Heavenly Inquisition Sword Novel - Chapter 303
Chapter 303: I Can Encompass Heaven and Earth
Namgung Yeon, the Incomparable Among Ten, pulled mountain branches from her chest.
“I can create a simple formation. It won’t defeat the Wangliang, but at least we’ll be able to gather in one place.”
With these words, Namgung Yeon scattered the branches in all directions.
The branches hid among the grass and became invisible. But when she threw the last branch into the meadow, a sudden change occurred.
Suddenly, the surrounding landscape disappeared before their eyes.
“This is the Celestial Eight Trigrams Formation. It’s one of my favorite techniques. I’ve only left the front direction open, and it will hold for about an hour.”
“Why only an hour?”
Jang Mudeok tilted his head curiously.
The longer the formation lasted, the more time they’d have to rest.
“It’s because the Celestial Eight Trigrams Formation changes every hour. I left one direction open to observe the formation’s changes.”
“Ah!”
Jang Mudeok exclaimed in amazement.
He finally understood that they were inside the Celestial Eight Trigrams Formation.
Suddenly, there was a rustling sound in the front direction.
Shortly after, a three-meter mantis leaped towards them.
Guiyeong Ja, who was at the entrance, drew his sword and slashed the mantis in a single strike.
The head fell to the ground, but the hind legs continued to move.
Hyeok Muchun quickly cut off the mantis’s legs.
Namgung Yeon looked at the others and said,
“The mantises on the other three sides can’t see us, so don’t worry. From now on, two people will take turns guarding the entrance. The Three Immortals of Kunlun will start watching the front after thirty minutes.”
“We’ll do that,” replied Immortal Taiyi on behalf of his companions.
Guiyeong Ja and Hyeok Muchun tried to retreat quietly, but Yeon Jeokha didn’t let them.
“You two! Where do you think you’re going? Since you started, you’ll take care of the entrance. We’ll take turns after half an hour.”
Guiyeong Ja gritted his teeth in frustration.
‘Damn it, does he take us for fools? He talks about switching after half an hour, but if the formation changes earlier, we’ll have to escape. Turning, he says?’
Despite his resentment, Guiyeong Ja headed to the entrance. Immediately, the sound of rustling leaves and flapping wings filled the air.
The mantises attacked again in waves. Guiyeong Ja and Hyeok Muchun fought desperately to hold them back.
While the entrance turned into a battlefield, the rear was calm. The Three Immortals of Kunlun watched silently, feeling a bit guilty.
However, not everyone remained silent. Shim Tong, who was sitting in a lotus position, murmured,
“Young Master, formations are quite useful, don’t you think?”
“Yes. Before, they were coming from all directions, and we had no rest.”
“Look at that! Hyeok Muchun has been hit again. Those mantises are more dangerous than the Nokrim bandits. Wow, another hit.”
Yeon Jeokha nodded.
Indeed, the mantises were deadlier than the Nokrim bandits. If they weren’t experts like Guiyeong Ja and Hyeok Muchun, they would have been dead by now.
When Hyeok Muchun’s torso was stained with blood, Immortal Taiyi stood up.
“Would you mind if I take over?”
Immortal Taiyi looked at Yeon Jeokha to make sure he wasn’t interrupting any plans.
“Do as you please,” Yeon Jeokha replied indifferently.
Only then did Immortal Taiyi quickly head to the entrance.
Just as a mantis was leaping towards Hyeok Muchun, Immortal Taiyi stepped in.
“I’ll take over. Tend to your wounds.”
With these words, Immortal Taiyi unleashed his sword forward with a devastating technique.
Immortal Taiyi’s sword sliced the mantis into pieces in midair.
The mantis’s remains fell to the ground with a spray of green liquid.
Guiyeong Ja glanced at Immortal Taiyi.
He had thought they were only skilled in sorcery, but their swordsmanship was no less impressive.
‘Amazing.’
He had heard of them as the best outside the continent, but he didn’t know they were this formidable.
He thought only Jang Mudeok, Yeon Jeokha, and Namgung Yeon were monsters, but now he saw the Immortals of Kunlun in a new light.
He had thought they were weaker because they hadn’t stepped forward in the first fight in the meadow.
‘Maybe they didn’t intervene because they were conserving their energy for their spells.’
Again, the sound of rustling leaves came from the entrance.
And again, a mantis leaped towards them.
Guiyeong Ja unleashed his sword technique.
The mantis was shredded by the flurry of his sword.
Guiyeong Ja glanced at Immortal Taiyi with a satisfied smile, but Immortal Taiyi only stared ahead.
Guiyeong Ja felt a bit embarrassed and refocused on the fight.
He kept using his sword technique without rest, aware of the gazes of the other experts.
As the battle progressed, the mantis remains piled up around them.
Finally, Immortal Taiyi waved his hand forward.
