Immortal Masters

Seeing this, Shen Luo's heart tightened. Just as he turned to say something to the tiger-browed man, his expression changed drastically and he cried out.

"Move!"

Yu Meng also instantly sensed a shadow descending over him, but it was already too late to turn around. He could only grip his saber with both hands and thrust diagonally backward with all his strength.

A sharp metallic ring sounded.

The broad horse-chopping saber in his hands had been firmly caught between the jaws of the enormous Black Wolf, which had somehow leaped there. Metal screeched against its teeth, making one's teeth ache. No matter how Yu Meng tried to pull, the blade would not budge.

With a crack, the Black Wolf violently shook its head and bit down with its steel-like fangs, snapping the horse-chopping saber in two.

The instant the saber broke, Yu Meng rolled forward, narrowly evading the Black Wolf's claw. He shouted at Shen Luo, "Go!"

Shen Luo saw the Black Wolf's enormous claws, their tips gleaming black, blur into a mass of shadows as they raked toward Yu Meng's back. Gritting his teeth, he charged forward instead of retreating, taking two strides and slashing down with his saber in a streak of cold light.

He had put all his strength into that strike. The saber chopped directly into the Black Wolf's shoulder, sinking several inches deep.

Yet the Black Wolf's muscles and bones were far tougher than those of the Gray Wolves. Shen Luo's powerful blow embedded the saber directly in its shoulder bone. It could go no farther, nor could he pull it free.

Still, the pain slowed the descent of the Black Wolf's claw. Yu Meng seized the chance to roll sideways, then sprang to his feet with a kip-up.

Seeing this, Shen Luo decisively abandoned his saber and retreated, standing shoulder to shoulder with Yu Meng.

"This Black Wolf's body is too strong. I've lost my horse-chopping saber as well, so I can only barely hold it off. Take the chance to break through." Yu Meng gave Shen Luo a grateful look.

Without waiting for his reply, Yu Meng snatched up a saber from the ground and sent a Gray Wolf flying with one swing as it pounced at him. He immediately threw himself back into battle with the Black Wolf, but within moments fell into a disadvantage and encountered danger again and again.

In his desperation, Shen Luo's gaze suddenly fell on a flag lying on the ground, and an idea flashed through his mind.

Since the Black Wolf was so powerful that ordinary weapons could scarcely harm it, why not try the Minor Thunder Talisman?

Though he had never succeeded again in the real world, the situation left him no time to think. No matter what, he had to try something.

He quickly crouched down, tore the flag from its pole, and brought two fingers together. After dipping them in wolf blood from his body, he prepared to draw a talisman on the flag.

But he suddenly remembered something. Clenching his teeth, he wiped the wolf blood from his hand and bit open his own finger instead.

He took a deep breath. Without bothering to plant his stance or strike a pose, he began drawing the talismanic script across the flag with his joined fingers.

After all his previous practice, the script of the Minor Thunder Talisman no longer posed much of a problem for him. He completed it almost in a single breath.

The moment the script was complete, he grabbed the flag and turned to look toward Yu Meng.

Only then did he realize that in the span of merely seven or eight breaths, the situation nearby had changed considerably.

As more and more Gray Wolves climbed onto the wall, along with the Black Wolves among them, the defenders were forced steadily back toward the watchtowers on either side. Yu Meng and Shen Luo became increasingly isolated and helpless.

Quite a few Gray Wolves had already changed direction and joined the pack surrounding Yu Meng.

"Young Master..." A desperate cry rang out.

Following the sound, Shen Luo saw Yu Meng's four attendants. Nearly all were drenched in blood as they fought their way over from one side of the watchtower. But there were simply too many wolves atop the wall. Even if they threw away their lives, they could not break through.

He and Yu Meng had reached a dead end.

"Roar..."

A heaven-shaking roar rang out.

Shen Luo abruptly drew back his gaze and saw that Yu Meng had been forced to the edge of the wall by the Black Wolf, his entire body pinned against the inner side of the battlements. Behind the Black Wolf, two Gray Wolves stared fixedly at Yu Meng, poised to leap at any moment.

Yu Meng's situation had become critical.

"To hell with it!"

Shen Luo hardened his heart and charged toward Yu Meng.

As he neared the wolf, he leaped from the wall's crest and flung the flag bearing the Minor Thunder Talisman over the Black Wolf's head. The moment he released it, he immediately circulated the Minor Transforming Yang Art, channeling the Yang Gang energy within his body into the talisman.

The blood-drawn script on the flag suddenly lit up in white from the character "Lei" at the top, spreading downward. But after reaching halfway, it seemed to be abruptly cut off and instantly went dark.

"It... failed..." Shen Luo had already landed, and his heart sank.

Yet in the next instant, a tremendous boom suddenly sounded in the sky.

A brilliant bolt of white lightning descended from above and struck the Black Wolf's head beneath the flag.

The Black Wolf's head exploded like an overripe watermelon. Thick blue smoke billowed from it, carrying a scorched stench.

The headless wolf corpse immediately went limp and collapsed, pinning Yu Meng beneath it. The thunderous blast frightened the Gray Wolves behind it, which had been about to pounce, and they dared not approach for the moment.

"It worked? That power..." Shen Luo was momentarily dumbfounded, before his eyes lit up again.

"Rumble, rumble..."

But before he could rejoice, rolling thunder began to rumble repeatedly overhead. Bolts of white lightning as thick as arms flashed in the sky and crashed down one after another into the wolves atop the wall.

Wherever the lightning struck, threads of snowy-white electricity burst outward, lashing the wolves around it and tearing them to pieces.

Along with the lightning came the glow of fire. Crimson fireballs as large as measuring baskets fell from the sky, and the instant they struck the wolves, they splashed out broad sheets of scarlet flame that swallowed their entire bodies.

Amid the flames came crackling sounds and the heart-rending howls of the wolves.

In only a few breaths, every wolf on this stretch of wall had been annihilated.

Shen Luo looked up in a daze and saw seven or eight figures floating in the air above the wall. Some wore Daoist robes, some monk's robes, and others armor. Their attire varied, yet each seemed enveloped in a radiant treasure-light, making them appear extraordinarily imposing.

They continued casting spells, attacking the wolves on the other sections of the city wall.

"The immortal masters are here! The immortal masters are here!" Cheers erupted from the battlements near and far.

"We're saved, we're saved..."

"We held it! We held it..." Others wept with joy.

"Immortal masters... Are these... immortals?"

Shen Luo was completely stunned. There really were immortals who could fly through the air?

He abruptly came to his senses and looked carefully. Only then did he see that some held Seven-Star Swords made from strings of copper coins, some cradled gleaming Purple-Gold Alms Bowls, while others wielded bronze halberds, each performing immortal arts.

Among them, a short, plump old man dressed in magnificent golden silk garments stood out the most. Gray-white whiskers hung beneath his chin. He was dressed like a wealthy gentleman from the city, yet his performance was the most eye-catching.

With one hand forming a spell sign, he continuously sent forth yellow paper talismans with the other. As soon as those talismans flew from his hand, they ignited on their own in midair, and white pillars of lightning erupted from the flames to strike the wolves.

The old man cast spells with astonishing speed. Shen Luo could not tell whether he formed hand seals or chanted incantations, but he did notice that the old man had certainly never used Yuan Stones.

Only then did Shen Luo understand that the massive bolt of lightning which had saved Yu Meng earlier had not been the work of his Minor Thunder Talisman, but the result of this short, plump immortal master's intervention.