Chapter 52 [052] Zhou Wu

The mountain wind spread the powder of the death powder in all directions. Walking along the mountain path, most of the snakes seen were dead or dying snakes.

There was a rotten smell all around, with a hint of blood.

Zhou Xiaowu seemed unable to bear these smells. Suddenly, he smelled a faint and elegant fragrance, so he immediately moved towards the source of the smell.

Shi Qing felt that the aura around him was heavier.

Glancing sideways, she saw the handsome boy of about thirteen or fourteen approaching her quietly.

"...Afraid?" Shi Qing asked.

She thought the other party was afraid.

Zhou Xiaowu suddenly heard her voice and said with a slightly red face: "No, no!"

He reached out and gently pulled on Shi Qingyi's drooping bandage strip, and said, "I just... don't like the taste very much."

Zhong Li Jin heard the noise beside him and glanced to see Zhou Xiaowu walking next to Shi Qing holding the bandage. He suddenly felt a little irritated and his eyes stinged slightly.

The young man in white endured it for a while, but finally couldn't help but said, "A cultivator should not be disturbed by the environment. Junior Brother Zhou, you are about fourteen years old. Men and women should not touch each other. If you feel uncomfortable, you can just stay close to me instead of a woman."

Zhou Xiaowu said "ah" in confusion, "But, but - I think Sister Shi Qing... smells very good."

A faint fragrance, I don’t know how to describe the smell, it makes me feel very safe, comfortable and relaxed, as if when I am with her, I am not afraid of any danger, because she will do everything to protect me.

Zhongli Jin raised an eyebrow and said, "If you feel the scent, just get close to it. I'm afraid it's not appropriate to get close to a woman rashly, right?"

Zhou Xiaowu: “…”

The boy had no choice but to let go and whispered to Shi Qing: "Sorry, Sister Shi Qing."

"No problem." Shi Qing said indifferently: "Hold it."

She didn't seem to care about it at all.

After Zhou Xiaowu got permission, he immediately put on the bandage happily, "Thank you, Sister Shiqing!"

He turned to the young man in white next to him and smiled sweetly: "Brother Zhongli, this time it was Sister Shiqing who allowed it!"

Zhongli Jin: “…”

The boy suppressed his annoyance and forced a smile: "Really? Well, I'll take it as my nosy business."

The old man frowned when he heard this: [Why does it sound sour? ]

Zhongli Jin forced a smile: [Senior, where are you jealous? ]

[Everything is sour, are you jealous? 】

【No. 】

[Young man, be honest. It's okay to admit that you're jealous, as a real man.] The old man advised as a person who had experienced it.

Zhongli Jin: [……]

Zhongli Jin: [I! Didn’t! Have! ! ]

The old man scratched his ears and nodded perfunctorily: [Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you didn’t, ah, yeah, yeah.]

【…】

*
This journey was relatively smooth.

Halfway up the mountain near this area, there is a beam of light shooting up into the sky.

The beam of light was faint and white, even thinner than moonlight, and it was difficult for the human eye to capture it in this silver-gray night.

And under the column of light, a huge Bagua formation plate was slowly rotating.

It is in motion.

When the old man saw the array, he was pleasantly surprised and said, "It really is a soul-locking array! Youngsters, once you break it, your spiritual power will be restored!"

There are four or five pythons coiled around the formation.

The size of those pythons were a bit bigger than the giant python killed in the daytime. They might have some power, and there was evil spirit lingering around their bodies. In Shi Qing's current state, it would not be easy to deal with them.

Therefore, the main purpose is to break the formation, not to eliminate the demons.

Shi Qing whispered to Zhong Lijin: "Later, I will lead and you will break it."

She went to lure the giant python away, and the boy went to break the formation.

Zhongli Jin handed two bottles of Jueming Powder to Shi Qing and told her, "Okay, but you must be careful."

"Don't worry," Shi Qing took the two porcelain bottles, looked up, and said with a little pride: "I'm strong."

Zhongli Jin: “…”

*
Shi Qing rushed out, and the moment he appeared, the sleeping giant python immediately opened its pair of terrifying dark green snake eyes!
Several giant pythons were surrounded by evil spirits, and even the Death Powder could only paralyze them for a short while.

The giant python opened its mouth wide, and after seeing Shi Qing, it immediately twisted its huge and long body and rushed towards her, roaring!
Faced with the huge disparity in power in the duel, Shi Qing was not stupid enough to go head-on into a fight.

She turned around and ran at an extremely fast speed. Several giant pythons chased after her, as if they wanted to eat the invader in one bite.

Taking advantage of the moment when the giant python was led away, Zhongli Jin rushed towards the Soul Locking Array.

The pattern on the array plate is mainly pentagonal, representing the five elements, and in the middle is a black and white pattern of the Eight Diagrams, emitting a faint light.

Disorder is locking, and returning to the original position is unlocking.

