Chapter 558: Battle of Arts in the Dark Night

"Tang~yuan~ hot~"

The hoarse singing pierced the snow curtain, echoing in the windy and snowy dark street.

The voice was full of vicissitudes, like a grandmother next door, even somewhat kind, but in such an environment, it became increasingly gloomy and terrifying.

"It's her, I remember now, it's her!"

Xu Yongqing stiffened suddenly, his eyes full of fear.

"You know her?"

Li Yan looked into the distance, his expression solemn.

At this moment, the other party no longer hid her Qi.

Li Yan could feel a dark and obscure power entrenched in the depths of the alley, viscous and full of resentment.

It even made him feel some pressure.

Li Yan had already understood the other party's identity.

A God-Ascender!

Many people had warned him about "God-Ascenders" before.

Li Yan had never understood the difference between "God-Ascenders" and normal cultivators. If calculated by cultivation, he was already at the Fourth Floor, breaking the limit of mortal cultivators, so he could also be considered a God-Ascender.

There were also many experts from the orthodox sects at the Fourth or Fifth Floor who were not called "God-Ascenders."

It wasn't until he entered Shu and came into contact with many seniors that he gradually clarified the boundary.

"God-Ascender" was originally a term for cultivators who were single-mindedly seeking the Dao and had the opportunity to ascend to godhood; it was a respectful term.

But now, it had taken on a derogatory meaning.

Seeking immortality has been a dream for many since ancient times, but those who have the opportunity to succeed are few and far between, like one or two ascending to godhood among the many crossing the river.

Many people would use any means to achieve this goal, even turning into demons and losing their humanity.

Such people are now called "God-Ascenders."

Of course, not all "God-Ascenders" are demonic, but you can never be sure when they will step onto the heretical path for that slim chance.

That is why many people warn to be careful of "God-Ascenders."

The other party could exert pressure on him, meaning her cultivation was at least at the Fourth Floor, and that demonic and strange Qi meant she had completely lost her humanity.

"She is Nie Sangu!"

Hearing Li Yan's inquiry, Xu Yongqing said tremblingly, "She was originally a disciple expelled from Mount Qingcheng for practicing heretical arts, and later joined the Mile Sect. She rampaged through Shu many years ago and loved to appear at the end of the year to harm people."

"She almost controlled the Salt Gang at the time, but was later hunted down by Cheng Jianxian and disappeared. The bounty notice is still at the Chengdu Prefecture Yamen."

"It's been over twenty years, how... how is she still alive?"

"Tang Yuan Granny?"

Hearing Xu Yongqing's words, Li Yan also came to his senses.

They hadn't entered Shu recklessly; before coming, and all along the way, they had collected quite a bit of intelligence on the Mystic Sects in Shu.

He knew even more about this "Tang Yuan Granny."

This old demoness was a heretical expert from over twenty years ago, hailing from the Xuan Du Temple of Mount Qingcheng, later integrating various heretical arts and even learning the Mohist mechanism arts; she was very troublesome.

He had also learned of this person while collecting intelligence on Cheng Jianxian.

Thinking of this, Li Yan shook his head slightly. "It seems the Prince of Shu has completely gone mad, even taking in such a demonic person."

Having said that, he suddenly exerted force, his chest membrane bulging.

"Get out here!"

He used the Great Cloud Lei Yin.

"Get out here!"

"Come out!"

The voice was loud, like wind and thunder, echoing constantly on the street, even producing bursts of echoes.

The large street was still howling with wind and snow.

Li Yan narrowed his eyes, lost in thought.

He was conducting a test.

The Great Cloud Lei Yin had the power to break evil, although with his current cultivation, he was still far from being able to break evil with a single word, but the sound was loud enough.

The commoners on the street hadn't been awakened, which meant they had already fallen into a strange formation.

But the problem lay right there.

Chengdu Prefecture was no wilderness; the Chenghuangmiao was of a high rank, no weaker than any large city in the Divine Land.

