Chapter 442: Putting on Airs!? The Primordial Taotie’s Phantom! A Slap in the Face! The Most Straightforward Way to Fight!

Boom!

The Arhat Dharma form was sent flying again.

Watching this, Li Yanchu smiled faintly. He had already noticed the pattern: once someone attacked that half-bodied Daoist, this powerful ancient furnace would refuse to acknowledge any master, no matter who they were. Now, after being smashed by the furnace a second time, the Arhat Dharma form was utterly miserable.

The worst part was that when he tried to grab it again, the furnace had mercilessly flown right back out of his reach with not even a hint of affection left behind.

He almost coughed up a mouthful of old blood from sheer frustration.

Damn it! This is just bullying at this point! So the furnace had chosen that young Daoist, huh!?

Li Yanchu sneered lightly, “Looks like your virtue doesn’t match your strength, and this treasure simply doesn’t want to follow you.”

“Go to hell!” the Arhat Dharma form cursed furiously, completely losing his composure.

Li Yanchu laughed. “What happened to that cold, arrogant act from before? Too tired to keep pretending?”

A blow to the body hurt, but a blow to the heart killed.

Even though Zhang Wei was nervously watching the battlefield, he couldn’t help but snort out a laugh at what Senior Cao had just said.

Many of the cultivators felt thoroughly delighted, and the looks they cast at the Arhat Dharma form carried a hint of schadenfreude.

Serves you right! That’ll teach you to act all high and mighty!

“This Daoist Master Li really is something. He’s handsome, and his comebacks are just as sharp,” Xiao Ran said with a bright smile.

Then a trace of worry crossed her face.

Ahh... such an outstanding man, how on earth am I supposed to win him over?

Humans' joys and sorrows never aligned.

The mysterious young man who had summoned the Arhat Dharma form, its blazing halo flaring behind his head, was seething with rage. Normally, he treated lives with indifference, calm and unruffled; no matter how great the matter, he could face it with perfect composure. He had always been perfectly clear-headed; he was clear about who he was, and what he pursued.

Not only his peers, even the eminent monks and great masters of the Great Xiangguo Temple treated him with courtesy, almost without the air of seniority. Some even held a faint sense of fear toward him.

All his life, he had been rampant and invincible, carrying himself with absolute confidence. Yet never had he imagined that here, in this Mount Taoyuan's Blissful Land, his proud Buddhist Arhat Dharma form would be defeated by a young Daoist. His powerful artifact was seized, and even the ancient alchemical furnace of this Blissful Land rejected him to follow that same Daoist instead.

A mix of grief and indignation filled his chest, alongside something he had never felt before: hesitation. He knew clearly that if he continued like this, a heart demon would be born. At once, murderous intent surged through his eyes. He had to kill that young Daoist and end all of this.

In that instant, the mysterious youth’s body erupted with blinding black light, the oppressive aura even forcing back his own Arhat Dharma form. A savage, ancient power began to radiate from him; it was the ferocity of a primeval beast awakening from endless ages past.

The heavens dimmed, the earth trembled, and everyone present felt as if they had been thrown into an ancient era, a time when the sky itself cracked and titans clashed unceasingly.

An ancient phantom slowly took form: a goat’s body with a human face, tiger’s fangs, and clawed hands.

It was

Taotie

!

Gasp!

Every cultivator present gasped in shock.

“That primordial spirit expert from before was telling the truth, there really

is

a second primordial spirit manifestation!”

“That’s the ancient ferocious beast, Taotie!”

“Heavens, this Mount Taoyuan's Blissful Land is too astonishing!”

Their hearts blazed with excitement. Someone had actually cultivated a second primordial spirit manifestation, and it was that of a primeval monster, Taotie!

“You will pay for your insolence!” A voice filled with savage bloodlust roared through the heavens, echoing between heaven and earth.

When the Taotie phantom first appeared, the cultivators hadn’t felt much, but soon, a chill crept into their bones.

Unlike the detached feeling from before, this aura carried an overwhelming sense of greed, as if everything before it existed solely as food.

That eerie sensation of being preyed upon by a beast made every hair on their bodies stand on end.

“You think trash like you can beat me!?” Li Yanchu’s voice thundered like lightning.

