Chapter 378: Took the Wrong Turn, My Apologies! When the Moment Comes, One Must Be Bold! The Southern Vermilion Bird Fire Virtue Formation.

Her regret was boundless, she wished she could rip out her own intestines in remorse. If she could live her life over again, what revenge for a slain husband? What Daoist from Qingyun Temple? She wouldn’t care about any of it! She would stay far,

far

away from Wei City, and even farther from that woman!

The young scholar and the burly, bearded man were both Grand Stewards of the Bare Body Sect, their ranks second only to the Four Heavenly Kings themselves.

Yet even they, faced with a woman who could shatter a spiritual artifact with one hand and seize a manifested primordial spirit with ease, were utterly terrified!

They had seen the Sect Mistress take action before, but even she could not match this kind of dreadful, godlike power. Only a cultivator of the third realm, one who had formed a Yang Spirit, could possibly exude such overwhelming might.

The young scholar collapsed to his knees, his bones on the verge of shattering, blood streaming from his seven orifices.

The divine aura pressed down upon him like a mountain, and for those who practiced unorthodox paths like them, it was a hundred times worse!

His eyes turned pitch-dark, his lips moving rapidly as he chanted in a strange, guttural tongue. The incomprehensible syllables spilled from his mouth, and the crushing, mountain-like pressure upon his body eased slightly.

He pulled a talisman from his robe and poured his last spiritual strength into it. The runes upon it flared with an eerie light, then transformed into a streak of radiance, shooting straight into the depths of the cavern!

In that fleeting moment, he finally broke free from the suffocating divine oppression. His forehead slammed heavily against the ground, blood splattering across the stone.

“Zhang Jian, Grand Steward of the Bare Body Sect, humbly beseeches the descent of the Sect Master’s Dharma form!” the young scholar cried out, his voice hoarse and filled with desperate reverence.

Blood streamed from his seven orifices, and his face twisted into something grotesque and inhuman.

Rumble

!

A deafening roar erupted within the cavern, like the grinding of an enormous millstone turning in the depths of the earth. It felt as though everyone present had been plunged into a sea of corpses and blood, and a dense, suffocating aura of slaughter surged from the far end of the cavern!

At the same time, a piercing sound split through the air outside; someone was approaching fast!

The innkeeper sensed that familiar aura, and a faint smile curved her lips. Then, her eyes went cold. The heavenly maiden’s manifested spirit was instantly reduced to ashes!

For Song Ya, that was no release at all; in that final instant, her soul was crushed countless times under the weight of divine might, each moment an eternity of torment.

Boom

!

The stone cavern shattered from an impact from outside! A figure radiating brilliant divine light strode through the broken entrance— clad in golden armor, wielding an ancient long saber, his presence radiating overwhelming authority and killing intent, like a celestial general descending from the heavens themselves!

It was Li Yanchu, the one who had invoked the five-times enhanced Spirit Officer Summoning Talisman. His eyes were cold as ice, his expression severe and steady.

The moment he entered, his gaze immediately found the pitifully delicate innkeeper. In the next heartbeat, he was already at her side.

“Are you all right?” Li Yanchu asked gently.

The innkeeper threw herself into his arms, tears streaming down her cheeks like rain on pear blossoms.

“Why did you take so long? These people captured me. I’d rather die than yield to them!”

The young scholar and the bearded man fell speechless at her words.

When Li Yanchu saw that the innkeeper was unharmed and instantly relaxed, he let out a quiet sigh. “That’s good.”

For some reason, both the scholar and the bearded man felt as though their Dao hearts had cracked. This woman... really knew how to put on a show.

At that moment, Li Yanchu was surrounded by the divine radiance of Pure Yang, empowered by the five-times enhanced Spirit Officer Summoning Talisman.

Brilliant light enveloped his entire form, making him seem like a god come to life. The innkeeper gazed at his profile and couldn’t help but smile.

So handsome.

Rumble!

A thunderous sound came from deep within the cave, as though the gates of the underworld had swung open!

A powerful presence began to emerge. It was a young girl with delicate features, rosy lips, and bright eyes, stepping forth from a sea of blood and corpses. Each step she took carried with it a heavy, suffocating aura of slaughter.

Her eyes glimmered with a strange, spiritual light.

“Sect Master!” the young scholar and the bearded man cried out in unison.

Had they not seen her with their own eyes, they would never have believed that the Sect Master of the Bare Body Sect, Madam Bai, was actually such a beautiful, youthful girl.