The Chengdu City God was Ji Xin, and he had two subordinates, the Civil Judge Fei Yi and the Martial Judge Zhou Dequan, all receiving hundreds of years of incense offerings, with the social order troops suppressing demons and evil spirits in all directions.

Moreover, in a few days, on the twenty-fifth of the twelfth lunar month, it would be the City God's patrol day.

Mystic Sect cultivators were very cautious when using arts.

Yet the other party was so brazen...

The Chenghuangmiao was likely also being tampered with!

Of course, Li Yan's roar was not without effect.

But a hundred meters away, the wind and snow churned with thick fog, as if pushed aside by an invisible pair of hands, revealing a bit of scarlet faint light.

"Black~ sesame~ filling is sweet!"

The hoarse hawking sounded, as if a handful of broken porcelain shards were stuck in her throat.

It carried a certain sharpness that made one's hair stand on end.

Creak~

The red light got closer, accompanied by the sound of wooden wheels pressing on snow.

He saw the gloomy fog churning, and an old woman pushing a wooden cart, limping slowly closer in the sky-filling wind and snow.

The wooden cart was made of cypress, its surface covered in pitch-black grease, no different from the small food carts used for decades, yet it reeked of blood, as if the black paint had been dyed with filthy blood.

The blood light was dim yellow and swaying; it was a red lantern hanging under the flagpole on the cart, its surface covered in strange talismans.

The cart wheels pressed over the snow, staining it blood-red along the way.

Seeing this, Xu Yongqing widened his eyes, his complexion deathly pale.

"Close your eyes, don't look!"

Li Yan slapped him awake and warned him in a deep voice.

The intelligence collected at the time was indeed correct.

Nie Sangu was skilled in mechanism arts; the wooden cart had been specially modified, and the pungent smell of filthy blood couldn't hide the sound of the mechanisms inside.

And that red lantern was also some kind of illusion.

It was very conspicuous in the dark.

But if one kept staring at it, they would fall into a nightmare.

His cultivation was at the Fourth Floor, and he had various powerful artifacts to protect his body, so he was naturally unafraid, but to ordinary people, or even ordinary cultivators, this old woman was no different from a demon.

Just this entrance alone could scare people to death.

Fifty meters away, the old woman stopped. Seeing Li Yan unmoved, she said in a deep voice, "What a sin~ Why are you protecting him? On such a cold day, you still make an old woman come out to make a living."

Li Yan sneered, raised his chin, and mocked, "Knowing you are an old immortal, you should have entered the soil early; why come out to lose face!"

"Sharp-tongued..."

The old woman slowly raised her head. Under the cloak was a terrifying face, covered in fire-scorched scars, with a mouth full of yellow-black rotten teeth, like a demon reborn.

Li Yan ignored her and suddenly turned his gaze upward.

This place had already been set up with a strange formation. The reason he had talked nonsense to delay time was to find the formation eye.

Finally, he discovered the trick.

He had originally thought it was hidden on the street, but he hadn't expected it to be the flag hanging above the red lantern, because the lantern artifact was set with a soul-bewitching art, and cultivators would subconsciously avoid it, causing the effect of darkness under the light.

Li Yan happened to recognize that flag.

When he was in Shennongjia, the demonized Mountain God "Bai Gong" held a soul-summoning flag in his hand, which had caused them great trouble.

After killing him, the magic flag shattered, and after Wang Daoxuan carefully studied it, he learned that the thing was called a "Soul-Absorbing Flag," dyed with cinnabar mixed with black dog blood, originating from Chenzhou in Xiangxi.

This artifact could absorb Yin souls and fierce ghosts, either to attack people or set up formations; many magic lineages had them, but the one from Chenzhou in Xiangxi was the strongest.

The old demoness must be driving fierce ghosts to set up the formation.

He only needed to break the flag.

Thinking of this, Li Yan suddenly drew the flintlock firearm from his waist.

At the moment, the distance between the two sides was fifty meters. His flintlock firearm had been specially modified, and at this distance, it still had accuracy.

However, the old demoness Nie Sangu moved faster.

