Techniques and Dao

Chapter 73 Dancing Across the Sky
Using the Six Ding Six Jia Formation as long-range firepower, we will inflict heavy damage on the alien beast army before it enters the stratosphere.

Driven by the sword-wielding technique accompanied by the melody of the Guangling San zither, thousands of silver swords pierced through the bodies of the first wave of strange beasts, instantly eliminating tens of thousands of Gu Diao. This ranged attack intimidated the enemy, and the remaining beasts scattered immediately upon seeing the unfavorable situation.

The enormous silver sword tornado, waving and swirling with sword flowers, created increasingly larger gaps between the swords, as a large number of strange beasts such as Gu Diao, Qiong Qi, and Hu Jiao began to surge into the stratosphere.

Master Jueguang waved his hand, and a giant crane flew over. He jumped onto the crane and shouted, "Disciples of the Daoist Academy, follow me to battle!"

The disciples drew their swords, some jumped onto the cranes, some used the prayer lanterns as footholds to move back and forth, and some even used their magic to ride the prayer lanterns as white clouds.

The cone-shaped golden light array directly confronted the army of alien beasts.

Within the cone-shaped golden light array, the Spirit Clan disciples were valiant and skilled in battle. They all transformed into their original forms, and the shapes of wild beasts such as white horses, black tigers, and spotted leopards appeared and disappeared amidst the chaos. Meanwhile, some Immortal Clan disciples, adept at fire manipulation, used the Prayer Lanterns as cannons. After igniting the lanterns with fire magic, they kicked them towards the gathering of strange beasts, causing violent explosions and plunging the world into darkness!
However, the enemy possessed an overwhelming numerical advantage. As more and more alien beasts entered the stratosphere, some "escaped fish" began to break through the cone-shaped golden light array one after another. The two formations led by the Fire and Thunder Immortal Master and the Yu Ran Immortal Master, who were overseeing the battle from the rear, also engaged in small-scale skirmishes.

Immortal Master Jueguang led the charge, and after a quick calculation while slashing through the air, he had already eliminated nearly a thousand strange beasts. At this moment, he heard a howling wind beside him, and saw that Taishang Xiaojun was leading a group of people who had attacked from the flank, cutting the horde of strange beasts surging towards the cone-shaped golden light array in half. It was as if a sharp sword had cleaved the enemy formation in two.

"Supreme Lord! Charging so far ahead will surely lead to you being surrounded. Be extremely careful!"

"Watch me! Execute Plan A!" Tai Shang Xiao Jun shouted, throwing out a gigantic white silk ribbon. Several disciples behind him chanted in unison. The white silk ribbon, which had been folded, quickly unfolded in all directions in the air, expanding layer by layer until it became a gigantic canvas as tall as a skyscraper.

"What do you think of my calligraphy?"

During the pre-battle preparations, Taishang Xiaojun deliberated for a long time about what morale-boosting words should be written on the canvas. He believed that for their own side, the words should boost morale and uphold the banner of justice. For external forces, the words should deliver a crushing blow to the enemy!
After careful consideration, he wrote four large characters on the side facing the Academy of Arts and Sciences: "Defend the Way and Punish Evil".

On the side facing the army of monsters, four other large characters were written:

Go to hell!
At this moment, four disciples flew to the four corners of the canvas and firmly tied four large prayer lanterns to the corners of the canvas. Then, the canvas, like a large sack, was slung over the army of strange beasts in mid-air.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun made a hand seal and shouted, "Go to hell! Hurry, hurry, as the law commands! Behold my Painting Immortal Divine Incantation!"

Under the power of the divine incantation, the silk canvas became a black hole devouring the strange beasts. Wherever the canvas passed, countless hordes of beasts were transformed into pictures and sealed within it. From a distance, it looked like a giant eraser, wiping a white path through a sheet of paper covered in black pencil marks. In an instant, the canvas was covered with thousands upon thousands of images of strange beasts.

Master Jueguang laughed: "Little Jun, you're quite quick-witted! You actually used this immortal technique! In that case, Master Huolei and Master Yuran's magic arrays won't need to be used for the time being."

