Yang Ying

"Yang Ying from the West Upper Courtyard versus Qin Suxin from the East Upper Courtyard!"

"Huh? Sword duel? It's been so long since I've seen sword duel in the Outer Sect selection."

"These two girls are amazing! To be proficient in all five arts in the high school entrance exam is extremely rare. Their talent is truly outstanding. And this year, three of them have emerged! Haha! It's truly a blessing from heaven for Emei!"

"Passing down all five arts? What's the point of fighting then? Just promote them all to the Inner Sect!"

"Lingyunzi has stabilized her cultivation and emerged from seclusion. She only accepts one personal disciple."

"Oh, that female cultivator is definitely worth vying for. I heard that the three elders, having comprehended the Heavenly Dao, cast a divination for Lingyunzi, predicting that their lineage has the opportunity to attain enlightenment!"

"As expected of the Qin Family! That Pifeng Biyue Palm technique was executed with crisp precision!"

"Hmm, I didn't expect the Outer Sect Disciple to fight so fiercely. Oh, Su Xin was able to retract her palm strike after it was launched; she has indeed cultivated deeply through countless trials. Moreover, she held back, and her virtue and Dao heart are quite good... Hmm!"

"Yang Ying! This is a fair sword duel between fellow disciples! Su Xin even stopped, yet you attacked from behind! Can't you accept defeat?!"

"Hmph, what a wicked creature! Our Emei sect has no place for elites with wicked hearts who would harm their fellow disciples! If you do it again, you will be expelled from the sect! Take her to the Cliff of Repentance to sober up! Let all of you take this as a warning!"

"... Suxin, you have done very well. From this day forward, you are an Inner Sect disciple of Emei Sect, and are given the courtesy name 'Nan'. From now on, you must uphold your Daoist principles and carry forward the Emei Sect's legacy..."

"Oh? She passed the college entrance exam! Quite talented! What? She's that Yang Ying from the Outer Sect? Her grades are indeed good, but I heard she's morally corrupt and her Daoist heart is impure. She's already so extreme now... sigh, I won't accept her."

"Yang Ying, your talent is truly a pity... I know you've repented over the years, but... how about I ask a retired elder, or perhaps introduce you to other fellow practitioners in the Xuanmen sect? You don't want to... well, then wait a little longer..."

"Yang Ying, it's been so many years, how come you're still shamelessly clinging to the upper courtyard and refusing to leave! I think you should just find a widower and marry him! To carry on the Yang Family line, so the line doesn't end, hahaha! Hahaha... Ahhh! Murder!"

"Yang Ying! You have repeatedly violated the sect rules, attacked fellow disciples, and shown no remorse! Now you have even caused someone's death! How can my Emei sect tolerate you! I should have killed you with one palm! You... Hmph! Enough, no need to beg anymore! Get out!"

"Oh, your skills are quite impressive. Which sect are you from? Ah? Emei? Yang Nanying? I didn't know you existed in our sect... Hehe, whatever. You seem to have good aptitude. I have a newly deduced Daoist technique here. I wonder if you have the courage... What? You want to become my disciple? You want to return to Emei? Hehe, alright! If you can master this technique, I'll give you that chance!"

"You've really mastered it! Excellent! Excellent! My deduction was correct after all! Hahaha! Hahaha! Cangbi, you idiot! Let's see what you have to say now!"

"Going to Yinshan? What, to find a snow lotus for your boy's breakthrough? Hmph, how many times have I told you, he's already sixteen! You still can't bear to let him face his tribulation on his own! Protecting him in everything, he'll never amount to anything! He's been spoiled rotten by you women, what a waste of time!"

Alright, alright, the sword forging is almost finished. I need to keep an eye on it. Nan Ying, you should hurry back. Remember to stabilize your cultivation level and don't rush things. This is a new technique after all; it still needs some refinement and practice...

Don't worry, once you've established a solid foundation, I'll personally take you back to the Golden Summit and let those old fogies see for themselves what a gem Emei almost missed! We'll teach that old bastard Cangbi a lesson! Hehehehehe!"

Li Fan opened his eyes, rubbing his cheek. His head was buzzing from the kick. Damn it, he had a concussion. But Mo Shan's body was really tough. If it were anyone else, their head would probably explode from a kick from a Nascent Divine Transformation.

Wiping away the blood from his nose, he pushed aside the pile of bones beside him again and looked at the 'Non-Thing' in the shape of a white-haired woman in front of him. Yang Nan, no, according to the other party's self-proclaimed name, was 'Yin Mountain Yang Ying'.

