Dignity existed only upon the edge of a sword!
Mo Chuan could see it now—these village children from the south were bullying him for being old and weak!
Since that was the case, he could only show them a thing or two.
"Wonderful! Sitting and discoursing on the Dao was inferior to rising and putting it into practice!"
The middle-aged Daoist who had first rebuked Mo Chuan slapped the table and rose, clasping his hands as he said:
"I am Chong Xuzi. I wish to seek instruction in your profound Daoist arts, fellow Daoist!"
As soon as he spoke, the whole gathering stirred, and quite a few people were tempted.
If they could show their faces here, perhaps word would reach the Prefect himself, winning them a boundless future.
Seeing that a contest of sorcery was unavoidable, Daoist priest Yi Qian, who had remained silent all along, finally spoke:
"Both of you, please calm yourselves!"
Yi Qian then turned and clasped his hands to the crowd.
"It is this humble Daoist's fortune that all of you have come today! As the saying goes, all who come are guests. If you wish to discuss the Dao, why not choose a fine day and seek out some exquisite place with winding streams and floating wine cups, fit for both letters and arms? Would that not be wonderful?"
Yi Qian played the peacemaker.
He did want to see what Mo Chuan was capable of, but this was ultimately his residence.
As the host, allowing his guests to fight in private would not look good if word spread.
Besides, Old Daoist Priest Yanzhen was so old that he was nearing the grave. Let alone a sorcerous duel, even a fall might send him riding a crane westward. Why invite trouble?
"Fellow Daoist Yi Qian speaks reasonably. This humble Daoist was too abrupt!"
Chong Xuzi clasped his hands toward Daoist priest Yi Qian, then looked coldly at Mo Chuan. "Fellow Daoist Yanzhen, why choose another day when today will do? Why not come outside with me now and have a match?"
Mo Chuan sneered. "This humble Daoist will accompany you to the end!"
Just as his voice fell, wave after wave of startled cries suddenly arose from the courtyard.
Looking up, they saw several Daoists staring in astonishment toward the southwestern sky.
Following their gazes, they saw a rolling mass of black clouds, as though born from the ends of heaven and corners of earth, emerging at the edge of the azure sky.
At first, the black clouds were extremely narrow, but like a great curtain being drawn open, they swiftly swept toward Changlan City, blotting out the sky and sun.
In the blink of an eye, black clouds pressed upon the city. The entire city darkened, as though light itself had suffered calamity!
The Yellow-crowned Buddhist disciples filling the courtyard watched the city-crushing black clouds sweep in with devastating force, their expressions solemn as though faced with an ill omen.
Changlan's citizens, who had been celebrating throughout the city, also looked up at the sky in confusion.
Was it going to rain?
"Rumble—"
Amid the crashing thunder, dark clouds spread thickly. A rift opened in the heavy black mass, and golden light poured down, revealing a vague silhouette.
That figure was draped in ten thousand rays of sunset glow, like a heavenly god descending into the mortal world.
The city's people fell silent at the sight. Then, someone shouted, "An immortal has revealed himself!"
In an instant, the entire city erupted. Countless people prostrated themselves on the ground, kneeling and worshipping without end.
The figure raised a hand.
The rolling black clouds suppressing the city suddenly stretched downward, whipping up black tornadoes that descended into the human world.
Those tornadoes did not sweep up flowers or grass, nor did they roll away tiles and rubble. Yet the moment they touched a person, they became like mountain leeches, sucking blood and marrow. In less than a moment, a living person was drained into a desiccated corpse.
The people who had just been kneeling in worship watched their family and friends turn into skeletons beneath the demonic winds. Their lungs and bowels nearly burst from terror, their livers and gallbladders shattered.
"D-demon—"
"This isn't an immortal, it's a demon!"
"Run!"
Panic spread across the entire city in an instant.
"Hey! What demon are you, daring to harm people in broad daylight?!"
An angry rebuke came from Yi Qian's Residence.
—it was Chong Xuzi!
As soon as his voice fell, he secretly formed a Dharma Seal. Golden light bloomed in his hand, and several talismans shot into the sky!
Everyone's eyes lit up at the sight.
Yi Qian's treatment was plain for all to see. They only hated that they had not been the ones to slay demons with a sword last night!
Now another great demon was causing trouble.
How could they not be delighted? How could they not be envious?
As for the great demon's imposing presence hanging high in the sky, it had long been obscured by their desires.
Or rather, the Yellow-crowned Buddhist disciples filling the courtyard had invisibly given them immense courage.
"Everyone, join forces and slay demons and exorcise evil!"
A Daoist shouted.
"Fellow Daoist Yanzhen, there is no need for you to act. Just watch!"
Even before battle, someone could not resist making a snide, sarcastic remark, drawing a burst of laughter that eased everyone's tension.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Streams of talisman light rose into the heavens, blazing across the sky beneath the darkness of the black clouds pressing upon the city.
The great demon sneered. With a shift of its body, it directly dodged the streams of talisman light.
It let those talisman lights vanish into the black clouds.
"Trifling talismans, and you think they can harm me?"
The great demon floating in the air wore a face full of mockery. It raised its head, about to summon poisonous black smoke, when fire suddenly flashed before its eyes.
A talisman appeared out of thin air!
Before it could react, the talisman flared brilliantly, transforming into a streak of azure light that swallowed it whole.
"Hehe, how does my Ghost Warding and Evil Slaying Talisman taste?"