She tapped the cart board with a few withered fingers, and the front of the wooden cart suddenly split into seven petals, revealing a honeycomb-like inner liner.

"Tang Yuan in the belly, gods give way—!"

The hoarse voice pulled out a sharp operatic tone.

Swish swish swish!

The whistling sound rushed toward them instantly.

It was countless poison-quenched caltrops shooting out from the holes.

Li Yan didn't say a word, dragged Xu Yongqing forward in a leap, and then suddenly rolled on the ground, narrowly avoiding it.

He himself was naturally unafraid.

But this Xu Yongqing was very likely the key to toppling the Prince of Shu; even such an old demoness had been dispatched, so he naturally couldn't let him die. "Hmm~"

Xu Yongqing was just a weak scholar; how could he withstand such tossing? His joints collided with the cold ground, and he groaned in pain.

But he didn't dare to talk nonsense at all, instead feeling a lingering fear.

He only heard the sound of banging behind him, gravel splashing; those poison caltrops had all nailed into the brick wall behind him.

The strength of the mechanism could be seen.

However, the attack was not over.

Seeing Li Yan dodge, the old demoness opposite didn't seem surprised at all. Before the two landed, she turned the wooden cart handle.

Click!

The sound of mechanisms rang out, and the second mechanism was triggered.

The sturdy wooden cart frame split open, and inside was a copper-skinned crossbow.

(Note: Repetitive error in source.)

And in front of the crossbow arrows were not wolf-tooth barbed arrows, but iron balls, not knowing what was inside.

The whistling sound of breaking through the air rang out again.

Li Yan was about to dodge, but sniffing his nose, his expression changed drastically. He suddenly grabbed Xu Yongqing beside him, his muscles bulging, and threw him out directly.

"Ah~"

Xu Yongqing screamed and was thrown into the darkness on a nearby roof.

And Li Yan stepped on the "mud-treading steps," his body turning upside down, like a ghost, his leather boots drawing arcs on the snow.

Not only did he dodge all the crossbow arrows, but he also closed the distance.

Bang bang bang!

The crossbow arrows collided with the ground behind him, and the iron balls in front exploded.

In an instant, ghostly blue flames splashed everywhere.

Inside was all viscous liquid; he didn't know what formula was used, but it continued to burn even after falling on the snow, making a hissing sound.

Another deadly mechanism.

Moreover, Li Yan also discovered something wrong.

This old demoness was not completely ignorant of him.

The other party deliberately closed the distance, fearing he would summon Yin soldiers, and yet didn't get too close, clearly knowing he was skilled in close combat.

And at this medium distance, he was famous for his firearm.

Successive activation of mechanisms had formed a superior suppression.

Sure enough, seeing him approach rapidly, the old demoness Nie Sangu let out a hee-hee-ha-ha strange laugh, pulling the wooden cart backward, her speed not slowing down at all.

Her upper body remained motionless, like a ghost.

Ghost Steps?

Seeing this, Li Yan was somewhat surprised.

This was the footwork of an opera troupe; when actors performed ghosts, their bodies remained motionless, only using their ankles to exert force quickly, as if floating.

He had seen it before; this old demoness really learned a mixed bag!

Not only that, Nie Sangu also sang sharply: "The sky is cold, the earth is cold, but not as cold as the old woman's hot soup bowl~"

This was the Shu nursery rhyme "Freezing the Lazy Man to Death."

When the old demoness sang, it was naturally not just random words.

But he saw the soup pot on the wooden cart suddenly tilt, and a large amount of fire oil mixed with Tang Yuan-shaped poison caltrops poured down instantly.

Afterward, the old demoness flicked her sleeves.

Whoosh~

In an instant, flames rose.

In the raging fire, the poison caltrops sounded like popping beans, bursting one after another, and all kinds of poison thorns flew around.

Wind, snow, fire, and poison needles completely sealed the entire street.

"Where are you running!"

Li Yan gave a roar of anger and leaped up.

