Chapter 137: Chapter 97: Anomaly_1
Translator: 549690339
In the mountain wilderness Taoist Temple, wails echoed, not even the sound of thunderstorms could completely drown them out.
In the pavilions, upon hearing this noise, the White Mountain Monk and Taoist Qinghe were both filled with shock and uncertainty.
“This…”
“It’s that demon’s agonized wails!”
“Could it be that Taoist Brother Shi has succeeded?”
“No, the demon Qi has not dissipated, the evil Qi has not vanished!”
“Inside the Taoist Temple, mana still persists, that demon has not yet met his demise!”
“Even with Brother Shi’s Thunder Series and the aid of the right time and place, could he still not take down that demon?”
“The Out of Body True Man is indeed no ordinary figure, we should also start our mana altar to lend Brother Shi a helping hand!”
“Today, we must bring down his Dry Prosperous Taoist Temple!”
Amidst their astonishment and doubt, they were about to start the mana altar to provide assistance.
But at that moment, they saw…
“Rumbling!”
In the flashing lightning and roaring thunder, amidst the raging wind and downpour, a vast expanse of heaven and earth suddenly revealed a silhouette, riding the Yang Yun clouds toward us, unimpeded by lightning or touched by the storm, with feet stepping on the dark ominous clouds and a body moving with the shocking dragons of lightning, as if the Divine Monarch of the thunder department had descended to the world.
Indeed…
“Brother Shi!”
The two stopped in their tracks, their faces full of astonishment.
But quickly, they realized and exchanged a wry smile, saying, “It seems we’ve underestimated Brother Shi’s divine skills!”
Saying so, they withdrew and continued to be spectators.
In this world, cultivating skills with the divine soul as the foundation, come together as a multitude.
Therefore, the focus of cultivation is also on the divine soul.
Four-Realm Mages must condense their soul into a Yin Soul, which enables them to perform various cultivating skills.
Five-Realm True Men must possess the ability to perform skills with the Yin Soul out of body, to utilize even more profound Mana Points.
As for the ultimate beings of this world, the Six Realm True Monarchs, they must transform Yin into Yang, achieving a Yang God that fears not the thunderous power or fierce winds, so as to roam the North Sea in the morning and Cangwu in the evening.
The fundamental skills focus on the divine soul, hence the art of combat also has an inextricable connection with the divine soul.
Cultivators of this world, righteous or evil, all regard “Curse Skill” as the mainstream for battling with skills.
This is true for both the White Mountain Monk and Taoist Qinghe.
However, this “Shi Jian” fellow daoist is an exception.
Ever since he slew the Peach Blossom Path and took over Peach Blossom Mountain—renaming it Mount Jilei Mingxiao Taoist Temple and making it his own cultivation ground—he frequently took action, sweeping the demon and ghostly beings across North City County.
Having cleared North City County, he moved on to Jinhua Mansion, clearing out the Orchid Ghost Realm and various other special areas, leaving no demons, ghosts, malevolent spirits, or numerous Evil Path cultivators unslain.
Unless facing a formidable enemy, he rarely resorted to Curse Killing Skills, instead choosing to doorstep with sword in hand or even barehanded; his thunder and lightning fiercely unbridled, a veritable combat maniac.
Did the Dry Prosperous Taoist think that surviving the Thunder Summoning Curse Killing would let him escape calamity?
In Jinhua Mansion, who wouldn’t know that the Mingxiao Spell King of the thunderous Mount Jilei in North City possesses not only the ability to conduct rituals, but also the power to slain enemies with his sword, his combat skills no less formidable than his ritual skills?
Indeed, after a round of Thunder Series Curse Slaying he came riding the clouds, sword in hand, knocking on doors.
Therefore, there was no need for the two of them to lend a hand; today was bound to be the day of downfall for that demonic Dry Prosperous Path!
“Rumbling!”
Lightning flashed, thunder roared and heavy rain poured; a Yang Yun cloud descended from the sky, ragingly charging into the Dry Prosperous Taoist Temple.
At the same time, inside the Dry Prosperous Taoist Temple.
The Dry Prosperous Taoist’s brows twitched as he opened his eyes, which were full of bloodshot streaks and radiated pain and exhaustion.
He had resisted!
With his True Man’s Yin Soul, exhausting all his sect’s potentiality, he ultimately endured that Five Thunder Boom, the Divine Spell of annihilating god.
But before he could rejoice in his post-calamity survival, a mighty enemy stormed into his Dry Prosperous Taoist Temple, borne on wind and thunder.
