Chapter 173
Chapter 173
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 173
>Chapter Title: Disciple
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“Master.” The instant this voice rang out, Danyangzi whipped around fiercely, immediately spotting a familiar face.
It was his former most favored disciple, Zhengkun, standing there in a cyan Daoist robe, gazing at him calmly with no trace of hatred in his eyes.
He looked so lifelike, just like a real person.
But Danyangzi clearly remembered that Zhengkun’s head had been stomped flat by him—he couldn’t possibly still be alive!
The next moment, as if snapping to his senses, Danyangzi flew into a thunderous rage. “How dare you play tricks on this Daoist lord! I see you’ve grown tired of living!!”
After shouting, Danyangzi tossed the longsword in his hand into the air.
He bit down on his index and middle fingers, then swiftly drew a blood talisman on the falling blade in midair.
“Heaven’s Apex Seven Primes! Vast Qi Commands the Heavens! Pierce Water, Enter Mist! Transmit Through Three Days! Slay Evils, Erase Traces! Return from Death, Ascend to Immortality! With utmost haste as decreed by the Limitless High Immortal!”
The moment the talisman was complete, the sword blade changed color. Thin, floss-like black wisps seeped out from the heavens and earth above and below, clinging to the sword.
Danyangzi gripped the hilt, stamped his feet, and leaped through the air toward Zhengkun standing in the distance.
Facing his master’s attack, Zhengkun made no move to dodge. He stood in place as if he still wanted to say something.
Danyangzi swung the longsword, suffused with an eerie aura and sword gang, slashing through Zhengkun’s body. The faint smile on his face gradually faded away.
Danyangzi stood in the cavern with a grim expression, warily scanning the quiet surroundings.
After a slow incense stick’s worth of time passed, no further anomalies appeared in the desolate cave.
“Hmph! Count yourself lucky! No matter who you are, if you offend this Daoist lord, you’ll regret it bitterly!”
He’d thrown out the harsh words, but it was all an act.
In truth, Danyangzi hadn’t let his guard down for a moment. Ears attuned in all directions, eyes scanning everywhere, he gripped his sword and slowly made his way out of the cave.
Once outside, Danyangzi immediately unleashed his movement technique and dashed down the mountain.
He raced all the way to the foot, stopping only upon reaching the dead town dotted with burial mounds.
Danyangzi had no intention of fleeing too far—otherwise, his true self might not be able to find him.
For now, he just needed a safe spot to hole up.
He swiftly spread out the various items brought by the Wandering Lord across the ground and began setting up an array.
“Hah! Radiant thunder, blazing lightning! Those who encounter the curse perish, those who defy the Dao incantation die! I invoke the true Dao, stand ready to slay all ill omens! All ghosts and evils, begone from my side! What dares stand against me? Water cannot drown, fire cannot burn! Within and without the three realms, Supreme One, with utmost haste as decreed!”
As the incantation ended, the yellow banners planted atop the surrounding grave mounds swayed in unison.
Faint lines connected banner to banner, forming a massive Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams array.
Danyangzi now crouched at the array’s core, planning to meet whatever came with steadfast immobility.
“This Daoist lord isn’t in any rush. If you’ve got the guts, we can play all night long!”
Seated atop a grave mound, Danyangzi kicked over the tombstone in front of him and settled in to wait.
Gazing at the mounds all around, Danyangzi couldn’t help but grow anxious for his true self.
“The three Joy Gods are troublesome, sure, but my true self should be able to handle them. Even if he can’t win, he can definitely escape. So why hasn’t he come back yet?”
Pondering within the Eight Trigrams array, Danyangzi still felt uneasy. He raised his sword and began drawing something on the ground.
“Master, what array is this?” Hearing the ingratiating voice beside him, a sneer crossed Danyangzi’s face.
“Just watch closely. It’s not yet time to teach you—”
His words cut off abruptly. Danyangzi slowly raised his head, staring in shock at Zhengkun standing before him.
