Chapter 14

Yue Qing had Xu Yuantong's Wind and Fire Twin Swords above him, the tens of thousands of flying needles transformed from Master Yuanyuan's Qingni Sword below, and the sword nets formed by Xu Xiang'e and the other four around him. Everyone thought he was in a hopeless situation.

Master Canxia also believed he was doomed, and she put her mind at ease, checking the black jade gourd. As soon as she brought it in front of her, the demonic aura inside suddenly surged. The seal she had set up only slightly resisted before dissipating. Fortunately, she reacted quickly and hurriedly threw the gourd away, while simultaneously emitting the Lihe Divine Light from her hands.

However, she was still a step too late. No one expected that besides the Six Jia Divine Spirits already released from the gourd, there were also the Six Ding Divine Spirits inside. The thick demonic mist enveloped the altar again. Two of the six demonic heads went to entangle Master Yuanyuan, while the remaining four entangled Master Canxia, wrapping them completely in the rolling demonic mist.

The black jade gourd that was thrown did not hit the ground but quickly flew up into the air, landing in Yue Qing's hands.

At this moment, Yue Qing and Situ Ping were already under the cover of the colorful smoke. Not only were the swords and needles blocked, but even the wind dragons and fire dragons released by Wu Yuanzhi could only circle and roar on the surface of the smoke, unable to advance.

Yue Qing shouted loudly, "Your Emei Sect is accustomed to bullying the few with the many, but I am not afraid!" He performed the hand seals and chanted the spell, activating the formation. In an instant, sand and stones flew, the sky darkened, and the Eight Gates of the Golden Lock Formation reversed, with all directions changing. Wu Yuanzhi and the others, who were originally in the sky, suddenly found themselves standing on the ground. Yue Qing held the gourd in his left hand and formed a seal with his right hand, spitting out a mouthful of essence, and the Six Jia Divine Spirits that had been dispersed reappeared, causing the surrounding four mountains to shake and collapse.

The rumbling of thunder and the cracking of the earth continued. Large boulders and fragments flew in all directions, carried by the six demonic heads, and rained down like hail, quickly forming a small mountain of rubble.

Although Yue Qing had the upper hand, it was only a temporary measure. If Master Canxia were not present, he could take advantage of the chaos to kill a few people and avenge himself. However, since Master Canxia was there, neither the rubble mountain nor the divine spirits could trap her for long. Therefore, the best strategy was to escape. He tapped the bottom of the gourd, retracted the twelve divine spirits, and then hurriedly flew north.

As Yue Qing thought, immortals are not like ordinary people. Except for deep enmity, when one side fails and flees during a magical duel, the victor rarely pursues relentlessly to exterminate the enemy. This is because both Buddhism and Daoism prohibit excessive killing, and even those in the demonic sects dare not kill indiscriminately to avoid increasing the calamity. Many old demons now hide in the Western Kunlun Mountains, not daring to venture out, because they have too many enemies. Once they leave the mountains, they will inevitably have to kill, leading to various calamities or even death. A prime example is the once powerful and invincible Heavenly Lust Sect Master.

However, today, the Kanli True Man Xu Yuantong, having mistakenly entered Yue Qing's formation, lost four fingers and almost had his thigh cut off, hated Yue Qing to the bone. While Master Canxia and the other two were surrounding and attacking the enemy, he sat on a mountain peak to the north to rest. After taking a pill and bandaging his wounds, he saw Yue Qing collapse the mountains, burying Master Canxia and the other seven alive, and then saw Yue Qing fleeing north. He was instantly enraged and shouted, "Where are you going, demon!" He flew up to intercept Yue Qing's path.

Yue Qing heard the mountain rocks collapsing behind him and guessed that Master Canxia and the others would soon emerge. He did not dare to engage in a prolonged battle and continued to fly north, merging with his sword to break through Xu Yuantong's sword light.

Xu Yuantong, however, did not give up. He performed the hand seals and combined the Kanli Twin Swords into a circle, trying to trap and kill Yue Qing.

Yue Qing sent out a sword, twisting it into a spiral to tangle with the Kanli Twin Swords, delaying for a moment, and then he was already several miles away.

Xu Yuantong shouted in anger and launched the Kanli Dart, which transformed into a fiery rainbow in the air, flying rapidly.

While Yue Qing was flying at full speed, he suddenly heard a continuous cracking sound behind him and felt intense heat. He knew it was the Kanli Dart and quickly unfurled the Taiyi Five Smoke Net to block it. The colorful smoke supported the Kanli Dart, and he turned around, shouting in anger, "You are courting death! Don't blame me if you die!" He shook his hand and released the Five Ghosts Soul-Stealing Banner he had obtained from Zhu Hong, and a torrent of black demonic aura rushed forward. Xu Yuantong cried out in shock, feeling his soul shaken and the world spinning. He quickly recited the Emei Clear Mind Spell, recalling his flying sword to protect himself. Yue Qing used the most exquisite Taiyi Sword Technique of the Wutai Sect, and after more than twenty moves, he severed Xu Yuantong's right arm.

