Chapter 260 Mountain-Guarding Sword
The blood moon hung in the sky; the shadow of the crooked-neck tree enveloped the entire altar like a giant claw.
"Defend first and talk later!"
Han Yu gave a clear shout, and the sword edge drew a brilliant arc in front of him.
"Heaven-Resisting Sword: Defensive Stance!"
Sword qi poured down like the Milky Way, transforming into a semi-transparent screen of light that forcibly shook back the dozen or so villagers who pounced first.
Those twisted figures crashed against the sword qi barrier, emitting muffled "bang bang" sounds. The black patterns under their skin wriggled violently, actually forming a bark-like stratum corneum on the body surface, offsetting part of the impact.
"Great Sun Burning Heaven: Prairie Fire!"
Jiang Che seized this fleeting opportunity, forming seals with his hands as blazing white flames gushed out from his palms. The flames swept across like a raging dragon, instantly swallowing five or six villagers.
A burnt smell instantly permeated the air. Those scorched bodies made "crackling" explosive sounds yet still stumbled forward in the fire—until a blinding golden light suddenly lit up within the flames, and only then did all the ignited villagers explode with a bang, shattering into limbs smoking with black smoke all over the ground.
"Endless!"
Chen Xingcai's figure was like lightning, shuttling through the crowd as gracefully as a startled swan. Every light tap of the long sword in her hand accurately pierced into the center of the villagers' brows.
Those bodies with pierced skulls should have died on the spot, yet black roots quickly surged out from the wounds, repairing the damaged parts perfectly in the blink of an eye. A white-haired old woman even grinned, allowing the long sword to remain in her skull, while her withered claw-like hand grabbed fiercely toward Chen Xingcai's throat!
"Startled Swan Reflection!"
Chen Xingcai tapped her toes lightly, her figure retreating like a phantom. The old woman's sharp claws grazed past the tip of her nose, and the fishy wind raised caused slight pain at the corners of her eyes.
Before she could catch her breath, three brawny men had already outflanked her in a triangular formation. Their arms had mutated into tree branch shapes, the tips still dripping with dark green venom.
"Clang clang clang!"
Han Yu's sword light swept over in time, severing those mutated limbs at the root. What sprayed out from the fracture was not fresh blood, but sticky black juice; after landing, it actually wriggled like a living thing and crawled back to its master's side.
Even more terrifying was that those scattered limbs were also pieced back together under the guidance of black patterns—villagers cut in half at the waist crawled using arms instead of feet, and those whose heads rolled off actually used roots as eyes, their offensive momentum not diminishing in the slightest!
"We can't go on like this!"
Beads of sweat were already visible on Jiang Che's forehead. Although the Great Sun Burning Heaven Mantra could cause effective killing damage, the consumption of True Essence was too great.
He gritted his teeth and changed hand seals: "Burning Heaven Boiling Sea!"
Even more intense fire waves swept out, temporarily clearing an open space.
The three stood back-to-back, forming a triangular formation. Han Yu's sword qi barrier contracted continuously but became increasingly solid.
Jiang Che's flames formed a second line of defense on the periphery; Chen Xingcai roamed to plug gaps, specifically targeting the joints of those villagers who broke through the defense line, at least able to delay their movements.
Lu Xiaoluo stood in the middle of the battle circle, forcibly suppressing the fear in her heart, her hands tightly gripping the hilt of the Mountain-Guarding Sword.
She noticed that whenever a villager was heavily injured, a root would hang down from that crooked-neck tree, quietly diving into the ground beneath the injured person's feet, then injecting black juice into the injured person's body to make them recover instantly.
At this moment, the battle situation became increasingly tragic.
A child whose legs were severed actually crawled using palms, faster than an able-bodied person; several old women's mouths tore to the roots of their ears, spraying out spiderweb-like roots; the skin of the brawny men in the very front row completely turned into tree bark, leaving only shallow marks when forcibly taking sword qi.
"Bang!"
Han Yu's sword qi barrier finally developed cracks after being impacted by dozens of people simultaneously.
He let out a muffled groan, and blood oozed from the corner of his mouth, yet he still maintained the sword stance desperately.