Qiankun Eight Trigrams, the Five Elements Yin and Yang, can only be successful if they are correct.

The order of the five elements is clockwise: gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. However, now the order of the five elements is disrupted. The clockwise order of the five elements is earth, water, fire, wood, and gold. Zhongli Jin has to solve it before Shi Qing runs out of energy.

[Young man, do you have any idea? ] the old man asked.

[Yes.] Zhongli Jin said: [Logically, I should not know the solution, but when I saw this pattern, something suddenly occurred to me, as if I had known about it before and had studied it in depth.]

But he had impressions, ideas and solutions, but he had no recollection of having learned anything.

Perhaps it is in the memories of the two years that were lost.

The old man could naturally see the approximate solution at a glance. He asked Zhongli Jin just to see if the young man was sensitive to magic circles.

I didn’t expect it to be such a surprise. Zhongli Jin understood, he understood everything!

Wizards!

What a genius!
The young man stopped talking and focused his attention on the magic circle.

The five elements need to be unlocked according to the five-star line. After Zhong Lijin looked at it for two seconds, his handsome and fair face showed solemnity and seriousness——

[You can first place metal in the middle of yin and yang, earth in the northwest, wood in the top, fire in the southwest, and water in the southeast. ]

The young man stared at the formation plate, holding the Five Elements Seal embedded in the stone line with both hands, and moved it along the five-star line with force. The further back he went, the more strength was required to move the Five Elements Seal. Zhongli Jin gritted his teeth, and used all his strength to move the seal.

His eyes were slightly bloodshot from the effort, but he still refused to stop. [Finally—Wood returns to the northeast, gold returns, go up! ! ]

When the golden seal finally returned to its correct position, the slowly rotating soul-locking formation suddenly stopped!

The dim light in the middle suddenly broke through the sky, as if beginning to break through the invisible light shield covering part of Bald Rock Ridge.

[Youngster! Done!] the old man said.

Zhongli Jin let out a long sigh.

I looked at my hands and saw that my nails were bleeding. It must be because I had bitten my nails when I was trying to pry the seal apart.

I didn't feel any pain at the time, but now the pain is gradually becoming more obvious.

There were footsteps behind me, followed by the sound of a giant object sliding on the ground.

From far to near, it should be Shi Qing who is starting to rush back.

All we have to do is wait for the Soul Locking Array to close by itself. There’s still time.

But at this moment——

Suddenly, there were several magic array patterns that looked like seals in front of Zhongli Jin's eyes!

The pattern was very strange, as if it had never appeared in his memory before.

As the pattern of the magic array appeared, the light shield of the soul-locking array that had been gradually broken suddenly stopped breaking, as if it had been paused, and the faint fluctuations of spiritual power in the body seemed to be suppressed by a new force!
Zhou Xiaowu rushed to Zhong Lijin and asked in surprise: "Why is there another magic circle?!"

Even the great array master could not recognize what it was. The old man said, "Young man, I have never seen such patterns before! Arrays cannot be superimposed. Logically, there is a soul-locking array here, so there is no way there could be any other arrays! If there was only the soul-locking array, it should have been removed after the five elements were unified! How could there be such a thing? ! ] "Squeak!" The treasure-hunting rat suddenly cried twice.

When Zhou Xiaowu heard this, he hurriedly said, "Brother Zhongli! Xiaobao said you can just split it with your sword!"

"Split it?" Zhongli Jin frowned slightly. "If it is a magic circle, how can it be so simple? Does this treasure-hunting rat really understand it?"

"I believe in Xiaobao! Brother Zhongli, you should believe in it too! It led us to find the Soul Locking Array!" Zhou Xiaowu said anxiously, "Hurry up! Otherwise, if it's too late, Sister Shiqing will not be able to hold on!"

The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and from a distance, Shi Qing's figure rushing towards here could be seen.

As she ran, she scattered the Death Powder backwards. The powder fell on the giant pythons and delayed their actions. Shi Qing was temporarily unable to cut their scales, so she could only delay them by chasing them.

Zhongli Jin's sword was always with him, but it was hidden in a corner of his sleeve. He could not touch it, nor did he want to gamble with it.

But now we must take it out to break the formation.

The young man did not hesitate and took out his former natal sword.

The long sword was unsheathed. It was a very exquisite magic sword with the words "Jinyu" engraved on the sword body.

He was about to chop at the magic circle, but Zhongli Jin suddenly thought of something. The old man's words kept repeating in his mind. The more he thought about it, the weirder it seemed - magic circles cannot be superimposed. Logically speaking, there is a Soul Locking Array set up here, and it is impossible for other magic circles to appear. If there was only the Soul Locking Array, then it should have been released after the Five Elements were united. How could this thing still exist?
Yes.

How could there be any?

It's so weird.

The young man paused holding the sword.

A treasure-hunting rat running out of a cave.