Xu Yuantong screamed in pain, realizing the severity of the situation, and hurriedly tried to escape. The Four Ghosts took the opportunity to approach, forcibly pulling his soul out of his body, and Yue Qing cut his physical body into two pieces with his sword.

Xu Yuantong, after all, was a direct disciple of the Emei Sect and a high-level cultivator with hundreds of years of practice. Despite his defeat, he did not panic. He combined his soul with the golden pill inside his body, gathered his twin swords, and struggled to break free from the Four Ghosts, flying south in a streak of sword light.

His Kanli Dart, a treasure he had cultivated for many years, also tried to fly away. Yue Qing, eager to escape, let his soul go and did not completely exterminate him. Seeing that Master Canxia and the others had not yet caught up, he unfurled the Taiyi Five Smoke Net, creating a thin layer of colorful smoke in the southern sky. The Kanli Dart hit the smoke and could not pass through. Just as it was about to turn and escape, Yue Qing released two flying swords to entangle it, forcibly retracted it into his hand, and sealed it with a mouthful of true qi and a talisman, storing it in his treasure bag. He then continued to fly north.

As Xu Yuantong just returned to the sky above the Four Gates Mountain, Master Canxia and the others came up, shocked by his appearance. Xu Yuantong shouted, "Sisters and brothers, you must avenge me!" and then cried, "Even the Kanli Dart that my master helped me cultivate has been taken by the bandit!"

Master Canxia immediately assigned tasks: "Xiang'e, you take your uncle's soul back to Mount Emei first. We will go after the demon."

Master Yuanyuan angrily added, "Indeed! The supreme treasure passed down by our master cannot fall into the hands of the bandit!"

Xu Xiang'e took Xu Yuantong's soul and flying sword to Mount Emei to find Li Yuanhua, while Master Canxia led everyone to continue chasing Yue Qing. Originally, Master Canxia had the highest cultivation and the most exquisite escape technique, but she had been ambushed by Yue Qing earlier. The demonic aura and blood mist from the gourd had hit her, and the four divine spirits had entangled her. Thanks to the Lihe Divine Light, she was not directly devoured by the four spirits, but she still lost a lot of essence and was injured in her soul. Thus, Master Yuanyuan was the fastest, followed by Wu Yuanzhi, with Master Canxia and the three younger disciples trailing behind.

After killing Xu Yuantong and taking the Kanli Dart, Yue Qing anticipated that the Emei Sect would not let the matter rest. Therefore, he hurriedly flew north, but he was carrying a child. Although Situ Ping was slim and light, the saying "carrying a mortal is as heavy as a mountain" was not exaggerated, and it added some weight. Moreover, his cultivation was not as high as Master Yuanyuan's, so the distance between them gradually shortened.

After flying for a long time, just as they were about to cross the Yangtze River, three beams of light came up from below. They were three brothers, each extremely ugly, with one of them having a single leg. They were recognized as the three night-forks from the Snail Cave on Mount Shenyang: the One-Horned Night-fork He Ming, the Two-Headed Night-fork He Xin, and the Fair-Faced Night-fork He Zai. They had connections with the demonic sects in western Yunnan and recognized Yue Qing's sword light, knowing he was one of the top experts of the Wutai Sect. Seeing him flying in a hurry, they approached to offer help: "What's the matter, Immortal Yue? Is there anything we can do to assist?"

Before they finished speaking, Yue Qing interrupted, "I am being attacked by three elders of the Emei Sect and am heading to Mount Hua to hide. You should quickly get out of the way to avoid getting involved!" He then flew north, passing over the three.

These three were stubborn. They had always heard bad things about the Emei Sect in western Yunnan, believing that the Emei Sect was arrogant and killed indiscriminately. They had never seen the Emei Sect's experts and only knew that the Taiyi Yuanzu Master of the Wutai Sect had been beaten to death by the Emei Sect, which made them quite resentful. Hearing Yue Qing's words, they immediately felt a sense of shared enmity: "The Emei Sect is indeed unreasonable, bullying the few with the many!"

He Ming shook his long neck and his large head: "They are three, and we are three. We can each kill one. Immortal Yue, you just watch from the side. After we kill the three Emei demons, we will go down for a drink!"

Yue Qing did not expect these three to volunteer so readily, but they were clearly overestimating themselves. He shouted, "You must leave quickly!"

He Zai was unhappy: "Immortal Yue, are you looking down on us?"

He Xin added, "Immortal Yue, please rest assured. We have each recently cultivated a new magical treasure, enough to face the enemy."

He Zai said, "If you are not confident, you can hide in our cave for a moment..."