Chong Xuzi gave a cold chuckle. Those words were less for the great demon high in the sky than for the fellow Daoists present.
Yet before he could finish speaking, his expression changed drastically.
As the azure light dispersed, the great demon was still suspended in the air, completely unharmed.
It suddenly lowered its head toward Yi Qian's Residence. Its entire body abruptly broke apart, transforming into black resentful souls that rushed toward the small courtyard.
By then, it understood that distance could not guarantee its life.
Before mysterious and unfathomable Daoist arts, distance was instead a path to death.
Once it was Curse Killed, it would not even have time to strike back.
"Th-this is a century-old Ghost Cultivation!"
Chong Xuzi's face changed drastically as he watched the great demon transform into resentful souls and charge over.
With his strength, even dealing with a Jiazi great demon was difficult, much less a century-old great demon.
No wonder it dared to run rampant in broad daylight!
Presumably, the blazing sun, scorching as fire to ordinary ghosts, had already become a source of Crimson Refined Sun Souls to it!
"Amitabha!"
With a Buddhist chant came a beam of Buddha's light.
As Chong Xuzi turned pale with fright, Abbot Tianbao pressed his palms together and struck out with a Demon-Slaying and Exorcism Seal.
At the same time, the Yellow-crowned disciples throughout the courtyard each displayed their own abilities, attacking to stop it.
Only a very few frauds passing themselves off as the real thing went deathly pale and turned to flee in panic.
It sounded slow, but it all happened with extreme speed.
In but an instant, the resentful souls had already closed in on the courtyard, while streaks of light flashed out from within.
Amid ear-grating collisions, both sides either dissipated into smoke or pierced through one another.
"Ah—"
A Daoist in the courtyard fell prey to the attack and let out a shrill scream.
Before his companions could offer aid,
his eyes abruptly filled with blood. He snatched up his Seven Star Sword and slashed at the fellow disciple beside him.
He had clearly been possessed by an evil soul.
—the resentful souls rushing over were not the great demon's true body at all, but one avatar after another.
"This one has come only for vengeance! So long as you hand over the person who killed my Qilin child, this one shall let bygones be bygones."
Amid the crowd's chaos, a voice filled with temptation drifted over.
"Such petty tricks, and you dare sow discord in hopes of taking this humble Daoist's head?"
Daoist priest Yi Qian, who had not spoken until now, suddenly raised a Money Sword and rapidly chanted an incantation.
"Goddess of Lightning and Duke of Thunder, swiftly descend with your divine power, urgent as the law commands!!!"
Crackle—
A lightning serpent suddenly flashed through the black clouds pressing upon the city.
Nearly half of the black tornadoes feeding upon the mortal world's blood and essence vanished at once.
"Rumble rumble rumble—"
Dull thunder rolled, and moments later, torrential rain came pouring down.
The great demon had never imagined that the black clouds it had summoned with such effort would become the Goddess of Lightning and Duke of Thunder for its enemy's spell.
"Let thunder come!"
Old Daoist Yi Qian raised his sword and summoned it!
Boom!
In an instant, rain poured down and lightning filled the sky, while the ancient, grating thunder roared like turning cartwheels.
A blinding bolt descended from the heavens and struck the Money Sword. From afar, it looked like a vast pillar of heaven, reaching straight to the Ninth Heaven.
"Go!"
Old Daoist Yi Qian locked his aura onto the great demon. As though wielding a pillar that upheld the heavens, he exhausted all his cultivation and slashed forward.
In an instant!
Leaping thunder and flying brilliance turned heaven and earth white.
When the light faded, beneath the rolling black clouds, the sky over the small courtyard had been cleansed spotless.
"It worked!"
Old Daoist Yi Qian muttered to himself. With a pfft, he could no longer support himself and dropped to one knee.
As the saying went:
Foremost among all arts was commanding thunder and lightning!
This was by no means an ability that an ordinary Yellow-crowned disciple could wield.
The reason Old Daoist Yi Qian could use it, apart from the wondrousness of his cultivation technique, was chiefly because he had borrowed the great demon's momentum.
It could be said that he would find it difficult to unleash such thunder again for the rest of his life!
Naturally, he had paid a grievous price for it as well.
Fortunately... it was all over.
"The demonic winds... the demonic winds are still devouring vital essence!"
Suddenly, a voice trembling to the utmost rang out from the crowd.
Old Daoist Yi Qian looked up. He was struck as though by lightning, and in his fury, blood rushed to his heart. With a retch, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
The black clouds pressing upon the city were still gathered thickly, surging and sweeping, covering the sky and sun.
Tornado after tornado ravaged Changlan.
Who knew how many citizens had been slaughtered, transformed into the great demon's blood food and reduced to cultivation resources.
"Apparently, Changlan City is nothing more than this. Had I known, why would I have sent Chai Ghosts to drive walking corpses? I have merely wasted my cultivation time for nothing."
A cold voice came from within the black clouds.
Through the indistinct haze, a green figure could be seen standing atop the peaks of clouds.
"...It's over!"
All color drained from Daoist priest Yi Qian's face.
The Yellow-crowned Buddhist disciples throughout the courtyard looked even more ashen, as though their parents had died.
How was this a century-old great demon?
It was clearly a Fifth Rank Ghost Immortal that had cultivated for three hundred years.
"Fellow Daoist Yi Qian, do you remember this humble Daoist once saying that this humble Daoist was skilled at treating ghosts?"
Just as everyone despaired, an aged voice drifted faintly over.
Before you continue