CHAPTER 284: YOU SURE KNOW HOW TO HAVE FUN! TIGER-HEADED GOLDEN SPEAR, SEDUCTIVE WOMAN

“Who’s there?! How dare you trespass into Liuguang Cave? Do you know what this place is?!” The sickly-looking scholar shouted, his voice sharp and imperious.

The middle-aged man wearing the golden crown swept a cold, saber-like glance over them.

Li Yanchu furrowed his brow and said calmly, “You guys sure know how to have fun, huh?”

According to the intelligence from the rat-faced man, the serpent demon here should have been the scholar’s wife.

Yet... the scene before them was... rather intriguing.

Lady Yun blinked. The story of Madame White Snake and Xu Xian she had always pictured seemed to crumble in her mind.

The sickly scholar’s expression darkened. “Who is this filthy Daoist? I’m asking you a question, answer me!”

But when he caught sight of Lady Yun beside Li Yanchu, a covetous gleam appeared in his eyes.

Such a beautiful woman...

A flash of clear light appeared in Li Yanchu’s eyes as he assessed the three within the cavern. Bloodthirsty energy swirled, and vengeful spirits clung to them.

The middle-aged man wearing the golden crown exuded the strongest demonic qi, which was dark and murky. He was undoubtedly the Mountain Lord.

Li Yanchu glanced at the sickly scholar and sneered, “Isn’t that your wife? How come she’s in someone else’s arms? All that studying, and this is what it’s good for?”

The sallow-faced, sickly scholar flew into a rage. “Damn you, filthy Daoist!”

A black shadow leapt from his body, twisted and monstrous.

Boom!

Li Yanchu struck with a single palm, and the shadow disintegrated into ashes instantly. The scholar only saw a blur, and the young Daoist was already standing before him.

Bang! With one palm, Li Yanchu shattered the scholar’s head in a single strike.

“Such audacity!” the golden-crowned man roared.

Immediately, a chilling wind swept the cavern. Dozens of vengeful spirits surged in from all directions.

Chang ghosts[1]!

These were tortured souls of innocents who had died in the mountains, refined into vessels by the Mountain Lord’s dark arts.

Nourished daily by yin qi, their minds had been twisted into frenzy, transforming them into fierce spirits who knew only killing.

Clang!

Li Yanchu drew the Jiaoslayer, and a brilliant saber qi swept across the cavern. The Mountain Lord’s vengeful spirits turned to ash in an instant. His attack was simple and direct without any flashy tricks, yet it was utterly overwhelming in effect.

The Mountain Lord’s face darkened. His body became a whirlwind, charging toward Li Yanchu in the blink of an eye.

At this time, Lady Yun’s expression changed; she was deeply shaken by the fierce, murderous aura.

Seeing this, Li Yanchu stepped forward, and with a swift, domineering stroke, his saber slashed downward! Clang!

The Mountain Lord’s hand gripped a sharp and icy tiger-headed golden spear, blocking Li Yanchu’s Jiaoslayer. The clash sent shockwaves radiating outward, and the air pressure alone was immense!

“You presumptuous young Daoist, you’re looking for death!” A cutting gale surrounded the Mountain Lord as he lunged forward with his spear. The tip radiated a razor-sharp force, as if it could tear everything apart.

The Jiaoslayer emitted transparent ripples, deflecting the tiger-headed golden spear. Its edge stabbed toward the Mountain Lord’s chest.

The Mountain Lord’s arrogant words still echoed in the wind. Yet, his entire figure was forced backward by a single strike from Li Yanchu’s saber!

A flicker of blue aura passed across the Mountain Lord’s face, and a thin protective layer appeared over his spear. The layer was incredibly resilient, so much so that it even blocked the Jiaoslayer.

Li Yanchu stepped forward again, thereafter the saber tip sliced upward in a reverse strike. The brilliant saber qi condensed once more, and a crescent-shaped wave of qi slammed into the Mountain Lord.

Bang!

The Mountain Lord was violently thrown backward, crashing against the hard cavern wall. His outer robe had been shredded, revealing his explosive upper-body musculature, and his skin faintly glimmered with light.

At this time, surprise flashed through his mind. A Daoist who doesn’t use talismans or incantations, yet comes straight into close combat... And in martial skill, he might not even be the superior fighter!?

The Mountain Lord roared, and the surrounding gale howled, coalescing into a three-zhang-long giant spear.

