Chapter 400: Let Go of Your Mind! The Founding Ancestor’s Voice! The Five-Lightning Spell! Liu Yu!

“Stop resisting. Give me your primordial spirit, or this forbidden denizen of the underworld will destroy Taixu Temple and drown all living things in Xuzhou Prefecture! Release your mind, fuse with me, and I will grant you great power to help you slay demons!”

A voice kept whispering into Huayang’s heart, seducing her. At first she thought it was an inner demon, but the voice claimed to be the sect’s founding ancestor, Celestial Maiden Ziyun herself.

Still, no matter who it claimed to be, Huayang refused to lose herself. She had risen young, gifted and famous in the Dao; she carried her sect’s hopes on her shoulders. She absolutely could not sink into oblivion.

Yet with each defeat by Su Shunqing, her spirit withered a little more. Her resolve began to wobble, and she faltered.

A smear of cinnabar appeared between her brows; her fair face took on a sacred cast, mortal traces fading while immortal aura increased.

Daoist Spiritual Master Xuanji, exhausted from sustaining the formation, brightened at once.

“Huayang, that is the founding ancestor manifesting! Open your heart, unite with the founding ancestor, and you can avert today’s calamity!” Xuanji cried out.

Those underworld fiends had been summoned from the black banner; if the mountain gate were forced open, catastrophe would follow. Xuanji knew her disciple’s temperament, pressured by this great momentum, now was the critical moment to force a union and provide the opportunity for the founding ancestor’s revival.

Huayang’s body trembled, turning stiff as she slowly looked toward her master, Daoist Spiritual Master Xuanji.

A faint, dreadful intuition rose within her; if she truly opened her mind, she would be lost forever. It was the instinctive warning of a cultivator at the third realm when faced with mortal peril.

But her master’s words echoed endlessly in her ears.

Must I truly sacrifice myself... to awaken the founding ancestor and repel this forbidden being from the underworld?

Boom

!

Su Shunqing waved her hand, unleashing a devastating spell that shook heaven and earth.

Huayang raised the

Moonshadow

and swung it down with all her might!

Boom!

Sword light and yin qi collided, detonating with an earth-shattering roar.

Huayang’s aura faltered; her body trembled. The Moonshadow buzzed violently in her grasp, as though yearning to fly away.

“Even you... are abandoning me? You too think I should become nothing but a vessel for the founding ancestor’s rebirth!?”

Bitterness welled in Huayang’s heart.

Countless spectral fiends surged downward, intent on dragging the Celestial Celestial Maiden of Huayang into the abyss.

To those watching, it seemed as if the heavens themselves were collapsing; the sky was pressing low, and heaven and earth were twisting into one, with yin and yang in reversal.

For one of the third realm to be driven to such a desperate state, it was unthinkable. Watching this unfold, Huayang sighed inwardly.

Boom!

A blaze of divine fire erupted, and an immense sun burned across the sky. Fire crows filled the mountains, five ferocious fire dragons roared forth, and all the world was bathed in searing light. The ghastly spirits were instantly devoured by the divine flames, reduced to nothing but ash.

Two crimson sword beams darted among the fires; even the two ghost kings could only resist for a heartbeat before they were completely annihilated and reduced to dust.

Half the darkened sky was forcibly torn apart, and the dense nether miasma met that holy fire like ice beneath the sun, melting away in an instant.

Su Shunqing’s eyes turned icy, her killing intent erupting in full.

“Who dares ruin

my

plans!?”

A suffocating murderous aura burst from her body, so intense that even the cultivators within the Taixu Temple, protected by the Mountain-Guarding Formation, felt their chests tighten as if they could no longer breathe.

Then, a young Daoist stepped forward, a long saber hanging at his side, his robe fluttering fiercely in the storm.

His expression was cold and solemn as he rebuked, “Impudent wraith! How dare you sow chaos in the mortal realm!”

His voice thundered across heaven and earth, like a celestial deity descending to smite evil.

Su Shunqing’s gaze sharpened, and then her brows knitted deeply.

Gasp!

The forbidden entity from the underworld, who had moments ago sought to turn Xuzhou Prefecture into a ghostly purgatory, actually drew a sharp breath. She recognized Li Yanchu.

