Chapter 413: Summoning the Spirit General! Great Ghost? Immortal? The Eight Trigrams Killing Formation!

That domineering strike with the golden mace left everyone trembling in fear; its power was overwhelming, unstoppable!

Boom!

The “immortal” in gold and purple robes once again gathered five-colored radiance around his body. Heaven and earth blazed with light, and a majestic aura of Daoist sanctity spread forth, emanating a presence so awe-inspiring it seemed untouchable.

In this era when the Great Dao had long since been severed, true immortals had vanished from the world. Thus, the appearance of such a radiant, divine figure naturally filled hearts with reverence and awe.

“Swapping truth for lies... you’re nothing but a deceitful rat!” Li Yanchu sneered coldly.

Spiritual light flickered in his eyes, and he saw clearly through the illusion.

That so-called five-colored radiance was no divine light at all, but sinister, deathly ghost qi. And that grand immortal’s form was nothing but a trick to fool the living!

An Eight Trigrams Mirror appeared in Li Yanchu’s hand, and a beam of brilliant white light burst forth. The Eight Trigrams Mirror was the suppressor of demons, breaker of falsehoods.

Wherever its divine light shone, the five-colored radiance disintegrated, and the immortal in gold and purple vanished completely. In his place, a monstrous great ghost appeared in midair! Its face was grotesque, covered in countless eyes, so densely packed they made one’s scalp crawl.

Each eye glared with venomous hatred, none aligned with the others, as if torn from countless victims and forcibly grafted onto its flesh. The whisk in its hand had transformed into a bloodstained iron mace, thick with murderous malice.

“Wretch!” the ghost bellowed, roaring in rage and fear.

It cast a sorcerous spell, forcing back the divine light of the Eight Trigrams Mirror, and once again assumed the guise of a serene Daoist immortal.

Yet now, even beneath that celestial visage, there lingered a terror that chilled the heart.

In this corrupted age, monsters and ghosts no longer merely hid among humans; they dared to pose as immortals, to steal the incense and faith of mankind!

“You wish to save them? Fine! Then I’ll let you do as you wish until you can’t anymore!”

Then, the “immortal” in gold and purple robes gently waved his whisk. Streams of radiant light descended slowly from it, enveloping the group of wealthy young women below.

Once that light touched them, it would crush them as easily as one might grind ants beneath a finger, reducing them instantly to dust.

Boom!

Li Yanchu raised the Eight Trigrams Mirror once more, sending out another beam of divine light that clashed head-on with the descending radiance in midair.

A deafening explosion followed.

At the same time, the golden mace forged from his nine-times enhanced Jiaoslayer burst from his hand as a streak of sacred brilliance.

Boom!

The weapon expanded to several

zhang

in length, and a pillar of divine might crashed through the air. With that, a thunderous impact echoed across space.

The robed immortal was struck once again, and his body smashed to the ground, half of it mangled and drenched in blood. Truly, it was a miserable sight.

He then formed a seal with his fingers and pointed toward Li Yanchu from afar. A strange and subtle power swept forth, enveloping Li Yanchu’s body and turning him rapidly to stone from the feet upward.

“Petty trick!” Li Yanchu let out a cold snort.

His blood-qi roared skyward, erupting like a storm of scarlet mist. With a thunderous boom, he burst into golden flames. His whole form was like a blazing furnace, and his blood and qi surged like a boundless sea of pure, indomitable yang!

That eerie, twisting power was instantly burned away to nothingness.

“Ah!” the immortal screamed, his eyes bursting apart with gouts of bright blood pouring from his sockets. He staggered back in agony, his face twisted in disbelief.

That had been a secret art from the Celestial Mansion, so why did it fail against this young Daoist!?

Glowing light flickered in his hands; he wiped it across his face and new eyes formed once more. But these were different from before. They were dull and lifeless, adding a disturbing eeriness to his once-celestial demeanor.

