529 One More Year

"Senior Brother Zhang Sheng, it's your turn to be on duty today, right?"

"Mm."

"Then thanks for the trouble. With Senior Brother Zhang Sheng going into action, the next two days, everyone can feel at ease."

Zhang Sheng slightly frowned. "Demons are treacherous and tricky, even Big Brother exhorted everyone to never relax our guard no matter what, but you…"

"I know, I know, you're too wordy Senior Brother Zhang Sheng."

The petite He Yue pulled a face toward Zhang Sheng from the side, and then happily ran away, leaving behind the futon in the room. Zhang Sheng came into the room without saying much, sat cross-legged on the futon, and then closed his eyes. After a while, a half imaginary half real sword rushed out from the spot between his eyebrows, and the sword light shone out.

On this flying sword, there was a small person, who has the same facial features and appearance as Zhang Sheng, only the size was compressed to around seven inches in height. That was Zhang Sheng's primordial spirit. Primordial spirit riding the flying sword outside was not the ability of a Daoist Master of Jindan Stage, but rather the unique ability of the cultivator of Emotion Sword. The mini Zhang Sheng's pair of barefoot stepped on the sword, in which the soles of the feet and the sword were almost fused. This was the perfect combination of primordial spirit and flying sword. Otherwise, with how sharp the flying sword of a Daoist Master of Jindan Stage was, even just the sword intent alone could cut iron like mud—with Zhang Sheng's ability, he had no way to let his primordial spirit stand on top of his flying sword.

After letting out his flying sword, it flew upward and passed through the roof. For Zhang Sheng, his work had just begun.

After leaving the room, the flying sword appeared in a muddy dark water, which was the water of Blessed Fountain that had been infiltrated by the black tide outside the Dragon Palace. At present, the Blessed Fountain had been polluted by the black tide for two years. The once clear spring water had become so violently poisonous that no living creatures would willingly come near. Two years ago, just a bowl of such poisonous water could turn the body of a golden generation upside down. As for immersing the primordial spirit and flying sword in the poisonous water, that was also a way to die.

But now was not the same. In the past two years, the golden generation has been reborn as Daoist Masters of Jindan Stage—they even emerged in large numbers. Although the quality of the golden core was coarse, it was still a golden core after all. Needless to say, they were the golden generation. Moreover, after continuously consuming the gutter oil for two years, they had developed quiet a strong immunity to it.

Therefore, they began to fight back. Being suppressed by the demon's black tide in the Dragon Palace was not a long-term solution. In one year, everyone should be ready for the break through. At that time, seventy-five Jindan Stage cultivators would form a seventy-two great killing array, while Ouyang Shang, Wang Lu, and one of the most outstanding disciples would form the three individual sword array to command the overall situation. When the time comes, two arrays would simultaneously detonate the underwater Feng Shui line, borrowing its power to go straight to the sky from under the water, while at the same time sweeping away every harmful things along the way, which was a succeed or die trying action that did not allow them to be the least bit careless. Therefore, before this, there was still more than a year of practice time, which was used by the cultivators of Spirit Sword Sect to begin to take the initiative to fight back. Relying on the crumbling Dragon Palace Array, going deep into the dark water, and expanding the territory.

Of course, there were only a few people qualified to expand the territory. The task of most of the cultivators of Spirit Sword Sect was to support the Dragon Palace. In the past year, the main array of Blessed Fountain Dragon Palace had been more and more riddled with holes. Thus, not only that demon king, even the evil things had begun to infiltrate into Dragon Palace.

The so-called evil things referred to the departed spirit within the black tide. Over the past year or so, the departed spirits had begun to silently appear in the black tide, just like the army of skeletons that Wang Lu first saw at the foot of Western Mountain. This meant that the black tide released by the demon king had begun to fully evolve, which meant that the cultivators of Spirit Sword Sect had to be more careful to spend the rest of the year.