He regretted it a bit at this moment because he was too conspicuous, so he hadn't worn the full-body Earth Dragon Armor he had someone forge in Wuchang, otherwise he wouldn't fear this small scene at all.

But he was not without a way to deal with it.

Li Yan leaped up, just avoiding the rising flames, and at the same time pulled off his cloak, his hidden strength erupting, rotating and shaking.

This was the Shaolin Subduing Demon Kasaya Art.

He had already stepped into the Transformation Strength realm and had meticulous control over his force; although it couldn't compare to the original version, it was enough to deal with this situation.

Poof poof poof!

The incoming poison needles were all blocked by the cloak.

At the same time, Li Yan also jumped onto the eaves of a nearby shop, dodging poison needles while running at high speed.

With two leaps, he crossed the burning street.

Immediately, he pulled the trigger suddenly.

Boom!

With a loud noise, smoke mixed with flying snow exploded.

The lead pellet accurately hit the wooden cart flag.

He only heard a muffled sound, and the flag shattered; because the Yin Sha Qi vibrated, it was like a bursting balloon, directly turning into countless rags.

The formation set up by the other party was broken accordingly.

Almost instantly, the surrounding sounds returned to normal.

Li Yan could hear the snoring of commoners in the houses and the crying of babies in the middle of the night.

At the same time, the commotion of the battle also spread.

"Fire! Fire!"

Someone was awakened by the firelight and opened the window to shout.

But as soon as they opened their mouths, they stiffened.

It was the Soul-Absorbing Flag breaking, and the suppressed Yin souls and fierce ghosts were running wild; seeing living people, they immediately pounced to possess them.

And Li Yan could no longer care about it.

He leaped up and jumped down from the roof.

The old demoness's wooden cart mechanism had been completely used up and was torn apart, thrown on the ground at will.

The formation was broken, inevitably alarming many people.

Nie Sangu originally wanted to retreat, but seeing Li Yan was relentless, she was furious and laughed instead.

"Looking for death!"

With a sharp shout, she suddenly drew a horsetail whisk.

The whisk was pitch black, actually made of women's hair, and emitted a hair-raising resentment.

Swish!

The whisk flicked, and Yin wind rose instantly.

Li Yan heard it was wrong and did a swallow-turning somersault in the air, narrowly dodging a few poison needles.

Just as the intelligence said, this old demoness hailed from Qingcheng and used the Qingcheng Mystic Sect's Eight Strikes, specializing in the Thirty-Six Styles of the Iron Horsetail Whisk.

However, the upright Mystic Sect martial arts were used by her to be ghostly and extremely poisonous.

Dodging the poison needles, Li Yan turned and landed.

Although he hadn't stopped the other party, he had closed the distance.

At this moment, the two sides were only ten meters apart.

Clatter!

Two Soul-Hooking Thunder Ropes whistled out instantly.

"Dharma Realm Divine Ability?"

Nie Sangu sneered and waved the whisk left and right.

The Yin Sha Qi vibrated, and the originally invisible Soul-Hooking Thunder Ropes were actually directly deflected by her.

Seeing this, Li Yan was not surprised.

Facing such an expert, using only the Soul-Hooking Lei Suo didn't have much use; they usually had ways to restrain it.

His goal was just to drag the other party out.

Li Yan exerted force under his feet again, and at the same time, with a clatter, he drew the Dragon-Slaying Dust-Breaking Saber, his left hand quickly pinching a seal, and wiped it across the blade.

Sizzle sizzle sizzle!

In an instant, electric arcs leaped on the blade.

Within a breath, Li Yan had already closed in and slashed with the saber.

Nie Sangu had no choice but to shake her right hand, and the pitch-black whisk whistled to meet the blade.

Her whisk was best at restraining saber hilts; as long as it was entangled, ordinary artifacts could be twisted.

However, the old demoness didn't know that Li Yan had upgraded the Dust-Breaking Saber at Mount Qingcheng.

Poof!

Black fog scattered, and a woman's scream faintly came from the air.

The whisk made of hair was also directly severed...

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 559 =====