Volume One: Chaos in the Northern Borderlands Chapter Ninety-One: A Thousand Formations Enter the Gate of Ghosts

Human desire is, by nature, endless.

Those who pursue wealth will always chase wealth.

Those who pursue rank will always chase rank.

Those who pursue power will always chase power.

Even those who give up, lie flat, and await death are, in their own way, still pursuing something across another dimension.

What is a human being?

A creature drenched in desire.

The Wind God Guard stood in silent mourning for a few breaths, then vanished.

Before long, he appeared in the northern frontier and saw the Northern King waiting for him.

Not only Feng Muyun, but also the Lord of Divine Might Fortress and the Lady of Fragrant Valley.

“We sensed the battle over there had just ended. I did not expect you to arrive so quickly,” Feng Muyun said.

There were now three mighty figures of the Integration Realm in the northern frontier. At the very least, they no longer had to fear being outnumbered on the northern line.

The Lord of Divine Might Fortress examined the Wind God Guard’s wounds and said, “Looks like a narrow victory. When the barbarians arrive, will you still be able to fight?”

Liang Zhiyin said nothing. She merely stepped forward and began treating the Wind God Guard.

If neither the Daoist Master of the Bright View Temple nor the Medicine Saint was present, there was hardly anyone in the world more skilled than her in this art. Fragrant Valley had always trained both sword and umbrella; drawing the sword to kill and opening the umbrella to save lives was their custom. The very first lesson every Fragrant Valley disciple learned was Walking in Rain and Containing Light.

The Wind God Guard ignored the Lord of Divine Might Fortress, turned to Liang Zhiyin, and said softly, “Thank you.”

Her hand hovered over his wound, and a layer of gentle light covered his entire body. She replied in a low voice, “Why were you so careless?”

He smiled bitterly. “This wasn’t something care alone could have avoided. Zi Sang Bushou led the northern campaign bearing the vendetta of the Wei Sanshu lineage. Once we met, it could only end in a fight to the death. He may not understand the Dao deeply, but he is still a mighty being of the Integration Realm.”

At those words, Liang Zhiyin’s expression shifted ever so slightly before quickly settling again. “I told you back then that getting involved in that matter was a mistake.”

In this world, every matter had three factions: supporters, opponents, and those in between.

As for the killing of Wei Sanshu, the Wind God Guard was a supporter, while Liang Zhiyin was an opponent. They had quarreled bitterly over it. The Wind God Guard had taken action, while Liang Zhiyin remained in Fragrant Valley and went nowhere; afterward, he lost the right to enter Fragrant Valley.

There was no point now in judging who had been right and who had been wrong, unless those two frauds from the Sage Academy could produce direct proof that Wei Sanshu’s actions would destroy the world.

Now that she was speaking to him after so many years, and doing so while he was gravely wounded, how could the Wind God Guard possibly object? He could only smile wryly and say, “It’s a pity I had no ability to foresee the future then. If I had, I would have listened to you.”

Liang Zhiyin gave him a white-eyed glance, knowing full well that he was only brushing her off, but she did not press the matter and kept her focus on treating his injuries.

The atmosphere grew a little delicate.

Feng Muyun and the Lord of Divine Might Fortress knew, to varying degrees, what had once passed between these two. If not for the urgency of the situation, they truly would not have wished to remain here. But under present circumstances there was no room for avoiding appearances. Feng Muyun went straight to the point. “The Wind God Guard’s trip to the Bohai Sea—was that arranged by the Storyteller?”

The Wind God Guard nodded. “Dao Xiao Tong told me that Zi Sang Bushou was not dead, and that he had gone with the army to join the campaign at Shuntian.”

Feng Muyun asked, “And then? Did he give you any instructions?”

The Wind God Guard shook his head. “Perhaps even he did not expect me to deal with Zi Sang Bushou so quickly.”

Indeed. Considering battles between mighty Integration Realm beings, the fight between the Wind God Guard and Zi Sang Bushou had lasted only a little over a month. It truly might have caught Dao Xiao Tong off guard; having no next step ready was understandable enough.

But in the battle for the northern frontier, the disparity in the number of top-tier experts was glaring. Dao Xiao Tong was certain to have other arrangements.

The one he had not expected would be the Wind God Guard...

Then it could only be himself.

The question was: where was he now?

...

...

The city closest to Kunlun was called Wind and Harmony, and it had already been reduced to ruins when the cult disciples marched east.

As Dao Xiao Tong and Hun Wuxing fought, they gradually moved here. On the one hand, Hun Wuxing was indeed slippery enough, always managing to slip through the gaps in Dao Xiao Tong’s formations. On the other, Dao Xiao Tong had deliberately left Kunlun. Although its mountain-protecting formation had already been broken, the thousand-year foundation of Kunlun still remained there, and setting up formations atop it would have been troublesome.

So Wind and Harmony naturally became their battlefield.

By now, Wind and Harmony had become a living hell. Nearly every wall, every brick, was stained with blood. The blood had pooled through the city into little rivers deep enough to cover one’s feet, and everywhere were severed arms, limbs, and all manner of viscera.

If barbarian forces, when slaughtering a city, might still leave behind some able-bodied men to serve as slaves, then cult disciples, in razing a city, truly left neither chickens nor dogs alive. Wherever they passed, not even the carrion-eating crows dared to remain.

Their magic artifacts required souls, and their cultivation required blood or other things besides. This war was the greatest boon to them; without even enduring much hardship, they could obtain vast quantities of “materials” for use.

