Totem

Mountain wind mixed with the foul stench of decaying earth rushed toward them. Shen Yi pressed his knuckle against the raised serpent-bone patterns on the jade box.

A spiderweb of purple light tore across the firmament, and when Night Shadow's heavy profound-iron halberd pierced through the clouds, he clearly heard Ming Xin gulp in fear.

"The grand defensive formation of the Cangling Mountains is nothing more than this." Night Shadow's bronze mask reflected the moonlight as thirty thousand demon soldiers unfurled wings that blotted out the sky behind him.

Shen Yi suddenly thought of the glowing mushrooms planted beside the herb field. When those bluish spores burst, they had similarly dyed the entire night sky with an eerie fluorescent glow.

The stardust of the defensive formation began to fall in a rustling cascade. Elder Xuanfeng's crane-feather cloak whipped wildly against the howling pressure waves.

Hao Yu suddenly shoved half a piece of candied spirit fruit into Shen Yi's palm: "To feed the formation, sharing some sweetness with you." The sticky honey glaze adhered to the lines of his palm, and it actually caused the nearly shattering formation core to emit a warm, yellowish halo.

"Anyone who retreats dies!" Shen Yi flicked his sleeve, shattering the demonic flames lunging toward the apothecary. Splattering stardust burned bloody gashes into the side of his neck.

Ming Xin was trembling behind the soul-nurturing wood, clutching a formation flag that had been twisted into a wrinkled mess in his embrace.

Gao Yao's snow-lotus hairpin suddenly emitted a clear, ringing sound. The young woman's blood-stained fingertip pressed against Shen Yi's back: "Southeast, Xun position, seven steps."

As they crashed into the surging demonic qi, Shen Yi smelled the cold fragrance of the ice-soul snow lotus in Gao Yao's hair mixed with the scent of rust.

Night Shadow's heavy halberd brushed past his ear, shearing off three ridges of spiritual soil planted with star-fall sand.

The system's light screen flickered wildly in the bloody mist, and he watched as the green areas representing the spiritual fields were being devoured by scarlet markers.

"We cannot hold out." Elder Xuanfeng's horsetail whisk coiled around three bone-dissolving demon vultures, the snow-white whisk-tail instantly dyed the color of ink. "Lad Shen, that box of yours..."

The serpent bone inside the jade box suddenly emitted a shrill cry like a baby weeping, and drops of blood seeping from its cracks condensed into tiny runes.

Shen Yi remembered the "wrath of the Heavenly Dao" warned by the system when he planted the dragon-blood vine. At this moment, the scalding residue of the spirit fruit in his palm felt like some kind of revelation—when he had caught Ming Xin secretly stuffing a protective talisman into the formation core, that kid had shivered and said, "My mother says jujube wood wards off evil..."

"Hao Yu!" Shen Yi backhanded the remaining half of the candied spirit fruit into a crack in the formation disc, "Take your sweetness to the Kun position!" The moment the honey glaze seeped into the formation patterns, the ley lines of the entire Cangling Mountains roared like a gluttonous beast swallowing.

The demon soldiers about to pounce upon the herb field suddenly sank into the churning spiritual soil, and the roots of the spirit-devouring grass planted by Shen Yi were frantically sucking in the demonic qi to grow.

Night Shadow's mask cracked, revealing half a face crawling with incantations: "Interesting." The arc of light swept from his halberd split the night sky, and Shen Yi watched with his own eyes as twelve nearly matured nine-turn golden lotuses turned to dust in the pressure wave.

A certain item in the system warehouse suddenly began to grow hot; it was the severed piece of phoenix wood left over from a failed planting attempt last time.

Gao Yao suddenly grabbed his wrist, the black scales on her palm pressing into his flesh: "Look at the stardust!" The stardust that had been falling condensed into hundreds of miniature formation diagrams in the air, resembling precisely the new crop-rotation formation he had experimented with last month.

The pungency of spirit-rice wine rose in Shen Yi's throat—the tears choked out when Hao Yu had secretly drunk the aged brew he buried along the field ridges.

When Night Shadow's third wave of attacks shattered the grand guardian formation, Shen Yi touched the newly emerged raised patterns on the inside of the jade box—an ancient totem resonating with the system's light screen was awakening.

He gazed at the stardust formation diagram painstakingly reorganizing itself within the demonic qi, suddenly feeling a deep longing for the pot of moon-grass on his dwelling's windowsill that always liked to play dead.

The soles of Shen Yi's boots crushed two grains of stardust, and the system light screen suddenly popped up a red warning box.

A familiar burning sensation came from his dantian—the spiritual power injury left behind from failing to plant the nine-turn golden lotuses.

He licked the honey-stained web of his thumb, then flicked three jujube pits toward the cluster of spirit-devouring grass that was devouring the demon soldiers.

"Lend me a spark!" Hao Yu threw a flint lighter with tacit understanding.

The seeds soaked in the spirit-fruit honey ignited upon contact with the fire, bursting into dozens of golden Eight Trigrams formation diagrams in mid-air.

The incantations on Night Shadow's mask suddenly distorted, and Shen Yi clearly saw that within the reflections of those formation diagrams, the phoenix wood in the system warehouse was glowing.

