A Mere Junior Dares to Fight Me, Daoist Lu, Alone? He's Simply Courting Death

Daoist Lu seized a few more people from the crowd and was about to throw them into the furnace.

Just then, a clear shout suddenly rang out from deep within the crowd:

"Everyone, run!"

It was the Fang siblings.

As the two shouted, they took the opportunity to crush several spirit pills Li Zhengjun had given them.

To deal with Devil Cultivators, the clan elders in the Yuyu Realm had considered every possible situation, including the use of Technique Methods to cloud people's minds. They had therefore prepared Qi Ingestion-level Heart-Clearing Pills.

Once crushed, the pills released their fragrance in every direction, instantly dispelling devilish enchantments at the Fetal Breath level.

The next moment, the grandmasters felt their minds clear, as though waking from a dream.

Even though the great hall was sealed shut and guarded by Devil Cultivators, the grandmasters' instinct to survive drove them to flee in all directions, searching for a way out.

Guo Xun, who was paying the closest attention, started and blurted out:

"How is that possible?! Master's devilish incantation actually stopped working!"

In an instant, the great hall descended into a boiling cauldron of chaos.

Daoist Lu was shocked and furious. At a time like this, someone actually dared cause trouble? He immediately roared:

"How dare you! Disciples! Capture this human livestock!"

The instant he focused his gaze on the grandmasters, a sudden chill ran through him.

Boom!

Lightning flashed!

Daoist Lu was a cultivator who had fought his way through the Shattered Star Sea. Acting almost on instinct, he scrambled and rolled away, unconsciously activating a displacement talisman just in time to evade the attack.

The gilded dragon throne behind him silently shattered in the lightning, sending charred splinters and gold leaf flying.

"Thunder Method!"

Daoist Lu cried out in alarm, then shouted:

"Who's there?!"

He had clearly ordered his disciples to search several times, and he had even hung the Void-Observing Mirror high overhead. How had a cultivator still managed to sneak in?!

How was that possible?!

He was a cultivator at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining, yet he had noticed nothing!

Everything had happened too quickly, so quickly that no one had managed to react.

But instead of an answer, he was greeted by several bolts of lightning.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Inside the great hall, it was as if a blazing sun had appeared before their eyes.

Seven or eight thunder talismans activated at the same instant, their lightning weaving into an inescapable net that sealed off every possible escape route.

Driven into a desperate corner, Daoist Lu gritted his teeth and activated the Blood Escape Technique, burning his vital essence and lifespan to turn into a streak of blood-red shadow. He barely slipped out at the last instant before the net of lightning closed.

Even so, he still took a hit.

By the time he landed unsteadily, half his body was numb. He hurriedly poured healing pills into his mouth, terror filling his heart.

"Damn it! Where... where the hell did this cultivator come from?! He's throwing thunder talismans around like they cost nothing!"

He had weathered his share of storms and knew how precious those thunder talismans were.

Every talisman required a talisman maker to use special paper and draw specific runes to contain their own magic power and Law Technique.

The Thunder Method was overbearing and exceptionally troublesome to inscribe. Even the cultivators of Listening to Thunder Island released very few thunder talismans each year.

That made the talismans very expensive, yet he had just taken the full brunt of seven or eight of them!

And every one of them was comparable to the Peak Qi Refinement level!

If he had not primarily cultivated physical techniques and had the Blood Escape Technique to fall back on, he would already have been reduced to a charred stump.

With his escape technique buying him a moment to breathe, Daoist Lu finally got a clear look at his attacker.

The cultivator who had looked honest and simple just moments ago had transformed into a sword-browed youth.

The youth's Qi presence rose steadily, while several thunder talismans circled him like swimming fish. His robes remained perfectly still amid the lightning.

Daoist Lu's four guardians had already formed an array and were about to trap and kill him, but five more figures suddenly appeared out of thin air beside the man.

The five stepped forward in unison, and the dawnlight surrounding them abruptly blazed brighter.

The light was neither fire nor lightning, yet it was fiercer than fire and more righteous than thunder. Brilliant as the rising sun, it illuminated the entire hall.

Daoist Lu's pupils contracted slightly.

These Technique Methods were extremely strange, unlike anything he had ever heard of, yet they looked astonishingly formidable.

