Starting from the Tiger Demon Yaksha, the demon immortality

Chapter 205, Section 204: Fierce Battle
Thunder is born from the yin and yang energies, according to the five elements of the Luo Shu:
"East three, south two, north one, west four; this is the origin of all numbers, and the center is five."

Thunder and lightning circulate the vital energy of heaven and earth, hence the name "Five Thunders".

Yin and Yang give rise to the Five Elements, and the Five Elements give rise to all things. The Five Thunders govern life and death. Internally, they prolong life; externally, they destroy death. Their power is unfathomable.

Therefore, thunder magic has always been a superior lineage in Taoism, holding a very special position.

The Beidi sect of Magu Mountain takes the Great Emperor of the North Pole, Ziwei, as its main deity. Under him are the Four Saints of the North Pole: Marshal Tianpeng, Vice Marshal Tianyou (also known as Vice Marshal Tianyou), Yisheng Baode (also known as General Heisha), and Lingying Yousheng (also known as General Zhenwu).

Among the Four Saints, Tianpeng is the leader, an incarnation of the Big Dipper's Po Jun star, and is the most violent and ruthless.
As the imperial bell rang, all the saints descended; with a light swing of the axe, the demons were annihilated.

At this moment, Deng Xuanjing made his move, and his dark blue true energy resembled the thick dark clouds before a storm, with occasional bursts of electricity and thunder.

The ten-foot-long axe cleaved down furiously, as if it were about to tear the earth apart.

The terrifying momentum was even more oppressive than Zheng Ya's overwhelming purple-gold true energy.

Li Cunxiao was not careless at all. His cloud-stepping shoes shimmered with silver light, and his figure transformed into a constantly twisting silver line. The sounds of drums and cranes intertwined, trying to get close by.

However, the other party did not give them that opportunity at all.

Deng Xuanjing formed a hand seal and shouted, causing the mountain-shaped handle of the Imperial Bell to vibrate, and tangible electric arcs suddenly spread out with the sound waves.

Li Cunxiao's pupils contracted, and the crimson snake energy around his body swirled and coiled.

The moment the two made contact, it was as if fire and thunder exploded, and with a bang, it sent him flying more than ten steps away.

"Such powerful true energy! It's completely different from the Yellow Court Realm cultivators I've encountered before; the Flame Blaze True Energy can't penetrate it at all."

The red snake surrounding his body became pitted and uneven, and the red scales formed by the condensation of true energy seemed to have been scraped off. However, the true energy in his meridians flowed like a river, and he quickly recovered in sight.

Li Cunxiao looked at the thunder axe that was attacking him again, stretched out his hands and drew a circle. The red snake, with its head and tail, instantly transformed into a giant golden wheel.

The two collided, and the giant thunder axe crackled loudly. The scattered true energy did not scatter in scattered pieces, but rather flowed like a torrent of waterfalls, forming a pool of thunder in front of him, attempting to envelop Li Cunxiao and refine him alive.

However, the golden wheel turns, like the Sumeru seat beneath the Buddha, covering the four continents and ruling over the immeasurable ocean, remaining unmoved under the scouring of the Thunder Pool.

Such a fierce exchange left Zheng Ya, who was standing nearby, completely stunned, and the eyes of the other grandmasters were filled with admiration.

"Fierce and ruthless, never giving an inch once they strike, truly the fighting style of the Northern Emperor School."

Du Guanglei clicked his tongue in amazement. He was already a martial artist who had ascended the Heavenly Ladder, so of course he wouldn't be afraid of a Yellow Court martial artist.

However, as a major sect of Taoism, Louguan Taoism often interacted with Maoshan and Magushan, and exchanging ideas was a common occurrence.

Back when he was still at the Yellow Court Realm, he had fought against a true disciple of the Northern Emperor School.

Du Guanglei cultivates the methods of the Vermilion Bird lineage, possessing fiery true energy that is intense and fierce, no less than that of Li Cunxiao today.

However, he still found himself in a tough fight and ultimately lost by a single move.