Zhou Xiaowu was entangled by a group of snakes but was rescued so easily.

After the accidental discovery, the Soul Locking Array was unlocked so easily.

Until now - a magic circle that was destroyed by someone inexplicably.

Zhongli Jin’s hands that were trying to break the formation stopped.

In my ears I could hear Shi Qing running and Zhou Xiaowu urging me.

"Brother Zhongli! Hurry! Hurry!!"

That moment.

The wind stopped.

The mind is clearer than ever before.

Zhong Lijin stood there, and suddenly glanced to the side, his black pupils falling quietly on the thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy, as if he understood everything at this moment——

"Zhou Xiaowu."

"What is your purpose?"

"..."

The handsome young man standing beside him with an anxious face suddenly stopped urging him and was no longer so anxious after hearing Zhongli Jin's question.

Instead, he blinked, looked at Zhongli Jin, and then - revealed a well-behaved, yet extremely strange smile.

*
The sword wind slid across Zhongli Jin's cheek so fast that it was difficult to see clearly.

Shi Qing's figure appeared beside him almost instantly!
The girl slashed at the magic circle with her sword, but not to break it. She shouted loudly, "Be careful!"

Zhong Lijin was startled, "Wait——!"

There was no time to stop it, the sword had already destroyed the magic circle!
The sound of glass breaking suddenly rang out at this moment!
The giant snakes behind the magic circle that wanted to attack the young man disappeared like smoke, including the giant pythons chasing Shi Qing, and the group of snakes on the ground that were destroyed by the Death Powder.

"..."

The surrounding scenery seemed to be torn apart by something, and the hypocritical surface became pieces, revealing the most primitive and fundamental things underneath!
Shi Qing's eyes narrowed. The giant snake that wanted to sneak attack Zhongli Jin was an illusion.

The giant python chasing her was an illusion.

The dead snakes all over the ground were an illusion.

Even the Soul Locking Formation is nothing but an illusion in this illusion formation!!
Everything seemed to be a lie just to help people break the magic circle!

*
"Crack! Crack!"

The sound of applause rang in the ears of Shi Qing and Zhong Li Jin.

The handsome boy smiled sweetly, squinting his eyes slightly, without any trace of the naive, innocent and cute look he had just had.

The treasure-hunting rat lay on his shoulder, surrounded by demonic energy, and finally turned into a huge black hunting tiger standing behind him.

Zhou Xiaowu smiled and said, "Thank you, Sister Shiqing and Brother Zhongli. I am finally going to release this big guy from Bald Rock Ridge."

Zhong Lijin said in a deep voice: "Who are you?!"

"Me?" Zhou Xiaowu looked away slightly and blinked.

The next second after that obedient expression opened his eyes, there was a strong contempt and mockery for the world.

"My name is Zhou Wu." He smiled and said word by word.

"It is one of the avatars of the devil."

"Walk the world as a young boy, release the ancient demons, and help the Lord of Demons to return to the earth!"

——The devil!
Zhongli Jin's pupils trembled slightly.

Ten thousand years ago, during the great war between immortals and demons, there was a demon called Mei Zimu, who was finally sealed after countless righteous practitioners suffered casualties and paid a huge price.

Zhou Xiaowu...no, Zhou Wu.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "I was almost successful in releasing the ferocious beast Taotie in the Magic Martial Secret Realm, but you two joined forces to seal it again. The Red Blood Sealing Formation is really willing to sacrifice blood and ruin my plan.

"But - today you two helped me release Fei Yi, so I will make sure your death is not so ugly."

He smiled and said, "Especially Sister Shiqing, I really like your smell. After you die, I will keep your body as the most precious ornament."

Fat legacy.

No wonder!
No wonder there is a severe drought all year round around Tushiling, with sparse vegetation, evil spirits rising to the sky, and snakes dancing wildly. It turns out that a ferocious beast is sealed here!

Looking back, the seal that had been broken just now revealed its true pattern and appearance - it was undoubtedly the Red Blood Sealing Array!
cheated...

Even though he noticed something strange at the last moment, that guy still succeeded.

He made Shi Qing see an illusion and see the giant snake behind the magic circle, forcing her to save him.

Blame Shi Qing?

No.

Blame yourself.

I blame myself for not seeing those hallucinations sooner.

Zhongli Jin suddenly noticed that Shi Qing beside him seemed to be shaking.

The boy looked at her, but was stunned——

On the girl's face.

It was a coldness, hatred, resentment and self-blame that I had never felt before.

She gripped the sword tightly, as if she couldn't wait to rush forward and kill the complacent young man with one sword.

"My fault." Shi Qing said.

"Treasure hunting rat."

"I should have thought of it earlier."

The five disciples of Liaoyue Valley.

It was following a treasure-hunting rat.

Destroyed the stone door in the secret realm.

Here it comes!!! Yes! The main plot is——The Second War Between Immortals and Demons!!