Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 325 Suppression
Tong Xu was so angry with Li Yin that his hands and feet went numb, and now, after hearing Zheng Jingxi's words, he was so angry that his head went numb. For a moment, his mind went blank, and he didn't even know what to say.

In that moment of distraction, she suddenly felt a chill on her back, as if something had struck her in the back. Her protective aura reacted before she could react, her true energy activating on its own, allowing her to dodge six or five steps to the side and hold the Qingpu Fan in her hand.

She saw Li Yin holding a short blade, the edge still stained with bright red blood. Only then did she feel the pain—Li Yin's knife was aimed at her back, but fortunately she reacted quickly, and the knife didn't penetrate too deeply, failing to damage her heart.

Her lips trembled as she pointed at Li Yin with her Qingpu fan, then at Zheng Jingxi: "You...you two are useless, two idiots!"

Li Yin quickly jumped back a step, then, seemingly realizing he was still too close to Tong Xu, took two more steps back: "Witch! A wise man submits to circumstances! Even if I lose this sect leader position, I cannot allow you to bring corpse demons to wreak havoc on Dapan Mountain! You even want me to hand over my disciples to the Blood God Sect's corpse-refining demons! How can I betray the three thousand years of Dapan Mountain's foundation!"

As he spoke, he glanced at Li Wuxiang. Seeing the indifferent, ambiguous smile on Li Wuxiang's face, he quickly turned to the side and bowed to Xie Qi, who was standing on the top of the gate tower: "Uncle-Master, alas, I didn't want to be the sect leader for a long time. It was because you were afraid of trouble that I had to take on this mess! You know, all these years I have had to manage the affairs of the sect and guard against the wolfish ambitions of people like Tong Xu. It hasn't been easy for me! Today, with the Divine Lord here, Uncle-Master, please let me step down and serve you... When Master left, he told me that you watched me grow up, like my own father! Father, I will serve you from now on!"

Xie Qi was stunned by what he said and didn't know how to respond for a moment. Li Jianbai was also stunned. After a moment, he frowned and showed a look of disgust on his face, as if he wanted to reprimand him. However, seeing that Li Wuxiang didn't say anything, he had no choice but to remain silent.

Tong Xu stood not far away. Although her injuries weren't serious, Li Yin was, after all, a Nascent Soul cultivator. That slash was aimed at killing her, and the blade was imbued with true energy. This true energy was still clashing with the energy within her body, causing the wound to be unable to heal immediately. Therefore, although the injury wasn't severe, the bleeding wouldn't stop for a while. In the short time it took Li Yin to say those few words, half of her body was stained red with blood, making her look extremely miserable.

Li Wuxiang smiled and first raised his hand to Zheng Jingxi: "Li Yin is right, those who know when to yield are the heroes. Since both of you are heroes and have been able to turn back from the wrong path, then Sect Master, please rise."

Zheng Jingxi stood up, then slightly to the side, with his hands behind his back, and stood next to Li Wuxiang. His hair was neatly combed, and his five beautiful wisps of beard fluttered in the wind. It was as if he had neither knelt nor yielded, but remained calm and composed, as if he had come up the mountain with Li Wuxiang from the very beginning.

“I dare not accept such praise. It is only after witnessing the divine power of the Divine Lord today that I realize I was merely a frog in a well before. From now on, all my cultivation will be at the Divine Lord’s service.”

Li Yin was about to get up, but just as he bent his knees halfway up, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and quickly knelt down again.

Li Wuxiang looked at him: "Why are you still kneeling? Are you addicted to it?"

Li Yin hurriedly laughed: "The Divine Lord is telling the Sect Master to get up, but I am no longer the Sect Master, so how can I get up?"

Li Wuxiang laughed heartily: "You two are truly remarkable people. Alright, you can get up now!"

Li Yin immediately jumped up and moved closer to Li Wuxiang.

Tong Xu glanced at the two people beside him, gritted his teeth, and sneered: "You'd accept two like these? Well then, the Taiyi Sect has become a den of insects and rats!"

Xue Baoping stood on the roof of the palace, looking down at the scene below, and frowned: "I don't like these two people."

Li Wuxiang's spirit nodded beside her: "I don't like it either."

No one likes a spineless coward, even if they're on your side. However, Li Wuxiang knew that the Taiyi Sect was no longer the Sword Sect it once was. If they wanted to control the territory outside the Six Divisions and fight against the Blood God Sect, they had to tolerate some of the injustices—at least they had to do that at the beginning.

To be honest, if he had to choose one of the three, he would prefer Tong Xu. None of the three were good people, but Tong Xu's good points were that he had backbone and was smart.

These three people have practically covered every possible scenario he might encounter in the future.

