"…Alright! I'll make way!"
Though puzzled, Xiu Yun no longer occupied the formation's core. He stepped out and directly pulled Yun Ze in!
Seeing this, Su Ling quickly returned to a corner of the formation.
Instantly!
Yun Ze felt a surge of spiritual energy rush towards the heavens. The surroundings fell silent, as if everything was within his grasp!
His spiritual power, his control over spiritual energy, and his perception of his surroundings all reached a terrifying height!
In his current state, if he were to face Gu Wu Dao, he wouldn't even need to unleash any sword techniques. A single sword qi would be enough to end the other's life on the spot!
Was this the power of a formation?
With Xiu Yun's cultivation and strength, if he had truly loosed that arrow back then, Monk Du Zhi might already be dead.
"Don't just stand there!"
Xiu Yun placed his hand on Yun Ze's right arm. When he raised his hand again, a yellow talisman appeared on his arm: "This is a Soul Piercing Talisman, capable of piercing through puppets and striking directly at the soul of the controller! I only have this one. If you fail, we'll have to make our escape!"
"Don't worry!"
Yun Ze uttered two words, though inwardly, he wasn't entirely confident. This was merely to steady Xiu Yun and prevent him from interfering.
He casually set aside the Mountain Ghoul, closed his eyes, and absorbed the feeling of his previous sword strike. A warm current flowed through his brow.
Yes! This was the feeling!
Yun Ze raised his hand and slashed forward with his sword!
There was no spiritual energy, no sword qi, and no energy fluctuation, yet the yellow talisman on his arm had already vanished!
Xiu Yun frowned, but he had no energy to scold. He could only follow the direction of Yun Ze's sword strike. With his eyesight honed by the path of archery, he could tell at a glance that the trajectory of the sword was aimed at Dan Chen Yu!
Even if Yun Ze could unleash a killing blow, this sword wouldn't hit Monk Du Zhi, but rather Dan Chen Yu!
This person… was truly useless!
Just as Xiu Yun was about to act and deal with this useless person himself, a dull thud suddenly exploded in everyone's ears!
Boom!
Golden blood rained down, scattering across the sky like a spring drizzle, falling upon Dan Chen Yu.
Dan Chen Yu froze, stunned.
She looked at the corpse before her without a trace of fear, but her heart was filled with confusion and bewilderment.
This third-grade golden body… was it broken just like that?! But she hadn't even broken through the other's golden body. How could this have happened? Unless…
Dan Chen Yu turned to look behind her and saw everyone staring blankly at Yun Ze, and at the sword in his hand!
"Hoo…"
Yun Ze exhaled a long breath, looking at the golden blood filling the sky. He knew he had succeeded.
Hidden Sword!
He had unleashed it!
In fact, he should have realized it earlier. The focus of this so-called Hidden Sword was not on the sword path itself, but on the word 'hidden'! For the Kong family, the simplest way to prevent sword qi and spiritual energy from leaking was to utilize spatial power! As long as a passage was established between the sword qi and the target using spatial power, the sword qi would naturally strike within the opponent's body! It wouldn't even need to touch the opponent's surface; the sword qi could be sent directly!
When Yun Ze had unleashed his first sword strike against Monk Du Zhi, he had vaguely sensed the mystery of this technique but was still somewhat uncertain. However, with this second strike, he had become completely sure!
This was Hidden Sword!
"You…"
Silence descended for several breaths. It was Xiu Yun, closest to Yun Ze, who spoke first: "What was that sword strike?"
"A sect secret technique."
Yun Ze calmly uttered four words, a smile still on his lips: "Cannot be told, cannot be told!"
"No! Junior Uncle, this is definitely not a sect secret technique!"
Dan Chen Yu darted forward, completely disregarding the residual blood on her, and looked at Yun Ze with curiosity: "I've read all the Gui Wu Secret Codex. There are a total of nine sword path secret techniques, and this is not any of them! Tell me, what secret technique is this?"
Oh!
He had forgotten there was a true descendant of the Gui Wu Sect here. But wasn't this girl a bit too quick? She was asking this in front of so many people?
Yun Ze smiled helplessly but remained silent.
Seeing this, Xiu Yun didn't press further. He took a step back and cupped his hands towards Yun Ze: "Daoist Friend Yun, I apologize for my earlier offense."
He hated three things: being interrupted while fighting, seeing useless people, and those who knew they were wrong but refused to change! He had misunderstood Yun Ze earlier and should apologize now.
"It's nothing. Knowing your mistake is enough."
Yun Ze said six words with a cold expression. He hadn't intended to answer like this, but… Gu Wu Dao was still here! For the grand plan ahead, he had to maintain his persona! The persona of a proud prodigy, on par with Xiu Yun and Dan Chen Yu! This Hidden Sword technique had given him a great opportunity. As long as he maintained this persona, no one in this secret realm would dare to trouble him again!
However, upon hearing this, Xiu Yun tilted his head. It seemed that apart from his elders and his brother, no one had ever dared to speak to him like this. But it was quite interesting!
"Daoist Friend Yun, could you…"
A twitch ran across Xiu Yun's lips. He was about to propose a duel with Yun Ze, but before he could finish speaking, Dan Chen Yu pulled Yun Ze towards Monk Du Zhi's corpse!
"Let's go, Junior Uncle. We'll first see if this thing can still revive!"
She had finally figured it out. This sword technique… must be something Junior Uncle created himself! He just wanted to hide his abilities and not let others know. She had accidentally let it slip, so she had to cover for him.
"Alright!"
Seeing the two walk away, Xiu Yun could only swallow his words.
Forget it.
There was still plenty of time, and his injuries hadn't fully healed. He would recuperate for a while before considering a challenge. He casually took out a pill from his spatial ring, swallowed it, and followed them.
Everyone gathered around Monk Du Zhi's 'corpse'.
It was said to be a corpse, but Monk Du Zhi was actually just an dark golden skeleton. The rest of his flesh and blood had already exploded, scattering within a ten-meter radius.
They stared for a while, but found no movement. Dan Chen Yu even condensed a small ball of spiritual energy and threw it at the remains, but there was still no reaction.
It seemed impossible to revive him. This guy didn't even have any internal organs left. If he could still revive, it would be truly strange!
"It should be resolved."
Yun Ze turned to look at Xiu Yun: "Daoist Xiu, how much damage does your Soul Piercing Talisman inflict on the person controlling it?"
"I don't know."
Xiu Yun shook his head. "That depends on the power of your sword strike just now, and how much control he had over Monk Du Zhi."
"...Alright then."
Yun Ze pointed at the skeleton: "I'll put this thing away first. If we encounter any Buddhist disciples later, handing it over to them could be considered resolving a karma."
Everyone nodded, having no objections. Yun Ze took out the Qiankun Bag given to him by Xiao Han Shi and stored the skeleton inside. There was still a large amount of pure spiritual liquid residue in his spatial ring, and he dared not store the skeleton there. What if something went wrong?
But what everyone didn't know was.
When the skeleton left the secret realm and entered the Qiankun Bag, a faint green light flashed. Then, where Dan Chen Yu had previously cast her spiritual energy, a pink hue slowly began to appear!
That seemed to be… flesh and blood!