Chapter 23: Battle

"I didn't think that you would know of us, Fellow Daoist Gu Yunyue. This is truly an honor." The hunch-backed elderly man's voice was extremely unpleasant, like pieces of rusty metal scraping against one another, striking the listener with a sense of discomfort.

The long-faced young man remained silent as his gaze slowly roamed over Han Li and the others, and, as he caught sight of Yu Menghan and Liu Le'er, his eyes lit up slightly as he extended his tongue out of his mouth to lick his thick upper lip.

Liu Le'er hurriedly ducked behind Han Li upon seeing this, and Yu Menghan was also quite disturbed to see this.

As for Gu Yunyue, she was feeling a little flustered. She had guessed that the Heavenly Ghost Sect wouldn't be willing to let things slide, but she didn't think that their pursuers would reach them so quickly, nor did she expect to be hunted by such a notorious pair.

However, as a cultivator with plenty of battle experience under her belt, she quickly regained her composure as she said in a cold voice, "Why are you attacking me on the border of the Prosperous Nation? Are you trying to instigate a war between our two sects?"

"Why ask a question that you already know the answer to? I'm sure you're already well aware of why we're here. We've received orders from Elder Qi to capture the perpetrator who killed his grandnephew, and that girl with the Yu surname," the hunch-backed elderly man cackled as his gaze crept over to Han Li and Yu Menghan.

Han Li was completely unfazed to hear this, but Yu Menghan's complexion immediately paled.

Gu Yunyue gave a cold harrumph and offered no response, but she was scrambling to think of a way out of this situation.

"There's no bad blood between us, Fellow Daoist Gu. As long as you're willing to hand over those two, we can let you go. What do you say?" the hunch-backed elderly man asked.

Gu Yunyue was someone of quite a lofty status in the Cold Flame Sect, so if possible, they wanted to avoid a conflict with her.

A cold look appeared on Gu Yunyue's face as she replied, "Fellow Daoist Han is a guest elder of our sect, while Yu Menghan is an inner court disciple. If I were to hand them over, our Cold Flame Sect would be regarded as the butt of all jokes in the cultivation world!"

"Alright, we gave you a chance! If you have a death wish, then we're more than happy to send you on your way!" the hunch-backed elderly man said in a cold voice.

The long-faced young man had already grown tired of waiting, and as soon as it became clear that a peaceful outcome was out of reach, he immediately sprang into action, sweeping a sleeve through the air to release a vast expanse of gray flames.

The gray flames instantly converged to one spot at his behest, forming a fiery gray vortex.

A fiery ghostly claw the size of a house reached out of the vortex, grabbing at Gu Yunyue and the others.

Gu Yunyue was already prepared for this, and she stomped a foot down onto the spirit ark, upon which it began to glow brightly once again as it shot back in a flash.

At the same time, she raised a hand to release a black longsword, which flew through the air as it transformed into a streak of black light that was 70 to 80 feet in length. The sword struck the palm of the fiery ghostly claw, only for a metallic clang to ring out.

Gu Yunyue was rather taken aback by this, and she immediately made a hand seal, upon which the streak of black light shrank to less than half its original size, but it had become far brighter and more piercing.

The black sword pierced through the fiery ghostly claw before emerging from the other side.

The ghostly claw instantly exploded into countless balls of fire, and the flaming vortex in the sky also dissipated.

An unnatural flush appeared on the long-faced young man's cheeks, and he threw up a mouthful of blood.

He let loose a furious roar as his eyes turned bright red, and he flipped a hand over to produce a black scroll.

A vast expanse of murky gray light then erupted out of his body, forming a smokescreen that made it impossible for anyone on the outside to see what he was doing.

At the same time, the hunch-backed elderly man also stomped a foot onto the ground, and a burst of inky-black light erupted out of his body as he released his enormous late-Nascent Soul Stage spiritual pressure.

Gu Yunyue's expression changed slightly as she withdrew her black longsword, and it circled around above her head as she intensely scrutinized her two assailants with her spiritual sense.

At this point, the spirit ark had already retreated to over 1,000 feet away, and only then did it come to a rest.

"Fellow Daoist Han, these two are extremely powerful and established cultivators of the Heavenly Ghost Sect. If the situation goes sour, take Menghan and Le'er and escape. I'll hold them off to the best of my abilities," Gu Yunyue hurriedly said to Han Li through voice transmission.

