79: Thunderclap in the palm startled the evil spirit
The grayish-white corpse poison mist surged, pungent and nauseating. On both sides, iron-gray zombies with knotted muscles carried a foul wind, their sharp claws tearing through the air, aiming straight for vital points. At this critical moment, Li Muchen's expression was solemn, yet his eyes held not a trace of panic.
Facing this coordinated attack of poisonous mist and Iron Corpses, ordinary techniques might be difficult to resolve quickly. Once caught in a protracted battle, it would alert more evil entities in the valley, making the situation even more unfavorable.
In a flash, he had already made his decision.
He moved forward instead of retreating, his feet stepping in a mysterious pattern, narrowly passing through the gap where the two Iron Corpses' claws crossed. His True Essence erupted instantly, his speed increasing sharply as he pulled several zhang away.
The two Iron Corpses missed their target, their heavy bodies hitting the ground with a dull thud. They immediately turned around, their crimson eyes locked onto Li Muchen as they lunged again with low growls.
By now, Li Muchen had already come to a halt. He didn't look at the charging Iron Corpses, nor did he pay attention to the surrounding poisonous mist; instead, he slowly raised his right hand.
His five fingers were pressed together, palm facing upward.
Within his Dantian Qi Sea, that extremely solid pale-gold True Essence vortex suddenly accelerated its rotation. A vast, pure, and supremely masculine aura rose from his limbs and bones, quickly converging at the Laogong point in his palm!
At the same time, within his Sea of Consciousness, a profound and obscure incantation and Qi Circulation diagram naturally surfaced. This was the secret technique he had obtained from signing in at the Daoist temple after his successful Foundation Establishment, one he had never easily used—the Palm Thunder!
This was a renowned offensive technique of the orthodox Daoist sects, drawing upon the righteous thunder Qi of Heaven and Earth to gather in the palm. When unleashed, it possessed the power of a thousand thunderclaps, supremely masculine and pure, specialized in countering all dark evils, ghosts, and demons. The threshold for cultivation was extremely high, requiring a deep Dao Foundation, a pure mind, and a special comprehension of thunder techniques. Even in the previous life when Daoist arts flourished, very few could master this technique, and all were leaders of Daoist sects or hidden masters.
Since receiving the Legacy, Li Muchen had kept it as a trump card, never revealing it lightly. This was because although the power was great, the consumption was also staggering, and invoking heavenly power caused no small commotion. But now, in this evil corpse cave, facing Iron Corpses that were nearly invulnerable and possessed immense strength, he needed exactly this kind of supremely fierce technique to crush them and end the battle quickly!
"Heaven and Earth are infinite, borrowing power from the universe! Five Thunders converge, born within the palm!"
A low and majestic incantation escaped Li Muchen's lips, each word seemingly carrying a strange rhythm that caused the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to tremble slightly. In his palm, a pinpoint of blindingly white thunder light suddenly lit up. Initially the size of a grain of rice, it instantly expanded into a fist-sized, brilliant white, crackling ball of lightning!
Around the lightning ball, fine snakes of electricity flickered wildly, instantly evaporating and purifying the encroaching grayish-white corpse poison mist! An indescribable, majestic heavenly majesty that made all dark and evil things instinctively tremble spread out violently with Li Muchen's palm as the center!
The two Iron Corpses, which were roaring and lunging again, felt this pure masculine and destructive thunderous aura. A trace of instinctive fear actually flashed human-like in their crimson eyes, and their forward momentum stalled!
Even Corpse Old Nine, who was hiding deep in the thick fog and feeling smug, turned pale with horror and cried out in shock, "Palm Thunder?! This... how is this possible?!"
He had lived long enough to see all kinds of bizarre evil arts in Western Hunan and had heard legends of the Central Plains' Daoist sects. Palm Thunder was a supreme lightning technique recorded in Daoist scriptures and ancient legends that only those high-level masters and Celestial Master-level figures could perform! It was a supreme Divine Ability that could truly invoke a sliver of heavenly thunder's power to act as heaven's punishment!
In the Age of Dharma Decline, Daoist arts had withered. He thought these legendary techniques had long been lost, or even if the Legacy remained, no one would have enough cultivation and Daoist attainment to perform them. How could this excessively young little Daoist priest have mastered it? And looking at the power and purity of that condensed lightning ball, it was by no means a mere showy imitation, but a true Palm Thunder containing heavenly majesty!
Corpse Old Nine's heart was instantly filled with boundless shock and a sense of absurdity. Just what kind of monster had he provoked?!
At the moment Corpse Old Nine's mind was reeling, Li Muchen moved.
His gaze locked onto the Iron Corpse on the left that was slightly closer. Holding the brilliant white lightning ball in his right hand, he gave it a gentle push.
There was no world-shaking explosion, only a crisp sound that seemed to pierce the Soul—
"Crack!"
The brilliant white Palm Thunder ball left his hand, transforming into a condensed white lightning bolt the thickness of a bowl. With a speed exceeding visual capture, it instantly crossed several zhang and accurately struck the chest of that Iron Corpse!
The moment the lightning touched the Iron Corpse's body, no violent explosion occurred. Instead, it was like a red-hot iron pressed against ice, instantly "sinking" into that body which was harder than fine steel and invulnerable to blades and spears!
