6kv Chapter 251 Now, it's our turn.
Chapter 251 Now, it's our turn.
Chapter 251 Now, it's our turn (4600)
As soon as Lu Yuan raised the Seven Star Sword to guard the pass, the entire stone path of the Yin Mat shrouded in darkness shrank as if pricked by a needle.
The oppressive black aura that had previously made it hard to breathe now showed signs of retreating for the first time.
It wasn't scattered, nor was it annihilated; rather, it was forced backward by this old sword.
Like an old felt mat laid on a doorstep, suddenly lifted up in front of you.
The altar spirit stood in the center of the altar, the blood-red crack on its forehead opening and closing continuously, with black energy churning violently deep within the crack.
They clearly hadn't expected that Lu Yuan would have such an old weapon capable of suppressing jars.
It stared at the sword with a gloomy expression, letting out a low laugh.
"The Seven Stars of Guardianship?"
No wonder you dared to turn around.
Lu Yuan didn't speak, but simply raised his right hand and pressed his thumb against the sword guard.
The sword tip dipped slightly, and the seven rivets on the blade lit up one after another, like a string of cold, awakened Big Dipper lights.
That chill wasn't just cold; it was a kind of righteous energy that had been suppressed for a long time without decaying. The deeper it was suppressed, the more stable it became, and the more stable it became, the more advantageous it was.
This is precisely the "suppressing" technique that is most valued by the old Taoist sects outside the Great Wall.
The energy that had been almost dissipated by the pressure from the altar spirit was now re-condensed with the help of this old sword, and the surging, suffocating energy in his chest gradually subsided.
"Zhou Heng, the paper banner on the left, is severed at the root."
"Lin Zhaoxuan, don't strike randomly with lightning, direct it towards the light source."
"Miss Song, guard the center of the plate and don't let it flip north."
"Cheng'an, Erxiao, scatter the salt along the path of my sword, but don't scatter it haphazardly, pave a white path for me."
Lu Yuan's voice was low, yet terrifyingly steady.
This time, he no longer stubbornly resisted, but instead used the Seven Star Sword to carefully nail back the path on the stone road.
Although Zhou Heng felt a tightness in his chest and numbness in his wrists, he knew this was not the time to be reckless.
Gritting his teeth, he rushed to the edge of the paper banner on the left, and with a flick and a slash of his short knife, he severed the base of the paper banner.
As soon as the paper banner broke, the several white faces in mid-air immediately lost their support and scattered into a pile of grayish-white paper scraps, like withered leaves swept down by the autumn wind.
Lin Zhaoxuan's lips turned white from the pressure of the altar's energy, but being a Taoist, his inner fire, once forced out, became harder than anyone else's.
He forcefully pressed down on the Thunder Token, and with a swift flick of his right fingertip across its surface, forced out the last wisp of residual lightning.
Instead of striking directly at the altar spirit, he sank into the crevice of the rock along the path of Lu Yuan's sword.
"Thunder strikes the earth's veins, shaking the very foundation of your altar!"
He gritted his teeth and shouted out a sentence.
"Imperial Edict!"
As soon as Lei Wen landed, extremely fine bluish-white lightning bolts shot forward from the cracks in the stone, heading straight for the bottom of the overturned mat lamp.
The lamp was originally the eye borrowed by the altar spirit to collect souls. Now, struck by the thunder, the gray-white flame in the wick suddenly jumped, causing the lamp shadow to shift by half an inch.
It was this tiny inch that caused the altar's sacrificial arrangement to falter slightly.
Song Qinghe's heart skipped a beat when he saw this, and he quickly pressed down the sealing plate again, firmly fixing the plate in the north position to prevent the lamp shadow from taking root.
Her face was deathly pale, and the veins on the back of her hands bulged out, but she dared not relax even a little.
As for Wang Chengan and Xu Erxiao, they dared not think too much at this moment. They simply followed Lu Yuan's instructions and began to spread salt, retreat, and lay white lines.
Salt grains fell onto the black soil, making a soft "hissing" sound.
Like firewood cracking in a stove in winter, a clean path finally appeared underfoot, which had been entangled by the shadows of the mat.
Lu Yuan stepped onto the white path and suddenly leaned forward.
With a single stroke of the Seven Star Sword, the sword that guards the pass is not used to strike people, but to sever mats first.
"The one who begins the feast breaks the foot of the mat first."
He said in a low voice.
"Seven Stars Suppress Evil, first sever your path of Yin energy!"
The sword's edge slanted upwards, slicing straight down the thickest shadow of the mat beneath the altar spirit's sleeve.
"laugh""
This sword strike was extremely fast and extremely accurate.
The black energy beneath the altar spirit's sleeve suddenly trembled, as if its veins had been severed, causing the entire long corridor of dark mats to freeze in mid-air.