Even though she had caught the long-faced young man off guard and emerged as the superior party in that exchange, she knew that she was no match for the hunch-backed elderly man. As for Han Li, she didn't know the extent of his powers, so even if they were to join forces, there was no guarantee that they would be able to hold off their two opponents. Hence, her immediate thought was to flee.

Han Li offered no response as he stood on the spot, looking as if he hadn't even heard her.

Right at this moment, a sinister voice rang out beside Gu Yunyue. "Did you think you can get away?"

Gu Yunyue's heart jolted upon hearing this, and all of a sudden, the black light around the hunch-backed elderly man suddenly exploded, while his body transformed into a gray skeleton.

Gu Yunyue faltered slightly upon seeing this, and a hint of surprise also flashed through Han Li's eyes.

Immediately thereafter, violent spatial fluctuations erupted in the air above the spirit ark, following which a beam of inky-black light shot out without any warning, and the hunch-backed elderly man was standing right within the black light.

He raised his hands, and a giant golden pagoda that was over 100 feet tall appeared in front of him out of thin air amid a flash of golden light, then came crashing down viciously toward the spirit ark.

A burst of terrifying pressure descended from above, and the spiritual light on the surface of the spirit ark rippled in an unstable manner, looking as if it were on the verge of collapse.

Gu Yunyue gave a muffled groan as she made a rapid series of hand seals, casting a string of incantation seals into the black longsword above her head.

The black longsword trembled violently, releasing countless sword projections that swept toward the golden pagoda.

A string of violent explosions rang out as the countless sword projections struck the giant pagoda in rapid succession, only to be shattered upon impact without leaving so much as a single mark on the pagoda itself.

However, the speed of the pagoda's descent was slowed down.

Gu Yunyue took advantage of this opportunity to release a burst of silver light out of her hand. It was a silver handkerchief that rapidly expanded while radiating dazzling silver light.

A projection of mountains and rivers appeared on the surface of the handkerchief, and it was giving off astounding spiritual qi as it positioned itself beneath the giant pagoda, further slowing its descent.

Gu Yunyue's expression eased slightly upon seeing this, and a cold look appeared in her eyes as she switched to a different hand seal.

The black longsword immediately began to glow with dazzling black radiance while swelling drastically in size, transforming into a giant black sword that was 50 to 60 feet in the blink of an eye before hurtling toward the hunch-backed elderly man at an incredible speed.

A cold smile appeared on the elderly man's face as he released an incantation seal, and the base of the golden pagoda opened up with a resounding boom, revealing a black hole.

Blinding golden light erupted out of the hole to form a giant golden halo, which released a burst of terrifying suction force that sucked in everything within a radius of several hundred feet.

The giant black sword immediately stopped cold in its tracks, then flew toward the hole at the base of the golden pagoda, unable to resist the suction force.

Gu Yunyue was struggling desperately to stabilize the giant sword, but to no avail, and after just two or three seconds, the giant sword was completely sucked into the golden pagoda.

Gu Yunyue's heart sank as her spiritual connection with the black longsword was completely severed.

The golden light radiating from the giant pagoda became even brighter, and it continued to descend amid a burst of loud rumbling.

The surface of the silver handkerchief began to collapse downward, and under the enormous suction force released by the giant golden pagoda, the mountain and river projections on its surface began to warp, looking as if it were about to be sucked into the pagoda as well.

Gu Yunyue hurriedly made a hand seal, then thrust both hands toward the handkerchief and rapidly injected her magic power into it.

Bright silver light radiated from the mountain and river projections on the surface of the handkerchief, and it was finally stabilized again.

Right as the hunch-backed elderly man raised his hand to continue his attack, a loud boom suddenly rang out in the distance as the gray light around the long-faced young man exploded.

A black scroll was hovering before him, and it was none other than the one that he had summoned earlier, except at this moment, it was already unfurled. There were countless ghostly entities drawn on the scroll's surface, and it was radiating piercing black light.

"Stand down, Brother! I'm going to punish this bitch for hurting me and make her wish she was dead!" the long-faced young man roared as he glowered at Gu Yunyue with a resentful expression.