CHAPTER 173: THE HEAVEN-ILLUMINATING SEAL

None of the gathered experts had expected this, that Li Yanchu would not only be so hard to kill, but also unleash such explosive power! A single moment of carelessness, and you could be instantly taken out by him.

No matter how exquisite your magic or secret arts were, it simply didn’t matter. Facing such an opponent with his eyes blazing with scorching fighting intent, it felt as if he wasn’t looking at a group of evil cultivators, but rather at a bunch of walking treasure troves.

The crowd exchanged glances, beginning to hesitate.

With the Blissful Land about to open, it was said to contain countless heavenly treasures, magical artifacts, and immortal opportunities. Was it really worth it to fight this young Daoist to the death over a single Baxia stone statue’s inheritance?

Even the ever-malicious Black Impermanence began to waver. The risk, it seemed, now far outweighed the reward.

This young Daoist was truly unfathomable!

He used the Five-Lightnings Spell, was impervious to sabers and spears, and was unscathed by fire. His saber qi was razor-sharp, and in close combat he was unbelievably domineering.

His blood and qi and blood were like a blazing furnace, and no one wanted to take him on head-to-head anymore!

Boom!

Just as the others were hesitating whether to retreat, Li Yanchu suddenly slashed a fierce saber arc toward the ancient corpse.

The ground exploded, and a wave of scarlet flames surged up!

The ancient corpse's eyes were filled with fear. This kind of fire was extremely damaging to his yin spirit, especially the damage from that saber was exceptionally hard to recover from.

His ancient corpse Visualization Method should have granted him incredible regeneration, but now, it was useless.

The ancient corpse shot upward, using the primordial spirit escape light to flee. He was unimaginably fast. This was exactly what Li Yanchu was waiting for, the moment his soul was shaken!

"Freeze!" Li Yanchu shouted coldly.

Immobilization Spell!

The ancient corpse, already rattled by that last strike, froze mid-air under the Immobilization Spell.

Shing!

Li Yanchu raised his Jiaoslayer and slashed down!

BOOM!

The ancient corpse was cleaved in two on the spot. The Jiaoslayer, which countered yin spirits and primordial spirits, was a peerless divine weapon in primordial spirit duels.

“Aaaah—!” the ancient corpse let out a final scream.

The scorching internal force on the saber completely consumed him in an instant.

6,000 merit points!

Li Yanchu swept his gaze over the remaining primordial spirit avatars of the night-wandering cultivators. His expression was icy cold, piercing and oppressive. Everyone felt as though they were being watched by some unspeakable terror.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The remaining detached primordial spirits immediately fled toward the horizon, wanting nothing more than to get as far from him as possible!

Li Yanchu didn’t give chase. He simply stood there, leaning on his saber.

After all, even with a powerful body, unless one reached the Third Realm, Day-Wandering Telekinetic Command, he couldn’t keep up with the speed of a primordial spirit’s escape light.

Those cultivators' detached spirits vanished across the sky in the blink of an eye.

Li Yanchu stood silently in place for a moment, then didn’t bother searching for his Senior Uncle. He had already seen it clearly that the old Daoist could fight like a god; he didn’t need help.

So, Li Yanchu turned and left the devastated battlefield, finding a quiet mountain cave to rest.

Even though earlier he had seemed invincible, his blood and qi blazing like the sun, that was only because of the blessing of the talismanic armor, and the triple-enhanced Jiaoslayer.

The talismanic armor left behind by that land-bound immortal who pursued the martial path had temporarily elevated Li Yanchu’s blood and qi to terrifying levels.

But still, tonight, Li Yanchu had successively slain the Six-Armed Demon God, the Bifang, and the ancient corpse. He had also endured the attacks of numerous astral-projected experts.

This placed an immense burden on his body; his blood and qi was in turmoil, and even his internal organs had sustained injuries.

He couldn’t keep fighting any longer, or it would truly damage his foundation.

I need to enhance my martial arts manuals when I get back. Li Yanchu thought to himself.

