Chapter 557: Schemes! What’s Behind You! The Jiaoslayer Shows Its Might! We’re Here to Support!

Immortal Jin Yu hated Li Yanchu with every fiber of his being, wishing to crush his bones and seal his soul in the Nine Nether for all eternity. Yet at this moment, he had no choice but to wear a smile toward him.

“Young friend, at such a tender age to possess such outrageous luck and a powerful physique, if you were to perish here, what a waste that would be,” Immortal Jin Yu said with a smile.

He could not read fortunes, but even without divination, it was clear to him. Li Yanchu was such a young prodigy, and he was not yet a Yang Spirit expert, yet he possessed so many powerful artifacts and a terrifyingly strong body. What else could it be but incredible luck? He calculated that this young genius would never recklessly sacrifice himself.

Li Yanchu’s expression remained icy cold. Seeing Immortal Jin Yu ask this, Li Yanchu smiled faintly. “Your mastery of the insect-control arts has truly reached a sublime level. Letting you go today would leave endless future troubles.”

Hearing this, Immortal Jin Yu tensed.

This young man isn’t planning to fight me to the death, is he?

“Young friend, you are unwilling to let me leave and insist on a life-or-death duel?” Immortal Jin Yu asked.

Li Yanchu shook his head. “That... will cost extra.”

Hearing his words, Immortal Jin Yu, Celestial Master Zhao, Master Baoshu, Xu Tiannan, and Master Wuse were stunned speechless.

Li Yanchu’s decisiveness and fierce temperament were well known to them, but this side of him they hadn’t yet seen.

Immortal Jin Yu’s eyes brightened. Young people liked to scheme and were confident, and as expected, they were indeed easier to negotiate with.

“My collections of hundreds of years are all here in the Jiuxuan Cave. If you let me leave, fellow cultivators may take anything from this cave as you wish,” Immortal Jin Yu hurriedly said.

Of course, his proudest treasures were the rare demonic insects he had painstakingly gathered over the years; they were now all captured inside Li Yanchu’s alchemy furnace, still being refined.

Li Yanchu nodded.

“Daoist Master Li, absolutely not! The demonic practitioner is unpredictable. Letting him go will surely harm the people! I am willing to give my life to the Dao, to die together with this demon,” Master Wuse said solemnly.

Having suffered the torments of inner demons, if he could take down an intermediate third realm demon now, it would not be in vain.

Li Yanchu smiled slightly, surprised to see such resolve in Master Wuse.

“This Yin–Yang Mirror, once its white light flashes, leads only to death. You seek death wholeheartedly, but I may not drag you along with me,” Immortal Jin Yu said.

His meaning was clear:

you may not fear death, but these others do. Even if you want to die, I won’t necessarily exchange lives with you.

Not everyone, like Master Wuse, was entangled with inner demons. Those who reached the Yang Spirit realm could be free and could explore longevity, so no one wished to die over a duel.

Monk Wuse’s face darkened like a still, deep pool.

Suddenly, Li Yanchu exclaimed in surprise, “What is that?!”

His eyes widened as he pointed behind Immortal Jin Yu in astonishment.

The gazes of the four Yang Spirit experts were drawn there as well, and even Immortal Jin Yu turned to look, but nothing unusual appeared behind him.

When everyone’s eyes all fell on Li Yanchu, he said lightly, “I misjudged.”

He gave Immortal Jin Yu a cold smile. “Old dog, you want to negotiate now that you can’t win? Do you think it’s up to you?”

Immortal Jin Yu’s expression changed. “Do you really intend to fight me to the death?”

Honestly, his nerves were taut at this point. Yet suddenly, his gaze froze, staring at his empty hands.

“Eh? My Yin-Yang Mirror?!”

Immortal Jin Yu was stunned. He hadn’t noticed, but the Yin-Yang Mirror had disappeared.

In Li Yanchu’s palm, an ancient mirror appeared; it was half red, half white and radiating immense energy. Seeing this, Immortal Jin Yu was speechless.

In this peak battle of the mortal world, five Yang Spirit experts had gathered, alongside Li Yanchu, a cultivator with a body comparable to a third realm master. Yet Li Yanchu, in a move almost like a child at play, tricked his opponent into glancing behind, seized the Yin-Yang Mirror with the Radiant Gem Ruler, and retrieved it with Telekinetic Retrieval.

No one could have imagined that in such a pinnacle mortal battle, someone would use such a playful method; yet, perhaps precisely because of that, it worked astonishingly well.

“Die, and your entire collection in that cave will be ours. Today, you shall die!”

Seizing the moment while Jin Yu was distracted, Li Yanchu took a step forward; the ground shook, mountains trembled. The surrounding air seemed to boil, turning red.

This terrifying cosmic anomaly left Immortal Jin Yu pale. He tried to activate his clone technique to escape, but Li Yanchu simply pointed a hand, and Immortal Jin Yu froze instantly; he was immobilized by the Immobilization Spell.

At Li Yanchu’s level, even an Immobilization Spell would have very little effect against the current Immortal Jin Yu. But in that instant, it was enough for Li Yanchu to unleash the Jiaoslayer!

Clang!

The razor-sharp blade instantly split Immortal Jin Yu’s body in two. A mysterious resonance erupted, and his body immediately turned to dust and vanished in an instant.

The strike was too fast, so much so that even Immortal Jin Yu had no time to cast a spell. His soul fled at the last moment in the form of a grotesque, fearsome centipede.

This was not a projection of his primordial spirit, but Immortal Jin Yu’s actual primordial spirit, a hybrid of human and demon.

“Sky-Swallowing Centipede... so you fused your primordial spirit with the soul of the insect,” Celestial Master Zhao exclaimed.

A ferocious aura radiated from Immortal Jin Yu.

The Sky-Swallowing Centipede was a powerful demonic insect, comparable to the bloodlines of some

Classic of Mountains and Seas

beasts. No wonder his insect-control art was so perfected; it was this dark technique all along!

Then, Li Yanchu moved forward, raising his blade, and struck the centipede apart. The Jiaoslayer was razor-sharp; even Immortal Jin Yu’s primordial spirit could not withstand it.

For an ordinary intermediate third realm Yang Spirit, it wouldn’t be this easy, but Immortal Jin Yu’s primordial spirit, though fused with the centipede, was linked with countless insects; it was the essence of the insect-control arts. As those insects died, his strength fell. Thus, the centipede-fused primordial spirit was unusually weak.

Li Yanchu seized the opportunity, bringing the Jiaoslayer enhanced to worth a hundred thousand merits points down upon him, severing all physical ties. There was no time for him to use clone techniques.

Just like that, an intermediate third realm Yang Spirit expert was completely obliterated.

+ 80,000 merit points!

At that moment, two streaks of light flew in from the horizon, and a loud, insanely arrogant laugh rang out. One figure was an old man in black robes; the other, a hulking man in armor, red-haired with a blue face, wielding a Fangtian Halberd.

“Jin Yu, we’re here to help you.”

Just then, the two streaks of light arrived. The red-haired, blue-faced giant looked around arrogantly, only to find that Immortal Jin Yu’s aura was completely gone.

The four Yang Spirit experts and the young Daoist with the blade glared at them.

The red-haired, blue-faced giant and Daoist Spiritual Master Jiugong were stunned speechless. They exchanged a glance, utterly confused. Was Jin Yu killed? They had come to assist, not to die...