With a loud crash, the mantis remains were scattered.
Guiyeong Ja, who didn’t master palm techniques, gave a wry smile.
“What technique is that?”
“It’s called Golden Dragon Palm.”
“I thought you were only skilled with the sword, but you’re also formidable with the palm.”
“It’s not much.”
Immortal Taiyi responded humbly.
Compared to Jang Mudeok or Yeon Jeokha, it was an exaggerated compliment.
As the two caught their breath, Immortals Taimu and Tairyong approached.
Guiyeong Ja thought they were coming to relieve them and relaxed a bit.
But that wasn’t the case.
The eyes of the two Immortals of Kunlun glowed with a blue fire.
They had activated the Divine Eye Technique.
‘Damn it. Just when things were getting better.’
Guiyeong Ja felt his shoulders drop a bit.
He had been fighting non-stop and was exhausted.
But being one of the Twelve Demons, he couldn’t show weakness after just half an hour.
Guiyeong Ja gritted his teeth and refocused.
Rustle!
The sound of rustling leaves filled the air.
Guiyeong Ja felt a burning sensation in his shoulder.
‘Oh no!’
Checking his wound, he saw his shoulder was soaked in blood.
He had been slashed by a mantis leg.
Before he could ask Yeon Jeokha for a break, Immortal Taiwu spoke first.
“There are two ghost flames aligned ten meters to the left, slowly rotating to the right.”
Namgung Yeon jumped to her feet.
“The formation is changing. It’s time to move.”
With these words, Namgung Yeon collected the mountain branches.
Immediately, the three sides that had been blocked opened up.
The sound of rustling leaves and flapping wings filled the air again.
The mantises began to approach once more.
But the experts no longer paid attention to the mantises.
They knew that facing a change in the formation was more dangerous.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
The sound of wings filled the air as the mantises jumped from all directions.
Namgung Yeon slashed the mantises as she ran to the left.
The eight experts closely followed her, leaving a trail of mantis bodies behind them.
Immortal Taiyi suddenly shouted.
“Miss! Ten meters ahead, there are two ghost flames aligned in a straight line.”
“Two flames?”
Namgung Yeon’s expression hardened.
According to the formation’s rotation, the next change should have been three flames.
They were in the east, but if there were two flames, it meant they were in the west or southwest.
The change was too fast.
She wasn’t sure if they were in the west or southwest, but it seemed they had deviated from the rotation.
If she didn’t detect the changes quickly, the consequences could be severe.
As she pondered, she felt a burning pain in her left arm.
Namgung Yeon quickly slashed the mantis that had attacked her. Upon inspecting her arm, she was relieved to see that the wound wasn’t deep.
“We’ve passed the ghost flames,” Immortal Taiyi announced.
The landscape changed once again, transforming from a meadow into a narrow rocky canyon.
But there was something unsettling about the new environment.
“Everyone, be careful…”
Before Namgung Yeon could finish her warning, a deafening roar echoed, and a massive wave of water surged from the bottom of the canyon.
In an instant, the nine were swept away by the rising current. There was no time or space to avoid it.
The canyon quickly filled, transforming into a raging ocean.
Namgung Yeon screamed in desperation.
“It’s a reversal! When a reversal occurs, no one can predict the next changes. We must destroy one of the gates!”
The others couldn’t respond. The idea of destroying a gate, which they had been avoiding all this time, was overwhelming.
The current became fiercer, and the distance between the group members began to increase. They clung to each other in groups of two or three.
Yeon Jeokha grabbed Namgung Yeon and Shim Tong’s hands. Jang Mudeok joined the Immortals of Kunlun. Guiyeong Ja was forced to cling to Hyeok Muchun.
The massive waves crashed over them, submerging them under the water.
Yeon Jeokha, though struggling to breathe, didn’t let go of Namgung Yeon and Shim Tong’s hands. Everything spun around him, and his vision blurred.
“Is this a formation?”
He thought formations were tricks to deceive the eye. But this water that was suffocating him, was it just a trick?
He closed his eyes, hoping it was an illusion. But the pressure of the water was real, squeezing his chest and making it hard to breathe.
Since he learned the supreme sword technique, he hadn’t felt fear. But now he felt completely helpless, like a stone being swept away by the current.
-The Qi of heaven comes in the void, so wait with an empty heart.
He felt his being becoming smaller and smaller, as if he was fading away.
-The primordial Qi existed before heaven and earth were separated. Though it’s just a seed, it can encompass heaven and earth.
Amid the chaos, the principles of his sword technique and the concepts of celestial swordsmanship intertwined in his mind.
-Wait with an empty heart. It can encompass heaven and earth.
Suddenly, his feet touched the bottom of the canyon.
Yeon Jeokha gathered all his energy in his feet and propelled himself upwards with all his might.
His body, which had been rolling along the canyon floor, shot up towards the surface with astonishing speed.
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