Jiang Che's flames had shrunk to three feet around his body. Chen Xingcai's sleeves were torn to shreds by roots, and several wounds oozing black threads appeared on her fair arms.
The Daoist stood under the tree, his tilted neck twisting strangely. His pure black eyeballs gazed at the four people who were heavily surrounded as the corners of his mouth slowly split open into an exaggerated arc.
"Why put up a desperate fight?"
His voice was hoarse and deep, like rubbing tree bark. "Cultivating Immortality and seeking the Dao, what is it for? Is it not just for eternal life and being free and unfettered?"
He slowly raised his hand, and fine, dense black roots extended from his fingertips, swaying gently like living things.
"Merging with the Sacred Tree allows one to also attain eternal life, perhaps... even more easily than your thousand years of bitter cultivation." He chuckled low, his voice carrying temptation. "Look at them—"
He pointed at those villagers parasitized by roots. Their faces were dull, yet their vitality was exuberant, and the black patterns under their skin pulsed like blood vessels.
"Ageless and deathless, without disease or disaster, no need to undergo Heavenly Tribulations, no need to worry about one's lifespan coming to an end..." The Daoist tilted his head, his voice becoming increasingly soft.
"How difficult is the path of Cultivating Immortality? You cultivate bitterly for a hundred years, experiencing life and death, yet in the end, you may still turn into a pile of loess. But as long as you accept the Sacred Tree's bestowal, all this pain... can be avoided."
He took a step forward. Roots spread across the ground like a tide, yet stopped three feet away from the four people, as if displaying some kind of "sincerity."
"Give up resistance." He opened his arms, revealing a body covered in tree patterns under the black robe. "Become a part of the Sacred Tree, and you will obtain true eternity."
Han Yu sneered. His sword edge vibrated, and the Heaven-Resisting Sword Intent condensed once again. "Wallow in the mire with an evil creature like you? Ridiculous!"
The Daoist sighed, shaking his head as if in pity. "Obstinately sticking to the wrong course..."
His eyes went cold, and his pure black pupils contracted abruptly.
"Then... become nourishment!"
In an instant, all the villagers erupted simultaneously. Black patterns burst from within their bodies like a tide, turning into countless ferocious roots that swept toward the four to strangle them, blotting out the sky and covering the earth!
Just at this moment—
"Hah!"
Lu Xiaoluo mustered her courage, gave a clear shout, and the Mountain-Guarding Sword was unsheathed!
The sword edge traced a clear arc of light, severing the arm of the nearest pouncing villager at the shoulder.
"Careful!" Chen Xingcai warned urgently; she had seen with her own eyes that these villagers' wounds would be repaired by black patterns instantly.
However, in the next moment, a sudden change occurred!
Just as the black roots surging from the severed arm were about to wriggle and repair it, a cluster of white flames suddenly ignited at the sword wound with a "hiss."
That flame was pure as snow, yet it used the black patterns as fuel to spread madly, swallowing the villager in the blink of an eye.
"Ah—!"
The villager emitted a scream unlike a human sound. The entire body twisted and deformed in the white blazing flames; the black patterns under the skin struggled and twisted like living things, but instead made the fire burn even more vigorously.
In just three breaths, a living person was burned to ashes right before everyone's eyes, leaving not even a bit of residue behind.
"This..."
Even Han Yu's sword momentum stagnated because of this. The evil creature they had fought bitterly for so long was actually incinerated by Lu Xiaoluo with one sword strike!
Meanwhile, the Daoist, who was just arrogant and speaking with fervor, suddenly changed his expression drastically and let out a shrill scream: "High God?! How is it possible? High God, spare my life!"
He actually knelt down with a thump, his tilted neck banging desperately against the ground, his bark-like forehead making loud banging sounds. "This lowly immortal knows his mistake! This lowly immortal knows..."
When he knocked his head for the third time, he suddenly froze. His turbid eyeballs slowly rolled up. After seeing clearly that the one holding the sword was Lu Xiaoluo, his entire face twisted instantly: "So it is you, this lowly spawn!"
The bark-like facial skin twitched violently. The Daoist straightened his body abruptly, and venomous light burst out from his pure black eyeballs.
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