Stellar Transformations

by I Eat Tomatoes

  “This natural 8 Diagrams formation is really strong enough. The 8 Diagrams restrictive energy cover it created was even able to withstand the 1st thunderbolt without breaking apart.” Fengyuzi has a faint happy expression on his face.

  ……

  Not far from the valley at the moment, Wu De and Wu Xing are standing on their flying swords respectively, bringing along 2 old men each.

  “Martial brother, that Qin De unexpectedly overcame the 1st thunderbolt. Also, we even let him find a natural 8 Diagrams formation. What rotten luck!” Wu Xing says with a cold laugh.

  Wu De says in an unconcerned manner: “There’s no need to worry. Each of the 4 thunderbolts of the 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation is more dangerous than the previous. The 1st thunderbolt was merely an appetizer. It’ll be hard for Qin De to overcome all of them. Moreover, even if he overcame the 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation, he would be seriously injured. At that time, with our power, it’d be easy to kill him.”

  Generally, after overcoming a tribulation, the practitioner’s body will be badly damaged. How can a badly injured early-phase Jindan-stage novice possibly be a match for middle-phase Jindan-stage Wu Xing and late-phase Jindan-stage Wu De?

  “Shangxian, could we spring into action right now?” The leader of the 4 old men asks respectfully at once. In the Xiang clan, these 4 old men are called Four Directions Death Gods. Their respective code names are East, South, West and North. And they have been granted the royal last name Xiang.

  Hearing that, Wu De slightly nods: “Martial younger brother, the 2nd thunderbolt is charging now. Once it strikes down, their attention will surely be distracted by that scene. At that time, we’ll attack like lightning and destroy them at one stroke!”

  “Yes, martial brother.” Wu Xing becomes excited as well.

  ……

  The purple tribulation cloud continuously rolls. It sends out one strong force after another, frightening everyone in the valley. The 2nd thunderbolt will obviously be much more powerful.

  “Hah!”

  Qin De utters a series of low shouts. At the same time, a dragon-like body-protecting energy appears on the surface of his body. To be exact, this body-protecting energy, which seems almost materialized, is none other than the body-protecting technique of the Shi Huang Ancestral Dragon Art at the peak of the Xiantian level.

  Concurrently with that, a dark red long sword appears in Qin De’s hand. It is exactly a middle-grade holy weapon and also Qin De’s trump card to overcome the tribulation.

  Qin Yu is focusing most of his attention on his father. Fengyuzi, Elder Blue-clad and the others are also watching Qin De take on the tribulation attentively. No one even dares to breathe heavily so the atmosphere is very tense. Suddenly the air shudders.

  Boom!

  Another purple thunderbolt strikes down extremely fast from the sky. This thunderbolt is even thicker and radiates a more dazzling purple light than the the 1st one. It almost reaches Qin De in an instant. Qin Yu and the others become nervous. However, at this moment --

  “Enemy’s raiding!”

  Fengyuzi’s voice suddenly rises in the ears of the other 13 people. Qin Yu and the others are startled. Fengyuzi did not shout because he feared he would alarm Qin De, so he could only use controlled sound transference. At the same time, he makes signs with both hands. The entire natural 8 Diagrams formation in the valley is activated. Various streams of elemental energy start to run throughout the whole formation.

  “Ha-ha, Fengyuzi, you think this kind of formation can block me and my martial brother? Are you dreaming?” White-browed Wu Xing says with a loud laugh as he comes down from the sky on his huge flying sword, bringing along 2 old men at his back. On his side, fluttering-long-haired Wu De also dives down standing on his flying sword with 2 old men behind him.

  “2 Xiuzhenists.” Qin Yu is shocked. Then he clenches his teeth and stares at those 2 Shangxian with blazing eyes. “I’ll put my neck on the line. I won’t let them disturb father during his tribulation no matter what.”

  Chapter 21: The Battle of the Tribulation (2)

  At the same time --

  Boom!

  The 2nd thunderbolt strikes upon the 8 Diagrams protective cover with a terrifying force. Immediately, the protective cover starts to shake as if it is a water surface. The force of the thunderbolt and the energy of the protective cover continuously cancel out each other. Concurrently with that, various written talismans rise to the surface of the protective cover from within.

  “No good.” At the moment, Qin Yu activates his holy sense, and he is also partly paying attention to his father, so he can feel clearly that the energy of the protective cover is weakening extremely fast.

  The 8 Diagrams protective cover suddenly breaks apart. At the same time, those written talismans on its surface also disappear. However, even though the protective cover created by the 8 Diagrams formations have been shattered, luckily, the 2nd thunderbolt’s energy has also been drained away.

  “Qin De, you’re very lucky to have found this natural 8 Diagrams formation and neutralized 2 thunderbolts with it. Too bad, each of the 4 thunderbolts of the 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation is more dangerous than the previous. The last 2 thunderbolts will be very different from the first ones!” Wu Xing’s white brows are so long they touch his temples, but he looks swift and fierce.

  “Martial younger brother, don’t waste time. Let’s roll!” Wu De gives an order.

