Yellow-Robed Old Daoist

Other than being startled by that sudden earth-shaking roar, Liao Xiaojin was completely unharmed. Zhou Qing could not help feeling a little envious. As expected of someone with the bloodline of the ancient demon god Chi You! Even my Golden Silkworm Primordial Spirit was shaken, yet this fellow was perfectly fine.

A streak of yellow light flashed past, and a Yellow-Robed Old Daoist appeared beside the unconscious girl. The old Daoist was somewhat fat and not very tall, around five foot five. His hair and beard were both grizzled white, and he looked to be between fifty and sixty. Aside from his eye-catching Daoist robe, there was nothing remarkable about him at all.

Zhou Qing secretly sized up the old Daoist. His cloudy old eyes and the fluid, utterly unhurried movements he made with every gesture showed that he was a Daoist Sect expert who had cultivated to the realm of Return to Simplicity.

Why had he run into so many figures at the Transformation Stage? Were experts made of mud these days? Zhou Qing bitterly lamented his rotten luck lately; he kept stepping on iron nails.

Seeing the Heavenly Seal plummeting from the sky, the Yellow-Robed Old Daoist snorted coldly. A gigantic palm emerged from above his crown and viciously seized the great seal.

With a slap, the two-meter-wide seal was caught by the enormous hand formed from the Yellow-Robed Old Daoist's True Essence. A burst of incomparably pure mystic Sect clear light flickered within that hand, and the great seal immediately reverted to its original form, shrinking into its three-inch-square body.

The Yellow-Robed Old Daoist rubbed his great hand together, and the Heavenly Seal Zhou Qing had forged with countless painstaking efforts turned to powder and drifted to the ground. The muscles on Zhou Qing's face twitched at the sight.

Pfft! Little Fox spat out a mouthful of blood. She had already been left dazed and disoriented by the Yellow-Robed Old Daoist's Demon-Subduing Daoist Sound. Now, the magical treasure closely linked to her Primordial Spirit had been destroyed by him as well. Her mind shook, and she was already injured.

After destroying the Heavenly Seal, the Yellow-Robed Old Daoist said nothing more and examined the girl's injuries. Zhou Qing had not struck heavily; he had merely knocked her unconscious, and the old Daoist could naturally tell. Only after seeing that the girl was all right did the severity in the Yellow-Robed Old Daoist's face ease somewhat. Pointing at Zhou Qing, he shouted, "You little demon brats! If this old Daoist had not happened to be passing through while traveling the four corners of the world, this perfectly good young lady would have been harmed by you."

Fortunately, Zhou Qing and Liao Xiaojin had destroyed the corpses quickly. Not even a speck remained of the three people who had just died. Otherwise, the old Daoist would have immediately acted to slay demons and eliminate devils.

Seeing that the old Daoist had no immediate intention of attacking, Zhou Qing stepped forward and said, "We were forced into it as well. Although these two disciples of mine are demons, they have never harmed anyone. This woman rushed over shouting that she would slay demons and eliminate devils. We had no idea what was going on, so we knocked her out. Daoist Priest, you can see that I did not strike heavily, can't you?" Zhou Qing said, half truthfully and half falsely.

Seeing Zhou Qing speak with such ease, the Yellow-Robed Old Daoist took a step forward. His eyes flew wide open, and a brilliant light shot forth from them. Where was there any trace of cloudy old eyes? A mountain-like pressure bore down on Zhou Qing and the other four. Dust billowed from the ground, trees trembled, and leaves showered down from their branches. Above the forest, a wisp of dark cloud drifted across the formerly clear sky.

"This old Daoist is formidable. He can actually stir changes in the heavens with his own power alone—he truly is an expert!" Zhou Qing fully circulated his Second Primordial Spirit to resist the Yellow-Robed Old Daoist's imposing aura, preventing it from reaching the three behind him. Liao Xiaojin was a freak, so that was one thing, but Zhou Chen and Little Fox were demons who had already been injured by the Demon-Subduing Daoist Sound. If they were struck by this aura carrying Daoist mystic light, they would surely be beaten back into their original forms.

When Heaven unleashed killing intent, the stars shifted and the constellations changed; when Earth unleashed killing intent, dragons and snakes rose from the land; when man unleashed killing intent, heaven and earth overturned. Qi Induction Stage cultivators relied entirely on their own breath of True Essence in battle, while Transformation Stage cultivators could use their own strength to draw upon the immense power of heaven and earth. With a lift of the hand or a turn of the foot, they could unleash thunderbolts, lightning, and Samadhi True Fire. Their might was immense, utterly incomparable.

