Chapter 172 The Seven-stars Soul-transfer Formation

Liu Fenghuang stopped her sobbing. Xiao Chen sighed. "Don't worry," he said suddenly, a note of bitterness evident in his voice, "I will make them pay. An eye for an eye."

They sat in the breeze for a little more than two hours when suddenly an aura of light descended near them. It was Yu Yifeng. He came slowly over, and saw Liu Fenghuang asleep with her head rested on Xiao Chen's shoulder. "She has not been sleeping since yesterday," Yu Yifeng muttered sadly, "Perhaps she feels comfortable only when you're around."

Xiao Chen watched her sleeping, calm and serene like a baby in slumber. "I'll bring her back," he said, and carried her in his arms before walking towards the courtyard of the stronghold. Yu Yifeng waited for him. Before long, Xiao Chen came back and they strode down the hill towards the Coalesced Colors Hall.

They exchanged no words on their way down, until Yu Yifeng said, "Chen..." But he did not go on, pausing apprehensively.

Xiao Chen saw him want to speak but stop at a second thought. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Yu Yifeng said nothing, merely sighing. It was dark and Xiao Chen could hardly see his face properly. "If things were to turn dire tomorrow," he said at last, "Take everyone and run. My teacher and the rest of the Seven will conjure the Sword Formation of Purification... Just tell Miss Mu... Tell her I'm..." His voice turned hoarse and cracked.

Conjuring the Sword Formation of Purification came with a terrible price: death. Xiao Chen heaved a long breath. "Stop saying this, Brother Yifeng," he remarked harshly and firmly, "Who do you think I am? Am I a person who fears death?"

Yu Yifeng said nothing again, merely shaking his head and breathing heavily. They reached the great hall and stepped inside, finding the hall devoid of anyone else, save for the Jade Qing Seven. The rest of the warriors and swordsmen who had come to help were guarding outside. Midnight was upon them and it was the best time to begin conjuring the Seven-stars Soul-transfer Formation.

Hopeful and expectant glances cast upon the great hall from Elder Zhou, Elder Wang, Elder Ding, Elder Liu, and the others, along with almost every one of the disciples and acolytes of the Jade Qing Sect present, including the host of cultivators from around the East Continent. Hanxi and Ziling had already been sent by Yu Yifeng to a family of simple and common folk lest things turned bad.

Perfected Immortal Qing Chen declared loudly to everyone outside as soon as Xiao Chen entered the hall, "We will begin conjuring the magical formation. Please retreat hundreds of meters away; there can be no disturbances!"

Everyone began shuffling away quickly, realizing the gravity of the matter, leaving only a handful of Elders standing guard outside. Elder Zhou and Elder Ding traded heavy looks and with a curt nod, they began channeling their powers, using their magic to close the large door of the hall and sealing it with a few more magical seals.

Everyone waited outside. Barely 2 hours later, the crowds outside began to notice seven stars that gleamed with remarkable prominence amidst the ocean of stars in the night sky. They recognized the Big Dipper constellation hanging over the mountain with its trademark bucket-shaped outline.

Just then, a huge wave of force erupted from inside the hall, threatening to shatter the magic of the seals that defended the hall. The crowds outside gasped with shock and apprehension, before seven white radiances shot through the ceilings of the hall into the sky, their blinding radiance flooding the entire stronghold as if it was daytime.

Murmurs and sighs of amazement and awe filled the crowd. The four Elders standing guard outside immediately withdrew further to the outer periphery of the plaza. "Still, it has come to the inevitable," Elder Zhou breathed wearily and said, "It will be a bloody fight tomorrow. Don't you die, Old Man Ding... I need someone to bicker with..."

"What nonsense are you sprouting?!" Elder Ding snapped and said, "I aim to live for more than a century! There's no way I'll lose to you in a bicker!"

Elder Zhou giggled, shaking his head. "Pity my ears then, for nothing but your incessant bile will fill my ears for the next hundred years..."

Everyone around them watched their witty banter with solemn sadness. The shenanigans of the two Elders reminded everyone of the impending onslaught that would claim the lives of so many. Siblings in tutelage, teachers, and loved ones would perish, forever be separated by life and death. This silent calm before the storm could possibly be the last time everyone met each other.

