6kv Chapter 252: Now it's your turn to figure out how to break my trap.
Chapter 252: Now it's your turn to figure out how to break my trap.
Chapter 252 This time, it's your turn to figure out how to break my trap (4600)
Lu Yuan's legs felt heavy as he was pulled back by the dark mat, and he was almost pressed back into the black soil.
But he didn't back down.
The Seven Star Sword, which guards the pass, is held horizontally in front of his chest. The fourth dark star on the spine of the sword has become so bright that it is almost white, and it is as cold as an iron needle that has been buried in ice for decades.
The chill crept up his palm and into his arm bone, causing his right hand to go numb.
But it was precisely this numbness that allowed him to firmly hold his position amidst the fiercest yin energy.
The altar spirits launched a fierce counterattack this time.
It no longer rammed head-on as before, but instead "retracted".
The paper banners on both sides of the stone path slowly pressed inward, the lamplight gradually sank downward, and the paper hands in the black soil also reached out from the cracks.
Like countless cold, wet hands, they specifically target people's ankles, entangle their calves, and drag them to their vital points.
Although everyone was still alive, it was as if the creature had covered half of their bodies with a mat, and if it pressed down any further, they would be completely unable to turn over.
"Fellow Daoist Lu!"
Song Qinghe's voice tightened. The sealing disc had cracked a second crack, and the cold light on its surface flickered like a candle flame in the wind.
"It's pulling the center of the mat towards our feet!"
Lin Zhaoxuan knelt on the ground, the Thunder Token pressed against his knees, the cracks on the token's surface becoming more and more obvious.
He gritted his teeth, trying to take one last breath of thunderous intent, but as soon as he tried to lift his breath, it felt like his chest had been hit hard by a dark hammer, and he coughed up half a mouthful of blood.
"I can't lift it—"
He was breathing heavily, and his eyes were bloodshot.
"It even absorbed the earth's energy."
Zhou Heng tried to tear off the paper ropes binding his feet, but as soon as he bent down, the ropes suddenly tightened and wrapped around his wrists instead.
The thing looked light, but it was actually cold, sticky, and slippery, like seaweed under ice. Once you got tangled up, you couldn't shake it off.
Zhou Heng grunted, nearly dropping the short sword.
Xu Erxiao and Wang Chengan were forced to the edge of the stone path, with churning black soil and paper faces peeking out from behind them.
The two of them were deathly pale, and even taking a single step felt like stepping on a coffin lid.
The spirit of the altar has begun to regain its footing.
The blood-red crack on its forehead was gradually stitched up by the black mist, like a wounded well slowly closing up.
It stood there, unhurried and calm, as if it had already seen that Lu Yuan and the others would eventually be worn down.
"You're hard."
It looked at Lu Yuan, its voice somber as if it had been ground from the earth.
"But the toughest people are the ones who are most afraid of being worn down."
"I'm not in a hurry."
"I'll die slowly with you."
Lu Yuan looked up at it, his chest rising and falling steadily, but his eyes were icy cold.
He knew that if it regained control of the situation in this round, there would be no way out.
Although the Seven Star Sword that guards the pass is sharp, even the sharpest old weapon is afraid of being suppressed for too long.
It is not meant for endless head-on confrontations; its real purpose is to "suppress" the opponent at a single point, forcing them to reveal a weakness.
In the first round, they tore open the base of the altar, and now the altar spirit is trying to patch up the hole.
We can't let it fill in the gaps.
Lu Yuan took a deep breath and suddenly whispered, "Zhou Heng, don't draw your sword. Use the short knife to nail the base of the banner."
"Lin Zhaoxuan, take back the lightning. Stop striking the lamp and instead strike the crack in the ground."
"Miss Song, press your heart down to the north and don't let the lamplight fall on the black soil."
"Cheng'an, Erxiao, don't scatter the salt. Lay a new line along this white path for me."
Everyone was taken aback.
This is clearly not about seeking another burst of energy, but rather about rebuilding a temporary "way out".
The altar spirit also noticed it; the crack on its forehead slightly contracted, and black energy immediately surged up, as if to prevent him from regaining power.
Before it could fully see through it, Lu Yuan suddenly flipped his right hand, and the Seven Star Sword that guarded the pass pressed diagonally to the ground.
The moment the sword tip hit the ground, the surrounding yin energy seemed to freeze.
"town!"
He gave a low shout.
The sound was not loud, but it was extremely steady, like an old nail being driven directly into the black soil.
Immediately afterwards, Lu Yuan pointed with his left hand and pulled out a crumpled yellow talisman from his sleeve.