With the Six-Winged Golden Silkworm and Nine Li Sacred Blood, Zhou Qing had forcibly raised his Second Primordial Spirit to the Transformation Stage. He was confident that, without relying on any formation, he could barely draw upon the immense power of heaven and earth and trigger changes in the weather. Yet he absolutely could not do so as effortlessly, as freely, and as gracefully as this Yellow-Robed Old Daoist. The old Daoist's cultivation and Daoist attainments were likely close to those of the Five Grandmasters of the age.

Though pressed by the old Daoist's aura, Zhou Qing was not having much difficulty. His Primordial Spirit had always been overwhelmingly powerful. Although the old Daoist's cultivation was a notch above his, trying to defeat him through aura alone was nothing but a fool's dream. Besides, Zhou Qing had another trump card. Even in a direct clash, he was confident he could remain undefeated. Still, Zhou Qing knew nothing of the old Daoist's true depths or what magical treasures he possessed. Zhou Qing was cautious by nature and never fought battles he was not sure of winning.

"Heaven's Dao trembles; a hundred ghosts roam. Great All-Encompassing Godly Fiends—slay immortals and devils alike!" Zhou Qing split off a thread of divine consciousness, silently recited the incantation, and slightly activated the Great All-Encompassing Godly Fiend Formation refined into the Blood-Devouring Divine Saber within his Primordial Spirit.

Hiss! An invisible suction force spread from the blade. The Yellow-Robed Old Daoist's powerful aura containing Daoist mystic light was shattered completely. The wisp of dark cloud above the forest vanished as well, and sunlight poured down, scattering mottled patches through the woods in a rather delightful sight.

The Yellow-Robed Old Daoist stepped back in surprise and carefully examined Zhou Qing, whose face was full of smiles and who looked harmless to man and beast. Then he sternly shouted, "So you are an expert of the demonic path. No wonder you act so recklessly! Since when did the demonic sect produce such a young expert?"

Zhou Qing's Second Primordial Spirit had already merged with his physical body, so the Yellow-Robed Old Daoist naturally could not see through his cultivation. He merely instinctively sensed that Zhou Qing's strike that had broken his aura faintly carried demonic qi, which was why he suspected Zhou Qing to be an expert of the demonic path.

The demonic path was the most mysterious and uncanny. It differed from demons; the difference between demons and humans was one of race, something innate from birth.

The demonic path, however, was a faction divided from human cultivators because their ideals differed.

On the path of cultivation, Daoism emphasized following the Heavenly Dao, blending oneself into heaven and earth to reach the realm of Union of Heaven and Man. The demonic path, on the other hand, acted wholly against Heaven. Above heaven and below earth, only I reign supreme; it cultivated the single word "I." One was Heaven, the other was I. Thus, the temperaments cultivated by each were different. Daoists were free and untrammeled, drifting upon clouds and riding the wind. The demonic path was kingly, tyrannical, strange, and unscrupulous.

Compared to the conflict between humans and demons, the clash between Daoism and the demonic path was even fiercer and bloodier. Daoist ideals ran deeper in people's hearts, while the demonic path was rejected by the world. Thus, the demonic path had always been at a disadvantage. Whenever one of its members appeared, endless pursuit and slaughter followed. Between Daoism and the demonic path, they could not live beneath the same sky.

Zhou Qing had been forcibly saddled with the label of a demonic path cultivator by this Yellow-Robed Old Daoist, and he was greatly displeased. Still, the Blood-Devouring Divine Saber truly was an artifact of the demonic path, and the Great All-Encompassing Godly Fiend Formation was reputed to have been the number one killing formation of the demonic path in its day. The Yellow-Robed Old Daoist had not wronged him.

In modern society, new ideas emerged one after another. Whether Daoism or the demonic path, both had become far more open-minded than before. Their views had gradually adapted to one another, and their conflicts had lessened considerably. The demonic path had also begun to become active again. Even so, if Zhou Qing openly raised the banner proclaiming himself part of the demonic path, he would at the very least draw the pursuit of ten Transformation Stage experts.

Zhou Qing immediately said stiffly, "Daoist Priest, your words are utterly without basis. I too belong to a Daoist lineage. How have I become a member of the demonic path for no reason at all? Could it be simply because I accepted two demon disciples?"