Chapter 796: Back and Forth, the Situation Reverses

Slap, slap, slap!

Li Yan's fingers rapidly tapped on his arm and chest, sealing key acupoints, and then he formed seals again, chanting: "Qingjia! Ascend to heaven to save people, strictly control the North Feng. The Divine Duke receives the order, sweeping away all inauspiciousness, the Eight Might spit poison, the fierce horses spread out..."

This was the North Emperor Calamity-Removing Art, which had even stronger curse-breaking power.

Even so, the dense skull-shaped red spots still spread toward his right arm like living things, the cold curse power continuously eroding his tendons and soul.

"What a powerful curse art!"

Wang Daoxuan's expression changed drastically upon seeing this.

He couldn't care about his internal injuries and struggled to get up to help.

In terms of understanding curse methods, he was a genius and knew even better how terrifying this curse was; moreover, it was cast by an Earth Immortal, which was a life-threatening matter.

However, Li Yan raised his hand and said, "It's fine, don't move around!"

Before he finished speaking, the skull-shaped red spots stopped spreading.

Wang Daoxuan and Lü San finally breathed a sigh of relief.

What they didn't know was that even if he couldn't completely block the curse art, Li Yan's Great Luo Dharma Body could trade damage, posing no threat to his life.

Of course, Li Yan wouldn't say much.

He looked at the pitch-black river surface in the distance and said in a deep voice, "That Earth Immortal on the other side must have borrowed the aura on my official warrant to cast the curse from a distance."

"Looking at the position, it's the ruins of the Wangxiang Terrace three miles downstream."

"Wangxiang Terrace?"

Wang Daoxuan's pupils shrank upon hearing this. "That was an ancient battlefield where the Jin Ling military and civilians resisted the Golden Tent Wolf Nation at the end of the Southern Song dynasty. Resentment and Sha have accumulated there for a thousand years; I was just saying that the Sha aura there is extremely heavy."

"It's fine."

Li Yan said in a deep voice, "They miscalculated one thing. Although the official warrant is lost, my trip to Mount Tai has already granted me the 'Living Netherworld Official Heart Seal,' so I can summon Netherworld troops without needing the warrant."

"But it's also not safe. The other party is a Jianmu demon; if they possess the 'Earth Official Pardon Treasure Proclamation,' the troops will disperse in an instant. So there is only one chance."

"How many experts do they have in total?"

Lü San immediately interjected, "I heard clearly in the Cocoon Garment Sect's nest. The ones who came to support are two Earth Immortals, the Hundred-Bone Old Ghost and the Corpse-Garment Old Woman. Besides them, there is the old demon who killed Battalion Commander Tian, 'Old Man in the Forest,' and the Ghost Opera Troupe leader."

"The Ghost Opera Troupe has already taken the 'Netherworld Opera Stage' and, together with the Corpse-Garment Old Woman controlling three hundred walking corpses, gone to intercept the naval forces. As for that old thief, Old Man in the Forest..."

"He is currently hiding in the forest, using Five-Poison Netherfire to refine my Demon Gourd, not knowing that I had long ago hidden a 'Gang-Breaking Thunder Bead' inside the gourd's fetal membrane!"

"Once the Demon Gourd is opened, the other party will be in for bad luck."

He hadn't been completely unconscious, so he had heard a lot of intelligence.

Li Yan was about to speak when he suddenly heard a shrill operatic tune faintly rising in the distance.

"What a beautiful day and scenery, yet what of the heavens~"

This operatic tune sounded as if countless people were singing, tearing through the rain curtain, and a hundred-zhang gray fog suddenly rose on the river surface in the distance, within which the faint shadows of pavilions and towers could be seen.

Boom!

The sound of artillery fire rang out immediately, but it passed through the shadows and missed.

Clearly, they had fallen into the trap of the Netherworld Opera Stage.

All three could perceive that the Yin-Sha aura near Wangxiang Terrace was continuously rising into the sky, gathering toward the gray fog on the river surface.

The Netherworld Opera Stage itself didn't have enough power; its formidable aspect was that it could serve as the hub of an array, drawing upon the Qi of Gang and Sha.

"No wonder they chose this place!"

Cold light surged in Li Yan's eyes. "The arrow is on the string, it must be fired! I'll find a way to finish off that Hundred-Bone Daoist first; you two adapt to the situation."

With that, he unleashed the North Emperor Divine Movement Art and broke through the water to leave.

He was clearly no longer affected by the curse art, yet he deliberately staggered.

Clutching the red spots on his right arm, he feigned pain and roared angrily:

"Old scoundrel! Using the official warrant as a medium to cast this Yin curse, what kind of skill is that! If you have the ability, return my Dharma artifact; it's a shame you dare to call yourself an Earth Immortal!"

