Day and night tour

Chapter 479 The Art of Escape Possesses Righteousness

The usually refined and cultured Zhou Xuan now acted like a desperate fugitive, tightly gripping the Banana Leaf Taoist with both hands.
Neither of them could escape. Zhou Xuan blocked the wind blades, while the banana leaf was pierced repeatedly by the bone teeth.

However, Zhou Xuan also possesses an extremely powerful and resilient "celestial body".

The laws of the stars can both make Zhou Xuan's body ethereal and strengthen his physical body.

However, although the celestial body was powerful, the wind blades from those gales were also strong enough, lashing against Zhou Xuan's body incessantly, creating cracks and causing blood to seep out painfully.

But the Banana Leaf Taoist fared even worse. Lacking a golden body and being from a Taoist sect, his physical strength wasn't particularly formidable even among the experts of the Well Kingdom. He was pierced through by those sharp bone teeth, leaving him a bloody gourd.

The gourd-shaped Taoist priest then realized that they had entered a dream.

As Zhou Xuan emerged from his concealment, a "clack" of a gavel echoed from the stage.

The gavel was struck very discreetly, and everyone's attention was focused on Zhou Xuan, ignoring the terrifying sound.

"We've entered a dream. Zhou Xuan can freely enter and exit this dream; this is a storyteller's technique of 'strolling leisurely.'"

"We've all entered a dream, break the dream, break the dream!"

The Calabash Taoist immediately roared. However, if a storyteller's dream were so easy to break, this branch wouldn't be one of the three strongest branches in the Well Kingdom.

Among all the masters of the art of escaping the heavens, not a single one possessed sufficient means to counteract the dream world.

The Calabash Taoist hurriedly spurred his yellow paper shoes to chase after Zhou Xuan.

At this moment, Zhou Xuan was fighting desperately with the Banana Daoist and couldn't spare a hand to deal with the Gourd Daoist, but he didn't need to spare a hand either.

He turned to look at the Calabash Taoist and said coldly, "Calabash Taoist, I know that your yellow paper shoes are quite magical. You can walk on flat ground even in Lao Yun's mountain terrain. However, this place... is not a mountain terrain, but my dream. You can't move an inch here."

As soon as he finished speaking, the land on the stage turned into a vast sea of ​​sand.

There seemed to be an infinitely deep pit underground, and the yellow sand all over the ground became like waves of quicksand. The sand and gravel kept flowing into the pit, and at the same time, they brought a huge pulling force, pulling the gourd Taoist down into the ground.

"Zhou Xuan, your dream is quite something."

The gourd-shaped Taoist's body continued to sink. He tried his best, but he could only maintain his shape so as not to be swallowed by the quicksand. Trying to get away to save the banana-shaped Taoist was simply a pipe dream.

Purple Ox and Red Pill Supreme, like Calabash Taoist, were unable to advance or retreat.

Right before the eyes of these three elders, Zhou Xuan's bones and teeth flew everywhere, slicing the flesh and blood of the Banana Leaf Taoist piece by piece. In just a few moments, countless pieces of flesh were writhing at the Taoist's feet.
His grayish-white ribs were clearly visible on his chest and abdomen, and he weakly cried out, "Senior brothers, save me... save me... Zhou Xuan is a madman... save me!"

"Old Taoist priest, stop shouting, no one can save you."

Zhou Xuan reached out and summoned the flying bone tooth into his hand. Then, with two swift strokes, he severed the left and right collarbones of the Banana Daoist. After that, he slashed it diagonally into the Daoist's eye socket, hooked it fiercely, and dragged it more than a foot away from him like a dog.

He stepped on the Taoist's head, glared at Hulu, Hongdan, and Ziniu, and said, "I will kill this old dog first, and then I will kill the three of you one by one from my dream to appease the spirits of Lao Yun and Shan Zu in heaven."

