Chapter 419: Past-Life Betrothal! The Bright Red Wedding Robe! I Appreciate Your Kind Intentions, Fellow Daoist!

Xiao Ran’s face darkened; despair crept into her heart. What horrors might follow after falling into the hands of this old master of Gu arts was unbearable to imagine.

Ji Bochang’s smile spread freely across his face. “Old man of the Southern Mountain, as expected of you, splendid idea! When I return to the mountain, I’ll be sure to recommend you,” he said.

The old man did everything he could to curry favor with this roaming enforcer of Mount Youming. He produced a porcelain vial from his bosom containing a white powder that amplified the potency of Gu insects, an extremely precious substance.

“She’s just a poisoned little wench, I’ll fetch her right away for you, Young Master Ji!” he intoned, reciting a charm.

The powder suddenly burst from the vial, and the bright poison insects immediately grew frenzied.

Xiao Ran’s face went pale; her hands and feet felt icy cold.

Boom!

A terrifying divine fire erupted and incinerated those bright venomous insects outright.

“Do you really think that you’re that impressive?” a tall young Daoist sneered, a long saber hanging at his side.

He appeared out of nowhere in front of Xiao Ran, and with a single move reduced the Gu insects to nothing.

The old man from Southern Mountain was shocked and involuntarily took a few steps back. What kind of illusionary appearance was this?

Seeing this, Ji Bochang’s eyes had an icy glare. The barbarian head suddenly shot toward Li Yanchu with terrifying speed.

“Watch out!” Xiao Ran’s face changed. She knew well the deadly power of that uncanny severed head.

Bang!

A deafening explosion rang out.

Immediately, Li Yanchu threw a punch; his blow shattered the human head to pieces.

“Who are you!” the Gu master old man roared in fury.

“You’re the one who planted Substitution Gu in Wei City?” Li Yanchu asked coolly.

The old man from Southern Mountain was taken aback; this young Daoist knew about Substitution Gu!

His face darkened and a feral smile spread across it as he snarled, “If you already know about Substitution Gu, then get lost, I’m warning you! If you force me to act, it will be the people of Wei City who die!”

Substitution Gu transferred harm to the host; the three people who died earlier had absorbed the attacks meant for the old man from Southern Mountain. Now he was using the lives of innocent citizens to blackmail the young Daoist.

Li Yanchu’s eyes gleamed like cold lightning, his tone frigid. “You dare threaten

me

?”

He pointed a finger, and the old man of Southern Mountain suddenly froze where he stood.

Daoist art, Immobilization Spell!

In the next instant, Li Yanchu’s figure appeared before the old man like a ghost. His five fingers curved like hooks, reaching straight for the man’s heart.

With his overwhelming, monstrous strength, even though the old man had cultivated powerful Gu and his skin was harder than iron, Li Yanchu could have easily ripped out his heart.

But he didn’t. Instead, he used the Daoist art of Telekinetic Retrieval, and a brightly colored yet hideous Gu worm appeared in his palm, wriggling violently and squeaking with eerie sounds.

The old man of Southern Mountain instantly felt his limbs go cold, as though he had seen a ghost.

That was his Life-Bound Gu[1]!

In the southern borderlands, full of venomous insects and beasts, Gu masters raised their Life-Bound Gu from childhood, letting it grow alongside them. Depending on the Gu’s nature, it granted different abilities, such as superhuman strength, deadly poison, control over corpses as puppets, and more.

The old man’s Life-Bound Gu possessed

four

abilities, which was an incredibly rare feat, even among southern Gu adepts. He was counted among the elites of his homeland.

Yet never in his darkest nightmares had he imagined that, while hiding in a small town like Wei City, he would be subdued so easily by a young Daoist he had never even met, who not only immobilized him, but forcibly extracted his Life-Bound Gu with some unfathomable divine technique!

It was simply impossible. Even he himself could not remove that Gu.

Li Yanchu gave him a single cold glance, and then smashed his head to pulp with one slap. Blood and brain matter splattered in all directions, the scene gruesome beyond words.

