Chronicles of Heaven's Chosen - Chapter 70

“When it comes to sounding awful, I could never compare to you,” Xie Yan scoffed.

With that, he turned and left.

Yuan Yao glared at his retreating back and shouted, “Dog Xie! One day, I’ll make you bark like a dog!”

The youth did not bother looking back. The curled ends of his hair flared behind him like brilliant red irises, and all he left her was a derisive laugh.

“Hah.”

Yuan Yao ground her teeth. There was no one in the world she despised more than that bastard Xie Yan!

Once her cultivation rose high enough, she would make him kneel before her and repent!

The ghost-masked youth soon disappeared from view.

Yuan Yao withdrew her gaze and noticed that Wu Liuyun was still standing nearby. She cupped her hands to him.

“Thank you for your help just now, fellow cultivator. I can deal with the rest myself.”

“Are you certain you don’t need any help, miss?” Wu Liuyun asked with a smile.

Yuan Yao shook her head.

Wu Liuyun’s eyes darkened slightly. Without another word, he advanced on her one measured step at a time, a gentle smile still gracing his handsome face.

Yuan Yao’s instincts immediately warned her that he meant trouble. She raised the Phantom Spirit Sword and called out, “Don’t come any closer!”

“There’s no need to be afraid, miss.”

Wu Liuyun moved. In an instant, he was behind her, like a predator emerging from concealment.

With a soft laugh, he said, “I have no intention of hurting you.”

Yuan Yao thrust her sword backward, but Wu Liuyun blocked it with ease.

A faint sting brushed her neck. The next moment, the necklace carved from supreme-grade spirit stone had been forcibly removed.

Wu Liuyun flickered away and reappeared atop the alley wall, his long fingers curled around the glittering crescent-moon necklace.

He smiled down at her.

“Thank you for the gift, miss.”

“Give it back!” Yuan Yao’s expression changed. It had been a thirteenth-birthday gift from Second Senior Sister.

Wu Liuyun sighed. “Now that it’s in my hands, how could I possibly return it?”

He turned to leave, only to hear a surge of sword energy behind him. With a sweep of his sleeve, he deflected the Phantom Spirit Sword stabbing toward his back.

“Don’t force me to kill you, miss.” Wu Liuyun shook his head regretfully, then tucked away the crescent-moon necklace.

Yuan Yao had never met such a sanctimonious thief. She leaped onto the wall, summoned the Phantom Spirit Sword back to her hand, and attacked him head-on.

“A Xiaoyao sword form?” Wu Liuyun raised a brow. “So you’re from the Xiaoyao Sect.”

Her fury struck him as rather adorable, so he indulged her for several exchanges.

Yet every move Yuan Yao made was effortlessly stopped. The sheer helplessness of it reminded her of fighting Youngest Senior Brother on the rear mountain.

Her gaze flicked toward the alley below. She stepped higher, gripped her sword, and swung with all her might.

“Cross Cut!”

Boom!

Surprise flashed through Wu Liuyun’s eyes. That moment of distraction was enough: although he blocked the sword energy, its tremendous impact still forced him two steps backward.

Yuan Yao flashed in front of him and drove her sword at his chest.

He caught the blade between two fingers. It could not advance another inch.

“You know the Taihuang Sword Art?” The indolence vanished from Wu Liuyun’s face, and his gaze turned cold. “Who is Ying Wuji to you?”

“Ying Wuji is my—”

While Wu Liuyun was caught off guard, Yuan Yao abruptly raised one leg and kicked him down into the alley.

Bang!

Wu Liuyun’s expression changed. His patience had plainly run out. But just as he prepared to dispose of her, her voice came from above.

“Formations, activate!”

Hum! Hum! Hum!

Multicolored formation light flooded the alley as four formations activated simultaneously—the Gravity Formation, Thunder Formation, Fire Formation, and Arrow Formation.

Wu Liuyun’s eyes shifted. He had failed to notice that so many formations lay hidden here.

Gravity, lightning, flames, and a rain of arrows descended on him all at once.

Spiritual power gathered rapidly in his hands, forming a shield against the onslaught.

“Hand over the necklace!” Yuan Yao demanded, her face cold.

“You think a few mid-grade formations can trap me?” Wu Liuyun laughed. “Tell me how you learned the Taihuang Sword Art.”

The Taihuang Sword Art belonged to Ying Wuji’s clan.

Judging by Wu Liuyun’s reaction, Yuan Yao suspected that he and Youngest Senior Brother shared some old grudge. That made it all the more important not to reveal anything.

“That has nothing to do with you.”

She directed the Phantom Spirit Sword toward Wu Liuyun inside the formations. “Go!”

A flexible sword materialized in Wu Liuyun’s hand. He parried the Phantom Spirit Sword and the relentless formation attacks while searching for a way to break free.

He slashed.

Powerful sword energy instantly tore apart the Gravity Formation. But just as he prepared to destroy the next formation, another formidable Gravity Formation activated in its place.

Wu Liuyun swept his gaze to one side and saw Yuan Yao laying down formations without pause.

One formation barrier after another appeared, stacked atop the rest.

Wu Liuyun was dumbfounded.

He had never seen anyone establish so many formations consecutively, much less layer them together.

What kind of formation monster was she?

During that moment of distraction, the Phantom Spirit Sword shot toward him.

Clang!

He snapped back to his senses and hurriedly blocked it. The impact numbed his arm. His gaze darkened, and he resolved to destroy the mid-grade formations as quickly as possible.

Boom—

Crack after crack rang through the alley as the formations shattered one by one.

Seeing the situation turn against her, Yuan Yao immediately took out the Heaven-and-Earth Formation Diagram and found the formation she had studied before—the Spirit-Devouring Formation.

Following the prescribed steps, she drew the seal with blood from her fingertip and gave it spirit through an incantation.

“Spirit-Devouring Formation, activate!”

Her expression changed.

She had failed.

Wu Liuyun had already reached the final formation.

He lifted his eyes. A dark light gleamed within their pale-brown depths, while his voice remained gentler than ever.

“Since you insisted on keeping me here, miss, you ought to offer me generous hospitality. I will take everything you have. As for you—you can go to hell.”

He swung his sword at the formation core.

With an explosive boom, the formation barrier shattered instantly.

Wu Liuyun flashed toward Yuan Yao, his flexible sword poised to take her head.

“Blood as the guide, incantation as the spirit—”

Yuan Yao spoke with extraordinary speed.

“Spirit-Devouring Formation, activate!”

As her voice fell, two icy streaks of sword light crossed in midair.

Clang!

The Phantom Spirit Sword intercepted the flexible sword. At that exact instant, a thunderous hum shook the air, and the Spirit-Devouring Formation dragged Wu Liuyun back down.

His expression changed. He raised his sword to break the formation, but the moment he channeled spiritual power, the formation devoured it voraciously. Even the force of his sword technique was swallowed along with it.

Wu Liuyun’s gaze darkened.

This was…

A mid-grade formation at the very peak of its rank!

Yuan Yao raised a hand and caught the returning Phantom Spirit Sword. Her expression was glacial as she stared at Wu Liuyun.

“Return my necklace, or don’t blame me for showing you no mercy inside this formation!”