  “Yes, martial brother. The 4 of you kill all of those Xiantian experts. I myself can handle Fengyuzi.” Wu Xing’s eyes flash with savagery. The 4 old men look at each other then nod. They instantly jump down from the flying swords and charge toward the inside of the 8 Diagrams formation.

  The 4 old men, who are all dressed in gray, are very powerful as well.

  “Be careful, this formation contains illusions. Let’s kill them with eyes closed.” As soon as East Xiang enters the formation he knows there is something wrong, so he immediately shouts loudly.

  “Yes, big brother!” The other 3 old men accept his order at once. At their current level, it will not matter even if they have to fight their enemies with eyes closed. Their holy senses have not been developed yet, but they are capable of vague extra-sensory perception. Moreover, they can also locate anyone in their vicinity through hearing.

  The 4 people all close their eyes and stay motionless in the formation.

  “4 peak Xiantian experts, this is pretty troublesome.” Fengyuzi thinks like a flash. In an instant, he orders: “Ge Min, you’ll lead the 5 Elements Commanders to deal with Wu Xing. I’ll handle Wu De. As for the other 4 old men, the rest will handle them!”

  At this moment, the tribulation cloud starts to roll again. A rumble of thunder rises in the sky. The cloud is gathering electricity. As the thunderbolts become more powerful in order of appearance, it takes longer to charge them in order of appearance as well. Qin De’s entire energy and mind have been focused on dealing with the heavenly tribulation so he simply does not notice that a great battle is starting.

  “Ha-ha …” Wu De laughs out loud then stares at Fengyuzi and says: “Humph, Fengyuzi, a middle-phase Jindan-stage weakling like you will attempt to fight me?” Having heard what Fengyuzi said just now, he has naturally become furious. He is a late Jindan-stage expert while Fengyuzi is only at the middle phase of the Jindan stage so there is a huge difference in power between them.

  “Fengyuzi, you even sent some Xiantian experts to deal with me? Ha-ha …” Wu Xing is so infuriated that he bursts out laughing. In his eyes, Xiantian experts simply cannot even break his defense, so naturally he feels humiliated by Fengyuzi making such an arrangement.

  Fengyuzi gives a cold laugh but says nothing. The fact that he possesses a middle-grade holy weapon is a secret. A middle-grade holy weapon is several times more powerful than a low-grade one. A spear-wielding kid can kill a knife-wielding adult -- this is the benefit of having a better weapon.

  “Kill!” Wu De and Wu Xing suddenly shout.
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  Like a flash, Wu De charges directly at Fengyuzi on his flying sword. Wu Xing also comes into the large formation standing on his flying sword. Even though there are illusions in this formation, Wu De and Wu Xing directly use their holy senses to observe so they simply ignore the effects of an elementary formation like this one.

  This natural 8-Diagrams formation merely makes use of the natural geography of the valley to create some simple illusions therefore nothing in it can escape the observation of the holy sense. Real top-class illusive formations can even affect the holy sense, but it is regrettable that Fengyuzi has not reached a level in power where he can use them yet.

  “Ah!”

  After a series of explosions, a miserable cry rises and blood splatters everywhere. A man falls on the ground with a loud sound and dies on the spot. All the other people are stupefied. Even Wu De and the other Xiuzhenists also pay some attention to that at once.

  West Xiang, the 3rd old man of the Four Directions Death Gods sent by the Xiang clan, has unexpectedly been killed by someone right after he came forward.

  “3rd younger brother!”

  “3rd younger brother!”

  ……

  East Xiang and the other 2 old men instantly become furious. The 4 of them have been with each other for over 100 years and had a deep affection for each other. Their brotherhood is even closer than that of blood brothers. A special telepathy has even developed between them. When the 3rd old men died just now, the other 3 could immediately sense that he was dead. Today the 3rd among them has died but, due to being affected by the illusions, they simply do not know who killed him.

  “That was awesome, Mister Liu Xing!” Elder Blue-clad transfers his voice confidentially into Qin Yu’s ears.

  Qin Yu smiles coldly.

  Locating through hearing? What if they cannot hear any sounds?

  Just now Qin Yu used his body-maneuvering skill and did not create any wind sounds. Even though the Xiang clan’s Four Directions Death Gods are peak Xiantian experts and somewhat capable of extra-sensory perception, but because Qin Yu has always been holding back his aura, West Xiang and his brothers have been unable to sense his aura.

  If a person is to hold back his aura completely, he must not channel his internal energy. In this way, it will be impossible for other people to sense his aura.

  However, during a battle, everyone uses Xiantian energy or elemental energy, so how can anyone possibly hold back their aura? But Qin Yu can, because just now he did not use his purple Xiantian energy at all and only relied on his physical power.

  East Xiang and his 2 brothers are extremely shocked. At the moment they simply cannot see anyone because of the illusions whereas all of the people on Qin De’s side are not affected by the formation. The death of West Xiang just now has frightened them.

  “Disturb father during his tribulation, die!” Qin Yu transfers his voice confidentially into South Xiang’s ears directly.

  South Xiang is shocked at once: “Father?” Before this South Xiang can understand what it means, a punch suddenly smashes on the left side of his chest. His heart is immediately pulverized as if he has been hit by a huge sledgehammer in the chest. He falls on the ground and dies instantly with eyes popping.

