Faced with attacks from all directions, Li Yundong showed no sign of panic; his will had long been tempered into steel. In this moment of life and death, boundless fighting spirit and combat genius were ignited within him.
He took a half-step back with his right foot, shifting his body backward, then spun around. The Seven Treasures Spirit-Connecting Fan in his hand snapped shut with a shua sound. Flicking the head of the fan, he intercepted the tip of the whip, which had attacked later but arrived first, right in front of him.
There was a crisp pa sound as the snake head, formed by the tip of the whip, violently slammed against the Seven Treasures Spirit-Connecting Fan. Instantly, there was a dull peng sound as it was forcefully smashed apart. Especially at the moment the snake head struck the fan, the treasure fan suddenly erupted in a golden radiance. The golden Sanskrit characters covering the entire fan flared brightly, unleashing an incomparably powerful, majestic force that shook the snake head of the whip until it instantly reverted to its original form.
With a wrist flick, Li Yundong repelled the first attacking whip. He immediately rotated his body, and the treasured fan in his hand snapped open with a zheng. In an instant, it was as if an impenetrable black iron wall materialized before him!
Li Yundong unleashed a powerful sweep toward the three high-speed, spinning Five Yang Blood Splendor Orbs rushing towards him!
“Whoosh! Whoosh!!”
A violent gale suddenly roared up from the ground, and these three Five Yang Blood Splendor Orbs were immediately knocked back by the sheer force of the wind!
Li Yundong used the motion of that sweep as momentum, tossing the Seven Treasures Spirit-Connecting Fan skyward. His now-free hands rapidly formed a grand mudra. The surging, powerful True Yang Qi in his body poured out from the mudra—it was the Great Sun Tathagata Hand Seal, utterly devoid of any trace of wicked energy!
The Demon Subduing Great Hand Seal practiced by Dorje Tenzin was a martial fighting technique, whereas the True Word Great Hand Seal cultivated by Li Yundong was a supreme scripture-protecting Dharma art. The relative strength between the two was self-evident.
Dorje Tenzin watched this Great Sun Tathagata Hand Seal shoot toward him and felt his heart tremble violently. He could barely believe his eyes!
“How can such a fiendish path cultivate a True Word Great Hand Seal this pure, powerful, and completely untainted by evil energy! How is this possible?” Dorje Tenzin could only just manage to block with both hands crossed over his chest before being forcefully slapped away by the Great Sun Tathagata Hand Seal.
Just as his body was sent flying, he happened to dodge the killing blow—a Five Yang Blood Splendor Orb launched by Wu Hao attempting a sneak attack from behind him.
Having evaded the ambush, the Five Yang Blood Splendor Orb sped directly toward Li Yundong.
At this moment, the Seven Treasures Spirit-Connecting Fan in Li Yundong’s hand was still tumbling and dancing in the air. With no weapon to defend himself, he seemed moments away from being struck!
But Li Yundong remained calm in the face of danger. A flash of inspiration struck him; he took a deep breath and violently exhaled a torrent of force that was potent, vast, condensed, and vigorous!
In the past, when Li Yundong blew out a breath, while the air was long and mighty, it wasn't necessarily condensed. But this time, the breath he exhaled managed to gather all his energy into a thread as fine as a strand of hair, hitting the incoming Five Yang Blood Splendor Orb precisely!
Previously, Li Yundong had used the Seven Treasures Spirit-Connecting Fan to knock three Five Yang Blood Splendor Orbs toward Wu Hao, an action that terrified Wu Hao, who scrambled desperately to catch the three orbs.
However, the Five Yang Blood Splendor Orbs were spinning at high speed. If one misjudged and gripped them with too much force, the orbs would instantly detonate, consuming Wu Hao.
But Wu Hao was, after all, the scion of a prestigious family. With a sudden somersault like a startled hawk, he narrowly evaded one Blood Splendor Orb, using both hands to precisely secure the other two. He spun like a top in place, the orbs in his palms also revolving rapidly—the moment his grip slackened, the orbs would explode!
His maneuver was undeniably brilliant, undeniably spectacular, but he had not anticipated that Li Yundong’s response would be even more brilliant, even more spectacular—blowing one of the orbs right back at him with a single breath!
Wu Hao watched the Five Yang Blood Splendor Orb hurtle toward him, his soul momentarily fled his body. He had no time to dodge and could only imitate Li Yundong’s method, drawing upon his full breath and blasting it toward the high-speed attacking orb!
In that instant, the true distinction between a True Core and a pseudo-core was laid bare!
Li Yundong’s breath condensed to a thread yet was hard as steel, forcefully blowing the Blood Orb backward; but Wu Hao’s breath, though powerful, was scattered rather than focused, abundant rather than concentrated!
His meager resistance only slightly slowed the orb’s trajectory before the Five Yang Blood Splendor Orb slammed squarely into Wu Hao’s body!
In a flash, Wu Hao became a fireball, letting out a shriek of agonizing pain. The cry choked in his throat was immediately drowned out by the wails and shrieks of the fierce vengeful spirits inside the Five Yang Blood Splendor Orb. His Yin Spirit didn't even have time to escape before it was utterly devoured by the vengeful ghosts!
Lü Fengping, standing nearby, let out a tragic scream. Although her nature was licentious and promiscuous, as a Dao companion, she held genuine affection for Wu Hao. Seeing her man utterly annihilated in both body and spirit, Lü Fengping went mad and lunged toward Li Yundong.
Li Yundong saw her distorted face lunging recklessly toward him, her fingers shaped like hooks, faintly emitting a blue glow at their tips. Though her charge was fierce and her appearance terrifying, he secretly sneered inwardly. He took another backward step, deftly avoiding Lü Fengping’s fierce claw attack.
