Daoist Competition

Yan Huixin also suspected that Lu Muqiu might pull some tricks, but he didn’t anticipate that the latter would send him directly to Zhang Yan. This move clearly aimed to force him into a deadly confrontation.

Before he could start cursing, Lu Muqiu’s voice echoed in his heart and spirit, saying, "Brother Yan, hold on for a moment, wait until my mana recovers a bit, then find an opportunity to escape, and I will bring you out."

Yan Huixin swallowed his words. Regardless of whether Lu Muqiu’s words were true or false, he had no choice at this moment, and he thought hatefully, "Lu Muqiu, if I can get out of here alive, I will not let you off easily!"

He initiated a spell to drive the spiritual spell, and with a loud sound, a black banner sixteen Zhang high rose behind him, displaying the sun, moon, stars, birds, beasts, insects, and fish. The beast depicted on the flag opened its mouth and spewed out a green light, immediately materializing a robust man with a face full of whiskers, like an iron tower. He wore a fish-scale adorned armor and wielded a long-handled ghost-headed sword, looking extremely formidable and imposing. After emerging, he shook his body and let out a loud roar, immediately riding the gang wind, blocking the path of the incoming sword light.

Though Zhang Yan was sword flying, he kept vigilant of his surroundings. He intended to head to the Star Stone Middle Road but spotted Yan Huixin suddenly appear directly ahead, seemingly trying to obstruct him. He immediately halted the sword light, glanced over, and said, "So it’s True Master Yan here."

After slaying Gao Ruowang, Zhang Yan acquired a token talisman, and counting the one temporarily placed with Elder Shen, he already had four talismans. If the opportunity arose, he wouldn’t mind obtaining another. He glanced at the robust man and discerned him as a demon cultivator.

With a slight smile, Zhang Yan raised a water light at his feet, transforming into a great tide that surged forward, instantly stopping him in his tracks, unable to advance or retreat. As the sword light suddenly swept over, the man promptly raised his divine weapon to block it, but Zhang Yan raised a finger, and a fine golden light flew out from the gang cloud, circling the scene and causing the man to freeze for a moment. As his body tilted, his head fell from his neck, and the tide below surged, leaving no trace.

Yan Huixin released the man merely to buy time, but he was killed by Zhang Yan in an instant, terrifying him greatly, realizing that Zhang Yan was even more formidable than Zhou Huang before.

He was extremely resentful towards Lu Muqiu. If not because of his true body being present, he could have used transformation to possess a great portion of the demon spirit’s abilities, preventing such an easy defeat.

But amidst the battle array, he didn’t have the leisure for too much thinking, and after shifting his thoughts, he suppressed them again and initiated another spell.

There were a total of sixteen stars behind the banner, each star containing a demon spirit. Though he was a Nascent Soul cultivator, the world didn’t offer many for him to subdue. Apart from six, the rest were merely Hua Dan cultivators.

He wasn’t in a bad state, unlike the elders of the Jiuling Sect, who were suppressed by Xuanmen for thousands of years, unable to act freely in East Splendor Continent, thus forced to flee to other continents to refine demon spirits, only now daring to act openly due to the rising demon tribulation.

Yan Huixin fought Zhou Huang, and four out of six demon spirits were exterminated, severely diminishing his strength, which made him unwilling to confront Zhang Yan. Now, another one was slain, leaving only a few, his last asset for survival.

This particular demon spirit was special; since obtaining it, he had never called upon it, but the dire situation allowed no time for contemplation. He gritted his teeth and, with a flick of his hand, cast out a fishing net with four blood bells hung at the corners, trembling rapidly. As it entered mid-air, it stirred a mournful storm. Each net eye seemed to hold a person struggling inside, crying painfully, joining with the bell’s sound to create an eerie resonance.

This was the "Thousand Spirit Life-taking Star Net," originally a supreme treasure of the Jiuling Sect, damaged by an external force, leading the sect’s great power experts to capture a millennium-old demon spider unable to transform, infusing its essence silk within, finally refining it together. Incredibly durable, even divine weapons and flying swords couldn’t cut it, and inside were countless spirit cave devils capable of projecting illusions and anomalies. Should a cultivator be bound by it, their heart and spirit would be lost, their divine soul seized, turning them into a walking corpse, possibly captured by the master and refined into a demon spirit for the banner.

The Dharma treasure stretched out to seven or eight li, seemingly able to extend further outward.

Zhang Yan launched several bolts of Purple Cloud Divine Thunder, only to destroy some devils. The net remained unharmed, and even the sword light couldn’t slice it. He then deployed the "Five Spirits Hundred Carp Shuttle," finding it ineffective as well, wondering inwardly at this.