Chapter 249: Battle Against Four Elders

The black-robed old man radiated earth-yellow light, standing atop the massive stone dragon’s head, exuding a crushing, heavy pressure.

Yet, both he and the entire dozens-of-zhang-long stone dragon seemed gripped by an invisible force, struggling as if to burst from the earth and soar into the sky.

The black-robed old man’s expression changed instantly—he had intended to lie hidden beneath the ground, aiming to ambush Li Muxian atop the Baixiang Pavilion’s roof.

But he never expected that, despite concealing himself and merging with the earth, he had still been detected by Li Muxian.

This shocked him deeply and filled him with wariness—he realized that if this man could defeat Chihuo Senior Brother, he was certainly no ordinary cultivator.

Instantly, the black-robed old man became even more cautious, and unleashed all his strength!

The next moment, he stomped hard upon the stone dragon’s skull; the surrounding heavens and earth trembled like a drumbeat of Kui, and from the cracked fissures of the blue-stone street, black rock ridges surged upward—like earth dragons flipping over.

They twisted upward, clinging to the rising stone dragon’s massive body, as if drawing upon the earth’s power to wrestle with Li Muxian seated atop the Baixiang Pavilion’s ridge.

Simultaneously, the walls and bricks of surrounding houses collapsed, peeled apart, and reformed, rapidly coalescing into hundreds of stone spears pointing straight at the Baixiang Pavilion’s roof.

Around the Baixiang Pavilion, the entire district’s ground bones churned like waves—the earth itself twisted and deformed under immense force, then transformed into dozens of monstrous rock tigers, each several zhang tall, with jet-black eyes and paws like grinding stones crashing down, stirring up dust storms like meat grinders, one after another leaping onto the stone dragon’s body.

And those condensed stone spears exploded outward in an instant, becoming a skyward rain of spears.

Facing the black-robed old man’s assault, Li Muxian glanced downward—all the spears hurtling toward him were frozen half a zhang away, then shattered into fine dust that rained down softly.

Yet the dozens-of-zhang-long stone dragon, and the black-robed old man atop its head, continued rising without pause toward the pavilion’s roof.

No matter how many rock earth dragons surged from below, clinging and pulling with the earth’s power, no matter how many rock tigers dragged with crushing weight, they could not halt the force of Li Muxian’s grasp.

“Master, Senior Brothers, strike now!”

The black-robed old man’s face darkened; he looked up and bellowed in a deep voice.

As he spoke, he slammed both palms onto the stone dragon’s skull—immediately, a thick, vast, surging force spread instantly down the entire length of the stone dragon’s body.

Below, the entire street’s earth veins rippled like a whale’s tail; over a dozen streets twisted like living serpents, all channeling their power through invisible ropes formed by the black-robed old man’s extended force, pulling with immense strength against the ascending stone dragon.

After the black-robed old man shouted, the Master of Luoshen Peak hovering above the clouds and the two elders hidden within them finally ceased their observation.

In this brief moment, they had confirmed: this young man’s martial power was truly formidable.

They had hoped to find a weakness in Li Muxian’s technique, but he had not used any martial divine art at all—his only action had been the grasp against the black-robed old man, seemingly flawless.

“Use all your strength!”

The Master of Luoshen Peak spoke solemnly, his expression cold, facing a martial expert as powerful as Li Muxian.

Since they had chosen to act together as four, they had no intention of holding back—they would strike with thunderous force and end this swiftly.

Moreover, Li Muxian’s earlier arrogant, haughty demeanor had genuinely enraged the Master of Luoshen Peak.

Originally, seeing how young Li Muxian was yet possessed such immense martial power, he had suspected the young man concealed a great secret.

He had even considered capturing him alive to extract that secret—but now, it seemed better to crush him utterly.

Of course, if the man barely survived, he could still be interrogated; if he died, then so be it.

The thought passed in an instant—the Master of Luoshen Peak’s hair and beard bristled as he struck with thunder.

The next instant, his eyes flew open, shooting forth streaks of violet lightning that tore through the night sky; the clouds around him collapsed instantly into a thunderous pool, and his palms pressed downward, palm patterns glowing like a thousand snakes devouring as one.

