Chapter 86: The Last Patriarch of the Witch-Ghost Sect

Patriarch Tingyou's qi mechanism continued to rise, yet Lu Yang remained perfectly calm, for he knew clearly that his opponent's state was not much different from his own.

Having lost his physical body, only his soul remained.

In dharma combat, he relied entirely on the status enhancement brought by great divine abilities; crushing weaker foes was effortless, but facing an opponent of equal status would reveal his declining momentum.

The reason they were currently evenly matched was purely because Lu Yang had done the same thing.

To refine the 【Corpse Liberation Immortal】, his physical body remained in a state of "death followed by transformation," giving him only a slight edge over Patriarch Tingyou.

However, since he dared to come to their door proactively, he naturally had complete confidence.

"Nine Heavens Capital Register Secret Demon Yin Thunder!"

Patriarch Tingyou's expression turned cold and sharp as he spoke the Daoist sounds, forming a hand seal; instantly, thunder erupted from the void, lightning flashing and cracking, striking down toward Lu Yang from above.

This time, Lu Yang did not resist head-on but silently circulated his sword art, manifesting a sword light beneath his feet while summoning his Blood Sun Sword Pill to fly a hundred li away, then splitting off another sword light before using the sword-light teleportation technique of the "Divine Thunder Sword Control True Art" to flash over a hundred li in an instant.

Boom!

Amidst a tremendous roar, Lu Yang watched the thunder light crash into the City of Unjust Death below, instantly shattering several city districts and raising a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

Yet not a single soul flew out from that mountain of corpses and sea of blood; they had all been scattered to the winds!

"Thunder arts specialized in countering souls."

Lu Yang narrowed his eyes slightly; thunder was inherently the most yang and rigid substance of heaven and earth, but when extremes reverse, the most yin and soft qi can similarly generate towering thunder.

Patriarch Tingyou's move, the "Nine Heavens Capital Register Secret Demon Yin Thunder," was clearly such a divine ability; it seemed the opponent had seen through his true situation and prescribed the right remedy, attempting to use this thunder art to corrupt his soul, and if struck by it, Lu Yang feared he would lose this dharma combat.

Thinking thus, Lu Yang once again split his sword light, scattering it in all directions.

"Sword escape technique?"

Patriarch Tingyou gazed over and sneered: "The sword escape of the Yushu Sword Pavilion is indeed the fastest under heaven, but any divine ability must have a counter."

"My Witch-Ghost Sect clashed with the Yushu Sword Pavilion several times in the past; how could we not understand this path?"

"Moreover, you do not seem proficient in sword arts; you likely learned this through dual cultivation methods of plundering, did you not? Such trivial tricks, and you dare show them off before me."

With that, he pointed a finger.

Toward where his finger pointed, surging mysterious light poured forth, covering heaven and earth; upon closer inspection, it consisted of countless witch-ghosts, their number no less than Lu Yang's sword lights!

Each witch-ghost closely followed a sword light.

And when Lu Yang used sword escape to leave the battlefield again, Patriarch Tingyou similarly formed a hand seal, shook his body, and vanished from his original spot as well.

The next second, when Lu Yang stepped out from a sword light, the witch-ghost beside that sword light changed its form, revealing Patriarch Tingyou's figure!

Boom!

The next second, another bolt of yin thunder struck down from above; at the critical moment, Lu Yang shook the Myriad Souls Banner in his hand, causing hundreds upon thousands of Five Thunder Talismans to fly out from the banner, which he simultaneously activated to transform into a brilliant yang thunder that collided mid-air with the yin thunder.

"Talismans?"

Seeing this, Patriarch Tingyou frowned slightly but soon relaxed: "Though somewhat troublesome, how many talismans do you have? It is still a drop in the bucket—!?"

His voice cut off abruptly.

Because the next second, Lu Yang fully unfurled the Myriad Souls Banner, and talismans flew out one after another, instantly filling more than half the sky and earth!

In his previous life, aided by the Mingdao Jade Slip, Lu Yang had already advanced talisman arts and arrays to the limit of the Qi Refining realm, ranking Seventh Grade, and with the industrial assembly line enhancement of the Myriad Souls Banner, he directly used talismans to form an array, shifting and transforming to instantly mobilize the mighty power of heaven and earth within a hundred li.

