A Name Shakes a Region — The Supreme Mystic Eight Trigrams Diagram

Chapter 742: A Name Shakes a Region — The Supreme Mystic Eight Trigrams Diagram

The bald, thick-browed man and his companions showed no particular worry. They knew that since the surnamed Ma cultivator had taken out that painting scroll to use against the enemy, it could not be an empty gesture—it would have some effect.

Sure enough, at the heart of the sea of flame, the old man surnamed Ma formed hand seals. The scroll before him levelled horizontally, its surface facing upward. White light flashed, and a great wind roared. A blinding white cyclone rose from the Eight Trigrams Diagram, shooting into the sky before expanding outward for over ten zhang in every direction.

The surrounding flames were swept into the wind column with the force of a breaking tide. In the blink of an eye, nearly half the vast sea of fire had vanished.

Then, with a thunderous roar from Ma, a silver rainbow shot out from the wind column, streaking straight toward Ku Yao on the opposite side. He paid no heed to the fire serpent above his own head.

It seemed Ma understood clearly: if he could injure Ku Yao, the fire serpent, which was spiritually linked to its master, would naturally lose much of its power.

Ku Yao’s expression was blank. A muscle twitched at the corner of his mouth, and then he raised a single hand.

A red flying blade shot out from his palm, transforming into a streak of crimson light to meet the silver rainbow.

The blade was crystalline and vivid red, its radiance blinding. In an instant, it intercepted the silver rainbow, and the two clashed in midair, tangling and tearing at each other. Red light and silver radiance interwove, indistinguishable for the moment—neither side could gain the upper hand quickly.

Seeing this, a cold light flickered in Ku Yao’s eyes. He flipped both hands. Light shimmered in his palms, and two crimson banners, each only a cun long, appeared.

He tossed the banners into the air. With a crackling sound, they swelled with the wind, growing to over a zhang in height.

A low, cryptic chant emerged from Ku Yao’s mouth. The banners blazed with red light, and from their surfaces shot two thick pillars of flame, converging directly above the fire serpent’s head.

A massive patch of fire cloud began to take shape, flickering in and out of visibility.

“Go!”

Ku Yao’s chant stopped. He opened his mouth and spat out a mass of crimson vital energy, spraying it directly onto the fire serpent above him.

The fire serpent’s spirit soared. It shook its head and lashed its tail, letting out a long, dragon-like cry, then plunged headfirst into the fire cloud.

The roiling fire cloud churned and tumbled, rapidly shrinking.

Below, Han Li, watching from the sidelines, narrowed his eyes. A blue light flickered deep within his pupils.

Through the power of his Bright Essence Spirit Pupils, he discovered with surprise that the fire serpent was hiding within the cloud, gulping down the surrounding fire clouds in great mouthfuls.

In the blink of an eye, the fire cloud was devoured clean. The serpent’s form swelled dramatically, inflating like a bladder until it reached over ten zhang in length. Its head alone was as large as a house, fangs bared, ferocious and terrifying.

By this time, the white cyclone and the surrounding sea of fire had also vanished without a trace, revealing the old man with his immortal-like bearing.

Ma held the Eight Trigrams Diagram in both hands and cast a cold glance at the terrifyingly massive fire serpent. Without another word, he tossed the scroll upward.

The object transformed into a streak of rosy light, shooting high into the sky. In the blink of an eye, it plunged into the clouds and vanished, as if flying beyond the heavens themselves.

Ku Yao was taken aback.

But in that split second of hesitation, an unusual fluctuation of spiritual power appeared above his head. Strands of five-colored spiritual light descended from the heavens. Then, an enormous Eight Trigrams Diagram suddenly materialized in the rosy light, covering a radius of several dozen zhang. It descended without ceremony.

Ku Yao’s expression shifted dramatically. Without time to think, he pointed at the fire serpent above his head.

The giant serpent immediately raised its thick neck, and a pillar of crimson light erupted from its gaping maw, striking the base of the trigram diagram.

The massive array hesitated briefly, then continued its descent as if nothing had happened.

Ku Yao’s face turned pale. He rubbed his hands together, then abruptly flung them upward. Countless fireballs, each the size of a fist, poured out from his palms, densely packed, shooting toward the sky.

Seeing this, Han Li’s heart stirred.

These were not fireball spells triggered by talismans. This was a simultaneous burst of fireballs cast purely through his own cultivation. It seemed the Dharma Warriors’ spiritual arts were indeed extraordinary—far more suited to practical combat than ordinary Five Elements Daoist techniques.

As Han Li pondered this, the countless fireballs struck the base of the enormous array like shooting stars. But it was utterly useless. The massive Eight Trigrams Diagram did not even tremble. Instead, it descended with even greater speed, like a small city, trapping the caught-off-guard Ku Yao and his fire serpent beneath it.

Now, all the observing cultivators and Dharma Warriors could see was a giant array spinning slowly in the sky. They could no longer observe Ku Yao’s movements at all.