In an instant, the entire void erupted with spiderweb-like lightning scars, torrents of lightning poured down, a thousand drums fell silent, blades of light interwove into a vast net of thunder, then coalesced into chains of lightning cascading down upon Li Muxian.

Meanwhile, one of the elders hidden within the clouds stirred his sleeves, radiating brilliant emerald light like glowing fireflies from hell.

His withered fingers Huakong , summoning hurricane blades; he manipulated the heavens’ Gangfeng into swirling tornadoes, while clouds and mist in the sky condensed under infinite wind force into blade-rains and hailstones, sweeping down upon Li Muxian within a terrifying storm.

Visible to the naked eye, where the storm’s eye collapsed, even the void became a lightless black hole.

The final elder had, at some unseen moment, moved—appearing behind Li Muxian, just one zhang away.

His gray-white eyes locked onto Li Muxian’s figure seated atop the ridge, then suddenly erupted in dazzling silver radiance.

Where his gaze fell, time and space froze; all within sight became a prison—twilight itself was nailed to the void, even dust particles froze in place…

At that exact moment, Li Muxian suddenly turned his head, gazing at the elder behind him:

“Even if ten more like you came, the outcome would not change.”

Seeing this, the gray-eyed elder’s expression changed instantly.

Logically, everything within his gaze—Li Muxian included—within the several-zhang space atop the Baixiang Pavilion’s roof should have been frozen, like ice encasing all.

Yet this had no effect on Li Muxian?

And now, whether the skyward chains of lightning or the cataclysmic storm’s eye, all were halted three chi beyond Li Muxian’s body.

Three chi outside: wind and thunder annihilated all, nothing remained.

Three chi inside: calm, not a ripple.

And below, the black-robed old man and the dozens-of-zhang-long stone dragon continued rising slowly, halting in the air before Li Muxian.

Even after deploying every technique, the black-robed old man could not budge Li Muxian’s grasp by an inch.

“How is this possible?”

The Master of Luoshen Peak, hovering above the clouds, looked down—his aged face twisted with horror.

“He blocked all that? Such terrifying defense—what martial divine art has he cultivated?”

The elder controlling the storm arrived beside the Master of Luoshen Peak; even with all his strength, he could not touch Li Muxian even slightly, let alone harm him.

“Don’t overreact.”

Li Muxian slowly raised his head, glancing at the two above through the thunder and storm.

Then he extended one finger, pointing directly at the black-robed old man atop the stone dragon.

Seeing this, the black-robed old man’s soul nearly fled—yet his entire body was locked in place by Li Muxian’s invisible aura, utterly unable to escape.

“Master, save me—”

The black-robed old man’s eyes bulged as he roared.

But a blood hole, piercing front to back, appeared on his head—his life force vanished rapidly.

Simultaneously, the massive stone dragon beneath him collapsed.

The black earth dragons entwining him and the monstrous rock tigers all lost their power instantly, falling helplessly, crashing down onto the street below, now a ruin.

“How dare you!”

The elder standing ten chi from Li Muxian’s side glared, eyes bloodshot, roaring.

He had a deep bond with the black-robed old man—though not formally master and disciple, after the old man’s master died, he had personally trained and nurtured him.

Their relationship was as close as father and son; now seeing the black-robed old man dead, he was overcome with grief and rage.

At that moment, Li Muxian, hearing the gray-eyed elder’s roar, raised an eyebrow, then turned to face him.

Without uttering another word, he slowly raised his palm again.

Seeing this, the gray-eyed elder snapped back to reality—his face turned ashen.

He forgot his grief entirely, turned without hesitation, and fled.

He didn’t even cry out for help from the Master of Luoshen Peak—he knew clearly that even with all four of them acting, they had failed to touch Li Muxian; even if the other two intervened, they couldn’t stop him.

As for staying to fight to the death? Impossible—he couldn’t even break through three chi of defense; what was the point? It was just suicide.

In his mind, there was only one path now: flee.

The world says gold is never pure, man never perfect—this man, so young, already possessed such terrifying defense and killing power, was unimaginable.

He didn’t believe Li Muxian was truly omnipotent—even in speed and movement.

At this moment, Li Muxian watched the gray-eyed elder vanish in an instant, then slowly shook his head.

