Chapter 70: Daoist Master Yanchu

He glanced around, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught a chilling sight. A corpse-like face, deathly pale with white pupils and a ghastly expression, was clinging to his back. It was a vengeful spirit!

At this time, Li Yanchu's eyes turned cold. Not only was he unafraid, he even barked out harshly, “You’re courting death!”

He then slapped his own shoulder with his palm. Divine Astral Hands! Just then, scorching-hot blood and qi burst forth from his body, instantly reducing the vengeful spirit to ashes.

Throughout his journey, he had encountered ruthless criminals who killed without blinking, vicious rogues of the

jianghu

, murderous beheading ghosts, and eerie paper effigies.

Countless evil beings, such as fierce ghosts and malevolent corpses, had perished by his hand. His mind and will had long since been tempered into solid stone. Not only was he unfazed, he instead struck with domineering force, utterly obliterating the spirit that clung to his shoulder. The spirit of the Divine Dao, fearless in advance and relentless in pursuit, had long been etched into his very soul.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps approached from behind, charging straight at him.

Clang!

Without even turning his head, Li Yanchu drew the Jiaoslayer and swung it behind him.

Six Yang Force!

Shing!

In the unseen void behind him, a terrifying shadowy figure was cleaved in two, then reduced to ash by the searing heat of the Six Yang Force.

Seeing this, Li Yanchu's eyes burned with ferocity. He sneered coldly, “If that’s the best you’ve got, you shouldn’t have come out and embarrassed yourself!”

Under his gaze, even the thick surrounding fog seemed to retreat by a zhang, and that ghost-calling voice was cut off in an instant.

“Quit your trickery! Get out here!” Li Yanchu’s voice roared like a thunderclap.

He carried on him a Five-Lightning Talisman thrice enhanced, and its pure yang aura was infused into his every word and action. In an instant, the surrounding wails of ghosts and howls of wolves vanished without a trace.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

A figure suddenly dashed out of the thick mist. The person was tall and upright, but his face was obscured. Only when the person got closer did Li Yanchu clearly see his appearance. It was none other than Bai Hongtu.

“Daoist Master Yanchu, I finally found you!” Bai Hongtu’s face was lit with joy.

“What are you doing here?” Li Yanchu glanced at him.

Bai Hongtu held a longsword in his hand, his expression tinged with lingering fear as he shook his head. “I don’t know. I was sleeping, and suddenly I found myself here. Oh, right, just now I heard a voice calling your name. I followed the sound, but then these strange footsteps started appearing around me. If you hadn’t shouted just now and rebuked the evil presence, I wouldn’t have known you were here too.”

Bai Hongtu spoke with lingering fear.

Li Yanchu suddenly asked, “Are you scared?”

In response, Bai Hongtu nodded. “This place is too creepy. I’ll walk behind you. It’ll be safer for both of us.”

Li Yanchu looked at him and laughed. “Alright. These wicked spirits are just small fry. Once this is over, let’s go to the entertainment district and enjoy some music.”

Hearing this, Bai Hongtu beamed. “That sounds great! Come on, let’s find a way out.”

As he spoke, he timidly tucked himself behind Li Yanchu, warily scanning their surroundings.

With that, the two walked forward together. They had just taken a little over three hundred steps when they suddenly saw a faint light in the distance, which illuminated the entire world of black and white.

“This might be our one chance of survival in this place. Let’s go check it out,” Bai Hongtu’s voice called from behind.

Li Yanchu suddenly turned around, his face full of disappointment. “That’s it?”

Bai Hongtu froze. “What do you mean?”

Li Yanchu glanced at him and said coolly, “I thought you’d come up with something a bit more creative, like the Yellow Springs[1], the Bridge of Helplessness[2], or the terrifying depths of the Eighteen Levels of Hell. Something truly soul-shaking. But in the end, all you gave me was this so-called ‘chance of survival’? Trying to distract me with it?”

Hearing this, Bai Hongtu gave a dry laugh. “Daoist Master Yanchu, what are you talking about?”

Li Yanchu shot him a sideways look and sneered. “So much for ‘Daoist Master Yanchu’, looks like your little trick isn’t very good at picking up on the nuances of the real world.”

