Immortality Through Array Formations Chapter 2160 Chapter 1015: Water Passing Step?

"Could it be..." Elder Feng uttered with concern, "that the Zhang Family's Ultimate Technique has leaked to the outside?"

"That's utterly impossible!"

Great Elder Zhang declared firmly, "This technique comes straight from our forefathers. No disciple in the Zhang Family would dare to betray us by stealing and leaking our ancestral legacy!"

"Should such a traitor exist, even if I spare him from being skinned alive or having his tendons ripped out, I'd force him to subsist on bran and greens, kneeling endlessly before the ancestors' shrine for centuries..."

It struck like thunder booming out of a sunny sky.

Zhang Lan sensed his scalp crawling, his mind reeling in a buzz, and a chill seizing his whole heart.

All those initial fears he harbored regarding the Water Passing Step had suddenly, right at this moment, turned into harsh reality without warning.

Someone had spotted Mo Hua employing the Water Passing Step.

Getting spotted was bad enough, yet it occurred during the Sword Discussion Conference, displayed boldly on the vast Fang Tian Pu Ying screen, viewed by nearly every cultivator across the Qian Learning State Boundary...

Worse still, the Great Elder of his own Zhang Family had witnessed it directly.

And it didn't stop there. The real catastrophe was...

An outsider had mastered the Zhang Family's movement technique.

This outsider grasped it more proficiently than anyone in the Zhang Family.

To the extent that the Great Elder himself failed to recognize it as their family's secret art...

Should this secret stay hidden, things might still pass, but if the Great Elder ever discovered the truth... Zhang Lan couldn't bear to imagine the consequences.

All he managed was to clench his teeth, maintain a rigid upright posture with a grave face, and regulate his breaths with utmost caution.

He transformed into a motionless "stone man," holding back even the tiniest exhale.

Terrified that any hint of uneven breathing might reveal his inner guilt to the Great Elder.

For now, at least, the Great Elder showed no suspicion toward him.

In his mind, after all, Mo Hua could never have executed the Zhang Family's Water Passing Step.

Over on the Fang Tian Pu Ying, the sword discussion pressed onward.

Yet the battle's outcome had become plainly evident.

Feng Zichen, the top talent from the Carefree Sect, found his movement technique somewhat outmatched by Mo Hua, while lagging a bit in Sword Dao as well.

With the Wind Sword losing its speed, its might inevitably weakened sharply.

There was no way he could strike down Mo Hua swiftly with his blade.

In theory, he might miss endlessly, but a single successful hit would end Mo Hua in one devastating blow.

Mo Hua might evade time and again, yet one slip-up in dodging that sword would spell his doom too.

Still, this deceptively straightforward but profoundly evasive sword strike plunged Feng Zichen into utter hopelessness.

Moreover, Mo Hua wasn't even Taixu Gate's premier fighter; that title belonged to the Sword Dao genius Linghu Xiao.

Mo Hua started by concealing himself, followed by deploying Flowing Water Step, then shifting seamlessly to Water Passing Step, all while draining away Feng Zichen's precious moments repeatedly.

Those moments were bought specifically for Linghu Xiao.

The rest of the Carefree Sect disciples, bolstered by their rapid sword assaults, managed to hold Linghu Xiao at bay for a while, but they couldn't secure a real victory over him.

As moments ticked by, their sword strikes would falter in pace too.

Linghu Xiao, seizing the opening created by Mo Hua's delays, spotted a weakness and unleashed Chongxu Sword Qi, shattering the Carefree Sect's Wind Sword.

Sect.

With the Wind Sword barrier breached, Linghu Xiao erupted like a tiger unchained, rampaging wildly everywhere under the protection of Cheng Mo and his comrades.

The Carefree Sect disciples were forced to fall back gradually.

Meanwhile, Feng Zichen, the Carefree Sect's star, cast aside all thoughts of winning or losing, pouring everything into slaying Mo Hua—or at least landing one piercing blow.

Just one thrust.

If he could only manage to pierce him, even without killing Mo Hua outright, that would do. Even grazing the edge of his robe would count as success.

As long as he could solidly connect with that slippery silhouette, flowing like water, hazy as mist, spectral as a phantom, it would satisfy him.

Nothing else mattered to him now.

Yet he failed to land that stab.

No matter how rapid his footwork grew, how keen his sword sliced, how drained his meridians became, or how furiously he swung like a gale, he never once touched Mo Hua.

Linghu Xiao teamed up with Ouyang Xuan and three more, cutting down four Carefree Sect disciples before encircling Feng Zichen for a focused onslaught.

Mo Hua, pursued relentlessly through the fight, finally gained breathing room to pivot and unleash spells to "teach" Feng Zichen a lesson.

The end result was a foregone conclusion.

This Carefree Sect prodigy, the pride of the Feng family, met defeat in that manner.

It wasn't merely a loss.

Prior to Feng Zichen's downfall, his complexion had drained to white, his demeanor shattered and bewildered, even hinting at the fracture of his Taoist Heart.

Such a sight stirred deep pity among the spectators, drawing forth sighs and looks of sorrow.

"This Mo Hua kid bears such grave sins!"

"One more genius, shamed and broken by his hand..."

"Watching this troubles my heart..."

"Don't fault Feng Zichen; who could foresee this wretched Mo Hua possessing such superior movement technique?"

"From where did he acquire this horrifying movement technique?"

"Which vile scoundrel helped him, teaching such a despicable movement technique?"

A few started grasping the issue:

"With Mo Hua boasting such fine movement technique, was he faking all that frantic dodging and fleeing?"

"Hiss--"

The audience drew in sharp, collective gasps.

"Not the cat chasing the mouse, but the mouse toying with the cat?"

"Was he messing with Feng Zichen?"

"No," one person denied with a shake of the head, "he wasn't merely toying with Feng Zichen—he was playing all of us for fools..."

Back then, the crowd had smirked in anticipation of Mo Hua's humiliation.

Ultimately, they turned into the laughingstock.

Mo Hua had tricked every single one of them.

Upon reflection, the onlookers quieted down.

Heat rose to their cheeks, and fury blazed within their hearts.

They seethed in muted rage, silenced by their own anger, speechless.

Nevertheless, Mo Hua's "notoriety" swelled even further.

Though, admittedly, this fame carried heavy contention.