Chapter 382: The Gray-Robed Elder! “A Mere Third Realm!?” Cultivators Gather in Wei City! The Dragon’s Tail Strike!

“What... what is that?” Lady Yun stared wide-eyed at the strange, writhing black mist, utterly shocked. Meanwhile, the innkeeper beside her frowned slightly, her gaze turning cold.

That dark fog was far too sinister, and more importantly, the blazing crimson light just now was identical to the one that had helped Madam Bai shatter the Southern Vermilion Bird Fire Virtue Formation earlier!

“A third-realm Yang Spirit, forced into such a miserable state by a junior? What a cosmic joke.” A gray-robed elder stepped out of the black mist, a cruel smile curling at his lips.

“Fellow Daoist, save me!” Madam Bai’s voice was soft and sweet, dripping with charm and desperate appeal.

The gray-robed elder gave a low, derisive laugh, his eyes turning dark and cold as he looked toward Li Yanchu. “This woman is under my protection. You may get lost now.”

As he spoke, his aura surged out in a violent wave, and cold yin qi billowed up to the heavens! His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried in every direction, as though countless unseen figures whispered the same words from all around. It shook the heart and rattled the soul! That aura was immense, crushing, and domineering, so powerful it was shocking to behold!

He was a Yang Spirit cultivator, even stronger than Madam Bai had been after she’d broken her seal!

Madam Bai had only been at the rudimentary third realm and not even at her peak. After being sealed by a Daoist master for half a century, her magical power had run dry, her strength greatly diminished. She’d been little more than a flickering candle, a bit stronger than the thousand-year flood dragon of Jinguang Temple, perhaps, but not by much.

This gray-robed elder, however, his aura was overwhelmingly fierce, his strength solid and unrestrained. He too was in the rudimentary Yang Spirit Realm, but his power was vastly superior. If two of Madam Bai in her prime joined hands, they still wouldn’t be his match!

A third-realm Yang Spirit master at his peak, he had every confidence he could crush this young Daoist, and he didn’t even consider it necessary to go all out. He merely needed to take Madam Bai away; there was no need for needless slaughter.

But, Li Yanchu merely sneered, “A nobody like you dare show off?”

He didn’t give the gray-robed elder even the slightest face.

Pretending to be some mysterious puppet master behind the scenes? Cut the crap!

The elder’s expression darkened to a stormy gray, his voice low and filled with fury. “I’ve roamed the world for countless years... yet never have I met a youngster as insolent as you!”

Li Yanchu laughed coldly. “Well, now you have. A mere third-realm dares to act tough in front of me!?”

The gray-robed elder’s brow twitched sharply.

A mere... third realm!?

His expression froze, then twisted violently. With that, the lofty air of a peerless expert evaporated in an instant, his face turning ashen and ugly with rage.

Before the gray-robed elder could even react, Li Yanchu was already striding forward with his saber in hand, closing the distance in a heartbeat as he swung down with all his might!

Squelch!

The protective formation the gray-robed elder had thrown up in front of Madam Bai was split apart instantly. Madam Bai was caught completely off guard, and the Jiaoslayer cut straight into her body.

A shrill, miserable scream rang out, “Ahhh!”

She didn’t even have time to resist before the saber’s force shredded her completely, body and spirit both annihilated on the spot!

Seeing this, the gray-robed elder fell speechless. For a moment, he was simply stunned. Then came a burning, suffocating rage. This brat, this damned junior had actually killed the woman he’d sworn to protect, right in front of his face! It was a slap across his cheek, a humiliation of the highest order!

“How arrogant!” the elder roared, his fury shaking the air. He thrust out his clawed hand, and a ghastly ghostly talon materialized in the air, easily ten zhang wide, tearing through the void as it lunged toward Li Yanchu at terrifying speed!

Clang!

Li Yanchu raised the Jiaoslayer and brought it down in a savage arc. The spectral claw shattered instantly, bursting apart into motes of dissipating yin qi!

“With pathetic tricks like that, you dare try to save someone in front of me?”Li Yanchu sneered, his voice thick with contempt.

The gray-robed elder’s face darkened further. He flicked his sleeve, releasing a beam of scorching crimson light.

Boom!

The red brilliance collided with Li Yanchu’s saber qi, sending out another deafening shockwave that rippled through heaven and earth.

Seeing this,the elder’s pupils narrowed; now that he was in close proximity, he finally understood the terrible power hidden within Li Yanchu’s saber. It was fast and vicious, and it carried a terrifying rhythm of the Dao that bit into the soul. He suddenly understood why Madam Bai had been beaten so miserably!

It wasn’t merely that she’d been drained after being sealed for half a century, the real problem was that this young Daoist was simply too damn tough!

His primordial spirit was immune to curses, his physical defense was monstrous, and his presence suppressed magic artifacts, even the chill of ghostly winds couldn’t affect him!

He was immune to flame, and from the looks of it, he even possessed a spell akin to the Buddhist Divine Foot Arts, making his movements erratic and impossible to pin down!

“What in the hell

is

this thing!?” The gray-robed elder’s heart sank like a stone.

Still, his magical power was undeniably deeper than Madam Bai’s, and for the time being, the two were locked in a fierce stalemate.