Under countless astonished gazes, Su Shunqing withdrew her spells, turned her back, and began to retreat without hesitation.

Though her strength had been restored and she now wielded the Soul-Refining Banner, a fearsome artifact, a deep, instinctive dread stirred in her heart at the sight of this young Daoist who had once razed Fengdu to the ground.

Images flashed through her mind of Old Ghost Wusheng, the robed elder, the thousand-year demonic tree, the monstrous ghostly faces, all torn apart by this same man.

“Five-Lightning Pure Yang, the True Law of Heaven and Earth, strike!” Li Yanchu’s voice resounded like divine judgment.

Boom!

Heaven’s lightning roared, thereafter a blinding white light flooded everyone’s vision, and their very souls screamed with pain, as if on the verge of annihilation. It was the overwhelming might of Heaven and Earth!

The lightning wasn’t even aimed at them, yet the sheer purity of its yang power nearly shattered their souls.

Su Shunqing’s former arrogance vanished. Her body split open with searing wounds; the Soul-Refining Banner in her grasp splintered instantly.

Boom! Boom!

Two more bolts of divine lightning struck down in succession! The banner was reduced to ashes, and Su Shunqing’s body blackened, charred through and completely devastated.

It was the six-times enhanced Lightning Talisman! The brutal heavenly lightning gave her no chance to resist. She let out a shrill scream, her heart filled with pure terror.

It’s here again!

That same tyrannical lightning, the nightmare she thought she had escaped!

Her body and soul were both ravaged by the lightning’s wrath, torn apart by pain so intense it almost erased her consciousness. With a flash of cyan light, Su Shunqing turned into a streak and tried to flee!

Clang!

Li Yanchu drew his saber and brought it down in a single, blazing arc. A blinding saber aura erupted, radiant as the sun itself, and in an instant, it swallowed Su Shunqing whole, erasing her completely.

That was the true power of the nine-times enhanced Jiaoslayer. Even a cultivator of the third realm could be struck down and utterly annihilated!

The world fell silent.

All traces of yin qi were purged from heaven and earth. Even the rift in the void vanished, as though terrified that Li Yanchu might follow it through and slaughter everything beyond.

Celestial Maiden Huayang stood frozen, staring at the young Daoist in disbelief.

Who is this man?

How can he strike with such dominance and divine might?

Everyone around was petrified, their minds too stunned to comprehend what had just happened.

Li Yanchu casually picked up an ancient jade fragment that had fallen from Su Shunqing’s remains, then summoned a cloud beneath his feet and swiftly departed.

People fear fame as pigs fear fattening

[1], he thought. Better to leave quickly than to invite needless trouble.

He vanished into the sky, leaving the stunned cultivators of Taixu Temple staring blankly in his wake.

***

At Mount Xiaofeng...

The slopes were gentle, and many hunters lived at its base. Among them was Liu Yu, a man of keen aim, strong limbs, and a bold, straightforward nature.

His wife had once been saved by a young Daoist who expelled the yin qi from her body, and the deathly pallor that had clung to her face was now gone, replaced by warmth and life.

Liu Yu often smiled now.

With his humble station, he’d once thought he could never marry such a woman, but fate had been kind; though their days were harsh, they could at least live side by side.

Today, when Liu Yu returned from hunting, his heart suddenly sank, as several uninvited guests were waiting inside his home.

A handsome young man toyed with the tassel of his longsword, flicking it idly between his fingers. A faint, sinister arrogance lingered between his brows. Four burly men stood beside him, each gripping a heavy broadsword, their eyes fixed on Liu Yu like venomous snakes. One of them held Liu Yu’s wife with a saber pressed to her neck, while her face paled with terror.

“Let her go!” Liu Yu roared.

The handsome youth smirked. “Hey, hey, maybe you should figure out the situation first.”

Liu Yu’s expression stiffened. “You’re after that

thing

, aren’t you? Let her go! If you harm her, I’ll never tell you where it is!”

The handsome young man’s face darkened. “You think

you

get to make the rules here?”

1. 人怕出名猪怕壮 means "Just as pigs risk being slaughtered when they grow fat, people risk trouble when they become famous." It’s a metaphorical way of saying that standing out or gaining attention can bring danger or unwanted problems. ☜