Wielding the Thunders Across Two Worlds

"My son!"

Seeing the Wolf Demon struck down by the Flowing Gold Fire Bell, Li Chiwang let out a guttural roar. His curved saber shattered the Five Elements Attack as his form dissolved into a furious gust of wind, sweeping toward the fallen demon.

But just as he neared the Wolf Demon, a small bell spun out from behind it.

The bell was no bigger than his palm, carved with the sun, moon, and stars, as well as mountains, rivers, and seas. It radiated a faint golden light, its surface shrouded in a shimmering heat with faint, flickering flames clinging to it.

The bell was small and almost charming, but the moment Li Chiwang saw it appear, his pupils contracted sharply.

SWOOSH—

The Flowing Gold Fire Bell shot forward like a streak of golden light. Li Chiwang instinctively summoned his Demon Qi to block it, but the bell abruptly changed direction, instantly striking the chest of the Wolf Demon before him.

It pierced clean through!

After piercing the Wolf Demon, the Flowing Gold Fire Bell transformed once more into a great, blazing sun, hovering above the Li Position of the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Array, burning fiercely.

Beneath the great sun, Taoist Shen Hao stood in the void, his long white eyebrows fluttering in the wind. Bathed in its light, he seemed to be draped in a robe of golden twilight.

"You fiend! I’ll devour you alive!" Li Chiwang shrieked.

"Wolves eat men, and men kill wolves. This is simply the natural way of the Celestial Dao," Taoist Shen Hao said calmly. "It is true for common folk and wild wolves, and it is true for you and me."

"You, with your meager thousand years of Dao Practice, dare speak to me of the Celestial Dao?" Li Chiwang snarled.

Taoist Shen Hao stroked his white eyebrow and laughed with contempt. "Even if you achieved Ten Thousand Years of Dao Practice, in my eyes, you would still be nothing more than a beast, unworthy of mention."

"The audacity!" Li Chiwang’s Demon Qi erupted. He transformed into a furious gale, scattering the encroaching Yin Yang Qi, and lunged toward Taoist Shen Hao.

But he only made it halfway before another gale swept in. This one carried fire, a sky full of Wind and Fire that engulfed him. The array’s power condensed behind it, forming a massive tornado of flame and wind.

The Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Array was now focused on dealing with Li Chiwang, while the Yin Yang Five Elements Array shifted its target to the seven remaining demons that had just been intercepted.

Taoist Yuan He let out a sly chuckle. With a flick of his sword-pointing fingers, the Pure Yang Flying Sword shot out.

The opposing Wolf Demon was blinded by the brilliant golden light. As it scrambled to defend itself, it saw the sword’s radiance suddenly stretch out. Then, with an act of Sword Light Division, it split into a hundred blades of light, forming threads that traced impossible curves through the air.

In an instant, the air was filled with golden threads, radiating an infinite sharpness.

Although the Wolf Demon’s Cultivation was comparable to Taoist Yuan He’s, it was utterly terrified by his Swordsmanship. Having lost all will to fight, it turned to flee.

But with a twist and turn of his sword-pointing fingers, Taoist Yuan He transformed the Sword Light into a Sword Net, enveloping the Wolf Demon.

"Senior Brother Yan Qi found me the Five Metals Elite. I just upgraded my Flying Sword, and you’ll be the perfect sacrifice to consecrate it."

As his voice fell, the Sword Net enveloped the Wolf Demon. Its sharp Qi, fierce and Pure Yang, sliced through the Demon Qi as effortlessly as a hot knife through butter, parting it with incredible ease.

SHIICK—

With a soft sound, the thread-like Sword Qi slid across the Wolf Demon’s neck.

SHIICK—

The Wolf Demon’s head fell, and blood sprayed like a fountain.

Seeing Taoist Yuan He draw first blood, the other old Daoists redoubled their efforts. With a wave of his hand, Taoist Jing Chun manifested four Divine Prisons, boxing in another Wolf Demon from all sides.

The Pot of Boiling Water Prison, the Copper Pillar Prison, the Slaughter Prison, and the General Prison.

Within the four Divine Prisons, thirty-two Divine Prison Ghost Generals wielded the Eighteen Weapons—sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, hooks, and more. They attacked in waves, overwhelming the Wolf Demon and cutting it down in a chaotic onslaught.

Taoist Yan Qi, a master of the Five Elements Escape Technique, directly manifested the Five Qi and reversed the Yin and Yang. This tricked the Wolf Demon into trying to escape downward, causing it to plunge headfirst into the mountain rock.

He then performed the Shangqing Technique, flicking his five fingers to lock the Wolf Demon’s Five Qi circulation. Manipulating the surrounding earth and stone, he crushed the demon into a bloody paste deep underground.