Next, his figure vanished from the spot—then, the fleeing gray-eyed elder suddenly flew backward.

He crashed down into the street’s fissures beneath the Baixiang Pavilion—his head now bore a blood hole piercing front to back.

On his pale, aged face, frozen in shock and horror, he died without ever believing he had been wrong.

Meanwhile, Li Muxian’s figure reappeared atop the Baixiang Pavilion’s roof—he looked up. The Master of Luoshen Peak and the other elder had vanished; only dark clouds rolled across the sky, lingering winds and thunder still howling.

Li Muxian waved his hand—invisible heavenly qi erased all residual wind and thunder.

The next instant, Li Muxian’s figure vanished again from the ridge.

Simultaneously, his body surged with brilliant green radiance, transforming into a streak of rushing Gangfeng —a fleeing elder who turned back to look.

Seeing no anomaly behind him, no sign of Li Muxian chasing, he breathed a slight sigh of relief.

In speed and movement, even the Master of Luoshen Peak couldn’t match him—if he wanted to flee, no one could stop him.

“That man can’t catch me—he must be chasing the Master’s nephew.”

The elder thought to himself, yet didn’t slow or stop for a moment.

“The Great Li court has such a terrifying martial expert—Luoshen Peak is doomed. If the Master’s nephew survives, Luoshen Peak might still have hope of revival.”

“If the Master’s nephew perishes, I’ll have to join one of the other three sects to save myself—and seek revenge later.”

He didn’t blame the Master of Luoshen Peak for misjudging Li Muxian’s true strength and inciting them to attack.

After all, Li Muxian came from the Great Li court—even if they hadn’t moved, he would have come to them anyway. He wouldn’t have let them go.

He only cursed the Great Li court for harboring a martial expert as terrifying as Li Muxian—his displayed power rivaled even the legendary Three Martial Gods of the world.

But where did the Great Li court get a Martial God?

As the elder thought, his face darkened as he fled at top speed beyond Luoshen Peak’s territory.

Yet suddenly, his spirit tightened—he snapped his head upward.

Before him, in the darkness, a figure appeared as if materializing from empty space, slowly taking form.

The elder, transformed into a streak of Gangfeng , halted instantly.

The next instant, he froze completely, his face twisted in disbelief.

“You… how could you be this fast!”

The elder stared at the figure before him—Li Muxian—and was struck as if by lightning.

Hearing this, Li Muxian narrowed his eyes at the elder, his expression calm as he spoke:

“To be honest, you’ve run fast enough—but compared to me, you’re still far too slow.”

With that, Li Muxian extended one finger and pointed at the opponent.

Seeing this, the old man’s hair stood on end, his bones chilled with dread; he had no time to think and immediately struck out to block Li Muxian’s terrifying finger-strike technique.

But he could not stop it—or rather, Li Muxian’s finger was simply too fast.

Before he could even raise his hand, his skull was instantly pierced by a powerful qi pressure, and then his entire body was swept backward by a colossal force, flying straight back toward the direction of Bai Xiang Pavilion.

Li Muxian glanced once at the old man’s rapidly retreating form, then turned away, his figure slowly vanishing from the spot as he headed toward the direction where the Master of Luoshen Peak had fled.

……

BOOM!

A purple lightning bolt, as thick as an arm, suddenly struck down, slamming into the dark clouds ahead.

The Master of Luoshen Peak, wreathed in lightning, suddenly halted, his eyes spewing threads of purple electricity as he fixed his gaze on the clouds ahead.

There, stepping out from the clouds, was Li Muxian, holding a ball of purple lightning in his palm; with a gentle squeeze, it dissolved entirely into scattered sparks and vanished.

The Master of Luoshen Peak’s pupils contracted; he immediately raised his hand, and streams of purple lightning poured down like waterfalls from all around him.

Then, he coalesced countless thunderous vortices, each wrapped in lightning serpents, forming an ironclad shield around himself at the center of a midair storm-pool.

“Young man, what must I do to earn your mercy?”

The Master of Luoshen Peak did not attack Li Muxian, but asked in a low voice.

He had no intention of attacking Li Muxian—his earlier attempt had already proven he was no match for the young man.

(End of Chapter)