Chapter 260

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Qin Shiyue racked his brains, but he still could not think of a way to break the Three Talents Flag Gate Formation. At the time, he had merely listened to the story out of curiosity—why would he have paid attention to how it could be broken? Moreover, there seemed to be no memory of any method to break it in his mind. Perhaps even his master might not be able to undo it.

Slowly making his way to a high point in the mountain forest, Qin Shiyue gazed into the distance. Looking at the vast, continuous mountain range, he could not help but exclaim: “This formation truly lives up to its legend—the illusions within are as real as reality itself. But if they are false, then what lies beyond the end of these mountains? It seems I’ve never been to the other side before. I might as well take a look—perhaps I can find some clues.”

With that thought, Qin Shiyue sheathed his soft sword, spread his figure, and unleashed his peerless Qinggong, dashing straight toward the mountain’s edge.

Qin Shiyue was a disciple of Garuda Heavenly King, one of the Eight Heavenly Dragons of the Heavenly Dragon Divine Cult. But what was this “Garuda”? According to the [Lotus Sutra·Chapter on Devadatta], the original meaning of Garuda referred to a great bird adorned with various precious colors on its wings, with a large protuberance on its head that was said to be a wish-fulfilling jewel. This Garuda was none other than the Golden-Winged Great Peng, which devoured a dragon and five hundred young dragons every day. When its lifespan came to an end, the dragons would spew poison, preventing it from feeding. So it would then soar up and down seven times before perishing atop Mount Vajra Wheel. As it had consumed dragons (which were akin to venomous serpents) throughout its life, its body was filled with accumulated poison. When it died, the poison erupted, consuming its flesh and leaving only a heart of pure azure glass.

Among the Eight Heavenly Dragons, Garuda Heavenly King was most renowned for his Qinggong, and naturally, Qin Shiyue was also an expert in this art. Otherwise, given Zhang Xiaohua’s Qinggong, how could he have been unable to gain any advantage against Qin Shiyue? Now, as Qin Shiyue exerted his full strength in this illusory realm, he flitted through the endless forests like a passing breeze. However, just as he was enjoying the exhilaration of his speed, the scene before him suddenly rippled. Various images overlapped, revealing a faint opening—through which he caught a glimpse of the inner hall, where the three Auspicious Treasures were drenched in sweat, looking at him in sheer terror. But this vision lasted only for a fleeting instant before the original illusion returned, and he landed right back where he started. In the distance, a few tiger roars echoed through the air.

“Hahaha!” Qin Shiyue let out a loud laugh. His intuition had guided him to the method of breaking the Three Talents Flag Gate Formation. At this moment, he no longer cared about hunting tigers. Instead, he casually drew his soft sword, spread his figure, and in an instant, covered several zhang as he dashed straight into the distance.

Outside the formation, one of the three Auspicious Treasures spoke in extreme panic to another person: “Big Brother, this is bad! The formation pearl in my hand seems to have run out of energy!” If Zhang Xiaohua were nearby, he would have been able to see with his divine sense that the fist-sized jade stone was gradually being drained of Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi. The Qi flowing from within it into the small flags on the ground had become extremely weak, and the glow of the orange-red flag was slowly dimming.

Indeed, while the Three Talents Flag Gate Formation was an extremely ordinary formation in the Immortal Path, it was more than enough to trap a martial artist, leaving no easy way for them to escape. Even though the three Auspicious Treasures themselves had no Yuan Qi, they could rely on the Qi stored within the Yuan Stones. While this alone was not enough for the flag formation to launch an active attack, even the simplest defense and illusion were already invincible in this era where the Immortal Path had long been extinguished. At the very least, the Heaven’s Way Alliance had never once failed when deploying this formation.

However, external objects remained external objects. The Qi within the Yuan Stones would eventually be exhausted. By coincidence, today was the very moment when one of the Yuan Stones had run dry. Otherwise, even if the true Garuda Heavenly King were present, his Qinggong might not have so easily caused a flaw in the formation.

Inside the flag formation, Qin Shiyue continued sprinting forward. The scenery before him overlapped and shattered repeatedly, and the image of the inner hall appeared before his eyes again and again, each time lasting longer. Even Ying Fei, who had been fleeing in panic moments ago, stopped in astonishment, raising his head to look at the flickering sky above him.

After a brief moment, one of the three Auspicious Treasures suddenly shouted: “Big Brother—”

Before he could finish his sentence, the jade stone in his hand abruptly crumbled into fine powder, scattering onto the ground. At the same time, the small flag on the ground flashed brightly before instantly reverting to its dull and unremarkable appearance. Although the other two flags still emitted a faint glow, the protective light screen was now incomplete, with thirty percent of it already gone. The illusion within the formation could no longer be maintained. At that moment, as Zhang Xiaohua was in quiet meditation, he sensed the change in Yuan Qi and unconsciously opened his eyes.

At this moment, Qin Shiyue and Ying Fei, still within the flag formation, both had their eyes lit up. Qin Shiyue had already been executing his peerless Qinggong, and now, with just a change of direction, he shot like lightning toward one of the three Auspicious Treasures—let’s call him Second Treasure.

Second Treasure’s jade stone had turned to powder, yet he lacked the necessary experience and continued forming hand seals, not releasing them. The power of his incantation had not yet dissipated. In fact, the incantation the three Auspicious Treasures were using was not originally designed for the Three Talents Flag Gate Formation. Rather, after the decline of the Immortal Path, someone modified the technique so that martial artists could use Yuan Stones to control formations. However, when the Yuan Stone’s energy was exhausted, the formation naturally turned to drawing upon the practitioner’s own Qi. But how could Second Treasure possess True Qi formed from Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi? With such forceful extraction, his meridians were instantly severely damaged, as if suffering from Qi deviation. Blood immediately trickled from his seven orifices.