At this moment, 'Yang Ying' did not take advantage of Li Fan's brief moment of shock to attack. Instead, she made hand seals, floated in mid-air, her eyes wide open, her pupils reflecting the Tai Su Qiankun in the sky. The black and white celestial robes formed from the baleful aura intertwined on her chest, moving without wind.

The primordial vortex of evil energy, resembling the yin and yang fish in the sky, was being drawn into the body with each breath, not only through the mouth and nose but also through the pores of the entire body.

Li Fan did not rush forward immediately, but instead looked through the blood infant's eyes at the scene within 'Yang Ying's' primordial spirit.

The Blood Infant had infiltrated the opponent's body during the battle, but it had not yet completed the implantation and parasitism. Through the Blood Infant's golden eyes, Li Fan could see two enormous storms, one black and one white, merging and converging within Yang Ying's divine court, with a figure seemingly at the center of that storm.

However, blocked by the storm, the Blood Infant could not get close for the time being, and could only send back scattered fragments, and hear the echoes of those shattered memories that once belonged to Yang Nanying of Emei in the gale. These were the noises that Li Fan heard when he briefly fainted earlier.

Well, that 'Emei Yang Nanying' certainly has good aptitude and comprehension, and her Dao heart isn't exactly bad either, but her luck is probably really... sigh... In short, her soul has been completely shattered and has now become nourishment for the newly born 'Yin Mountain Yang Ying'. Right now, 'Yang Ying' is digesting what's left after 'Yang Nanying's' human heart and Dao heart collapsed—human memories, human soul, human knowledge. Therefore, she hasn't fully mastered the Emei Daoist methods yet, nor has she fully mastered her own power.

However, if it drags on any longer, and the Non-Thing completely transforms into a demon or god, or even develops 'human intelligence,' then things might really get out of hand.

Damn it, as expected of someone who practices too much cultivation; if the effects of the Moon Worship aren't reversed by the morning of the second day, there's no hope...

Li Fan twisted his neck, making a cracking sound, swung his arms a couple of times, and felt that his body was not seriously injured. However, he was not in a hurry to rush up and use the Ghost Hand again.

The Ghost Hand used to be incredibly effective, almost always resulting in an instant kill. However, this time it was countered, and Li Fan nearly suffered a defeat. He realized the technique's weakness.

The attack range is too short, only one arm's length. The strength of the Mountain Lord's Ghost Hand is that it can concentrate all the pure power of the Tai Su Dao Body into one claw. Of course, it doesn't necessarily have to grab; punching, slapping, and poking are all possible. However, the power must be generated using the Dao Body, with the shoulder and arm exerting force, and direct contact is required. It is pure melee physical damage.

However, if you want to use palm strikes, qigong, or long-range attacks, you can't utilize the full benefits of the Dao Body. In fact, it's not as powerful as Emei's Pifeng Biyue Palm or the Dalu Jing Tian Finger Technique.

Therefore, the essence of Ghost Hand is to deliver the strongest destructive power to a single point at close range.

Therefore, when using the escape technique to kill someone instantly, it is indeed possible to kill one by one, tear one to pieces. However, if he cannot kill one in one go, his own position will be too close to the opponent. If a target that even the Ghost Hand cannot kill launches a counterattack, Li Fan himself will certainly not be able to dodge and will definitely suffer serious injuries.

This is a life-for-life technique. Although the Tai Su transformation of the Mo Shan lineage means having more life than anything else, they can afford to exchange their lives for it.

So the problem now is that beheading doesn't work on 'Yang Ying'. Even without a head, it can still launch a counterattack. Moreover, its strength, cultivation, and even intelligence are rapidly increasing, and it has recovered to the Transformation Stage. Li Fan can't recklessly rush in and use Ghost Hand for the time being.

We need to find the core of this 'Non-Thing'. Since it's neither a head nor limbs, it must be hidden inside the torso. Moreover, the opponent immediately used black and white Qiankun Sha Qi to weave the Tai Su Tian Yi to protect itself. Obviously, the 'Non-Thing' has no sense of shame and wouldn't care about exposing its three points. So it's very likely that it was protecting its vitals.

Does the Tai Su Heavenly Robe protect the body with malevolent energy?

The effects of those Tai Chi spiritual energy skills and magical artifacts are now limited...

This makes things even more complicated. Li Fan's current mastery of baleful energy is very superficial; he mainly uses it to convert into True Essence of Returning to Emptiness. The Ghost Hand technique is too risky, and using sword energy and palm force to attack the protective baleful energy would likely have limited effect. Perhaps he could use the Dalu Jing Tian Finger to inflict penetrating true damage, but Non-Thing obviously don't have human meridians and acupoints to target. If the opponent loses their head and it grows back, it's as easy as playing a game. The 'true damage' of the Heavenly Finger is practically a mosquito bite...