Her appearance was accompanied by the opening of the Gates of Hell, the rise of blood seas and corpse mountains. She brought along a phenomenon of heaven and earth itself, shaking the world!

With an indifferent nod, Madam Bai’s gaze turned toward the man and woman standing before her.

“Eh!?” Madam Bai’s expression flickered slightly. Weren’t they supposed to lure in just a

young Daoist

?

Then who was this figure clad in golden armor, radiating divine light, his blood and qi surging like the sea, exuding the pure yang aura of the Divine Dao!?

“Sect Master, this is the Daoist from Qingyun Temple! Please, Madam, strike and kill him!” The young scholar spoke through clenched teeth, voice trembling with excitement. His heart was pounding; Madam Bai was a third realm Yang Spirit master and a supreme expert. The Bare Body Sect, dormant for so many years, was finally about to rise again!

His cold and venomous gaze turned toward Li Yanchu and the innkeeper.

You shameless pair of dogs... today, you both die!

“Who are you?” Madam Bai asked, frowning as her eyes landed on the young scholar.

What? That wasn’t right!

The Sect Master should

know

him, he’d been running errands for her sealing ritual this entire time! He stood there, utterly dumbfounded.

Madam Bai gave Li Yanchu a faint, apologetic smile.

“Ah, my mistake,” she said softly. “I seem to have come to the wrong place. Sorry to disturb you.”

Then she turned around and left.

The young scholar froze, and the bearded man was speechless. Li Yanchu’s mouth twitched slightly.

That’s the Bare Body Sect’s Sect Master?

She just... ran away!?

The mountains of corpses and seas of blood within the cave vanished in an instant, as though none of it had ever existed. The young scholar and the bearded man stared blankly, completely stunned.

“Your Sect Master doesn’t seem all that reliable,” Li Yanchu said with a cold laugh.

“Zhang Jian! We’re dead either way, let’s take them down with us!” the bearded man roared.

He had been gathering murderous energy this entire time, and now, with a shout, a wave of invisible force burst forth. Then, behind him, a ferocious tiger’s head materialized in the air!

Zhang Jian’s blood surged, his will igniting from the other man’s fury. He turned sharply and said, “Fine!”

His eyes turned pitch-black, and from his body rose the manifestation of a Four-Eyed Yaksha, clutching a black Buddhist staff wrapped in the wailing souls of the dead.

“Come!”

The Four-Eyed Yaksha bellowed.

Though Zhang Jian was a schemer by nature, he had roamed the world for decades and was not without the ruthlessness to perish alongside his foes.

When the moment comes, one must have the courage to risk it all!

The Four-Eyed Yaksha’s hair bristled, his gaze burning with demonic fire as he charged straight ahead. Perhaps this was the first and only time in his life he had fought with true passion!

He lunged forward to kill, but from the corner of his eye, he saw the burly, bearded man retreating rapidly, bolting through the hole in the shattered cavern wall.

Running away!? What the hell!

The Four-Eyed Yaksha roared in rage, but before he could even react, clad in golden armor and radiating dazzling divine light, the young man swung his saber down in a single, devastating strike!

Boom!

The Four-Eyed Yaksha’s manifested spirit shattered on the spot, and its soul was utterly annihilated!

Along with it perished one of the Bare Body Sect’s Grand Stewards. A life spent scheming, manipulating, rising and falling through intrigue and deceit ended in a single stroke.

To hell with the Bare Body Sect!

That was Zhang Jian’s final thought before his consciousness faded into nothingness.

Li Yanchu’s eyes were cold and sharp. A flash of divine light leapt from his hand; it was the Jiaoslayer!

“Ahhhh!”

The burly, bearded man, who had tried to flee, only to be pulled back by the young scholar’s soul-summoning technique, was cleaved cleanly in half in an instant!

The arc of the saber severed not only his body, but his primordial spirit as well. Before absolute strength, all their schemes and petty tricks were utterly meaningless.

Divine radiance flickered in Li Yanchu’s eyes as he gazed toward the depths of the cave.

Spirit Eyes! Qi Sight!

Deep inside the cavern lay a powerful seal, and judging by its aura, it had been crafted by a master of the Daoist sects. Now, however, a crack had formed along its surface, a flaw that weakened the entire formation.

Through that crack, one could see the dense, almost tangible miasma of blood and killing intent churning within.

At the heart of the seal pulsed a rich, powerful fire-element energy, clearly the formation’s core node.

“The Southern Vermilion Bird Fire Virtue Formation?” Li Yanchu murmured under his breath.