Chapter 45: Even half-dead after being struck by lightning, she was still a pleasing sickly beauty...

A Taihang Sect disciple was caught off guard and knocked over, landing hard on his backside. His eyes widened in disbelief: "What is he doing? Has he gone mad?!"

As this person rushed into the formation and first knocked down the soul banners they had painstakingly erected within it, one disciple almost jumped up: "He's going to destroy the formation!"

"No, which side is he on?"

"We finally managed to subdue this evil spirit, why is it causing all this trouble?"

"Stop him quickly."

The disciples, chattering and furious, rushed into the formation, wishing they could drag the troublemaker out and beat him to death immediately.

Li Liuyun raised his hand to stop his enraged fellow disciples: "Danger."

Not only was it dangerous, but he also carefully considered Tingfengzhi's words and weighed the pros and cons. He realized that it might indeed be difficult to handle, so he stopped his fellow disciples from rushing in to join the fray.

"Huh? We're not going because it's dangerous? Are we just going to watch him destroy our formation?!"

The fellow disciple stared at the thunder and lightning in the dark clouds and said with great insight, "Liu Yun is right, it is indeed very dangerous. There is a heavenly punishment lightning above, and if you go in, you may be struck by lightning."

The young disciple was furious and cursed the culprit at the top of his lungs: "Then let him be struck by lightning!"

Li Liuyun couldn't help but glance at this junior brother, seriously suspecting that he might be a little mentally challenged. He seemed genuinely puzzled as to how someone could be so simple-minded.

His angry roar soared into the sky and was caught by Bai Yuan's keen hearing.

Who will be struck by lightning?

Bai Yuan lowered his eyes and caught a glimpse of a tiny figure beneath the cauldron. The green ribbon around his waist was lifted by the wind, creating ripples in the void, reflected in the shimmering light of the inscriptions, like waves on water.

Bai Yuan was not pleased to see this person here at this time: What was he doing here, to step on a landmine?!

With that body of his, which could leak a vat of blood from just a few stabs, and that mortal flesh that is both afraid of the cold and the heat, how dare he come here to risk being struck by lightning? Was he deliberately delivering food to her so that lightning could strike him alive and roast him for her as a side dish?

What a fool!

And those little brats who wave flags on Monkey Mountain every day, shouting about eliminating demons and protecting the righteous path, don't they consider themselves the righteous path? How can the righteous path just stand by and watch others court death?

The fool was pulling out a longsword nailed to the base of the formation, as if pulling a tooth from a beast's mouth. The Bixie on the cauldron seemed to sense this, its fierce eyes, as big as copper bells, glared fiercely. Its fiery eyes immediately targeted Zhou Yaren, this troublemaker, and then its giant beast body pounced down, its front paws stomping down like a mountain, trying to crush this "little ant".

When the mythical beast stomps its foot, the ground trembles three times.

Fortunately, the "little ant" was incredibly fast, summoning a whirlwind that swept it away, and then slashed the longsword it had drawn at the Bixie's calf.

Bang—

A layer of golden inscriptions appeared directly on the lower leg that the sword had cut, like the golden scales covering the Bixie's body.

This Bixiong was formed from the penal inscription on the penal cauldron. The penal inscription formed its copper skin and iron body, making it impervious to swords and spears. When Zhou Yaren slashed with his sword, the blade was directly chipped.

His expression changed, and he dodged with lightning speed. The hurricane he summoned immediately lifted him into the air, narrowly avoiding the impact of the Bixie, and then passed under the Bixie's belly.

With a flick of his long sleeves, Zhou Yaren used a hurricane to gently lift him to the ground. He deftly pulled out the second longsword that Li Liuyun had nailed down and casually disrupted the array stones.

Bai Yuan was hung on the execution cauldron by countless shackles covered in inscriptions. He narrowed his eyes slightly and watched the man ride the wind and waves under the claws of the ferocious beasts, and then be whipped by the tail of the Bi'an, almost sending him to the Western Paradise.

Zhou Yaren tumbled and fell to the ground, her elegance completely gone. Her hairpin broke into several pieces, and she looked disheveled and miserable.

Her dark hair and ribbons swayed in the wind, making her look even more ethereal and otherworldly.

However, even in his disheveled and wretched state, his appearance still exudes a kind of decadent beauty. After all, he wouldn't look ugly even if he jumped into the Yellow River, and he would still be a pleasing sickly man even if he was half-dead.

It would be such a pity if he died here.

If only I could keep one by my side...