“With golden whip I scour the world, in golden armor I reveal divine might! Spirit Officer Summoning Talisman, activate!”

Then, a brilliant divine light erupted. A golden-armored celestial general descended with overwhelming might, charging straight toward the Taotie phantom without a hint of fear!

It was Spirit Officer Wang, chief of the five hundred Spirit Officers of the Celestial Court, and Daoism’s formidable protector divine general, the brave and tireless demon-slayer.

Empowered by the spirit of Spirit Officer Wang, Li Yanchu was unstoppable. Soon after, the golden mace in the deity’s hand came crashing down upon the Taotie phantom’s head.

Boom!

The ground quaked and the mountains shuddered. The goat-bodied, human-faced Taotie was smashed flat to the earth!

“Putting on airs, are you!?”

Li Yanchu swung the staff again, and another brutal strike smashed down!

The Taotie phantom had only just begun to rise when sharp, cutting force burst forth in all directions with blades of air crisscrossing as they sliced toward Li Yanchu.

However, the surge of energy was shattered on the spot.

Boom!

The Taotie phantom was smashed to the ground once more.

The mysterious young man was utterly stunned. “What the hell

is

this thing!?”

The golden-armored divine general stood tall and imposing, muscles rippling with explosive power, his entire body wrapped in a blinding golden divine light. With one massive hand, he pressed the Taotie phantom to the ground, and with the other, brought the golden mace crashing down again!

The phantom was pinned and ground into the dirt. It wasn’t even the true Taotie, not even a proper avatar, while Li Yanchu, empowered by Spirit Officer Wang’s divine might, was unleashing sheer brute-force destruction!

“Didn’t you love running your mouth a moment ago? Why so quiet now!?” Li Yanchu sneered coldly.

The Taotie phantom was beaten senseless; its aura was in tatters, its form fading fast, and it was completely unable to speak.

Just then, the Arhat Dharma form charged forward in great strides, the fiery halo behind his head erupting with blinding radiance, his aura surging once more. But the golden-armored god raised the Eight Trigrams Mirror in one hand, and a beam of pure white divine light shot forth!

With that, the Arhat Dharma form froze mid-step, as if struck by lightning.

Boom!

The golden mace swelled with the wind, growing to tens of zhang in length, and smashed the Arhat straight into the ground. The impact shook the heavens and split the earth!

“Still trying to show off, are you!?” Li Yanchu cursed as he struck again and again.

Metallic clangs rang out in succession,

clang, clang, clang!

and the Arhat’s body was dented and warped in multiple places! He was forcibly pinned beneath a crushing divine power, each blow of the golden mace heavier than Mount Tai itself.

Meanwhile, the mysterious young man, hidden in the shadows, had gone deathly pale. Blood streamed from his seven orifices, and his aura flickered weakly, as if he could die at any moment.

The fiery halo behind his head flared once more, and the young man’s muscles bulged with terrifying power as he forced the golden-armored general back!

Bang!

He threw a punch, and a golden fist seal burst forth, unstoppable in its might!

But the golden-armored divine general merely shifted slightly to the side, pressed one hand forward, and effortlessly dispersed the Arhat Dharma form’s power. The highest form of combat often relied on the simplest, most primal moves.

With a savage motion, the golden-armored general suddenly headbutted forward!

Clang!

The sound that rang out was like the toll of a great bell across heaven and earth!

The fiery halo behind the Arhat’s head dimmed, and his body was sent staggering backward. But before he could retreat completely, the divine general seized his arm, and with a heavy, full-bodied shoulder slam, struck him square in the chest!

Boom!

A nearby hill shattered under the sheer force of the impact!

The Arhat tried to counterattack, but the divine general caught his arm again and executed a clean, fluid over-the-shoulder throw, then slammed him straight into the Taotie phantom that had just leapt forward to assist.

Boom!

A massive crater appeared in the ground. The ancient fierce beast Taotie and the radiant Arhat Dharma form now lay piled atop each other at the bottom of the pit!

At this time, the entire field was deathly silent.

Zhang Wei stood there, dumbstruck. “Uh... this isn’t quite how I imagined a battle between primordial spirits would look...”