Chapter 799

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Li Yan swiftly tapped his arm and chest, sealing key acupoints, then formed another hand seal and chanted: “Qingjia! Heaven grants salvation, sternly suppressing the Northern Feng. The Divine Lord receives his mandate, universally sweeping away misfortune; the Eight Warnings spew poison, fierce steeds spread wide…”

This was the Northern Emperor’s Exorcism of Misfortune, a power even stronger at breaking curses.

Even so, the dense crimson skull spots continued to spread like living things along his right arm, the chilling curse energy relentlessly eroding his sinews and soul.

“Such a powerful curse!”

Wang Daoxuan’s face turned pale upon seeing this.

Ignoring his internal injuries, he struggled to rise and lend aid.

In understanding curse arts, he was nothing short of a genius, and knew full well how terrifying this curse was—cast by a Earth Immortal, it was a death sentence.

Yet Li Yan raised his hand and said: “No need. Don’t move!”

Before he finished speaking, the crimson skull spots halted their spread.

Wang Daoxuan and Lu San finally exhaled in relief.

What they didn’t know was that even if he couldn’t fully block the curse, Li Yan’s Great Luo Body could absorb the damage—his life was in no danger.

Of course, Li Yan wouldn’t say a word.

He gazed at the dark river ahead and said grimly: “That Earth Immortal across the river must have used the aura from my Gou Die to cast this curse from afar.”

“Look at the location—it’s the ruins of Wangxiang Terrace, three li downstream.”

“Wangxiang Terrace?”

Wang Daoxuan’s pupils shrank sharply: “That was the ancient battlefield where Nan Song’s Jinling troops and civilians resisted the Jin Tent Wolf Kingdom and perished. Millennia of grievous and malevolent energy have accumulated there—I told you, the place is saturated with deadly sha qi.”

“No matter.”

Li Yan said grimly: “They made one mistake. Though I lost my Gou Die, my journey to Mount Tai granted me the ‘Living Yin Officer’s Seal’—I can summon the Yin Bureaucracy’s troops without any credential.”

“But it’s still risky. The opponent is a Jianmu demon—if he possesses the ‘Earth Official’s Pardon Scroll,’ my troops will vanish instantly. So there’s only one chance.”

“How many experts do they have?”

Lu San immediately replied: “I heard clearly in the Jianyi Cult’s hideout: two Earth Immortals came to reinforce them—Bai Gu Lao Gui and Shi Yi Nai Nai. Besides them, there’s the ancient demon who killed Captain Tian—the ‘Forest Old Man’—and the Ghost Opera Troupe’s leader.”

“The Ghost Opera Troupe has taken the ‘Netherworld Opera Stage’ and, with Shi Yi Nai Nai controlling three hundred walking corpses, went to intercept the water army. As for that old scoundrel, the Forest Old Man…”

“He’s hiding in the woods, using Five Poisons Yin Fire to refine my demon gourd—but he doesn’t know I already hid a ‘Shatter-Deflection Thunder Pearl’ inside its inner membrane!”

“Once the demon gourd opens, the enemy will be doomed.”

He hadn’t fully lost consciousness, so he’d overheard much intelligence.

Li Yan was about to speak when he suddenly heard a distant, mournful opera melody.

“What good are fine moments and beautiful scenes, when fate is cruel~”

The melody sounded as if sung by countless voices, tearing through the rain curtain; a hundred-zhang gray mist suddenly rose from the river ahead, within which faint shadows of pavilions and towers could be seen.

Boom!

Cannon fire erupted immediately, but passed through the illusions and missed.

Clearly, they were trapped within the Netherworld Opera Stage.

All three could sense that the yin and malevolent energy near Wangxiang Terrace continuously rose into the air, converging into the river’s gray mist.

The Netherworld Opera Stage itself lacked power, but its strength lay in acting as the array’s core, drawing in gang-sha energy.

“No wonder they chose this place!”

Li Yan’s eyes blazed with cold light: “The arrow is on the string—we must shoot! I’ll deal with Bai Gu Zhen Ren first; you two adapt as needed.”

Saying this, he activated the Northern Emperor’s Divine Step, stepping on water and soaring through the air.

Though unaffected by the curse, he deliberately staggered his steps.

Clutching his crimson-arm, feigning agony, he roared:

“Old bastard! Using my Gou Die as a medium to cast this vile curse—what kind of skill is that? Have the guts to return my artifact! How dare you call yourself an Earth Immortal!”

