A Pawn's Passage

The old priest stood up slowly. He was not in a hurry, as if he did not care if True Lord Siming’s divine power would be drained.

True Lord Siming’s divine power was capable of reversing life and death. Unless the attacker had a cultivation level comparable to that of the True Lord Siming, no degree of damage to the old man’s body could exhaust this divine power.

That was also why those fourth-rank priests refused to get involved in the fight. They thought that since Zhang Yuelu was the one who caused this trouble, she should bear the consequences alone, as it was only natural not to implicate others.

Although the old priest said he wanted to take revenge on Zhang Yuelu for killing his fellow members of the Lingshan Witch Cult, he had a certain appreciation for her. Instead, he repeatedly mocked the group of fourth-rank priests who were watching on the sidelines.

This old man had been living in the Daoist community all his life. Even if he joined a secret society out of despair, he was still fundamentally a Daoist because of the decades of deeply ingrained Daoist teachings and habits.

The old priest sneered. “I’m not in a rush to kill you, Mage Zhang. Taking revenge on you is just a side business. Destroying this flying ship is my main task, which will shake up the Daoist Order.”

Everyone’s expressions changed.

If the flying ship crashed, no one would be able to escape, unless they were Heavenly Beings who could fly.

Zhang Yuelu shouted, “Get the superintendent of the flying ship to make an emergency landing now!”

The old priest smirked. “It’s too late.”

At this moment, a fourth-rank priest shouted at his peers, “What is everyone waiting for?! Do you all want to die here?!”

At this time, the group of fourth-rank priests finally worked together to besiege the old priest. But, as the old priest said, it was too late.

Previously, the old priest used his golden beam of divine power to create a hole in the deck, destroying the formation of the flying ship. It seemed unintentional, but it was actually a calculated move to stop the flying ship from making an emergency landing.

Under normal circumstances, the superintendent of the flying ship could contact the local Daoist mansion for help. If a Heavenly Being came to assist them, they could easily defeat the old man.

However, the Kunlun Daoist Mansion did not deploy any manpower over this stretch of land, as most of their manpower was transferred to the Kunlun Pass. Thus, no one would be able to help them at this moment.

Everyone besieged the old priest without hesitation. But no matter how badly the old man was injured, he could never die. The old man no longer looked human. One eye had fallen out of its socket, leaving only a gaping black hole. His forehead was also stabbed, with black smoke constantly pouring out of the gash.

The veins on his arms bulged from under his skin, looking like long, twisted snakes. What was even more terrifying was a hump that protruded from his back. The hump even had vague facial features.

“Throw him off the ship!” Someone shouted.

The old priest no longer held back. A golden divine power enveloped him so that no one could get close to him.

At this moment, Zhang Yuelu took out a golden talisman from her magical receptacle. It was given to her by the Heavenly Preceptor when she went to visit him at the Dazhen Mansion. To the Heavenly Preceptor, this talisman was just a trivial gadget, but to anyone who was not yet a Heavenly Being, this talisman could mean death.

The Heavenly Preceptor gave Zhang Yuelu this talisman because he knew about the recent attempted assassination on her journey back to Shangqing Prefecture. In any case, Zhang Yuelu was his descendant, so he had to look out for her. At the same time, the Heavenly Preceptor had also ordered a thorough investigation to root out the mastermind behind this ambush.

The Zhengyi Sect disciples dared not neglect the order, and the Quanzhen Sect disciples also provided assistance. A few days ago, they found a major clue, but the mastermind had already fled to the Imperial Capital, which was the core territory of ??the Imperial Court and, by extension, the Taiping Sect.

The politics involved were complicated, so it would take some time to apprehend the mastermind. This was the benefit of having a strong backer. If it was Qi Xuansu who was ambushed, he would have to deal with the worry of being hunted down by assassins. But since it was Zhang Yuelu who was ambushed, the Heavenly Preceptor could protect her from harm.

Zhang Yuelu did not expect that she would use the Heavenly Preceptor’s protective talisman so soon. This talisman was a combination of a few talismans, which contained a whole set of spells that required a high level of cultivation to create. Thus, it also required considerable innate qi, blood qi, Thoughts, or divine power to activate it.

As such, Zhang Yuelu poured most of her innate qi into the talisman in her hand. The talisman instantly glowed with a dazzling aura. The paper turned transparent, while the drawings emanated a purple light, as if the markings appeared out of thin air.

Immediately after, Zhang Yuelu threw the talisman toward the old priest. In an instant, nine thunderbolts penetrated the black clouds and descended from the sky. Each thunderbolt was as thick as a man’s arm. In the blink of an eye, they struck the flying ship, entrapping the old priest in a cage of thunder.

The old priest was unfazed by this. He even reached out and touched a thunderbolt. But the moment he touched it, countless purple electric sparks the size of fists flew in all directions, creating a chaotic web of lightning.

The next moment, a thunderbolt as thick as a bucket landed on the old priest’s head. In that instant, only the majestic and boundless purple light could be seen. Even if such thunder could not kill Heavenly Beings, it could still seriously injure a Heavenly Being in the Xiaoyao stage.

The flying ship shook again, but the lightning was mainly concentrated on the old priest, so it did not affect the ship much.

Zhang Yuelu suspected that the Heavenly Preceptor himself drew this talisman because it was so precise and perfect. The Heavenly Preceptor did not give her a talisman that could kill Heavenly Beings because such a talisman would require even more energy to activate. Zhang Yuelu did not have the ability to use such a strong talisman at the moment. It would be akin to giving a child a sledgehammer. It was useless, and the child might even hurt herself.

The purple light was blinding. When the flash of light dissipated, Qi Xuansu looked up and saw a scorched black mark where the old priest was, as if the old man had been obliterated.

Did the old man die so easily?

Qi Xuansu could not believe it for a while. After all, the old priest was confident, claiming that he could destroy the flying ship. He even had the divine power of two Ancient Immortals, so how could he disappear like that?

At this moment, a fourth-rank priest suddenly screamed. Everyone turned to the source of the sound and saw a skeletal palm piercing the fourth-rank priest’s chest from behind. There were only bones left of the five fingers that gripped the fourth-rank priest’s heart.

With a slight push, the fourth-rank priest fell face-first on the deck, revealing the figure behind him.

If it were not for the hump on the figure’s back, no one would have been able to identify that this creature was actually the old priest from before.

The old priest’s robe and hair had been burned to ashes by the lightning, and his whole body was charred. The scorched skin on his body continued to fall off like dry bark, revealing the blackened mess underneath that did not even look like flesh.

There were only two empty eye sockets where the old priest’s eyes used to be. Black flames burned in the eye sockets, reflecting everyone’s figures.

Zhang Yuelu’s heart sank. Everyone was also shocked. If even such a thick thunderbolt could not kill this old priest, nothing else could.

Suddenly, the old priest opened his mouth. There was no tongue inside, and his teeth had turned completely black, but somehow he still managed to shout, “Wu Luo!”

“Wu Luo” was actually an honorific title that meant “The Great Witch Luo,” with “Luo” being the witch’s real name. However, after decades of simplification, later generations thought that “Wu” was her last name.

The next moment, the flying ship came to a standstill mid-air. In front of them was a huge woman-like figure, which had no substance, like a mirage created from the outlines of the scenery below. However, it exuded intense wild energy.

This was the projection of the Ancient Immortal, Wu Luo.