate, which merely intensified the attack force of his Sword Qi.

This, however, was all he needed.

Within the Death Gate, the Sword Qi of his Silver Moon Sword Technique and his Yin and Yang Heavenly Sword flowed together as one.

The Dragon Flying Technique surged through his body like a maelstrom and ripped apart the Yin and Yang Heavenly Sword Qi within the External Elixir between his eyebrows. His Sword Qi was shredded into countless tiny sword threads that merged bit by bit with the Sword Qi of the Silver Moon. As this additional energy augmented the Death Gate in the Yin and Yang Dust Formation, the sword light around Junior Leopard grew indistinct. His green sword light took on a blood-red hue, emitting a piercing cold filled with inexhaustible ferocity. His entire body resembled a giant bomb that was about to explode.

The lady in white let out a cold laugh as she seemed to perceive the danger. Clouds of pale mist condensed out of every nook and cranny; this time, she called on all her strength to demonstrate the true power of the Free Will Demonic Smoke. The smoke formed into a big white ball less than ten feet in diameter, centered on Junior Leopard and Golden Rooster. Outside the smoke ball, Ma Tianchang's central camp remained intact and undisturbed.

The Poison Cold Shield could not hold for long under the great pressure of the Free Will Demonic Smoke. Even though Junior Leopard had built his practice of the Poison Cold Shield around the Poison-absorbing Green Bead to create a Shield that emitted a breathtaking quality of poison... he had only recently completed this practice. Junior Leopard and his Poison Cold Shield were not perfectly integrated yet. What's more, the lady's Free Will Demonic Smoke technique was not inferior to the Poison Cold Shield, and her cultivation was superior to Junior Leopard's. As a result, Junior Leopard's Poison Cold Shield was crumbling under his opponent's pressure.

”Help me, Golden Rooster! Make a hole in the smoke!” Junior Leopard shouted, his face burning red beneath his mask.

”Got it!”

Jin Yuquan replied in a low voice, eyes flashing as he realized how critical this moment was. He raised his hands as Gang Qi burst forth from his body in a shower of golden light.

Four Golden Claw.

The second Excellency:

Split the Sky.

”Rustle—”

There was a sound like silk cloth ripping in half. Jin Yuquan grimaced and bared his teeth. Even though his Gang Qi protected his body, he could not bear the great pressure imposed by the Free Will Demonic Smoke without the shelter of Junior Leopard's Poison Cold Shield. More importantly, it felt like he was ripping up steel and iron whenever he slashed at the surrounding white smoke with his golden light-wreathed claws. Even the glowing haze of the Free Will Demonic Smoke was harder than iron when it condensed into one place.

Although Jin Yuquan's Four Golden Claw technique had matured, he struggled to rip through the pale, seemingly translucent smoke. His fingertips throbbed with pain, but since crying out would be humiliating, he clenched his teeth and kept going until he had ripped many small tears in the surrounding Free Will Demonic Smoke.

This was the exact opportunity Junior Leopard was waiting for.

Once Jin Yuquan had ripped gaps in the Free Will Demonic Smoke, Junior Leopard let out a deep-throated yell. Greenlight burst from his body. The green sword light around him suddenly condensed into a single point. With a mournful cry and a glimpse of blood-red swordsmanship, the gathered energy shot towards the fissures torn by Jin Yuquan.

”Puff, puff, puff—!” The swift, fierce sword light pierced the Free Will Demonic Smoke with a soft sound. Junior Leopard's Sword Qi perforated the steel-like Free Will Demonic Smoke in an instant.

”Go now!” After Junior Leopard's thrusting attack, he pulled Jin Yuquan along with him. Jin Yuquan responded quickly and focused his golden light. As he followed Junior Leopard, his light transformed into a golden streamer as thin as a paper that coated his skin.

Junior Leopard also condensed his Poison Cold Shield into a thin, skintight layer, and then rushed out through the hole he pierced with his sword light.

The Free Will Demonic Smoke had currently grown extremely dense, forming a big smoke ball only ten feet in diameter centered on Junior Leopard and Jin Yuquan. Junior Leopard only needs to stab through a distance of five feet with the Sword Qi he had suddenly unleashed.

This was a trifle for Junior Leopard's Sword Qi.

Although the Free Will Demonic Smoke could regenerate itself, this process took time!

Junior Leopard and Jin Yuquan followed closely behind the outrushing sword light and dashed out of the Free Will Demonic Smoke. With their protective layers of Gang Qi and Poison Cold Shield along with their swift speed, they covered that five-foot gap in an instant. The big hole in the smoke ball did seal shut until they ran well clear of the Free Will Demonic Smoke.