“This is too much, too much to bear!!!”
“You have your rituals and the Five Thunder Divine Spell, that’s tolerable, the thunderstorm gives Taoist me no advantage against you!”
“But to dare to be so bold, to come alone into my Dry Prosperous Taoist Temple?”
“Do you truly think my life’s Taoist Cultivation and abilities are no more than paper mache and hot air?”
“Come meet your end!”
The Dry Prosperous Taoist shouted, leaping up from his mat, heedless of the thunderstorm outside his temple, he lifted his blood-stained sword and ignited dozens of Yellow Talismans before the altar, which were instantly reduced to ashes.
Suddenly, the Taoist Temple shook, the earth cracked open, and dozens of red wooden coffins surfaced, covered in cinnabar Yellow Talismans; an overwhelming Yin Qi and pressing evil Qi emitted from them.
“Arise!!!”
With a shake of his sword, the Dry Prosperous Taoist opened the dozens of coffins as numerous Corpse Bodies stood upright.
In the legacy of the Dry Prosperous Path, there exists a formidable Corpse Refining skill.
For many years, the Dry Prosperous Taoist practiced evil, wandering through the various provinces of Jiangnan, secretly harming many Martial World experts with his Evil Skills and collecting their bodies. By dedicating day and night to the sacrificial refinement, he accrued dozens of Corpse Bodies nearly as powerful as Four-Realm demons.
Even the renowned Buddhist monk with decades of reputation in Jinhua Mansion, Master Fulong of Fahua Temple, dared not fight him alone; he would need to bring a group of disciples, eighteen temple monks, to pursue and battle him.
“That old Fulong baldy, with his True Man cultivation, still didn’t dare to face me alone. You, a mere Four-Realm Mage, dare to charge into my Dry Prosperous Temple by yourself?”
The Dry Prosperous Taoist sneered coldly, and with a boost of his Evil Skills, the Corpse Bodies formed an array.
However…
Xu Yang rode the clouds, flew down swiftly, and landed directly inside the Dry Prosperous Taoist Temple, amidst the Corpse Body array.
Dozens of Corpse Bodies revived, each comparable to a Four-Realm demon, filled with an accumulation of Yin Qi and Evil Qi, extremely malicious.
Such a Corpse Body array, with the Yin Qi and Evil Qi soaring into the sky, would be a perilous challenge even for a Five-Realm True Man without extraordinary means.
Yet, Xu Yang had no fear, drifting into the array, and with a raise of his hand, he fiercely threw…
At that instant, countless yellow talismans flew out, all inscribed with cinnabar-scripted seals, amid the convergence of thunder and lightning.
The Dry Prosperous Taoist’s pupils immediately shrank.
Thunder Summoning Talismans, Thunder Inviting Talismans, Thunder Dropping Talismans, Thunder Gathering Talismans, as well as Wind Thunder Talismans, Fire Thunder Talismans, Yin Thunder Talismans, and Yang Thunder Talismans, Thunder Generating Talismans, and Thunder Destroying Talismans… Talismans upon talismans, all of them thunder talismans!
With that throw, he actually cast out over a thousand thunder talismans, including those for summoning and inviting thunder, for dropping and gathering thunder, as well as those representing Yin and Yang, life and death, the Five Elements and Four Laws!
Although they weren’t of high grade, their sheer number and top-notch quality meant that when over a thousand thunder talismans were explosively activated, that scene was something to behold…
“Boom boom boom!”
Lightning flashed and thunder roared, the earth shook, and the formation created by congealed Yin Qi and Evil Qi was directly blasted through by the violently erupting thunder and lightning.
Amidst the thunder and lightning, one figure stood out, like a Divine Monarch of the Thunder Department descending upon the world, sword in hand, as the bolts of lightning surged with his command.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Sword Qi soared like rainbows, and the lightning coursed like dragons, exploding upon the bodies of the refined corpses, with dozens of them falling in an instant.
“You… urgh!!!”
Seeing this, the Dry Prosperous Taoist started to exclaim in shock, but the backlash of his connected cultivating skills hit him first, causing his body to shudder, as he spat out another mouthful of fresh blood.
“How is this possible, how is this possible?”
“You, a mere Four-Realm Mage, where did you get so many thunder talismans?”
“Just who in the world are you!”
The Dry Prosperous Taoist, disheveled and spitting blood, was already somewhat delirious.
He couldn’t understand, just couldn’t comprehend why things always developed beyond his expectations.