Li Yin is indecisive, timid, and only cares about his own interests. Such a person has long been unpopular within the sect and could be used as an external force to instigate internal strife and establish a new leader. However, this situation is unlikely to be very common.

The most common type is Zheng Jingxi. He's neither particularly clever nor stupid; he's qualified to be a sect leader, a typical cultivator of the Thirty-Six Sects—lacking ambition and any other aspirations, only concerned with self-preservation. The best way to deal with this type is to control them directly, leaving other matters for later.

Tong Xu's situation is relatively rare, but she is the most difficult to deal with. She is intelligent, eloquent, and courageous; she would be an extremely competent sect leader. Li Wuxiang wouldn't dare say that the Qingpu Sect is united under her, but her control over the sect is undoubtedly extremely strong. It's difficult to instigate internal strife within the sect, and equally difficult to coerce her personally.

He smiled at Tong Xu and said, "Everyone makes mistakes in life. No matter what these two thought in the past, they haven't harmed any of our disciples so far, so I won't pursue the matter. As the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. If we judge by intentions, wouldn't everyone in this world be punishable? Sect Leader Tong, I feel the same way about you. You said there's a corpse demon on your mountain, but if I actually go to Qingpu Mountain and don't see it there, I can just consider it a rumor."

Tong Xu gave another cold laugh: "Do you think I'm a spineless coward? Even if I die here today, I won't end up like these two! Someone will avenge me! Li Wuxiang, enough nonsense, killing me won't be so easy!"

Li Wuxiang suddenly felt a sense of familiarity. After a moment's thought, he realized that this sense of familiarity came from Cheng Peixin—the abbess of the Tianxin Sect stationed in Deyang.

In truth, the two are quite alike. They're about the same age, Cheng Peixin is more stunning, but Tong Xu's looks aren't bad either. What they're even more similar about is their temperament; they're both the same—fiery, how to put it?
However, Cheng Peixin's fierceness stemmed partly from her lack of intelligence and being somewhat infatuated. Tong Xu, on the other hand, was far more astute and shrewd in his words and actions. So why would such an intelligent person behave so "fiercely" in this situation?
Li Wuxiang looked at her without speaking, trying to see something in her eyes.

Then he really saw it... hatred. He had ruined her plans by coming to Dapan Mountain and caused her to be ambushed by Li Yin, so it was normal for her to have hatred in her eyes. But Li Wuxiang felt that her hatred seemed to be even more than "normal".

A thought suddenly popped into his mind—the Juque School.

During the Great Calamity Mountain, I learned that among the Thirty-Six Sects, there were actually five "constant" sects: Juque, Qingxiao, Qianji, Suhua, and Tiangong. These five sects were the strongest among the Thirty-Six Sects, and the remaining Thirty-One Sects were actually their vassals.

When Tong Xu mentioned the power dynamics here, she did so by referring to the Juque Sect, indicating that the Shangchi Sect, Shendao Sect, and Qingpu Sect are all vassals of the Juque Sect. Tong Xu is a woman of skill and courage, capable of offering her sect's disciples for the Blood God Sect's sacrificial purposes for personal gain; she's not the kind of loyal dog who would betray her principles. So why did she insist on joining the Blood God Sect, seemingly oblivious to the changing times?

His spirit spoke these words to Xue Baoping from the palace rooftop. Xue Baoping thought for a moment and immediately said, "For love?"

Li Wuxiang sighed: "Yes, I guessed that was right. It's really..."

What a hassle. Love is the most troublesome thing. If Lou He hadn't been driven by love in the beginning, he might already be holding a high position in the Five Mountains True Form Sect.

"Can you do me a favor later?" said Li Wuxiang's spirit.

Then the real person smiled at Tong Xu: "Not that easy? Sect Master Tong, aren't you overestimating yourself? When I killed Zhou Ruixin, the Sect Master of Tianxin Sect, that person even had the Guiyin True Monarch possess him, but I didn't find it difficult. When I knocked down Mu Zhenyuan, the Sect Master of Juque Sect, to the Nascent Soul stage at Dajie Mountain, that person was a Yang God, but I didn't find it difficult either. What ability do you have, Sect Master Tong, that makes me feel it's not easy?"

Tong Xu suddenly launched an attack!

Without her even moving the Qingpu fan in her hand, a sudden gust of wind arose around her. The wind was so fierce and fast that in the blink of an eye, the air around her turned white, bright, and red, then transformed into a pillar of fire enveloping her, and then into a fire tornado, spreading out into the courtyard and into the sky!
The stone slabs in the courtyard were completely melted the moment the fire tornado appeared, turning into crimson lava that was then engulfed by the tornado and rained down on everyone. The air was violently agitated by the pillar of fire, creating a series of booming sounds, and strong winds rose from all directions, converging on the courtyard.

