Cunning Stratagem: Driving Out the Tiger and Swallowing the Wolf

  Tao Jun saw the precious sword being grasped by the Drunken Daoist, he took a step forward, stretched out his hand to grab the hilt, and poured all his energy into it, charging forward. However, the sword was pinched by the Drunken Daoist's three fingers, as if it had been welded in place. He used all his might, but couldn't budge it an inch. He took a deep breath, and then unleashed the Whirlwind Kick he learned from Zhao Xin Yuan, flying up into the air, both feet kicking out in rapid succession. The first kick struck the Drunken Daoist's chest, but was blocked by his right hand. The second kick aimed at his abdomen, but was caught by the Drunken Daoist, who grasped his ankle and swung him around like a bundle, slamming him to the ground.

  "Bang!" A cloud of dust flew up, and Tao Jun's entire body slapped against the ground, feeling as if all his bones had been shattered.

  The Drunken Immortal grasped the Heaven-Defying Sword, plucked it with his fingers, and let out a series of dragon-like cries that echoed through the air. He repeatedly praised, "Good sword! Good sword! You've wasted such a fine sword on this little brat! Originally, I, the Daoist master, would have taken your life for my duty to eradicate evil, but since you're new to the demonic path and haven't committed many atrocities, I'll spare you. However, in the future, you must reform and return to righteousness; don't waste that innate spiritual bone of yours! If I see you with the demonic path again, I'll behead you with my flying sword! Take advantage of my good mood now and scram!"

  Taoyuan's mouth and nose were bleeding, and he struggled to get up after half a day. He stared at the drunk Taoist and said, "The immortal sword given by my master cannot be lost. As long as the sword exists, I exist!" He took another step towards the drunk Taoist.

  The drunken Taoist looked dazed for a moment, then furrowed his brow and said: "This child's temperament isn't bad, it's just a pity that he was apprenticed to the wrong master, dedicating all his loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness to that evil Taoist..."

  "My master is not a wicked Taoist!" Tao Jun shouted loudly, "You insult my master, just like insulting my parents. Today, I will risk my life to fight with you to the death!" He rushed over again, using the move 'Splitting the Mountain and Breaking the Peak', his right palm stood upright, fiercely chopping at Drunken Daoist's head, while his left fist directly attacked the opponent's abdomen. When he practiced at home, one palm could chop through a wooden board as thick as a duck egg, and one punch could shatter a stone slab an inch thick, it was his finishing move to defeat the enemy.

  However, the immortal's true energy was incredibly thick and powerful. When it burst forth, it could borrow the power of heaven and earth, making its speed and strength far beyond that of ordinary humans. Like Drunken Daoist, a loose immortal elder from the Emei Sect, he could control his sword with his mind from afar, accurately cutting off a single strand of hair hidden in a forest dozens of miles away. He could slice off a person's left ear without touching their right ear. Tao Jun's hundred-battle-hundred-victory ultimate move was completely useless against him, and with just one finger, he shot out a burst of energy that landed on the Qihai Zhenzhong acupoint on Tao Jun's chest, causing him to fall to the ground, gasping for air.

  The Drunken Immortal had initially wanted to kill Tao Jun with one sword, but he also felt a bit sorry for his innate nature and character. He wanted to let him go, but couldn't bear the thought of it. After hesitating for a moment, he suddenly heard the voice of White Cloud Master in his ear: "Send this little demon to Qingluo Mountain, where there are two lustful and evil female demons ahead, let them bite each other."

  The drunken Taoist suddenly thought this was a good idea, took out a Jade Clear Spirit Symbol from his sleeve, and with a light flicker, he disappeared from sight, carrying the ceramic jug to Qingluo Mountain. Although he had the Jade Clear Spirit Symbol, he didn't dare take the person into the depths of Qingluo Gorge, only to the entrance of the valley, where he saw two girls talking to two boys, seemingly asking something, and he threw the ceramic jug in their direction.

  Those two girls were Li Yuyu, the Peach Blossom Fairy of the Yin Demon Department of Qingluo Palace, and Zhao Qingwa, the Black Dress Mystic Maiden. The two boys belonged to the Blood Demon Department, one was called Jindong, the Plague Child, and the other was Jiangyan, the Flying Locust Child. Today, Jindong and Jiangyan were on duty at the valley entrance when Li Yuyu and Zhao Qingwa suddenly came out and asked: "Did you see a man in white clothes leaving from here just now?"

  Because Li Yuyu was the second person in the Yinmo Department, next only to her elder sister Pu MiaoMiao, Jin Dang said with a flattering tone: "I didn't see anything."

  Li Yuyu didn't believe it: "I clearly saw with my own eyes, a man so tall and thin, with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, walking under the wisteria trellis. I thought he was a new Daoist friend that the Palace Master had just taken in, so I quickly chased after him. But he walked extremely fast, and as soon as he left from here, he vanished into thin air." She saw the two little ones staring blankly at each other, repeatedly claiming they hadn't seen anything, and couldn't help but get angry. With a loud slap on Jin Dang's forehead, "You useless thing! The Palace Master sent you to guard the valley entrance precisely because he was afraid someone would sneak in secretly. And yet, such a big living person walked out from here with such fanfare, and you two didn't see him? Are you both dead men?"

  Just as the four of them were talking, a figure suddenly appeared several meters away and flew over horizontally, causing the four to jump in fright and hastily dodge.