"Thunder magic is the great principle of Yin and Yang, and it is extremely difficult to enter the field. Even the less difficult Yang Five Thunder and Yin Five Thunder are not something that ordinary people can master."

"But once you get started, a Taoist who practices thunder magic is almost invincible among his peers, even more powerful than those senior brothers who are obsessed with flying swords."

Deng Xuanjing is one of the most outstanding members of the Deng family of Magu Mountain in this generation. His true teaching, "Xuanzhu Yinlei," is part of the divine skill "Ziwei Xuandu Leiting Yujing."

Xuan represents black, the north, and water; Zhu represents cinnabar and roundness.

The Mysterious Pearl Yin Thunder uses the kidney water to guide the liver wood qi, corresponding to the yin "mercury" in the Golden Elixir.

Like mercury spilling onto the ground, unrestrained and free, it is a first-class method for transforming true qi into form.

However, Xuanzhu Yinlei Yin was not gentle; on the contrary, it was extremely violent, like a river bursting its banks, surging and turbulent.

Du Guanglei knew all this, so he was extremely shocked to see that Li Cunxiao had been able to persist undefeated until now.

"He has mastered more than one martial art to perfection, which is why he is able to contend with him."

"However, the Yin Thunder is treacherous, making it difficult to utilize movement techniques, and my cultivation is also lacking in two extraordinary meridians. If this continues, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on."

"What are you mumbling about?"

Taiyi rolled his eyes at his junior apprentice, who had developed this habit of talking to himself quite some time ago.

Do you think Li Cunxiao will lose?

“I didn’t say that,” Du Guanglei quickly added.

Taiyi Shishu's favoritism towards Li Cunxiao was almost obvious to the naked eye, not to mention that Li Cunxiao had just admitted that he had taught the latter the true skills of the Azure Dragon lineage.

Given Taiyi Zhenren's status, Li Cunxiao's position as a true disciple of Louguan Dao is practically guaranteed.

Everyone in the sect had to appease this master alchemist; how could a junior like him dare to go against him?

"How could we, the people of Louguan Dao, lose to Magu Mountain?"

"This Junior Brother Li is much weaker in cultivation, yet he managed to fight like this. Even if it's a draw, it's still a win for him."

"You really know how to make your master happy," Taiyi's lips visibly curled up.

"However, I don't think it will be a draw. Li Cunxiao hasn't gone all out yet."

Not even using their full strength yet?
Yang Lingjun watched the light of the bursting true energy below the arena, his expression flickering between light and shadow.

The nun glanced at the head monk without leaving a trace, and found that his plump, Maitreya-like face was still smiling, showing no sign of tension.

She was also a master, so she could naturally tell that Li Cunxiao was standing on a magical artifact.

As an elite member of Magu Mountain, Deng Xuanjing naturally possessed ample resources, but he hadn't used them since the start of the war, which was also Yang Lingjun's intention.
Since your cultivation level is lower, I'll let you use a magical artifact, and that will even things out.

Regardless of winning or losing, if you win this way, it will be a fair and square victory, with no excuses to shirk responsibility.

Only such a victory could make the Taoist nun proud.

As someone from another clan, she rose step by step from a true disciple to the position of elder peak master on Magu Mountain, demonstrating her deep affection for the sect, which is beyond doubt.

The Northern Emperor's sect has strict rules, and she also has a clear distinction between public and private matters.

Qi Ci crippled her brother; this was a personal vendetta. However, if, for the sake of personal vendetta, she were to bring a Grandmaster-level expert into the sect as an enemy, that would be putting personal interests before public duty.

But to say she would swallow this insult would be difficult, given Yang Lingjun's strong-willed nature; even though her younger brother had been dead for several years, she still held a grudge.

The grudges of the previous generation being settled by the next through martial arts is already the only compromise that can be reached.

But now it seems that not only did his own disciple not use any magical artifacts, but the opponent also did not use their full strength?
'That bald thief is quite the apprentice!'

Regardless of the speculations of the onlookers, the two fighters remained solemn and dared not be careless in the slightest.