The Life-Bound Gu, trapped by the dense, vigorous vitality in Li Yanchu’s palm, writhed frantically but could not escape.

A moment before, the mystical bond between Gu and master had been severed by his Telekinetic Retrieval. Thus, when the old man died, no more innocent lives would be lost.

Then, a deathly silence befell the place. Xiao Ran was utterly stunned that that strange, death-defying old Gu master, who had seemed impossible to kill, was now dead just like that!

“You bastard! How dare you kill in front of me!” Ji Bochang roared furiously.

“You think you rule over this place?” Li Yanchu sneered coldly.

Ji Bochang’s rage turned to laughter; where had this arrogant young Daoist come from? He was even more overbearing than himself!

With a thought, the bronze homunculus capable of biting through swords leapt forward, transforming into a streak of dark light that shot straight toward Li Yanchu. A wave of metallic blood stench filled the air, but Li Yanchu’s figure suddenly vanished.

The next instant, he reappeared right before Ji Bochang and slapped him across the face.

Boom!

A thunderous crash rang out, and Ji Bochang was sent flying backward, tumbling through the air.

He looked both furious and humiliated. If not for his protective talisman activating at the last moment, that young Daoist’s slap would’ve landed squarely across his face!

Before he could even react, Li Yanchu’s hand came slapping across once more. The strike was so forceful and heavy that it produced a faint sonic boom in the air.

“You little...!” Ji Bochang’s curse was cut short as he was

again

sent flying.

This time, there wasn’t just the sound of air bursting, but a sharp, brittle

crack

, like porcelain shattering.

He wasn’t physically injured, but the humiliation burned hotter than any wound. Fuming, Ji Bochang pulled a silken embroidery needle and a delicate embroidered shoe from his robe and hurled them toward Li Yanchu. The gesture looked absurd, like a woman’s quarrel, yet it carried a sinister, bone-deep chill.

At once, the world around them darkened, and a cold wind howled through the air.

And then, a bride appeared. Clad in a crimson wedding dress, face hidden beneath a red veil, she drifted into view with an aura of unearthly malice.

Xiao Ran’s scalp prickled, a shiver shooting straight down her spine. This was no ordinary spirit, it was a terrifying specter that could appear in broad daylight and alter the very

environment

around it. No mere ghost could do that.

Just then, Ji Bochang’s face twisted into a vicious grin. If not for his rare, twisted fate, and the strange karmic tie binding him to this ghost bride, he could never have summoned such a powerful entity.

Swish! Swish!

Two razor-sharp streaks of motion tore through the air, the eerie embroidery needle and the bronze homunculus lunged simultaneously at Li Yanchu!

Clang!

A clear, dragonlike ring split the gloom as the Jiaoslayer leapt from its sheath!

Brilliant saber energy surged forth, shattering both the embroidery needle and the bronze homunculus in a single stroke. Torn open by that blade, the oppressive darkness around them split apart as well, leaving a rent in the shadowed world that refused to close.

Ji Bochang’s face turned ashen. That embroidery needle was the ghost bride’s own weapon; the bronze homunculus, a cursed relic he’d unearthed from an ancient tomb. They were both nearly indestructible, yet this young Daoist had destroyed them with one strike.

“I’ve never heard of such a Daoist prodigy... Is he a hidden genius from Mount Longhu? Or perhaps from Mount Qingcheng?”

Shocked and uncertain, Ji Bochang could only place his last hope on the terrifying power of the ghost bride he’d summoned.

“Careful!” Xiao Ran’s face changed slightly as she stepped in front of Li Yanchu. “Fellow Daoist, go! I appreciate your good intentions, but this ghost’s evil aura is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. We should join forces and fight our way out together!”

“Move.” Li Yanchu’s tone was calm, almost indifferent.

What is this girl talking about? What ‘good intentions’? What the hell is she misunderstanding here?

1. A Life-Bound Gu refers to a type of Gu in which the life of the insect is bound to that of a person or sometimes several people, creating a shared bond of life and death between them. If one dies, the other cannot survive. Host and parasite become one, their lives intertwined, breathing and thriving together; when one suffers, both are harmed, and when one prospers, both flourish. ☜