Chapter Sixty-Four: I Do

Seeing the incoming giant hand, a sharp glint flashed in Zhang Xiao’s eyes. He opened his mouth and spat out a strangely shaped formation disk. "Activate!" As he pointed a finger, the disk suddenly shattered into twelve beams of starlight that encircled him. Zhang Xiao then pulled five crystal essences from his bone ring, cast them before him, and shouted, "Star-Light God-Extinguishing Formation! Rise!"

"Look at that!" a disciple cried out, pointing at the sky. The once clear, sunny sky was suddenly filled with countless flickering stars. Beams of starlight converged into a massive torrent, surging toward Zhang Xiao’s position, while the Kunlun Mountains began to shake violently.

As the ancestor of all dragon veins, the Kunlun Mountains possessed immense terrestrial energy. Even a master at the Mahayana stage could not easily extract the earth’s energy from beneath Kunlun. Yet now, under the influence of the twelve Earth Orbs, ribbons of terrestrial energy shaped like dragons erupted from the earth’s veins, rushing toward Zhang Xiao.

A roar of shock and anger echoed from the sky. "Audacious! How dare you destroy the foundation of my Kunlun!" The giant cyan hand accelerated, reaching for Zhang Xiao.

But the starlight and the terrestrial energy collided first. With Zhang Xiao at the center, the fusion of heaven and earth created a spectacle that left the spectators stunned. Not far away, Tian Long’er opened her mouth, speechless. In terms of formations, she was undoubtedly a master of her generation. Yet, the formation Zhang Xiao was executing actually communicated with the energy of heaven and earth to form a world of its own—a technique Tian Long’er had never even heard of. It was at this moment that the giant cyan hand plunged into the formation.

"Ah! You damn little thief!" In the rear hall of the main Kunlun peak, the red-haired, large-nosed old Taoist let out a furious roar; his left hand was riddled with bloody holes.

He was the one who had launched the attack. Seeing Zhang Xiao destroying the foundations of Kunlun with a formation, he was consumed by rage and shock, desperate to tear Zhang Xiao and his formation to pieces. Given his cultivation, there were few formations in the world that could trap him. While Zhang Xiao’s formation had a grandiose name, he had never heard of it. To his dismay, once his cyan hand reached into the Star-Light God-Extinguishing Formation, his connection to it was severed, followed by a backlash from his own broken technique.

Furious and alarmed, the red-haired Taoist transformed into a streak of rainbow light and rushed out of the hall. Master Yuxu and another old Taoist exchanged glances and followed immediately.

When Master Yuxu arrived and witnessed the scene, his heart filled with anxiety and rage. Countless beams of starlight, like a river of stars, poured endlessly into the formation. Kunlun shook repeatedly, and dragon-shaped terrestrial energy was being siphoned out of the mountain range.

Master Yuxu’s face turned ghastly pale. He pointed at Zhang Yifan and roared, "What is happening here! Is this your plan?" It was no wonder he was enraged; the formation was beyond comprehension. He did not yet know its full power, but the constant extraction of terrestrial energy was clearly destroying Kunlun’s foundation.

Even with the vast dragon veins beneath Kunlun, they could not withstand the Star-Light God-Extinguishing Formation, which drained energy like a pump. If the dragon veins collapsed, the consequences would be unthinkable. Even with Master Yuxu’s composure, he shuddered at the thought.

Zhang Yifan looked at the scene with a bitter heart. Zhang Xiao was strong, but Zhang Yifan had assumed they could eventually use the Kunlun defensive formation to crush him. He had been caught completely off guard when Zhang Xiao attacked first with such a monstrous formation.

Hearing Master Yuxu, Zhang Yifan gritted his teeth and said, "Zhang Xiao infiltrated Kunlun and attempted to snatch the bride. The other sect leaders and I intervened, but he was ruthless, killing several of our disciples and severely wounding the leaders of the Myriad Demon Sect and Mount Shu, while destroying one of our subsidiary peaks."

Though Zhang Yifan’s voice was low, those present heard him clearly. A heavy silence fell over the crowd. During the Nine Sects Tournament, Zhang Xiao had suppressed the nine heirs alone, but many had attributed that to the nine not being unified. Now, years later, Zhang Xiao had returned to snatch the bride and defeated the leaders of the nine major sects single-handedly. If the previous time was a fluke, what about this? The heirs were now sect leaders themselves, supported by endless resources and possessing late-stage Nascent Soul cultivation, yet they had been defeated by Zhang Xiao again. The crowd was left speechless.

