Chapter 171: Human Life and Heavenly Secrets

Infused with Xu Xuan's natal true flame, the Seven-Feathered Copper Sparrow erupted with terrifying might, spreading its second feather. Cyan and purple flames intertwined to form a dual-colored radiance over a zhang in length, slicing horizontally through the void like a stunning feathered flash. It fiercely struck the white chilling mist and ice crystals whipped up by Dong Bingyun.

The moment the white mist collided with the dual-colored feathered flames, it shattered instantly, billowing vast clouds of water vapor and azure smoke that surged in all directions, enveloping a radius of twenty to thirty zhang.

Judging by the appearance, the Seven-Feathered Copper Sparrow seemed capable of withstanding the blow somewhat. Yet, if the might of a Core Formation expert amounted to no more than this, one might as well smash one's head against a tofu block and die.

Clang, clang, puff, puff, puff—

Within the torn white chilling mist, a cluster of ice crystals spun at blinding speed, raining continuous blows upon the Seven-Feathered Copper Sparrow. Its brilliance dimmed drastically in an instant, shrinking as it retreated in defeat.

Worse still, residual ice crystals broke free, hurtling toward Xu Xuan to encircle him.

Though these ice crystals appeared insignificant, under the mystical power of a Core Formation expert, each single piece was equivalent to the full-strength strike of a Spirit Refining expert.

The nearby cultivators of both clans were utterly appalled. The might of a Core Formation powerhouse was truly this tyrannical! At the same time, Xu Xuan's performance exceeded everyone's imagination. Not being instantly obliterated in front of a Core Formation expert was partly due to Dong Bingyun's casual and nonchalant strike, but it also bore testament to his own formidable strength.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—

The remaining dozen or so ice crystals traced unpredictable trajectories across the night sky, forming a barrage of falling rain that enveloped Xu Xuan's front, bringing with it a suffocating sense of fatal crisis.

All Xu Xuan could do at this moment was stall for time as much as possible. Since the Dong family had dispatched a Core Formation expert, it was impossible for the Zhang family to remain completely unaware and unresponsive without taking countermeasures.

Damn it!

Not daring to meet the attack head-on with his physical body, he whipped out a black silk blanket from his sleeve. It abruptly expanded and grew larger, a layer of dark red patterns emerging on its surface. Ghostly winds billowed, forming a massive defensive net that blocked his path.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

The moment they made contact, sparks flew from the black silk blanket. The dark red patterns on its surface extinguished one after another, and the web-like black blanket emitted a creaking groan, clearly pushed beyond its limits.

Xu Xuan gritted his teeth and poured the very last wisps of his natal flame into it.

Hum!

The black silk blanket flared with intense light, and strands of dark red flame ignited across the defensive black net, greatly boosting its power. For a fleeting second or two, it managed to block the onslaught.

However, Core Formation experts, being towering figures who had surpassed the three stages of Mortal Shedding, possessed divine abilities and immortal arts that could not be measured by conventional standards.

Puff, puff, rip—

The three largest ice crystals swept past with a dazzling, chilling gleam, shaped like sharp cones. They tore a ragged hole right through the black net and drilled straight toward Xu Xuan's body. In a split second, Xu Xuan felt a biting cold pierce his flesh, a freezing aura that nearly locked his blood in place.

Clang, clang, puff!

Xu Xuan's skin flashed with a reddish-bronze luster, kicking up a shower of sparks. One of the ice crystals actually pierced half an inch deep into his arm, blood trickling down in a steady stream.

Xu Xuan let out a muffled groan. Ever since he joined the battlefield, this was the first time his primary defense had been breached head-on.

The sheer penetrating force sent a jolt through his body, nearly causing him to vomit blood. If this had been an ordinary Spirit Refining immortal master, the force of this single strike would have been enough to shatter his internal organs and bones.

Even with Xu Xuan's incomparably formidable physique, he suffered no small injury, feeling an intense chill seep into his body. A layer of frost had already spread across his entire arm, wrapping his body and mind in bone-chilling cold and making his teeth chatter.

Fortunately, he possessed an inflammatory fire-attributed constitution as well. A powerful, scorching red light erupted from within his body, dispelling six or seven parts of the freezing cold.

He had barely survived this second wave of attacks, though not without sustaining considerable damage.

"Oh?"