'His inner energy hasn't been exhausted yet?'

Deng Xuanjing's ten fingers moved in a series of gestures, each movement causing the Thunder Axe Emperor Bell to pound and tremble continuously. The ferocious attack showed no signs of abating, and its momentum even continued to rise.

On the contrary, Li Cunxiao's aura became increasingly deep and solid, as if he had truly become a high mountain, unmoving and immovable.

The golden wheel keeps turning, as if it is driving the sunrise and sunset, and the changing of the world in the mortal realm.

Regardless of whether it was lightning or plasma, it crushed and pushed aside everything.

Both men's momentum had reached its peak, and with just one trigger, the outcome would be decided in an instant.

"Junior brother," Deng Xuanjing suddenly spoke, and the thunderous true energy around her suddenly contracted, transforming into a ten-zhang-long dark blue shawl that surrounded her, making her look like a celestial being.

"Watch out, I'm about to make my move."

Li Cunxiao smiled wryly, knowing that this was a response to his initial sneak attack.

The fiery true energy spread from his body, twisting and taking shape as if it were a living thing.

The giant red serpent transformed into a trident, the azure horned dragon transformed into a horizontal sword, the golden wheel spun as if holding the blazing sun, and the slightly dim black dragon burrowed into the palm of the hand and became a sword.

Four crimson arms, seemingly cast from lava, each wielded a weapon embodying martial arts. Their long hair blazed like crimson flames, the flame patterns on their foreheads shone brightly, and their eyes and mouths gleamed with orange-red light.

A terrifying heat rose in the courtyard, and in a short moment, the moss on the walls around Li Cunxiao was scorched and turned to powder.

Seeing this, Taiyi Zhenren casually waved his hand, and a blue-green light barrier instantly enveloped the two of them.

"Such pure fire elemental energy."

A flicker of emotion finally appeared on Deng Xuanjing's usually calm face, but it was quickly replaced by a fervent fighting spirit that completely overwhelmed it, and the flushed excitement made him appear somewhat manic.
"Even if I lose, it would be worth the trip to compete against someone of my generation!"

Turns out she's a crazy old woman!

The thought flashed through Li Cunxiao's mind, and the next moment, the shawl formed by the lightning true energy around the other party suddenly made a tearing sound.

Dozens or even hundreds of crows, transformed from thunder, let out muffled cries. Just this one cry was enough to shake one's very soul, making one feel as if they were sandwiched between several mountains.

Even more concerning, among Li Cunxiao's four transformed arms, the Black Dragon Sword even showed signs of slight disintegration, clearly indicating that as the martial art with the lowest level of cultivation, the True Qi Transformation technique was far more fragile than the others.

"No, we can't wait for her to make the first move; I have to strike first!"

With a single thought, a surge of flames exploded instantly, and with this powerful momentum, Li Cunxiao crossed the dozens of steps between the two in the blink of an eye.

With a burning wooden sword in his left hand and a fire snake spear in his right, he unleashed both simultaneously, the wooden dragon and the fire snake roaring as they attacked from both sides, surrounding Deng Xuanjing.

However, the latter remained calm, forming a hand seal and shouting, "Hurry!"

Dozens or even hundreds of dark blue thunder crows surged into the vast sea like a river bursting its banks. With a deafening roar, a ring of air swept across, causing Li Cunxiao's long, flame-like hair to bend over.

"Not enough? How about adding this?"

With a roar, his Asura-like face became ferocious and terrifying. The golden wheel left his hand. Initially no bigger than a washbasin, it became like a roof when it reached Deng Xuanjing's head, pressing down on him.

Beneath the golden wheel, wooden dragons and fire snakes intertwined and crushed each other, the terrifying fire poison and life-destroying gas poison intertwined, and the scenes of the four levels of hell appeared one by one.

The Hell of Waiting to Live, the Hell of Black Ropes, the Hell of Gathering, and the Hell of Crying.
Disrupt, control, crush, burn.
Especially with the support of the burning wood knife, Deng Xuanjing's true energy consumption instantly soared to a terrifying level.