He had somehow followed him right into the center of the array. All Danyangzi’s earlier efforts to set it up had done absolutely nothing to him.
“This is utterly impossible! Even if my array can’t block you, it should at least have raised an alert!”
“Shua!” The sword slashed out again, but this time it passed straight through Zhengkun’s chest, leaving him utterly unscathed.
Just as Danyangzi prepared to try other methods against this bizarre disciple, he suddenly heard movement from a grave mound to his left.
Turning his head, he saw another of his disciples from Clear Wind Temple—Xuanyin—standing there as well.
“Master, it’s been too long. Your disciple has missed you greatly.”
As the stunned Danyangzi took half a step back, two men with longswords on their backs rushed forward from the side, forming Daoist mudras with their hands.
“Changming and Changren pay respects to Master! Congratulations to Master on attaining the Dao and ascending to immortality!!”
But this was merely the beginning. More and more people emerged from the surrounding grave mounds, all speaking to Danyangzi.
They weren’t limited to those from Clear Wind Temple—anyone from his past who had crossed paths with him appeared as well.
As time wore on,
“Danyang! You thieving scoundrel who stole my arts! Learning crooked sorcery to refine pills from people! I should’ve slapped you dead!”
“Louse! We were brothers, and you stabbed me in the back! What kind of sworn brother are you?!”
“Why’d you sell our daughter?! She was your wife! You knife-stabbing scourge!”
“Why’d you kill my dad?! Why?! He even shared our precious white flour with you! Why’d you kill him?! Waaah...”
The voices grew more chaotic and cacophonous, the crowd within the Eight Trigrams array swelling. Danyangzi’s mind began to fray.
“What... what in the world is...” His breathing quickened as he slowly lowered his head. Staring at the ever-growing throng of familiar faces, a glimmer of fear crept into his eyes.
When a burly fat man appeared among them, Danyangzi’s terror peaked.
“Enough!” Danyangzi trod the gang steps, wildly swinging his sword.
The faint lines forming the Eight Trigrams array around him billowed wisps of white smoke into the air, swirling in tandem with the blade.
The sky overhead had sometime turned thick with dark clouds. With a fierce thrust, Danyangzi plunged his sword into the ground.
“Crack!” A bolt of purple lightning crashed down, illuminating everything around.
Violet thunder radiated along the Eight Trigrams array on the ground, surging toward all things nearby.
The grave mounds, tombstones—even the surrounding houses—swiftly charred black.
Yet when he looked up again, those people’s clothes remained utterly intact.
“What is going on here?! Who are you all?! Sitting Oblivion Dao? Do you truly dare provoke a true immortal?!!” Danyangzi bellowed at them hoarsely.
He raged, but someone laughed—the fat man who had just appeared.
Staring at Danyangzi in mock surprise, he said, “Well, well, if it isn’t Little Sheep Egg? All grown up now, eh? Let me tell you all—back when this kid wanted to learn my craft, he knelt and licked my ass! Hahaha!!”
The fat man’s words sent peals of laughter through the crowd, laced with utter contempt and mockery.
“You mere mortals dare look down on this Daoist lord?! This Daoist lord is on the verge of immortality! How dare you look down on me?!”
Danyangzi, now frenzied like a madman, unleashed every technique at his disposal, desperate to kill them.
Yet no matter what divine abilities he employed, they had zero effect on these people.
Exhausted to the point of collapse, Danyangzi slumped to the ground. Gasping for breath, he drew a long thorn from his hem and stabbed it into both his ears.
But after the agony passed, the mocking laughter not only persisted—it grew even louder.
“Aaahhh!!!” Danyangzi seized a rock and smashed it frantically against his own head.
At that moment, a figure slowly emerged from the crowd. He alone wasn’t laughing.
Danyangzi recognized him—his final disciple, Li Huowang.
Li Huowang stepped forward, smiling down at the wretched figure of Danyangzi before him.
“Master, is your disciple’s body working out well for you?”