In the alley, through the torrential rain, Lin Huang stared at the gaunt young man in black robes ahead of him, as well as that Moyu Spear radiating a sense of danger.
"So this is where your strength lies," Lin Huang thought to himself. "You can merge the power of the Evil Rain Array into the Moyu Spear, and then generate the powerful killing intent of the Turbine Gathering Array around it, thereby unleashing such immense might."
Lin Huang was secretly shocked. An Array was an Array, and a Martial Soul was a Martial Soul. Merging the aura of a Martial Soul and an Array was not simple; in fact, it was extremely difficult. No wonder Hann Ming of the Moyu Spear could make a name for himself across the Four Great Sects while only being at the Human Element Ninth Heaven.
"I have no choice but to unleash all three moves at once," Lin Huang sighed inwardly. He had originally intended to use this against Crown Prince Lingyun, but it seemed he now had to use it on Hann Ming. With this in mind, he hesitated no longer. He had to strike first. Otherwise, once the turbine surrounding the Moyu Spear reached Great Success, he would undoubtedly lose.
"Slaying Kunlun!" Lin Huang murmured. His figure paused for a fraction of a second before a majestic and heavy aura suddenly surged from his blade as he slashed at the Moyu Spear.
CLANG!
A powerful rebound force rippled outward, numbing the webs of both their hands. The blade in Lin Huang’s grip snapped right down the middle.
"Three Thousand Miles!" Before Hann Ming could speak, Lin Huang’s figure flipped eerily in the midair. Borrowing the rebound force, he shot toward Hann Ming at an extreme speed. With a flash of brilliant light on the broken edge of his blade, he closed in on his opponent.
"Childish!" Hann Ming coldly rebuked, his expression shifting slightly. His left hand rapidly spun the pitch-black umbrella. The rainwater splashing off the spinning fabric transformed into rotating blades, forming a solid and sharp curtain of rain that enveloped him. At the same time, he thrust the Moyu Spear at Lin Huang.
"Shooting the Celestial Wolf!" Lin Huang spat out the words like arrows. The broken blade in his hand whirled, and a speck of cold light flashed at the tip before violently exploding. A tyrannical killing intent, sharp as an arrow, instantly pierced through the rain curtain surrounding Hann Ming.
Hann Ming’s expression changed drastically. He retreated rapidly, but only heard a sharp SLASH!
In the torrential rain, the pitch-black umbrella floated leisurely through the air before being violently torn apart, split perfectly in two.
"Hann Ming of the Moyu Spear, you are nothing more than this!" Lin Huang withdrew his blade and stood quietly in the heavy rain, speaking with cold detachment.
"You... you actually broke my array," Hann Ming said, somewhat dazed as he stared at the tattered umbrella drifting in the air. "You actually knew that the Array Hub of the Evil Rain Array was hidden in the umbrella."
"This is impossible!" Hann Ming declared decisively, a surge of anger appearing on his effeminate face. Since his debut, he had fought thirty-eight battles. Relying on his status as an Array Master and his Moyu Spear, he had never tasted defeat. He was invincible among those of the same realm, and had even killed Martial Artists in the Earth Element Realm. No one had ever broken his array either. Yet today, he had actually stumbled before a kid at the Eighth Heaven.
In the alley, the heavy rain continued to fall with a rustling sound, but the majestic killing intent from earlier was gone, as was the dangerous aura of the circulating array.
"Are you the only one allowed to be an Array Master? Detonate!" Lin Huang smiled chillingly, the words slipping lightly past his thin lips.
As his voice fell, the left sleeve of Hann Ming’s robe suddenly burst apart. Blood-dripping wounds appeared along his arm, and a faint, lingering trace of an Array Seal’s aura permeated the air. Staring at his bare arm, Hann Ming was momentarily stunned before a suppressed rage violently exploded in his heart. He, a dignified First-Level Array Master, had actually been humiliated by a brat who only knew how to condense Array Seals! He wasn’t heavily injured—only his sleeve was gone—but to him, this was an extreme humiliation.
"For daring to humiliate an Array Master, you will die a miserable death!" Hann Ming narrowed his sharp eyes. His eyebrows trembled like icy blades, and the words spitting from his thin lips were brimming with killing intent as a powerful, sinisterly cold aura rippled outward. The Moyu Spear in his hand vibrated once more, the color of its tip gradually turning blood-red!
Lin Huang frowned, a sense of extreme danger surging into his heart. Staring at the blood aura diffusing from the edge of the Moyu Spear, he could only feel waves of chilling, murderous intent quietly spreading...
"Enough!"
At that moment, a cold, clear reprimand suddenly echoed from outside the alley, reverberating like a melodious voice in a deep valley. Following that, a longsword overflowing with frost plunged from the sky. It pierced straight into the ground between Lin Huang and Hann Ming.
Lin Huang turned his head, only to see Shen Diexin at the far end of the alley behind him. Dressed in a snow-white gauze dress and holding a floral umbrella, her dainty bare feet tapped lightly against the accumulated rainwater as she slowly approached.