Seeing Zhang Yifan shift all the blame onto Zhang Xiao, Master Yuxu ignored him and asked the white-robed old Taoist beside him, "Brother Yuzhen, you are also a master of formations. Can you identify this? Even Junior Brother Qingyu suffered a loss to it."

Yuzhen scrutinized the formation and said, "It is impossible; one must enter to break it. This formation has formed a world of its own, possessing the power of both earth and stars. It has its own rules. To break it, we must enter and use our own strength to forcibly shatter those rules."

The red-haired Taoist shook his head. "Impossible. When I used the Vault of Heaven Hand, I lasted less than three breaths. The danger inside is immense; even beings like us cannot risk it." As they spoke, the mountain shook again, and rocks began to slide down the slopes.

Seeing the energy being drained ever faster, Master Yuxu’s expression shifted. "I don't care anymore! I will go in and try to slay this monster." With that, he transformed into a streak of light and charged into the formation.

At that moment, Zhang Xiao threw five more crystal essences into the void, watching as they vanished into light. "Xiao! You shouldn't have come," Lan Fang whispered, leaning on his shoulder. Her voice was weak; though Zhang Xiao’s pure Yang energy sustained her, it was only a temporary measure. Being awake at all was a stroke of luck.

"Not come? If I hadn't, I would have regretted it for the rest of my life watching you marry that wretch Zhang Yifan." Zhang Xiao turned, pulled Lan Fang into his arms, and gently stroked her hair. "I don't know if it was a past life or a premonition, but this life is this life. I shouldn't blame you for things that haven't happened. When I was in the Myriad Demon Sect’s Sword-Washing Pool and a love-sword stirred my inner demons, I knew I hadn't let you go. That is why I came back for you. Do you remember the poem I wrote for you?"

*Dreaming, our hands remained intertwined; waking, I realized the depth of my yearning.*
*Meeting, knowing, and longing—the ache of love; awakening from a great dream, I pursue my beloved.*

Though Lan Fang did not understand his talk of past lives or premonitions, she did not care. She only knew that in this life, regardless of any celestial changes, she had won. Her weak body left her unable to speak, so she simply rested in his arms, watching the starlight. In that moment, she felt like the happiest woman in the world.

"Boom!" A massive explosion erupted nearby. Zhang Xiao’s expression changed as he saw the starlight ahead surge and shatter. Master Yuxu, holding a feather fan in one hand and a gourd in the other, waved the fan. Countless cyan lights transformed into flood dragons, exploding everywhere, while the gourd sucked in streams of starlight.

Zhang Xiao frowned and pulled out five more crystal essences. Looking at the twenty-five he had left, his heart sank. If he could have refined the formation disk, the remaining essences would have been enough to unleash the full potential of the formation. But now... *Sigh!*

Zhang Xiao let out a long sigh, unsure whether to be happy or sad. He did not know that Master Yuxu was already in a state of panic. The Blue Dragon Fan in his hand was a top-tier treasure capable of destroying mountains and rivers, but here, it was useless. The gourd in his other hand, the Origin-Returning Gourd, was a legacy treasure of Kunlun that could consume anything and turn it into dust. Master Yuxu had hoped to use it to draw Zhang Xiao out, but there was only starlight. Even if he could find Zhang Xiao, he had to use the gourd for defense against the surging starlight.

Contemplating the endless flow of terrestrial energy, Master Yuxu’s heart grew heavy. Finally, he couldn't help but shout, "Zhang Xiao! Let us talk. Stop the formation! This was Kunlun’s mistake. If you stop the formation, we will let bygones be bygones!"

Zhang Xiao sneered. He did not know why Master Yuxu was so desperate to stop the formation, but he did not believe a word of it. Let bygones be bygones? Hmph! It was more likely he wanted to kill him as quickly as possible. If he hadn't revealed the Star-Light God-Extinguishing Formation, he might have considered it, but now that the formation’s power was exposed, he knew an old monster like Yuxu would never let him walk away.

However, Master Yuxu’s words made Lan Fang’s eyes brighten. "Xiao, are you willing to marry me?"

Zhang Xiao was stunned, not expecting her to ask this now. Without hesitation, he pulled her tighter. "How could I not? Lan Fang, are you willing to marry me?" A faint blush appeared on her pale face as she replied, "I do."