Chapter Eighty-One: Huang Qingyang Takes Command

“This is...?”
Lei Xiang smiled faintly. “This is the spirit staff I acquired—Nine Treasure Lotus Staff. Now, I’ll use it to break this barrier. You must have studied this formation for a long time; hurry and tell me its weakest point.” As he spoke, he silently recited an incantation in his heart, pouring his spiritual power into the staff. The Nine Treasure Lotus Staff burst into a radiant red glow, swelling almost instantly to the size of thirty feet. Lei Xiang, now hovering in midair, gripped the staff with both hands, his eyes fixed intently on the formation encircling the bones below.

“Ah!” Huang Qingyang sighed softly. He hadn’t expected the staff to change so dramatically. It seemed he never fully mastered it—otherwise, with its ability to grow, he could have easily escaped in his prime and wouldn’t have ended up in this state. “Lei Xiang, my young friend, I have studied this formation for over a hundred years. It is a single-function trap—no offensive power, but its defense is unparalleled. If you break the northwest corner and destroy the spirit stones there, half its power will be undone.”

“Very well!” Without hesitation, Lei Xiang raised the Nine Treasure Lotus Staff high and smashed it toward the northwest corner of the formation. The ensuing roar was like the sky collapsing and the earth splitting; a dense veil of light rose at the northwest corner, trembling under the staff’s pressure.

Lei Xiang’s lips curled into a smile. He struck again, and the veil emitted a faint cracking sound, with countless tiny fractures appearing on its surface. Lei Xiang quickly channeled his unique power to its peak; his right arm was surrounded by shifting hues of green and yellow, the colors constantly changing and forming a transparent vacuum between them.

At this moment, Lei Xiang exhaled sharply. “Hiyah!” The Nine Treasure Lotus Staff crashed down, and with a muffled snap, the veil shattered like paper, the staff embedding itself upright in the northwest corner. Its tail still quivered, and Lei Xiang leapt over, gripping the staff’s end. With all his strength, he lifted, swept, and dragged it sideways, tearing open a gap over three feet wide in the formation, revealing Huang Qingyang’s skeleton.

Lei Xiang did not bother destroying the spirit stone mechanism; he knew the force of his strike was enough to shatter the buried stones, and time was of the essence. The commotion surely alerted the Azure Spirit Tribe. He urged Huang Qingyang, “Quickly! The Azure Queen may arrive at any moment!”

But Huang Qingyang’s voice was tinged with bitterness. “The formation is broken, but my body is still tightly bound. See for yourself.” He lifted his arm, and with a clatter, two pale chains appeared out of thin air—one piercing his shoulder blade, another locked at the elbow—rendering the skeleton’s arms immobile.

Lei Xiang frowned. “Time is short. Leave the bones behind; let your soul enter my sea of consciousness, now!”

From the skull of the pile of bones, a green orb of light shot out, circled the skeleton, and prepared to escape the formation. Suddenly, a brilliant white light flashed—a silver chain, finger-thick, pierced through a third of the soul, holding it within three feet of the skeleton.

Lei Xiang’s eyes flickered blue as he spoke urgently. “This chain is forged from ten-thousand-year refined black iron. If you abandon that third of your soul, I might be able to break it before the Azure Queen arrives.”

---

The green sphere of Huang Qingyang’s soul hesitated for a moment, then accepted Lei Xiang’s suggestion. After all, freedom was worth any price; even a damaged soul was better than dying here. “Alright, do it. But you’ve saved me—how will you explain this to the Azure Queen? Don’t ruin my plan for vengeance. Best to kill her by surprise.”

“I have my own arrangements.” Lei Xiang activated his unique power, swinging the Nine Treasure Lotus Staff at Huang Qingyang’s soul.

Huang Qingyang was startled, instinctively dodging a foot to the side, while Lei Xiang deliberately missed by two inches. The staff struck the chain of refined black iron. No sparks flew; the chain remained unharmed, but Huang Qingyang’s soul trembled under the strain. Lei Xiang was not surprised—if it could be broken so easily, it wouldn’t be called ten-thousand-year black iron. He struck again, steadily.

After the twentieth blow, the chain finally erupted into a shower of silver sparks and broke into several pieces. Huang Qingyang’s soul let out a miserable cry as a third was forcibly severed by the chain. Lei Xiang wasted no time, beckoning the remaining soul toward himself and quickly drew it into his sea of consciousness.

He had already prepared a place within his mind—a yellow barrier encircled it, right beside the vermilion-black soul sphere. Thus, Huang Qingyang and Zhu Chi became neighbors in Lei Xiang’s mind. Lei Xiang had no time to dwell on it. He produced a storage pouch, gathered up the broken pieces of the black iron chain, and finally, without further hesitation, swung the Nine Treasure Lotus Staff fiercely at the formation.

With a few strikes, the formation fully collapsed, reducing Huang Qingyang’s skeleton and the severed third of his soul to scattered dust. Lei Xiang flew over to collect the fragments of the black iron chain, when applause sounded behind him.

“You’re here—quite prompt,” Lei Xiang said without turning, knowing it was the Azure Queen.

She laughed like silver bells. “I didn’t expect it! In three months you mastered the unique power and truly claimed the spirit staff. And its power exceeds even my expectations.”

Lei Xiang sneered coldly. “You didn’t expect me to use the staff to rescue Huang Qingyang, did you? He promised to teach me this power if I helped him escape.” Having gathered the remaining black iron, Lei Xiang shrank the Nine Treasure Lotus Staff down to the size of an embroidery needle, pinned it to his lapel, and turned around.

The Azure Queen’s face was hidden behind her black veil, but her body trembled slightly, revealing her shock. Clearly, seeing Lei Xiang control the staff and shrink it to an embroidery needle was unexpected. Outwardly, she smiled. “Lei Xiang, did you manage to save Huang Qingyang?”

Lei Xiang shook his head with a bitter smile. “I never imagined the formation would be so strong. After much effort, breaking it destroyed both Huang Qingyang’s body and soul. Still, I kept my promise to him.”

---

Suddenly, the Azure Queen produced a willow-leaf-shaped magical artifact. It was a vivid green, floating in the air as it drifted toward the ruins of the formation, circling a radius of ten feet before returning to her hand.

She extended slender fingers to grasp the center of the leaf, pinching a small amount of colorless dust. She rubbed it between her fingers, sniffed it, then scattered it into the air. Certain now of Lei Xiang’s story, she had collected the dust just now, and it did indeed contain traces of Huang Qingyang’s bones and soul. This satisfied her.

Within Lei Xiang’s sea of consciousness, Huang Qingyang secretly admired him. “This kid really has some skill—retreating to advance, openly confessing to rescuing me so she won’t suspect. Thankfully, a third of my soul was cut away; otherwise, if she found no trace of me, she wouldn’t believe it. I won’t live past two years anyway. I hope Lei Xiang can fulfill my wish to destroy the Azure Queen, so I can depart without regret.”

Lei Xiang and the others didn’t know Huang Qingyang’s thoughts. The Azure Queen stepped closer, smiling. “Well, you’ve claimed the spirit staff and the timing is perfect. I’m here to inform you that we depart immediately. If you help me complete this task, I’ll keep every promise I made, and send you back to the Human race at once. Do you have any other requests?”

Lei Xiang grinned, showing his small tiger teeth. “Just one.”

“What is it?”

“Please remove your veil. I wish to see your true face.”