At the same time, a glimmer of light flashed within his sleeve, and the plain, unadorned walking stick quietly appeared in his palm.
His right hand moved swiftly through the air, writing ancient, artless divine script. The strokes flowed forth, concealing the trajectories of the Great Dao, profound and unfathomable. A moment later, a talisman condensed in his palm, eerie light rippling across it.
With a raised hand, he slapped the talisman into the walking stick. At once, the staff gleamed with dark gold radiance, somber and profound, too dazzling to look upon directly. Then a blazing, eye-searing pillar of light shot into the heavens, spanning billions of miles of empty space.
The walking stick soared up and spun once through the air, carrying the Momentum of Ten Thousand Jun as it cleaved straight down at the Pride Devil Master's crown!
"Humph! You still want to use the same old tricks to scheme against me?!"
Seeing this, the Pride Devil Master flew into a rage. A nameless karmic fire rushed straight toward the crown of his head, and green smoke rose from all eighteen heads at once. The forehead of one head split open with a hiss, its vertical eye snapping wide open. Purple qi revolved like a wheel, bright as a full moon hanging in the sky.
A purple rainbow shot out from its pupil, faster than lightning, stabbing directly at Laozi's face!
Yet Laozi seemed wholly unaware. He merely began to recite slowly:
"Giving, then regretting it; borrowing things and occupying them long without return; coveting undeserved gains and forcing one's strength into reckless deeds; desires without restraint, a ruthless heart behind a kindly face; feeding others filthy food, beguiling the masses through Heterodox Paths; using short rulers and narrow measures to cheat others, light scales and small