He pulled a yellow talisman from his robes, and it burst into flames without wind. At once, the entire Daoist temple was shrouded beneath a vast Eight Trigrams formation. The trigrams turned and churned, like a colossal millstone grinding all life within to dust.

Wisps of black vapor rose from the ground, feeding into the formation the accumulated death-qi and corpse-aura of this place.

And not just from the temple, from across the entire Duanlong Cave, all that foul miasma began to surge toward it.

“What... what kind of divine power is this!?” the ferryman cried out in panic.

Could this be retribution? The punishment for breaking the ancestral rules came so swiftly upon them!?

Zuo Qian and the rescued noblewomen likewise showed terror in their eyes. Though he was a master of martial arts, even Zuo Qian felt powerless before such crushing might, a force that seemed to come from heaven and earth itself. Who could have imagined that behind a mere case of missing women lurked such a monstrous, demonic being!

Could it truly be that the age of the Dao was waning, and the age of demons rising with no one left to restrain such evils from ravaging the world?

The “immortal” in gold and purple robes frowned slightly barely perceptibly. The corpse-qi and death-qi being drawn into the Eight Trigrams formation... were too few. Those corpses hanging from the cursed trees alone should have provided a surge of death qi.

Still, he had prepared for this for years, his formation laid down and refined over countless nights. Even with this, the Eight Trigrams should easily suppress the young Daoist before him.

“There's no escape in Heaven and Earth!” the robed immortal barked coldly.

The Eight Trigrams diagram flared with divine light, its symbols whirling ever faster. Then, the oppressive force suddenly doubled!

Li Yanchu’s eyes gleamed like ice, his surging blood-qi blazing bright enough to illuminate the entire cavern. He then swung the golden mace down hard!

BOOM!

The ground quaked, mountains shook. The massive Eight Trigrams formation shuddered violently with sparks bursting forth from its mysterious lines of sealing power like a hammer smashing against a red-hot anvil.

Zuo Qian and the ferryman felt little of the clash itself,but both drew sharp breaths, unable to stop themselves from muttering in awe, “As expected of Daoist Master Li... that’s some terrifying strength!”

Meanwhile, the immortal in gold and purple robes was shaken to his core.

The Eight Trigrams formation’s rotation had been interrupted for a moment! But this was a grand killing formation[1], interwoven with the yin veins beneath the entire Duanlong Cave.

Boom! Boom!

Li Yanchu struck again and again, each blow of the golden mace sending tremors through the air. The grand formation was faltering, twisting out of shape!

The immortal’s face filled with shock. Just who was this young Daoist? How could he wield such immense divine power, the pure force of the Divine Dao itself? Could he truly, by his strength alone, shake the very yin veins of the Duanlong Cave!?

Li Yanchu’s battle spirit surged; he was fierce, unyielding, and utterly without fear. From the shining void above, even more streams of pure yang divine power descended upon him. He felt a flicker of surprise; this demon actually had the strength to withstand his onslaught for so long!

“With golden whip I scour the world, in golden armor I reveal divine might! Die!” His roar boomed like thunder, reverberating through the entire cavern.

Within his body, his blood and qi surged like a vast ocean, intertwining with the divine

yang

power from above, further tempering his body in blazing radiance.

Boom!

His form swelled several zhang taller, while the armor covering him blazed with crackling yang lightningfire, its aura fierce and unstoppable!

BOOM!

He swung his golden mace, and the massive Eight Trigrams formation shattered instantly. The cavern’s yin qi exploded into chaos, bursting like a violent tide.

Pfft!

The immortal in gold and purple robes spat a mouthful of blood, his aura collapsing in an instant. His skin cracked like porcelain, and blood seeped from every fissure. Within just a few breaths, his body withered and aged before everyone’s eyes until his disguise completely fell away, revealing his true form: a hideous, twisted great ghost, its monstrous face covered in countless eyes.

1. The killing formation refers to formations designed to slaughter large numbers of enemy troops, with a typical example being the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation. ☜