He had opened his Heavenly Eye earlier, invoked the Mysterious Light, and clearly discerned the background of the newcomer: merely a Four-Realm Mage, a Loose Cultivator at that, not a direct descendant of the righteous Taoist teachings, and had been residing in North City County for the past ten years.
How could he possibly employ the Five Thunder Destroying God Spell, normally only wielded by True Men of the Taoist Gate Righteous Skill?
It would have been understandable had it been the Five Thunder Destroying God Spell alone—perhaps attributable to his outstanding talent and a Divine Soul unlike ordinary people, allowing him to cast spells beyond his realm.
But what about these thousands of thunder talismans?
Thunder Series skills are difficult to cultivate, and thunder talismans are hard to create. How did you, a Four-Realm Mage, acquire thousands of thunder talismans?
How much mana and spirit from Mages and True Men would need to be drained to refine these?
Forget calling you a Four-Realm Mage; even True Men among the righteous Taosim lineage of the Five Realms may not possess such wealth and potential!
Just who are you!!!
The Dry Prosperous Taoist was seriously injured, filled with shock and rage, his mind descending into madness, increasingly beyond his own control.
But Xu Yang did not care for any of that, his sword drawing thunder, a startled thunder dragon sweeping away, eradicating the remaining refined corpses one by one.
“Boom!!”
The thunderous sounds echoed, lightning wreaked havoc, shattering the last refined corpse into ash.
“Urgh!!”
The Dry Prosperous Taoist’s body trembled once more, another mouthful of fresh blood spurted out, his vitality rapidly fading, his flesh withering as though it were rotting wood.
“Whoo!”
In the next instant, the rotting wood turned to ash, leaving only his robes collapsing to the ground.
But this was merely an illusion.
“You won’t get away!”
Xu Yang’s eyes gathered the thunder, and with a sweep of his hand, he grabbed toward an unseen area in the void.
In the void, in an area invisible to ordinary people, a frenzied Underworld Soul, paying no heed to the outside world of flashing lightning and torrential rain, attempted to flee and escape.
An out-of-body Yin Soul.
In the world of cultivation, the Divine Soul is paramount.
A Four-Realm Mage can refine an Underworld Soul.
A Five-Realm True Man possesses even greater out-of-body abilities. Even if abandoning the physical shell, they can become a ghost or demon and can even seize another’s body to live another life—extremely formidable.
But as formidable as they are in strength, they are just as vulnerable. Exposure to sunlight scorches them like fire, the wind cuts like a knife, immersion in water numbs with extreme cold, thunderous roars shatter the soul, and if they fail to find a host in time, the Underworld Soul will scatter and disintegrate.
Thus, moving about during a thunderstorm is tantamount to certain death.
But at this moment, the Dry Prosperous Taoist had no choice but to escape, his Underworld Soul fleeing for its life.
Being struck by lightning would be preferable to falling into the hands of this man.
However…
Xu Yang grasped firmly, and a hundred yellow talismans flew out, striking directly at the Underworld Soul of the Dry Prosperous Taoist.
Suddenly, the Spirit Talismans flashed with brilliant light, transforming into chains and hooks among various kinds of torture devices, fastening onto the Dry Prosperous Taoist’s soul, securely locking his spirit and Underworld Soul.
They were Ghost Collecting Talismans, designed specifically for Underworld Souls and Evil Ghosts according to the Xuanming True Person’s Ghost Controlling Method.
Though they were not as numerous as the previous thunder talismans, they still amounted to a hundred.
“Collect!”
With a hundred Ghost Enslaving Talismans suppressing, coupled with the daunting thunder from heaven and earth, even the out-of-body Underworld Soul of a True Man couldn’t resist. The Dry Prosperous Taoist could not even let out a wail before Xu Yang swept him into his sleeve.
With that, the battle came to an end.
Within the Dry Prosperous Taoist Temple, the evil aura gradually faded.
Outside, the rain continued pouring, lightning flashing, thunder roaring, unabated even as the battle concluded.
This was only natural.
The thunderstorm had not been summoned by Xu Yang’s spells, but was a natural weather occurrence on earth; he merely took advantage of the situation, and it would not stop simply at his whim.
Xu Yang waved his sleeve, collecting the scattered remains, then entered the grand hall of the Taoist Temple, arriving at the Mana Altar, he began to loot the spoils of battle.
A short while later, having packed everything into his bag,
Xu Yang didn’t linger, turning to leave the Dry Prosperous Taoist Temple. He rode the thundercloud, heading straight for a pavilion in the mountains some ten miles away.