The talisman wasn't newly drawn; its edges were softened by sweat and blood, clearly a trump card he had prepared long ago but hadn't been willing to use.
He didn't light it immediately, but instead bit his fingertip and quickly smeared a line of blood on the back of the talisman.
"Blood is the guide, and qi is the pathway."
"As long as the road continues, the talisman will never be destroyed."
After saying that, he pressed the talisman hard onto the fourth star on the sword's spine.
"rise!"
The yellow talisman spontaneously combusted instantly, but it wasn't an open flame; instead, it produced a tiny, extremely bright white flame.
As soon as the white flame touched the spine of the sword, the chilling aura of the Seven Star Sword that guards the pass exploded outwards.
The seven dark stars on the sword were faintly connected in a line, as if the seven constellations of the northern sky had been forcibly dragged down to the human world.
The altar spirit's expression finally changed.
It was clear that this was not just a sword; Lu Yuan intended to use the sword's momentum to start a new battle.
"You still want to flip it?"
The altar spirit sneered and suddenly flicked the black energy from his sleeve.
The lamp at the end of the stone path also sank, and the gray-white flame in the wick suddenly surged, illuminating the entire stone path as coldly bright as a morgue.
Immediately afterwards, all the white-faced paper banners screamed at the same time, their voices so shrill they almost ripped people's eardrums apart.
A large vortex of dark energy descended upon Lu Yuan's head once again.
Lu Yuan stumbled, his shoulders and back slumped down, and his knees almost touched the ground.
But he managed to hold back the urge to kneel down by relying on the power of the Seven Star Sword that guarded the pass.
"It's going to crush my momentum."
He understood it perfectly well.
But the more this is the case, the less we can back down.
"Zhou Heng!"
Lu Yuan shouted suddenly.
Give me two steps!
Zhou Heng gritted his teeth, ignoring the paper rope still wrapped around his wrist, and used the short knife to slash the outside of his forearm.
Using the pain as leverage, he forcefully straightened his body, then lunged at the base of the paper banner on the left, driving a knife into the seam of the banner pole.
"Break!"
He roared hoarsely.
With a flick of the paper banner, the shadow of the mat shifted half an inch.
Half an inch is enough.
Lin Zhaoxuan's pupils contracted, and he forcefully suppressed the surging blood in his chest, pressing the Thunder Token firmly into the crack in the black soil.
This time, he wasn't seeking to split or explode, but only to suppress.
"The thunderbolt struck, and he abruptly looked up."
"I, Zu Lei, hereby borrow your skills to seal the gate."
"Imperial Edict!"
A thin, bluish-white lightning bolt darted into the crack in the ground, like an extremely thin electric snake, and fiercely bit into the most yin vein of earth beneath the altar's spirit.
In that instant, the altar spirit's figure visibly swayed.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Song Qinghe slammed the sealing disc down, its surface facing north. The cold light intensified, forcefully shifting the lamplight's shadow to that fatal angle.
Lu Yuan had been waiting for this moment.
He took a sudden step forward, and the Seven Star Sword that guarded the pass slashed out horizontally.
The sword no longer chased after the body of the altar spirit, but instead targeted the crevices at the base of the altar that had just been suppressed.
"If you break the seat, break your feet first!"
"Seven stars illuminate the way, suppressing your misfortune!"
The sword light fell.
"Hiss! The black mist exploded outwards like boiling water. The small area of the altar beneath the spirit's feet was actually forced to loosen slightly by the force of the sword."
Before anyone could catch their breath, the altar spirit suddenly looked up, the black aura in its eye sockets abruptly contracted, and its entire face seemed to sink to the bottom of a well in an instant.
"it is good."
"You dare to push me to this point."
It spoke in a low voice, its tone revealing utter ferocity.
The next moment, it suddenly slammed its arms together.
The dark mats along the entire stone path seemed to be tightened again by an invisible giant hand, and the white path that Lu Yuan had previously torn open was instantly swallowed up by the dark shadow.
Zhou Heng was swept away by the counter-force wind and stumbled into the stone wall.
The Thunder Token in Lin Zhaoxuan's hand cracked with a "crack".
Song Qinghe was so forced by the swirling Yin energy that blood seeped from the corner of her mouth again, and the sealing disc almost slipped from her hand.
Lu Yuan felt a tightness in his chest, and the web of his right hand split open, blood flowing down the hilt of his sword.
But he still didn't back down.
He looked up at the altar and suddenly realized that this round had only temporarily disrupted its momentum, and it was far from being able to completely turn the tide.
