Chapter 322
Sky Lanterns Block the Road
"Quick! Close the door!"
The old man from Niushan left his body and successfully brought Zhou Sheng back. After his spirit returned to his body, the first thing he said when he opened his eyes was to close the door.
His voice was urgent; he didn't even have time to retract his master's Dragon Binding Lock.
Zhou Sheng and Yao Taifeng reacted quickly, simultaneously drawing their weapons and slashing at the wall. However, their swords struck a black bear paw, creating dazzling sparks.
The soaring demonic aura forced Yao Taifeng back several steps, and the twin swords in her hands, Yu Ji's, snapped into several pieces with a crack.
Zhou Sheng possessed profound magical power. He only took one step back. The Broken Precept Blade in his hand hummed and trembled, but it did not break. Instead, it cut a bloody gash on the bear's paw.
The black bear demon was in pain, and the demonic blood it shed almost stained the entire wall red, but its roar became even more terrifying, enough to make people tremble even across a world.
The already dilapidated fire god temple was shaken to pieces, with rubble falling from the roof.
Zhou Sheng took out Zhong Kui's purple-gold gourd again, pulled out the stopper, and repeated the same trick.
Bolts of lightning and fire burned towards the palm, turning its once-glossy fur to ashes. However, the black bear demon's physical body was simply too astonishing. Despite the lightning and fire, it clung to a corner of the wall, trying to peek out.
In order to squeeze through, it even deliberately made its body smaller.
A head had already emerged, its two blood-red pupils fixed on Zhou Sheng, appearing even more ferocious and bloodthirsty under the illumination of the thunder and fire.
"Thief, how dare you steal the Bodhisattva's treasure! I will devour you from head to toe, inch by inch, until you are completely devoured, even your bones are crushed, until you no longer have the strength to howl..."
It speaks human language, its voice is as powerful as thunder, and it possesses a ferocity unique to wild beasts.
Zhou Sheng suddenly opened his phoenix eyes, and the broken precept knife in his hand had somehow transformed into a crescent blade, and even the clothes he was wearing had turned into a green python robe.
A towering statue of Guan Yu, several meters tall, appeared behind him, its phoenix eyes gleaming with divine light. As Zhou Sheng swung his sword, he also raised the Azure Dragon in his hand.
Roar!
What rang out was not the roar of a dragon, but the clang of a sword.
The dragon-like blade light, like a long river, cleaved into the black bear demon's newly emerged head. The Green Dragon Crescent Blade, which shook the entire land of China, carrying an indomitable heroic spirit, sank with a thunderous crash.
One man can hold the pass against ten thousand!
A tremendous roar shook the ground!
The black bear demon let out a miserable scream. His left eye was a bloody mess, and the knife wound had almost shattered his skull, with white brain matter vaguely visible.
However, Zhou Sheng also groaned, a trickle of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, his body swayed slightly, and the Guan Dao in his hand snapped with a crack, turning into golden Qi that returned to his body.
The Guan Gong statue behind him also shattered.
He was shocked. Although the blow had severely injured the Black Bear Demon and blinded him in one eye, the demon still retained its fighting power and was even more ferocious and terrifying.
On the contrary, his Guan Gong image had already shattered and could not be used again for a short period of time.
This was only because the opponent deliberately restrained their Heaven and Earth Transformation supernatural power in order to squeeze through; otherwise, their physical body would have been even stronger and more robust.
The Tribulation Transcending Realm is indeed unfathomable; the gap is like an insurmountable chasm that cannot be bridged by supernatural powers.
"A single lamp pierces a thousand years of darkness, seven stars shatter the nine netherworlds. To the left, the fire of Li burns the demon's marrow; to the right, the water of Kan drowns the demon's elixir. Thirty-six lamps illuminate the laws of heaven, seventy-two lights lock the prison of evil..."
At the critical moment, the sound of footsteps and chanting incantations came from behind Zhou Sheng.
The old man of Niushan was seen stepping on the Nine Palaces Thunder and Fire Steps and making thirty-six hand seals. With each seal he formed, one of the Seven Star Lamps on the ground would light up.
