Chapter 705: 298. Twin Dragons Emerge from the Sea, Thunder Shakes the Nine Heavens! (10,000-Word Mega Chapter)_3

As they wrote in midair, a large number of ink characters emerged. These characters, all full and elegant in form, lined up neatly in the air, forming balanced pairs. Then, the ink characters forming complete sentences flew through the sky together, descending on Chu Kun in an all-encompassing barrage.

Come, Junior Brother, say thank you to Eldest Senior Sister... Lei Jun was not at all surprised.

He felt the principles and Artistic Conceptions within these characters were identical to the phrases Saturn Earth Radiance had provided in the Celestial Book Universe he had experienced earlier.

Is this the cultivation method of the School of Principle within the Confucian Sect...?

Lei Jun occasionally recalled rumors about Neo-Confucianism he had heard on Blue Star before crossing over, rumors filled with many legends and just as many debunkings. He had limited understanding of their truth and refrained from judgment. However, in this world of cultivation, Lei Jun had already learned some general characteristics of Scholarly Cultivators.

Great Tang Cultivators had clashed with these Heavenly Order Cultivators for many days and had accumulated considerable experience. Through information from people like Shangguan Ning, Lei Jun knew these ink characters were the most common and fundamental combat technique for Heavenly Order Cultivators—or rather, Confucian Rationalist Cultivators—known as the Character System. Their writing style, whether for daily use or combat with brush and ink, was strictly uniform.

Chu Kun reacted just as quickly. His figure flickered and disappeared, evading the sweeping ink characters. He swiftly closed the distance to those Confucian Rationalist Cultivators from the Heavenly Principle. Their combat approach favored mid-range engagement. Chu Kun immediately sought to engage them in close combat.

Spirit Light flickered over his body, sketching out talismans. As the Spirit Talismans shone, starlight enveloped Chu Kun, making him look even more imposing. Simultaneously, the howl of a great wind rose around him.

Regarding talent in Corporeal Life Mastery, Chu Kun was not as gifted as his master Yuan Mobai, his senior brother Lei Jun, or his martial nephew Zhuo Baojie. Yet, he still chose the Divine Strike Talisman and the Wind Riding Talisman as his Life-Bound Magic Arts. Guided by Yuan Mobai, Chu Kun’s Corporeal Life Mastery was still outstanding among his peers in the Celestial Master Mansion.

When he reached the Middle Three Heavens Cultivation, his Three Lifesaving Techniques evolved accordingly. Chu Kun’s Divine Strike Talisman had evolved into the Doujiang Talisman. The ’Dou’ in its name referred both to combat and constellations. Although not as explosively powerful as Lei Jun or Yuan Mobai, Chu Kun’s starlight-enhanced stature at this moment gave him the semblance of a smaller Doumu Star God Dharma. His Wind Riding Talisman, meanwhile, had evolved into the Heaven Wind Talisman.

Now, as the Heaven Wind bellowed and the Doujiang manifested, Chu Kun’s speed and strength surged, allowing him to rapidly approach one of the Heavenly Order Cultivators. The ink characters before that Heavenly Order Cultivator quickly congregated, forming a web-like grid to obstruct, bind, and limit Chu Kun. This technique was called Gezhi, another important combat method for Scholarly Cultivators.

Chu Kun was too fast. Though his opponent established the Gezhi, Chu Kun, Torture Ghosts Stick already in hand, struck first, disrupting the still-unstable brushwork and landing a solid blow. The Scholarly Cultivator groaned, wobbling as if about to fall. However, the Gezhi sentences of the other Scholarly Cultivators combined their ink characters, forming a united front to confront Chu Kun, unaffected by the attack on their compatriot. A plethora of ink characters merged. Their arrangement, akin to an array, formed what seemed like rules and regulations, and Chu Kun immediately felt restrained.

So this is the Formalized Composition... Lei Jun mused.

If the Formalized Composition succeeded, the trapped enemy would be completely constrained. To break free, they would have to decipher the topic set by its user, unless their own strength vastly surpassed the user’s.

Chu Kun did not charge recklessly; his footsteps were deliberate. Every step was calculated. After a series of steps, points of starlight sparked around him, rising and falling. This was the Star-stepping Spell, a First Law of the Celestial Master Mansion and also Chu Kun’s own life-bound First Law. Empowered by the Star-stepping Spell, Chu Kun’s other spells improved in all aspects. This allowed Chu Kun to immediately and forcefully break the Formalized Composition set by the opposing Scholarly Cultivators. He refused to be bound by their restraints and burst free from the ink array that was about to fully form.

However, as he burst out, the opponents’ ink characters instantly transformed.

"Great defiance of the Tao! Contravening the rules! You should be executed!"

As the ink characters shifted, they instantly sharpened like knives, slashing towards Chu Kun. At this sight, the eyes of both Lei Jun and Chu Kun flashed. These blade-like characters were exceedingly sharp. More critically, they severed Chu Kun’s spiritual connection to the natural world—a vital link for a cultivator of the Taoist Talisman Sect. This caused his protective Spirit Talismans, like the Divine Strike Talisman and Golden Barrier Talisman, to fail. Though their aura was unsettling, the technique possessed an undeniable finesse.

Chu Kun remained composed in the face of imminent danger. He had already been notified by Lei Jun that his senior brother was nearby. However, the situation had not yet escalated to the point where Lei Jun needed to intervene; Chu Kun could handle it himself. Knowing Lei Jun was nearby did more than just reassure Chu Kun that he had backup. More importantly, Lei Jun’s inaction signaled that there were no other formidable enemies in the vicinity.

Consequently, he could afford to be less restrained when dealing with the Heavenly Order Cultivators before him. And so, the vision of the Heavenly Order Cultivators—who were maintaining their distance and attacking Chu Kun from afar with ink characters and Ink Blades—suddenly blurred!

Endless flames, thunder, and gales of wind erupted all at once!

The Endless Sea of Fire Talisman, Wind-Fire Rampart Talisman, Thunder of Thor Talisman, Five Thunder Righteous Talisman... even the Dark Five-Thunder Orthodox Talisman created by Lei Jun. The many High-grade Spirit Talismans from the Celestial Master Mansion’s heritage appeared all at once, as if on display.