Runes were the oldest writing on heaven and earth and it was not one of the many.

　　During ancient times, cultivation with runes was once very popular with many schools but until this day, there was only Zhengyi Sect which continued on this path. The rest of the schools were destroyed. While Zhengyi Sect attempted to reach Huandan by condensing Talisman seeds, it was different from the plain Dao of Talisman from ancient times.

　　The cultivators of Tianhua Continent did not care about talismans, comparatively speaking, because Jiang Hanyan imprinted the talismans Shen Lian had laid down into her mind and heart.

　　These runes were only the cloud and thunder seal script and not the seal of dragon and phoenix script, hence it would not grant one the power of those who were beyond humans, the holy deities. They were not as terrifying as the heavenly script, which was meant to understand the deepest principle of the universe, a form of Daoist writing.

　　The cloud and thunder seal script was structured using the cultivators’ talismans on earth, and hence the writing was similar to the commoners. It also had the most basic characteristic of runes, which could activate the eight natural powers of the sky, earth, mountain, swamp, water, fire, wind, and lightning.

　　The runes Shen Lian had laid down were not more or less, there were exactly eight of them.

　　These runes were continuously taking in the Qi of vitality of heaven and earth. In just a blink of an eye, eight blurry shadows appeared and they were not destroyed even under the influence of Jiang Hanyan’s sword aura that could consume the sun and moon.

　　The eight shadows followed the shape of Shen Lian, and each of them represented the eight different power of nature, and as they became one with the ancient power of nature, it was extremely hard to destroy and swallow them.

　　It was a technique akin to those of celestials and Buddha, which was not one that could be done by cultivators.

　　While the power was not sufficiently strong, it had reached a higher level of Dao, which allowed Shen Lian, a cultivator that had exceeded the nine states of cultivation to reach the level of the celestials and Buddha.

　　Shen Lian could do it, not only because of Taixu Strategy but also because of his spirit which could easily enter the underworld. It allowed him to forcibly emulate the level of Taixu Strategy at the state of land immortal, Dixian. If he was willing to take the path of Guixian, the ghostly immortal, he would indeed succeed more easily. It was all attributed to the Mastery of Senses. Furthermore, with the cultivation of this, it was much easier than any other incantation in the world. If this news spread, it would definitely cause a stir.

　　However, forming the shadows that utilized the power of nature was not something easy to him.

　　To Jiang Hanyan however, he had to demonstrate his extraordinary ability, and it was not because of the Fengshen Beast.

　　As Jiang Hanyan wanted to have a sword battle with Chen Jianmei, while he was strongly confident of Chen Jianmei’s ability, he wanted to help weaken the enemy as a statement of intent for Chen. Hence he took the initiative.

　　Even if Chen Jianmei knew his thought, he most likely would not accept it but Shen Lian still did it without hesitating.

　　He did not have the pride of those peerless masters, and he did not have the swiftness of swordsmen. He just did what he could at the moment and he did not care too much about winning or losing.

　　Runes were just soul guiding. They included the deeper understanding Shen Lian had towards the Taixu Strategy, which could stabilize the imaginary shadow and activate the core of the power of nature in its fundamentals. They still carried part of Shen Lian’s divine thoughts, and hence the dragon hallucination was a lookalike of Shen Lian.

　　This was however not considered as a clone as it did not last and it was not realistic.

　　But it was scary!

　　For the eight Qi to circulate in Taixu Strategy was extremely horrifying, but when used, one still needed to consider the harmony of the eight Qi. With his level, he still could not make use of all the supreme techniques in the world.

　　As the eight Qi were independent, they were less powerful but more nimble and many minor changes started to take place.

　　The eight blurry shadows were moving in between the sword aura, like strange demons which were floating about.

　　Constantly there were water and fire in action, wind and thunder booming, heaven flipping and earth sinking, and the explosion of mountain and rivers.

　　It was hard to describe the battle between the two. The cliff was under a strong storm, which blocked out the divine region and affected the spectating of the real situation inside.

　　While Jiang Hanyan had been through many battles, she had never met anyone as powerful as Shen Lian. While he might not be as good as her upcoming opponent Chen Jianmei, Shen Lian had the strangest techniques she had ever observed.

　　The unpredictability of Shen Lian was built upon the fact that Jiang Hanyan could not detect his breath and it was something Jiang Hanyan was extremely cautious about.

　　To her as a swordsman, if her spiritual senses could not detect where Shen Lian’s real body was, even if she killed all the shadows, she could not solve the fundamental problem.

　　The power of nature activated by the eight shadows was horrifying, and they were all proofs to Shen Lian’s previous cultivation. When they took action together, their ultimate power could suppress the sword aura of One Sword to Swallow Sun and Moon, and hence keeping the horrendous aura of it down.

　　Regardless of how terribly powerful something was, it could not escape from the thousand stars.

　　For every technique, it could be broken; and if it could not, it was due to incompetence.

　　Jiang Hanyan still possessed strong sword incantations which she had not use yet. It was not because she looked down on Shen Lian, but it was because it would weaken her if she used them.

　　It was not good if she were to face Chen Jianmei later.

　　When she sought out Chen Jianmei for a sword battle, it was to fulfill a request from someone.

