The third junior brother was speechless and had no way to refute.
He wanted to retreat and plan things out more carefully.
But saying such a thing would make him seem inferior to the second junior brother for no reason.
Could he say it?
Definitely not.
Even if he knew it was a goading tactic, he couldn't admit it!
"Just barge in?" Shen Weixun raised an eyebrow.
The high - spiritedness of the young man was revealed at this moment.
He no longer seemed as cautious and steady as he usually was, carefully planning every move.
At this moment, he really looked like a teenager in his teens.
"Let's go," Zhang Zicheng showed his signature lazy smile again.
The two of them were already ready to step forward at any moment. Xiaoniannian looked at the second senior brother on one side and the third senior brother on the other, and silently tightened her small compass.
Fight? No nonsense then.
"Open the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation!" The childish voice of Xiaotuanzi came, startling the two senior brothers.
It was too late to cover her mouth.
Without a second thought, Xiaotuanzi directly activated the formation.
Her eyes sparkled with a fierce light, which was particularly dazzling in the darkness.
Immediately, a hazy shadow of the Bagua plate appeared in front of Shen Weixun and Zhang Zicheng.
It was right on the ground where the villagers were wandering.
Since their junior sister had activated the formation, they naturally couldn't hesitate any longer.
Shen Weixun put Xiaotuanzi down and rushed forward with magical steps.
His figure was like a ghost, and also like a celestial being descending from the nine heavens, illusory and dreamy.
Zhang Zicheng emitted a faint golden light, as if a true Buddha had possessed him, giving people a feeling of kindness, mercy, and unwavering authority.
Of course, they wouldn't harm the villagers' lives.
When they caught one, they directly knocked the person out on the back of the neck first.
The unconscious villagers had no power to fight back against the three highly - skilled Taoists.
In just a few minutes, a large number of them were knocked out.
Just when the three of them thought the obstacles at the door would be quickly cleared.
The knocked - out villagers actually stood up staggeringly again.
This time, their steps were no longer messy.
As if they were conscious, they gathered together and divided into two groups, surrounding Shen Weixun and Zhang Zicheng.
Xiaoniannian's eyes could see more things.
Although the villagers who got up again didn't have any weapons in their hands, in the fully - opened spiritual eye's vision, Niannian could clearly see the thick black qi emitting from their hands.
The invisible and intangible evil qi would be fatal if it entered a living person's body.
It was a bit strenuous for the two of them to be surrounded by more than thirty villagers.
Especially since Shen Weixun and Zhang Zicheng didn't want to harm their lives, so they were particularly restricted in the fight.
They had to make sure not to cause any serious injuries to the villagers and also limit their mobility, so they had to be extremely careful every time they made a move.
"What's wrong with them?" After kicking another charging villager away again, Shen Weixun frowned and wanted to curse.
He hadn't controlled his strength well with a few of them, and he estimated that he had even broken their ribs.
But they could still get up and move.
This was completely beyond the limit of being confused and controlled.
If their minds were confused, they should be like Luo Wuyou. After being hit a few times and feeling the pain, they would wake up.
But these people couldn't wake up at all.
They were like walking corpses and puppets.
"How would I know!" Zhang Zicheng was also annoyed. Although he didn't have a deep friendship with these villagers, they were still his fellow villagers from his hometown.
He hoped they could return to normal soon.
"Aren't you supposed to be well - traveled and all - knowing? If you don't know anything, you're such a useless waste!" Shen Weixun sarcastically taunted Zhang Zicheng without using any swear words.
He boasted so much about his dual cultivation of Taoism and Buddhism, but in the end, he was still just a useless old man!
"Spit! Aren't you supposed to be extremely smart and have a photographic memory? If you don't study Taoism well on normal days and just read so many miscellaneous books, since you're so erudite, don't ask me!" Zhang Zicheng didn't back down either. He retorted as quickly as possible.
The two of them had been arguing for so many years, and their skills in verbal sparring were about the same.
But Niannian didn't have the heart to stop their argument at this moment.
In her Bagua formation, she could feel the abnormality of these villagers even more.
Every time they got up, their strength and the evil qi on them were stronger than the last time.
And the strength of her senior brothers was gradually weakening.
As one declined and the other rose, it seemed that the villagers were devouring the essence and spirit of her senior brothers in the process of being knocked down again and again.
"Dinghai Earth, Virtue Converges, Good Luck Shines!" Niannian turned the compass in her hand, changed the direction of the Bagua, and mobilized the power of the Wood element to Shen Weixun.
Fortunately, it was the Haishi hour and they were in the middle of the mountains and forests.
It was a combination of favorable timing, location, and people.
If it were somewhere else, mobilizing the Wood element in the five - element system would definitely be extremely strenuous.
As the compass turned, Shen Weixun suddenly felt his five senses sharpened a lot. It was as if he had eyes on his back, and he could sense the approaching danger.
He dodged to the side and narrowly avoided being hit on the back by a sneaking villager.
Shen Weixun suddenly noticed the change in his body.
During the fight, his essence and spirit were gradually consumed and emptied, and the imperceptible loss was impossible to detect.
When Niannian activated the formation to give him a boost, the sudden change in his body made it easy for him to notice the difference.
Normally, such a boost would make the body feel more comfortable, but Shen Weixun clearly felt that at this moment, he had only returned to his normal state.
"Guihai Water, Blocking the Road, Jihai Wood, Missing Characters, Bent Feet."
Of course, Xiaotuanzi wouldn't be partial.
After helping the third senior brother, she immediately shifted her attention to the second senior brother.
She manipulated the formation, and the soil under the feet of the villagers rushing towards Zhang Zicheng suddenly sank a few centimeters. Then, like they had all sprained their ankles at the same time, they couldn't stand steadily in the fight and fell to the ground in unison.
"Xinhai Metal, Hanging Needle."
"Open the Wounding Gate of the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation!"
With Xiaotuanzi's final loud shout, a sudden strong wind blew up around them. It seemed that there were many tiny golden needles in the air, stabbing at the villagers from all directions.
Only the successive thuds were heard.
The villagers who had been like unbeatable cockroaches just now suddenly fell to the ground.
Although Niannian wasn't extremely weak at this moment, her face was a bit pale.
Manipulating the formation plate to change its position and simultaneously using the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation, even if only one gate was opened, was enough to take a toll on her body.
The two senior brothers, Shen Weixun, also realized how reckless and impulsive they had been this time.
They were terrified.
It seemed that Niannian had easily taken care of the villagers.
That was because Niannian was strong enough.
She also had the formation plate magical weapon specially prepared for her by their master, which was why the villagers lost their mobility.
If it had only been the two of them here today, they might have been silently exhausted to death here.
Once their essence and spirit were emptied, they would have become sitting ducks with no power to fight back.
The two of them didn't dare to barge into the dilapidated temple rashly anymore and quickly retreated to Niannian's side.
Shen Weixun checked Xiaotuanzi up and down for a while. After making sure that she was just a bit weak and had no other problems, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
But the next second, the first thing Xiaotuanzi said after she recovered made their hearts skip a beat.
"Senior brothers, they're empty. I can't open the other gates. They no longer have souls."