The surnamed Ma did not look pleased by his apparent success. Instead, his expression darkened. He sat cross-legged, forming hand seals. The soft white light around his body flowed like liquid glass, blazing with radiance.

At the same time, the giant array responded. Rosy light surged, and from within came the sound of explosions and thunder.

The Eight Trigrams Diagram began to flicker, dimming then brightening, its spiritual light wavering.

“Sir Tianku, is Superior Ku alright in there?” the gaunt Dharma Warrior asked, a trace of worry on his face as he turned to the black-robed figure beside him. “If there is danger, we need not adhere to this one-on-one rule. We could swarm in and rescue Superior Ku. None of us expected an infant-stage cultivator to have such a strange ancient treasure.”

“Heh. No need to worry. This ‘Supreme Mystic Eight Trigrams Diagram,’ forged by ancient cultivators, is indeed a fearsome ancient treasure. But the cultivator using it has not truly grasped its method of use. He is merely relying on the diagram’s powerful spiritual energy to forcibly trap the enemy. At this rate, he cannot hold Fellow Daoist Ku for long. This brute-force method of driving the array consumes a great deal of mana. This man is truly foolish. But it is not surprising. In such a remote place, how many people would know the true way to use such a rare ancient treasure?” The black-robed man let out a low, strange laugh and spoke vaguely, his tone dripping with contempt for the Heavenly South cultivators.

Hearing this, the gaunt Dharma Warrior relaxed. He temporarily abandoned his plan to order the Dharma Warriors behind him to charge in.

On the other side, the bald, thick-browed man and his companions wore mixed expressions of joy and worry.

At first, when they saw the Eight Trigrams Diagram trap the opposing Dharma Warrior, they were genuinely excited. But when the strange sounds continued to come from within the array, and Ma sat cross-legged nearby, his expression grave, casting his spells, they realized the battle was not yet over. Their hopes dimmed slightly.

As for Ma himself, he was secretly struggling.

He had only recently acquired this treasure. Before this, he had only used it against Core Formation cultivators. Those men, once trapped within, had no power to resist. He could simply activate some of the array’s restrictions and kill them one by one.

But this Ku Yao, once enveloped by the array, was able to temporarily block the thunder and fire attacks with his own abilities. He was even constantly urging his massive fire serpent to spew flames at the array’s restrictions.

This forced Ma to continuously replenish the array with spiritual energy just to keep it stable.

The battle in the sky fell into a temporary stalemate. Aside from the muffled rumbles coming from the giant array within the rosy light, the entire field fell silent.

The bald, thick-browed man and his companions grew increasingly worried.

Han Li stood alone to one side, his head lifted, his face expressionless as he watched the sky. In his mind, he was conversing with Silvermoon.

“This Fellow Daoist Ma is truly wasting a heavenly gift. Driving the Supreme Mystic Eight Trigrams Diagram like this… You know, this ancient treasure’s power is not inferior to the Purple Cheng Net,” Silvermoon said, clicking her tongue in regret. She seemed to lament that the array was being used so poorly.

“Supreme Mystic Eight Trigrams Diagram? You know of this ancient treasure?” Han Li’s face remained wooden, but he asked via mental voice.

“Of course. This Eight Trigrams Diagram was a fairly famous ancient treasure from the上古 era. But this particular piece seems to be a crude, inferior product. Otherwise, even if its true power could not be fully unleashed, it would be enough to trap him alive. A true high-grade Eight Trigrams Diagram would not consume so much mana,” Silvermoon replied quickly.

“A crude, inferior product, and still so fearsome… I wonder what a real high-grade array would be like. But you said the Purple Cheng Net is not inferior to this treasure. Does that ancient treasure also have some special activation technique?” Han Li hesitated and pressed further.

“The Purple Cheng Net is not so troublesome. It can be used simply by infusing it with spiritual energy. And its restriction, the Jade Yang True Fire, can be mastered after some practice,” Silvermoon replied with a light laugh.

Han Li fell silent. He said nothing more, his gaze flickering a few times before returning to the sky.

But after only two glances, his brow furrowed. He silently uttered, “Not good.”

A deafening explosion erupted from within the array.

The Eight Trigrams Diagram in the sky suddenly twisted and shook violently. Then, countless pillars of crimson light shot out in all directions. In an instant, the entire array was riddled with holes, tattered and torn.

As the onlookers watched in shock, another rumbling explosion came from one corner of the array.

A ball of flame shot out from within, darting over ten zhang into the air before the fire vanished, revealing Ku Yao, his face flushed red as blood. The fire serpent beneath his feet had somehow shrunk back to its original zhang-long size and looked utterly listless.

On the other side, Ma fared little better. His face was ashen, his eyes dull and lifeless.

But Ma gritted his teeth. He raised a hand to beckon the now-ruined array. The tattered Eight Trigrams Diagram flashed with rosy light and shot into the sky.

A moment later, the array reverted to a scroll and fell back into his hand.