Although the effects of the Golden Magnetic Divine Light were terrifying, they weren't entirely insurmountable for two top-tier body-refining cultivators. The two moved forward steadily, passing through the passage before the Ye family cultivators arrived. Before them stood the main hall of the Kunwu Palace.
The Kunwu Hall was not large. Directly in front of the two were two rows of more than a dozen wooden chairs of various styles, forming a meeting hall-like space.
At the far end of these wooden chairs, another pale gold chair stood in the center. Beside this chair was a green table about ten feet tall.
The chair was nothing special, just carved from ordinary golden silk spirit wood. But the table was entirely emerald green, radiating a vibrant spiritual energy, clearly not an ordinary object. Moreover, it was currently shrouded in a layer of misty green light, and through this light, one could vaguely make out the shapes of several items placed on the jade table.
This must be the treasure of Kunwu Palace!
However, Lu Xuan noticed that behind the pale gold chair, on the wall of the hall, hung an inconspicuous painting: a picture of three people gazing at the moon.
Three indistinct figures—a monk, a Taoist priest, and a scholar—were chatting about something under a full moon in a bamboo grove.
The painting appeared unremarkable, devoid of any spiritual energy. However, its solemn placement here indicated it was no ordinary object. Lu Xuan recalled that the painting likely contained a wisp of divine thought from the Three Sages of Kunwu. Its power was at least equivalent to a full-force attack from a Nascent Soul cultivator, something even he himself might not be able to withstand.
"Be careful not to act rashly. These things are definitely not meant for us to take. So, let's clear the area first and then examine them carefully."
“That’s true. This fellow Daoist has been following us for a long time. It’s time for him to show himself.” As if they had planned it together, Old Demon Han and Lu Xuan suddenly attacked a certain open space behind them.
With a thought, Lu Xuan unleashed three pale golden lightning beads. A violent, exorcising divine lightning bolt instantly covered the entire ground. A painful groan echoed from beneath the earth. Immediately afterward, countless green vines shot forth from the ground, attacking Lu Xuan and Han Li. Several vines also coiled towards the jade table, attempting to seize the treasures on it.
Han Li snorted coldly, and several streaks of azure sword energy shot out from his hand. The Azure Origin Sword Technique's sword energy crisscrossed, directly severing the vines reaching towards the jade table.
"Hmph..." The cyan figure let out a cold snort. His entire body transformed into a ball of green light, actually attempting to withstand Han Laomo's sword energy and rush towards the jade table.
Lu Xuan knew the other party wanted the natal pendants on the jade table. However, Lu Xuan had already pocketed all four natal pendants. How could he tolerate this guy's advances?
A flash of electricity crackled around him, and Lu Xuan vanished from his spot, suddenly blocking the path of the green light.
With a flick of his right hand, a golden electric net enveloped the green light. The green light snorted coldly, its magical power surging. The opponent was a special plant spirit called a Wood Demon. Such creatures were extremely rare, and had completely disappeared from the cultivation world.
They aren't actually known for their powerful combat abilities, and their supernatural powers are quite limited. However, they possess one advantage that other cultivators can't match. One is their incredible ability to use earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of magic that allows one to escape), and their astonishing ability to conceal themselves. After all, they are plant-based, so this is a natural talent. The other is their long lifespan.
This thing is many times older than the longest-lived demon beast. Once it becomes sentient, it can lie dormant somewhere, accumulating power little by little, sometimes for thousands or even tens of thousands of years. Therefore, its supernatural abilities are ordinary, but its magical power will become increasingly profound over time.
Moreover, their race is characterized by the fact that even if they cannot break through their cultivation level, due to the special nature of their bodies, the total amount of magical power within them far exceeds that of half of the cultivators and demon beasts.
The wooden beast before us is one that has been powerful since ancient times. Limited by the environment of Kunwu Mountain and the decline of spiritual energy in the human world, it cannot advance to the Nascent Soul stage. However, over the years, the accumulation of magical power within its body has exceeded expectations. At least among the four guardian beasts of Kunwu Mountain, in terms of sheer magical power, the other three combined cannot match it.
At this moment, it wanted to use its magical advantage to forcefully break through Lu Xuan's blockade.
Lu Xuan snorted coldly. His entire body radiated a golden-jade light. He activated the Golden Jade Glazed Technique at full power. Flickering electric sparks emanated from his body. He didn't dodge or evade, but forcefully blocked Mu Kui's full-force attack.
Not far away, Old Demon Han felt a vast surge of magical power rushing towards him. He cultivated the Azure Origin Sword Technique, so his magical power was already deeper than that of other cultivators. Combined with body-refining techniques and various secret arts, his magical power was long past that of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.
But now he realized that compared to the two monsters before him, he was still far inferior. Even if he advanced to the late Nascent Soul stage, he probably wouldn't be able to catch up to them.
Mu Kui was also greatly shocked. He knew these two were not easy to deal with, so he never intended to confront them directly. He only planned to make a sudden move, snatch his life-bound card, and run away. But he didn't expect that the other party had some kind of secret technique that allowed them to see through his plan, forcing him to fight desperately.
It had originally planned to forcibly seize the item, even at the cost of its own vital energy. However, it hadn't expected that even with its life on the line, the strange human cultivator would still be able to block it head-on.
