Lin Youfa knew this punch aura was ferociously potent, imbued with uncontrollable pure Yang energy. He tumbled away in a clumsy scramble to dodge it.
This powerful fist aura slammed into the marble washbasin with a dull thud, finally overwhelming the countertop. With a crash, the base support beneath it fell away, landing near Tan Xue’s feet.
Tan Xue shuddered, her expression a distorted mask of terror. She opened her mouth wide to scream, but her voice was hoarse, utterly stuck. The only thought echoing in her mind was: Who in the world is this young man?
Having evaded Li Yundong’s heavy blow, a sharp glint of viciousness flashed in Lin Youfa’s eyes. He swiftly retrieved a golden needle from the gap in his shoe and inserted it into the Baihui acupoint on his crown. With his other hand, he quickly formed a mudra and roared, “Mao Shan Sending Strike True Spirit Art, Eight Great Marshals manifest your power!! By urgent decree, Nine Heavens Venerable Father, Five Directions General Manager, Great Marshal of the Northern Pole’s Left Citadel, Heavenly Marshal Tian Peng, ascend my body!”
Li Yundong was stunned: He summoned another deity? What kind of god was this one? Did this fellow summon spirits as easily as inviting guests over?
Nine Heavens Venerable Father, Five Directions General Manager, Great Marshal of the Northern Pole’s Left Citadel, Heavenly Marshal Tian Peng? What in the world was that?
Wait a moment...
Great Marshal Tian Peng?
Li Yundong’s expression suddenly became incredibly bizarre: “No way... he didn't summon Marshal Tian Peng, did he?”
Who was Marshal Tian Peng?
Everyone on Earth knew that!
Zhu Bajie!
Despite the formidable enemy right before him, Li Yundong couldn't help but burst into roaring laughter. Just as he was about to speak, he distinctly heard a familiar voice cry out, “Yundong, dodge quickly!”
It was clearly Su Chan’s voice!
Li Yundong instinctively darted sideways, and immediately, a tremendous explosion erupted out of nowhere beside him, smashing a massive pit right into the floor!
If that had struck him, he would have instantly been pulverized into a bloody pulp!
Li Yundong’s heart hammered wildly as he looked towards Lin Youfa. Lin Youfa’s figure had inflated even further, now appearing nearly two meters tall. His entire body was purplish-red, and his veins writhed across his skin like dark red little snakes, an incredibly terrifying sight.
The eyes staring out from this form radiated a frightening golden light; the entire being resembled a Purple-Gold War God descended from the Heavenly Court, majestic and utterly imperious!
“Damn it…” Li Yundong jumped, startled. “Is this guy on steroids or what? Is it really that exaggerated? Summoning Zhu Bajie is more powerful than summoning Guan Erye? Is there any justice in this world?”
Su Chan’s voice sounded again in Li Yundong’s ear: “Yundong, get out now, don’t fight him at this moment! This spirit-summoning technique has a time limit. You haven’t mastered your cultivation yet; you are no match for him. Get out!”
Trusting Su Chan implicitly, Li Yundong immediately leaped and shot into the adjacent men’s restroom, then swiftly bolted toward the hotel exit.
“Where do you think you’re going!” Lin Youfa roared, his voice causing the plaster dust on the fractured wall to shower down. Then, with thunderous footsteps, he pursued them.
For a moment, the restroom that had just been the site of earth-shattering combat fell into a deathly silence, as if it were a tomb. Tan Xue and Zhang Guozheng, both frozen like statues, stood unmoving. They stared across the large hole at each other, wide-eyed.
After a long pause, a loose chunk of plaster hanging over the breach in the wall between the men’s and women’s restrooms tumbled down and hit the floor, finally jolting the pair out of their stunned state.
Dumbfounded, Tan Xue reached out tentatively to touch the large hole in the wall, as if testing what material it was made of that it could be breached so easily.
But as her fingers made contact, the porcelain tile around the opening nearly sliced her delicate fingertip. Stinging with pain, she quickly drew her hand back.
The sharp pain confirmed for her that everything before her was terrifyingly real!
“How is this possible…” Tan Xue stammered.
Zhang Guozheng, meanwhile, had remained in the posture of urinating from the moment Li Yundong and Lin Youfa began their close-quarters fight. By the time he snapped out of it, his trousers were soaked. He hastily pulled his pants up, glanced at the wall before him, then looked at his own clenched fist, and punched the wall.
With a dull thud, Zhang Guozheng hunched over, clutching his hand, howling miserably.
“What happened, what happened?” The hotel security guards finally arrived. They sucked in a sharp breath as they entered the restroom. Their eyes immediately landed on Tan Xue and Zhang Guozheng, who were standing there blankly. “Hey, aren’t you those celebrities? What… what happened here?”
The guards suddenly became heartlessly excited, looking all around: “Are you filming a movie? Where’s the director? Where are the cameras?”
Zhang Guozheng and Tan Xue exchanged a look, both speechless.
...
Li Yundong didn't even have time to greet Cao Kefei before bursting out of the hotel’s revolving door. The moment he was outside, he saw Su Chan rushing up to him. She grabbed his hand and pulled him away, saying as they ran, “Hurry, hurry! In five minutes, his divine power will vanish!”
Li Yundong asked in confusion, “How are you here?”
Su Chan cast an earnest glance at Li Yundong: “I was worried about you!”
Li Yundong chuckled, all the unpleasantness caused by Tan Xue and Zhang Guozheng flying off to the clouds. He glanced back and saw Lin Youfa chasing relentlessly, like a rampaging beast, even smashing the hotel’s revolving glass door, causing the doormen and security guards at the entrance to shout and scream.