“I have to say, I still can’t see how this war will end, but at any rate, it has gone according to that fellow’s wishes,” Dao Xiao Tong said with a faint sigh, looking down at the carnage below. “Did that fellow really agree to let you trample the northern frontier like this?”

Hun Wuxing said, “The fellow you mention... do you mean the Wise Immortal, or the Blood-Calling Pavilion Master?”

He raised a brow and mocked, “Or perhaps both?”

Dao Xiao Tong said, “If you trample the northern frontier like this, once he awakens he will surely kill you.”

Hun Wuxing’s voice turned even more mocking. “I, on the other hand, think the one now before you is the truly awakened one.”

Dao Xiao Tong said nothing further.

Unlike his battle with the Wind God Guard, this fight was not urgent or intense. Neither formations nor Soul-Capturing Art were known for speed, so occasional exchanges did not affect the perilous momentum of the battle.

Wind and Harmony had at least several formations capable of slaying an Integration Realm being, and each was packed with countless souls. As far as the Soul-Capturing Art was concerned, controlling those souls to search for a gate of life within the formation was easy enough. If there was no gate of life, one could simply forcefully carve out a new one.

The reason Dao Xiao Tong had fallen silent was that he had noticed Hun Wuxing’s style of combat had suddenly changed.

All the souls merged into him. His aura surged severalfold, and even his physique seemed to have grown much more imposing.

Dao Xiao Tong’s thoughts shifted, and several more great formations rose from the ground, their hidden fluctuations enough to alarm even a mighty Integration Realm expert at a glance.

Within the formations, the light shifted like reflections fractured by mirrors, yet each time it refracted, it grew several degrees stronger.

Dozens or even hundreds of beams of light, after countless refractions, shot straight toward Hun Wuxing, shattering the space they passed through inch by inch.

Hun Wuxing extended a hand. Before his palm appeared a circular barrier, and the beams struck it as if being absorbed, causing only ripples to spread in concentric rings without stirring any greater waves.

Light is infinite, but beams are not.

At least not here, and not now.

His power came from formations; even Dao Xiao Tong could not simply wave a hand and lay down an infinite formation capable of slaying an Integration Realm being.

“If that is the extent of your skill, I will be disappointed,” Hun Wuxing said flatly. “After all, you are the only one who has ever defeated me.”

Dao Xiao Tong replied, “That is because you have faced too few truly powerful opponents.”

Hun Wuxing said earnestly, “Naturally I would never think myself invincible. There are many stronger than I—the several Hidden Deities over by the Dao Abyss, the Red Dust Wise Immortal whose whereabouts are unknown, the master of Bright View Temple, the pavilion lord of Snow Cloud Sword Pavilion... but none of them are opponents I need to face.”

Dao Xiao Tong considered this and said, “That much is true.”

Hun Wuxing said, “Since there are tall people to hold up the sky if it falls, all I need to do is shoulder what lies beneath it.”

Dao Xiao Tong gave a dry laugh. “It has been a long time since I last made a move. I did not expect you to look down on me to such an extent.”

After a pause, he said seriously, “Do you truly think I am inferior to Li Jinxing?”

Hun Wuxing looked surprised and asked in return, “Why do you think you can compare yourself to the Red Dust Wise Immortal?”

Dao Xiao Tong was momentarily speechless, thinking that speaking to an amateur was indeed exhausting.

He said no more, only lifting his palm slightly.

It seemed the formations he had laid down began to resonate with one another, faint strands of light connecting them all.

“Now that is better,” Dao Xiao Tong said softly. “A powerful formation requires formation banners. Spontaneously conjuring one sounds impressive, but it is ultimately unreasonable. And if it is unreasonable, then naturally it is no match for an Integration Realm being.”

“Is that so?” Hun Wuxing swept his gaze around and discovered that exactly nine hundred and ninety-nine formations had been linked together, forming a super formation.

“In the Ten Thousand Volumes of the Dao Canon there are three thousand techniques. I heard you studied all of them, and that from the one-third that interested you most, you created your own Dao. I suppose these formations are the foundation of that?”

Dao Xiao Tong said, “It took me some time, but those techniques in the Dao Canon were all personally selected by me. I could hardly allow you to look down on them.”

He gave a faint laugh. “The remaining techniques have already reached perfection. As for me, I can no longer improve them.”

While they spoke, Hun Wuxing was also examining those techniques, looking quite curious.

“This is the Sacred Flame Dao of the Sacred Flame Sect? I said long ago that even immortal flame is not the strongest in the world. Ha, just as I expected.”

“Oh? This is Chaos? Chaos gives birth to the Two Modes, and the Two Modes give birth to the Five Elements. So this must be the Great Five-Element Dao of those fools from the Five Elements Sect.”

“Look at this, look at this—what is this? My heavens, you even raided the Thousand Blossom Palace? That counts as plucking teeth from a tiger’s mouth, doesn’t it?”

“...”

There were a thousand kinds of Dao in the field, yet Hun Wuxing could recognize the vast majority of them. Even some obscure secret arts did not escape his notice.

But there were still some he failed to recognize.

Still, not recognizing them did not mean he would sit and wait for death.

Knowing the enemy and the situation was only one step toward victory.

There were many methods by which victory could be obtained.

Behind him, an endless expanse of pitch-black aura suddenly billowed outward, and within that blackness a great gate, as high as the heavens, flickered in and out of sight.

Hun Wuxing stepped into the great gate. After looking back once at Dao Xiao Tong, he slowly vanished.

Final form of the Soul-Capturing Art: the Ghost Gate appears.

...