Mahayana 122
BGM: Wuthering Waves - Unwritten In The Stars
===
Chapter 122: Ninefold Ethereal Wind – The Illusory and Elusive Xiao Yifeng
TL : Cnine
ED/PF :
Part 1
A gigantic wind circle popped up around Xiao Yifeng, hoovering up every stray sinister gust in the area. The place was nothing but whoooosh whoooosh as the wind went absolutely feral. With Xiao Yifeng standing dead centre, it looked less like a spell and more like he’d accidentally turned himself into a walking wind vacuum.
As the wind grew ever stronger, the nearby ghosts were all drawn towards Xiao Yifeng. Yet they could not move any closer, for an overwhelming barrier of wind surrounded him. That barrier was simply too powerful to break.
The ten Golden Core realm ghosts were no exception. They wanted to retreat but could not escape; they tried to press their attack towards Xiao Yifeng, only to find the winds within growing ever more violent.
Any attack they launched merely added to the strength of Xiao Yifeng’s wind force. For a time, they were completely suppressed, pinned in place and unable to move.
This was the Heaven Inquiry Sect’s Golden Core wind art, Ninefold Ethereal Wind Yao, a strange technique that fused attack and defence into a single, seamless whole. Unless one could smash through the protective barrier in an instant with overwhelming power, the winds around him would only grow stronger, layer by layer, until Ninefold Wind Yao fully erupted.
Hovering several metres above the ground, Xiao Yifeng murmured his incantations softly. He had not expected the yin winds here to be so abundant. Casting Ninefold Ethereal Wind felt unnervingly smooth, as though the sinister winds themselves were eagerly gathering around him.
Xiao Yifeng casually drifted away from his spot, dragging a whole bundle of screaming ghosts behind him as he floated towards Mo Shuiyao. The eight ghosts running the formation had already clocked that something was very, very wrong on his side.
Problem was, none of them could move. So they just stood there, watching Xiao Yifeng come closer like a walking natural disaster. The moment his wind ball got too close to one of the formation ghosts, that poor thing got yanked straight out, and the whole formation collapsed on the spot.
A monstrous gale swept through the shattered formation, engulfing everyone within. Each struggled desperately against the crushing pull, frozen in place like criminals awaiting judgement, unable to move even as the storm howled around them.
They could only watch Xiao Yifeng approach, the storm around him swelling with every step, the ethereal winds tearing into them without mercy.
Only the Ghost King, the strongest among them, still retained the strength to resist. With a furious roar, it raised its colossal sword and charged towards Xiao Yifeng.
Mo Shuiyao looked from Xiao Yifeng to the Ghost King rushing towards him, her hesitation plain. With Xiao Yifeng drawing all the fire, this was the perfect chance to turn and run.
Xiao Yifeng seemed to read her thoughts effortlessly. He did not speak, only met her gaze in silence while continuing to channel his technique.
In the end, Mo Shuiyao chose to stay. She pressed herself back into the fight, entangling the most powerful Ghost King and forcing it to stay away from Xiao Yifeng’s casting.
The winds between heaven and earth grew increasingly violent. Even distant wandering ghosts were dragged into the storm. The entire village began to rise, houses and debris lifting from the ground, trees ripped up by their roots and flung towards Xiao Yifeng’s swirling wind sphere.
Once invoked, this technique fed endlessly on the surrounding yin winds. And now, even Xiao Yifeng was starting to feel its pull slipping beyond his control.
Xiao Yifeng could only smile bitterly. In the end, he still could not stop himself from unleashing a Golden Core realm technique.
As control slipped from his grasp, he forced the colossal sphere of wind down towards the Ghost King. The overwhelming gale slammed the Ghost King into the ground, pinning it in place. It clawed desperately at the earth, struggling in vain against the terrifying suction.
Mo Shuiyao was caught beneath the storm as well. Her heart leapt into her throat. For an instant, she wondered if Xiao Yifeng had lost his mind and intended to kill her along with the Ghost King.
Then his voice thundered through the gale. “Fairy Mo, don’t bother with the Ghost King! Use that flower-sea secret art from before. Strike together with me, cripple them, and then we run!”
Mo Shuiyao met his gaze. In the next breath, she abandoned all resistance and allowed herself to be drawn towards him.
As expected, when the raging winds surged towards Mo Shuiyao, they did not harm her in the slightest.
She glided effortlessly into Xiao Yifeng’s wind barrier and unleashed the flower-sea secret art with everything she had. An intoxicating fragrance spread through the air as countless petals were swept into the raging storm.
