Seeing him appear, Cao Yi immediately felt like she had found her anchor. She let out a breath of relief and said, "Sect Master, it’s good that you're here. These people insist on going to the back courtyard for a look, and they started arguing with me when I refused."

Li Yundong couldn't help but frown. Normally, letting these people into the back courtyard wouldn't matter, but with two people having just died back there, they showed up wanting a tour. Was it that coincidental?

The young man leading the group of tourists glanced at Li Yundong and sneered, "Sect Master? What era is this, still using 'Sect Master'? Do you think we're filming a television drama?"

He stepped forward and shouted loudly at Li Yundong, "Hey, are you letting us in or not? If you don't, I'm reporting you!"

With his shout, the other tourists also began to clamor.

Some agitated tourists even started cursing loudly, spewing vulgarities that made Li Yundong and the others frown, brewing anger in their hearts.

Li Yundong frowned and said in a deep voice, "I apologize, the back courtyard is truly inconvenient for visitors today. You are welcome to tour and enjoy other parts of the Daoist temple."

The man turned around and bellowed, "We paid money, why can't we go in! This guy is too domineering! Besides, you never stated we couldn't enter before! Ignore him, let’s go in!"

Cao Yi and the others from the Fox Zen Sect were thrown into disarray. Although their cultivation wasn't high, they wouldn't show weakness when dealing with people from the cultivation world. However, these people before them were all ordinary mortals, and they didn't know how to handle them, leaving them hesitant and in a bind.

Li Yundong’s brow was tightly knit. He watched as the young man rushed towards him. He reached out to block the man, but suddenly, the man flipped his wrist, using his body as cover, and thrust a hand out—five fingers curled like hooks—viciously aiming for the joints of Li Yundong's wrist, while his other hand pointed directly at Li Yundong’s lower Dantian in his abdomen.

The attack was both swift and concealed. The tourists behind him, having their view blocked by his body, couldn't see clearly. But Su Chan, Zhou Qin, and the elders and disciples of the Fox Zen Sect beside Li Yundong saw everything. They had absolutely not expected this tourist to be a cultivator. They cried out in alarm: "Be careful!" "Shameless!" "Despicable!"

Li Yundong acted as if he had anticipated the move. He flipped his wrist, his five fingers clamping down on the attacker’s wrist, his thumb, index, and middle fingers precisely pressing into the three vital points on the attacker's hand: Yanggu, Yangchi, and Yangxi.

Shi Neng had used this exact move when fighting Li Yundong before. This attack was concealed and perilous; even if it missed the primary target, the attacker could quickly flip their wrist and continue with strikes aimed at other vital spots on the chest, shifting from a grab to a stab—a relentless ultimate technique, like a sudden storm, stopping only when the opponent was defeated.

But Li Yundong chose to meet force with force, strength against strength, shattering the attacker’s finger bones with his own fingers and breaking the intended grab.

Now, Li Yundong used Shi Neng’s own move against him, amplified by an extent Shi Neng could never match. The attacker felt as if his hand had been instantly encased in handcuffs, utterly immobilized. Yet, the finger aimed at Li Yundong’s lower Dantian was barely an inch away from striking his vital spot.

The man gritted his teeth and simply abandoned the hand Li Yundong had seized, channeling all his strength and true essence into the finger poised to strike Li Yundong’s abdomen.

By now, Li Yundong’s divine abilities had matured; his precognitive senses were astonishingly sharp. As soon as anyone harbored hostility towards him, he would immediately sense it, even guessing what they were thinking and planning.

Li Yundong guessed the man intended to sacrifice one arm for a decisive victory. He let out a cold laugh, applying pressure with the fingers gripping the three vital points—Yangchi, Yanggu, and Yangxi—and said in a deep voice, "Be careful, don't be so impulsive!"

Before he finished speaking, the man felt his entire body stiffen. As Li Yundong’s three fingers pressed down on those acupoints, his entire internal aura was blocked, and his body became uncontrollable. The finger aimed at Li Yundong’s lower Dantian was agonizingly close, yet it could advance no further.