The canvas continuously moved back and forth through the army of strange beasts, sucking them into a bottomless pit wherever it went. Meanwhile, the Supreme Lord Xiaojun, along with hundreds of disciples, continuously chanted incantations and performed hand seals behind the canvas.

Seeing that tens of thousands of strange beasts had been captured on the canvas, black smoke rose again from the horizon. Mingyou's figure appeared in the air, coldly gazing at the enormous canvas.

"It's just a little trick!"

Immediately afterwards, Mingyou waved his long sleeve with his left hand, and the black ribbons flying behind him quickly extended and shot straight down from the sky.

"Watch out!" Master Jueguang shouted to Taishang Xiaojun, "Beware of this black ribbon!"

The jet-black ribbon stretched downwards, like a long whip reaching to the sky, and lashed out at the canvas with a deafening crack!
The ripped airflow instantly blasted Tai Shang Xiao Jun and hundreds of his disciples thousands of meters away, leaving a gash on Tai Shang Xiao Jun's chest. He was no longer concerned for himself; the hundreds of disciples behind him were also injured by the blast and were plummeting towards the clouds below.

"Oh no! The canvas!"

Tai Shang Xiao Jun's heart sank. The black ribbon had blasted them so far away through the canvas; the silk of this dimensional reduction spell was surely in danger!
As expected, from a distance, the giant canvas appeared to be sliced ​​open from top to bottom by an invisible pair of scissors. The more than 100,000 strange beasts that had been subdued by the divine curse within the canvas surged out like a burst dam.

Like a student who failed an exam, Tai Shang Xiao Jun clutched his chest and sighed, "Sigh, all that work for nothing. I'm so tired!"

Seeing the battle spiraling out of control, Immortal Master Jueguang hurriedly ordered his disciples to engage in combat. He turned to Taishang Xiaojun and said, "Mingyou's magical power is profound; it seems your Plan A has little effect. Do you have a Plan B?"

"The original plan was Plan B! Immortal Master Jueguang, you go first and take the lead." Taishang Xiaojun stuck out his tongue.

"You silly child, that's the same as having no backup plan at all!" Just then, the two realized that Mingyou hadn't given up. The black ribbon tore through the giant canvas like lightning, only to grow longer, before whipping it in another direction. Accompanied by a loud crack, the giant tornado-shaped flying sword formed by the Six Ding Six Jia Formation was shattered in the middle by the black ribbon. The porcelain pieces of the sword formation, struck by bullets, instantly shattered into countless silver fragments and vanished without a trace.

As the flying sword formation shattered, the seven strings of the ancient zither in the center of the Six Ding Six Jia Formation below snapped instantly, sending Jin Fanyin, who was playing, flying away from the center of the formation. A dozen or so members near the center were also knocked to the ground by the invisible force. Jin Fanyin was wounded on his chest and face by the broken strings, bleeding profusely. Ignoring the pain, he shouted hoarsely to the disciples of the Xiyuan Academy outside the formation, "The strings! The strings are broken! Replace them quickly!"

“It’s troublesome for mortals to control the formation; in critical moments, we still have to rely on immortals.” Fortunately, Xuan Wen, a disciple of the Spirit Clan guarding the outer formation, had already prepared replacements. He quickly pulled out a pack of spare silver zither strings from his pocket. Then, he got up and flew into the formation, put Jin Fanyin’s arm on his shoulder, and leaped to the table in the formation to help Jin Fanyin quickly remove the broken strings from the zither.

"Hurry! Hurry! It's dangerous up there!" Jin Fan shouted, blood dripping from his face onto the table and the guqin.

"What are you yelling about! Be careful not to drip your blood on the magic array and ruin its power! Save your breath and stop wasting your breath." Xuanwen quickly wiped away the bloodstains with his sleeve and swiftly removed the broken string from both ends.

At this moment, Mingyou, who was in the sky above, looked down and said, "Your magic power is a thousand years behind. I had no intention of taking the lives of you fellow disciples. Why are you unwilling to back down?"

Before he could finish speaking, Immortal Master Jueguang suddenly appeared from below on a crane, shouting, "Boy! Heaven cherishes life, how can we stand idly by? Don't underestimate the Academy of Arts and Sciences!"