”Damn it!” The lady in white swore under her breath. She hadn't expected Junior Leopard to release such a great power so suddenly. In moments, her white smoke exploded outward and moved to cover her two enemies again.

”Come on!” Jin Yuquan hissed, having little time to think. His figure transformed into a golden light that flew out of the central camp. Junior Leopard's sword light followed close behind.

They fled more blatantly than they had when they first slipped into the camp.

A golden light and green light rushed straight out of the central camp, ripping the camp into pieces as they passed and startling the master of martial arts among the troops. The barrack was instantly thrown into disarray. Dozens of shadowy figures swarmed out of the barracks, seemingly intending to chase after Junior Leopard and Jin Yuquan. Once they saw those two lights shooting thousands of feet up into the clouds, however, they gave up one by one.

The highest-level masters among them had only cultivated to Level Six. In order to pursue those two lights into the cloud, they would need the good eyesight and the lost flying skill that only came from successfully practicing Gang Qi – both of which required cultivating to Level Seven. Though they were competent masters, there was no way they could catch these two people.

For this reason, the masters abandoned their chase one after another and returned to camp. As they drifted back into the central camp, they realized that the barracks had been thrown into chaos.

”Pah, pah, pah, pah, pah...!” A miserable Junior Leopard stood on top of his own sword light, an eerie expression on his snow-pale face. The sword light trembled under his feet, seemingly on the brink of destabilizing.

His sword light was indeed unstable; it would be strange if it wasn't.

That final, seemingly easy attack had nearly consumed all the Internal Qi from Junior Leopard's Green Jade Qian Yuan Skill. The last dregs of his Internal Qi were just barely supporting the sword light beneath his feet.

The Death Gate of the Yin and Yang Dust Formation had many functions, one of which was to greatly increase a warrior's sword attack force. Junior Leopard had only just mastered this ability, using this feature of the Death Gate to break free of the restraining Free Will Demonic Smoke.

However, though the Death Gate of the Yin and Yang Dust Formation amplified one's abilities, it did so by consuming Sword Qi at an astonishing rate. Junior Leopard had already known he would not be able to activate the Death Gate with just his peak Level Six Cultivation and his Sword Qi altered by the Jade Original Power Gang Spirit. He had to mix his Extreme Yang Heavenly Sword and Jade Original Power Gang Spirit Sword Qi together in order to even use the Death Gate at its lowest level.

Even after taking all these measures, Junior Leopard only acquired enough power for one attack.

A single, measly attack.

After that attack, Junior Leopard had to devote the remnants of his Internal Qi towards supporting his Reining Sword Gang flight technique. If he ran into any more powerful opponents, he would have to fight them using pure physical strength.

In light of this, Junior Leopard finally, truly understood why it was so handy to carry External Elixirs.

Possessing an External Elixir effectively meant possessing another Dantian, which, practically speaking, would double your combat capabilities.

For most ordinary people, refining an External Elixir was a waste of time. This was no problem for Junior Leopard; his External Elixir could refine by itself for 24 hours straight, giving him a nigh-insurmountable advantage.

”It seems I made the right choice using my External Elixir to practice a second mental cultivation method!” Junior Leopard thought, feeling a surge of both pride and regret. If he could not practice the Green Jade Qian Yuan Skill using the External Elixir, how could he feel at ease when disguising himself as another person?

The current issue was that Xiao, his secret identity, was supposed to be a sword practitioner. Even the most imaginative and clever people in the martial arts world would never guess that Zhou Bao, who swung around two big iron hammers all day long, was also a sword practitioner with great attack force.

These two identities could not be connected to each other under any circumstances.

” I have to keep practicing the Silver Moon Sword Technique for the time being. My secret sword practitioner identity gives me a valuable edge!” Junior Leopard thought.

”What's going on? Are you all alright?”

Upon noticing Junior Leopard's deathly pale face, Jin Yuquan started looking queasy as well.

He had come here today to rob an ancient treasure. Contrary to his expectations, he had failed to steal the artifact and wound up getting nothing but a sore nose for his troubles. Even worse, he had to endure the humiliation of being rescued by Junior Leopard. Jin Yuquan was Wang She's partner. Junior Leopard was supposed to be a temporary replacement while Wang She healed from his severe injuries. Jin Yuquan was supposed to be the leader in this impromptu partnership.

What happened instead?