As he spoke, he grabbed the Taoist's hair with one hand and tightened his grip on the bone tooth with the other.

"Old dog, I'm sending you on your way."

Just as his bone tooth was about to pierce the back of the Banana Taoist's head, suddenly, the sound of pounding medicine rang out.

"Cang! Cang!"

The sound of pounding medicine was like metal and stone. With each sound, the dream that Zhou Xuan had created through his methods felt more desolate.

"Using sound to overcome dreams?"

Zhou Xuan saw through the Medicine Buddha's methods.

“Zhou Xuan, in the Kingdom of Well, there are not many ways to restrain storytellers, but in our Buddhist Kingdom, there are many ways to decipher the dreams of storytellers… How dare you act so presumptuously.”

After the Medicine Buddha's methods of pounding medicine proved effective, he became arrogant again.

Traditionally, the nemesis of dreams has been those who use "sound" as a supernatural power.

For example, a musician's "laws of rhythm" are one of the nemesis of a storyteller's dreams.

"I have medicine mortar and pestle, Zhou Xuan. If I capture you, I'll definitely give you a good beating..."

The golden body of the Medicine Buddha was pounding medicine in a golden bowl, while the white hairs emanating from her drifted towards Zhou Xuan like extremely fine floating threads.

Zhou Xuan dared not delay. He transformed his bone teeth into slashes and forcefully cut towards the back of the Banana Tree Taoist's neck. Instantly, the Taoist's severed head was in Zhou Xuan's hand.

"go with!"

He spun around and kicked the gourd-wielding Taoist in the head, then his body went back to its turtle-like state, concealing itself in a spatial rift to evade the pursuit of those white hairs.

"Junior brother, junior brother."

The gourd-shaped Taoist held the banana-shaped Taoist's severed head in his hands, howling in pain.

This howl was partly out of grief, after all, it was his own junior brother—his own disciple—who died at his own hands, so it wasn't so painful. But to die at the hands of an outsider made him feel a sense of "the rabbit mourns the fox's death".

The other half of the howling stemmed from fear—fear that Zhou Xuan was too powerful.
This young man in his early twenties, despite being surrounded by so many nine-stick incense sticks, moved like a ghost and swiftly attacked Junior Brother Banana.

Moreover, he was extremely ruthless; with a single cut, he ended his junior brother's three-hundred-year cultivation journey.

Looking at the unseeing eyes of the dead banana tree, the Calabash Taoist tried several times to close his junior brother's eyes with his hands, but no matter how he tried, his junior brother refused to close his eyes.

“Junior brother, I know your wish. You want to see Zhou Xuan die before you can close your eyes. Alright, senior brother will help you avenge him now.”

He gently placed the Banana Leaf Taoist's head on the ground and looked in the direction where Zhou Xuan had disappeared.

He was waiting, waiting for the sound of pounding medicine to shatter Zhou Xuan's dream completely.

The deep, resonant sound of pounding medicine echoed repeatedly across the stage.

A single moon shines over the Mingjiang River, only the sound of pounding medicine remains.

The powerful sound of pounding medicine, each time it rang out, made Zhou Xuan's dream feel like a garment being burned with countless large holes by candlelight.

After the sound of pounding medicine had been heard fifteen or sixteen times, the dream became shattered. The gourd-shaped Taoist priest, suspended in the sky, suddenly shouted, "Amitabha!"

The moment that "Daoist title" was uttered, it was like an invisible hand that crumpled Zhou Xuan's dream into a ball and then tore it to shreds.

Zhou Xuan's dream shattered, but his voice resounded throughout the stage.

"Gourd Taoist and Medicine Buddha, you are the next Banana Taoist. Be careful, or I, Zhou Xuan, will come to claim your lives."

Zhou Xuan saw himself as a vengeful ghost, lurking in the shadows, while the Supreme Art of Escape and the Three Styles of the Buddhist Kingdom were his targets.

