CHAPTER 38: 38. KOWTOW TAOIST LEI JUN

"Boom!"

The next moment, all four of them—Lei Jun included—raised their hands simultaneously, each activating a Blazing Flame Spirit Talisman.

Four massive fireballs exploded at once inside the burning underground palace.

Although the Celestial Master Mansion and the Yellow Sky Sect were mortal enemies, tracing back their origins showed both came from the same source, and their combat styles were pretty similar.

First, they each tossed Thunderclap and Blazing Flame Talismans at mid-range, trying to blow the other away.

Limited by their current cultivation realms, everyone could only use one Spirit Talisman at a time to attack—they couldn’t just spam a handful at once like the Celestial Maiden Scatter.

But it was fine to use them in quick succession: as one Talisman finished, another followed.

With cultivation at about the same level and each individual Talisman unable to tip the scales, it came down to a contest of whose stash of Talismans was bigger.

Lei Jun unleashed Blazing Flame Talismans one after another, each gigantic fireball detonating in the underground palace. Using the environment, he turned the firepower into pure mayhem.

The opponent’s Blazing Flame Talismans weren’t bad either, but they soon ran out and had to switch to Thunderclap Talismans first.

Seeing Lei Jun still had who knew how many Blazing Flame Talismans left, that Yellow Sky Sect disciple slapped a Wind Riding Talisman onto himself, gripped his Dharma Ruler, and charged Lei Jun, determined to decide victory in close combat.

Lei Jun saw this and used the power of his own Wind Riding Talisman, quickly floating back to dodge.

Meanwhile, Qu Yong, who was locked in battle with another Yellow Sky Sect disciple, noticed this and his eyes flashed.

*He’d heard that Elder Yuan’s line of disciples all cultivated the Divine Strike Talisman as their life-bound technique and weren’t afraid of brawling it out with other Talisman Sect disciples.*

*But right now, Lei Jun was doing the exact opposite—did that mean his body’s vital energy really was as weak as rumors said?*

Qu Yong, while fending off his own opponent’s attacks, hurriedly moved to keep up.

Sure enough, Lei Jun wielded a short rod and sparred with the Yellow Sky disciple for a few rounds. He moved nimbly and fast, but there was a clear lack of strength behind his blows.

Qu Yong still wanted to keep watching, but suddenly the flames surged again in the underground palace.

The four of them were forced apart, each one dodging the Earth Fire Solar Flare.

In the cover of the firelight, Lei Jun calmly turned and slipped behind a bend of fiery red stone.

He dispelled the lingering Wind Riding Talisman spiritual power from earlier.

He took out an entirely new Wind Riding Talisman.

They were both Wind Riding Talismans, sure.

But not all Talismans were created equal.

The old one hadn’t been fused with Night Wind Stone spiritual power.

This new one, though, had the effect of slipping through the night with the wind.

Lei Jun calmly pressed the new life-bound Wind Riding Talisman to his body.

With the Night Wind Stone’s power infusing his life-bound Spirit Talisman, the fiery glow all around blazed bright, yet his figure seemed to dissolve and float away with the wind.

Lei Jun then slapped on his life-bound Divine Strike Talisman, plus a Heavenly Gang Talisman to buff his attacks.

He weighed the short rod in his hand, and, under the cover of the raging flames, searched unhurriedly for his previous opponent.

The Yellow Sky disciple holding the Dharma Ruler clutched a Spirit Talisman in one hand, a magic artifact in the other, eyes darting, looking for enemies—and his allies.

Huh?

Suddenly, something felt off to him.

Out of the corner of his eye, reflected in the firelight on the stone wall, there seemed to be two shadows.

The one in front—that was his own.

But the one in back?

That shadow seemed to lift a hand, and there was something in it!

The Yellow Sky disciple felt his scalp go numb, hairs standing on end.

His reflexes were sharp, but before he could react, that shadow’s arm swung down behind him.

"Smack!"

A short rod—thick at one end, thin at the other.

The thin end sat in Lei Jun’s palm; the thick end crashed down toward the back of the Yellow Sky disciple’s head.

A golden shield flared above the other guy’s head, blocking the rod.

*He’d studied using the Banishing Gold Talisman against the Golden Barrier Talisman, but for Yellow Sky disciples, Golden Barrier was still a fantastic basic Spirit Talisman. People were always improving it further, too.*

*This Yellow Sky disciple congratulated himself for being cautious and preparing a Golden Barrier Talisman in advance.*

*He was even more pleased it was his life-bound talisman art—the defense was especially tough...*

But then, the short rod suddenly flashed with light.

