As a beam of light enveloped him, Ji Yuan felt a dizzying sensation, and everything before his eyes was instantly subverted.
This was not merely a visual disturbance, but a complete upheaval of all his senses, his divine sense, and his spiritual awareness, shattering all his perceptions.
He was like a small boat on a stormy sea, on the verge of being submerged at any moment.
"Still!"
In an instant, Ji Yuan let out a sharp cry, and intense light flashed from his brow.
The divine sense in his Sea of Consciousness surged forth, transforming into runes that reinforced his physique and soul.
The Myriad Source Divine Revelation True Method was fully activated, his soul bathed in ten thousand feet of radiance, exuding an imposing majesty like a deity.
All anomalies vanished, the inverted world righted itself, and the disrupted senses ceased their influence.
Ji Yuan cast his gaze forward again, settling upon the stone mirror, and a tremor of unease stirred within him.
Though it had only been a fleeting moment, he had truly felt his soul on the brink of being torn apart by the subversion.
If he had not cultivated a soul-refining secret method, he would have had no means of resistance against the beam of light emitted by the stone mirror.
That power, which even the Xuan Tian Devouring Spirit Pagoda could not withstand, had easily penetrated the layers of clear light and directly impacted his soul.
"Impossible!"
The elder, who was about to employ other means, immediately exclaimed in astonishment.
Disbelief flickered in his eyes. With the stone mirror before him, he had never failed before.
Every opponent struck by the mirror's light had their soul torn apart, rendering them utterly defenseless before him, ultimately to be annihilated by various methods!
Yet, the young Daoist before him had effortlessly broken free from the stone mirror's influence, his soul completely unharmed.
"My turn!"
Ji Yuan's eyes flashed with a sharp light as he roared.
A white jade flying sword pierced through the air, its small body erupting with boundless sword energy, which then transformed into something akin to a dragon.
The sword's hum was like a dragon's roar, and the dragon of sword energy streaked across the sky. The void before it seemed to solidify, rendering the elder's attempts to shake his magical power futile, unable to escape or evade.
"The heavens and earth hold profound laws..."
He murmured to himself, a surge of sword intent rising within his body.
In the blink of an eye, it was as if a celestial curtain descended, and profound Daoist rhymes permeated the air, completely sealing off the surrounding void for three to four miles.
Within the dragon of sword energy, a similar sword intent erupted. Wherever it passed, several magical artifacts immediately shattered, their fragments falling amidst bursts of explosions.
The elder spat blood, his breath incredibly chaotic, as if his cultivation realm had nearly plummeted.
Under his terrified gaze, the dragon of sword energy surged forward, and the celestial curtain from above descended directly, causing his body to emit sounds of unbearable strain.
It was as if in the next moment, he would be crushed by the celestial curtain, his very being completely erased!
Witnessing this, Ji Yuan's gaze flickered, and a thought suddenly arose in his mind.
The celestial curtain, about to press down completely, dispersed. The radiant sword intent abruptly retracted, leaving only the dragon of sword energy to soar forward. It coiled around the mystical stone mirror and then violently slammed into the elder.
With a single thought, the power of the flying sword and sword energy was significantly restrained, and deliberately made to appear as if it was struggling.
Seeing this, the elder's eyes lit up with joy. He quickly employed several techniques, even bringing out two to three more defensive magical artifacts to protect his body.
RUMBLE!!!
In an instant, a fierce gale swept out in all directions, and terrifying fluctuations erupted in the air.
Endless sword energy rained down from high above, destroying entire pavilions and forests. A mountain peak and the surrounding land seemed to have been plowed over.
A beam of sword light pierced the sky. Ji Yuan, embodying the sword himself, merged with his natal flying sword and instantly shot into the high heavens.
As the light dissipated, his figure reappeared, standing high in the sky, looking down.
"Heaven and earth... sealed!"
He chanted, simultaneously pointing a finger at the white jade flying sword before him.
In the blink of an eye, the flying sword differentiated into over a hundred illusory shadows, descending like a torrential rain from high above.
In just a dozen breaths, the more than a hundred illusory flying sword shadows had appeared in various parts of this realm. Then, the radiant sword intent echoed each other, enveloping an area of several miles.
Having accomplished this, Ji Yuan then retrieved his natal flying sword back to the Vermilion Palace between his brows and transformed into a stream of light, landing beside Xue Yang and the others.
He took out a flying artifact and, carrying everyone, flew at full speed towards the distance. In a short time, they had traversed over ten miles. With the aid of a secret technique, the group's aura was hidden within the void, making them difficult for cultivators to detect.
It was not until half an hour after they had left that a deafening roar echoed from high in the sky, and the over a hundred illusory flying sword shadows shattered one after another, their contained powerful sword intent dissipating completely.
"Audacious!"
The elder stood high in the sky, his gaze sweeping across the four directions before letting out an angry roar, "This old man will not rest until one of us is dead!"
However, before his voice could even fall, he let out a violent cough, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
His aura was extremely weak, and the magical power within his body churned violently, showing signs of his cultivation realm falling.
Seeing this, the elder hastily transformed into a streak of light and returned to his quiet room in the main peak, immediately activating layers of formations.
Though rage burned within him, he had no choice but to temporarily suppress it. If he did not attend to his injuries promptly, the cultivation realm he had painstakingly honed for decades could be lost in an instant.
Several hours later, outside a remote small town, Ji Yuan descended in his flying artifact, stopping on a small hilltop.
He waved his hand and sent out a beam of sword light, which merged into the void and flew towards the distant small town.
Not long after, Zhao Yuansong and the others emerged from the town and arrived before the group.
"Junior Brother Song! Junior Brother Qian!"
Xue Yang exclaimed joyfully.
The disciples beside him also breathed a sigh of relief, their eyes filled with joy, clearly having a deep connection with the two.
However, upon seeing that there were only three of them, the light in the eyes of the inner disciples of the Nine Profound Sect dimmed, and they had already formed some guesses.
"The other junior brothers..."
Xue Yang's smile faded, and his expression turned grim.
"They couldn't make it. To ensure the safety of others, they stayed behind to cover our retreat..."
Song Changsheng's expression darkened, his eyes reddening.
Their journey had been arduous. Just as they escaped a predicament of several years from a cave dwelling, they encountered a sect that was excavating the area.
This was followed by months of pursuit. Even though they were all inner disciples of the Nine Profound Sect, they found it unbearable. Fellow disciples were continuously falling, or staying behind to cover their retreat for the sake of others.
"Which sect dares to attack the disciples of the Nine Profound Sect like this!"
Xue Yang gritted his teeth.