High above, Dong Bingyun, resembling a goddess of an icy paradise, showed a trace of astonishment for the very first time. Her casual wave just now had mobilized fifty percent of her magic power and divine abilities, yet it had only resulted in injuring this junior.

In reality, however, Xu Xuan had expended seventy to eighty percent of his vital energy, his true flame was completely exhausted, the Seven-Feathered Copper Sparrow had dimmed and retreated, and his black silk blanket had been torn apart. It was at the cost of all these expenditures and secret techniques that he had managed to stall for merely a few breaths of time.

"Truly unexpected. For the Zhang family to produce such a genius... what a pity that your luck is foul, and you are destined to die. I, Dong Bingyun, shall grant you a glorious and resounding death..."

Dong Bingyun's face was as cold as frost, her gaze serene and clear. She opened her slender hand, and a dense swarm of ice crystals—numbering at least a hundred—spun around her body, inspiring awe in all who beheld them.

If a single ice crystal could cause the death of an ordinary Spirit Refining immortal master, what about a hundred of them?

Amidst the roaring waves of chilling mist, those hundred terrifying ice crystals actually condensed before Dong Bingyun into a crystal-clear ice sword a zhang in length. Its heart-stopping, piercingly cold aura stabbed directly into the souls and minds of the cultivators present.

It was unimaginable what terrifying offensive power this crystal ice sword, formed by the condensation of a hundred ice crystals, would possess.

Yet one thing was certain: under this single sword strike, even a ninth-layer Spirit Refining expert would be killed ten times over.

"Caw, caw, caw... Little girl Dong, aren't you being a bit too impatient? The Yellow Dragon campaign has only been going on for a few months, and you, a lofty Core Formation expert, are already starting to meddle in the war."

A bantering, evil-spirited laugh echoed from all directions in the night sky, reverberating across a radius of over a dozen miles.

Following that, a sharp, ear-piercing bird cry tore through the night sky, shaking the souls of all who heard it, though the origin—be it spirit beast or strange beast—remained unknown.

Dong Bingyun's delicate body froze slightly as she held the crystal ice sword, her lovely eyes lifting toward the sky above.

"Up there!"

The cultivators below suddenly discovered something and turned their gazes upward toward the firmament in unison.

High above in the dark clouds, a golden giant eagle two or three zhang in size flapped its wings and soared over. Lying lazily on the eagle's back was a burly, bearded middle-aged man with a leisurely expression. Holding two large iron balls in his hands, he looked down condescendingly at Dong Bingyun below with a beaming smile.

"It's Uncle Eagle! That's wonderful."

Zhang Feng said with a face full of pleasant surprise, recognizing the man's identity.

"As expected, he has finally arrived." Chu Dong let out a long sigh of relief. A powerhouse of the three realms of alchemy exceeded the limits of what he could divine.

"It's you..."

The moment Dong Bingyun laid eyes on this middle-aged man, she immediately gritted her teeth. Her reaction was intense, and her pretty face still bore traces of lingering resentment and anger.

"Aiyo, beauty Bingyun, look how nervous you are. We don't have any deep, irreconcilable hatred between us. It was just back then at the Fangtian Academy—I only sneaked a couple of extra glances while you were bathing and pilfered a piece or two of your intimate clothing. Why hold onto such a tiny matter..."

The middle-aged man chuckled with a lecherous expression.

As soon as these words left his mouth, the numerous cultivators fighting in the clan war all wore expressions of utter astonishment.

That Dong Bingyun was none other than the aloof and lofty Ice Cloud Fairy! Who had ever dared to show her the slightest disrespect, let alone subject her to such shameless flirtation?

"I'm going to kill you—!"

Completely provoked, Dong Bingyun was consumed by extreme shame and fury, pushing her to the brink of losing her sanity. With a sharp shriek, her figure transformed into a chilling, frosty rainbow, launching a murderous charge toward the lecherous Uncle Eagle.

At this moment, she couldn't care less about her original mission of eliminating Xu Xuan and Chu Dong; she flew straight for Uncle Eagle overhead, which showed just how intense her hatred and murderous intent toward him truly were.

"Hahaha! Come, come! To strike is to care, and to scold is to love."

