Azure Mountain Twilight Clouds

With Zhao Yifan and Li Qingyun leading the way, everyone in the caravan felt greatly reassured. Staying alert, they quickened their pace.

Perhaps it was the intimidating divine might of the Dao Lord statues, or perhaps Li Qingyun's thunder art had just sounded. Seeing how thoroughly guarded and flawless the caravan was, the Corpse Dogs and Rotten Wolves merely followed closely for the time being, not daring to launch a reckless attack.

But as more and more Corpse Dogs and wolves gathered, everyone knew that the longer they waited, the more dangerous it would become!

Behind the Corpse Dog pack, shadowy figures flickered, ghostly and sinister.

Li Qingyun frowned, feeling vaguely uneasy.

He sensed that as the party advanced, the wandering souls and wild ghosts in the wilderness were also being drawn over by the scent of human life.

Channeling his spiritual power into his eyes, he peered into those vague patches of darkness and discovered that they were all ghostly entities.

Before cultivating spiritual power, he had been unable to see the forms of ghosts and monsters, not even the weakest wandering soul.

Unless those sinister ghosts took the initiative to reveal themselves, even if they stood right before an ordinary person, that person would be unable to see them. They would only feel a bone-chilling cold, break out in goosebumps by instinct, and be gripped by inexplicable fear.

During these past days at Lingbao Temple, Li Qingyun had often gone out at night to meditate and cultivate, yet he had never encountered a single ghost. That was also why the temple grounds and Daoist forests were so coveted by the world.

Now that he had left the temple, however, his Spiritual Eye revealed countless ghostly shadows in the night.

Why were there so many demons, devils, ghosts, and monsters in this world? With so many temples, monasteries, sects, and extraordinary Aristocratic Clans, how had they failed to wipe them out after centuries and millennia? This area should still be within Lingbao Temple's patrol range, yet it was so unsafe!

Especially since these ghostly wandering souls were gathering in greater numbers but not attacking. What exactly were they after?

Alarmed, Li Qingyun could not help looking toward Zhao Yifan.

As it happened, Zhao Yifan was looking back at him with worry in his eyes. Li Qingyun's heart sank.

"Junior Brother, something isn't right. There are already more than thirty wandering souls and wild ghosts following us! We need to move faster. Things should be much better once we reach that ruined temple..."

Zhao Yifan sent the words to him in secret.

Then he called out in a low voice.

"Everyone, put more strength into your legs! We must reach the ruined temple at the boundary ahead before the Hour of the Pig!"

Qian Fuguan, the Four Seas Pavilion steward, had plenty of experience in the martial world. He too sensed that something was amiss and anxiously urged the caravan and the other travelers to speed up.

"Yes, everyone, listen to the two Feathered Immortals and pick up the pace!"

The steward's eyes brimmed with panic, and sweat streamed ceaselessly down his plump face. He kept wiping it away, all while silently praying toward the Nine Heavens Azure Dao Lord statue atop the carriage.

As long as the Dao Lord statue's clear radiance did not go out, ordinary wandering souls would not dare approach. Otherwise, they would be burned to ash.

But if the ghosts were willing to risk their lives and charge into it, once the clear radiance was exhausted, the statue would be nothing more than an ordinary statue.

Panic-stricken, everyone hastened their steps.

The entire party traveled in urgent silence. Hoofbeats, turning wheels, and everyone's increasingly hurried breathing rang clearly through the night sky.

The Corpse Dogs, Rotten Wolves, and ghostly shadows following along both sides of the official road and behind the party continued to multiply.

Before long, even the horses and livestock grew restless, agitated and neighing without end.

"Meow!" Big Black Cat Yuanbao's fur stood on end as well, and he kept issuing deep warning growls.

"Fellow Daoists, please protect everyone and hurry onward with all your strength. I'll disperse a wave of them first..."

From the curtained carriage in the middle of the Four Seas Pavilion caravan, a fair hand drew aside the curtain. Then a beautiful female cultivator in a pale green Daoist robe stepped out. She appeared to be in her twenties, with lovely features, a tall figure, and a heroic air between her brows.

Li Qingyun looked over instinctively and met the female Daoist's gaze through the night.

The two nodded to each other at the same time.

Then, with a flicker of her figure, the female cultivator was already standing suspended in the air.

A vermilion Dharma Pearl suddenly leaped out of the Hundred Treasures Pouch at her waist.

She caught the extraordinary Dharma Pearl, spiritual power surging around her body, and hurled it toward the dense shadows behind the Corpse Dog pack!