Inside the Coalesced Colors Hall, Perfected Immortal Qing Chen and Yuheng Zi was sitting at the positions of the stars Dubhe and Merak, both of which were aligned at Polaris, the North Star. Zi Mo and Qingfeng both assumed the positions of the stars Phecda and Megrez, with the rest of the Seven occupying the other corresponding positions of the Big Dipper constellation with Xiao Chen in a cross-legged sitting position outside the dipper-shaped formation, where the True Energies of the Jade Qing Seven flowed continuously into him in the form of seven tentacle-like conduits that shone with blinding radiance.

His eyes were calmly shut although his forehead creased with wrinkles as beads of sweat flowed ceaselessly down his face. He would never have been able to endure the pressure and weight of the powers of seven of the greatest of the land being channeled into him. Anyone else would have long been reduced to cinders by the sheer intensity of the powers.

Nevertheless, the process was a long and arduous one. A second of time passed like an eternity as he sat there, enduring the agonizing pain that gnawed at his body and soul like the searing heat of fires from hell. He remembered of the time when he rose to the Nascent Soul Realm where he underwent the trials of being scorched by flames too.

Still, the pain that he now suffered was many times stronger and more intense than what he felt then. In his past, he possessed an Immortal Body that embodied the powers nearing close to the Nascent Soul Realm which relieved much of the bitter agony then. He bit his lips, struggling against the urge to scream and roar with pain, for he feared that he might break the concentration of the seven seniors and cause irrecoverable damage.

Perfected Immortal Qing Chen had cautioned him repeatedly before the ordeal began that it would take hours before the entirety of their powers was fully channeled into him. He had been warned, that the process might last until the next morning.

Time ebbed by slowly like sands trickling down an hourglass as minutes passed with a glacial pace. Finally, the sun beckoned the coming of a new day at the faraway horizons in the East; the coming of a reckoning wrought of blood and carnage. Worried frowns and fearful murmurs began rising from the crowd for no one knew what was happening inside the great hall.

Li Muxue and the others too have come and were watching outside, worried and distressed with concern. Still, Xiao Chen has yet to emerge from the great hall.

The greys of the dawn sky turned slowly to blue, when suddenly, the ground shook violently. Heads began jerking outwards and everyone peered into the distance where the fumes of war were already beginning to rise into the sky with rumbles of explosion booming in the midst.

"The hellish spawns of the Skygale Sect is upon us! They are now being engaged by the armies of the States of Zhou and Qing!" An acolyte reported loudly.

The news sent shock and fear throughout the crowd. How could common soldiers survive when even cultivators of arcane skills were no match to these infernal minions?

Another disciple bolted into the square, his face pale like Death while he panted hard. Regaining his breath, he yelled, "There's a force of demonic minions attacking from the South-East! More than 8,000 soldiers have been slaughtered!"

Just within minutes, woeful tidings of the demonic armies' trampling of the imperial armies pile one after another as acolytes rushed in successively to deliver the grave news again and again. The Skygale Sect had mowed down all opposition and had surrounded Yuqing Mountain in a siege.

The Elders and leaders of various sects outside began to fear the worst. The armies of the State of Zhou and Qing had given up their lives to buy time. Yet, there was still no sign from the Coalesced Colors Hall! They could not send forth reinforcements to assist the armies which were fighting a dying battle downhill, lest a direct assault by the four Elders of the Skygale Sect would be sufficient to undo everything the Jade Qing Seven had prepared for.

Only Master Xuanji, Xiaoyue, and a few others remained composed and calm despite the dire straits. "I will lead a band of reinforcements downhill," Master Xuanji volunteered. "Can you hold the defenses here?"

The four Elders of the Jade Qing Sect shared dark looks among themselves. Elder Zhou spoke for his colleagues, "No. It's best you stay, Master Xuanji."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Master Xuanji was the strongest warrior now available. His presence was needed in case Patriarch Guanshan spearheaded a charge himself for only he possessed enough strength to pose any resistance to the most powerful founder of the Skygale Sect. But before he could object, shadows befell the peak of Yuqing Mountain. An aerial invasion! It was a force that numbered to hundreds of hostiles!

Expectedly, leading the charge from above were the four Elders of the Skygale Sect. The entire army was shrouded with a demonic aura, emanating with tremendous power that denoted their proximity to the Nascent Soul Realm.