The thought flashed through Bai Yuan's mind, and he frowned. Suddenly, he thought about it seriously: Did he deliver it himself? He must have risked his life to deliver it!

After being lonely for so long, Bai Yuan finally smelled the scent of humanity for the first time, instead of the endless stench of the dead.

He's so full of life, you could keep him around just to smell his aroma.

Bai Yuan smelled a bloody odor coming from Zhou Yaren, indicating that he was injured again or that his wounds had reopened.

He was no match for the Bixie that Xingming had transformed into.

Bai Yuan spoke up from his superior position: "Zhou Yaren, release the seal on my body."

The mythical beast suddenly lunged at him, but Zhou Yaren rode the hurricane upwards, ignoring Bai Yuan's suggestion. With a flick of his folding fan, he stirred up the thick cumulus clouds beneath the sky.

The clouds surged with his wind, and actually gathered and transformed into a black dragon, roaring as it swooped down from the horizon and crashed into the Bi'an that was relentlessly biting Zhou Yaren.

The lurking lightning, enveloped in the wind and clouds, transformed into a dragon in one breath and struck the Bixie head-on.

The dragon and tiger clashing in the sky left the onlookers on the Taihang Road speechless with astonishment. They stared at the scene in disbelief, exclaiming involuntarily, "My God, what kind of supernatural power is this?!"

The junior disciple who had just cursed Zhou Yaren to be struck by lightning was also dumbfounded: "He just kept rolling and rolling, and he turned the cloud into a living dragon, and even rolled the lightning into it!"

The young disciple was filled with lingering fear, thinking to himself: This skill certainly won't get me struck by lightning, but I will.

"At this level, is he some kind of powerful figure living in seclusion?"

Li Liuyun remained silent for a long while before saying, "I thought you knew."

The young disciple turned his head blankly and asked, "What do you know?"

Do you know who he is?

Li Liuyun said calmly, "I just called him Tingfengzhi."

The disciples gasped in shock. The situation had been so tense that none of them had noticed Li Liuyun mentioning that person's illustrious name.

After a collective sigh from the disciples, someone muttered from time to time, "Ting Fengzhi knows."

In their minds, Tingfengzhi was the legendary figure who "inherited the lost arts of the sages" and was repeatedly praised by the master teachers.

Before they could see the "true face of Mount Lu," the disciples always felt that this legendary Wind Listener stood above the divine authority.

Now that they have seen the "true face of Mount Lu," the disciples inexplicably wanted to kneel down and pay homage to the "lost teachings of the sages."

There's actually a story behind this. Back then, when Li Liuyun was in the palace, he heard his father, the Emperor, summon Tingfeng Zhishi and ask, "Why did you choose Xunmu to be blind?"

Listening to the wind, one can understand the answer as a matter of course: "To continue the lost learning of the past sages."

What a fine example of continuing the lost learning of the sages!

When he truly rediscovered the long-lost skills, it was enough to prove that he was not just all talk.

Not only did this please the emperor, but Li Liuyun also remembered this person, and so did all the officials in the court.

"Since he's a Wind-Reader, shouldn't he be on our side?" the junior disciple asked, puzzled. "But why did he dismantle our formation to save that evil spirit?"

No one answered him.

Li Liuyun stared ahead—the invulnerable Bi'an was knocked away by Xing Lei and the Black Dragon, plummeting from the sky and causing the ground in Beiqu to shake violently.

The black dragon disintegrated under the barrage of lightning, turning into the smoke and clouds it had come from, which then drifted away with the wind.

The move of summoning lightning to strike the Bixie is indeed clever, showing that Tingfengzhi is well aware of the intricacies of the matter.

Everyone swayed during the earthquake, almost losing their footing. Zhou Yaren seized the opportunity to pull out another sword nail and destroy the array stones.

The Bixie roared and rose up, its surrounding light actually dimming a bit compared to before. Zhou Yaren looked up at the sky because the inscriptions on the sky curtain and the cauldron had dimmed.

Although Zhou Yaren avoided the Bi'an's furious crushing blow, she was still violently swept away. She crashed into the Xing Ding while being jolted by the aftershocks of the lightning. The blood churning in her throat could no longer be suppressed, and she suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

But he didn't even have time to catch his breath. He stood up, supporting himself on one leg of the cauldron, and rushed to the next corner of the battle like a desperate man.

The instant he pulled out the sword nail, a shadow fell over him, as if the sky above him had collapsed. Zhou Yaren looked up, and the enormous, mountain-like Bi'an was already pressing down on him. He had no time to escape and froze on the spot, facing imminent death.

