Chapter 814: Restriction Banner (II)

Water exploded below as an enormous sphere of water shot up from the ocean. The old man immediately released his hold on the Primordial Chaos Pool and retreated. Forming a hand seal with his left hand, he sent his flying sword streaking through the void toward the shaman's brow.

A translucent skull formed in front of the shaman's brow. The sword struck it with a clear ring and could advance no farther. At that moment, the enormous head of a sea beast burst from the ocean. Its jaws opened wide, ready to swallow the Primordial Chaos Pool whole.

"Wretched beast!" the old man shouted. Brilliant light flared from his restriction banner.

A terrifying force gathered in the void and slammed toward the huge head trying to seize the treasure. The sea clan expert was a bit weaker than the old man and the shaman, but with the ocean on his side, he felt confident he could claim the mysterious treasure if they did not unite. And clearly, they could not. Their verbal alliance had fallen apart in less than two exchanges.

The battle between the three Nascent Soul realm experts was a spectacle, with secret arts and techniques appearing one after another. Hidden inside the Primordial Chaos Pool, Lin Zheyu watched with keen interest.

"Hmm, I underestimated the old man and the shaman. If they work together, the sea clan expert won't have a simple time taking it. Fights between cultivators of other paths are entertaining. They have so many elaborate tricks. Is that dharma treasure in the old man's hand a restriction banner?" Lin Zheyu said with interest.

After nearly half a year in the Formation Hall, he was no longer a novice in the way of formations. He had learned something of how formation cultivators fought. Apart from refining formations into their bodies, which interested Lin Zheyu, most relied on dharma treasures and other objects to hold formations and restrictions for use in battle.

The most common approach was to continually inscribe a coherent set of formation restrictions into one's natal treasure. As the cultivator's cultivation and skill with formations improved, the treasure would grow more powerful as well. Others used dharma treasures such as formation plates, formation talismans, and restriction banners. Restriction banners were somewhat unusual because they were inscribed with restriction runes alone.

Rather than forming a particular formation within the banner, those runes served the banner itself, strengthening it in different ways. Each approach had its advantages and drawbacks, but few cultivators chose to develop a restriction banner.

To keep strengthening one, they needed mastery of many kinds of restriction runes. Ideally, they would reach the level of the master of Forbidden Mountain, for whom a single restriction could rival an entire formation. The difficulty was almost unimaginable. Even the Formation Hall's most gifted formation cultivators did not dare refine a restriction banner as their natal treasure.

As Lin Zheyu watched the three fight, eagerness flashed in his eyes. "That restriction banner is quite powerful! The old man's understanding of formations doesn't seem to match his cultivation level, yet he can draw this much power from it. The banner must be extraordinary."

Of all the treasures and secret arts the three used, the old man's restriction banner interested Lin Zheyu most. He was in no hurry to act, however. He remained comfortably hidden in the Primordial Chaos Pool and continued watching their battle.

Time passed by. The three combatants, each equally skilled and cautious, circled one another as the fight wore on. More than two hours later, they were still pursuing, fighting, and struggling over the pool above the ocean.

"That's enough. If this goes on much longer, it may draw even stronger cultivators," Lin Zheyu said. He sensed the condition of all three, then slowly rose.

He had no intention of stepping out immediately. Instead, he would secretly guide the Primordial Chaos Pool into the old man's hands. That way, he would not have to face three powerful Nascent Soul cultivators at once.

Dragged by three enormous tentacles, the Primordial Chaos Pool crashed into the ocean. A flying sword flashed across the water like lightning, severing the tentacles wrapped around it. Yellow light shot from the old man's restriction banner and enveloped the pool again, exerting a powerful pull.

The shaman teleported to the pool's side. The strange skull in her hand emitted a soft, eerie glow that covered hundreds of meters of space. Within that glow, the yellow light from the banner faltered.

The shaman's expression was stony as she thrust out her left hand to seize the Primordial Chaos Pool. "This treasure is mine!"