The paper banners that were closing inwards on both sides of the stone path paused for a moment.
Several pale faces in mid-air lost their strength and emitted extremely high-pitched trembling sounds, as if someone was desperately gasping for breath behind the paper.
"Its mat is in the pine!"
Zhou Heng's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but shout.
Lu Yuan did not answer, but continued to step forward with his feet, his sword momentum following the white breath from before.
For the first time, the altar spirit was truly forced to retreat.
It spread its arms, trying to suppress the attack with even greater force, but the seven dark stars of the Seven Star Sword that guarded the pass had already lit up to the second one.
The cold light on the sword's spine formed a line, like a layer of white frost pressing down from the northern sky, forcefully blocking its sinister energy.
"You think you can overturn my arsenal with an old sword?"
Black energy surged deep within the altar spirit's eye sockets, and its voice was no longer as steady as before.
"You only slowed me down by half a breath."
The chill in Lu Yuan's eyes intensified.
"Half a breath is enough."
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly put his left hand together, with his thumb hooked around the base of his ring finger and his index and middle fingers pointing straight up. He then lowered his right hand, holding the sword, with the tip pointing directly at the black soil on the ground.
This is not a killer move.
This is the earth's energy.
The moment the sword tip fell, a muffled hollow sound seemed to echo from the ground, like an old coffin lid being knocked on from the inside.
The most stable spot on the altar, beneath the spirit's feet, trembled slightly.
"The ground door is loose!"
Lin Zhaoxuan's expression changed, and he cried out in disbelief.
The altar spirit also noticed it; the crack on its forehead suddenly contracted, and its entire face darkened.
It no longer held back, and with a sudden thrust of both palms forward, black energy surged like a tide, and paper shadows flew everywhere.
The pale-faced people around him, who had previously been just pestering him, suddenly opened their mouths and made a series of shrill cries, like a child crying or a crow cawing, as they all rushed towards Lu Yuan.
But Lu Yuan did not back down.
Using the power of the Seven Star Sword that guards the gate, he actually rushed into the yin tide.
The sword rises like frost, and falls like thunder.
The first sword strike sliced off three layers of paper face.
The second sword strike severed two of Xi Ying's paths.
The third sword strike aimed directly at the heart of the altar spirit, three inches below its eye!
The spirit of the altar was finally truly enraged.
It raised its arm to meet the attack head-on, the shadow of the mat under its sleeve colliding with the sword's edge, producing a sharp and piercing cracking sound.
The black mist exploded, like a piece of old cloth suddenly torn apart.
Lu Yuan's palm trembled, and his right arm almost went numb all the way to his shoulder.
But he gritted his teeth and, taking advantage of the momentum from the impact, took a step forward. With a twist of his sword, he managed to slice open a black gash on the outer edge of the altar spirit's wrist.
The opening wasn't deep, but a very strong yin energy was leaking out.
The spirit of the altar showed obvious signs of pain for the first time.
"Now!"
Song Qinghe was so excited that her voice became hoarse.
Lu Yuan didn't turn around, but only whispered, "Don't just watch the show, hold down its foot!"
Song Qinghe immediately snapped back to his senses, and the sealing disc suddenly sank, its cold light pressing down directly on the feet of the altar spirit.
Lin Zhaoxuan, with his last breath, bit his fingertip and slapped it against the Thunder Token, forcibly pressing the remaining thunderous intent into the crack in the ground.
Thunder, plate, salt, and sword—four forces pressed down simultaneously.
The most stable altar position for worshipping the spirit has finally developed a crack.
A crack appeared in the black soil beneath its feet, and the stone path made a very faint, crisp sound, like an old tendon at the bottom of a jar being torn open.
The once overwhelming shadows of the mats suddenly became chaotic, and the entire long corridor of mats lost half of its imposing presence.
Lu Yuan seized this opportunity and suddenly took three more steps forward.
The third dark star on the spine of the Seven Star Sword that guards the pass lit up.
Wherever the sword's edge passed, the yin energy retreated layer by layer, like night fog being cut open.
The altar spirit was forced to retreat two steps, and the blackness in the altar eye on its forehead suddenly churned, as if someone had forcibly ripped a breath out of its throat.
It stared intently at Lu Yuan, and finally, its sneer was replaced by genuine fear.
"Your sword—is not for borrowing strength."
"You're using it to pressure me."
Lu Yuan raised his sword, the tip pointing at his forehead, his voice as cold as frost striking an iron face.
"right."
I'm not going to compete with you to see who's fiercer.
"I'll only compete with you to see who can command more respect."
The spirit of the altar was forced back by Lu Yuan's forceful attack. On the surface, it only retreated two steps, but in reality, a crack was torn open in the air vent of the entire altar.