　　The rocks at her feet began to disintegrate as they could not sustain such power. At the same time, Fengshen Beast rolled down and was buried by the rocks.

　　The longsword disappeared from Jiang Hanyan’s hand and the sword aura in the air was demolished by Shen Lian. As she quickly formed a mudra, an abstruse aura began to spread. A yellow paper appeared in front of her as she mumbled a chant. The paper began to burn and it blended in with the aura in between her hands.

　　Lastly, a glaring divine light was released by Jiang Hanyan.

　　The heaven and earth which was lighting up became dark again.

　　A huge mouth formed along with the divine light.

　　The violent swallowing power took in all the eight shadows and Shen Lian could be seen clearly now.

　　Jiang Hanyan did not stop and her Qi became weaker, as it seemed like she was using too much of her mana. She leaped forward and the sword light led the way. She moved towards Zhao Xiaoyu, and she wanted to save the two who were from the same sect as her. They were helpless against Zhao Xiaoyu.

　　Shen Lian felt that his body was chained by the swallowing power of the shapeless huge mouth. Behind the huge mouth, there was a shadow of a Divine Toad which was as huge as a mountain. With its huge mouth, it could swallow mountain and rivers and seas.

　　The Divine Toad of ancient times had the ability to swallow heaven and earth.

　　Shen Lian had never seen any of the technique Jiang Hanyan used but he was certain that the Divine Toad had the power that could exceed that of the celestials and Buddha.

　　Shen Lian did not even resist being swallowed by the huge mouth. Along with the rocks on the cliff, they were all taken in by its mouth.

　　Jiang Hanyan who managed to beat Zhao Xiaoyu with one hit used light to wrap around the two people from her sect, and she did not feel happy looking at the scene.

　　It was because Shen Lian suddenly appeared next to her and was looking at her with smiling eyes.

　　Even the Shen Lian which appeared over there just now was a clone, but Jiang Hanyan had no idea how he managed that.

　　Jiang Hanyan who made use of a huge amount of mana to produce the swallowing huge mouth was already at her peak, and she intended to end this battle quickly by using divine techniques. She did not expect this to happen.

　　She would face this tragedy was all attributed to the fact that she did not understand what power Shen Lian used, and hence, in the beginning, she was deceived.

　　Jiang Hanyan was not the only one who was confused, as Zhao Xiaoyu had no idea too. Even if Shen Lian had the top occult technique which could hide all his presence, he could hardly achieve it in a battle.

　　The swallowing huge mouth was still eating the cliff and it started to fade out.

　　It was impossible for Jiang Hanyan to control it at her will and by using this technique, her mana was heavily expensed.

　　She was determined and as such, while weakened, her sword aura exploded shockingly and she went straight for Shen Lian. The sword was extremely stunning as if it wanted to break away heaven and earth.

　　The void not only began to vibrate, it became more twisted because the sword ray’s speed had exceeded the limit the area could withstand.

　　At the same time, Jiang Hanyan brought along the two students and hid her presence with light travel. She went across the sky with them and disappeared.

　　During the process, Shen Lian had a great reaction which helped him escape the sword light. However, even then his Daoist robe had a few cuts.

　　Zhao Xiaoyu said, “If we follow now, we can probably still catch them. You have to know that Chunyang Daoist Palace’s Daoist techniques and occult techniques are comparable to those of Qing Xuan. If you can get them, you will be benefited greatly.”

　　“Don’t chase after a poor enemy. If she chose to use her life to replace the sword, I have to at least spend twenty years to heal. To me, nothing means more than twenty years’ worth of time,” Shen Lian said.

　　He was now thinking about why a swordsman like Jiang Hanyan would use such powerful occult technique to fight with him, and not just weaken him with prolonged attacks. It was indeed odd. If it was to save her energy in order for the battle with Chen Jianmei, it seemed that she was overly concerned about the battle. Something was wrong.

　　While Shen Lian achieved his target in depleting Jiang Hanyan, he began to feel suspicious.

　　The key to why he could achieve whatever that he did today was because of a celestial talisman he used –’Lidai Taojiang’ which was his clone.

　　Because of his background, he could utilize such celestial items. For other cultivators, they probably only would be willing to use it in dire situations.

　　Even if Chunyang Daoist Palace had big business and houses, and Tianhua Continent being more bustling than Yuan Continent, it still would not be possible for Jiang Hanyan to use a celestial talisman.

　　Zhao Xiaoyu smiled, “That’s true. Now Qing Xuan can’t be separated from you. I still don’t understand why you left as you are the core of Qing Xuan now.”

　　“Can I not answer it?”

　　“Of course.” Zhao Xiaoyu smiled and leaped forward. The huge mouth had disappeared from the tumbling cliff.

　　There were a lot of rocks, woods and water spring underneath.

　　Zhao Xiaoyu quickly picked up a small green mink. Its eyes were closed and it was not breathing as if it was dead.

　　A stream of air was blown towards its mouth and it then opened its eyes. It stared at Zhao Xiaoyu pitifully. It wanted to resist but Zhao Xiaoyu was holding it tightly.

　　Zhao Xiaoyu laughed, “Who ask you are a little spiritual beast which can help people to live an extra five hundred years.”