The other party still had the capacity to clear the table, reduce the shadows, turn off the lights, and change seats.
In other words, they have now gone from being "crushed to death" to "barely surviving".
And this is precisely the most dangerous time.
If just one person gives up, the whole situation will collapse again.
The spirit of the altar was clearly aware of this as well.
Instead of lunging again, it used the previous tumble to gather the paper banners, black soil, and lamplight back around itself.
Like a snake that has been broken apart and then pieced back together.
Its momentum is recovering; though not as fierce as before, it is more stable, smoother, and harder to break than it was just now.
Lu Yuan gripped the Seven Star Sword tightly and muttered to himself, "It's learning."
"Learn how to dodge my sword, learn how to hold back my anger."
He raised his head, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
"Then I won't compete with you in speed."
"Change to a more stable spelling."
He suddenly pressed the tip of his sword slowly to the ground, and stopped attacking. Instead, he used the momentum of the sword and the salt path to gradually sink the yang energy around his body.
The movement appeared to be a withdrawal, but in reality, it was a gathering.
The altar spirit sensed something was wrong, and its black aura surged, about to pounce, when Lu Yuan shouted first, "Zhou Heng, Feng Zuo!"
"Lin Zhaoxuan, you've hit the bullseye!"
"Song Qinghe, guarding the lamplight!"
"Cheng'an, Erxiao, don't back down, rub salt at my feet!"
Everyone was startled, but they all gritted their teeth and did as instructed.
The salt road gradually unfolds, like a snow line revealing a white edge on the black soil.
The chilling aura of the Seven Star Sword, combined with the salty fumes, temporarily forced the spirit of the altar to stay halfway away.
This is the second step Lu Yuan wants.
It's not about killing it, but about trapping it first, creating another opening.
The altar spirit stood in the center of that circle of shadows, with dark energy churning deep within its eye sockets.
Finally, they began to take this young man, who had never been devoured by it, seriously.
Lu Yuan did not rush to get any closer.
Instead, he slammed the Seven Star Sword, the tip of which pressed down on the newly paved white salt road.
It was as if he had suddenly withdrawn half a breath from a sharp attack, and then steadily pressed that breath into his feet.
This is a step that outsiders cannot understand.
But the altar spirit immediately sensed something was wrong.
What it feared most was Lu Yuan's fierce charge, because once the Seven Star Sword that guarded the pass was forced to the foot of the altar, it could tear its mat apart.
But now Lu Yuan is no longer chasing. Instead, it seems that he is using the remaining light from the salt road, sword intent, lightning marks, and sealing disc to slowly "correct" the entire stone path.
That's not retreating, that's establishing a new situation.
"What is he doing?"
Zhou Heng asked, panting, the paper rope on his wrist not yet completely untied, blood dripping down between his fingers.
Lin Zhaoxuan stared at the ring of white salt at Lu Yuan's feet, his eyes widening in surprise before he suddenly realized what was happening, and his voice changed.
"He wants to turn the altar upside down!"
"He's not defending; he's using our weakened state to create a new situation for the altar's spirits!"
Song Qinghe understood as well.
The sealing disc was already cracked, but the remaining cold light on its surface was being drawn towards the north by Lu Yuan's sword momentum.
The broken roots of Zhou Heng's paper banner, the thunderous intent pressed down by Lin Zhaoxuan in the cracks of the earth, and the lingering yang energy on the salt road.
They were all forcibly strung together into a line by Lu Yuan using the Seven Star Sword of Zhenguan.
This wasn't a preordained arrangement; it was a situation forced upon us by human intervention.
But the more you try to force it, the more it resembles a nail driven into the heart of the jar.
The spirit of the altar was no longer just sneering.
The dark aura in its eye sockets suddenly intensified, and it raised its hand to overturn the mat.
But Lu Yuan is much faster than it.
He stumbled and took three steps in the opposite direction along the white salt road, each step landing on the earth vein node that had been most severely suppressed by the altar spirit.
The Seven Star Sword that guards the pass trembled slightly, and the fifth dark star on the spine of the sword suddenly lit up.
The cold light, like frost, shone directly onto the edges of the entire stone path, giving it a thin layer of white.
"The left banner represents the wind, and the right seat represents the pit."
"The lamp is the eye, and the plate is the mouth."
Lu Yuan's voice was low and clear, as if he were speaking to himself, or perhaps to this altar.
"If you know how to mend a jar, I'll let you mend the opening I've prepared."