Surrounded by thunderbolts, she resembled a thunder god from heaven, having mistakenly entered the fiery hell ten thousand yojanas beneath the earth of Jambudvipa.

No matter how powerful he became, he could never escape from it and was forever trapped in its cycle of suffering.

Li Cunxiao slowly raised the longsword formed from the black dragon in front of him, holding the hilt with both hands and stroking the blade with both hands.

However, at this moment, the Flame True Qi did not rise like flames, but rather flowed like water, slowly rising and falling on the Black Dragon Sword.

boom!
The black dragon roared, stirring up waves of fire. Its undulating body caused the air to explode, and the distorted airflow spread suddenly along with the straight blade thrusting out.

"Well done!"

Deng Xuan's static-filled eyes were piercing. The dark blue lightning turned into a bluish-white hue. He clasped his hands together, and the lightning crow that had struck the Fire Hell instantly merged with it, transforming into a deity with fleshy wings on its back, a human body, and a bird's face, which attached itself to his body.

Lightning, fire, explosions, roars.
At a distance of one foot, the nail and hammer in Lei Gong's hands collided continuously, and the blue and red true energy light resembled two semi-circular domes.

Li Cunxiao has never been able to unleash his skills so freely and effortlessly, almost without relying on any magical artifacts.

Deep within my blood, it felt as if my very marrow was burning, and my entire body was visibly ablaze.

The Asura, formed from true energy, placed its two arms and palms together, gently pressing against the end of the hilt of the Black Dragon Sword.

At the joints of his four lava-like arms, blazing flames poured forth, the immense power instantly piercing through Lei Gong—

"break!"

hum~
A blinding white light instantly spread from a single point to the entire field of vision, and several birds took flight from the roof of the meditation room.

With a smile on his lips, Taiyi Zhenren flicked his finger, and the emerald green light shield flowed into his body.

Qi Ci looked pleased with himself. Zheng Lang kept stroking his beard and couldn't help but look at his grandson who was staring in disbelief.

"Is this kind of exchange truly between two people at the Yellow Court Realm? Even the True Form Meditation Realm is probably no more than this."

"Li Cunxiao, Li Cunxiao."

Du Guanglei touched his red nose and cautiously looked at the middle-aged Taoist nun not far away.

Yang Lingjun remained silent, his expression unreadable.

Following her gaze, one could see that the fiery, four-armed Asura phenomenon on Li Cunxiao's body had dissipated, leaving only a long sword transformed from a black dragon pressed against Deng Xuanjing's Taoist robe at her chest.

The breath blew open the carbonized robes, revealing the dark inner armor underneath.

"sharp."

Deng Xuanjing suddenly smiled, and even others could see the genuine joy in her heart.

"Junior Brother Li, this time, I have lost."

"Xuanjing, I concede defeat."

Upon hearing this, Li Cunxiao smiled, his Black Dragon Sword dissipating into true energy as he bowed respectfully.
"Senior Sister Deng, it was a very enjoyable sparring session with you. I hope we can have another chance to exchange skills next time."

"it is good."

Deng Xuanjing nodded seriously, then turned around and walked to the middle-aged Taoist nun.

"Master, your disciple has lost."

Yang Lingjun looked at his favorite disciple, whose expression seemed unchanged from before their fight.

Only those eyes seemed to have become brighter and more spirited, showing no sign of embarrassment or disappointment at failing their master despite losing the fight.

"To be neither arrogant in victory nor discouraged in defeat, to have a heart full of turmoil yet a face as calm as a still lake. This is the true nature of my disciple."

As the Taoist nun spoke, she also smiled and casually took out the golden essence from her sleeve and tossed it to Qici.

“Budai Maitreya, this time, you have won, and so have I.”

"Our grudges are wiped clean."

The chubby hand scooped up the lapis lazuli. Looking at the Taoist nun and her disciple, the head monk suddenly sighed:

"As expected of master and disciple, truly master and disciple. Your disciple's achievements will be no less than yours in the future."