The elder relied on his agile movement and long-range attacks, constantly harrying Li Yanchu from afar, refusing to give him even a single chance to close in!

“Old dog,” Li Yanchu’s voice boomed across heaven and earth, sharp and thunderous, “you stood there watching from the sidelines like some lofty master, yet this pathetic scrap of skill is all you’ve got? You’d have been better off teaming up with that slut. Maybe then I’d have actually felt a bit of pressure!”

Every word was a saber to the heart, killing with words as well as the sword.

The gray-robed elder’s face turned dark. Never in his long life had he fought such a battle, the boy fought

recklessly

, yet every strike hit with brutal force. There was no finesse, only raw, overwhelming power that left him stifled and furious.

Thank the heavens there’s no one around to witness this

, the elder thought bitterly, his pride bleeding,

otherwise my lifetime of prestige would be ruined right here today!

But suddenly, his expression shifted. His gaze darted toward the horizon, disbelief flickering across his wrinkled face.

Far off, the sound of their clash had drawn countless cultivators to the area. They didn’t dare get too close, but they had gathered to watch from a distance, their auras flickering like stars among the mountains.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Among them were second-realm masters who had already condensed their primordial spirit manifestations, and younger disciples still in the Qi Cultivation Realm, likely a group out on a sect trial.

More and more cultivators were arriving, drawn by the chance to witness a battle between third-realm Yang Spirit experts.

Wei City had always been a small, quiet place. But recently, two blessed grounds had emerged, Mount Jinting and Jade Altar, turning the region into a land teeming with talents.

Many wandering cultivators and reclusive hermits had gathered nearby, though few were famous. Now, there were quite a few witnesses indeed.

The gray-robed elder’s mouth twitched violently. He wanted to lash out and wipe out all those onlookers, erase every trace of what they’d seen. But Li Yanchu’s relentless offense left him no chance to breathe, let alone act. Every strike was fierce and unyielding, backed by pure yang divine energy that burned like the sun. He couldn’t spare even a moment to deal with the witnesses!

“Eh! Isn’t that

Daoist Spiritual Master Moyun

of the Divine Heavens Sect?”

“Impossible! Daoist Spiritual Master Moyun already ascended through dissolution[1]! I even attended his farewell feast!”

“That was twenty years ago! Could it be... he didn’t truly transcend, but instead fell into the Demonic Dao?”

“That can’t be! Daoist Spiritual Master Moyun[2]was Divine Heavens Sect’s Supreme Elder, a paragon of virtue! How could he sink so low!?”

The distant cultivators murmured among themselves, their voices filled with shock and disbelief. Many had recognized the gray-robed elder’s true identity, and the revelation struck like lightning.

The elder’s face twisted violently, his whole body trembling with rage and shame. His once-immaculate reputation had shattered in an instant!

Not every third-realm Yang Spirit master was skilled in transformation arts, and the gray-robed elder had never been adept at disguises. He had thought this would be a simple matter, he hadn’t expected this young Daoist to be such a monstrous opponent. Now his feelings were a tangled storm of humiliation and fury.

Yes, he had joined a demonic sanctuary, seeking to break his mortal limits and extend his life, but he had still hoped to preserve his lifelong reputation. He was the Supreme Elder of the Divine Heavens Sect, a name once spoken with reverence!

And now... his reputation was ruined, his name dragged through the mud. He was socially destroyed today.

Murderous intent burned so thick in his eyes it almost became tangible. “It’s all this damned Daoist’s fault! He’s humiliated me before heaven and earth!”

Once a dignified puppet master working from the shadows, he now found himself pinned down, exposed, and mocked before an audience.

At this time, Li Yanchu’s body blazed with golden radiance, blood and qi roaring like a storm. Golden flames radiated from Li Yanchu’s body. After slashing through the air with his blade, he followed up smoothly with a powerful kick.

Dragon’s Tail Strike!

With a deafening crack, his leg swept out in a brutal arc, the air itself howling under the force of his strike.

Bang!

Li Yanchu’s kick landed squarely on the gray-robed elder’s face. It was a solid, brutal impact that sent the man reeling, his vision spinning!

For a long moment, the world fell silent. All the cultivators watching from afar held their breath.

A third-realm Yang Spirit expert was kicked in the face!?

1. “Bingjie” (literally “dissolution by arms”) is a Daoist form of corpse liberation, referring to a cultivator achieving transcendence or release when their physical body is destroyed by weapons. This concept was quite popular in ancient Chinese fiction, for example, in The Legend of the Swordsmen of Mount Shu, and in a more worldly sense, it can be seen as equivalent to dying in battle. Its main purposes include ascending to immortality, overcoming heavenly tribulations, or dispelling karmic debts from past lives by dying under the weapon of a fated person. ☜

2. The surname 莫, though uncommon, conveys an air of quiet restraint and mystery, often associated with a person who is calm, aloof, or distant from worldly affairs. The given name 云, meaning “cloud,” evokes a sense of grace, freedom, and effortless transcendence, something light and untethered, like drifting mist.

To me, the name “莫云” carries a soft, ethereal beauty, suggesting a man who is tranquil yet ungraspable, someone whose presence feels both serene and distant, like clouds that can be seen but never held. It is a name that leaves an impression of elegance tinged with melancholy. ☜