So Li Fan carefully considered his current methods, and with a flick of his wrist, he pulled out a brick.

If we're talking about the strongest weapon Li Fan currently possesses, it's probably this brick that Manifestation gave him, after all, it's from the Transformation Stage.

Besides, this brick had already been damaged once and its cultivation level had dropped, so there's nothing to feel bad about it being further polluted by evil energy.

Just as they were about to make their move, Qianchun and Han Jiu ran over.

"Aruba, you're still alive!" "It seems Emei won't recover for a while. Let's run!"

Li Fan glanced at them with surprise. "You guys can leave. I need to deal with it."

Qianchun exclaimed anxiously, "Are you crazy?! Why bother with that Emei sect?! Just return the hostages to her and we'll slip away!"

Han Jiu nodded repeatedly, "We still have military orders to follow! Besides, I've heard that too much evil energy can kill people! The Emei people are even more wicked than you when they cultivate demonic arts! Don't be courting death!"

Qianchun: "Yeah... what do you mean! What do you mean by 'more sinister than us'! Do you think I'm ugly or something!"

Li Fan impatiently pushed the two away, "You can't escape. At this rate, it will stabilize its foundation and fully repair its Dao body by dawn, and recover its mind and spirit, allowing it to unleash its full power! Its cultivation will be a hundred times greater than before! If you don't know any escape techniques, how can you escape its grasp?"

"If you've got the guts, then all of you should join forces and create some opportunities for me. If you're not, then you can leave. I don't have time for you guys!"

The Qianchun and Han Jiu exchanged a glance.

"Aruba, you suddenly speak Chinese so fluently..." "Did you hit your head and suddenly have a breakthrough?"

Li Fan rolled his eyes, too lazy to pay them any attention, picked up a brick and pounced on them!

He also gathered the evil energy and condensed it into armor. At the same time, he seized the opportunity and used the Ghost Hand, gathering all the strange power of his body, and smashed the brick towards Yang Ying's chest with a 'bang'!

Throw! The oldest and most powerful move of the beast known as 'Man'!

With a loud 'bang!', the sound of a brick breaking the sound barrier was deafening—even a cruise missile couldn't have achieved that! The Divine Transformation stage flying brick hurtled towards them like a meteor, instantly carving a scorching path through the air!

Yang Ying, having developed some intelligence, suddenly realized the terrifying destructive power of Li Fan's flying brick attack! Her eyes flashed and instantly regained their clarity. She tried to sidestep and dodge, but she only managed to turn her shoulder before the Golden Brick smashed into her chest! It shattered her protective aura with a bang, turning half of Yang Ying's left shoulder into dust!

Yang Ying looked down at her shattered wound and screamed in shock and anger.

Li Fan used his stealth ability to catch up with the Golden Brick that had been pierced through his body and was covered in blood and mud. He then used his Ghost Hand to catch it and sense it.

The momentum consumption is huge. It seems this malevolent energy also has a protective effect against physical attacks, but the Ghost Hand at full power can still penetrate it. Let's try again!

"Fuck XXX!"

Li Fan then threw the brick with all his might.

This time, 'Yang Ying' had a premonition, but the brick was too fast, and she couldn't completely dodge it. Her left chest hadn't fully recovered when the Golden Brick broke her true energy and shattered her right calf.

Li Fan also slipped over and grabbed the brick, charging up his third attack.

Yang Ying also realized that Li Fan would never give her a chance to recover her fighting strength, and screamed as she made a hand seal and waved it.

"Puyun Gaixue Style!"

The overwhelming malevolent energy swirled and transformed into a rain of swords, pouring down on Li Fan's head!

"Holy crap!"

Li Fan never expected that his opponent could manipulate spiritual energy with hand seals and directly control the surrounding malevolent energy!

He could only absorb the baleful energy into his body to temper his Dao body and refine his true essence!

Emei actually possesses such superior Daoist techniques! How is this any different from the Xuanmen Taiji Daoist techniques that utilize natural spiritual energy? Are you kidding me?!

But a whole bunch of black and white Sword Essence were really coming at him, no joke. Li Fan had no choice but to immediately abandon the casting and run away with his head in his hands! The demonic swords shot out wildly behind him! The chaotic swords fell to the ground like heavy spears, leaving the ground riddled with holes and the grassland rotten and in a mess!

"Chuanxue Piaoyun Palm!"

But the opponent wasn't satisfied with Li Fan's dodging and weaving in the rain of swords. Suddenly, a palm strike came through the air, passed through the rain of swords, and landed on Li Fan's shoulder, sending him flying dozens of feet away!

That's right, Yang Ying's left side of her body was shattered but then healed. She didn't care about exposing herself at all and slammed her left hand over!

