Chapter 326: Chapter 313: Zhouyang’s Greatest Trump Card
To kill you, I, Zhou alone, am enough!
When Zhouyang said this in a calm and composed manner, not only was Zhu Ziyu stunned, but even the pair of Purple Mansion Stage cultivator Dao Companions invited by Zhu Ziyu were taken aback.
They, being Purple Mansion Stage cultivators, have encountered all sorts of people in their lives.
They had seen many arrogant people.
But someone as arrogant as Zhouyang, they had never encountered before!
A Second-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivator actually dared to say to an Eighth-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivator, "To kill you, I alone am enough," and to say such words while two Mid-Stage Purple Mansion cultivators were watching.
How arrogant and confident must one be to say such words!
"Fellow Daoist Zhu! Why waste words with such an arrogant person? When he is at the brink of death, he will naturally understand the price of arrogance!"
The male cultivator of the Dao Companion pair finally couldn’t bear it any longer and looked at Zhouyang, shouting sharply.
Zhouyang’s arrogance made even him, a bystander hired by Zhu Ziyu, unable to bear it and eager to step in and teach Zhouyang a lesson, making the young man understand how severe the cost of arrogance could be.
"Fellow Daoist Hu is absolutely right, let’s take action!"
Zhu Ziyu nodded, his face turning ruthless, and immediately released a magical artifact toward Zhouyang with a flick of his sleeve.
And behind Zhouyang, the man surnamed Hu and his Dao Companion also took action simultaneously to join the siege on Zhouyang.
Facing the siege from three cultivators whose cultivation far exceeded his own, Zhouyang showed no fear.
He first summoned the Azure Dragon Cauldron to protect himself, blocking their attacks.
Then, with a wave of his sleeve, he directly activated two "Beast Soul Talismans" obtained from Murong Qianqian’s storage bag.
"Stop them."
Zhouyang uttered in a low voice, and a tiger and a wolf soul beast roared as they charged at the Hu cultivator couple.
"Just mere soul beasts, how dare you act so audaciously!"
Whether the Hu cultivator received benefits from Zhu Ziyu and wanted to show off his strength, or was truly angered by Zhouyang’s previous arrogant words, he was genuinely making an extraordinary effort in his actions.
Seeing the soul beasts driven by Zhouyang charging at him, a sneer flashed on his face. He immediately slapped his storage bag, took out a black gourd, and threw it into the air. Black smoke poured out of the gourd, enveloping the two soul beasts.
It was unclear what kind of strange divine technique this black smoke was, but it had a strong restraining power against the soul bodies of the soul beasts, making it barely possible for the two soul beasts, equivalent to Third-Layer Purple Mansion cultivators, to achieve anything against just a magical artifact.
This situation truly caught Zhouyang off guard, causing his face to turn rather unsightly.
According to his original plan, since the Hu cultivator couple were simply mercenaries, they would definitely not put forth much effort. At least they wouldn’t risk their lives for the meager benefits Zhu Ziyu offered.
Given their condescending attitude towards him, he could completely use this opportunity to have the two soul beasts stall the Hu cultivator couple and then unleash all his means to swiftly kill Zhu Ziyu.
But who would have thought that his plan would be thwarted by the surprising means of the Hu cultivator right at the beginning.
Life is always full of surprises; it can never be smooth sailing, so a successful person needs to make the most appropriate decision when an unexpected situation occurs.
Realizing that the situation had changed and the original plan was no longer feasible, Zhouyang immediately abandoned his original plan and made the wisest decision for himself: retreat.
Retreat is also a strategy. As long as one is alive, everything can start over.
With a spell from his hands, his body was instantly enveloped in a layer of golden light, escaping the encirclement and rapidly fleeing the battlefield.
"Chase him, don’t let him escape!"
Zhu Ziyu had paid a huge price to hire the Hu cultivator couple for help and was naturally unwilling to see Zhouyang escape like this, otherwise, wouldn’t everything he paid be in vain?
So, seeing Zhouyang escape, he immediately pursued Zhouyang with Sword Control.
Seeing this, the Hu cultivator looked at the two soul beasts still trapped by his magical artifact and said to his Dao Companion, "Darling, you go ahead and help Fellow Daoist Zhu; I will join you after I deal with these two soul beasts."
"Since my husband has said so, I’ll go first," said the female cultivator with a slight smile to her Dao Companion, then followed with sword flight.
Purple Mansion Stage cultivators flying with swords are extremely fast, and a cultivator like Zhu Ziyu at the Eighth-Layer of the Purple Mansion, giving it his all, could fly four to five hundred miles in a quarter of an hour.
So, even though Zhouyang used the "Rainbow Light Gold Escape" divine technique to escape dozens or even hundreds of miles, he still couldn’t shake them off, unless he was willing to expend essence blood and primordial qi to use the "Blood Escape Technique" again.
However, mere Zhu Ziyu was not worth such an effort.
So, after escaping hundreds of miles, he immediately summoned the "Illusory Cloud Ship" to continue his escape.
The "Illusory Cloud Ship" is a Tier Four Lower-Grade Flying Spiritual Artifact, its speed surpassing that of sword flight by a significant margin. Combined with Zhouyang’s lead of several dozen miles, Zhu Ziyu could not catch up with him in a short time.