"Fellow Daoist Yang, you have taught a fine disciple."

"Hahahaha, a laugh can bury the hatchet. I never thought I'd encounter such a wonderful story."

Seeing that the atmosphere had eased, Zheng Lang smiled broadly.

"Gentlemen, are you now able to sit down calmly and have a cup of hot tea?"

"Yanchang, Zheng Gong has arrived at Tiangu Temple, why didn't you inform me?"

On the official road, two magnificent horses galloped at breakneck speed, their speed rivaling that of the Red Horse.

The two men, one in deep red and the other in light scarlet, were none other than Bai Xiangshan, the Prefect of Songzhou, and Zheng Yanchang, his Chief Clerk.

Upon hearing this, the latter couldn't help but show a hint of embarrassment on his face.

"Please do not take offense, my lord. The patriarch is a grandmaster. If we travel light and simply, who would know his whereabouts?"

Bai Xiangshan didn't say much upon hearing this, but kept pondering and calculating in his heart.

In recent times, Huang Chao and the Ming Cult have been making increasingly large-scale moves, and more and more refugees are pouring into the city.

When the yamen runners were sent down to investigate, they found that almost all of them had fled from the direction of Xuzhou.

With the other party's intentions so obvious, Bai Xiangshan naturally submitted a memorial to the imperial court in the capital long ago, hoping to send a general to lead the army.

However, once the memorial was submitted, it seemed to have sunk without a trace, and there was no response whatsoever.

After much difficulty in inquiring, they learned that Wang Jian, the military governor of Xichuan in Jiannan Circuit, had launched an unauthorized military expedition without orders.

In just half a month, under the pretext of suppressing the rebellion, they captured several prefectures in succession. Now, not only is the entire Jiannan Circuit about to fall into their hands, but even the Shannan West Circuit, which borders Jiannan Circuit to the east, has some areas that have submitted to them.

This situation is strikingly similar to the path taken by Zhu Quanzhong, the Prince of Liang, when he rose to power.

Using the pretext of the imperial court's righteous cause, they attacked dissidents and expanded their power through separatism.

The officials in Xijing have been racking their brains over this matter recently. Some have been advocating for appeasement, and some have even suggested simply bestowing the title of King of Shu upon Jian.

Chancellor Gao Pian was furious and sternly refused. He also strongly advised the young emperor to send troops to punish the arrogant military governors.

At this point, Bai Xiangshan had almost lost all hope in the imperial court.

Seogyeong Daehung is located in Gyeonggi Province, and to the east, across Dogi Province (also known as Dongdu Nakyang), lies Namnam Province.

To the west, separated by Shannan West Road, lies Jiannan Road.

The imperial court would have to draw up most of its resources no matter which side it attacked, and right now it was just that Wang Jian hadn't made a move, but no one dared to gamble on such a thing.

The complexities behind such a decision make it difficult for ministers to make a quick decision.

Especially since the emperor was young, everyone could only pass the buck to one another.

It is better to do nothing than to do something wrong.

This is not the first time such an absurd thing has happened.

It is precisely because of these numerous incidents that the Qin Dynasty is now terminally ill, and almost no one believes that the world can still be saved.

"The current crisis in Songzhou may require external assistance to resolve."

When Bai Xiangshan and Zheng Yanchang arrived at the entrance of Tiangu Temple, Dezheng had already arranged for someone to wait for them and led them directly into the meditation room.

Upon arriving at the meditation room, the two found Dezheng standing outside the door, which puzzled them.

"Abbot, what are you doing standing here?"

The old monk hesitated, then simply turned around and pushed open the door.

Qi Ci, Tai Yi, Zheng Lang, and Yang Lingjun sat at separate tables. The moment the door opened, all four pairs of eyes turned to look at them.

Zheng Yanchang froze instantly, while Bai Xiangshan, after a moment of stiffness, revealed a genuine smile and stepped forward to bow deeply.
"Bai Xiangshan, Prefect of Songzhou, pays his respects to all my seniors!"

(End of this chapter)