CHAPTER 257: 175. PLEASE LEND ME A PEN TO SIGN SOMETHING TODAY_2

In the end, he actually couldn’t break through Yuan Mobai.

He had of course known that this special junior nephew was different from others, they’d spent years together and were pretty familiar with each other.

But the outcome still came as a surprise to Li Song.

*Was the other’s Corporeal Life Mastery way more formidable than he’d remembered?*

Li Song had been blocked by Yuan Mobai, and though Li Ziyang was suppressing Yao Yuan on the other side, he couldn’t make it in time.

The stone slab with sword marks landed inside the Wanfa Ancestral Temple.

In the ancestral altar of the Taoist Talisman Sect, dazzling brilliance erupted with a thunderous boom.

A majestic beam of light struck squarely on the Celestial Master’s Sword!

The Celestial Master’s Sword was unharmed, suspended midair.

Next to it, Li Zhengxuan was also unscathed.

But he was blasted away, sent flying into the distance for real.

The giant boulder in his possession, also marked by sword scars, was obliterated in that brilliance!

Tang Xiaotang’s face was no longer as gleeful as before; instead, she hesitated, somewhat conflicted, and beckoned again.

The beam of light instantly dissipated.

The Celestial Master’s Sword shot skyward once more, heading straight for Tang Xiaotang!

Li Hongyu panicked, used the Celestial Master Robe in an attempt to intercept.

But Tang Xiaotang was a step quicker and grabbed the Celestial Master’s Sword.

The foundation for refining it had already been laid before she even touched it, just waiting for that final breakthrough.

Even though the refinement was only preliminary, it was enough to be useful at this moment.

Tang Xiaotang gripped the Celestial Master’s Sword, swinging it in midair.

Immediately, the sword light transformed into rolling purple thunder, sweeping in all directions.

Li Hongyu had no choice but to pull back; the nine-colored radiance enveloped her, as the purple Yang Thunder Dragon stretched its head from the thunderclouds, forcefully blocking this strike that even demons dreaded.

On the awe-inspiring dragon’s massive head, a bleeding wound instantly appeared, its face marred, thunder scattering, as though it dripped blood!

Of the Celestial Master’s Three Treasures, for a duel of magic, the Celestial Master’s Sword was undoubtedly supreme.

Tang Xiaotang struck again, and Li Hongyu dodged instead of trying to block it head-on.

"Ziyang, Zhengxuan!" Li Song, old but unyielding, barked a command and charged at Yuan Mobai.

The Celestial Master’s Sword had finally returned to the mountain.

But it hadn’t fallen back into Li Clan hands.

Now, it was an even greater threat!

Still, with the Celestial Master Robe, Li Hongyu stopped trying to fight it directly and switched to evasive maneuvers, which gave her some leeway to contend.

If Li Song had been completely uninjured, he could still have joined the fight; but now, like Li Ziyang and Li Zhengxuan, he had to avoid facing both Tang Xiaotang and the Celestial Master’s Sword head on.

Their only hope to turn the tables lay in one last chance...

The Wanfa Ancestral Temple!

Thus, Li Song ignored his injuries and launched another attack at Yuan Mobai.

And he fearlessly charged to the front, manifesting the Doumu Star God Dharma derived from the Merit Mantra Scripture, the Star River trailing alongside, pressing close to Yuan Mobai.

It was all to buy an opening for Li Zhengxuan and Li Ziyang.

Li Ziyang used the Ninth Heaven Thunder Ancestor Dharma to suppress Yao Yuan’s Nine Abyss Flame Ancestor Dharma, and quickly bolted for the Wanfa Ancestral Temple.

Li Zhengxuan had no time to regret missing the Celestial Master’s Sword.

At the moment Li Song spoke, he too dashed toward the Wanfa Ancestral Temple.

Yuan Mobai looked as calm as ever, his body moving like lightning.

The exact same Doumu Star God Dharma unfolded, not only shockingly powerful, but also astonishingly agile, as if he were everywhere at once; it made the three Li Clan High Merit Masters look like the ones surrounded and attacked by him.

His nimbleness didn’t seem like that of a Taoist Talisman Sect cultivator anymore, but more like a martial arts expert.

Let alone how uncomfortable Li Song, Li Ziyang, and Li Zhengxuan felt; even Yao Yuan, watching from the sidelines, was secretly alarmed.

He, like Li Song, had sparred and exchanged pointers with Yuan Mobai many times, but had rarely watched him clash like this with external foes.

*It was only now, observing closely, that he realized when it came to mastery of the Merit Mantra Scripture, this eccentric junior brother might actually be number one on Dragon Tiger Mountain.*

*Even if Li Song were unhurt, and didn’t use the Yang Thunder Dragon but fought only with the Destiny Star God, he might still not take down Yuan Mobai.*

But for the Li Clan crowd, there were no other options left.

They refused to concede and withdraw from Dragon Tiger Mountain.

The outcome of this battle still hung in the balance!

For now, Li Song and the others set aside thoughts of the Wanfa Ancestral Temple, focusing all their attention on Yuan Mobai.

Yao Yuan took a moment to recover his mana, then threw himself back into the fray.

The blaze of battle shifted, moving from the sky down into the Ancestral Courtyard of the Sect.

Both sides fought at fever pitch, earlier reservations one by one cast aside.

Lei Jun watched Dragon Tiger Mountain’s peak from afar.

The outcome was not yet clear.

Overall, things weren’t bad, but it was too soon for celebration.

*Fate always had a reason behind every turn.*

*If Li Song hadn’t been wounded looking for Tang Xiaotang’s secluded cultivation spot, and never recovered, this standoff would be far more unpredictable.*

From Tang Xiaotang’s angle, if she’d kept quiet after reaching the Eightfold Heaven Realm and waited for Xu Yuanzhen to return, the ending would have been much surer.

But if she’d done that, she wouldn’t be Tang Xiaotang.

Besides, in that kind of scenario, even if the Li Clan was unwilling, they might not have fought to the death like now.

Driving them away would have been easy, but pinning them down or chasing them outside the mountain—those things were much harder.

Even today, if they had decided the situation was truly unwinnable and withdrew from Dragon Tiger Mountain, Tang Xiaotang probably could have just picked one target to pursue, while making sure she didn’t get flanked and ambushed outside.

The others weren’t worth considering for now.

Li Song and Li Ziyang...

Lei Jun watched Dragon Tiger Mountain in the distance for a while, then looked away, scanning the surrounding ranges.

He took out something. It was soft like silk, thin as a cicada’s wing, brimming with spiritual essence yet muted.

It was the Sheltering Spirit Veil, the spiritual object he’d acquired from Blood River Sect disciples Bo Hong and Shuiying.