Mount Emei: Substitute for Heaven and Walk the Tao

  Xu Yuantong did not expect this demon head to be so troublesome. The flying sword was ineffective, and the demon had already pounced on him. He had to withdraw his hand that was reaching out to grab the black jade gourd. He hastily released two Taizhen divine thunderbolts, which exploded with a loud crash, causing the demon's arms to break off. However, in the blink of an eye, they grew back again. He hastily summoned the Kanli spear back, and a blast of cold air shot out, sending the demon tumbling down from the stage.

  Xu Yuantong stretched out his hand for the second time to grab the gourd on the altar, grasped it tightly, and was about to fly away with his sword. Suddenly, he felt a severe pain in his hand, and four of his fingers fell off, dripping with blood, staining the apricot-yellow tablecloth crimson red. When he looked closely at what he had grabbed, it turned out that it wasn't a gourd, but a silver sword radiating light in all directions. He immediately cried out "Not good!" and his body quickly flipped backwards. The sword spun around like a windmill, chopping towards him, while at the same time, another flying sword shot out from under the altar, attacking him from both sides and inserting itself into his chest.

  Bang! Xu Yuantong's entire body exploded into a sheet of yellow light, dropping many scraps of paper, his true body had already flown away by borrowing the light.

  Yue Qing sent two flying swords to chase after them from behind, while the four demons in the sky were blown away by Wu Yuanzhi's wind and fire fan, which produced thirty-six wind dragons and seventy-two fire dragons that wrapped around them, preventing them from approaching. He turned the formation door upside down, so Xu Yuantong, who was clearly flying upwards, ended up crashing to the ground headfirst, his forehead hitting a rock, causing blood to flow profusely and cover his face. Fortunately, his two flying swords were spiritual and automatically protected their master, blocking Yue Qing's two silver swords and avoiding the calamity of being sliced in half.

  Xu Yuantong was in a very sorry state at this moment, with four fingers missing from his right hand and a sword wound on his thigh. His forehead was also cracked open, and blood flowed non-stop. He fell to the ground, recalling his Kunlun needles and twin swords to protect himself. With trembling hands, he took out a small porcelain bottle, crushed it with force, and stuffed the medicinal pellets inside into his mouth. Only then did he recognize the flying sword that had been chasing him, and he couldn't help but curse loudly: "Yue Qinyin! Indeed, you are a wicked Taoist from the Wutai Sect! A dog will always eat shit, and yet you cultivate such an evil magic, you will surely suffer heavenly punishment!"

  Yue Qing didn't respond, he looked up at the sky and saw that Wu Yuanzhi was still alone in driving away the four demons. The people hiding in ambush had not yet made a move, and they did not dare to use the formation to kill Xu Yuantong, for fear of being discovered. They only used their twin swords to intensify the fight, and again spat out two mouthfuls of vital energy, driving the two divine demons to attack from both sides.

  Wu Yuanzhi couldn't see clearly what was happening below, but seeing the wind and clouds rising within the formation, with demonic lights and shadows everywhere, as well as ear-piercing screams, his junior brother Xu Yuantong had vanished without a trace. He sensed that something was amiss and hastened to wave his banana fan, urging the Wind-Fire Dragon God to fly towards the altar. The dragon circled around the altar, still not seeing Xu Yuantong, so he prepared to summon both the wind and fire dragons together to incinerate the altar into ashes.

  The black jade calabash on the altar sensed danger and naturally counterattacked, gushing out a large cluster of sticky demon slaughter fog that enveloped the entire altar, preventing Feng Long and Huo Long from approaching.

  Wu Yuanzhi didn't expect the gourd to be so formidable, and he couldn't help but take a shock. Suddenly, two young Taoist priests flew in from mid-air, who were his disciples Xu Xiang'e and Lei Qu'e, the disciple of Xu Yuantong. Each of them held a golden plate that shone brightly, shouting: "Master! Canxia Daoshi said this formation is the authentic transmission of Wutai Sect's route number, and that demon head is also an old trick of the Northern Demon Cult. The master has gone to rescue Master Xu, let us come to support you and retreat quickly!" After finishing speaking, they simultaneously threw out the golden plates in their hands.

  Yue Qing saw Wu Yuanzhi also enter the formation, and his heart secretly rejoiced. Just as he was about to close the formation gate quietly and strike to kill Xu Yuantong with all his might, a golden light pillar suddenly fell from in front of him, shooting from outside the formation, and happened to break through the life gate, trapping Xu Yuantong inside. The surface of the golden light seemed like a copper wall and an iron wall, and Yue Qing's double swords chopped inside, but instead bounced back, splashing out a stream of sparks.

  The sudden change in front of him shocked him, and he had just recognized that this seemed to be the divine light of Yuantong Dashi, the goddess of Chao Yin Cave on Mount Baihua. Another girl flew down along the beam of light, wrapped her left arm around Xu Yuantong, and flew away again without stopping.

  This girl was also recognized by Yue Qing, who was actually Wu Wenqi, the first female disciple of Huang Shan Canxia Dashi.

  Canxia Taoist was also a disciple of Changmei Zhenren, and her Taoist practice was above that of the Luofu Seven Immortals. She opened up a separate mansion at Wenyuan Peak in Huangshan, where she hosted the second sword fight. After the second sword fight, she entered Buddhism and became a disciple of Master You Tan, practicing both Buddhist and Taoist teachings. Her magical powers increased even further, surpassing those of her former fellow disciples Wu Yuanzhi and Xu Yuantong by far.