And behind Zhu Ziyu, the Dao Companion of Cultivator Hu was lagging because her cultivation was three layers lower than Zhu Ziyu’s, making her flight speed considerably slower. As time passed, her distance from Zhu Ziyu gradually stretched to over a hundred miles.
A distance of over a hundred miles was something a Fifth-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivator could cover in merely one-third of an hour, so neither Zhu Ziyu nor the Female Cultivator thought much of it.
However, to Zhouyang, this time was already enough to resolve his grievances with Zhu Ziyu.
At this moment, Zhu Ziyu was less than twenty miles away from him, and in just a few dozen more breaths, he would enter his attack range. Yet, before that, Zhouyang took the initiative to stow away his "Illusory Cloud Ship" and, controlling his sword, launched a counterattack towards Zhu Ziyu.
"Boy, don’t think you can escape today!"
Zhu Ziyu shouted angrily at Zhouyang with a grim expression, assuming Zhouyang was desperate and cornered. Showing no fear, he activated his Magic Artifact Divine Techniques and engaged fiercely with Zhouyang.
His thoughts were simple: if he could kill Zhouyang alone, that would be best. If not, with Cultivator Hu and his wife arriving, the three combined would surely be able to kill Zhouyang.
Unfortunately for him, reality soon struck him hard in the face once the battle commenced.
In the sky, Zhouyang swiftly cast spells with both hands, controlling ten sword rainbows that enveloped Zhu Ziyu, stabbing and slicing madly. In just a few dozen breaths, he had destroyed two of Zhu Ziyu’s Magical Artifacts.
The true power of the "Ten Directions Extinction Sword Array" was unleashed at that moment, turning Zhu Ziyu into Zhouyang’s true Sword Testing Stone.
"Damn it, Jia Yunzhen, that old bastard, really taught you all his sword technique secrets!"
Within the sword array, Zhu Ziyu relied on a Tier Four High-Grade Defensive Spiritual Artifact to resist the Extinction Sword Qi slashes, looking at Zhouyang with a mix of shock and anger.
He could never have anticipated that Zhouyang, a mere Second-Layer Purple Mansion cultivator, could suppress him, an Eighth-Layer Purple Mansion cultivator, without any external aid. It was simply astounding!
Not even someone as formidable as Jia Yunzhen could achieve this during Zhouyang’s level of cultivation.
Seeing the expression on his enemy’s face brought Zhouyang immense satisfaction. He shouted triumphantly, "Zhu Ziyu, did you ever imagine this day would come for you? When you secretly schemed against me multiple times over a mere Foundation Establishment Pill, did you consider that this day would come?"
Zhu Ziyu gritted his teeth, responding with anger, "I only regret not going all-out to kill you back then, or you wouldn’t have the chance to act rampant here now!"
Hearing those words, Zhouyang’s eyes flickered with a chilling light, and he grinned coldly, nodding repeatedly, "You’re absolutely right! Allowing a dangerous enemy to escape is a grave taboo in the Cultivation Realm; I will not make the same mistake you did!"
Before he finished speaking, Zhouyang maintained the sword array’s operation while rapidly activating the "Qianyang Divine Thunder" technique.
Danger!
Witnessing Zhouyang’s actions, Zhu Ziyu’s eyelid twitched, and he felt an ominous foreboding.
He had a strong feeling that if he allowed Zhouyang to finish casting his spell, he would likely be doomed today.
Trusting his instincts, Zhu Ziyu’s face changed, and he quickly patted his Storage Bag, retrieving a Talisman, looking at Zhouyang with pained anger, "Damn brat, you forced this upon me!"
Before his words even faded, he activated the glowing Talisman with his Magical Power.
In such a critical moment, the Talisman that Zhu Ziyu used as a life-saving removal was not an ordinary Talisman but a rare Tier Four High-Grade Defense Spirit Talisman, the "Cyan Dragon Talisman."
A cyan dragon shadow flashed, and a dragon illusion formed from cyan light surrounded Zhu Ziyu.
This "Cyan Dragon Talisman" was a treasure among Tier Four High-Grade Defense Spirit Talismans, forming a protective cyan dragon upon activation that could withstand several full-force attacks from a Ninth-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivator without breaking. Even an early-stage Golden Core Cultivator had to exert themselves to break its defense.
The Talisman in Zhu Ziyu’s possession was bestowed upon him by a Supreme Elder from his sect before leaving the Purple Star Sect to preside over matters in Yunxia Country as life protection.
Almost at the instant Zhu Ziyu activated the "Cyan Dragon Talisman," Zhouyang made a hand gesture, completing his spell invocation.
Boom!
The sound of Celestial Thunder roared, and a golden Divine Thunder descended from the sky, striking directly towards Zhu Ziyu.
Scree~
As the Divine Thunder crashed down, the cyan dragon illusion protecting Zhu Ziyu let out a deafening roar to meet the descending Divine Thunder.
The two forces collided mid-air, generating a brilliant burst of cyan and gold light.
Once the radiance faded, the golden Divine Thunder was nowhere to be seen, yet the protective cyan dragon remained, maintaining its illusory form.
Zhouyang, upon witnessing this scene, changed his expression slightly.
With determination, he gritted his teeth and suddenly channeled more than half of his remaining Magical Power towards the "Qianyang Treasure Pearl" within his Dantian Qi Sea.
It had been many years since he last used this Tier Seven Spiritual Artifact.
But for the sake of vengeance, he had no choice but to use his greatest trump card once again.