Previously, he had deliberately delayed elevating his realm, fearing that a rapid rise would make it difficult to control his newfound strength. He had wanted to temper and familiarize himself with it first before enhancing his martial techniques.

After several consecutive fierce battles, Li Yanchu had successfully used these formidable foes to hone and solidify his martial Dao mindset. It was now time to advance his martial cultivation.

With the talismanic armor’s support, he truly could slay both cultivators and monsters. As his martial cultivation increased, he could also better harness the full power of the talismanic armor.

Li Yanchu reached into his robes and retrieved the five-colored radiance from before. It was a token. About the size of a palm, it was crafted from some type of wood. On the back was an image of the ancient ferocious beast Baxia, And on the front were the words, Decree Token.

“Hmm? What’s this?”

A thoughtful expression appeared in Li Yanchu’s eyes. The wooden token radiated a powerful divine aura, righteous and brilliant in nature.

It was clearly a rare and extraordinary treasure. “Could it be that the spirit inside the Baxia stone statue wasn’t actually the soul of the ferocious beast Baxia, but rather this wooden token?”

Li Yanchu considered the possibility. He was slightly shocked by such a godlike method of manipulating the forces of heaven and earth.

He tried slowly channeling spiritual power into the token, but after quite some time, nothing happened.

Then he tried sending in a strand of divine sense. Still, no reaction. This left him a bit baffled.

“How is this thing supposed to work?”

Li Yanchu carefully examined the token for a long time, but eventually set it aside for now.

Then, he took out the ancient seal. The aura it emanated was vast and primeval, carrying a weighty sense of time and history.

As soon as he held it in his hand, he felt a gentle five-elemental flame flowing from within.

On the underside of the ancient seal, two archaic characters were also engraved.

Fortunately, Li Yanchu had studied Daoist scriptures thoroughly and was fairly well-versed in ancient writings.

After focusing on them for a while, he was finally able to decipher the inscription, Heaven-Illuminating.

His expression turned slightly grave. “The Heaven-Illuminating Seal!?”

The wooden token from before, though brimming with divine aura and clearly extraordinary, was something Li Yanchu didn’t recognize.

But this ancient seal, he had indeed heard of it. The Heaven-Illuminating Seal!

Just like the Wind Tamer, it was a mythical magical treasure, one of the five treasures wielded by Luo Xuan.

Luo Xuan was later enshrined as the True Deity of the Southern Three Qi and Fire Virtue Star Lord.

Li Yanchu didn’t know if the Heaven-Illuminating Seal in his hand was the very one spoken of in the legends, but even so, he felt a surge of excitement.

This was an exceptionally powerful treasure! Had he fully mastered this Heaven-Illuminating Seal earlier, his confrontation with those several primordial spirit avatars would have been even more devastating!

Li Yanchu sat cross-legged, beginning to meditate and circulate his breath.

The Daoist spirit qi within him began to flow through his meridians, circulating around his body, slowly repairing the damage done to his internal organs and channels.

After more than ten full cycles of circulation, the aftereffects from his earlier overexerted blood and qi had finally started to ease.

He planned to return to his Daoist temple and recuperate slowly.

The Baxia stone statue had vanished deep into the mountains, and all the various powers that had swarmed in for it had ended up gaining nothing.

In the end, the greatest winner turned out to be none other than Li Yanchu, who’d merely come along to lend a hand.

Not only did he obtain a divine wooden token and the Heaven-Illuminating Seal, he even gained a new senior relative, a conveniently powerful “cheap” Senior Uncle.

Especially that old Daoist from Mount Longhu, he had previously asked Chen Yang to invite Li Yanchu for help, and had even gifted him a Clearheart Jade Pendant. It was a treasure of Daoism, second to none when it came to protecting the heart and calming the mind during cultivation.

As he made his way back, Li Yanchu’s steps were noticeably lighter. He was traversing steep and rugged mountain terrain as if walking on flat ground.

To someone unaware, he might have looked like a mountain spirit or forest fiend.