Chapter 80: Thunder Art Shows Its Might

Li Lin gave up on his stealth art and followed openly.

He had long known that his stealth art certainly couldn't work against every opponent under heaven with a single trick.

"Four Spirit Hunters." The Daoist's three eyes swept left and right as he laughed: "You people of Yulin County do have some skill, at least you managed to find this Daoist out. Unlike Beiliu County—where this Daoist came and went as he pleased, killed seven Spirit Hunters, and they never knew it was my doing. Hahahaha!"

The faces of Li Lin and the others grew solemn.

If Beiliu County had lost seven Spirit Hunters, how many common folk must have perished?

This man could not be allowed to live.

Zhao Hao charged forward without a word.

The Daoist retreated two steps, and his third eye flashed red.

Zhao Hao reacted swiftly, rolling to the side at once.

A beam of red light shot from the Daoist's eye, grazing past Zhao Hao's clothes.

"Daoist divine ability." Su Huafang flung out a bronze bell attached to a silk thread: "Be careful, this Daoist is off somehow."

The Daoist flicked his horsetail whisk; countless silver strands swept over the bell and sent it flying, while the strands also severed the thread connecting the bell.

The bronze bell flew back, landing beside Su Huafang with a clear ringing.

Bai Liwei was about to step forward and engage, but his face changed drastically and he leapt back.

In the very instant he retreated, a withered black claw withdrew from the spot where he had just been standing.

Seeing this, Bai Liwei's scalp went numb and he shouted: "This is a Daoist heretic cultivator—be careful!"

"Ridiculous—you Spirit Hunters who keep company with strange creatures dare call this Daoist a heretic? Then let this Daoist show you what true, radiant art is!" The Daoist's left hand formed a seal as he chanted rapidly: "Ten years of cold study become burial earth, bone-powder rises as the top scholar!"

Then his left hand flicked out a smooth bone shard, which bounced onto the ground.

The mud writhed, swirling around the bone shard, and before long a clay figure stood up.

It had eyes and a nose, wore a clay-made top-scholar robe, and a black gauze cap pinned with flowers.

"Bone puppet!" Su Huafang, well-versed in the world, shouted: "Don't get close—this puppet will explode; it hides something vicious inside."

Seeing his art exposed, the Daoist swung his whisk at Su Huafang from afar: "Too much talk!"

Most of the silver strands on the whisk came loose and shot toward Su Huafang.

Su Huafang channeled qi and blood into both palms, tracing circles one after another to form a layer of qi-blood barrier.

Most of the silver strands were blocked, but a few pierced through the barrier and struck Su Huafang.

But none hit vital spots, and there were few of them, so it was no real hindrance.

By now Li Lin had already begun rapidly forming seals.

The pull of qi… the Daoist sensed it. He looked up at the sky, then fixed his gaze on Li Lin, his eyes filled with resentment and terror.

"You actually know thunder art… how could you possibly know thunder art." He glared viciously at Li Lin.

His left hand flicked again, and the remaining silver strands all came loose, shooting toward Li Lin.

Su Huafang immediately stepped in front of Li Lin, his palms weaving a ring of blood-qi barrier that once again blocked most of the silver strands.

Of course, he took a few hits himself, but by luck none were serious.

The clay puppet nearby had already closed in, chasing after Bai Liwei.

Fearing entanglement, Bai Liwei kept dodging.

But the clay top-scholar moved quickly, and Bai Liwei was instead being chased ever closer.

"Bai Xunshou, dodge!"

Zhao Hao placed a white object in his mouth, drew a deep breath, then spat it out violently.

A stream of white freezing qi sprayed directly at the clay puppet.

The puppet was made of soft mud; meeting the freezing qi it instantly hardened, and its movements stopped at once.

Cold Toad Art!

The Daoist glanced at Zhao Hao, wariness flashing once more in his eyes.