Mingyou didn't reply, but simply pushed out a palm towards Immortal Master Jueguang. Suddenly, the crane let out a mournful cry, and Immortal Master Jueguang was instantly sent flying.

The disciples in the formation noticed something was wrong and rushed forward to catch Master Jueguang. However, the power far exceeded their expectations. As soon as their hands touched Master Jueguang, they were shaken away and injured themselves.

Struck by Mingyou and plummeting downwards, Immortal Master Jueguang was like an arrow piercing a cone-shaped golden light array, not only repelling the disciples it touched but also shooting straight towards the Academy of Arts and Magic. At this moment, Immortal Master Jueguang had not lost consciousness, but due to the immense force, he could only desperately control his falling body. He blamed himself for underestimating Mingyou; it turned out that the opponent had concealed his magical power extremely well back at the Academy of Arts and Magic, and no one had suspected a thing.

"Immortal Master!"

Seeing the situation was dire, Taishang Xiaojun, who was providing support below the cone-shaped golden light array, immediately threw out his two swords, Ganjiang and Moye. Holding Ganjiang in one hand and stepping on Moye with the other, he flew rapidly towards Jueguang Xianshi. As he approached, his eyes were fixed on the direction Jueguang Xianshi was falling. He chanted a sword-controlling technique and hurled Ganjiang straight at him, hoping the blade would stop Jueguang Xianshi. However, just as Ganjiang made contact with Jueguang Xianshi, it was deflected and flew directly towards Taishang Xiaojun.

Just as he was about to be hit, he suddenly shifted his body to the right, and the blade grazed his left cheek, leaving a cut.

While attempting to recall his Ganjiang sword using the Lingxiao Sword Control Technique, Taishang Xiaojun continued flying forward, riding on his Moye sword. Just as he was about to touch Immortal Master Jueguang, Taishang Xiaojun leaped up to grab Jueguang's arm. In the instant he grasped Jueguang's right arm, he realized the force of Jueguang's fall was far greater than he had imagined. Taishang Xiaojun watched helplessly as Jueguang slipped from his grasp. He then tried to grab the other's sleeve, but the immortal's robe sleeve was torn to shreds, and he still couldn't hold on!

"If he falls like this, Immortal Master Jueguang will directly hit the center of the Six Ding Six Jia Formation!"

Tai Shang Xiao Jun suddenly realized what was happening and hurriedly shouted at Jin Fan Yin, who was repairing the strings of his zither in the formation, "Jin Fan Yin, get out of the way!"

Jin Fan looked up at the shout and saw the Immortal Master Jueguang falling towards him. This was clearly a missile hurtling towards him at incredible speed; if he were hit at that speed, it would destroy half of the Six Ding Six Jia Formation. Where could he possibly hide?

In his utter despair, Jin Fan tightly embraced the still-unrepaired guqin, wanting to protect it with his own body. Only with the guqin could the Guangling San continue to exist. He had to protect this crucial long-range attack weapon for the Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Suddenly, a golden light shot straight from Jin Fanyin's right side. This golden light seemed to have a soft, divine force supporting Jueguang Immortal Master's back. Jueguang Immortal Master's descent gradually slowed down, as if he were landing on cotton. Until he could control his speed, he did a somersault and jumped onto a prayer lamp less than a hundred feet away from the Six Ding Six Jia Formation.

Jin Fan broke out in a cold sweat and turned to look to his right. He saw a wave rising from the lake in the distance, lifting an orange magic circle above the water. The golden light emanating from the circle was its defensive barrier. Standing atop the circle were sixty-four graceful young women in T-shirts and plaid skirts—the idol girl group he knew all too well.

Standing in the center of the formation is the captain who is in charge of this Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation—

Sun Xiaoming.

"At such a historic moment with a formidable enemy at hand, we absolutely must take a selfie to commemorate it!"

Sun Xiaoming raised his phone high, flashed a V-sign, and with his signature smile and chin raised, said smugly, "Oh! I'm late. The most popular girls were all touching up their makeup! The 'HOPE' members all went to great lengths to look so beautiful today, they won't stand to be ignored!"

Then Sun Xiaoming threw his phone aside, raised his finger, and shouted loudly upwards: "Chang'e, you wrinkled, single old hag! I'm here, so come at me if you dare!"

(End of this chapter)