Not only that, but array patterns now lit up around the City of Unjust Death.

In an instant, flying lights and flowing fire appeared, wind and thunder rolled through the sky, firmly enveloping the entire City of Unjust Death and trapping Patriarch Tingyou at the very center of the array!

"Did you truly think I came rashly without doing anything?"

When dealing with seniors, Lu Yang always came prepared.

Long before rushing to the City of Unjust Death, he had already set up a great array around its perimeter, and now that the array activated, it immediately unleashed terrifying power.

In the past, relying solely on a single Blood-Washed Heavenly River Sword Array Diagram, Lu Yang, with his Eighth Layer of Qi Condensation cultivation, could withstand a Great Perfection of Qi Condensation; the boost arrays provided to combat power was immense, and Patriarch Tingyou naturally understood this, his expression changing sharply as he formed hand seals to escape the array's range.

"Hmph, trying to flee?"

Lu Yang waved his wide sleeve, and the sword lights he had previously split immediately curled back to kill.

Earlier, to track Lu Yang, Patriarch Tingyou had made every witch-ghost follow a sword light, but now he had lifted a stone only to drop it on his own foot.

In the blink of an eye, the sword lights swept away the witch-ghosts still remaining outside the array.

Without the witch-ghosts as mediums, Patriarch Tingyou could no longer escape across space and could only watch with an ugly expression as he fell into the array's encirclement.

Seeing this, Lu Yang smiled coldly and immediately formed hand seals.

Instantly, the array shifted, countless talismans vibrated together, and wind, thunder, water, and fire poured forth, submerging Patriarch Tingyou's figure within them.

If it were merely a simple array, Patriarch Tingyou would not have feared it, but the array master happened to be Lu Yang, who enhanced it with his own status, making it a truly lethal method; when the wind, thunder, water, and fire dissipated, Patriarch Tingyou reappeared, his previously brilliant soul radiance now significantly dimmed.

"Good, very good, you junior!"

Patriarch Tingyou, with disheveled hair and eyes full of grimness, spoke in a low voice: "I truly did not wish to expose this, but it seems I have no choice now."

Before his words finished, his qi mechanism suddenly changed!

He formed hand seals, and the Xuanming Lord of the Netherworld image behind him expanded further; the 【Yanmo Hall】 became increasingly real, gradually revealing eight precious thrones.

"Return to your positions!"

A ghostly demonic sound spread in all directions, and the next second, Lu Yang saw eight scarlet escape lights that had just fled far away now flying back.

Within those escape lights reflected the utterly terrified faces of the eight Elders of the Tingyou Sect; Lu Yang immediately activated the array to try to intercept them, but they seemed to exist in another space, ethereal and indistinct, impossible to block, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived beside Patriarch Tingyou.

"Black and White Impermanence, Civil and Military Judges."

"Ox-Head and Horse-Face, Day and Night Wandering Gods."

With each name Patriarch Tingyou spoke, an Elder landed on one of the thrones manifested by the 【Yanmo Hall】, and after all eight Elders took their seats—

Boom!

Patriarch Tingyou transformed into the Xuanming Lord of the Netherworld image and directly took the main seat of the 【Yanmo Hall】; the entire 【Yanmo Hall】 instantly seemed reborn, with ten thousand ghosts roaring, each performing their duties, just like the true Underworld descending upon the human world, and it instantly broke free from the talisman array Lu Yang had set!

Almost simultaneously, from high above the dome of heaven, a sword cry rang out!

The rolling sound of the sword cry carried overwhelming, vast spiritual sense, making everyone who heard it involuntarily conjure an image in their minds.

It was a cliff standing between heaven and earth.

On the cliff, a heroic youth in Daoist robes sat cross-legged, gazing toward Jiangbei, a magic sword resting before his knees, as he pointed two fingers north and slashed:

"Master of the Witch-Ghost Sect, the chief evil must be executed!"

Clang clang!

The next second, all images vanished; Lu Yang saw only a sharp sword light, which was none other than the Golden Core sword qi within the Secret Realm fully awakening!

At this moment, Lu Yang finally understood Patriarch Tingyou's identity.

The last Patriarch of the Witch-Ghost Sect!

(End of Chapter)