"Elder Diexin!" Lin Huang let out a long breath, a smile lifting the corners of his mouth. He had only just broken Hann Ming’s array, and he had exhausted all his trump cards to do so. If the battle had truly continued... he definitely wouldn’t have been a match for the Moyu Spear! Unless he used the Godslaying One Slash, the best possible outcome would be his death and Hann Ming’s severe injury, or fleeing with heavy injuries himself.
"This junior, Hann Ming, greets Elder Shen!" Gazing at the woman who resembled a clear lotus in the rain, leisurely skimming over the water, the anger on Hann Ming’s face gradually faded. He gave a slightly effeminate smile and discreetly backed up a few steps.
"Go back and tell Hann Qixiu: if he wants the Thousand Spirits Sword Formation, let him come find me, Shen Diexin, if he has the capability!" Shen Diexin said coldly, slowly walking to Lin Huang’s side. "Just now... you did very well. You knew to sever his umbrella to break the array. However, it was a bit too unorthodox and risky. If the Array Hub hadn’t been in the umbrella, Hann Ming’s Moyu Spear would have skewered you right through."
Shen Diexin had appeared long ago, during the battle between the two. The reason she hadn’t intervened was to observe Lin Huang’s strength. The result was very impressive! He had rich combat experience, dared to put his life on the line, and knew how to use his brain—quite like that little girl.
Looking at Shen Diexin’s softened gaze, Lin Huang grinned. "If Elder Shen could give me a few pointers on arrays, I might have a chance of beating him to the ground."
Shen Diexin’s face turned cold, and Lin Huang instantly shut his mouth.
"Elder Shen, would you care to give this junior a few pointers as well?" Not far away, Hann Ming wore a faint smile as he spoke eerily. "I heard that Elder Shen is a Third-Level Array Master capable of controlling ninety-eight Array Seals. You must be quite powerful. I wonder if you could open this junior’s eyes today?"
"When your master, Hann Qixiu, arrives, I’ll open both your eyes together," Shen Diexin said flatly, leading Lin Huang to leave the alley.
Hann Ming’s master, Hann Qixiu, was precisely the chief Array Master of the Celestial Thunder Sect. He could control one hundred and twenty Array Seals single-handedly and was only one step away from becoming a Fourth-Level Array Master.
In the alleyway where the heavy rain continued to rustle down, Lin Huang and Shen Diexin hadn’t even taken ten steps before they heard Hann Ming let out an eccentric laugh from behind, shouting loudly: "Master, Elder Shen says she wants to open our eyes!"
In an instant, Shen Diexin’s expression changed drastically. Shielding Lin Huang behind her with one hand, she brandished the Ice and Snow Sword, instantly repelling the surrounding rainwater. Her pair of cold, clear eyes, much like the sword in her hand, exuded a piercing chill as she stared fixedly ahead.
Behind Shen Diexin, Lin Huang’s expression shook. He suddenly felt an extremely dangerous aura permeating their surroundings—it was a hundred times more terrifying than Hann Ming’s Moyu Spear!
"An array!" Sensing the aura around them, Lin Huang’s gaze abruptly sharpened. That dangerous presence seemed to be everywhere. It enveloped Lin Huang and Shen Diexin like the torrential rain itself, watching them with the predatory glare of a Fierce Beast.
"Protect yourself. There are two Third-Level Arrays around us. If I’m not mistaken, there should be two Third-Level Array Masters!" Shen Diexin whispered in Lin Huang’s ear. Her slender, snow-white fingers plucked at the air, and more than ninety Array Seals simultaneously began to circulate and condense.
"Elder Diexin, this old man has come to open your eyes!"
From a corner of the alley, a sinister voice suddenly rang out. It sounded like a ghost, exceptionally piercing to the ear. Lin Huang looked up, only to see a pitch-black figure approaching with a walking stick. His stature was short and somewhat stooped, his aged face crisscrossed with deep wrinkles as he gave off waves of sinister, cold smiles. That pair of gloomy eyes scanned up and down Shen Diexin’s body with brazen disregard.
"Hann Qixiu, to think you stayed on Tianlei Mountain for nearly ten years, only to descend the mountain for a copy of the Thousand Spirits Sword Formation," Shen Diexin said coldly. Her Ice and Snow Sword radiated waves of bone-piercing chill.
"Elder Diexin thinks too poorly of this old man. Once I descend the mountain, how could I only handle one matter?" Hann Qixiu’s face was plastered with a disgusting smile. "I came here precisely for you, Elder Diexin."
"Don’t you know that on rainy days, the power of my arrays increases by thirty percent? Even if you’ve touched the edge of becoming a Fourth-Level Array Master, you might not necessarily be my match!" Shen Diexin spoke coldly, yet her body tensed up. Today’s events were a trap—a conspiracy aimed at her. Using Hann Ming as a trigger and Lin Huang as bait, they were inviting her right into their snare.
"When this old man makes a move, I have never miscalculated. How could I have not thought of that point?" Hann Qixiu chuckled chillingly before his aged voice rang out in the empty air. "Elder Qii Yan, why don’t you come out and send our old friend off!"
The alley fell silent for a long moment...
Then, a tall, burly figure arrived with a booming stride, carrying wild, arrogant laughter. A scorching aura unfurled in his wake, crashing against Lin Huang like a heatwave.
Fengyu Tower, Qii Yan.