Boom!

Red light blazed, setting the night sky aflame.

In an instant, roaring dharma flames incinerated more than a dozen wandering souls and wild ghosts!

"Incredible! This female cultivator from Biyou Palace was highly skilled in fire arts. Her cultivation was at least at the seventh layer of Qi Refining..."

Li Qingyun was slightly startled. Judging by the force of the spiritual power she had unleashed just now, he estimated her cultivation level.

She looked to be only around twenty, yet she had already reached at least the seventh layer of Qi Refining. At Lingbao Temple, she should have long since qualified as an inner sect disciple, cultivating peacefully within the sect grounds. Why would she need to do this sort of work, escorting a merchant caravan?

Biyou Palace truly had no shortage of talent. Perhaps the competition there was simply too fierce, forcing even disciples like her to swallow their pride, take on missions, roam the four seas, and accumulate resources.

Seeing the female cultivator's awe-inspiring dharma might, Zhao Yifan's expression changed. He hurriedly offered a respectful salute.

"What impressive skill, Fellow Daoist! I am Zhao Yifan of Lingbao Temple, and this is my junior brother, Li Qingyun. May I ask your name?"

Standing in the air, the female cultivator seemed even taller. Looking down, her gaze swept over Zhao Yifan and Li Qingyun before she nodded with a faint smile.

"Wang Muyun of Biyou Palace. Greetings, Fellow Daoists!"

Her gaze lingered a little longer on Li Qingyun, as though she admired his thunder art.

"Sorry for the trouble, Fellow Daoists, but please disperse the Corpse Dog pack with all your strength and increase our speed as much as possible..."

Wang Muyun's expression turned serious. At the same time, the Vermilion Dharma Pearl flew out again, flames bursting forth to burn more than a dozen Rotten Wolves and Corpse Dogs to death.

"Of course. How could we hold back?"

At this point, Zhao Yifan no longer had the slightest trace of arrogance. He quickly agreed, painfully taking out a stack of talisman papers from his satchel. Activating them with spiritual power, he turned them into fireballs and hurled them at the growing Corpse Dog pack ahead.

Even if his cultivation was inferior to that of the Biyou Palace disciple, Zhao Yifan did not wish to tarnish Lingbao Temple's prestige. If strength was lacking, talisman papers would make up the difference. For this mission, he had prepared a great many low-grade talismans.

Talismans could substitute for spellcasting and greatly reduce the burden on one's spiritual power.

Wang Muyun, Azure Mountain Twilight Clouds. What a fine name...

Boom! Boom!

Flames flashed continuously, blasting the Corpse Dogs and Rotten Wolves until they were covered in wounds.

In order to keep a low profile, Li Qingyun only occasionally cast one or two thunder arts, but every strike found its mark.

At the same time, he deliberately took out one or two Minor Grass Pills and pretended to swallow them to recover spiritual power. In truth, he was unwilling to waste even one; it was only for show.

Whenever a Corpse Dog broke through Zhao Yifan's defensive line ahead, Li Qingyun would pat Big Black Cat. With a meow, Yuanbao shot forth like lightning, swiping with his paw and smashing their heads into pulp!

If there were any more fish that slipped through the net, a flash of bronze sword light would streak from Li Qingyun's hand. Infused with spiritual power, the sword aura became razor-sharp, and the Corpse Dogs fell like weeds.

Zhao Yifan was reluctant to use the Thousand-Year Peachwood Sword on his back. He mainly relied on throwing talismans, striking with his palms to knock back any Corpse Dogs that drew close.

His movement techniques and footwork were rather impressive, yet he refused to waste even a thread of spiritual power, fully displaying the instincts of an old hand in the martial world.

The two elderly men from the Four Seas Pavilion caravan who had "entered the Dao through unorthodox paths" also began to reveal their supernatural abilities.

One elderly man with a goatee bit open his finger, smeared blood on his forehead, and rapidly chanted an incantation. Dense white fur swiftly grew over his cheeks, his eyes became increasingly crimson, and the nails on all ten fingers stretched out by a large span, sharp as fox claws.

He looked as though he had become an entirely different person!

The old man let out the shrill cry of an old fox. His figure moved as swiftly as a fox's trail, and at the edge of the Dao Lord's clear radiance, he swept his claws out, overturning and tearing apart the Corpse Dogs and Rotten Wolves charging into the protective barrier of light!

When a Corpse Dog lunged and bit the old man, corpse poison and green blood flowed from the wound. Yet he seemed utterly unaware of it, and his movements were unaffected.