In the blink of an eye, all thirty-six lamps lit up.
The black bear spirit, enraged, let out another miserable scream, as if it were engulfed in a sea of fire, with black smoke billowing from its body and its skin turning to charcoal.
Despite the absence of fire around it, it was in even more pain than when it had just been burned by Zhou Sheng's thunder and fire.
Thirty-six sky lanterns blocked the road!
Each lamp is like a volcano, a sea of fire, capable of melting even the strongest steel into molten iron and copper.
Even so, the black bear spirit refused to let go. Suddenly, strands of Buddhist light rippled from its robes, and chanting filled the air. The thirty-six celestial lanterns began to flicker and sway, as if they might go out at any moment.
A ruthless glint flashed in the old man's eyes. He bit his tongue and spat it out.
The blood and essence spilled onto the wick of the lamp did not extinguish it; instead, it was like adding fuel to the fire, causing the wick to leap up three feet high and burn the robe to shreds.
puff!puff!puff!
Then, under Zhou Sheng's shocked gaze, the old man from Niushan continued to spit out blood, spitting out several large mouthfuls as if it were free.
The lights almost set the Vulcan Temple ablaze.
Finally, the black bear demon, almost cooked to a crisp, released its grip amidst screams of agony. Zhou Sheng then smashed the entire wall, completely destroying the gate.
The defiant roar vanished instantly, and the surroundings became profoundly silent, save for the faint chirping of cicadas and the barking of dogs.
From a heart-stopping moment of life and death to the peaceful tranquility of the night, it all happened in the blink of an eye.
While recovering from his injuries, Zhou Sheng looked at Yao Tai Feng and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that she had only broken her two swords and was otherwise unharmed.
"Cough cough!"
The old man from Niushan coughed laboriously, his breathing extremely unsteady, like a candle flickering in the wind, his chest like a leaky bellows.
"You brat... I... I'm about to die..."
He slumped to the ground, his face deathly pale, his eyes dim, and his spirit utterly broken.
"This time, it was Old Beggar... who lost the bet... who would have thought... the Dragon Binding Lock would really break..."
"Big brother...it's me...I'm sorry..."
As the old man from Niushan lay dying, he actually addressed Zhou Sheng as "elder brother" and himself as "younger brother," just as they had agreed in their bet.
His eyes fell on the purple-gold gourd in Zhou Sheng's hand; the dying man's eyes were filled with longing.
"Brother, before I die... I have only one wish... to taste... the Celestial Master's Wine..."
He swallowed hard, his eyes fixed on the gourd, as if he wouldn't rest in peace even if he didn't drink a drop.
Zhou Sheng looked at him strangely and handed him the gourd.
The old man from Niushan shakily opened the gourd, took a big gulp, and then let out a long burp, revealing an expression of extreme enjoyment.
"Good wine! Good wine! Good wine!"
He sighed three times, then the light in his eyes dimmed completely, his hand holding the gourd fell limply, and his white hair, like wild grass in the wind, completely lost its luster.
"how come--"
A look of sorrow appeared in Yaotai Feng's eyes as she said, "Even his primordial spirit has dissipated. Senior consumed too much energy. In order to defeat that demon king, he has already... died and his soul has vanished!"
Zhou Sheng remained silent for a moment, then took the gourd back and pointed the mouth of the gourd at the corpse.
boom!
Thunder and fire erupted, burning the corpse of the old man from Niushan with crackling sounds, and soon it was reduced to ashes.
"Danshan, you suspected he was faking his death? Now it seems we misunderstood him and even desecrated his remains, which was truly inexcusable—"
Before Yao Taifeng could finish speaking, a voice suddenly rang out from outside the door.
"Well done! Excellent!"
As the saying goes, out with the old, in with the new.
The man strode in, dressed in tattered clothes, waving an old wooden fan. Beneath his filthy hair, his expression was carefree and unrestrained.
It was yet another "Old Man Niushan". (End of Chapter)