But the more something is like that, the less willing it is to admit defeat.
The blood-red crack on its forehead suddenly shrank inward, like a mouth that had been forced back but refused to close.
The black mist rolled three times in the crevice, and then the entire face slowly darkened.
That's not retreating, it's "changing positions".
"It's going to change the base of the jar!"
Lin Zhaoxuan's expression changed drastically, and his voice cracked.
"Don't let it be replaced!"
Lu Yuan noticed it too.
The altar spirit had previously used "sitting" to suppress them, but now that the first round of reversal has been broken, if it continues to stubbornly defend its original position, it will be gradually cut away by the Seven Star Sword that guards the pass.
However, if it takes advantage of the moment when the yin energy loosens to move its altar foot half an inch away, and then gathers back all the surrounding paper banners, lamp shadows, and old evil spirits of black soil, then this breath can be renewed.
It is not trying to escape.
It is a re-laying of the altar.
Lu Yuan's eyes darkened, and the ground beneath his feet was no longer the oppressive, numbingly cold place it had been before.
The sword energy of the Seven Star Sword that guards the pass is pressing down in front, cleaving a white path through Xi Ying.
But if the white path loosens even slightly, the spirit of the altar will crawl back through the crack in the shadows.
It is more patient than anyone thinks.
This time, it didn't rush to pounce from the front, but instead first retracted all the broken shadows of the mat from under its sleeves.
The remnants of the paper banners that had been cut off by Lu Yuan and scattered by Zhou Heng were now being pulled back by invisible threads.
They gathered one by one, line by line, at the foot of the altar.
The paper hands peeking out from the black soil weren't idle either; a dozen of them grabbed onto the cracks in the rocks and actually pulled the already loose altar back.
"It's mending the altar!"
Song Qinghe's voice tightened.
"If it manages to patch up the mat, our previous round will have been a complete waste!"
Lu Yuan knew, of course, that he couldn't give it that chance.
But just as he was about to take a step forward, the altar spirit suddenly turned around and flung out a piece of black paper, which hit Lu Yuan in the face.
Lu Yuan raised his sword to parry, and the paper collided with the sword, producing a muffled thud.
That black paper was no ordinary piece of paper; it seemed to contain a wisp of eerie fire. It slid along the blade of the sword and then darted down the spine, directly lunging at his wrist.
"Bite my hand!"
Zhou Heng shouted and charged forward with great effort, his short knife stabbing diagonally to block the path of the black paper for Lu Yuan.
However, at that moment, he was struck on the shoulder by the force of the black paper's tail, causing him to sway violently and his back to slam against the stone wall. He was in so much pain that he couldn't even make a sound.
Taking advantage of this brief moment of respite, the spirit of the altar spread out his arms, and the eerie wind along the entire stone path suddenly reversed direction.
Just moments before, Xi Sha had been forced back, but now, like a receding tide of black water, he suddenly surged back.
The shadow of the lantern suddenly lengthened, and the paper hand inside the wick stretched forward, its five fingers spread, as if to re-identify the yang positions of everyone on behalf of the altar spirit.
The white faces on the paper banners made a soft rubbing sound, as if they were squeezing each other to make way, or as if they were waiting for a new round of soul collection.
"Lu Yuan, to the right!"
Song Qinghe reminded him urgently.
Lu Yuan sidestepped, and his Seven Star Sword slashed out diagonally, narrowly cleaving the two paper-faced figures that lunged at him into pieces.
But the scraps of paper didn't fall to the ground; instead, they spun in mid-air and stuck back onto the mat like snowflakes.
It reformed into a thinner, flatter sheet of dough.
"It's eating up gas!"
Lin Zhaoxuan gritted his teeth and spat out a sentence, his face deathly pale.
"Don't let it touch the shredded paper or its afterimage, otherwise it will keep multiplying!"
Before he finished speaking, the altar spirit suddenly raised his hand and grabbed at the edge of the stone path from a distance.
The black soil cracked, and pieces of broken ropes, tattered incense, and rotten paper sedan chair splintered into the air.
It's like something that was pulled out of some old, grievous place from the ground.
As soon as those things reached mid-air, they quickly "grew" out of shape in the yin energy, turning into blurry paper figures on their shoulders and backs, slowly surrounding Lu Yuan and the others.
It is adding troops.
It's not about adding actual living things, but about adding "form".
Once the formation is complete, the seating arrangement will become more stable.
"If it really brings this whole area to life, we're completely doomed."
Wang Chengan swallowed hard, his voice becoming hoarse.
"Why are there more and more of these things the more I fight them?!"
Lu Yuan did not answer.
