"Demonic aura?" The moment the brocade-robed old man made his move, Gu Zhao sensed a demonic aura. It was similar to Bai Ke's—though slightly different, the overall feeling was much the same.
"You're a mage?" the brocade-robed old man demanded, eyes wide.
The brocade-robed old man's expression darkened. He could tell that Daoist Yansong's Taiyi Windfire was formidable and did not dare touch it. But Gu Zhao was so young and stood beside Daoist Yansong, so he had instinctively looked down on him. He had not expected to kick an iron plate.
Gu Zhao nodded. "More or less."
"You and I bear neither grudge nor grievance. Return the Blood Spirit Pearl to me, and we will no longer involve ourselves in your feud with Xu Kongting. Otherwise, Three Absolutes Mountain will fight you to the death!" the brocade-robed old man threatened.
Bai Ke gave a soft cry. "Three Absolutes Mountain?"
Gu Zhao asked Bai Ke, "What sort of force is Three Absolutes Mountain?"
"It is also a major power in Changping Prefecture. Its leader is a great demon who delights in killing people, eating flesh, and drinking blood," Bai Ke replied.
Gu Zhao nodded, showing not the slightest concern. Instead, he pulled out a sheet of yellow paper and chanted, "Eyes like sun and moon, opening and closing Heaven and Earth. Once the One Origin is arranged, the Four Images are complete. Yin and yang transform—Spirit Transformation of Supreme Clarity."
The yellow paper turned to flying ash. Supreme Clarity Spirit Transformation took effect!
Gu Zhao did not merely apply a Supreme Clarity Spirit Transformation Talisman to himself—he also applied one to Daoist Yansong.
"Whoosh—"
The Taiyi Windfire surged forward like a wall, its wind and flames growing threefold fiercer.
The white-robed Xu Kongting and the brocade-robed old man's expressions changed dramatically. They retreated at full speed and shot out through the ancestral hall's window.
Yet the instant they emerged, they felt that the sky had grown darker still. The sun was no longer shining through a thin mist; it was as though it had been directly blocked out.
The brocade-robed old man abruptly looked up and saw a small cloud gathered above their heads. It blocked the sunlight, while faint purple light flickered within it.
The brocade-robed old man leaped up to flee, but the moment he moved, he discovered that Taiyi Windfire had already filled every direction around him.
After leaving the ancestral hall, Daoist Yansong swept his sleeve and transformed again. His face became black, his brows stood upright, his eyes were round, and fury burst forth from him. With all his strength, he used Taiyi Windfire to shroud the surrounding heaven and earth, forming a prison of wind and fire that trapped both ghost and demon at its center.
The violent wind and fire made the brocade-robed old man's clothes curl and burn, and he could not help crying out, "Just who are you people?"
Xu Kongting looked at the thundercloud overhead, then at the wind and fire around him. His face turned even paler as he gritted his teeth and sprang toward the dried-up well beneath the old locust tree.
The next instant, a death warrant of a voice came from behind them. "Heavenly thunder, earthly thunder, resound and shake the eight directions. Crush mountains, topple peaks, and fiercely pierce the vault of heaven."
Boom!
More than a dozen bolts of lightning suddenly descended from the thundercloud, striking at the brocade-robed old man and the mouth of the well.
With a furious roar, the brocade-robed old man's body swelled three feet taller, bursting apart his brocade robes and revealing the true form of a yellow ape over two meters tall. He stacked his arms above his head, demonic aura billowing from his entire body as he forcibly endured the heavenly lightning.
A dense corpse aura suddenly rose from the well mouth, forming a visible black-red mist. Layer upon layer, it spread around the well mouth, protecting the dried well so tightly that not even a drop could seep through.
The next instant, lightning and fire intertwined—purple lightning and golden radiance, crimson flames and black smoke, blazing ten thousand zhang high!
"Eh? There really is Killing Intent!" Daoist Yansong withdrew the Taiyi Windfire, his eyes lighting up.
Several strands of Killing Intent were drawn into the Thunder Seed within Daoist Yansong's Sea of Consciousness. They were then converted into streams of spiritual power that merged into his body, accelerating his cultivation and enhancing his cultivation base.
Gu Zhao sensed it even more deeply, because the Five Thunder Token not only enhanced his cultivation but had also begun condensing a new Thunder Seed.