  “2nd younger brother!” cries East Xiang mournfully.

  “2nd brother!” cries North Xiang hurriedly as well. “Who’s that? Come out and fight me openly!” He has become extremely furious because 2 of his brothers have been killed in only a short while.

  “That brat is really troublesome. His movements don’t cause any wind sounds and he doesn’t give off any aura.” Wu Xing’s holy sense locks onto Qin Yu. He immediately shouts: “Brat, prepare to die.”

  Qin Yu takes a look at Wu Xing. He is slightly startled in his heart.

  “Should I use the Flaming Sword and Flaming Gloves?” He starts to consider.

  A Xiuzhenist’s offense is too powerful so he must rely on his middle-grade holy weapons, the Flaming Sword and Flaming Gloves, at crucial moments. Without using the middle-grade holy weapons, he will simply have no chance of winning. But once he uses them, his identity will probably be revealed.

  “5 Elements Commanders, get in formation!” Ge Min’s voice rises at the same time.

  The 5 late-phase Xiantian experts of the Secret Arrow immediately stand in front of Qin Yu. If Wu Xing wants to kill Qin Yu, he will have to kill all the 5 of them first. Wu Xing sneers hideously: “Only some insects who want to die. Don’t blame me for having no mercy.” As he finishes saying, he points at his flying sword. The sword immediately shoots at one of them.

  Concurrently with that, late-phase Jindan-stage Wu De and middle-phase Jindan-stage Fengyuzi also clash forcefully at last --

  Boom!

  A terrifying noise is heard. 2 swords, one being flaming red and the other being golden, clash head-on with full force. There is a smile on Wu De’s face. His power is far superior to Fengyuzi’s so he likes clashing head-on the most.

  After the violent collision, Wu De’s face instantly goes pale. A little blood trickles out of the corners of his mouth. At the same time he looks at Fengyuzi in disbelief: “Your, your flying sword …”

  Fengyuzi’s face is also pale, but his eyes are shining brightly. He says with a cold laugh: “Wu De, today I’ll let you know how great the difference between a low-grade holy weapon and a middle-grade one is!” At the moment, Fengyuzi is high-spirited and vigorous.

  Xiuzhenists’ offense is dependent on their holy weapons. He and Wu De use flying swords so their offensive forces are determined by the flying swords.

  Bang!

  A dark red short knife appears in a hand of each of the Secret Arrow’s 5 Elements Commanders. They block the flying sword directly with the knives. At the same time, their bodies make a shake to neutralize the impact force. While Wu Xing is startled by this, the 5 Elements Commanders instantly surround him and attack him together using the short knives.

  Seeing the 5 middle-grade holy weapons coming at him together, Wu Xing is shocked: “Middle-grade holy weapons! My goodness! There’re so many middle-grade holy weapons!” He simply does not dare to block them with his body-protecting elemental energy because the offensive force of middle-grade holy weapons is simply not something that body-protecting elemental energy can withstand. Moreover, he only has one flying sword so he can only kill 1 opponent in an instant at most whereas there are 5 of them.

  Whizz!

  Wu Xing steps on his flying sword then flies into the sky immediately. He can only exploit the 5 Elements Commanders’ incapability of flight.

  Wu Xing’s and Wu De’s eyes are blazing. These are middle-grade holy weapons, no less! Even in the Overseas Immortal Islands, with their current power levels, they will not be able to obtain such priceless treasures. Now, seeing so many middle-grade holy weapons, they have become excited.

  “Martial younger brother!”

  “Martial brother!”

  Wu Xing and Wu De seem to use controlled sound transference to talk to each other at the same time. They both understand what the other is thinking.

  They must risk their lives!

  Even if they are seriously injured, they must obtain these middle-grade holy weapons!

  Wu Xing and Wu De have been fooling around since the beginning but now they have become ruthless. They even think it is worth getting badly injured to obtain the middle-grade holy weapons. Once these 2 Xiuzhenists are determined to risk their lives, their offense will not be the same as it was just now.

  “Bang!” Wu De makes a pointing movement with a finger. His flying sword becomes a huge sword and cuts the base of the formation into pieces in an instant. At the same time, the flying sword sends out several huge streams of sword air, wrecking the walls of the valley with a loud noise. Now the entire natural 8 Diagrams formation has been destroyed so the illusions have disappeared completely as well.

  “The illusions have been destroyed. Let’s avenge your brothers’ deaths. That black-cl
ad brat is the killer.” Wu De shouts loudly.

  East Xiang and North Xiang open their eyes wide at once and cast a look at Qin Yu.

  Boom!

  A dragon-like purple thunderbolt shoots down from the 9th level of the sky, sending a repressing force through the air to everyone. It strikes down directly at Qin De in the center of the valley. This is the 3rd thunderbolt and, even worse, now Qin De is not protected by the protective cover anymore and has to rely on himself.

  “Father!” Qin Yu focuses part of his attention on Qin De.

  “Die!” With completely red eyes, East Xiang and North Xiang unleash their entire internal energy and explosively attack Qin Yu with their most powerful strikes.