At that moment, Qin Shiyue and his soft sword had already reached him. The pitiful Second Treasure, his limbs weak and powerless, had no means to resist despite his martial prowess. Right before Zhang Xiaohua’s eyes, Qin Shiyue’s soft sword slashed, and Second Treasure’s head comically soared into the air. A fountain of blood sprayed onto the ground as his short and stout body collapsed with a thud, blood splattering three feet high!

Such brutality startled Zhang Xiaohua into shutting his eyes. Though he was no stranger to killing, he always did so with a certain refinement—a single sword thrust, a delicate red mark at the throat. This kind of crude, gory slaughter was something new to him. However, after a brief moment, he reopened his eyes, stepped out of the glowing formation, and gazed from a distance at the headless corpse. With a silent sigh, he thought: “Being alive is truly a blessing!”

The remaining two members of the Auspicious Treasures were enraged at seeing their brother slain. With fury twisting their faces, they immediately dispelled their incantations, tossed their jade stones to the ground, and drew their longswords from their waists. With a loud battle cry, they charged forward. Without the Three Talents Flag Gate Formation, the three Auspicious Treasures were formidable, but not enough to make Qin Shiyue or Ying Fei afraid.

Each of them picked an opponent, and in an instant, fierce combat erupted.

The three Auspicious Treasures were well-known in the martial world, and their skills were not much weaker than Qin Shiyue’s. In fact, they clearly held an advantage over Ying Fei. Ying Fei had engaged in battle with sheer determination, yet the moment their swords clashed, he was pleasantly surprised—his opponent, whichever of the Treasures he was facing, had internal strength on par with his own, and the force behind his swordplay was weak. Though Ying Fei did not understand the reason, at least his life was no longer in immediate danger. As long as he could hold off his opponent until Qin Shiyue finished his fight, he would naturally be able to escape unscathed.

The pitiful three Auspicious Treasures—if the three of them had worked together, they would have been more than a match for Qin Shiyue, Ying Fei, and Zhang Xiaohua. However, unwilling to risk their brothers’ lives, they had opted to eliminate their enemies without direct combat by relying on their most powerful trump card—the formation. But this formation, which had never failed before, had now met its end due to exhausted energy, leading to an unexpected flaw. As a result, they had already lost one of their own. Additionally, while controlling the formation, they had been guiding the Yuan Stone’s energy into the small flags, which, though not depleting their own Qi completely, still consumed a significant amount of their internal strength. Because of this, their energy had drained far more than that of Qin Shiyue and Ying Fei within the formation.

Sometimes, thinking about it, always concealing one’s strength might not be a good thing. But revealing all one’s cards at once is also unwise.

Qin Shiyue’s martial skills were superior to Ying Fei’s, so he quickly discerned the limits of his opponent—whichever one of the Treasures this was. After exchanging a dozen or so moves, Qin Shiyue seized an opportunity. With another flick of his soft sword, this Treasure’s head also soared into the air, dying in the exact same manner as the previous one. Zhang Xiaohua, watching from afar, curled his lips and muttered inwardly, Brutal!

Now, with two of the Auspicious Treasures slain, the remaining one was already in utter despair. He fought Ying Fei with reckless abandon, adopting a desperate strategy to drag his opponent down with him. Ying Fei immediately saw through his intent—if he was going to die, he wanted to take someone with him. How could Ying Fei allow him to have his way? He only evaded, refusing to engage head-on.

Seeing this, Qin Shiyue leaped forward like an arrow, flying toward the hall’s exit. As he passed behind the last remaining Treasure, he didn’t even glance at him, merely swinging his sword in reverse. Another fountain of blood shot into the air. Qin Shiyue’s grin deepened as he disappeared out of the inner hall in an instant.

Now, inside Ma Manor’s inner hall, three severed heads lay scattered, three headless corpses sprawled about, and fresh blood drenched the marble floor. The stench of blood filled the air. Ying Fei, seeing his superior rush outside, was about to follow, but just as he lifted his foot, he hesitated. He turned to look at Zhang Xiaohua in the distance, then walked to where the small flags were planted. Channeling his internal energy, he pulled them out one by one and stowed them away. After that, he bent down, retrieving the two remaining jade stones from the pools of blood, then calmly walked out of the hall.

Zhang Xiaohua had no desire to stay with them, but the inner hall was no longer a place for people to remain. He carefully stepped around the corpses, making his way toward the door. As he passed by the chair where Qin Shiyue had been sitting earlier, he noticed a few old jade artifacts on the nearby table—tribute from Ma Rulong. He didn’t mind their origins and casually took them, stuffing them into his robes. Only then did he step over the bloodstains and walk out of the hall.

Outside, the sun shone brightly—it was the auspicious hour of Ma Rulong’s grand birthday celebration. But in Zhang Xiaohua’s heart, there was only a creeping chill. The past few moments inside that inner hall felt as though an entire lifetime had passed. The perils of the martial world were now all too clear. If Qin Shiyue and Ying Fei hadn’t managed to break free from the flag formation, would he have survived?

The martial world does not believe in tears. Nor does it believe in hypotheticals. No one can say for certain what might have happened. Perhaps Ma Rulong, seeing that he was innocent, would have spared him. Or perhaps Qiu Xidao, fearing he would leak information, would have ended his life with a single stroke.

These were mere speculations—no one could know for sure.

However, when Zhang Xiaohua stepped into the main hall, he finally understood the true meaning of brutality.
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