In that moment, heaven and earth were filled with howling yin winds. Yet within the storm bloomed waves of floral scent, petals swirling like a deadly, beautiful snowfall.
The ghosts that failed to escape were dragged into the storm and obliterated the instant the petals touched them.
Even the Golden Core realm ghosts could not endure it. Wherever the petals struck, green smoke rose in thick streams, their screams echoing through the gale.
Only now did it become clear just how terrifying their combined secret arts could be. Xiao Yifeng’s yin wind howled across the battlefield, suppressing the ghosts but never quite destroying them. Mo Shuiyao’s petals danced with deadly beauty, yet were always kept just out of reach.
Together, however, their powers intertwined seamlessly, flawless and inevitable. Mo Shuiyao’s eyes shone with awe, reflecting the storm before her.
Wind and petals melted into one another, swelling into colossal pink spheres that dominated the heavens.
Blood spilled from Xiao Yifeng’s lips as he endured the strain, dragging his sword down with sheer force of will. The moment the blade fell, countless terrifying wind blades exploded outward, ripping through space itself.
The wandering souls that still clung to existence were cleaved in two, erased without mercy.
Then, as if an avalanche had been unleashed, layers upon layers of gales spread out in all directions from the sphere of wind surrounding Xiao Yifeng, each wave stronger than the last. At the same time, the wind sphere around his body steadily shrank.
Finally, Xiao Yifeng swung the longsword in his hand downward, detonating countless waves of wind. Layered blades of compressed air scattered outward, and the tornadoes surrounding him exploded like bombs, utterly destroying everything in the village.
When the violent winds finally dissipated, a massive crater had been carved into the ground. The village was gone, leaving only deep, jagged cuts scored across the earth.
The Golden Core realm evil ghosts that had first besieged Xiao Yifeng had already been sliced into fragments. Only a few late Golden Core ghosts and the peak Golden Core Ghost King remained alive in the distance, sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath, their bodies drenched in blood.
Mo Shuiyao moved to finish them off, but Xiao Yifeng suddenly shouted for her to leave. As he spoke, he transformed into a streak of escaping light and flew away first.
Mo Shuiyao hesitated for a moment, but ultimately chose to leave with him.
After they departed, the Ghost King and several ghostly creatures on the ground began to recover. At that moment, a woman clad in a revealing red dress emerged from mid-air, holding a black longsword. She walked up to them, a smile curling at the corner of her lips.
The stunning woman in red used the longsword in her hand to absorb the Ghost King and the other ghosts into the blade. Afterwards, she collected their magic artefacts and transformed into a streak of light, pursuing Xiao Yifeng.
After flying for some distance, Xiao Yifeng could no longer hold on and released Little Snow again. He landed atop Little Snow’s head, sat down cross-legged, and took out a pill from his storage ring, swallowing it.
Mo Shuiyao chuckled softly, also landing on Xiao Bing, and said, “We truly owe this escape to fellow daoist Wu Chen. Could it be that you are rather badly injured?”
“My spiritual power is almost exhausted. I won’t be able to fight for a while,” Xiao Yifeng said with a quiet nod.
Mo Shuiyao paused, momentarily unable to gauge how much of that was true. Then she smiled. “In that case, fellow daoist Wu Chen may recover in peace. I’ll guard you.”
Xiao Yifeng acted like she wasn’t even a threat. He nodded, shut his eyes, and started meditating right there.
That very lack of caution unsettled Mo Shuiyao even more. He had always been on guard against her. How could he now expose himself so openly? She dared not move.
Cold light flickered repeatedly in her eyes, sharp and fleeting, yet she hesitated every time. When more evil ghosts rushed in, she killed them cleanly, but deliberately let one or two slip past, drifting towards Xiao Yifeng like silent tests.
Unexpectedly, just as the evil ghost drew near, a streak of sword light burst forth from the void beside Xiao Yifeng and cut it down.
The sword light was terrifyingly precise, cutting through the creature like paper. Mo Shuiyao’s pupils shrank. She hadn’t even seen where the attacks came from.
So he really is a schemer. He pretended to be weak just to bait me into striking first. If I’d taken that step, I’d have paid dearly for it. She felt a quiet surge of relief that she’d held back.
What she did not know was that the sword light had come from the recently returned Zhan Xian and had nothing to do with Xiao Yifeng at all. Although the sword spirit restrained ghostly beings, it was still no match for Mo Shuiyao.