Deep within the ruins of Wangxiang Terrace, Bai Gu Dao Ren sat motionless at the center of the altar.

Hearing Li Yan’s threats and sensing his “helpless” approach, his sunken cheeks twisted into a cruel smile:

“Northern Emperor heir? Living Yin Officer? Ridiculous—just an ignorant brat!”

Three li was nothing to Divine Step.

As Li Yan landed on the riverbank, the ground exploded with a series of booms.

Rain-soaked mud sprayed everywhere as seventy-two rotting corpses burst from the earth.

These creatures were identical to the walking corpses that had attacked the Commandant’s Office—joints linked by Lei Yin silkworm silk, forming the “Earth Demon Coiling Dragon Array.”

Filled with foul stench, they swiftly surrounded Li Yan.

“Child’s play!”

Li Yan roared, pretending his steps were unsteady under the curse’s pressure.

His Duan Chen Blade parried left and right as he struggled through the formation.

The crimson skull spots on his right arm suddenly spread to his shoulder; black blood trickled from his lips.

Bai Gu Dao Ren watched clearly from the altar, his sneer deepening:

“A dying man—I’ll send you to your grave!”

Saying this, he bit his index finger and drew with his blood upon his bone staff.

The curse energy multiplied through the void; Li Yan was struck as if by a massive hammer.

Bai Gu Dao Ren sneered and continued casting the curse.

He didn’t care about the insults—distance was closing, and the curse’s power was growing. He was confident he’d kill Li Yan before he could reach him.

Meanwhile, Lu San, arriving by boat from behind, sensed the moment and blew a sharp whistle.

Boom!

Crimson and green poison flames erupted from the forest where Lin Zhong Weng hid, burning a massive hole through the rain curtain.

A mad, agonized scream echoed across the land: “Ahh—!”

The fellow was unlucky—he recognized Li Yan’s demon gourd as his own path to immortality, so he’d been extra cautious, refusing to break it violently, instead slowly corroding it with poison fire.

The flames spewed from the demon gourd engulfed him head to toe.

Even an Earth Immortal, in this mortal realm, still walked in flesh and blood—let alone this old man, who had reborn by possessing a forest demon.

His entire body of wood and yin energy ignited instantly.

“Ahh—!”

Lin Zhong Weng writhed in agony, bursting from the woods like a human torch.

“Fool!”

Bai Gu Dao Ren’s face darkened with disgust and murderous intent.

This old demon had been dragged down by so-called brothers in his youth, so he traveled alone—even after joining Jianmu, he despised incompetent allies most.

He’d even entertained killing Lei Yin Niang Niang.

How much more so this half-baked Earth Immortal, Lin Zhong Weng?

Afterward, he’d surely refine him into a puppet…

These thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.

But in the very moment Bai Gu Dao Ren’s attention wavered, Li Yan’s eyes blazed with sharp light.

Lightning flashed beneath his feet, his speed surging as he formed a hand seal and chanted: “Heaven has its order, Earth has its law; Yin Bureaucracy seizes souls, the living must retreat!”

“Hahahaha~”

Bai Gu Dao Ren laughed, sneering: “I’ve long anticipated this trick—your Gou Die was taken by the Ghost Opera Troupe. What are you going to use to summon…?”

Before he finished, he jabbed his staff and swiftly retreated.

He saw violent winds raging beside the riverbank, darkness spreading rapidly.

“How is this possible…”

Bai Gu Zhen Ren’s heart trembled, his face filled with disbelief.

He hadn’t expected Li Yan to summon Yin Bureaucracy troops without the Gou Die—this entire plan had gone wrong from the start.

Yet the old demon wasn’t panicked.

He spun his body, instantly transforming into black smoke that howled upward.

His speed was no less than that of the Yin Bureaucracy troops.

He’d only joined Jianmu in recent decades, but had hidden since the Southern Song—nearly a thousand years—how could he lack protective arts?

His evasion technique was refined enough to escape even Yin Bureaucracy pursuit.

Boom!

At that moment, from the darkness beside the riverbank, a streak of lightning shot out.

A humanoid figure could be faintly seen—tall, with two thunder-and-fire sashes fluttering from his shoulders, like a Thunder Department deity descending.

It was Li Yan, having used Thunder God Transformation.