Zhou Qin, watching from the side, finally relaxed. Being a diligent learner, she couldn't help but ask when she saw the attacker become completely immobile, as if frozen by a spell, the moment Li Yundong grabbed his wrist, "Why couldn't he move once Li Yundong seized his wrist?"

Su Chan, seeing Li Yundong neutralize the ambush, patted her chest and explained in a low voice, "It's a case of pulling one hair and moving the whole body. If I pulled one of your hairs and you didn't want to feel pain, your entire body would have to adjust. That’s what’s happening here with Yundong gripping his wrist. Moreover, by holding those vital points, Yundong’s true energy has invaded his body, controlling it, making the attacker utterly rigid, like a puppet."

Zhou Qin suddenly understood, enlightenment dawning on her.

Li Yundong’s brief exchange with the attacker was clearly visible to Su Chan, Zhou Qin, and the Fox Zen Sect members, but the crowd of tourists hadn't seen it clearly. They only saw Li Yundong seize the man’s hand and began shouting, "Hey, what are you doing? Trying to touch him again?"

Before Li Yundong could speak, Su Chan retorted angrily, "Hey, are you blind? He started it first..."

Li Yundong didn't want to expose the conflict between cultivators to these secular mortals, so he cut Su Chan off, saying, "Su Chan!"

Her words abruptly halted, Su Chan involuntarily swallowed the rest of her sentence. She looked at Li Yundong, only to see him give her a meaningful glance and nod toward the back courtyard. Su Chan immediately understood, exchanged a silent look with Cao Yi, and the two turned to deal with the corpses of Mei Niang and Changsun Hong in the rear.

Seeing that they grasped his meaning, Li Yundong felt relieved. One hand still held the man's wrist, and he leaned in, speaking in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Which sect are you from? Why did you attack me?"

The man maintained a look of a petty rogue and shouted loudly, "Hey, why are you holding me? Let go quickly! I'm not gay!"

His loud exclamation caused some of the tourists to burst into laughter.

Li Yundong felt a surge of cold anger, but his face remained smiling. He secretly surged his true essence, churning violently within the man’s body. The attacker immediately felt his meridians being sliced and hacked by thousands of sharp blades; the pain was so intense that cold sweat drenched him, rendering him speechless.

Yet, his body was completely controlled by Li Yundong, incapable of resisting, evading, or crying out—the suffering was truly worse than death.

Li Yundong held his hand and smiled courteously at the tourists, "I sincerely apologize, our Daoist temple is quite inconvenient today. The back courtyard is also where we reside, nothing much to see. I hope everyone can understand. Our temple is treating everyone to vegetarian noodles today; please do us the honor!"

The unrest among the tourists was largely instigated by one troublemaker. Now that the instigator was suffering a fate worse than death without even being able to speak, and Li Yundong was speaking to them politely, the agitators were gone, and they quieted down, beginning to mill around as if to leave.

However, someone in the crowd pointed at the man Li Yundong was restraining and asked, "Why haven't you let him go yet?"

Li Yundong smiled pleasantly, "I feel quite congenial with this friend; I’d like to chat with him for a moment. Would you like to join our little chat as well?"

The person shouted back, "You've taken him hostage!"

Li Yundong chuckled, "How could I possess such skills? Don't believe me? Ask him yourself." Saying this, he turned to the young man he held and asked, "Are you willing to stay of your own accord?"

The young man dared not nod, but he distinctly felt an invisible, massive force pressing down on his head, as if an unseen strongman were forcefully pushing his head down, again and again.

Seeing him struggle to nod with all his might, the tourists immediately jeered and cursed, "Damn it, still claiming he’s not gay!" "What the hell? He looked like mortal enemies a moment ago, and now they’re getting along so well?"

Zhou Qin, being quick-witted, immediately addressed the tourists, "Everyone, please follow me; I'll take you to the dining hall for vegetarian noodles."

The Chinese are most fond of taking advantage of free things. Seeing a free meal, the tourists forgot all about the restrained man’s fate and rushed off in a noisy throng. Only two young men remained, exchanging a resentful glance with Li Yundong before turning to leave, not toward the dining hall, but down the mountain.