Purple Ox and Red Pill were terrified. The two stayed close to the gourd-wielding Taoist priest. The three fellow disciples stood back to back, afraid that Zhou Xuan might suddenly appear from nowhere.

The mere presence of Master Mingjiang terrified the Taoist masters of Dunjia and the Three Styles of Buddhism, causing chaos and panic.
The audience members on the stage were all holding their breath for Zhou Xuan, not daring to make a sound.

The Grand Master of Mingjiang Prefecture was their last beacon of hope.

……

In the audience, the Crippled Monk was also terrified. He asked the Eternal Life Cult Leader, "Cult Leader, do you think the two of us have any chance of winning if we were to face Zhou Xuan on this stage?"

The Crippled Monk always regarded incense offerings as the sole symbol of his strength, and he disregarded anyone with lower incense offerings than him.

But today, his beliefs have crumbled.

When Zhou Xuan used only the power of eight incense sticks, he had already prevented so many nine incense sticks from gaining an advantage. Now, with the power of nine incense sticks, he immediately launched a counterattack and, amidst the chaos, beheaded the Banana Daoist.

The leader of the Longevity Cult slightly raised his eyelids and said, "There's no chance of winning... This Zhou family's Great Nuo Cult was never an ordinary cult."

In the past, a prominent figure in the Taoist sect had deduced that if the Zhou family's Nuo ritual reached the level of seven incense sticks, it would be able to rival the nine incense sticks of other sects.
Now that Zhou Xuan has reached the combat strength of nine incense sticks, he can no longer be regarded as just someone at that level.

The Longevity Cult Leader tucked his hands into his sleeves and said to the Crippled Monk, "At this moment, Zhou Xuan's combat strength is approaching that of the strongest god-level beings. Neither you nor I have a chance of winning against him. It's just a pity that such a prodigy will not survive today."

As he spoke, his eyes glanced out of the corner of his eye at the Taoist priests burning incense on the stage, and he sighed deeply.

……

"Good! Good! Well done!"

Inside the stone house in the sky, Qingyangyu feasted on plump insects, cheering for Zhou Xuan.

“This Zhou Xuan is quite skilled. The patients in the sick village are all very good fighters, but Zhou Xuan is the best among them,” Mr. Yan chimed in.

Qingyang Yu laughed and said, "Since ancient times, alchemists have never been particularly skilled in combat. Every time they refine a pill, the Tianhuo clan has to send people to protect them."

If Zhou Xuan becomes the alchemist official, he won't need anyone to protect him when refining pills. Anyone who dares to steal his pills is courting death.

He stretched and said, "Given Zhou Xuan's strength, this grand show is probably coming to an end."

As the saying goes, "The higher you stand, the farther you can see," and Qingyang Yu, standing at the highest point in the world, naturally saw Zhou Xuan's methods clearly.

He said, "In this fight, incense is just incense, and tactics are just tactics. The key is how to use incense and adapt tactics. Zhou Xuan is a born warrior. Whether it's his sense of smell or his mind, he is clearly a cut above."

If this fight continues, Zhou Xuan will definitely be the final victor, and it won't be long before all those people are killed.
What a pity! It's the first time I've ever seen Nuo people fighting in a sick village. The Nuo haven't even shown their full abilities yet, and the fight is almost over.

The battle was spectacular, and even a madman like Qing Yangyu wanted to watch it all. But then, true to his madman reputation, he clapped his hands and exclaimed, "However, it was just right, just right!" Mr. Yan was puzzled and asked, "Palace Master, what do you mean by 'just right'?"

"The battle will end soon. If Zhou Xuan doesn't reveal his 'God of Drama', his life will be spared... Tonight, he will most likely become one of our Heavenly Firmament's alchemists. Heavenly Firmament has gained a great general; isn't that perfect?"

Qingyangyu said with a smile.

Mr. Yan frowned, twisted his body, and reported to Qing Yangyu, "However, Palace Master, I'm afraid this fight is not over yet."

