3 Retaliating Back
Receiving Ling Lei's naked killing intent left Yun Bai no choice but to retaliate back against him. Even though he was in a tough situation, he was still calm in analyzing the options he had. After consideration, he decided first to take out the trash.
"You wish to kill me, Ling Lei? If that's the case... let's see if you're competent enough to face me."
Although the Ling Realm was where one with superior strength could easily dismiss the opponent's strategy and tactics, it wasn't bad to still learn and amass knowledge, and thus that was what Yun Bai did. Simplifying things, he was a walking library with countless amounts of information stored within his memory.
Since he could make a concealing formation, making a killing formation would also be something he was capable. Thus, Yun Bai also set a killing formation alongside the concealing formation, in case of any unwanted intruders coming at his doorstep. He never thought in his life that he would have the chance to even activate it.
He decided to first take care of Ling Lei's crowd due to the hassle of keeping in mind his surroundings, rather than worrying an attack from a dead angle he might as well take most of them out.
With a couple of hand seals, he soon activated the killing formation to the crowd. "Go, Snow Tribunal!"
Soon, the mountain peak seemed to have suddenly snowed heavily, a downpour of a snowstorm soon befell upon Ling Lei's crowd. Someone that seemed to be one of the minor leaders from the crowd of cultivators soon snorted seeing the sight.
"Are you jesting now, snow? Is this what the legendary Yun Bai is only capable of? It seems we've made a mountain out of a molehill, truly a joke. Brothers, I, Chen Liao, beckon you all to charge at this old relic of the past!!!"
With the man's shout, a majority of the group soon rushed towards Yun Bai. He seemed unfazed by the group coming to him, standing his ground and even yawning at the charge. Ling Lei himself didn't plan to stop the rushing cultivators, as if they were mere disposable chess pieces on a board.
After halfway to their rush, a minority of them that had excellent perception began to feel something was amiss, as they soon halted their rush. Although some stopped, a majority still charged towards Yun Bai, still lead by Chen Liao.
"I may be a relic, but a diamond will always shine compared to trash," said Yun Bai at the sight of cultivators in front of him.
The snow soon descended upon the cultivators, and quickly some of them caught on, they tried to run back but it was too late. A rather young cultivator in the front soon was barraged by the snow, it seemed to have turned into blades as it quickly pierced and stabbed him on multiple fronts.
He soon slumped down onto the white snow beneath, an expression filled with regret only asking himself on his dying breath 'Why did I dare fight against this monster?'
His blood being the first of many to dye the snowy mountaintop red at that day.
Seeing the young man dead, others quickly followed his fate as the seemingly delicate snow soon reaped many lives, they were falling like trees being chopped down. The sight forced Chen Liao to quickly devise a counter to the Snow Tribunal, and soon he found one.
"Everyone! Use your qi to guard your skin, it'll help us face this deadly snowstorm!" It was a simple method, but effective nonetheless. Soon, all the cultivators had raised their qi to guard the outer layer of their bodies, an array of cultivators with various colored qi filled Yun Bai's sight.
They soon progressed quickly again, after figuring out a method to deal with the Snow Tribunal. Although it drained their reserves, it was the only solution at the problem in front of them.
"Oh, it seems you have some capability after all. But if this is all you've got, then it's still not enough to face me head on," Yun Bai calmly said as this time he seemed to have taken them a bit more seriously.
He changed his stance and after a couple of hand seals the snowstorm soon changed, as if the already deadly storm was now, even deadlier, some were confused on what had changed and shrugged it off as air.
Chen Liao too shrugged it off, but soon changed his expression to one filled with dread as he sensed the snow in front of him was vastly different from the one a few minutes ago.
"Everyone, stop your advance right now!!!" He tried to stop them, but Chen Liao found his warning was useless before even giving it out.
The snow was the same, but it seemed to have turned sharper than before, the qi that they raised to protect their outer layer was akin to paper as it was easily slashed by the gentle snow. An old man in the crowd was shocked as he soon exclaimed the reason behind the sudden change.
"It's Sword Intent, the snow now contains Grade-3 Sword Intent, we're doomed!"
Although logic would dictate that a cultivator with a higher cultivation realm would decimate those below him it isn't necessarily the case, within the universe were various trump cards people had to ensure their victory against their opponents.
Some of these were in the form treasures that they gained, due to their background or a stroke of luck, be it a defensive treasure that could guard against an all-out blow, or a deadly spell that could instantly kill the opponent. Some of these can also be a hand-crafted item from a master craftsman, or naturally formed by mother nature.
Although a many may own these treasures they made sure not to grow to dependant upon them, since when pushed against the wall the only thing you could on rely on was yourself.
Hence, Weapon Intent. The abstract state where one seemed immersed into the weapon and become said weapon, fully bringing out the destructiveness and power of the weapon. Although it was abstract, that didn't mean there weren't people who haven't comprehended Weapon Intent. Throughout time, those who have comprehended Weapon Intent were a cut above the rest of their peers. Some even dominating those that were above them.
Chen Liao was shocked hearing the elder's words and thus went beside him to confirm the truth.
"Are you sure this is Grade-3 Sword Intent, Elder Huang?"
"When one's at Grade-1, their own heart becomes in the form of that weapon, drastically transforming their temperament and aura. Grade-2 their mind and heart becomes one with the weapon and transforms as if it was their own limbs."
"Finally, when one's actions are enough that it's similar to using the weapon, Grade-3 is achieved. This formation has traces Sword Intent, so it's far deadlier than before!"
Elder Jun's words were the final nail in the coffin towards Chen Liao's plan. "How can this be, no one has seen Grade-3 of any Weapon Intent within the last five thousand years, how..."
Elder Huang soon had a solemn expression on his face as he sighed at their situation. "Young Chen, I'd advise we back out now. Our losses are too significant in front of this formation, we better not bite off more than we can chew."
Feeling indignant at the situation, Chen Liao looked at it realistically and had his head down as he nodded at Elder Jun's suggestion.
"All of you, retreat!!!"
Hearing the loud shout of retreat made the cultivators heave a sigh of relief, but before they could return Yun Bai gazed with a cold look.
"Since you dare trifle against me to seek my life, then you lot should've been prepared for me to seek your life, no?" He then increased the output of the formation, increasing the number of casualties on the enemy's side by a large margin.
In the end, only a small number of people barely made it out, including Chen Liao and Elder Huang. Seeing the sight made Ling Lei slightly frown, but he disregarded it as he didn't even have high expectations in the first place.
Their role was only to weaken Yun Bai by draining his energy, and as soon a mistake was made he would soon jump in and join in on the assault. Never did he thought that a formation on this scale would be made against intruders.
"It seems I've underestimated you by a lot, Yun Bai. But I assure you, that you will die by my blade today." Ling Lei then made a signal towards the person named Karsin from before, and with a nod, Karsin soon leaped into the air and unleashed a palm strike towards a certain point within the snowstorm, it seemed gentle, like a midsummer breeze.
After hitting the point there was no immediate reaction, Yun Bai wanted to say the person was all talk but didn't dare to let his guard down. Suddenly, the terrifying snowstorm subsided and was nowhere to be found. Seeing this made Yun Bai shocked at Karsin's capabilities.
'This person found the core of the formation so quickly, just how did Ling Lei meet such an individual?' He found that he had truly underestimated the other party's preparation on killing him.