In an instant, sand and stones flew all around, and the wind turned into a murky yellow, making it impossible to see anything. Tong Xu wrapped herself in this fierce wind and first rushed straight up into the sky—the pillar of fire carrying her rose high into the air, then touched the mountain-protecting array of the Shangchi Sect, spreading in all directions along the dome, as if a giant fire mushroom had sprouted on the mountaintop.

She knew she couldn't break the formation, and she didn't really intend to break out of it. She just wanted to create some chaos in the courtyard to find an opportunity to escape!

At this moment, the summit of Dapan Mountain must have been engulfed in a sea of ​​fire. So she withdrew her supernatural powers, concealed her presence, and suddenly darted eastward, bursting out of the pillar of flame. Those on the mountaintop would surely think she was still inside the pillar of fire, but at this moment—

But when she rushed out of the pillar of fire, she found that the world was still clear.

She stood frozen in mid-air, watching as the fire tornado she had created truly transformed into an extremely thin and long mushroom of flame—rising alone from the courtyard and unfolding atop the Shangchi Sect's protective mountain formation. It did not turn the mountaintop into the sea of ​​fire she had envisioned; even the initial fierce winds subsided, as if it had simply become a spectacular sight.

Because right where she had just stood, at the base of this fire tornado, six golden sword beams surrounded the magical spectacle she had unleashed, as if pinning the flames firmly to the ground, without affecting anyone in the courtyard in the slightest!
She had never fought against a high-level cultivator from the Sword Sect, but she never imagined that their methods would be so domineering and outrageous—they didn't just break or neutralize her supernatural powers, but forcefully suppressed them!
She stood suspended in mid-air, seemingly looking down from above with great imposing presence. The courtyard and the mountaintop were originally quite noisy—the disciples of the Shangchi Sect had rarely seen such a spectacle in decades, and they couldn't help but whisper and murmur among themselves as the experts confronted each other.

But now everyone is silent. Even Zheng Jingxi and Li Yin couldn't help but exchange a glance, no longer standing next to Li Wuxiang, but taking a step back.

Zheng Jingxi submitted because of "force," and Li Yin submitted because of "power." However, at this moment, they both realized that no matter how they had measured Li Wuxiang's "power" and "power" just now, they were far from... how should I put it? Strong enough? But his methods were far beyond what the word "strong" could describe!
Li Wuxiang looked up at the sky and said, "Sect Leader Tong, it's windy up there. Why don't you come down and talk to me?"

Tong Xu remained silent, his figure still suspended in the sky. Two breaths later, Li Yin whispered behind Li Wuxiang, "Oh, Divine Lord, she's gone! The one in the sky is fake!"

Zheng Jingxi immediately said, "Do you need to tell me? The Divine Lord wins people over with virtue, just to make Tong Xu truly convinced. I can see that, do you think the Divine Lord doesn't know?"

Li Yin said awkwardly, "Oh, I'm just a straightforward person. That's just my personality... Hey, Divine Lord, she can't get out of the mountain. How about Junior Brother Zheng and I help you bring her back? That way we can save you some trouble!"

Li Wuxiang shook his head: "No need. I know where she'll go."

Li Yin was taken aback: "Huh? Where?"

Li Wuxiang was also taken aback, then turned to look at him seriously: "Don't you know there's another path on this mountain that leads in and out of this great formation?"

Li Yin still said, "Huh?"

Li Wuxiang sighed and patted his shoulder: "Alright, you're a talented person too. Just stay by your uncle's side and take good care of him."

……

A sect leader should not take risks lightly; even if it is absolutely necessary, thorough preparations must be made beforehand. Therefore, before going up Dapan Mountain, Tong Xu already knew that there was still a way to enter and exit the great formation on the mountain, which was the waterway from the bottom of the Tianchi Lake on Dapan Mountain to the Mohe River.

This is because one of the founders of the Qingpu School had a good relationship with the head of the Shangchi School in his early years, which is how he obtained this secret information.

These past few days, Elder Xie Qi of the Shangchi Sect has been in seclusion in his alchemy room, refusing to come out. Tong Xu felt that Li Yin must also know about this, so she had Xie Qi guard him there. At that time, she was still thinking that although Li Yin was foolish, he had actually made such an arrangement, which showed that he was quite thoughtful.

However, now that things had come to this, she had no choice but to risk everything and sneak out of Dapan Mountain through that secret passage. Every second counted, because Li Wuxiang could easily figure out where she was headed—he appeared calm and composed in public, but behind closed doors, he might be ruthless. She could live in that waterway, or she could die in it!

(End of this chapter)