The opponent possessed powerful and domineering magical energy, and surprisingly, they used the Evil-Repelling Divine Thunder as their innate divine power. These wood-type demons were most afraid of all kinds of lightning divine powers.
Just then, the golden magnetic light outside the main hall was once again shattered by a sonic attack. Three figures brimming with demonic energy rushed in. Without a word, they went straight for the natal tablets on the table.
Surrounded by golden flying swords, Han Li stood alone against the three figures. The seventy-two Azure Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords had been arranged in advance to form the Great Geng Sword Formation.
Sword cultivators are rare in the human realm today. However, in ancient times, sword cultivation was a major category in the cultivation world. As one of the few remaining demon cultivators from ancient times, these three are even more terrifying than sword cultivators. Although they are not skilled in esoteric arts, their martial arts prowess is top-notch.
"Fellow Daoist Guiling, break the formation!"
One of the three demons suddenly swelled up. In just a few breaths, it had transformed into a giant several dozen feet tall. A huge battle axe appeared in its hand, and it took the lead, forcefully breaking through Han Laomo's Great Geng Sword Formation.
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Chapter 553 Gathering at Kunwu Palace
Old Demon Han snorted coldly. Over the years, he had served as an elder in the Hidden Immortal Sect. In the Chaotic Star Sea, the Hidden Immortal Sect was a powerful force. He rarely needed to use his full strength. Facing three late-stage Nascent Soul demons at once, he felt not fear, but rather a faint sense of excitement.
A figure flashed beside him, and his Nascent Soul stage puppet appeared. However, it merely stood by, observing from the sidelines, without actually offering any assistance. Han Li was actually planning to fight three late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators alone.
In truth, given Han Li's personality, he wouldn't normally take such a risk. However, with Lu Xuan by his side, their combined strength was enough to overturn an entire major sect. Faced with the current situation, he was confident and naturally remained calm.
Lu Xuan merely glanced back and then paid no further attention. With Han Li's current strength, fighting three late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators alone would naturally be difficult. However, with the Great Geng Sword Formation set up beforehand, and the assistance of puppets, even if he didn't win, he definitely wouldn't lose. The current Han Li already possessed some of the imposing aura of the Old Demon Han from the original story.
The electric net in his hand contracted rapidly, binding the retreating green light within. The wooden creature, whose lifespan was unknown, ultimately couldn't escape his grasp. As someone recognized by Xiang Zhili as possessing the combat power of a Nascent Soul cultivator, Lu Xuan's strength far surpassed that of the Nascent Soul cultivators nearby. A power gap had even emerged.
After dealing with Mu Kui, Lu Xuan turned his attention to the jade table in front of him. The three demons behind him panicked upon seeing it. Their life tablets were all on the table; after so many years, they had finally gotten a chance at freedom. If they fell into the hands of other cultivators, they would become their puppets again. Naturally, they were unwilling to accept this. Therefore, they desperately attacked Han Li's sword formation.
However, those sword energies, as thin as hair, were like an impenetrable wall. The three demons not only failed to break the formation, but were also severely wounded by the endless sword energy. The ugly woman at the forefront, who had transformed into a giant, fared slightly better. A flash of spiritual light emanated from her body, and all her wounds healed completely. She was a tortoise-type spirit beast with an indestructible body. She also possessed a long lifespan and profound magical power, allowing her to persevere.
However, the other two were in a rather sorry state. One was a cultivator's physical body that had become spiritual, belonging to the category of zombies who had attained enlightenment. It was already at the level of a Silver-Winged Yaksha. However, it had been trapped in Kunwu Mountain for many years and could not absorb the true essence of the sun and moon at all. Therefore, it had been unable to advance to the Golden Body Moon Corpse.
The last one is a rare ancient demonic beast, the Lion-Bird Beast. All three beasts possess top-tier cultivation. However, limited by Kunwu Mountain, their magical artifacts are extremely limited. Apart from the Ugly Woman Guiling at the forefront, the others lack any magical artifacts or array flags to break the formation. This makes it extremely difficult for them to deal with the Great Geng Sword Formation.
At this moment, only one last restriction remained before Lu Xuan. However, he seemed to be stumped by this restriction, standing there for a long time without making a move.
He could vaguely see three magical artifacts and four natal tablets within the restriction. The three artifacts were a scroll, a vajra, and a small sword, corresponding to the three sages of Kunwu from Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, respectively. The entire restriction originated from a jade seal.
In reality, Lu Xuan felt that the so-called restriction was merely the spiritual light naturally emanating from the jade seal. It wasn't a restriction in the true sense of the word.
At that moment, a burst of blood-red light suddenly appeared in the surrounding space. A blood-red figure suddenly appeared beside the jade table.
Lu Xuan was caught off guard and didn't have time to react. The blood-red figure broke through the barrier and swept everything off the table.
Four tokens, along with three magical artifacts, were swept up by a wisp of bloody light and flew towards the figure. At this moment, Lu Xuan not only didn't stop them, but instead vanished from his original spot in a flash. The next second, he appeared in a corner of the main hall.
His action startled the blood-red figure. Before the figure could react, the scroll hanging behind the jade table suddenly began to glow with spiritual light. Then, three beams of light—yellow, white, and red—burst forth.