The grand strategy of the double array of the seventy-two great killing array and the three individual sword array was not a small matter. If anything goes wrong at any point while they are active, the entire plan would go down the drain. Thus, it could be said that for more than two years, Ouyang Shang and Wang Lu were overly cautious in ensuring the safety of everyone. If not, they wouldn't have to waste their precious cultivation time and energy for pondering over and over whether what would happen if only two or three people were to die. In Wang Lu's original timeline, the black tide crisis was a big crisis that caused the Spirit Sword Sect to be almost wiped out. Therefore, it was impossible to expect everyone to safely cross the disaster without anyone dying.

But now, it seemed that no one was going to die. Because even if just one of them died, the double array strategy would be impossible to talk about. Especially since the last two years, everyone was working hard for this goal, so it would be very difficult to temporarily revise the plan. They had to go all the way, until...

Bang!

A crisp crashing sound interrupted Zhang Sheng's thought. When he sensed it with rapt attention, he saw that deadly spirit of the dead warrior had just struck shaken his flying sword with a heavy hammer and sent it back to the water.

But… it was actually just a shock, and not destroyed? Zhang Sheng was not surprised by this.

Since he started entering the dark water with his primordial spirit on the flying sword under the leadership of his Big Brother, he had encountered many clashes against the spirit of the dead within the black tide, and he always won those fights. Never he had an opponent that he could not take on.

Did the black tide evolve? Or Big Brother intentionally let him adapt according to his strength?

In the two years appearance of the black tide, its real power was naturally something that Zhang Sheng could freely roll over. It was just that, near the Dragon Palace, the repulsive force for the black tide was too strong, coupled with the existence of Wang Lu and Ouyang Shang, the most powerful spirit of the dead would always be reluctant to make their move. Most of those that wandered around the Dragon Palace was just some trivial and insignificant spirit of the deads, which gave Zhang Sheng the opportunity to practice making his move.

But now, it seemed that there was an elite among the trivial and insignificant.

Zhang Sheng adjusted his frame of mind. For the time being, he did not consider the meaning of this, instead, he just focused on the battle. He was a sword cultivator, and in terms of potential, he was one of the top three within the disciples of Spirit Sword Sect, thus, this fight was his duty. As for the other complex matter, he would just report to his Senior Brother later, letting his Senior Brother think about it.

Zhang Sheng was indeed very strong. Even if it was just his primordial spirit driving on flying sword, its power was far superior to the trivial spirit of the deads within the black tide. The physical strength and defense of this heavy armored spirit of the dead were indeed very big, but its response was far less. After a few moves, Zhang Sheng found its flaw and finished it off in one straight thrust.

After finishing off this powerful spirit of the dead, Zhang Sheng felt a bit tired, unable to keep his primordial spirit outside his body for long. On one hand, in the past two years, his rapid advancement had been based on 'spoiling things through excessive enthusiasm'. His magical power accumulation and primordial spirit cultivation actually could not keep up. On the other hand… sending primordial spirit out was actually not something that a Daoist Master of Jindan Stage could actually hope to achieve. The reason why he could do it was that of his unique Emotion Sword and some special reasons. At this time, Zhang Sheng's primordial spirit had been fighting in the black tide for about the time to eat a meal, so his primordial spirit strength had been consumed by more than seventy percent. Thus, it was time for him to begin to retreat.

However, just as he began to retreat, suddenly, there was a flash of light, and his flying sword slightly swayed. Zhang Sheng was suddenly on alert. When he perceived with his primordial spirit senses, he saw several heavy armored spirits of the deads approaching from not far away.

As a sword cultivator, Zhang Sheng's natural disposition was warlike. However, at this time, he was not willing to fight. Even if his primordial spirit was still fresh, upon seeing this strange situation, he would still be cautious. If there were some unusual devil, with his present strength, he was still unqualified to do the 'slaying monsters and eliminating evil' thing.

However, when he was about to retreat, his retreat was cut off. Two previously invisible spirits of the dead condensed out behind him, forming a heavy encirclement potential if coupled with the approaching spirits of the dead from the front.