But he could spare no attention for Zhao Hao. Staring at Li Lin, his right hand formed a hand seal: "Jade Pure Divine Firmament is all illusion, filthy blood becomes the heavens…"

Unfortunately, his chant had barely reached the halfway point when Bai Liwei, dual-wielding two short blades, came slashing straight at him.

The Daoist had no choice but to break off his chant, using the bare handle of his whisk in his left hand to parry and counter.

Clang-clang, the two exchanged over a dozen moves, neither able to overcome the other.

Clearly this Daoist's martial skill was also extremely formidable, almost without weakness.

And at that very moment, Li Lin's Fallen Thunder Incantation was finally complete.

After a bolt from clear skies, a streak of blue-and-red lightning came crashing down from on high.

Both the Daoist and Bai Liwei leapt back at the same time to dodge.

The lightning struck the ground.

Li Lin hadn't expected the Fallen Thunder Art to hit anyway; he prepared to begin forming seals for a second Fallen Thunder Art.

But at that moment, every Spirit Hunter present noticed the Daoist's expression turn very ugly.

On that immortal-boned, Daoist-featured face of his, cracks had actually begun to appear.

The third eye also began to close.

"He fears the Yang-Extreme Thunder Art," Su Huafang shouted loudly: "The three of us attack, keep him busy, and give Li Xunshou a chance."

The three charged forward together.

Anger flashed across the Daoist's face, but seeing Li Lin forming seals again—and his qi being drawn once more—he pulled something from his sleeve and flung it out.

Red powder spread in all directions.

"Poison powder—despicable!" Bai Liwei roared.

In truth, the Bai family had this kind of "trick" too; it had always been he who used it on others. Now that he was suffering it himself, a sense of inverted, heaven-defying fury welled up inside him.

After the three withdrew, the Taoist snorted, turned, and ran.

Seeing his back turned, Li Lin instinctively broke his hand seal and crouched low.

Then... a faint square frame appeared on the Taoist's back.

Li Lin immediately grabbed his long spear and hurled it with all his might.

Spear Throwing Technique!

Backstab!

With the dual abilities stacking, this thrown spear moved at incredible speed, even summoning the sounds of wind and thunder.

The Taoist turned back, saw the spear tip rushing toward him, and instinctively raised the handle of the whisk in his left hand to block the long spear.

But this spear was aimed at his kidney and was too fast; his hand was a step too slow.

The long spear pierced straight through his body and landed on the ground far away.

If nothing unexpected happened, this Taoist should have lost all ability to resist by now.

After all, having his kidney pierced was a fatal wound.

"Inspector Li did a fine job," Zhao Hao shouted, immediately speeding up and charging forward.

Just then, the Taoist's body emitted a hissing sound, like fabric being torn apart.

Shortly after, his body truly split into four pieces.

Meanwhile, the Taoist's head flew rapidly into the sky, leaving without hesitation; in less than two breaths, it had vanished into the distant sky.

All four were startled.

After a while, Su Hua finally spoke: "Flying Head Barbarian. How does this Taoist know the witchcraft of the Southern Barbarians!"

Zhao Hao hissed: "With only a head left, this fellow should be unable to survive, right?"

"Hard to say," Su Huafang shook his head: "It is said that the Southern Barbarians possess a dark art of reattaching heads, allowing one to attach their own head to another person's body and control that person's body to live on."

Bai Liwei frowned: "Then if this Taoist returns for revenge later, won't that be very troublesome?"

"Rest assured, he poses no threat to us in the short term," Su Huafang smiled: "Whether it is Primordial Energy or Yin Energy, both are stored in the body. If he switches bodies, apart from his supernatural powers, everything else must be cultivated anew. By the time he cultivates back to roughly his current state, who knows how many years will have passed?"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

At this moment, Zhao Hao, with his sharp eyes, took two steps forward and saw a bundle on the ground, which the Taoist had dropped when his body split apart.

"Let's see what valuable things are inside."

He smiled and opened the bundle.

Inside were some silver notes, a book that seemed to be a secret manual, and then a round red pill.

It had a very strong smell of blood and also radiated an evil nature.

(End of this chapter)