Once they departed, Li Yundong turned back to the young man wearing the distinctive long-brimmed hat, his expression cold. "Speak quickly, which sect are you from!"

The long-brimmed hat, seeing that everyone had been dealt with and he was left alone, simply stiffened his neck and roared, "My father is the Sect Master of the Jade Cave Sect. How dare you touch me?"

Li Yundong had cultivated for a long time and read a fair number of cultivation texts, giving him a general understanding of the cultivation sects in the world. He began leading the long-brimmed hat toward the outside of the temple, walking step by step, and sneered, "Jade Cave Sect? So you are from the Qingyang Palace cultivation lineage on Mount Qingcheng in Sichuan. Why has a Sichuan cultivation sect come all the way to Jiangsu to cause trouble for me?"

The long-brimmed hat also sneered back, "I come where I please! What business is it of yours! This mountain isn't exclusively yours!"

Li Yundong showed slight anger, applying a little more pressure with his fingers. The long-brimmed hat let out a sharp cry, sweat beading on his forehead like beans. Li Yundong said coldly, "Don't think I won't act! When the Six Great Sects besieged the Fox Zen Sect, I killed two and defeated nine. I won't mind adding one more soul to my count. Killing two or killing three is all the same to me! If I dare offend the Six Great Sects and the Zhengyi Sect, don't think I won't dare offend a Sichuan cultivation sect!"

The long-brimmed hat was drenched in sweat. He forced himself to endure the pain and stammered, "I heard you are the strongest expert among the younger generation, even defeating Zi Yuan. I wanted to challenge you to prove that I am the strongest among the young masters."

Li Yundong burst into laughter upon hearing this, "What first or second! Do you feel any honor winning with such means?"

The long-brimmed hat turned his face away, saying nothing, but his expression was clearly dismissive. Clearly, in his view, duels were only about victory or defeat, not about the nobility of the methods used.

Seeing that their ways diverged, Li Yundong didn't bother wasting more breath. He simply led him out of the temple and coldly warned, "Today, I'll spare you because you directed your malice only at me and not those around me. When you return, tell all the young cultivators under heaven that if anyone disagrees, they are welcome to challenge me, Li Yundong, I will never refuse! But if anyone dares to lay a hand on those close to me, or use any insidious tricks, I will show them no mercy!"

With that, he waved his hand, throwing the long-brimmed hat roughly ten meters away.

The long-brimmed hat felt as light as a kite as he flew, but upon landing, a tremendous force slammed into his body, forcing him to stumble backward repeatedly.

Having cultivated since he was in the womb, his foundational skills were extremely solid. Once free of Li Yundong's control, he immediately sank his Qi to his Dantian to stabilize his posture.

However, this force was too immense. If he had taken it head-on, his meridians risked serious injury. He could only retreat more than ten steps, waiting for the force to ebb slightly before preparing to circulate his energy to regain stability.

But just as he prepared to gather his Qi, another wave of force rushed toward him, like one wave following another, pushing him back again.

The long-brimmed hat sighed internally, thinking: That initial attack Li Yundong executed when he grabbed my wrist didn't seem like a fluke. This skill in latent force projection is truly refined.

He had no choice but to retreat another dozen steps. But as he retreated, a surge of fierce, unrestrained power emerged from within that residual force, like a true giant wave following two smaller ones!

The long-brimmed hat was truly shaken this time. While there were not few cultivators in the world capable of splitting their power into two successive bursts, seeing a third, even greater force hidden after the first two waves—this ebb and flow of power required extremely orthodox, robust, and refined true essence to execute! How did this person cultivate? Could it really be the legendary Nine Revolutions Golden Elixir Art?

This impact forced the long-brimmed hat to retreat several dozen steps before he could finally neutralize the force. When he stopped, his body was trembling involuntarily, and his legs felt weak, as if he were still rocking in the previous surge of waves.

Standing on the steps halfway up the mountain, the long-brimmed hat looked up toward the Fox Zen Sect's Daoist temple. His arrogant face finally revealed a look of sheer terror.

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