Daoist Competition-Chapter 962 - 221: Spiritual Truth Holds the Line

On an unnamed desolate island outside the Qingyu Sect, over two hundred thousand demon soldiers were arrayed in formation, divided into six array gates. Under each array gate stood a person on a Dharma platform, holding a command flag. With the waving and pointing of the banners, the formation shifted and rotated accordingly.

Zhang Yan had previously slain all the demon generals except for Lu Changsu, and then killed over a hundred demon soldiers who did not obey orders. The remaining ones dared not make any further moves.

These demon soldiers had also been selected from the Water Clan in Bijiao Prefecture, so they were not unfamiliar with how to arrange a formation. After more than thirty days of training, the "Six Reversal Earth Coffin Formation" started to take shape.

Lu Changsu, holding the array flag, stood on the sea boat, feeling immensely proud of himself.

Now he increasingly felt that his decisive turn to Zhang Yan was an incredibly correct decision.

Since this formation had nothing too mysterious about it, Zhang Yan, while arranging it, needed to gather spirit veins from mountains and rivers, leaving him temporarily unable to stay. Thus, he drew a copy of the array diagram and entrusted all these demon soldiers to Lu Changsu, ordering him to train them earnestly after his departure.

Lu Changsu, having received this order, felt a bit of secret joy in his heart.

Commanding over two hundred thousand demon soldiers, wielding the power of life and death, all subordinates of the demon race followed his command flag without question. In the past at Bijiao Prefecture, this was unthinkable.

Even if he made progress in his cultivation, he would only become an idle elder with no military power, nowhere near his current prestige.

Therefore, over the past month, he practiced the formation day and night, with all his heart and effort.

However, feeding these two hundred thousand demon soldiers daily required a significant amount of meat. Successful cultivators could swallow pills and feed on qi, something these demon soldiers could not do.

This is why, despite the incredible power of some tens of thousands of strong formations, they were rarely used because supporting tens or even hundreds of thousands of formation soldiers was no easy task.

Fortunately, he and Wang Yingfang had previously almost emptied the entire treasury of Bijiao Prefecture, gaining enough fresh food to feed these demon soldiers for more than ten years, otherwise, many would have starved to death before the training even began.

At this time, as he waved the command flag and noticed a squad of demon soldiers moving sluggishly, he became furious and was about to reprimand them, when suddenly a bright and auspicious light flew in from the sky. Recognizing it as Zhang Yan’s tunneling light, he shivered all over, hurriedly left his seat to kneel, and respectfully kowtowed, saying, "This lowly one greets the lord."

The tunneling light descended and gradually transformed into a dispersing clear qi, from which Zhang Yan stepped out. He glanced downward at Lu Changsu, who was kneeling, and nodded, saying, "I was just observing from the clouds. The great array advances and retreats in an orderly fashion, commands are followed and prohibited well. Although there are still some minor shortcomings, it has only been a month, and it’s clear you’ve put your heart into this."

Receiving praise from Zhang Yan, Lu Changsu couldn’t help but feel overjoyed, his body felt lighter, and he chuckled, "Lord, although the great array has taken shape, it has not been tested in battle, so I can’t say how effective it truly is. It still needs someone to test it."

Zhang Yan smiled and said, "I have already made preparations for this matter."

After speaking, he raised his hand and drew a flowing light of water in front of him, exerted his mysterious skill, and extracted the unconscious Lu Yuanxing from within, then with a motion, he tossed him out.

The formation, newly established, still had many immature aspects. Thus, the person testing the formation should not be too strong, nor too weak, otherwise, the flaws and shortcomings wouldn’t be apparent. Lu Yuanxing, originally a Nascent Soul cultivator, was severely injured now, having been trapped in True Light for days, which though not fatal, had greatly damaged his primordial qi, making him perfect for testing the formation.

After a short while, Lu Yuanxing slowly regained consciousness. His expression shifted from bewilderment to clarity. After taking in his surroundings, he sat up halfway from the ground and said solemnly, "Zhang Yan, if you aren’t going to kill me, what do you intend to do?"

Zhang Yan took a step forward and pointed downward, "Pavilion Master, do you see this great array beneath me? Now that it’s been properly practiced, I’d like to invite you to honor me by testing it."

Lu Yuanxing burst into laughter, "Why would I help you? Kill me if you wish. If you think I’ll grovel like that boy beside you, you’re dreaming!"

Lu Changsu snorted upon hearing those words.

Zhang Yan chuckled, "Why be so quick to refuse, Lord Lu? Let me make a deal with you. If you can charge through and reach the Dharma platform beneath me three times, you may decide to leave, and I’ll ensure the Qingyu Sect won’t trouble you."

Lu Yuanxing couldn’t help but tremble; he hesitated for a moment, glanced at the array below the platform, slowly stood up from the ground, and with a fixed gaze on Zhang Yan, said, "Do you truly mean what you say?"