Deep within the ruins of Wangxiang Terrace, the Hundred-Bone Daoist sat withered in the center of the Dharma altar.

Hearing Li Yan's harsh words and sensing the other party approaching in a "disheveled" state, a sinister grin appeared on his sunken cheeks:

"A successor of the North Emperor? A Living Netherworld Official? Ridiculous, just an ignorant child!"

A distance of three miles was but an instant for the Divine Movement Art.

Just as Li Yan landed on the riverbank, the ground exploded with bang, bang, bang sounds.

Mud splashed in the rainy night as seventy-two rotting corpses broke through the soil.

These things are exactly the same as the walking corpses that attacked the Commandant's Office back then; their joints are connected by Lady Lei Yin's silkworm thread, forming the "Earthly Fiend Dragon-Entangling Array."

Carrying a fishy corpse aura, they quickly surrounded Li Yan.

"Petty tricks!"

Li Yan let out a roar, pretending to be so suppressed by the curse power that his footsteps were unsteady.

The Dust-Severing Blade parried left and right, struggling to pass through the array.

The red spots on his right arm suddenly spread to his shoulder, and black blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

The Hundred-Bone Daoist saw this clearly from the Dharma altar, and his sneer grew even wider:

"At the end of your rope, I'll send you to the west!"

With that, he bit his index finger and drew on his bone staff with his essence blood.

The curse power multiplied through the void, and Li Yan was struck as if by a heavy hammer.

The Hundred-Bone Daoist let out a sneer and continued to cast the curse art.

He didn't care about the curses at all; as the distance closed, the power of the curse art also increased, and he was confident he could kill Li Yan before he got close.

And at the same time, Lü San, who had come by boat from behind, also sensed the opportunity and blew his whistle sharply.

Boom!

In the forest where Old Man in the Forest was, red and green mixed poison fire shot into the sky, burning a massive hole in the rain curtain.

A frantic, miserable howl resounded through the wilderness: "Ah—!"

This guy was quite unlucky; he discovered that Lü San's Demon Gourd was the object of his own enlightenment, so he was extra cautious and didn't dare to break it by force, using poison fire to erode it bit by bit.

The flames spewed out by the Demon Gourd ignited him head-on.

Even an Earth Immortal, in this mortal world, still walked in a flesh-and-blood body, not to mention that this old guy was reborn by possessing a forest demon.

His entire body of vegetation Yin aura was instantly ignited.

"Ah-!"

Old Man in the Forest was in extreme pain, rushing out of the forest like a human torch.

"Idiot!"

Seeing this, the Hundred-Bone Daoist was instantly filled with disgust and murderous intent.

When this old demon was young, he had been dragged down by so-called brothers, so he acted alone, and even after joining Jianmu, he hated pig-teammates the most.

Even toward the Corpse-Garment Old Woman, he had developed murderous intent.

Not to mention this half-baked Earth Immortal, Old Man in the Forest.

Afterward, he would inevitably refine him into a puppet...

All sorts of thoughts flashed by in an instant.

But just as the Hundred-Bone Daoist was distracted, brilliant light shot from Li Yan's eyes.

Electric light flickered beneath his feet, his speed suddenly increased, and at the same time, he formed seals and chanted: "Heaven has its discipline, earth has its guidelines, the Netherworld detains souls, mortals avoid!"

"Hahaha~"

Seeing this, the Hundred-Bone Daoist was amused and sneered: "This seat had long guarded against this move of yours; the official warrant has already been taken away by the Ghost Opera Troupe, what are you relying on..."

Before he finished speaking, he pointed his bone staff and retreated rapidly.

He saw a wild wind rising beside the riverbank, and darkness spreading rapidly.

"How is this possible..."

The Hundred-Bone Daoist was shocked, his face full of disbelief.

He hadn't expected that Li Yan could summon Netherworld troops without using the official warrant; this plan had gone wrong from the very beginning.

However, this old demon wasn't panicked.

He turned his body and instantly transformed into black smoke, whistling into the air.

His speed was no less than that of the Netherworld troops.

Joining the Jianmu organization was only a matter of the last few decades; having hidden for hundreds of years from the Southern Song dynasty to the present, how could he not have means for self-protection?

His escape technique was exquisite enough to evade the pursuit of the Netherworld troops.

Bang!

Just at this moment, a bolt of lightning whistled out from the darkness of the riverbank.

One could faintly see it was a human figure, tall and sturdy, with two lightning-fire ribbons fluttering from his shoulders, as if a soldier of the Thunder Department had descended.

It was Li Yan, who had used the Thunder God Transformation. ===== CHAPTER 797 =====