Lü Fengping had lost all reason; her mind was consumed only with avenging Wu Hao. For a cultivator, having the physical body destroyed was not the worst fate, as they could still allow their Yin Spirit to leave the body, seeking possession for regeneration or reincarnation to continue cultivation. But destruction of both form and spirit—that was an absolute tragedy, akin to being reduced to cutlery!
Lü Fengping’s fingernails were slick with a virulent blue light, coated in deadly poison. Just a scratch on the skin would instantly kill a person. Since Li Yundong had not yet reached the stage of Yin Spirit projection, a hit would surely mean death, leaving no chance for possession or rebirth.
Failing to land her first strike, Lü Fengping prepared for a second claw attack when she suddenly heard a loud, intense huhu sound of air breaking overhead.
She instinctively looked up and saw the Seven Treasures Spirit-Connecting Fan, which Li Yundong had tossed into the sky earlier, descending.
Li Yundong seized the instant her attention was drawn upward in that fleeting moment of distraction. He rapidly formed the Lion Seal in his hand and spat out a single-syllable True Word: “Mā!”
This single-syllable True Word shot from Li Yundong’s mouth like an invisible, untraceable air cannon, slamming heavily into Lü Fengping’s face, shaking her body violently and leaving her mind utterly blank for a moment.
Immediately following this, the Lion Seal landed, striking her squarely on the chest, sending her body out of control as she was knocked backward in flight.
Li Yundong then raised his hand, grasping the rapidly spinning Seven Treasures Spirit-Connecting Fan with perfect accuracy without even looking. He spun around, brandishing the fan with its blades splayed open like a screen, swinging it like a massive cleaver, aiming to slice Lü Fengping from head to toe!
When spinning at high velocity, the blades of the Seven Treasures Spirit-Connecting Fan truly resembled a chainsaw. With a dull pu sound, Lü Fengping was instantly cleaved in two by Li Yundong’s sweep!
With her physical body destroyed, a spirit identical to her form rapidly flew out. While screaming in terror, she roared in fury and shot like lightning to a height of over twenty meters.
Lü Fengping circled high above, screaming with venomous hatred, “Impossible! How can you, a mere novice who just reached Foundation Establishment, be this formidable! Who exactly are you? Have the courage to state your name!”
Her expression was poisonous, as if she wished to rush down immediately and savagely devour Li Yundong’s flesh, but she was terrified of the astonishingly vigorous True Yang energy emanating from him. She only dared to roar from a distance of twenty meters, absolutely unwilling to advance a single step further.
Lü Fengping knew well that given the overwhelming abundance and condensation of True Yang energy Li Yundong had displayed, if she approached even slightly closer, a single shout from him would scatter her soul, rendering her entire lifetime of cultivation wasted, just like Wu Hao’s!
Although this was the first time Li Yundong had witnessed a Yin Soul emerge from a body after death, and the first time he had been threatened by such a legendary ghost, his internal Yang energy was overwhelmingly strong; how could he fear these Yin-air-emitting monsters and specters?
Li Yundong snorted coldly, slamming the Seven Treasures Spirit-Connecting Fan heavily onto the ground, causing the earth to tremble slightly. He pointed at Lü Fengping circling in the air and roared, “A great man neither changes his name nor alters his surname. The one who slew you wretches today is I, Li Yundong! When you reincarnate in your next life, do not forget my name. I’ll be waiting for you!”
Lü Fengping gritted her teeth and shrieked, “Li Yundong? Li Yundong! Very well, I remember your name! I swear I will not rest until I have killed you in this life and the next!”
Rage burned in Li Yundong’s heart. He hated that he could not fly, forced to watch an enemy escape. He roared fiercely, “I didn't fear you when you were alive; do you think I fear you now as a mere wandering ghost! Begone!!”
This single shout almost dispersed the Yin Soul of Lü Fengping, who was twenty meters away. Terrified, Lü Fengping retreated another twenty meters, cast one last hateful glance at Li Yundong, and finally turned to leave.
As Lü Fengping departed, unwilling to accept defeat, she unleashed an Yin Soul technique. Instantly, the air filled with her resentful screams, curses, and mournful cries. A chilling, eerie wind swept through the area, shrouding heaven and earth in gloom, sending shivers down the spine.
Although Dorje Tenzin was a martial monk, he had not yet formed an Inner Core. The chilling wind momentarily pierced him, causing him to shudder uncontrollably.
Li Yundong, however, laughed coldly and brandished the Seven Treasures Spirit-Connecting Fan sharply, sweeping away the eerie, Yin-laden wind with a hula sound. He shouted, “Disperse!”
In the blink of an eye, the surrounding screams, weeping, and gusts of Yin wind vanished. The gloomy heaven and earth returned to brightness.
Li Yundong stood propped on his fan, appearing like a celestial deity. The transition from an overwhelming disadvantage of fighting three opponents alone, to instantly resolving the situation and defeating the many with the few, occurred in the space of a lightning flash—it was swift, abrupt, and thundering!
Dorje Tenzin, though caught in the middle, suddenly realized the moment he was struck flying that he had become an accomplice to Wu Hao and the others. If Li Yundong had not blasted him away, he would have suffered the same fate as Wu Hao, utterly annihilated by fire!
Dorje Tenzin was shocked by Li Yundong’s might, yet ashamed of his own failure to distinguish between good and evil. He sat cross-legged on the ground, pressing his palms together, reciting a few Buddhist scriptures, then stated gravely, “If you must kill me, do so. I will have no complaints!”