Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 153 Breaking the Darkness with Thunder

The Zhou emperor was named Li Renshun. He was over fifty years old, but his hair was completely white and his face was so wrinkled that it could trap flies. He looked like an eighty-year-old man.

Perhaps because there was no successor, the emperor of this small country looked worried and was so pale that he didn't look alive. Even when he was exposed to the sunlight and saw that all his "subordinates" were "dead", he only uttered a few words and his expression did not change.

Although he looked more like a dead person than those corpse puppets, Li Renshun was the only one in this group who was still "alive".

He still has "life" in him.

Li Renshun opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn't utter a word. After a long while, Zhang Chengdao's twelve swords were suspended behind him again, pointing directly at the Mirror-like National Preceptor, eager to test his skills. Only then did Li Renshun vaguely ask a question: "National Preceptor, are the immortal paths also incompatible?"

"Immortal Path?"

Zhang Chengdao chuckled and looked down at the stiff-faced National Preceptor Mingjing, saying, "This is not the path of immortality for him."

Upon hearing this, Li Renshun remained seated in the palanquin, whose roof had been cut off, and simply nodded.

The eunuchs carrying the palanquin had clearly been beheaded, yet their corpses still stood there, supporting the palanquin like a frame. Li Renshun glanced around indifferently, still without any expression.

The Grand Preceptor Mingjing, standing to the side, said in a hoarse voice, "You look down on me, but haven't you also fallen to this state?"

"?"

A big question mark appeared in Zhang Chengdao's mind.

What have I become?

Since transmigrating, although I can only play Snake and Bubble Bobble games and can't eat all kinds of modern junk food, the "pre-made dishes" produced by the system are just as delicious as all kinds of calorie bombs!

Moreover, aside from dusting off the plants and occasionally checking on the disciples, they don't have to work like beasts of burden in the company.

Because of cultivating immortality, you won't even catch a cold or get a fever. It couldn't be better!

However, despite his doubts, Zhang Chengdao had no intention of having a heart-to-heart talk with the villain. He had studied many novels by the author for many years and knew the principle that when you fight, you have to fight to the death. Wherever he went, nothing grew, eggs were shaken until the yolks broke, ant nests were filled with boiling water, earthworms were cut vertically, and even passing dogs would get slapped twice. He was determined not to give the other party a chance to revive and take revenge.

So, while he was talking, he set up a bamboo fence around the entire yard.

This thing comes with an unreasonable "barrier" that can be used to protect disciples, and of course, it can also be used to trap enemies.

After the bamboo fence completely surrounded everyone, Zhang Chengdao once again used the twelve swords to stab at the Mingjing National Preceptor.

"Humph!"

Seeing the twelve swords hurtling towards him, the Mirror Master smiled mockingly and said, "Your 'Ten Thousand Swords Return to One' has become ten swords slashing wildly. How absurd!"

As he spoke, the human skin on his body suddenly cracked open, and gray mist dispersed again, condensing into a gray mist cloud. Ignoring the twelve swords shuttling back and forth in the mist cloud, it instead surrounded Zhang Chengdao and gradually spread out.

Seeing this, Zhang Chengdao felt a little anxious. Although the Ten Thousand Swords Return to Origin technique was useful, it was only effective against things with a physical form—whether it was rocks or metal, as long as it had a shape, it could be destroyed with a single sword strike.

However, the thing controlling the Mirror Master has no physical form; it's like a cloud or mist that has come to life, which is really troublesome!
Although limited by his limited knowledge of cultivation, Zhang Chengdao couldn't figure out what it was, the various deathly auras filling the gray mist and the oppressive aura that made him feel extremely suffocated told him that this was no normal thing.

In the context of cultivation novels, a typical villain might be something like an evil spirit or demon.

The main reason is that Zhang Chengdao had never seen evil cultivators or demonic cultivators before, so he had no way to compare them and therefore could not make a judgment about them.

But... there's always a way to deal with something bad that remains unchanged no matter what.

Zhang Chengdao casually removed two pieces of bamboo fence, breaking the "barrier," and then loudly ordered Chang Ping'an and Ye Shuyun: "Ping'an! Shuyun! You two quickly take the Zhou Emperor out of the temple!"

The bamboo fence surrounding Chang Ping'an and Ye Shuyun disappeared as Zhang Chengdao finished speaking. The two hurriedly responded and rushed towards the palanquin one after the other. Then, each of them grabbed one of Li Renshun's arms and dragged him away from Daxing Temple.

After the two stopped, disregarding the lifeless Li Renshun, Chang Ping'an instructed Ye Shuyun, "Junior brother, you stay here and watch over things. I'll go see if I can help Master!"

With that, he rode the wind and rose up, returning to the courtyard once more.

The monks in the temple had all disappeared, and the courtyard where Zhang Chengdao and the National Preceptor Mingjing were fighting was now completely obscured. The mist was spreading further and further out of the courtyard, and the strange pressure was making it difficult for Chang Ping'an to breathe.

Without time to think too much, Chang Ping'an plunged into the courtyard filled with gray fog. When he looked up, he could vaguely see a ball of light flashing with a familiar golden light in the air—that was probably the figure of his master, Zhang Chengdao!
"Master! Your disciple has come to help you—"

Chang Ping'an shouted.

Zhang Chengdao, however, had no interest in paying attention to his adopted disciple. He was currently exhausting his spiritual energy to condense thunderclouds—

What he used was the same "Divine Thunder Technique" that he had previously used to blast rocks!
Although this lightning technique lacks destructive power, its advantage lies in its area-of-effect attack. Moreover, as divine lightning, it is naturally able to restrain some demons and evil spirits. Anything like a corpse puppet that gets hit by it will immediately turn into a real corpse and die completely.

Of course, divine thunder can also naturally disperse this unpleasant gray fog.

The sky was filled with more and more dark clouds, growing increasingly gloomy and obscuring the sun, almost covering half of the capital city.

The world turned dark, so dark that one could not see their own hand in front of their face. The people of Jingzhao Prefecture, who had just been curiously gazing at Daxing Temple, were terrified and scattered in all directions. Some fled back to their homes, while others ran haphazardly out of the city. Even the usually bold martial artists dared not approach, fleeing to places where the dark clouds could not cover them, and warily watching the sky that looked like a giant hand pressing down.

Flashes of lightning surged through the clouds, and between the bright and dark moments, a bluish-purple phantom seemed to weave through the clouds. The figure had fleeting scales, long antlers like a deer, and twisted like a snake, appearing and disappearing in the shadows.

The gray fog seemed terrified of the lightning and began to spread rapidly out of the temple—or perhaps it was fleeing.

This, on the contrary, made Zhang Chengdao's figure gradually become clearer in the air. His white hair fluttered in the wind, his long robe shook and fluttered, his eyes turned light gold, and his expression was solemn and very majestic.

Seeing that the gray mist was about to escape, Zhang Chengdao knew he couldn't delay any longer, so he shouted—

"Shatter the darkness with thunder—"

(End of this chapter)