CHAPTER 537: CHAPTER 536 KARMIC FIRE

The crowd of onlookers involuntarily drew a sharp breath.

If the arcing sword light from the Steel Armor had been somewhat traceable, then Daoist Xi Menzi’s actions just now were completely incomprehensible to them—without using any Mana, a gentle slash was all it took to wear down the sword light.

Was this the "Break Ten Thousand Laws with a Sword"?

It was terrifying to such an extent!

Gongyang Han pursed his lips tightly, staring at the young Daoist, a sense of bitter unwillingness in his heart.

He had originally thought that, even if he was not the strongest Cultivator among his peers, he would stand at the pinnacle, overlooking all living beings. Yet, he never expected this Daoist Xi Menzi, who seemed to pop up out of nowhere, to possess a strength so far beyond his apparent age that it was utterly incomprehensible.

"Evil Wind God Slash!"

"Red Flame Holy Split!"

"Cloud Wave God Knife!"

Miss Chai, as if announcing dishes in a restaurant, unleashed a series of colorful sword gleams from where she stood. But Li Ang neither dodged nor flinched, simply waving his Rustic Longsword, once again employing "Break Ten Thousand Laws with a Sword."

"Heh, not bad."

Miss Chai planted her Frost of Sorrow into the ground and said in a low, hoarse voice, "But can you break through my Scourge Legion?"

She raised her palm and roared at Li Ang, "Charge of the king’s might! Charge!"

The dense mass of monstrous troops crammed below the Pyramid, as if having received some command, shrieked and roared in unison, charging towards Li Ang.

The sound of thundering footsteps echoed through the Underground Palace. Facing the overwhelming army, Li Ang’s expression remained as calm as ever. His right hand gripped the hilt, his blade held level, while the fingers of his left hand supported the sword’s tip.

"I have a sword that can move mountains, fill seas, and capture the moon. Please, observe," Li Ang announced, holding the sword with two fingers and gently thrusting it forward.

This movement involved no Mana and, in essence, had no effect. However, in the eyes of the onlookers, any monster Daoist Xi Menzi’s sword tip pointed at immediately began to swell until it exploded.

The vast army of monsters hadn’t even reached Li Ang before they were detonated one by one, from left to right, like a string of firecrackers.

After the final explosion, the entire Underground Palace was filled with a dense, bloody mist, its stench piercing deep into one’s senses.

This... this...

Li Yushan and the others, enveloped in the bloody mist, felt an almost imperceptible dampness on their skin. For a moment, they were utterly bewildered.

Li Ang, having used the Divine Mark to detonate all the illusory monsters, calmly and indifferently lowered his Longsword, slowly exhaling a turbid breath.

"Young Master, Young Master, what’s wrong with you, Young Master!"

A piercing scream in a corner of the Underground Palace drew everyone’s attention. Li Yushan and Yu Qingqiu turned their heads to look. They found White Lotus Sect Members hiding in the corner who seemed to have been pointed at by Daoist Xi Menzi’s sword tip, their bodies slowly swelling up.

The White Lotus Sect Members with relatively lower cultivation levels showed the most obvious swelling, puffing up like balloons in mere seconds.

And those of a relatively higher cultivation level were still managing to temporarily resist the swelling tendency. Their complexions were pale, and their waists, heads, arms, and faces were grotesquely swollen as though filled with water.

"Young Master, are you alright?!"

Song Jie’s face also bore a strange puffiness, but he paid it no mind, his gaze fixed in anxious desperation on Gongyang Han beside him.

At this moment, the White Lotus Young Master’s face was ashen. His legs felt rooted to the ground as his body trembled uncontrollably, his teeth chattering.

He could feel something growing and spreading inside him. It expanded his muscles, pried apart his bones, poisoned his blood, and eroded his sanity.

Was it Daoist Xi Menzi’s sword... Or had he already been poisoned by the mycelium in the tunnels?

Gongyang Han thought desperately, as the crackling sounds of White Lotus Sect Members exploding resounded around him, his once immaculate white robe now stained red with blood.

"Oh?" Li Ang, as if not noticing his sword technique would affect the distant White Lotus Sect Members, smiled somewhat awkwardly and said, "My apologies. I didn’t realize you were caught in it too."

"You... you..."

The white-browed old man, his body grotesquely swollen, took a labored step forward. He pointed a trembling finger at Li Ang from afar, as if demanding a way to be saved.

"This sword move is called ’Sword Twenty-Three.’ It channels the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth to collide with the target’s Mana. This causes the target’s Mana to lose control, and their body to inflate until it explodes," Li Ang said leisurely. "This technique is extremely vicious and cruel, against the harmony of nature, and there is no remedy for it. Even I dare only use it on demonic beings that take lives. However, since all of you are irredeemable members of the White Lotus Sect, I feel no burden on my conscience. Please go in peace. I will recite the ’Supreme Mysterious Sacred Treasure Sutra for Relief of Suffering’ for you..."

Of course, all of this was nonsense. These White Lotus Sect Members had already been infected by the mycelium while in the tunnels. The symptoms now were simply a result of Li Ang activating Divine Power and igniting the mycelium.

"I... will fight... you."

The white-browed old man exhibited a fierce countenance. Despite severe pain coursing through his limbs and body, he forced his Mana to surge, his body aflame with a fierce red blaze.

"Master Daoist, be careful! That’s the White Lotus Sect’s Red Lotus Karma Fire, specifically designed to burn the Soul. Once touched, even amputating limbs won’t free you from it!"

Li Yushan and the others, who couldn’t wait for the White Lotus Sect Members to meet their demise, hurriedly shouted a warning upon seeing this.

THUMP THUMP THUMP!

The white-browed old man, engulfed in Red Lotus Karma Fire, charged across the broken floor of the Underground Palace. His internal organs had long been hollowed out by the mycelium. Though the Karma Fire had consumed the mycelium, the damage already inflicted was more than enough for him to die a hundred or a thousand times over.

The figure now charging at Daoist Xi Menzi was not so much a living person with his own will, but rather a corpse driven by intense obsession.

Karma Fire, huh?

Li Ang nodded. His toe flicked a millstone-sized rock from the ground, and he kicked it towards the white-browed old man.

BOOM!

The seemingly frail fist easily pierced through the massive rock. The white-browed old man’s withered and fierce features, illuminated by the Karma Fire, looked almost demonic.

BOOM!

Another massive rock flew towards him. The white-browed old man charged straight at the young Daoist, not dodging, and shattered the stone with a single punch.

He could feel his life burning away rapidly, but what did it matter, as long as he could protect the Young Master?

The heavens are dead, the Yellow Sky shall rise! The White Lotus blooms, the King emerges!

Iron Fist shattered the third hurtling rock. However, his pupils did not reflect Daoist Xi Menzi standing in his original spot.

Where is he...

The white-browed old man instinctively looked up. Among the fragments of the rock he had just shattered, still airborne, he saw the figure of a Daoist slowly materialize.

Li Ang, who had just hidden within the stone using the "Phase Boots" special effect, calmly exited the phase state. Holding the sword hilt, he casually thrust the blade into the old man’s eye socket.