As the Evil Qi entered his body, Taoist Yan Qi smiled in satisfaction. He turned to look at Taoist Qingwei and saw that his fellow Daoist had formed a circle with his longsword, trapping a Wolf Demon within a Tai Chi Sword Circle, its fate no longer its own.

Taoist Yan Qi rubbed his hands together. "Need a hand?"

Taoist Qingwei smiled faintly. He thrust his sword once to the left and once to the right. All the Demon Qi the Wolf Demon had just unleashed, which had been trapped inside the Tai Chi Sword Circle, immediately backlashed against it.

The internal and external forces clashed, shattering its meridians, throwing its Sea of Consciousness into chaos, and causing its Dantian to explode.

SPURT!

A mouthful of Heart’s Blood sprayed out as the Wolf Demon was killed by its own power.

"Impre—" Taoist Yan Qi started, giving a thumbs-up.

BOOM!

The sound of thunder cut off Taoist Yan Qi’s praise. Wielding a Thunderwood Sword identical to Taoist Ming Yu’s, Taoist Ming Chong summoned Celestial Thunder from the Five-Colored Thunderclouds shared by the two arrays.

The Five Directions Yang Thunder Spell struck an already-injured Wolf Demon squarely, a bolt of violet-gold Thunderbolt piercing its entire body.

When the light of the thunder faded, its power still lingering in the air, the Wolf Demon that had been struck to a blackened crisp was already dead.

Taoist Ming Chong shook his head. "I really need to spend more time on Cultivation. I can’t always be the last one."

Taoist Jing Hong and Taoist Jing Fa, who had already finished their own battles, looked at Taoist Ming Chong with smiles. "It’s good enough. Besides, Alchemy is your true calling."

Although the Dragon Gate’s Double Assassins had entered the sect a generation later than Taoist Ming Chong, they were contemporaries of Taoist Shen Hao and senior to both Taoist Qingwei and Taoist Yuan He. Their Dao Practice was profound. Facing Wolf Demons with hundreds of years of cultivation, they each ended their fights with a single, unadorned sword strike.

"Impressive!" Taoist Yan Qi gave another thumbs-up.

Then, everyone turned their attention to Li Chiwang, still trapped within the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Array.

It had to be said that Li Chiwang lived up to his title as the master of Red Moon Valley. The old Wolf Demon’s Dao Practice and Magic were both incredibly profound. Even after being provoked into a frenzy by Taoist Shen Hao and besieged by the Taiyi Wind and Fire, he showed no sign of faltering.

However, that was all it was—a lack of faltering. With the Eight Trigrams and Eight Gates assailing him in rotation, his death was only a matter of time as long as he couldn’t break the array.

AWOOO—

Li Chiwang roared again and again, lunging left and right. His curved saber tried to draw down the moonlight, but it was blocked by the array.

Taoist Yu Zhang occupied the Qian Position, his Celestial Pig Great Curse blotting out the sky and completely sealing the Array Space from the outside world.

Down in Red Moon Valley, the hundreds of remaining demons saw the valley’s experts fall one after another while their patriarch was trapped, unable to break free. They all lost heart; some began to attack chaotically, while others tried to flee.

But the array now enveloped the entire Red Moon Valley. How could they possibly escape?

Besides, while these demons’ Cultivation was not high, they were rich in Evil Qi. Every little bit counts, and these old Daoists were used to lean times. They certainly weren’t going to let anything go to waste.

Then, just as the Yin Yang Five Elements Array expanded to cover Red Moon Valley, Li Chiwang played his final trump card.

A sword.

A red longsword that radiated a brutal, bloodthirsty aura.

Taoist Ming Chong was very familiar with this aura. "The Heart Chakra? Isn’t that one of the Six-Headed Divine Monarch’s six Magical Treasures? How did you get your hands on it?"

As he spoke, a note of regret entered his voice. "Don’t tell me you killed one of his disciples and stole it?"

’He remembered that Centipede Spirit,’ he thought. ’It was brimming with Evil Qi, its entire body a treasure. What a pity it would be if Li Chiwang had killed a similar one.’

Li Chiwang: ???

Seeing the look in Li Chiwang’s eyes, Taoist Ming Chong grew even more regretful. "So you really did kill him."

Li Chiwang asked, "You know Cui Ling Monarch?"

"Never met him," Taoist Ming Chong said, shaking his head. "But I’ll be taking that sword you’re holding."

Yunyang curled his lip. "Ah, ’this treasure is fated for me,’ so it ’belongs to the virtuous,’ is that it?"

The old Daoists roared with laughter. Then, the two arrays unleashed their full power, completely overwhelming Li Chiwang.