The "Puyun Gaixue Style" and "Chuanxue Piaoyun Palm" are clearly Emei's combined attack techniques. One hand uses wide-range sword energy to force movement, while the other hand uses palm force to launch a sneak attack. Sure enough, it sent Li Fan, who had never seen this move before, flying.

However, Yang Ying's new skills were still developing and her strength was insufficient. Or perhaps she had just remembered this move and subconsciously used it in combination with other moves. As a result, this palm strike did not cause any fatal damage. It only shattered Li Fan's black ice armor and dislocated his shoulder.

"It doesn't hurt or itch!"

Li Fan gritted his teeth and reset his shoulder. He didn't dare to linger. Seeing that Yang Ying was pouncing at him again with sword energy in one hand and power in the other, he quickly moved aside and was chased by the rain of swords, running all over the place.

This is a bit troublesome, really a bit troublesome!

Li Fan's main cultivation technique, the <Huashu>, only allows him to refine baleful energy into True Essence of Returning to Emptiness. Moreover, this transformation is one-way; when fighting desperately, he dismantles True Essence of Returning to Emptiness into Dao Breath for use. The Northern Star Sword Qi, on the other hand, is entirely sword qi refined from Taiji spiritual energy. Under such circumstances, the only thing he can rely on is the transformation technique of the Ink Mountain Tai Su!

But to be honest, all Li Fan has learned so far about the methods of transformation in the Ink Mountain is to refine his body, accumulate some blood, gain more lives, and improve his hearing and sight. He even figured out how to stack armor on his own!

But looking at their opponent this time, 'Yang Ying', they are constantly absorbing 'Yang Nanying's' memories, and it's unknown what kind of strange new Emei Daoist techniques 'Yang Nanying' has learned! Now, as a 'genuine Non-Thing,' they can actually directly use baleful energy to perform rituals, which is much stronger than being a sheep in the first stage!

"Zuifeng Ganue! Pifeng Biyue!"

Holy crap!!!

Li Fan was still pondering how to respond when another unexpected change occurred!

That 'Yang Ying' actually figured out another combo move! And this time it's even more deadly! It's a damn escape technique!

That's right! It's an escape technique that goes hand in hand with the Pifeng Biyue- Covering Palm!

As Li Fan zigzag and scrambled to dodge the sword formation and palm strikes, Yang Ying suddenly dodged in a straight line, blocking Li Fan path! She unleashed a Pifeng Biyue Palm attack!

This isn't like Li Fan's style, where he casually practices a couple of moves to loosen up his muscles and bones whenever he has free time, or just kicks out a few techniques to warm up his hands and feet.

This is the ultimate killing move of the Emei Daoist, who Transformation Stage and whose power has reached its peak!

"Holy crap!!!"

Li Fan was slapped into the sky, flying wildly through the clouds. His ice armor shattered, the charcoal layer beneath him cracked like spiderwebs, and his internal organs shifted violently. His throat tasted metallic and sweet.

Well, Mo Shan's body is really sturdy. That slap blew up the ground, but it still couldn't break him...

But it's almost over. Li Fan feels like his whole body is about to fall apart; he can't withstand the next attack in this state. If his opponent catches up and lands another combo, his life will be over...

Suddenly! 'Quan Mao Ju' rushed up, grabbed the wildly flying Li Fan, and threw him onto the horse's back to catch his breath!

"Good brother! Here, have a Changchun Pill too!"

Li Fan is back in full force!

It's strange, though. Why didn't they seize the opportunity to pursue and kill them? What were they dawdling over?

Then Li Fan, still on horseback, saw that Yang Ying, halfway through the fight, had her attention drawn to something else. She was turning her head, looking towards the other side of the grassland, towards the pile of bones where they had just fought.

Han Jiu held the knife to the necks of the three women from the Yang Family, using them as human shields.

Meanwhile, Qianchun hid behind, one hand gripping his neck and the other supporting his feet, lifting Yang Family's Xuan'er high above his head and roaring.

"You crazy old hag from Emei! Stop right now! Spare our lives! Otherwise, we'll take this kid with us!"

Yang Ying tilted her head and glanced at the Yang Family members who were crying their eyes out, calling out "Master," "Xuan'er," "Brother Xuan," and "Sister Nan Ying."

So it sighed, raised its hand, and with a single palm strike, blasted the hostage that the Qianchun his head into a cloud of blood mist.

For a moment, the grassland was silent, save for the thick, fishy wind that carried the chilling, emotionless voice of 'Yang Ying'.

"Didn't I already say that from this day forward, there will be no more Emei Nan Ying, only Yin Mountain Yang Ying?"