But if this person is at the Nascent Soul stage, he's nothing to be afraid of, Wei Hai thought.
Judging by his spiritual power, if this person is indeed at the Nascent Soul stage, he must have relied on medicinal pills to reach it. Compared to someone like Wei Hai, who had cultivated steadily and methodically, such a cultivator would be far weaker.
Regardless of whether this person was at the Golden Core or Nascent Soul stage, although Wei Hai had been caught off guard by his initial attack, he was confident that his overall strength far surpassed that of his opponent.
With that thought, Wei Hai looked at Lin Xiao and sneered, "Boy, if you kneel down now and kowtow three times, calling me 'Grandpa,' and return my spirit stone mine, I might consider sparing your life. Such a pity to waste all those years of cultivation. Tsk tsk."
Hearing this, Lin Xiao glanced at him calmly, then turned his gaze toward the empty village of Xiushui below, the villagers gathered on the Heart-Testing Path, and the members of Lingxian Sect on the mountainside, all looking at him with joy.
Tomorrow was New Year's Eve, a time when Xiushui Village should have been at its most lively, with people at their happiest. But now, the village was in chaos, a complete mess.
Having emerged from seclusion to such a scene, Lin Xiao pressed his lips together, saying nothing, though the veins on the back of his hand, gripping his sword tightly, bulged with suppressed anger.
The moment Lin Xiao appeared and spoke, those on the mountain were overjoyed.
"It's Xiao-ge!"
"That's Xiao-ge's voice!"
As the flames in the sky dispersed from the impact of the sword strike, the disciples of Lingxian Sect below could see Lin Xiao hovering in the air, facing off against the Nascent Soul cultivator.
Though it had only been half a year since they last saw him, everyone felt that Lin Xiao had changed in some ways, yet remained the same in others.
After a brief pause, they saw Lin Xiao suddenly gather his energy and charge toward the Nascent Soul cultivator with his sword!
Lin Xiao knew full well that with his Golden Core power, it would be impossible to directly defeat a Nascent Soul cultivator. But seeing the severely injured cultivator before him, he also knew he couldn't give him any chance to recover.
As Lin Xiao rushed toward him, Wei Hai immediately conjured a shield of spiritual energy to block the attack!
While Lin Xiao's strength as a Golden Core cultivator was impressive, the gap between Golden Core and Nascent Soul was immense. When Lin Xiao's full-force strike collided with Wei Hai's spiritual shield, the backlash surged through his body, causing his skin to crack in several places with a loud bang.
Although his sect robe remained intact, the violent gusts of wind from the impact billowed it wildly, outlining the lean and muscular contours of his body, making it seem as though he might be blown away at any moment.
Meanwhile, Wei Hai's spiritual shield began to crack, covered with fine lines that threatened to shatter. Seeing this, he quickly poured more spiritual energy into it, gradually repairing the cracks.
It seemed like a long time, yet it was only a moment. After Wei Hai put in all his effort, Lin Xiao was finally blasted away by the shield, the shockwave sending him hurtling back toward Lingxian Sect!
Seizing the opportunity, Wei Hai pursued him, intending to finish the fight. However, just as he passed over the peach blossom-covered path below, he suddenly felt as if he had stepped into something.
The next moment, he realized he had been trapped in a formation.
At the same time, Lin Xiao, who had regained his balance in the air, received a message from Liu Yunian:
"Xiao-ge, he's trapped!"
Looking back, Lin Xiao saw that Wei Hai was indeed caught in the Two Elements Life-and-Death Formation. He wiped the blood from his face and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well done, Baldy!"
Earlier, Liu Yunian had intended to set up the Two Elements Life-and-Death Formation on the Heart-Testing Path, but Senior Liao had stopped him, knowing that no formation could be placed within the Heart-Testing Path.
When Senior Liao went out with Sun Yigao to rescue people, Liu Yunian decided to place the formation near the path's entrance instead.
However, since activating the formation required channeling his own spiritual energy to connect the formation's nodes, it took time, so he couldn't afford to be reckless. If the Nascent Soul cultivator noticed him, he would have been killed before the formation was even activated.
The highest-level cultivators remaining in the sect, aside from Fuzi, were the talisman master Liu Chun. They were the best candidates to activate the formation, but since this task required leaving the protection of the sect's defensive array, Liu Yunian didn't want to risk their lives.
When Lin Xiao emerged from seclusion and began battling the Nascent Soul cultivator, Liu Yunian knew the opportunity had come. While everyone's attention was focused on the fight, he quietly went down the mountain, set up the formation, and successfully activated it by connecting all the nodes with his spiritual energy.
As soon as it was activated, he sent a message to Lin Xiao, who immediately took the opportunity to let himself be knocked back toward the sect, luring the Nascent Soul cultivator into the trap.
Thanks to their cooperation, they successfully trapped the Nascent Soul cultivator within the Two Elements Life-and-Death Formation.
Realizing he had been caught in the formation, Wei Hai cursed under his breath and tried to break out, but before he could make a move, the formation's deadly attacks, controlled by Liu Yunian, came at him from all directions.
Wei Hai struggled to fend them off, but he knew that such formations had time limits. The more powerful the formation, the faster it consumed energy. As long as he could hold out without being killed, he would have a chance to escape!
However, just as he was struggling against the formation's attacks, Lin Xiao entered the formation with his sword, launching another assault!
Already on the verge of exhaustion from defending against the formation's onslaught, Wei Hai found himself overwhelmed when Lin Xiao joined the fray. He quickly began to lose ground.
Finally, after being pierced through by one of the formation's attacks that struck his Nascent Soul, Wei Hai collapsed, hanging limply from one of the formation's spiked pillars, barely clinging to life.
Lin Xiao walked through the air to stand before him, raising the peach wood sword in his hand.
As he looked at the young man before him, Wei Hai felt a deep sense of bitterness. He couldn't understand why, after centuries of invincibility, after just recently taking over a well-established sect in the mortal world and becoming its leader, he had met his downfall here at a new sect no one had ever heard of.
Reflecting on his many years of cultivation, rising from a mere mortal to a Nascent Soul cultivator feared and revered by mortals, Wei Hai was filled with regret. If only he had been more cautious...