Bai Hongtu looked completely lost. “The more you talk, the more confused I get...”

Li Yanchu’s smile vanished. With a sudden slash of his saber, Bai Hongtu’s head flew off, and blood sprayed like a fountain. With that, the body collapsed limply to the ground. The severed head rolled to Li Yanchu’s feet, its face still frozen in a look of shock!

Li Yanchu sneered, “Trying to make me think I just killed the real Bai Hongtu? You can drop the cheap tricks now.”

He lifted his foot, ready to crush the head beneath him. But suddenly, the head flew into the air. It still bore Bai Hongtu’s face, but now with a sinister, stiff grin and eyes full of venomous hatred.

“Li Yanchu!”

“Li Yanchu!”

It was the same ghost-calling voice from earlier.

Li Yanchu snorted with laughter. “You’ve sunk low enough for a ghost. This is just pathetic!”

At this time, the ghostly chant abruptly stopped.

The false Bai Hongtu glared at him with vengeful eyes. “How were you so sure? Weren’t you afraid of killing the wrong person!?”

Li Yanchu replied, “I’m not telling you.”

And with that, he slashed once more. As the blade flashed through the air, it was as if the black-and-white world around him was torn open by a great rift. With that, Bai Hongtu’s head was instantly reduced to ashes!

From all around came eerie, drifting voices filled with resentment and venom. “You can’t kill me. I’ll trap you here and trap you in this place for all eternity.”

Li Yanchu sneered coldly, “You? Stop tooting your own horn.”

A Five-Lightning Talisman appeared in his hand. This one was enhanced only once, but it still carried a potent thunderous aura.

“Heaven and earth of pure yang, Five-Lightning Spell, exorcize evil! Strike!”

Boom

!

From the vast, shadowy void above, a brilliant bolt of lightning suddenly crashed down. In an instant, the entire black-and-white world of the dead shattered into pieces!

The scene before Li Yanchu shifted, and he had returned to the room. However, the blood-stained coins of vengeance within the room had changed. The blood on them had vanished, reverting to ordinary copper coins.

His merit points had increased by 1,230.

So that was the blood money wanting to claim a life, so it drew me into an illusion

, Li Yanchu thought to himself.

Li Yanchu carried the Five-Lightning Talisman, a symbol of pure yang power. No evil spirit or demonic entity dared meet his gaze, not even a false City God. And yet, the blood money had been able to pull him into that black-and-white world, where even the counterfeit Bai Hongtu appeared completely normal.

“Whatever’s behind this... must be something fierce,” Li Yanchu muttered as he sat down.

Back in that black-and-white realm, he had recognized at a glance that Bai Hongtu was a fake. While it was true that the people of Wei City called him “Daoist Master Yanchu,” Bai Hongtu never used that title. He always called him by name.

And although Bai Hongtu acted carefree and flippant, he was not the type to show fear in front of Li Yanchu, much less cower behind him. That alone was suspicious.

What’s more, Bai Hongtu had recently shown little to no interest in visiting the entertainment district. He’d even been somewhat resistant to the idea. Taking all that into account, it was easy for Li Yanchu to tell something was off. The judgment had come to him instinctively and immediately.

As Li Yanchu was deep in thought, the ground suddenly trembled.

Boom

! A deafening explosion echoed out, and a massive blast had come from the southern part of the city.

Seeing this, Li Yanchu immediately pushed open the door and rushed out. Meanwhile, Bai Hongtu from the Daoist temple also came running.

The sky was painted red, and flames soared into the air.

“The sound came from the south of the city!” Bai Hongtu said gravely.

Li Yanchu frowned. “It’s not the Temple of Lady Qingyi. That’s on the west side.”

The two of them exchanged a glance, and both of them were surprised.

1. In Chinese culture, 黄泉 (Huángquán) literally translates to "Yellow Springs," and it is a term traditionally used to refer to the underworld or the realm of the dead. ☜

2. 奈何桥 is a mythical bridge located in the underworld (冥界), which souls must cross after death before reincarnation. It is a liminal space between the world of the living and the cycle of rebirth. ☜