Elder Xuanfeng's horsetail whisk swept up a sky full of stardust: "Disciples of the Xun position, form the Tiangang Formation!" The old man's voice carried an agitation unseen in twenty years.

When Shen Yi stepped across the third trench treading on the surging spiritual soil, Ming Xin's stammering exclamation came from behind: "Senior Brother Shen, watch out on the le... left!"

Shen Yi deliberately left an opening, and the instant a demon general's bone saber was about to cleave his shoulder, he shook half a piece of phoenix wood from his sleeve.

Crimson flames surged upward along the countercurrent of demonic qi, burning the three bone-dissolving demon vultures into smoking charcoal.

The system prompt tone exploded in his sea of consciousness: "Warning! Forcibly activating the item will trigger spiritual power backlash!"

"Backlash your grandfather!" Shen Yi whirled to dodge the profound-iron heavy halberd thrown by Night Shadow, his boot heels heavily crushing two spirit-devouring grasses that were absorbing demonic qi.

Purple juice splashed onto the cracks of the formation disc, briefly bonding the crumbling formation patterns.

Taking advantage of the opening, he slammed the jade box onto the formation core, and the piercing shriek emitted by the serpent bone within formed a marvelous resonance with the hum of the system's light screen.

Gao Yao's snow-lotus hairpin suddenly emitted the sound of cracking ice.

The young woman staggered as she leaned against the soul-nurturing wood, her blood-stained gown fluttering in the demonic qi like a butterfly.

Shen Yi caught sight of the small cloth pouch hanging at her waist—it was a storage pouch he had woven from moon-grass last month, and at this moment it was exuding a pale blue fluorescence.

"Catch this, Yao'er!" Shen Yi flung three grains of star-fall sand, the ores tracing arcane trajectories through the air.

Gao Yao knowingly pressed them onto the tottering formation flag, and the cold fragrance of the ice-soul snow lotus intertwined with the smoke of burning stardust into a net, forcibly blocking the demon soldiers lunging toward the apothecary five steps away.

Night Shadow's heavy halberd suddenly shifted direction, and Shen Yi heard the deafening roar of earth and stone fracturing behind him.

Twelve chains condensed from demonic qi pierced into the spiritual field, and the spirit-devouring grasses currently absorbing demonic qi suddenly began to twitch frantically.

On the system map, the green blocks representing the spiritual fields began to break out in black spots, and Shen Yi's temples throbbed violently—those grass roots had already spread beneath the field ridges where the aged spiritual brews were buried.

"Hao Yu!" Shen Yi threw out the immortal-binding rope entwined with fragments of phoenix wood, "The third bluestone slab in the southeast corner!" His friend made an understanding gesture amidst the smoke and dust, his honey-stained palm slamming heavily onto the ley line node.

The entire Cangling Mountains suddenly shuddered, and the thunder-bamboo Shen Yi had planted by the cliff simultaneously burst with explosive sound, cracking Night Shadow's bronze mask into a spiderweb of fractures.

Elder Xuanfeng's crane-feather cloak gathered the sky full of stardust: "Qian position shifts to Li, the formation moves with the people!" The immortal sect disciples advanced step by step, treading upon the crop-rotation formation diagram modified by Shen Yi, while Ming Xin had picked up a formation flag at some point, trembling as he used jujube-wood protective talismans to repair the damaged formation patterns.

Amidst the smoke of gunpowder blanketing the battlefield, Shen Yi inhaled the delicate fragrance of the ice-soul snow lotus.

Gao Yao's sword-edge swept past his ear, shearing off three sneaking tentacles of demonic qi.

The young woman's back pressed against his burning right arm, and she could clearly feel the chaotic flow of her spiritual power—just like that rainy night last month when they together cared for that nine-leaf spirit ganoderma charred by lightning.

"Step back three steps." Shen Yi suddenly grasped the wrist of the hand Gao Yao used to hold her sword, leading her to carve out half a crescent moon.

Hidden within the sphere of demonic qi pierced by the blade's edge was a heart-devouring gu worm planted by Night Shadow.

The snow-lotus hairpin at Gao Yao's temple shattered in response, ice crystals condensing into a protective barrier around them both, while Shen Yi's peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the system light screen flashing with the words "Symbiotic Defense Triggered."

Night Shadow suddenly emitted a shriek like a night owl.

The remaining demon soldiers retreated like an ebbing tide, forming a bizarre honeycomb formation across the scorched spiritual field.

Shen Yi's pupils constricted slightly—the trajectory of those demon soldiers' movements was identical to the crop-rotation formation he had experimented with and failed at last month.

Elder Xuanfeng's horsetail whisk wrapped around Shen Yi's wrist: "Lad, look at the northwest corner!" A rare anxiety laced the old man's voice.

Shen Yi wiped the bloodstains from the corner of his eyes, discovering that the ground where Night Shadow's heavy halberd was thrust was seeping the exact same crimson liquid in color as the piece of phoenix wood in the system warehouse.

When the seventh wave of demonic qi impact shattered the protective barrier, Shen Yi's fingertips touched the newly emerged totem on the inside of the jade box.

The system light screen suddenly popped up an unprecedented golden prompt box. Gazing at the incantations looming faintly beneath Night Shadow's mask, he suddenly recalled that ancient taboo symbol he had seen when planting the dragon-blood vine.