Zhang Sheng's heart sank. This ambush… was obviously a premeditated one. And it was clear that the demon king was working behind this.

The crux of the matter was not these elite soldiers, but rather, until now, his Big Brother and Senior Brother had not come out… Most likely that the departed spirits of the black tide had used a special technique to deceive their perception. And then the departed spirits arranged this trap for him.

It was not easy to deceive the perception of those two people, so the opposite party was very particular about the person that they wanted to trap. Zhan Sheng was the key figure in the double array plan, even more important than the other disciples. For others, such as Yang Fei and Cai Xia, they were important in the seventy-two great killing array. However, Zhang Sheng was an important candidate in the three individual sword array!

To put it bluntly, if Yang Fei and the others were to die, with the means of the two Big Brothers, they could still be able to find their substitutes. At least, Zhang Sheng knew that the sword spirit of Wang Lu's Sword of Mount Kun could already exist independently from the sword, and the strength of the sword spirit itself was not bad; in a critical moment, it had no problem being regarded as a Jindan Stage disciple.

However, those who could become the candidate for one of the three persons in the three individual sword array, besides Ouyang Shang and Wang Lu, at the moment, were only three persons. They were Zhang Sheng, Zhou Ming, and Fei Ying… The other strong disciples within the golden generation, such as Yang Fei, Feng Yin, and the others were not qualified. Even for Wang Wu who had suddenly risen to the fore in the past two years was still not qualified.

Regarding these three people, Wang Lu and Ouyang Shang had been working hard, and any breakage could be described as suffering serious injury. Not to mention that Zhang Sheng was the top candidate among the three...

"Up!"

At this critical moment, without hesitation, and like a lightning, Zhang Sheng thrust his flying sword back. The two spirits of the dead behind him had long expected this, thus their bodies had already turned immaterial one step ahead. However, it was only half virtual and half real, as if fine silk threads woven into nets of countless tensed sheets. Although Zhang Sheng's flying sword was quick, it slowed down after going through dozens of nets.

"Break!"

Zhang Sheng's primordial spirit shook as the flying sword suddenly expanded by a fold and shone brightly. Finally, it broke free from the nets.

However, his force was spent, so he was unable to continue to penetrate the rest of the nets, and soon, shortly after breaking free from the nets, his flying sword stagnated. Fortunately, it was only one step away from the Dragon Palace… However, at this time, a dark shadow appeared at the front.

Even within the black tide polluted dark water, that shadow could still be seen. Zhang Sheng knew that he didn't have the power to resist the enemy, nor did he want to. Fortunately, in the last seconds, he had a life-saving move.

"Break!"

Along with a deafening sound, Zhang Sheng's primordial spirit was actually separated from the flying sword. The latter then cracked and turned into countless pieces. Of which, the largest piece rushed ahead and aided Zhang Sheng's primordial spirit to escape.

This was the final card imparted to him by Ouyang Shang. His original flying sword was indeed valuable, but not as valuable as his life. Moreover, after this had passed, he could temporarily borrow Wang Lu's Sword of Mount Kun. With how magical that sword's sword spirit was, using it as his flying sword should not produce major resistance.

Zhang Sheng's last move really worked. How huge was the break-up power of his original flying sword? Every piece of it contained the full power strike of a Daoist Master of Jindan Stage. Although the black shadow responsible for surrounding him was formidable, it was thrown into confusion and thus had no time to care about Zhang Sheng's primordial spirit, who took this opportunity to fly away.

It was just that, just as Zhang Sheng was about to enter the Dragon Palace, that black shadow suddenly spoke.

"Zhang Sheng, it's me…"

The voice passed through the water as Zhang Sheng entered the Dragon Palace. Only the rear part of his primordial spirit that sensed it.

Immediately, Zhang Sheng felt as if he was struck by lightning, and his primordial spirit continued to shake.