Running, Li Yundong yelled, “Is this guy ever going to quit! Right, didn’t you say cultivators keep a low profile? Why is this guy so arrogant?”
Su Chan glanced back, still dragging Li Yundong along at full speed, shouting, “How would I know! Maybe the guy has a screw loose!”
Li Yundong and Su Chan sprinted on, moving with the agility and swiftness of parkour runners. Passersby stopped to stare, some curiously pulling out phones to film, but the moment they lifted their devices, the pair had already vanished.
After summoning the second deity, Lin Youfa’s strength had greatly increased, but his speed had diminished considerably. Seeing he couldn’t catch Li Yundong and Su Chan, he let out a cold snort, pulled the golden needle from his Baihui point, and swiftly melted into a street corner.
Li Yundong and Su Chan ran for a long while until they were sure Lin Youfa was no longer pursuing them. Only then did Li Yundong breathe a sigh of relief. “Was that guy pumped full of adrenaline? So exaggerated! By the way, why is his summoned Marshal Tian Peng more powerful than Guan Erye? There’s no fairness!”
Su Chan replied, “Marshal Tian Peng governs the Big Dipper constellations; he is one of the Eight Great Marshals of the Celestial Realm, naturally much stronger than Guan Erye!”
Li Yundong was astonished: “Then why was Zhu Bajie in Journey to the West so useless!”
Su Chan burst into laughter: “You can take Journey to the West literally?”
Li Yundong muttered under his breath, “If being possessed by Marshal Tian Peng can happen, what can’t be taken as truth?”
He asked Su Chan, “So what do we do now? Go home?”
Su Chan considered it, then said, “Let’s slip into a crowded area and decide later!”
Standing on the rooftop of a distant skyscraper, looking down upon the unfolding events, Zi Yuan frowned slightly and murmured, “Is the Shen Da Sect acting this presumptuously now? This is sheer recklessness!”
Ruan Hongling asked beside her, “Sister Zi Yuan, how long do we have to watch them like this?”
Zi Yuan pondered for a moment before saying, “No rush. We’ll wait a little longer…”
Ruan Hongling felt anxious and angry, burning with the desire to snatch her magic artifact back from Li Yundong immediately. But she dared not defy her senior sister’s wishes. Suddenly, an idea struck her, and she said, “Sister Zi Yuan, I’ll go catch up…” As she spoke, her form shifted, vanishing instantly from the spot.
Zi Yuan couldn't stop her even as she started to call out. Seeing Ruan Hongling disappear beside her, she let out a long sigh, shook her head, and did not pursue. Instead, she refocused her gaze in the direction where Li Yundong was.
After turning several street corners, Lin Youfa’s form gradually reverted to that of a normal man, transforming from a youth in his late twenties back into a withered, wrinkled old man.
Lin Youfa turned to look in the direction Li Yundong had gone, letting out a cold huff: “Lucky you ran fast enough!” Saying this, he turned back, only to find a graceful, slender girl standing directly in front of him.
The girl was wearing a high school uniform, exquisitely beautiful, with her hair pulled back into a ponytail, revealing a full and bright forehead.
A look of astonishment flickered across Lin Youfa’s eyes, and he smiled: “Little girl, move aside. Don’t block my path.”
But the girl made a specific hand gesture, bowed, and said, “Boundless longevity and fortune. I am Ruan Hongling, the forty-fifth generation disciple under the True Person Wang of the Shangqing Sect, Ling Gong School, of the Southern Sect Daoist Dragon Tiger Mountain. I pay my respects, esteemed Sir!”
Lin Youfa’s expression immediately sharpened. He respectfully cupped his hands and bowed in return: “So it is a supreme figure of Daoism! My apologies, my apologies. I am Lin Youfa, under the Great Immortal Huang of the Nine Dragons!”
Although Ruan Hongling was young, her demeanor was surprisingly mature. She formed one hand into a palm, her thumb tucked in, holding it upright before her chest, and inquired, “May I ask what worldly business brings Your Excellency here?”
Lin Youfa sighed and waved his hand, saying, “Alas, my inept disciple was stubborn and lost in a competition. I have come to reclaim honor!”
Ruan Hongling immediately pressed, “Was your grievance with someone named Li Yundong?”
Lin Youfa was startled: “How did you know?”
A trace of hatred flickered in Ruan Hongling’s eyes: “And was there a demonic woman accompanying him?”
Lin Youfa instantly became wary: “Esteemed friend, what do you intend?”
Ruan Hongling sneered, “How about we join forces against them? I will deal with that demonic woman, and you handle Li Yundong?”
“This…” Lin Youfa pondered, hesitant. He was, after all, a recognized figure in the cultivation world, but joining forces with someone from the Zhengyi Sect to deal with two juniors would not look good if word got out.
Seeing his hesitation, Ruan Hongling persuaded him, “Evil path practitioners should be eliminated by all! Since Li Yundong associates with a demonic woman, he likely isn't any good either. Why doesn’t True Man Lin take this chance to execute justice for Heaven? Even if others learn of it later, they will surely praise you for your chivalry!”
Lin Youfa’s heart stirred. He looked up and slowly nodded: “Very well! When shall we make our move?”
Ruan Hongling was inwardly overjoyed and said, “There’s no time to waste. Let us pursue them immediately. Once the crowds thin out, we strike!”
【Note to Readers: The current chapter has reached the final page of this book】
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