The Quest for Immortality

Killing the attackers of the city naturally meant that the city was defended.

And winning this sword discussion naturally follows.

Especially Mo Hua...

A fierce glint flashed in Shen Cangfeng’s eyes.

The Shen family and Mo Hua also harbored significant grievances; if possible, he certainly wanted to cut down Mo Hua at the foot of his sword.

Therefore, others defend the city genuinely to defend it.

But Shen Cangfeng’s intent was to kill.

He wanted to reinforce the city gate, using it as ”bait” to exhaust Taixu Gate’s strength.

Taixu Gate posed two threats.

One was Linghu Xiao’s swordsmanship, and the other was Mo Hua’s formation.

The city gate was already sturdy, enhanced by five second-grade middle-level formations. To forcibly break it, either Linghu Xiao had to use a superior killing move...

Or Mo Hua would have to employ all his formations.

Or both.

And once Linghu Xiao uses a killing move, he won’t be a threat for a short while as he won’t be able to recover his breath.

Once Mo Hua exhausts his formations, he would essentially be worthless.

Then, Shen Cangfeng could save his killing moves, conserving strength and striking heavily when Taixu Gate breaches the gate.

Thus, when Taixu Gate breaks the gate, it would also be the moment for their annihilation.

Shen Cangfeng’s gaze was cold.

...

Outside the city gate, Mo Hua looked at the formation before him, sensed the killing intent behind the gate, and his mind stirred as he roughly guessed Shen Cangfeng’s intention, sighing softly.

He estimated that in a direct confrontation, the few of them couldn’t defeat this Shen Cangfeng.

Though Shen Linsu of the Qian Taoist Sect was strong,

This Shen Cangfeng was no weaker.

The Four Great Sects of the Qianxue State Boundary were really bothersome in this regard.

Prodigies were like grasshoppers, numerous and resilient.

Moreover, under the current circumstances, Shen Cangfeng’s plan was actually quite good.

To break the city gate, significant effort was required.

Either Xiaoxiao unleashes great moves, or I deplete my formations.

In this way, even if the gate is breached, dealing with the sword Qi slashes of the Qian Taoist Sect would be impossible.

It would be feasible to wear them down slowly without using big moves and formations.

But the issue was that the sword discussion had a time limit. The city must be captured quickly or they would automatically be judged as the losers once time ran out.

”This Shen Cangfeng has a rather deep mind...”

Mo Hua mused silently.

Unfortunately, these people still didn’t know the depth of his formation learning.

Second-grade nineteen patterns were not the limit of second-grade formations.

Above the nineteen patterns, there were still many profound formation principles.

”Cover me for a moment,”

Mo Hua instructed Cheng Mo and the others.

Cheng Mo and the others nodded in agreement.

Then Linghu Xiao started generating sword Qi, bombarding the city gate to apply pressure on the Qian Taoist Sect disciples.

Ouyang Xuan assisted with the attack from the side.

Situ Jian kept a watchful eye, guarding against the stealth attacks from Qian Taoist Sect disciples.

Cheng Mo, wielding a large axe, stood guard beside Mo Hua.

With the cooperation of his fellow sect members, Mo Hua began setting formations on the city walls.

The first formation was the Earth Stone Formation.

This formation was not intended for a siege but for ”sealing the city,” trapping all Qian Taoist Sect disciples inside the city, preventing them from coming out.

After that, Mo Hua laid out three sequences of second-grade nineteen-pattern high-rank killing formations.

One was a golden-series Golden Light Killing Formation, one was a wood-series Wood Burial Killing Formation, and one was a fire-series Earth Fire Killing Formation.

These three killing formations subtly integrated the Five Elements Generation and Restraint, complementing each other to enhance their power of killing to a new level.

Moreover, these killing formations were targeted.

But they weren’t targeting the formations laid by the Qian Taoist Sect disciples.

Not even the city gate itself.

Rather, they targeted the high-grade second-grade formations drawn within the ”city walls” by the elders of Mount of Tao before the siege.

The siege addressed the city gate.

Because the city gate was the weakest point.

On both sides of the gate stretched long and extremely sturdy ”walls.”