"What did you see?"

"I saw a spark, but it was flashing too fast for me to see clearly."

"Is there Mars?"

Qing Yangyu's expression suddenly darkened, and he asked.

"Yes, there were sparks on the stage, but they only flickered once or twice. I'm not sure if it was the doctor from the sick village."

"Sick Village" refers to the human world.

"Doctor" is the term used by the Tianhuo people to refer to "god-level" individuals.

"There are doctors on the stage? What are those doctors doing here?"

"It's probably not a good thing. Zhou Xuan was in grave danger just now, and the doctor didn't make a move. Could it be that the doctor was also after Zhou Xuan?"

Mr. Yan said.

Qingyang Yu said coldly, "Why would the doctor kill Zhou Xuan?"

"The doctors are always going against us in the Heavenly Firmament. Perhaps they don't want to see a great alchemist emerge from our Heavenly Firmament, so... they want to kill Zhou Xuan."

"Destroy what you can't have? Are all the doctors in these sick villages crazy?"

Qing Yangyu never expected that someone as eccentric as him would one day be able to call others "the eccentric old man and woman".

"What if the doctor really has to intervene?"

"What else can we do? Doctor, we can't beat them, so we'll just have to watch the show."

Qing Yangyu said irritably.

……

In the audience seats on the stage, Zhou Lingyi was naturally clapping and cheering for Zhou Xuan's swift slaying of the Banana Tree Taoist.

"Well done, little brother."

After clapping her hands, she asked Yun Ziliang and Li Changxun, who were standing next to her, "Mr. Yun, Li Shanzu, are you sure my brother is acting? I have a feeling he's really putting in his best effort?"

"Doesn't this prove that Mr. Da's acting skills are good?"

Li Changxun patted himself on the back and said softly, "Master Zhou, look at me, Li Changxun. If it weren't for acting, and the fact that the Great Master used the 'blessing' of the Peach Blossom Ancestral Tree to raise his Law of Destiny to the second realm in a short time and comprehend 'Substitute Death,' how could I have survived?"

Zhou Xuan's method of helping Yun Ziliang and Li Changxun "die" and "be reborn" on the stage was "substitute death".

The method of taking someone else's place is the fate law of the Nuo god.

After their substitutions were completed, Yun Ziliang and Li Changxun died heroically in front of everyone. Then, the "tree gate" of the Zhou family's ancestral tree pulled the two out of the arena and sent them to the audience, completing their curtain call as "actors".

"Don't worry, Master Zhou, Xuanzi is going to stage a spectacular death to summon the 'God of Drama'."

"Don't rush to call out yet, it seems that the eyes in the sky have opened."

Li Changxun raised his head and looked into the depths of the clouds.

“I saw Mr. Yan, and I also saw someone I didn’t recognize.”

Li Changxun said this.

As one of the Celestial Gods, Li Changxun certainly knew Mr. Yan, but due to his limited experience, he did not know Qing Yangyu, who held considerable power in the heavens.

"The people in the sky are also watching this battle."

Li Changxun seemed to remember something and immediately fell into deep thought.

"Who is Mr. Yan? I've never heard you mention him before?" Yun Ziliang asked Li Changxun.

Li Changxun ignored him, lost in thought...

Meanwhile, Mr. Yan's eyes were also carefully searching the stage, looking for that fleeting spark—the doctor from the sick village.

……

The fake Taoist priest, who had long lost his awareness as a doctor, stared at the stage, making a decision in his heart.

"The reason I came to Mingjiang Prefecture this time is because I'm afraid that Medicine Buddha will expose my secrets."

Now it seems the Medicine Buddha's level isn't high enough; he doesn't even know of my existence, so I can't reveal myself.

"Should I leave peacefully, or should I help the Buddhist people by killing Zhou Xuan?"