Uncle Eagle possessed a brazen and shameless hide. Amidst a burst of wicked laughter, the two large iron balls in his hands left his grasp, transforming into golden, radiant spheres a zhang in diameter. They carried a deep, buzzing gale of light as they met Dong Bingyun head-on.

Clang, clang, clank...

The crystal ice sword in Dong Bingyun's hand slashed out a dozen-zhang-long trail of chilling frost, knocking away the two golden iron balls. However, the ice sword in her hand dimmed by a fraction as well. With a flick of her slender finger, it transformed into a sky-full of crystalline light rain that blanketed Uncle Eagle like a swarm of locusts.

"Aiyo, you're trying to kill my big eagle!"

Uncle Eagle panicked slightly as an antique bronze shield materialized in his hand. Pumping his true force into it, the shield abruptly expanded into a solid golden barrier two to three zhang high. Under the impact of the all-encompassing crystalline light rain, it produced a rapid and alarming series of metallic collisions, sending shards of ice and biting cold scattering in every direction.

The clash between these two Core Formation experts took place up in the clouds and firmament. They fought so fiercely that the dark clouds filled the sky, thunder rumbled, and continuous deafening explosions echoed endlessly, the battle moving further and further away before long.

The cultivators below lacked even the capability to intervene.

In this realm's void, the higher one went, the greater the pressure; there existed even powerful heavenly gale winds whose air currents alone could directly tear ordinary cultivators to pieces.

At the level of Qi Condensation cultivators, they could at best glide near the lower altitudes. Even Spirit Refining immortal masters generally could only fly to heights of one or two hundred zhag; going any higher would surpass their endurance.

Yet Core Formation experts could battle right up into the cloud layer, truly transcending the secular world.

"Brother Xu, are you alright?"

Zhang Feng quickly led a group of cultivators to surround and protect Xu Xuan.

"I sustained some injuries. After resting and recuperating for a few days, I will recover."

With a lingering look of terror, Xu Xuan gazed far off into the distance where the figures of the two Core Formation powerhouses had vanished into the firmament.

He never imagined that a Core Formation powerhouse would actually intervene on behalf of himself and Chu Dong. Yet judging by the situation earlier, that icy-white-robed female Core Formation expert hadn't taken him and Chu Dong seriously in the slightest.

Because of the collision between the two Core Formation experts, the battlefield of the two clans' confrontation was thoroughly disrupted, and the cultivators retreated one after another.

At the prow of the dragon-headed flying ship, Dongfang Wei stood rigidly, gazing up at the sky with a long sigh: "Could it be the will of heaven? Even with a Core Formation expert making a move, she still failed to successfully execute this junior..."

Mr. Shuo stood beside him, eyes closed, his hands calculating at lightning speed. An enigmatic yin-yang diagram materialized between his brows, and a distorted phantom light shot from his eyes, transforming into formless ripples that swept across the heavens and earth.

Puff!

Suddenly, he spat out a mouthful of blood, his face turning deathly pale as he muttered: "Just what kind of heavenly secrets does this Xu Xuan possess? Trying to calculate them is even more arduous and difficult than dealing with a Core Formation expert. Under normal circumstances, a cultivator whose cultivation level is on par with mine should never encounter such a situation..."

"Mr. Shuo, what is wrong?" Dongfang Wei asked in deep shock, hurriedly reaching out to steady him.

Almost simultaneously, Chu Dong looked toward the direction of the dragon-headed flying ship, the corner of his lips curling into a mocking sneer: "Trying to calculate Xu Xuan's destiny and heavenly secrets? And suffering karmic backlash and injury for it? How utterly foolish! Even though you are a Spirit Refining immortal diviner, now that you are injured, you are even less of a match for me. What meaning is left in this game of chess?"

Half a cup of tea later, Xu Xuan and Chu Dong were both escorted back to the Zhang family's stronghold in Qingmu Town.

Clan head Zhang Tianlun personally received the two of them, his expression showing a hint of agitation: "Guest Elder Xu, Junior Nephew Chu, you have been startled. Normally, Core Formation experts do not easily interfere in the war. Although our Zhang family noticed that Dong Bingyun was heading toward Qingmu Town, we never expected that she would personally intervene in the war and violate the pact to strike down a junior."

Violating the pact?

Xu Xuan felt a chill in his heart. Did this mean that from now on, the equilibrium among Core Formation experts in the Yellow Dragon campaign was about to be shattered?