At this moment, his mind went completely blank. He couldn't remember anything from the past, only the inexplicable nightmare that had just occurred to him. He heard Bai Yuan say to him in the dream, "You are dead."

Is he dead?

When did he die?

Zhou Yaren blinked very slowly, and Bi'an had already trampled him under his feet...

What seemed like a certain death turned into a sudden lightness in the face of the immense weight pressing down on him, as the mountain-like Bi'an vanished into thin air!

How could this be...?

Zhou Yaren was stunned for a moment, then suddenly turned his head and saw several spirited young men in white standing in various places in the formation. Li Liuyun and the disciples of Taihang Dao pulled out all the sword nails they had laid at the last moment, causing the inscription on the Xingding Cauldron to disappear instantly, and together they wiped out the ferocious beast that had almost stomped Zhou Yaren to death.

Bai Yuan, who had been suspended on the execution cauldron, fell as lightly as a kite from the clouds. Judging by the height, it was enough to smash a body of flesh and blood into several pieces.

Zhou Yaren stirred up a long gust of wind, which gently lifted her down.

He was already exhausted, and every part of his body ached. Because his old injuries had not healed and he had forced himself to ride the wind, he had long exceeded his limit. It felt like all the veins in his body were swelling, and he was in excruciating pain.

Zhou Yaren walked towards Bai Yuan step by step, her legs so weak she almost knelt in front of her, but something in her heart seemed to be pulling her to her limit, and her mind was taut.

Bai Yuan felt that he looked like he would collapse at the slightest touch, so pitiful that she was somewhat helpless.

But Zhou Yaren was not a porcelain doll made of clay, and she could not be easily broken. However, her eyes gradually reddened in the wind, revealing a look of wanting to cry but not crying, as if some extremely deep emotions were hidden inside, even more turbulent than the clouds and tides just now.

Something is about to emerge.

He stopped in front of Bai Yuan and asked in a hoarse voice, "Did I also come here to beg for help?"

The abrupt question startled Bai Yuan: "What?"

“You said,” Zhou Yaren felt his breathing become somewhat difficult. He paused for a moment before continuing as if he had recovered, “you said before that those who could come to you for help were all people who had died unjustly.”

Bai Yuan suddenly realized something and stared intently at Zhou Yaren.

His eyes reddened as he recalled that inexplicable dream and her death-announcing umbrella. She had come to him in the dream to deliver his death message, saying he was dead. It felt so real, as if it had happened in a past life, forever etched into his soul. So, Zhou Yaren asked with difficulty, "Did I, too, or rather, in a previous life, also die unjustly and come to you for help?"

Bai Yuan stood there, frozen in place, when suddenly he felt that the person in front of him was somewhat blurry.

Like a lost soul seeking refuge before a temple of gods and Buddhas, he had gone through countless trials and tribulations, completed the cycle of reincarnation, and transcended past and present lives. Carrying a body covered in bitter winds and rain, he finally arrived before the wronged one, kneeling before a god or Buddha with utmost sincerity, seeking an answer: "Have I also sought refuge here before you?"

How should she answer him?

A moment later, Bai Yuan heard his own answer: "Yes."

Zhou Yaren seemed to finally give in and knelt down.

The Taihang Dao disciples present, unaware of the situation, were caught off guard and nearly dropped their jaws in shock, even more so than when they saw the Heavenly Cast Punishment Cauldron.

What's going on? What kind of scene is this? They were just impulsively thinking of worshipping Tingfengzhi, but they're actually kneeling before that evil spirit!

Everyone looked like: Who am I? Am I insane? Am I possessed, or is it just a whisper that I'm possessed? Or are we all hallucinating? What is the true nature of this great evil spirit, or rather, Your Excellency?

Everyone was completely bewildered, including Li Liuyun.

Listening to the wind, I'm afraid I've taken the wrong medicine...

Moreover, that great evil spirit seemed to accept it with a sense of righteous indignation!

Could the great evil be that "sage" who created this unique skill?! That's why Tingfeng not only risked her life to save her but also knelt before her! Otherwise, how can this scene be explained?!

Did they dig up the grave of a saint? And are they jumping around on the grave?

Although they hadn't been struck by lightning, their minds seemed to have been charred by it, emitting wisps of smoke and flashing with countless bizarre and grotesque thoughts.

The disciples shook their heads, quickly dispelling these wild thoughts.

The earlier the saints die, the sooner they can be reborn, so they won't become evil spirits and end up fighting with them.

It wasn't until a "thump" was heard and Ting Fengzhi fell to the ground that the crowd reacted, beating for a second, and rushed forward.