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly raised his sword, the tip no longer pointing at the altar and spirits, but directly at the darkest and most sinister shadow root below the folding lamp.
That sword strike wasn't fast, but it was incredibly steady.
Seeing this, the altar spirit suddenly flicked its sleeve, and black energy, like a whip, lashed out at Lu Yuan's wrist.
But Lu Yuan didn't dodge or avoid it, and took the blow head-on to his left shoulder.
The blow made him stagger, blood instantly spilling from the corner of his mouth, but the sword in his hand remained perfectly in place.
Because what he wanted was not to hide.
What he wanted was to "stay put".
If the altar spirit can withstand this attack, it will assume that the spirit is putting up a strong frontal assault and will subconsciously push more yin energy towards this side.
That was exactly the place Lu Yuan wanted it to step into.
"It's done!"
Lin Zhaoxuan suddenly lost his voice.
As Lu Yuan's sword pressed down, the white salt road on the ground suddenly seemed to come alive.
The fine salt lines spread outwards along the cracks in the stone, forming a very faint circle under the lamp.
Once the circle was complete, the spirit of the altar suddenly realized that this was not an ordinary protective line at all, but a broken altar circle that had taken shape in reverse by using its own yin energy.
It's like patching the mat legs by inserting them into this circle.
It's like pressing the lamp shadow into this circle.
The more it tries to withdraw, the more it will be gradually blocked by Lu Yuan using the four remaining forces of salt, thunder, sword, and plate.
"You dare to use my anger to set up your scheme?"
The altar spirit's voice suddenly turned cold, and the black energy within the crack on his forehead surged so violently it almost burst forth.
Lu Yuan coughed up a mouthful of blood, but his fingers remained firmly gripping the hilt of the sword.
"right."
"Aren't you the best at taking advantage of situations?"
"Then I'll use your position to trap you instead."
He suddenly spun the sword, and the Seven Star Sword that guarded the pass emitted a very low tremor, like the north wind sweeping across an old iron tower.
After the fifth star, the sixth star also began to shine.
Although the light had not yet fully formed, it was already enough to cause a slight imbalance in the black soil beneath the altar spirit's feet.
The spirit of the altar finally sensed the danger and began to move forcibly.
But as soon as it moved, the second altar-breaking formation set up by Lu Yuan also moved.
To the left is a broken banner facing the wind, to the right is a lingering thunderbolt pressing in, in front is a salt ring locking the lamp's shadow, and behind is a sealing plate pressing down on the retreat path.
As soon as the altar spirit took half a step, the surrounding Yin energy seemed to have been caught in an invisible net, and was forced to roll back all at once, trapping itself in the middle.
"I can't get out—"
Wang Cheng'an felt a chill run down his spine and muttered to himself.
Zhou Heng suddenly revealed a ruthless look. Taking advantage of the moment when the paper rope loosened, he forcefully pulled the short knife out of the seam of the banner and then nailed the second corner of the mat to the back.
"Then don't let it retreat!"
He shouted hoarsely.
Song Qinghe gritted her teeth and pressed the almost shattered sealing disc down again, whispering, "The north position is locked, the lamplight can't fall down."
Lin Zhaoxuan then used the last bit of his strength to press the Thunder Token to the ground.
Ling Zhongcanlei leaped along the salt circle and, like a thin snake, burrowed into the crack in the soil at the foot of the altar spirit.
Only then was the second altar-breaking formation truly secured.
Standing in the center of the scene, the spirit of the altar felt for the first time what it meant to be "trapped".
The black aura on its face surged violently, and the paper coil, the shadow of the mat, and the turning lamp all tried to find a way out for it.
But the situation that Lu Yuan created with the Seven Star Sword of the Gate of Suppression was precisely designed to prevent it from shifting smoothly.
The two sides started pulling at each other again.
This time, however, it was no longer a one-sided crushing defeat. Instead, every half inch it advanced, Lu Yuan risked his life to hold it back. Every time it tried to replenish its power, it would be bitten back by this second broken altar formation.
But Lu Yuan also knew that this was far from enough.
Although he stabilized the situation, he also put himself in an extremely dangerous position.
The light on the sword's spine had already reached the fifth star, and his right arm was almost unable to be lifted due to the backlash from the Yin energy. The dull pain in his chest was also getting worse.
If the altar spirit were a little more ruthless and dragged things out a little longer, this newly established arrangement might be completely crushed.
But at least for now, it's not so easy to get it back.
Lu Yuan looked up at the altar, his eyes as cold as a piece of iron buried in the snowy night.
"This time, it's your turn to figure out how to break my trap."