Chapter 698: Chapter 697: Not Worthy to Draw the Sword
"Helian... Helian Zhan?"
"The Uncle Master from Qingtian Sect?"
"Why would he come to the Zhuge family to pick a fight?"
As Helian Zhan’s voice drifted into Wolong Ridge, the Zhuge family was instantly filled with numerous shocked exclaims.
At this moment, the Zhuge family was internally vulnerable. Three cultivators of the Divine Travel Realm, accompanied by a dozen elite family members in the Innate Realm, had quietly ventured into the secular world, leaving only a few cultivators in the Innate Realm incapable of stopping a top-notch fighter in the Divine Travel Realm like Helian Zhan.
"Activate the Nine Dragon Formation!" shouted Zhuge Chong loudly.
He used the rich True Yuan in his Dantian to amplify his voice, instantly relaying the message to the eight clan elders in the Innate Realm who were operating the Mountain Protection Array.
Zhuge Chong was the spokesperson for the Zhuge family’s external affairs. He managed all worldly matters, and after Zhuge Cang and the others left, the family was entrusted to him.
Now that Helian Zhan had arrived with ill intent, he didn’t dare to take any chances and directly ordered the activation of the Nine Dragon Formation.
At the mountain gate, Helian Zhan heard Zhuge Chong’s voice, a smile lifting the corners of his mouth as he laughed out loud, "Without the Fusang Wood, the Nine Dragon Formation is virtually nonexistent to me."
As he spoke, he casually waved his hand.
The air surged wildly. A terrifying Sword Qi burst forth angrily, rapidly spreading from the Zhuge family’s mountain gate toward the mansion.
Whoosh!
A sharp sound of tearing through the air resounded as the invisible Sword Qi instantly pierced through Wolong Ridge, arriving directly at Zhuge Chong’s location.
"Pfft!"
Zhuge Chong was a cultivator in the late-stage Innate Realm, and his fighting strength was substantial. However, faced with this sudden and fierce Sword Qi, he couldn’t even react to dodge; his chest caved in instantly, and a sharp Sword Qi pierced through from his back, flying into the distance.
The next instant, a stream of blood sprayed out from the hole in his back, shooting out far like a blood sword, piercing through the wooden wall behind him.
A veteran expert who had stepped into the Innate Realm for fifty-six years couldn’t withstand a sword strike from Helian Zhan from afar.
Zhuge Chong looked down at the hole that had appeared in his chest, feeling his life draining away at a terrifying speed, muttering, "Sword... Sword Cultivator... he, he can’t be Second Place..."
With that one sword strike, could the genius girl from the Duanmu Family back then even compare?
Regrettably, he no longer had the chance to relay this information to the three clan elders. He hoped that upon encountering this man, the elders wouldn’t underestimate him.
With deep worries about the future prospects of his family, Zhuge Chong, who had managed the worldly affairs of the Zhuge family for twenty-seven years, closed his eyes in discontent, his body collapsing with a thud, never to rise again.
Roar!!!
Roar roar!!!
Meanwhile, up in the sky above the Wolong Ridge Mountain Range, a dragon’s roar soared into the heavens.
Soon, several more roars followed, and the sky above Wolong Ridge seemed to be encircled by a number of massive dragons, their terrifyingly fierce and brutal power descending with them.
The Nine Dragon Formation was activated.
The entire mansion was enveloped in an invisible Array’s power for protection.
After Helian Zhan had carelessly wiped out Zhuge Chong with a wave of his hand, he moved towards the stone steps. Just as he reached the mountain gate, he was met with dragon roars and a whirlwind. An invisible barrier descended outside the mountain gate, blocking his path.
"Heh, today I shall witness how much power this millennium-old Array still possesses," he chuckled.
Helian Zhan carried one hand behind his back, while he stretched out the other, turning his finger into a sword, and stabbed towards the mountain gate.
Hum!
A humming sound spread.
A fierce gale rose, and a Sword Qi, unparalleled in sharpness, shot out from Helian Zhan’s fingertip, striking the invisible barrier enveloping the mountain gate.
Whoosh!
A sharp tearing sound echoed.
In the nothingness where there seemed to be empty space, a crack suddenly appeared, forming a diamond-shaped gap. In front of it was an invisible, colorless barrier, which was shattered and pierced by the sharp Sword Qi.
Roar!!!