He stared at the altar spirit, the Seven Star Sword in his hand slowly sinking, its blade slightly tilted, as if waiting for the most suitable landing point.
The first round of the comeback was achieved by using the Seven Star Sword to push it back half a step, breaking its most stable base.
But once the other side started repairing the altar, the situation changed again.
Now, this battle of wits is no longer about who can kill whom in one fell swoop, but about who will give out first.
The spirit of the altar clearly understood this.
This time, it did not launch a preemptive attack, but instead slowly laid out its momentum, gradually pressing down its shadow, and slowly pulling the entire stone path back to its altar.
Each of its steps was small, yet each step seemed to tread upon the very breath of the crowd.
Lu Yuan looked at it and suddenly understood.
What's most troublesome about this thing isn't its ferocity, but its ability to use a period of retreat to regain control of the situation.
"It needs to be dragged."
He said in a low voice.
"Let's drag this out until we break up ourselves first."
Lin Zhaoxuan was taken aback, then gritted his teeth.
"Then we can't drag it out."
Lu Yuan nodded.
But even so, their situation is worse now than before.
Although the Seven Star Sword could suppress the enemy for a while, it began to show signs of fatigue after continuously suppressing the altar.
The fourth dark star on the spine of the sword was already faintly glowing, but each time it lit up, Lu Yuan's wrist felt as if it had been filled with a cold iron, so heavy that he couldn't lift it.
What's more troublesome is that the altar spirits have learned to avoid direct confrontation.
It no longer faces the sword head-on, but instead uses shadowy figures, paper faces, and black paper to grind, entangle, and wear it down.
Every time Lu Yuan tried to get closer, a layer of yin energy would rise up beside him, deflecting his sword path by half an inch.
That half inch was enough for the altar spirit to avoid a fatal blow, and also enough for it to gradually drag the situation back on track.
"It's forcing us under the light."
Song Qinghe suddenly realized something was wrong, and her voice trembled.
"It wants to reclaim its spot by borrowing the light fixture!"
Everyone suddenly looked up.
Sure enough, the lantern had been enveloped by an even thicker shadow, and the gray-white flame in the wick had risen again.
The paper hand under the lamp slowly rose, as if it were about to descend upon Lu Yuan and the others at any moment.
Once the lamplight falls to the ground, the spirit of the altar can use the shadow to return to its place and once again suppress the entire altar area.
Lu Yuan's heart tightened.
"We can't let the lamp cast a shadow!"
He let out a fierce shout, then suddenly bit his tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the Seven Star Sword that guards the pass.
The fourth star suddenly appeared among the seven hidden nails on the spine of the sword.
This time it wasn't a test, but a true push of the sword's momentum to its limit.
"The celestial stars illuminate the path, the earthly demons retreat!"
"I'll lend you the seven points of the Big Dipper, but not a single mouthful of ghostly rice!"
"break!"
The sword flashed horizontally, aiming straight for the shadowy root under the overturned lamp.
The spirit of the altar could no longer hold back.
It roared fiercely, its entire body pressing forward, black mist surged like a tide, and the paper banners shook violently.
The once-composed old evil spirits on the four walls of the stone path were suddenly lifted up, turning into tiny shadows that rushed towards Lu Yuan.
In that instant, Lu Yuan's vision went almost completely black, and he felt as if people were pulling his hands, dragging his legs, and choking him from all directions.
Zhou Heng rushed forward, trying to shield him, but as soon as he stepped into the dark circle, his feet were caught by two paper ropes, and he fell heavily to the ground.
Lin Zhaoxuan desperately tried to issue the order, but the Thunder Order had already cracked to the third crack, and the lightning was suppressed by the altar's energy as soon as it appeared.
Song Qinghe wanted to press down the plate, but the sealing plate suddenly made a soft "click" sound, and a very thin opening appeared on the edge of the plate, allowing cold air to rush out directly from inside.
"The plate is going to break!"
She exclaimed in disbelief.
Black energy churned in the eyes of the altar spirit, and the crack on its forehead began to open and close again.
"See that?"
It chuckled softly.
"Your comeback that time was just a step back for me to learn how to defeat you all again."
"Now, it's time for the second round."
After saying that, it suddenly raised its hand, and the entire vortex of the dark mat suddenly tightened inward.
Lu Yuan felt his feet sink into the air. Although the Seven Star Sword of Zhenguan was still approaching the lamplight, he was pulled back a step by the suddenly contracting Yin energy.
It was this one step that brought the sword tip half an inch away from the shadow root.
Half an inch was enough for the altar spirit to reconnect the mat.
The paper banners and white faces all let out a sharp, trembling laugh, as if they had seen their prey finally fall back into the net.
The situation has once again been dragged back to the brink of disaster.
This time, it was even fiercer than before.