"Are they both dead?" Xiuniang asked softly.
"That old man is dead." Bai Ke flicked her tail. "His whole body—no, monkey—has turned into charcoal."
Just now, heavenly lightning had been overhead and windfire had surrounded him. Lightning and fire ravaged him in a pincer attack from all sides. Though the brocade-robed old man was not weak, half of the Thunder Driving Incantation alone had struck him to the brink of death. Then the Taiyi Windfire swept over him like a gale scattering clouds, turning him into a lump of charcoal.
In Gu Zhao's view, this old man was only on par with Ren Tianhe. With barely over a hundred years of cultivation, he wanted to withstand Divine Firmament Heavenly Lightning and Taiyi Windfire head-on?
As for Three Absolutes Mountain fighting him to the death, had that not just been resolved?
"What about that ghost in white?" Xiuniang asked.
Gu Zhao, Daoist Yansong, and Bai Ke all looked toward the dried-up well beneath the old locust tree.
Wisps of red smoke rose from the mouth of the well, accompanied by a thick stench of corpses. Then a voice grinding its teeth came from below. "You injured my divine soul and broke my Crimson Fiend Corpse Technique. I want you dead!"
The next instant, a figure suddenly rose from the well. He wore white robes and had bluish-black skin. Judging by his features alone, he was clearly the white-robed Xu Kongting from before.
Yet this figure differed from the one just now.
Earlier, Xu Kongting had broken through the Taiyi Windfire, then been struck by Gu Zhao's Palm Thunder. Even his ghostly body had begun to collapse, and his entire form had seemed rather illusory. But now, he clearly possessed a physical body; even the dirt on his robes and skin was plainly visible.
Moreover, although his aura was unstable, he was clearly stronger than the brocade-robed old man had been after revealing his true form.
However, when he saw the charcoal-black mass not far away—one that still visibly retained the shape of a towering ape—his whole body froze. "You killed Duke Huang Ping?"
"What, was he not killable?" Gu Zhao asked.
"He was the Yellow-robed Envoy of Three Absolutes Mountain!" Xu Kongting bared his teeth with a vicious snarl, furious and resentful.
Duke Huang Ping had died here. Three Absolutes Mountain would never let the matter rest, and even if he killed the three people and one fox before him, he would still be unable to escape Three Absolutes Mountain's reckoning.
"How does Three Absolutes Mountain compare to the Golden Wind Divine Cult?" Gu Zhao asked.
Xu Kongting could not help staring blankly. "You are people of the Golden Wind Divine Cult?"
The Golden Wind Divine Cult and Three Absolutes Mountain were both major powers in Changping Prefecture. Although Three Absolutes Mountain had three mountain lords, they would not dare underestimate the Golden Wind Divine King, who had been famous for decades.
"No." Gu Zhao smiled faintly. "I have already killed five protectors of the Golden Wind Divine Cult."
"What?" Xu Kongting's pupils constricted.
"By the same reasoning, if we kill you, who will know that we killed this ape?" Gu Zhao snapped his fingers. "Heavenly thunder, earthly thunder, resound and—"
Seeing the thunderclouds gathering once more overhead, Xu Kongting let out a piercing howl and lunged savagely at Gu Zhao.
"Whoosh—"
The wind rose, heat waves gathered, and Taiyi Windfire blew straight at him.
Crimson Fiend Corpse aura billowed around Xu Kongting. Confident that his corpse body was as hard as iron, he ignored the wind and fire battering him and forced his way through them, intending to slaughter the group through sheer martial force.
Although his Crimson Fiend Corpse Technique had been broken and he could no longer exert its full power, the people before him clearly did not excel in close combat. As long as he got close, he could use his diamond-hard claws to tear them all apart.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Yet just as he expended more than half his Crimson Fiend Corpse aura and finally broke through the Taiyi Windfire, several streams of Gang Qi containing Sun Moon Heavenly Light suddenly rose before him. They then transformed into waves of heavenly Gang Qi and surged toward Xu Kongting.
At the same time, Mana circulated through Daoist Yansong's body. With a sweep of his hand, the Taiyi Windfire grew ever denser, spiraling into a tornado that trapped Xu Kongting at its center.
The next instant, endless purple lightning poured down from the thundercloud!
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