As the Array in front of the mountain gate suffered damage, a dragon’s roar descended from the sky the very next moment.
The hurricane abruptly rose, and a dragon-shaped figure, faint but discernible, burst from the space fissure, lunging straight for Helian Zhan.
Two or three steps behind him, Dan Wuji’s face turned deathly pale in an instant, and his body trembled violently, almost kneeling down and begging for mercy.
What a terrifying pressure.
It felt as if a nine-heaven divine dragon had descended, ready to open its gigantic maw and swallow him whole.
Too scary!
"Hmph, this Nine Dragon Formation really isn’t what it used to be; it can’t even condense its true form."
Helian Zhan’s cold voice rang out.
As the faint dragon figure approached him, he neither dodged nor evaded but simply raised his hand and pointed.
Another fierce Sword Qi burst through the air.
This sword condensed all the spatial power within a thousand-meter radius, the transparent sword body becoming visible to the naked eye and clearer by the moment until it solidified into a real longsword, which then crashed onto the massive dragon.
Though it took some explaining, the process of the power elements instantly coming together to form the sword body happened in the blink of an eye.
Pfft!
The dragon figure, unable to solidify from illusion into reality, was pierced through by the sword body, exploding in an instant and turning into particles of power elements scattered in the void.
The entire Nine Dragon Formation shook violently.
Inside the villa, an Innate Realm elder of the Zhuge family spat out blood, fell to the ground, and began panting heavily as he hastily started practicing to heal his injuries.
The Nine Dragon Formation was originally controlled by nine individuals working together to maintain its strongest power. But just as the formation activated, Zhuge Chong was killed by a sword strike from Helian Zhan. The Great Elder made a decisive attack but was still overpowered and killed by Helian Zhan.
The renowned Nine Dragon Mountain Protection Array that had stood for a thousand years seemed like nothing more than paper mache in front of Uncle Master Helian, claimed to be the most talented in a millennium, unable to withstand a single hit!
As the faint dragon figure exploded, Dan Wuji finally began to catch his breath.
That was close!
If his master hadn’t made a move just now, even if the dragon hadn’t targeted him, it would still have seriously injured him.
His gaze filled with intense adoration as he watched the figure step boldly into the Mountain Protection Array.
His master had said ten years ago that given another decade, he would be unbeatable by anyone in the world.
Dan Wuji was not sure how strong other cultivators in the Divine Travel Realm were, but he was now certain of one thing: swordsmen like himself and Zhang Wenfeng could not withstand a true strike from his master.
His eyes fell on the sword tied around his master’s waist, igniting with fervor.
Was the Nine Dragon Formation, known as the strongest defense of the Hidden Sect, not even able to compel his master to draw his actual sword?
"Helian Zhan, what are you trying to do? Do you realize what this means? Will Qingtian Sect go to war with our Zhuge aristocratic family for your sake?"
"That’s right, by doing this, you’ll destroy the foundation your Helian Family has worked so hard to build."
"Do you really think you can challenge the authority of the Eight Great Forces all by yourself?"
Roars of anger continuously came from the Zhuge family estate.
However, Helian Zhan did not answer anyone.
Dan Wuji only saw mighty winds howling within Wolong Ridge, with terrifying impacts sounding continuously; the mountain range and the array seemed as one. With every strike from Helian Zhan, the entire Wolong Mountain Range appeared to tremble violently.
A quarter of an hour passed.
Accompanied by a fierce surge of Sword Qi that shot up into the sky, the Zhuge family’s Mountain Protection Array collapsed.
Dan Wuji was overjoyed and was about to step forward when suddenly a terrible premonition struck him as a horrifying aura emanated from the ridge.
"Vermin, dare you damage our thousand-year-old Zhuge family Array; do you know your crime?"
An ancient voice came from within the belly of the mountain range, as if the entire Wolong Mountain Range itself were speaking.
Following it was a pressure even more terrifying than when the Nine Dragon Formation was activated.
The only difference was that the pressure of the Nine Dragon Formation was more widespread, whereas after this voice appeared, the dreadful pressure seemed specifically targeted at Helian Zhan and Dan Wuji alone.
Dan Wuji’s heart stirred, and his expression changed drastically. Could it be that the Zhuge aristocratic family really had ancient clan elders who had not perished but were avoiding their destined end in a state of slumber, now awakened by his master?