Chapter 356: Every Last One of You is Trash! Crushing Like Rotting Wood! The Little Bridge of Helplessness! Two Terrifying Tales of Fengdu!

A mysterious elder of the Yang Spirit third realm and the lingering soul of Mount Youming’s legendary founding Ancestral Master were both titans of the Demonic Dao.

Suddenly, both of them were dumbfounded as Li Yanchu pulled a yellow talisman from his robes. In that instant, an aura of domineering thunder and lightning burst forth!

“Five-Lightning Pure Yang, True Law of Heaven and Earth, kill!” His gaze turned icy cold.

Boom!

Boom!

Heaven itself split with thunderbolts, and real lightning fell from the vast void above. The world turned blinding white, so dazzling that no one could keep their eyes open!

When vision finally returned, on the ground lay only a shattered corpse. That once-formidable Dao-robed elder, so full of terrifying aura, had been obliterated. His body and soul were destroyed, before he could even leave behind a scream.

In the end, borrowed power could never compare to one’s own true strength. Even Old Ghost Wusheng felt a deep chill of dread in his heart!

“Five-Lightning Spell!?”

He never imagined that this young Daoist could be so ferocious. In an instant, even Old Ghost Wusheng himself was shaken, his very soul rattled.

Just then, the corpse below flared with a streak of bluish-red light. That was a fragment-soul of Old Ghost Wusheng!

Li Yanchu’s blood and qi roared skyward like a blazing furnace, as he hurled out a single punch. Its vast and domineering intent shattered that fragment-soul outright!

Li Yanchu’s only thought now was to rescue Fang Qinglan. He no longer cared how much chaos he stirred within Fengdu, so he unleashed a five-times enhanced Five-Lightning Talismans.

As for trump cards, it wasn’t that he meant to single anyone out, but the truth was, to him, the two present were nothing but trash!

He strode before the white sphere of light, sensing the familiar aura within, and his heart eased somewhat. Though he could not yet understand how Fang Qinglan, once just a wandering swordswoman of the

jianghu

, could now wield Daoist arts and venture deep into Fengdu, there was no time to ask.

Pure Daoist spiritual power surged through his body, as he invoked the Clearheart Jade Pendant.

“Open!” He pointed with a single finger, and that dense white sphere, which was hard as iron walls and solid as copper ramparts, split apart to either side!

Daoist art: Wallbreak!

This was a divine technique recorded in

The Yellow Court Classic

, and at last, it had found its use here!

But, Li Yanchu froze for a moment. Within was a white-clad woman, her aura cool and aloof. It was none other than Fang Qinglan!

Fang Qinglan herself looked slightly stunned. Why had the Ground-Sealing Art unraveled on its own!? When her eyes fell upon Li Yanchu’s handsome, youthful face, her gaze softened and filled with emotion.

So, it had been him fighting outside all this time!?

Fang Qinglan stepped out from the prison-like circle, her expression somewhat complicated.

Li Yanchu’s momentary pause was because Fang Qinglan felt so incredibly familiar to him. Though her features were somewhat altered, her aura was exactly the same. She was the one who, back in the Blissful Land of Mount Jinting, as a living mortal, was the very first to board the Daoist ferryboat. She was the veiled woman in white!

They had crossed paths by the Tongtian River, and later again amidst the chaotic scramble for immortal fate in the great plaza. That aura, that presence... it was identical!

Li Yanchu drew in a deep breath. He had already steeled himself for the revelation that Fang Qinglan knew sorcery; after all, a mere

jianghu

swordswoman could never have entered the secret realm of Fengdu.

But now he understood that Fang Qinglan was that veiled woman in white from Mount Jinting’s Blissful Land. This revelation was something Li Yanchu had never expected!

She once entered the Blissful Land of Mount Jinting alongside me? How could this be!?

He drew in another deep breath, then swept up the magic artifact from the ground with his Divine Astral Hands, pulling it into his palm.

Turning toward Fang Qinglan, he said firmly, “Go! This place is no place to linger!”

Li Yanchu’s voice was low and grave.

Fang Qinglan felt a strange sense of déjà vu; just as before, when the second master of the Five Lakes Gang had threatened her, he had appeared the same way, to save her.

Boom!

Boom!

A thousand-year-old yin tree loomed atop the city walls, its branches twisting alongside a monstrous ghostly face.

