PD -Chapter 167 The Nine Dragons Spirit-Trapping Formation

Bang!

I pulled the trigger once again.

This time, with six secret arts imbued into the shot—Wind, Fire, Thunder, Lightning, Demon-Breaking, and Hell-Breaking—the recoil from the Black Jade Revolver was so tremendous that it hurled me several meters backward. I had to hunch forward slightly just to stabilize myself in midair.

It felt as though I hadn’t fired a handgun round at all, but a devastating missile.

The instant the bullet exploded, Liu Xiaopeng recalled the Immortal-Slaying Sword, and Bi’an’s figure vanished back into the shadows.

My heart pounded wildly as I prayed that this shot would kill Lucifer. At the very least, I hoped it would leave him gravely wounded.

Yet when the radiance carried by the bullet finally faded, Lucifer was still there, beating his single remaining wing, almost completely unharmed.

And standing before him was a familiar face.

The sight made me frown instinctively, and a sharp pain stabbed through my heart.

A shot even more powerful than the one that had blasted off Lucifer’s wing had been blocked head-on by a black short spear in her hand.

The Ghost Emperor of the Five Directions truly was stronger than Lucifer.

“Go guard the rift,” the Ghost Emperor said over her shoulder.

Lucifer did not linger. He merely shot me a cold glance before disappearing from sight.

“Come out.”

The Ghost Emperor looked at me briefly before turning toward the darkness off to one side and calling out coldly.

Shentu slowly emerged from the shadows.

“Why… are you with them?”

The Ghost Emperor’s expression remained icy. Although she wore Tang Shanshan’s face, the coldness emanating from her soul was entirely different from Tang Shanshan’s.

She had clearly sensed the remaining third of her primordial spirit. That was why she wasn’t surprised by Shentu’s appearance.

What surprised her was that her own primordial spirit fragment had ended up mixed in with us.

“I intended to retrieve you after finishing a few things,” the Ghost Emperor said, looking at Shentu as she stepped out of the darkness. “I didn’t expect you to come to me instead.”

“Since that’s the case… let’s merge.”

As she spoke, the Ghost Emperor arrogantly extended one hand.

Shentu stared at her for a moment before suddenly laughing.

“So this is what I used to look like?” she said to Liu Xiaopeng and me. “Always wearing that expression like someone owes me five million yuan. Honestly, I’m a little embarrassed.”

“What did you say?”

The Ghost Emperor’s brows furrowed slightly as she fixed Shentu with a frigid stare.

“Who’s merging with you?” Shentu folded her arms and glared at her. “I’m the real Shentu. You’re nothing more than an impulsive fragment of my consciousness.”

As she spoke, Shentu’s expression turned cold as well.

The two confronted each other directly.

Their auras collided head-on, neither yielding to the other.

The Ghost Emperor’s eyes grew even colder.

A vein twitched faintly at her brow.

Dark-red light began swirling around her raised right hand. She pointed it toward Shentu, clearly intending to absorb Shentu’s primordial spirit directly with spiritual power—to complete the soul that had already absorbed the spiritual essence of the other four Ghost Emperors.

Bang!

The dark-red energy never reached Shentu.

Less than a meter from the Ghost Emperor, it slammed into a golden wall of light that had suddenly appeared.

“It’s time!” I shouted to Liu Xiaopeng.

He nodded, placed a hand on my shoulder, and closed his eyes.

Meanwhile, my hands flew through a series of rapid seals.

Bzzzz…

The space around the Ghost Emperor began to tremble.

Nine enormous divine-beast totems materialized around her, circling continuously as they formed a massive formation that trapped her at its center.

My heart raced.

The Nine Dragons Spirit-Trapping Formation had succeeded!

Before coming here, we’d spent considerable time devising this formation.

We had combined my Spirit-Trapping Formation with Liu Xiaopeng’s Nine Sons of the Dragon totems, allowing the two techniques to complement one another.

When our spiritual powers merged, my formation served as the framework of a house.

The Nine Dragon totems were the reinforced concrete poured into that framework.

And that “concrete” was alive.

If anything tried to escape from within, the dragon totems would immediately drag it back.

Our earlier assault on Lucifer had been partly genuine and partly a feint.

I had never expected the second shot to kill him.

My true objective had been simple:

To lure the Ghost Emperor into our trap.

In addition to the offensive talisman enhancements, that second bullet had contained a special formation seal.

It was the imprint of the Nine Dragons Spirit-Trapping Formation, crafted using a tiny fragment of Shentu’s primordial spirit as the catalyst.

In other words, this formation had been custom-made specifically for the Ghost Emperor, whose primordial spirit power was identical to Shentu’s.

Once she was caught inside it, escaping would become extremely difficult.

The Ghost Emperor immediately realized her predicament.

The black spear appeared in her hand once more as she attempted to break through the golden walls and the encirclement of the Nine Dragon totems.

But every strike of her spear was blocked by the golden barriers.

The Nine Dragon Sons glared at her fiercely.

As I continued forming seals and Liu Xiaopeng continuously poured spiritual power into me, the dragon descendants extended their claws toward her.

One set of claws seized her feet.

A colossal beast lifted her upside down into the air.

Then two more pairs of claws grabbed her arms, pulling her apart as though intending to tear her limb from limb.

Seeing that we had restrained the Ghost Emperor, Shentu immediately flew forward.

Black spiritual energy streamed from her hands like chains, winding into our formation and wrapping around the Ghost Emperor.

Then she began draining the Ghost Emperor’s soul power.

The Ghost Emperor’s face darkened.

Inside the formation, she struggled desperately against the strength of the Nine Dragon Sons, trying to break free.

Her resistance caused the dragon totems themselves to shake violently.

Fortunately, Shentu’s attack at that exact moment allowed us to regain control of the situation.

Cough! Cough! Cough!

I couldn’t help coughing up a mouthful of blood.

The Ghost Emperor’s struggle might have appeared calm from the outside, but the backlash suffered by Liu Xiaopeng and me was enough to seriously injure us.

After spitting out blood, I glanced toward Liu Xiaopeng.

His complexion was just as terrible as mine.

He raised his eyes slightly.

The moment I met his gaze, I saw an unmistakable look of fear.

“B-Be careful!”

Liu Xiaopeng suddenly shouted.

I immediately turned my head.

Lucifer had returned.

And this time, beneath him was a massive black wyvern.

The beast opened its jaws and spewed streams of black corrosive oil.

At the same time, Lucifer unleashed black flames with his spiritual power.

The instant the wyvern sprayed the oily substance, Lucifer’s black fire ignited it.

A gigantic black serpent of flame surged forward—rushing straight toward us.