"Roar—!!!"
The Iron Corpse let out a shrill scream that didn't sound human, and its entire massive body suddenly stiffened! Its dull iron-gray surface was instantly covered with fine, bright cracks like a spiderweb, and countless small electric snakes frantically surged out from the cracks!
Immediately following—
"Boom!!!"
A dull explosion sounded. That "masterpiece," which in Corpse Old Nine's eyes could withstand rifle bullets and was hard to damage with ordinary Daoist arts, was actually completely torn apart and detonated from the inside by the violent power of thunder! The iron-hard torso exploded, turning into countless charred fragments that flew in all directions, mixed with foul-smelling blood and the yet-to-dissipate lightning fire!
Only a small pile of smoking, charred, and foul-smelling residue remained on the spot, along with the "dead" air in the atmosphere that had been thoroughly purified by the thunder.
One strike! Just one strike!
An Iron Corpse comparable to an Early Stage Foundation Establishment Body Cultivator, or perhaps even stronger, had vanished into ash under the majesty of the heavenly thunder!
The Iron Corpse on the right seemed intimidated by its companion's tragic end. It actually let out a low whimper of fear and involuntarily retreated half a step, the ferocity in its crimson eyes replaced by terror.
Deep in the thick fog, Corpse Old Nine gasped, his heart and gallbladder chilling with fear! The power of that lightning technique far exceeded his imagination! This was not a power that human strength could contend with; this was heavenly majesty! This kid... could he really be a contemporary true disciple with great Luck, secretly cultivated by some hidden Daoist sect?!
"Escape! I must escape immediately!" This thought instantly occupied Corpse Old Nine's entire mind. The Iron Corpse transaction, the final payment from the bald monk—none of it mattered anymore! Saving his old life was what was important!
He no longer dared to hesitate, nor did he care about the destroyed Iron Corpse. With a flash of his body, he intended to flee toward the deeper part of the valley, where his secret lair of many years was located.
However, since Li Muchen had already used his trump card, how could he let him get away so easily?
After unleashing the first Palm Thunder, his face paled slightly as nearly thirty percent of his True Essence was consumed, but his gaze remained as sharp as a hawk's. Seeing Corpse Old Nine trying to flee, he gave a cold snort. His left hand formed a sword finger and quickly outlined a simple rune in the void, while he shouted low:
"Suppress!"
The earth vein suppression talisman within him, which was partially refined and faintly connected to the earth veins of Yuntai Mountain, could not directly mobilize the massive power of the earth veins due to the distance. However, the "suppression" and "stabilization" dao rhyme it contained was instantly activated by his secret method!
An invisible and intangible aura, yet as heavy as a mountain, suddenly descended upon the area where Corpse Old Nine was located as he completed the rune with his fingertip!
Corpse Old Nine felt the surrounding air suddenly become extremely viscous, as if he had fallen into an invisible quagmire. Every step felt like a thousand jin, and his escape speed drastically decreased! Furthermore, a grand and righteous suppression force that countered dark evil squeezed in from all directions, making the circulation of the dark evil magic power within him sluggish and impeded!
"What kind of ghost thing is this?!" Corpse Old Nine was both shocked and furious, desperately pushing his magic power to try and break free from this eerie suppression.
During this brief moment of delay, Li Muchen raised his right hand again. Although he couldn't condense a lightning ball as solid as the previous one in his palm, the brilliant white lightning jumped and flickered again; clearly, the second strike was about to be unleashed.
Corpse Old Nine's Soul nearly left his body. He knew he absolutely could not take another Palm Thunder! In his desperation, he violently bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of black blood containing his natal essence. His hands frantically formed seals as he chanted a rapid and sinister incantation.
"Blood Escape: Yin Corpse Substitution Art!"
The black blood exploded in the air, turning into a thick blood mist that enveloped Corpse Old Nine. At the same time, the only remaining Iron Corpse seemed to receive some kind of forced command. It let out an unwilling roar but still turned abruptly, abandoning Li Muchen and charging headlong into the blood mist!
The blood mist churned, and the moment it touched the Iron Corpse, the corpse's body distorted and melted eerily as if absorbed by the mist. Then, the blood mist shrank violently, turning into a streak of blood light that shot toward a certain direction deep in the valley at an incredible speed, vanishing into the thick fog and darkness in the blink of an eye. All that remained were a few charred bone fragments of the Iron Corpse and the lingering stench.
Li Muchen's second Palm Thunder was ultimately a step too slow, only hitting the remains of the Iron Corpse and turning them completely to dust, failing to catch Corpse Old Nine who had used the bizarre Blood Escape substitution art.
"What a bizarre escape technique, to be able to use a refined corpse as a medium to perform a blood escape that's almost like teleportation..." Li Muchen dissipated the lightning light in his palm, his brow furrowing slightly. Corpse Old Nine indeed had many life-saving methods, and he knew the terrain of this valley like the back of his hand. Now that he had escaped into the depths, it would likely take some effort to fish him out.
However, after this battle, Corpse Old Nine would surely be terrified and shouldn't dare to show himself for a short time. More importantly, those three Iron Corpses that were about to be finished, and the whereabouts of Release Void...