Clouds follow the dragon, winds follow the tiger[2]!

A tiger demon that roamed and commanded the forest naturally possessed mysterious methods. Yet something astonishing happened. The massive spear, formed from the gale itself, vanished into thin air.

“What is this!?” The Mountain Lord’s brows furrowed deeply in disbelief.

“Your spells are useless now!” Li Yanchu leapt forward with his blood and qi blazing like wildfire while activating his full talismanic armor.

He was like a roaring furnace, completely suppressing the yin and demonic qi within the cavern.

Boom!Boom!

Alone, wielding a single saber, he pressed against the tiger-demon Mountain Lord who had dominated Qingfeng Ridge, his momentum overwhelming. The vengeful spirits the Mountain Lord had crafted were instantly cut down by the ancient long saber, unable to reconstitute. This alone weakened the Mountain Lord’s strength.

Even his howling spells were restrained, unable to manifest. And his formidable tiger-headed golden spear could not withstand the slashing saber.

With that, frustration surged within him.

“Roar!” The Mountain Lord let out an enraged roar. His form shifted into a tiger-headed humanoid, and his aura spiked violently. The tiger-headed spear in his hand drew in its energy, condensing into a single beam of light.

Shing!

The spear sliced through the air. With a terrifying force capable of leveling mountains and crushing cities, it stabbed straight toward Li Yanchu’s heart.

But before him, not only did his indomitable Qi Shield flare, he was also clad in mysterious, ancient armor. It was the Daoist divine artifact, the talismanic armor!

Then, Li Yanchu sidestepped and channelled his energy into the Jiaoslayer before he slashed with it in one smooth motion. The sharpness of the saber was unmatched!

Clang!

The Mountain Lord’s tiger-headed golden spear broke through Li Yanchu’s Qi Shield, but its power was exhausted, and the talismanic armor effortlessly blocked it. Even so, the clash sent a deafening metallic resonance ringing through the cavern.

At that instant, the Jiaoslayer struck down!

The Mountain Lord’s eyes glowed gold, and he vanished into thin air, reappearing moments later at the cavern’s entrance.

Boom!

The Jiaoslayer struck empty air, smashing into the ground and splitting a massive crack in the cavern floor.

“Trying to run?!” Li Yanchu sneered coldly.

With a shift of his body, a phantom streaked through the air as he gave chase. This Mountain Lord was indeed formidable, no wonder he dominated Qingfeng Ridge. But that was all he had.

The two figures quickly disappeared into the demon-haunted cave, shrouded in swirling demonic qi. Only the two women remained, their eyes meeting in tense silence.

The alluring woman in revealing clothes had initially thought she was done for. With the young Daoist having slain the Mountain Lord, there was no way he would spare her. Yet, unexpectedly, she was still alive!

Her face, at first uncertain and hesitant, soon twisted into wild delight. Her gaze fell on Lady Yun, who looked fearful. Though she herself had been afraid, Lady Yun’s timid expression only made her look down on Lady Yun.

I may be a coward, but I cannot respect someone even more cowardly than me.

Looking down on someone else gave her a subtle sense of superiority, of personal pride. Fueled by this twisted psychological advantage, the alluring woman’s face suddenly grew feral. A bright red snake tongue flickered in and out of her mouth. In her cold eyes, her pupils turned into vertical slit shaped pupils.

“Seems your Daoist master has forgotten you... or perhaps... he thinks you can handle me?”

The bewitching woman was originally a serpent that had cultivated into a demon. The moment she spoke, the temperature in the entire cave instantly dropped, chilling the air with an eerie cold.

1. Chāngguǐ (伥鬼) is a term referring to the ghost of a servant who was eaten by a tiger and transformed into the tiger’s accomplice. Such spirits are considered morally corrupt and often lure humans to be devoured by tigers themselves. ☜

2. “云从龙，风从虎” is a Chinese idiom from Zhou Yi · Qian (I Ching). It literally means, “clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the tiger.” The idiom uses the natural phenomena of clouds appearing with dragons and fierce winds accompanying tigers as a metaphor for the mutual resonance and influence between similar things. As a classic expression in the Chinese lexicon, it appears not only in the I Ching itself but was also employed by Tang dynasty writer Li Guan in his Epitaph for Xiang Ji, demonstrating its dual significance in both philosophical and literary contexts. ☜