“It’s those two fiends again!” Li Yanchu frowned.

And not only that, from within the ancient city, several more chilling auras surged toward them. Each was a being steeped in death-qi and bitter resentment.

Just then, Li Yanchu’s gaze turned icy cold. Together with Fang Qinglan, he charged outward.

Everywhere in Fengdu was saturated with killing intent. Though the outside was hardly safe, within this ancient city there was an ever-present, soul-chilling sense, as though some horrific, malicious gaze was constantly fixed upon him.

Fang Qinglan followed close behind, but suddenly, her face turned pale. Her steps faltered, and her body nearly collapsed.

“What’s wrong!?” Li Yanchu asked.

“I was struck by the curse of a monkey-faced wraith, which nearly had my soul scattered.” Fang Qinglan’s cold voice carried no concealment, and only raw hatred toward that monkey-faced creature.

“Hm?” Li Yanchu raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly, a thought struck him. He asked Fang Qinglan, “Is there a way out of Fengdu?”

There was a trace of expectation in his eyes as he spoke. Since Fang Qinglan had entered Fengdu alive, whatever her reasons, she must surely hold some means of leaving.

“According to the ancient texts,” Fang Qinglan explained, “There is a place in Fengdu known as the Little Bridge of Helplessness. It has ties to the legendary Bridge of Helplessness[1] in the underworld. It was fashioned by a mighty cultivator who favored such things. The Little Bridge of Helplessness serves as a gateway between the worlds of yin and yang, it is an exit from Fengdu!”

As they hurried along, they discussed their plan.

Li Yanchu quickly understood what she meant. The passage beneath the pool he had taken earlier was only a one-way path. But the Little Bridge of Helplessness was a two-way passage. With the aid of Yinde Money of the underworld, one could return directly to the living world.

At the city gates, two terrifying figures crouched atop the walls, their cold, piercing eyes locked firmly onto Li Yanchu. The strange emotions within those gazes grew more and more vivid, becoming increasingly human-like.

Especially that millennial evil tree, it was practically like a living man! But on its roots hung countless human heads, the faces of the dead. Who knew how many had been devoured by it... No, how many

ghosts

it had consumed!

At that moment, Li Yanchu’s fighting spirit boiled over, his courage surging ever forward. He still had two uses left of the five-times enhanced Five-Lightning Talisman. Whoever dared block his way, he would strike them down!

Together, he and Fang Qinglan raced through the ancient city, rushing toward the Little Bridge of Helplessness, that link between yin and yang. Through it, they could return directly to the human world!

The ghostly face, upon seeing Li Yanchu, twisted into a strange, icy smile. Countless arms woven from sinister yin qi surged forth like a storm, reaching to seize him.

To have cultivated to such a level, pure mindlessness was impossible. This was a being with intelligence, no longer a mere slaughter-driven corpse fiend or mindless ghost!

Clang!

Li Yanchu swung his saber in a single, devastating arc, a sweeping strike to clear the field. Scarlet radiance and saber-light intertwined, drenching half the sky in blood-red brilliance. The heavens glowed as bright as day as the ghostly face reeled from the blow, letting out a piercing, ghastly wail!

At the same time, the eerie corpses upon the thousand-year-old demonic tree, the grotesquely twisted cadavers entangled in its roots, seemed to all come alive. The sight was enough to make one’s scalp crawl. Enemies of this caliber were sheer terror incarnate!

“Five-Lightning Pure Yang, True Law of Heaven and Earth, strike!”

Boom!

Heaven’s lightning crashed down. The world turned white in an instant, bright as broad daylight. It was as if a dreadful lightning pool had opened above; explosions were booming in his ears, and the lightning’s weight shook the void.

Boom!

Again came Heaven’s lightning. The five-times enhanced Five-Lightning Talisman unleashed its overbearing and absolute wrath and divine might!

The millennial evil tree was blasted to pieces, and that terrifying ghostly face was likewise shattered apart. With a single strike, Li Yanchu had dealt crippling blows to two dread legends of Fengdu!

1. The Bridge of Helplessness is a legendary bridge in folk belief said to lead to the underworld. The Nai River is the name of the river in Buddhist teachings that flows through hell. It is said that after a person dies, if they are to be reincarnated, they must cross this bridge. There, they drink Meng Po’s Soup of Forgetfulness, which erases all memories of their mortal life before they are reborn into the next world. ☜