  Taoyuan fell to the ground, wanting to get up, but still had no strength in his hands and feet, and could only continue to lie weakly on the ground.

  Li Yuyuan reacted extremely quickly: "Someone is launching a sneak attack, set up the formation quickly!" With a wave of her hand, she sent out the Taohua Seven Kill Sword, bringing with it strands of pink smoke that wildly swept and danced towards the place where the person had just flown out from.

  The Drunken Daoist didn't expect her to attack him first instead of looking at the people on the ground. He regretted his carelessness and hastily used his sword to defend himself, clashing with a series of loud noises, barely opening up the Peach Blossom Seven Slashes Sword that was about to strike him. As he quickly borrowed the light to escape back the way he came, those two youngsters had already activated their formation, causing blood energy to surge out of the ground, filling his nostrils with a nauseating bloody smell. The Drunken Daoist secretly thought it was bad and was just about to merge with his sword to leave hastily when Li Yuyue's sword technique turned out to be extremely accurate. Although she couldn't see where the Drunken Daoist was, she used her Seven Mouths Flying Sword to "blindly" entangle him tightly. On the other side, Zhao Qingwa also released her Green Leaf Sword to launch a pincer attack.

  If it were a fair fight, the drunken Taoist could hold his own against Li Yuyun and Zhao Qingwa with one against two, after all, the Emei School's swordsmanship has always been on par with the Wudang School, its power is not weak. Although he was at the bottom of the second generation of Emei disciples in terms of strength, the power of the Emei swordsmanship that had been immersed for two or three hundred years was also extraordinary. However, this is the entrance to the Qingluo Gorge's Wàn Mó Shén Gōng (Ten Thousand Demon God Palace), where a large group of demons live inside, and there are at least twenty or thirty people like Li Yuyun, if other demonic cultivators come to sneak in, there will be even more. If he were to rush out and fight, his own life would be in danger, so he is retreating while fighting, wanting to escape.

  Jin Dang and Jiang Yan launched the Blood Demon Soul-Seizing Array, thinking that the enemy would not be able to escape. They also released their own flying swords, and the four of them joined forces to strangle the invisible enemy.

  Both sides were fighting fiercely, when suddenly a crane's cry came from mid-air, and a golden giant hand fell from the clouds, covering half of the valley entrance, pressing down heavily like Mount Tai.

  Zhao Qingwa saw that, just as he was about to drive his sword to welcome, suddenly a huge hand of the same size flew out from the valley below, with dark and gloomy aura, evil energy spreading, striking upwards with a palm, bringing with it the sound of ghosts wailing and gods howling.

  "Bang!" The two palms collided in mid-air, exploding into a golden glow and swirling black mist.

  All four of them knew it was the Five Yin Hand used by Qiu Huai, the Divine Eye Boy of the Shenmo Department. Jin Dang shouted: "Brother Qiu, come and help, you have the Heavenly Eye Divine Ability, take a look at what this thing is."

  A black smoke shot out from the valley, rushing straight into the clouds. Qiu Huai's voice came loud and clear: "That is the Drunken Taoist of Emei Sect. Sister Li can use the Soul-destroying Net on him. I'll go fight Li Da Hu Zi!"

  Li Yuyu, reminded by him, raised his hand and suddenly produced tens of millions of extremely fine colored silk threads out of thin air, weaving them into a huge net that covered the entire surface of the valley, slowly descending downwards. At the same time, large amounts of sticky and sweet pink mist emerged from within, intoxicating and bewildering. Li Yuyu had initially thought it was the white-clothed man he had seen before, but now hearing Qiu Huai call out "Drunken Daoist of Emei", his attacks became even more ruthless, releasing 81 peach blossom flying knives that filled the air with a flurry of flower petals, rapidly spinning and falling together with the mist.

  Just as the drunken Taoist was about to meet his demise, a loud shout suddenly came from above, and countless golden lights descended, blasting a hole in the demonic net with a deafening crash. Immediately following that, a sword light flew into the formation and rescued the drunken Taoist.

  Li Yuyu recognized the person as Baiyun Master, she shouted: "Bai Yuanjing, you're really looking for death!" Controlling the flying sword and knife to gather together in the center, wanting to chop the two into pieces.

  Baiyun Dashi released the Pi Xie Shen Bi, a golden light like a mountain enveloped himself and Zui Dao Ren inside, Li Yuyü's petal flying knives rapidly rotated and fell on top, immediately bursting into a large piece of sparks, being bounced three zhang away, even the smoke couldn't invade.

  In the demon palace, Bu Ruoyan said: "Three elders of Emei Sect appear at the same time. Li Yuyu and several others may not be able to keep them here. Why don't we go out together and kill them?"

  Wei Fengniang said, "The people of Emei Sect all have a treasure that allows them to send out a distress signal to each other. These three who are trapped here will definitely seek help from their fellow sect members in the nearby area, and they will rush over one after another. We'll be able to catch them off guard and take care of them once and for all. Pass down the order, don't let anyone go out to steal the credit - for every one of theirs that comes, we'll send out two! There are still five people left among the Luofu Seven Immortals; it's best if we can take care of them today."

  The Flying Dragon Abbess asked again: "What about the young man who was thrown at the valley entrance?"

  Wei Fengniang said: "Send that little boy to the Tianyu Pavilion, let Liu Yanniang take good care of him. If he can lure out his true yang, then reward that little boy to her. If not, send him here to me, and don't allow anyone to bully or harm him."