The incense-wielding Taoist priest was somewhat conflicted: "If I take action, I will inevitably leave a trace. If the true incense-wielding priest finds a weakness, I won't be able to explain it to the Witch God... If I don't take action, Zhou Xuan's growth momentum is too fast, it's like a thousand miles a day. Sooner or later, I will be ruined by him..."

"Hmm... I'll only do my part; the rest is up to fate."

He eventually decided to take action, but only a small amount.

The Taoist priest plucked a whisker from his whisk and threw it into the stage...

……

On the stage, Zhou Xuan's bold words still echoed in our ears.
The Calabash Taoist was furious.
He patted the gourd in his hand and said fiercely, "Zhou Xuan, I have a Qi technique and a sword technique, both of which are my methods of self-preservation."

Today, I have drawn my sword. For you, even this last vestige of my energy cannot be held back.

He suddenly lifted the gourd and shouted loudly, "Our school of Dunjia is full of loyal and brave men, whose integrity is the strongest among men!"

The righteous spirit endures forever at the gates of Dunjia Mountain.

This rather ritualistic incantation, when heard by the audience, made them all laugh out loud in such a solemn occasion.

"Tsk tsk, the shamelessness of the Supreme Master of Dunjia is too thick, and he claims to be a family of loyal martyrs... It makes me lose confidence. I even think that I am the one who surrendered to the Buddhist people."

"The people of the Dunjia Sect are truly unbelievable."

"Righteousness, righteousness? You gourd monster, do you want to listen to what you're saying?"

"You birdmen of the Dunjia Sect, I understand your chanting of incantations, but I don't understand them. Why don't you chant them a little quieter? Aren't you ashamed?"

The audience's sarcastic remarks were extremely offensive.
Even with the thick skin of the gourd-shaped Taoist priest, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, but he quickly regained his composure.

"You bunch of bastards, wait until I've killed Zhou Xuan and pulled out all your tongues. Then I'll tell you properly—strength is righteousness."

He refocused his mind, slammed his hand down on the gourd, and exclaimed: "The righteous spirit of heaven and earth flows forth in a myriad of ways."

The gourd immediately turned upside down and began to expel a stream of air.

This energy has two colors, one black and one white.

The black aura was not a dark, sinister black, but a full and solid black that, when illuminated by moonlight, even had a bluish tinge.

The white mist was as warm and smooth as jade.

"These two energies, black and white, are the righteous energy of the human world. Demons and monsters cannot hide their forms within this energy."

The gourd-shaped Taoist priest intended to use "righteous energy" to prevent Zhou Xuan from hiding.
Meanwhile, the white hair of the Medicine Buddha followed the two streams of energy, trying to find the hidden Zhou Xuan.

Zhou Xuan, hidden in the shadows, could sense the wondrous power of that "righteous energy of humanity," so he decided not to hide anymore.
His spirit traveled swiftly through the day, heading towards the gourd-shaped Taoist priest.

And this journey must pass through the righteous spirit of the world, and Zhou Xuan's divine soul also manifests.

"So what if I'm revealed? I'll use this speed to fight you, the gourd-wielding Taoist, to the death."

"Zhou Xuan has come out."

"Guide him, arrest him."

The Heavenly King of Guidance and the Bodhisattva Medicine both wanted to capture Zhou Xuan, but although Zhou Xuan had manifested his physical form, his divine soul traveled at an extremely fast speed.

In just a few moments, he had closed in on the gourd-wielding Taoist. If he were only three feet away from the Taoist, he could use his teleportation ability to catch him completely off guard.
But at that moment, the white beard hair that the Taoist priest had plucked out shot out like an arrow toward the dragon bone acupoint on the back of Zhou Xuan's soul.

puff!
A visible spear is easy to dodge, but a hidden arrow is hard to guard against, especially one from a god-level being—there's simply no way to avoid it.
Zhou Xuan let out a muffled groan, and his soul fell to the ground with a thud...

(End of this chapter)