Next thing, the protective barrier created by the Golden Barrier Talisman above his head shredded like paper, stopping nothing, as the rod smashed right through—then...

"Thunk!"

He didn’t even get a chance to turn around. Lei Jun had already bashed him in the back of the skull.

The Yellow Sky disciple didn’t even make a sound as he pitched forward onto the ground.

Lei Jun gave a cool nod.

"One."

He glanced at the guy’s Dharma Ruler, picked it up, studied it closely.

Then Lei Jun turned around.

From afar, another figure popped up.

It was the other Yellow Sky disciple who had earlier tangled with Qu Yong.

This one wielded a Magical Sword, but the firelight distorted the view, making the silhouette hard to see clearly.

When Lei Jun turned around holding the Dharma Ruler, the other disciple stiffened in alarm.

Lei Jun didn’t move his feet, but his figure floated up as though riding the wind, drifting dozens of meters in an instant, stopping right in front of his opponent.

This time, he made no effort to hide—he swung the short rod straight at the guy’s forehead.

The second opponent’s Golden Barrier Talisman had been used up during the earlier fighting. There was no time to activate a new one—so all he could do was raise his Magical Sword to block.

He’d seen Lei Jun fighting with the short rod before, but the rod hadn’t looked like any kind of big-deal magic artifact.

Then—and all at once—the rod flashed gold.

"Crack!"

The sword snapped like a brittle, dead branch.

The guy froze. Lei Jun’s rod came down straight on his forehead.

"Thunk!"

The man’s eyes rolled back as he toppled over backward.

"Two."

Lei Jun nodded again.

He glanced around, bouncing the newly acquired Dharma Ruler in his hand.

Soon, one hand gripped the short rod, the other the Dharma Ruler, and he continued the hunt.

The quakes and flames in the underground palace subsided a bit.

Qu Yong whipped out a Flowing Water Talisman, barely holding off the burning waves’ corrosion.

"Lei Jun, uh, junior brother—and those two Yellow Sky demon bastards—where’d they go?"

Qu Yong looked left and right, searching everywhere.

Suddenly, he too felt a prickling sense of danger—scalp numb, every hair standing up.

Qu Yong had just formed the thought—then there was a "smack" behind him.

Golden light flashed at his back; his Golden Barrier Talisman shattered under a short rod’s blow.

Qu Yong’s instinct was to turn and fight, but he hesitated, thinking to dodge instead.

*Whatever he planned, he never got the chance—as he twitched, a Dharma Ruler came down on the back of his head.*

*Qu Yong’s eyes popped wide, his body crumpled, and he blacked out instantly.*

"Three."

Lei Jun nodded once more.

He hefted the unconscious Qu Yong and slipped away from the surging earth fire.

As for those two Yellow Sky disciples, Lei Jun had bashed their skulls in with no mercy, but when it came to Qu Yong, he made sure to pull his punches.

After using the earth fire to dispose of the two Yellow Sky disciples’ bodies, Lei Jun dragged the unconscious Qu Yong close to the Mysterious Hollow at the heart of the Cave Heavens.

The earth fire here actually raged less fiercely than outside.

Lei Jun set Qu Yong down temporarily and looked around, not spotting anyone else entering the cave.

He lowered his eyes, studying the Supreme Pure Golden Bamboo that looked like a simple short rod:

"Definitely a fine magic artifact. Even as a bamboo shoot, it’s a damn good one."

Lei Jun lifted his gaze again, scanning the ocean of flames before him in the underground palace.

*Where the hell was that fourth rank opportunity the best lot had mentioned?*

Even as he wondered, Lei Jun suddenly noticed a faint streak of gold flickering through the crimson sea of earth fire and solar flare in the distance.

The golden light darted about cleverly, almost as if alive.

Lei Jun moved closer.

But as he drew near, the nimble golden light slipped into the blaze like a fish into water, vanishing instantly.

Lei Jun was intrigued. He tried a few more times, but the strange gold light kept evading him.

Wait a second...

Suddenly, Lei Jun had a flash of inspiration. He backed away, but raised the Supreme Pure Golden Bamboo—the rod—in his hand.

The gold in the sea of fire flickered again, showing itself like a fish leaping out of the water.