The walls defined the boundary, initially not meant for disciples to attack.

This was considered an unspoken rule.

These walls, wide and thick, were personally drawn with second-grade high-rank formations by the elders of Mount of Tao to protect the city.

The reason for using second-grade high-rank formations is because battles between Foundation Establishment disciples do not generally involve Golden Core power, larger than third-grade level.

And generally speaking, second-grade high-ranked formations suffice.

No sensible disciple would ignore the weaker ”city gate” to attack the thick and hard ”walls,” making life uncomfortable.

But that was in the past.

Unfortunately, now this wall encountered Mo Hua.

In the last sword discussion, while crouching behind the wall drawing formations, Mo Hua inadvertently noticed the numerous high-rank formations etched within the wall by the elders of Mount of Tao.

Mo Hua got somewhat restless.

He felt a bit ”itchy-handed.”

Counting the time, it’s been ages since he decomposed formations.

The last time he decomposed a formation was probably in Tongxian City, where he decomposed a large formation to kill the Big Demon Feng Xi.

Of course, Mo Hua dared not genuinely execute large-scale ”decomposition.”

Firstly, because he hadn’t fully learned the genuine second-grade Reversed Spirit Formation.

Secondly, this was the Sword Discussion Conference, with many watching. He didn’t want to cause a big commotion and attract attention.

Mo Hua’s approach was straightforward.

Induce the explosion of the three high-rank killing formations, using the power of the five elements to cause dissonance in the high-rank formations within the wall, rendering the spiritual power structure unstable.

Amid these killing formations, Mo Hua concealed a ”Reversed Spirit Pattern.”

This Reversed Spirit Pattern wasn’t complete.

But it served as a catalyst, a ”spark” to ”ignite” the spiritual power in an unstable state, causing a reversal and thereby inducing widespread explosive cascading failures of the high-rank formations within the wall.

These three killing formations couldn’t naturally destroy the walls.

Mo Hua didn’t expect them to.

The three killing formations were but a decoy, to create an opening, to deliver the Reversed Spirit Pattern’s spark into the gunpowder pile, triggering a series of formation explosions...

This entire reverse process underwent Mo Hua’s meticulous calculation.

Once the explosion occurred, with firelight scattering, it would automatically ”destroy the evidence.”

Nobody would notice his subtle manipulations within.

As for its potency...

Since it wasn’t a true ”decomposition,” but merely used ”decomposition” as a primer to cause the formations themselves to explode,

It essentially depended on the potency of high-rank formations.

The specific power depended on how many high-rank formations within the wall could the Reversed Spirit Pattern destabilize.

Calculation is calculation, while practice is practice.

This outcome was rather unpredictable.

But Mo Hua figured it shouldn’t be too weak.

Moreover, it became the only way to win.

If they attempted a direct siege against the Qian Taoist Sect disciples, they would likely still lose.

Quickly, Mo Hua finished laying all formations and then said:

”Everyone, move away a bit.”

Once Linghu Xiao and the others moved away, Mo Hua began to ”ignite the fire.”

Inside the wall, the Qian Taoist Sect disciples sensed a hint of incongruity.

Someone attempted to come out to see but found the gate sealed by Mo Hua’s formation.

They couldn’t get out.

Shen Cangfeng and the other disciples of the Qian Taoist Sect looked at each other with slightly gloomy expressions.

At this moment, they didn’t know what was about to happen.

Not only them, but the cultivators watching also didn’t know what was coming.

Because Mo Hua’s formation arrangement appeared rather tedious,

The two sides of the sword discussion hadn’t reached an actual confrontation yet.

Most of the audience was still in a relatively relaxed mood.

Inside the Sword Observation Pavilion, the Three Mountains Sect Leader was also leisurely drinking tea.

Then, the next moment, it was like a bolt from the blue — a sudden ”boom” resounded.

Everyone only felt an ache in their eardrums.

Their eyes flashed with dazzling light.

Then, above the paintings of the sky, the fire spread instantly, the flames of the explosion resembling dense fireworks spreading across the entire canvas, like an ocean of light, almost blinding their eyes.