"What Law Technique is this? I've never seen it before!"

Daoist Lu considered himself fairly knowledgeable. He had personally seen all manner of Dao Paths in the Shattered Star Sea, the great arts of the five elements-metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—and strange techniques of thunder, ice, wind, and ghosts. Yet he had never seen a Technique Method blaze with such brilliant light.

That strangeness, however, helped him steady his nerves.

These strangers had all displayed strength around the Qi Refinement Seventh Layer, and they used only thunder talismans, not the Thunder Method. They could not be cultivators from Listening to Thunder Island.

As long as they were not thunder cultivators from Listening to Thunder Island, why should he, Daoist Lu, fear a few juniors whose cultivation was lower than his own?

"Don't panic, disciples!"

His fierce shout rang through the hall.

"They're only a few juniors at the Qi Refinement Seventh Layer, and they aren't even thunder cultivators! All disciples, heed my command! Form an array and surround them!"

His voice carried throughout the imperial palace, and the disciples on the outskirts also rushed over to help.

Before his command had finished ringing out, Li Yuankai and the other three activated their array. Four pillars of pale golden light lit up simultaneously at the four corners of the imperial palace.

The pillars soared into the sky and linked together overhead, forming a faint curtain of light that enveloped the entire palace complex.

High in the heavens, what had been ordinary rain clouds now seemed to rumble with thunder.

Empowered by thunder patterns and stirred by the activation of the Altar Thunder talismans in the palace, the array began gathering lightning.

Altar Thunder was thunder commanded by an altar. It needed no dragon as an intermediary, nor did it rely on the collision of yin and yang. Instead, it drew upon mountains, rivers, and all things. Mountains could produce thunder, water could produce thunder, and the ghosts and gods commanded by an altar could all provide thunder. Thus it was said: make the body the altar, and Qi the command.

This array brought together the Li family's Altar Thunder Cultivation Method, so it now resembled an Altar Thunder cultivator, able to draw lightning from other things.

Anyone holding the array could use the Thunder Method.

And the one holding the array was naturally Li Zhengjun.

Since he had decided to catch this entire group of Devil Cultivators in one net, there was no need to waste any more words.

Though Li Zhengjun's earlier volley of thunder talismans had failed to kill Daoist Lu on the spot, it had damaged his foundation and forced him to use the Blood Escape Technique. It burned Essence Blood and consumed lifespan, weakening him with every use. Li Zhengjun would see how much lifespan he had left to squander.

As the Devil Cultivators swarmed toward them from within the palace, the Li family's disciples advanced instead of retreating. Law Treasures and talismans emerged one after another, supported by the Bright Yang Law Technique, and they fought the Devil Cultivators on equal footing.

Even though Guo Xun and the other three had formed an array, they still failed to gain the upper hand.

As Guo Xun struggled to hold on, his heart filled with regret.

What's going on?! I clearly searched so many times, and Master even used the Void-Observing Mirror. How did we still fail to find these six people?

In fact, there were not six of them. There was also Li Dongping.

But Li Dongping had only one task: protecting Li Zhengjun. Thus, he did not show himself, instead silently guarding this lord so that he could kill Daoist Lu and complete his undertaking.

A few breaths later, Li Zhengjun broke away from the fighting and was about to seek out Daoist Lu for a duel.

Unexpectedly, not only did Daoist Lu refuse to flee, he even dared to counterattack.

Confident in his own strength, Daoist Lu had no fear of this greenhorn.

For he had discovered that although the boy before him had many talismans and powerful Law Artifacts, he was ultimately only at the Qi Refinement Seventh Layer.

And the five guards were likewise no higher than the Qi Refinement Seventh Layer, currently locked in a prolonged fight with his disciples.

Beyond them, there was no one else.

A junior who had only just entered Late Qi Refining was facing an old cultivator who had reached Late Qi Refining many years ago. If that wasn't courting death, what was?

Daoist Lu sneered inwardly.

Perhaps he's some righteous sect's young master passing through, protected too well by his sect. He brought a few guards and thinks he can fight above his level. How utterly childish.

He snorted coldly and formed hand seals. Flames erupted around him and soared skyward, hurtling straight for Li Zhengjun's vital point!