  Yu Qing, if he were to face the seven immortals of Luo Fu, would be completely fearless, and even if he faced two or three at the same time, he would still have confidence in being able to retreat unscathed. However, when facing Can Xia Da Shi, he could only flee in fear, let alone when there was more than one opponent!

  At this time, Xu Xiang's two Demon-subduing Thunder Cymbals came down, which was also a magical treasure refined by Yu Tang Dashi. It specialized in destroying all evil demons in the world. As soon as it was played, there were continuous thunderclaps and rolling thunders, accompanied by countless golden snakes and lightning that struck into the bloody fog. Along with the six Jia Shenmo's heart-wrenching screams, those thick blood fogs emitted a hissing sound, constantly turning into wisps of blue smoke amidst the flashing lightning and thunder. The air was filled with a strong smell of burnt offerings.

  Yue Qing turned around and escaped into the cave, while Situ Ping was meditating and doing his noon lesson. Seeing Yue Qing rush in anxiously, he had just called out "Master" when he was picked up: "Hold onto my neck, don't let go!" Situ Ping obediently wrapped his arms around Yue Qing's neck, with both small hands tightly clasped together, and then a silk belt was tightly tied around Yue Qing's chest at the waist.

  Yue Qing took some useful things from the cave and stuffed them into his hundred-treasure pouch before turning around to leave the cave.

  The demonic cloud surrounding the altar has been cleared, and a middle-aged Taoist nun stands on top, wearing a purple robe and holding a dustpan. It is Huang Shan Cangxia. She used the Fumo Lei Yin to break through the demonic blood mist and was about to retrieve the gourd. However, because she didn't know the Wutai Sect's hand seal, she couldn't take it back as quickly as Yue Qing did from Zhu Hong's hands that day. For now, she can only use the Lihe Shen Guang to suppress it, sealing it with a spell and waiting for it to slowly break apart in the mountain later.

  Yu Qing walked out of the cave and laughed loudly: "Master Canxia, you're safe and sound!"

  Master Cai Xia temporarily halted his Divine Light of Separation and Combination in his hand, and very politely bowed: "Brother Yue, I pay my respects!"

  Yue Qing burst out laughing: "Indeed, you are very polite! As soon as you arrived, you broke through my formation and came to seize my treasure. You're being very courteous!"

  Cai Xia said, "Tai Yi Hunyuan Zu was indeed arrogant and domineering back then, but he was still a master of the Daoist school. Since the end of the Song Dynasty, no one has cultivated such a vicious treasure as this. And you, Yue Dao, were also careful to follow the rules, never touching anything from the demonic sects. It wasn't until after your second duel that I vaguely heard rumors of you cultivating the Shen Ying Sword. Now, it seems you've even managed to cultivate something as sinister as this gourd?"

  Yue Qing coldly laughed and said: "What I practice is naturally my own reason, what does it have to do with the Emei Sect?"

  Master Cai Xia sighed and said: "This thing is too yin, damaging and poisonous, the day it is refined will surely suffer heavenly punishment."

  Yue Qing said in a low voice: "If heaven wants to punish me, that's also heaven's business. You Emei people are meddling too much!"

  Cai Xia stretched out his hand to take the gourd: "The Emei School only does things that replace heaven and righteousness."

  "Heaven's way is self-sustaining, why should humans intervene? Often those who take charge are killed. Those who replace the ones taking charge are also killed. This is called replacing the great carpenter's axe. Those who replace the great carpenter's axe rarely escape injury! This is Laozi's teaching, fellow Daoists, don't you agree?"

  Cai Xia Dashi was about to speak when suddenly another white-robed old nun fell from the sky, bringing a colorful light with her as she landed on the stage. She said loudly, "Sister, why bother wasting your breath on this evil Daoist!" With a flick of her hand, she sent a colorful sword light flying towards Yue Qing.

  Yu Qing recognized the old nun as a skilled member of the Luo Fu Seven Immortals, Yuan Lao Ni from the Xiang Xue Cave on Mount Luo Fu. Her sword was called the Qing Niu Sword, forged from 19,600,742 embroidery needles. Whenever she fought with someone and they drew their sword to meet hers, all the needles would shoot out at once, piercing her opponent's body in a chaotic manner. Therefore, no one dared to use flying swords against her, so Yu Qing held onto Si Tu Ping and retreated into the mountain cave behind them.

  Only a loud shout from the old nun, and the sword suddenly scattered into countless needle-like shadows, piercing through the air. Yue Qing hastily merged his body with the sword, sticking close to the ground as he turned sharply to the right. The tens of thousands of steel needles all stabbed into the rocky opening behind him. As soon as he took off from the ground, those steel needles jumped out of the rocks, forming a raging torrent that closely followed and pursued him into the air. Meanwhile, the rocky entrance of the mountain cave had already shattered and collapsed in a loud crash.

  Yue Qing was about to escape with Si Tu Ping when Wu Yuanzhi, the Wind and Fire Taoist, suddenly appeared in the clouds, pointing his hand and releasing a flying sword that swooped down. Four Emei disciples, two men and two women, appeared from all directions: Xu Xiang'e, Wu Yuanzhi's disciple; Lei Qiuwu, Xu Yuantong's disciple; Wang Juanjuan, Can Xia Da Shi's disciple; and Wu Wenqi, Yuan Yuan Da Shi's disciple. Each of them held a precious pearl, forming an array and releasing countless golden sword shadows that merged into a radiant net to crush Yue Qing into powder!