But neither the sea clan expert nor the old man would let her have it. Dozens of tentacles and the flying sword struck at the shaman at once. Meanwhile, spirit power surged through the old man's body and poured into his restriction banner without restraint. Its yellow light blazed.

Now! Lin Zheyu willed.

Under his control, the Primordial Chaos Pool trembled slightly. A barely perceptible glimmer passed through the Shamanic Clan inscriptions on its surface, and it broke free of the shaman's restraining power. The old man's restriction banner immediately exerted its full force, drawing the pool into his hand.

"Huh?" The old man froze for an instant, then quickly recovered.

Without hesitation, he crushed a jade talisman in his hand. Mysterious energy burst from it and spread in ripples as he vanished.

The shaman immediately teleported after him. "Leave the treasure!"

The sea clan expert, who had remained hidden in the water and fought with the ocean's power, could no longer hold back either.

"Haha! Treasures go to the worthy, and a supreme treasure with a spirit chooses its own master. Why force the matter, you two? Until we meet again! Hahaha!" The old man's laughter echoed through the void. Its source was impossible to locate, and his presence could not be sensed.

Once he had the treasure, the old man spared no effort, drawing heavily on his nascent soul origin to teleport again and again. With each jump, he crushed a jade talisman. Its mysterious energy spread in ripples that concealed the disturbance his teleportation left behind.

After more than a dozen jumps, the shaman and sea clan expert pursuing him gradually lost his trail. They had to stop and carefully work out which direction he had taken.

Oh? What sort of technique is that? I still know too little about what Nascent Soul-realm experts can do. I need to remedy that, Lin Zheyu thought. It was the first time he had seen a treasure with such a remarkable effect. An opponent might well escape him with it if he were unprepared.

The old man appeared on an unremarkable island, panting for breath. "Huff... Huff..."

His face was pale, and sweat covered his forehead. Teleporting repeatedly had consumed a great deal of his nascent soul origin. He was so spent that he did not even pause to wipe the sweat away.

"I've finally shaken them off. To think Na'en would turn up here. Shamanic arts are strange; she may have a secret art that can find me. I need to recover quickly and return to the family as soon as this incense stick burns down," the old man said grimly.

With a flick of his right hand, he planted the restriction banner in the ground. The Primordial Chaos Pool flew out and landed beside it. He formed hand seals, sending streams of spirit power into the banner. A powerful energy barrier spread from it, enclosing the space within three meters. At the same time, the banner released a strong restriction that held the pool firmly in place.

"So it's a Shamanic Clan dharma treasure. Why would one suddenly appear, and why would the tribulation lightning target it? How strange..." the old man murmured.

He had no time to investigate further. For now, he could only use the banner to seal the peculiar treasure. If it could be placed in a storage treasure, he would have put it away already. Once the barrier was in place and the treasure sealed, he sat down cross-legged, took out three different medicinal pills, and swallowed them whole.

"Huff~."

The old man let out a long breath, cleared his mind, and focused on refining the pills so he could recover as quickly as possible. While he was absorbed in doing so, the Primordial Chaos Pool gave a slight tremor and slipped free of the banner's restriction.

The moment the pool broke free, the old man's eyes snapped open.

This is bad!

Spirit power surged through him. An overwhelming sense of danger drove him to draw on his nascent soul origin and teleport without hesitation.

But just as he slipped into the void, before he could teleport away, he saw a terrifying blade descending toward him.

With a shrill scream, the old man's body fell out of the void in two pieces and hit the ground. "No!"

"His soul still hasn't been destroyed?" Lin Zheyu said, narrowing his eyes with interest. He reached into the void with his right hand. His ornate, scale-covered palm seemed to tear through space, sending ripples across it.

The old man's weakened soul struggled in Lin Zheyu's grasp as he endured the pain and hurriedly begged for mercy. "Senior, spare me!"