The Northern Song Dynasty returned south, seeking the truth of the Dao.

The evil Taoist priest looked horrified, but by the time he reacted, it was too late. In his haste, he could only reach into his robes, but before he could even extend his hand, the attacks of the three ghost generals arrived.

Clang! Snap! Ding! —

The three different weapons all landed on the ground with different sounds. The evil cultivator had vanished from the spot, leaving only a yellow talisman, which was blown away by the wind in mid-air.

"A substitute talisman!"

Wang Huanzhen exclaimed in surprise, then looked around, searching for the figure of the evil Taoist. The Substitute Talisman is different from the Transformation Talisman; the Transformation Talisman requires a hand seal to be performed before it can be used.

The clones that are conjured are virtually indistinguishable from the real person. Just like when Wang Zhen was tricked in Old Sun's courtyard, the evil Taoist used a clone talisman.

A substitute talisman is a life-saving talisman. As the name suggests, it involves replacing the original person with a talisman to avoid fatal harm. Since it is a life-saving talisman, it naturally does not require hand seals like ordinary talismans, and its incantation is only one sentence.

The substitute talismans of the three Taoist lineages have similar effects, but all require a blue qi cultivation level or higher to cast, and they must be specially crafted. Crafting a substitute talisman is not only complicated, but also has an extremely low success rate.

However, the result of success is obvious: it's like having an extra chance to escape when facing an enemy. After the Substitute Talisman is used, the talisman replaces the caster's original location.

He himself would then appear anywhere within a three-zhang radius, which is why Wang Zhenhuan immediately looked around. This substitute talisman is described in detail in the "Zhou Tian Mi Yao".

Wang Zhenhuan had paid close attention to this at the time, taking several extra glances, so it left a deep impression on him. Upon seeing the evil spirit vanish as a talisman, he instantly realized what had happened.

Upon hearing Wang Zhenhuan's shout, Ao Shuang immediately understood. However, the fog within the barrier was too thick; she could still vaguely see within a zhang or two, but beyond that, it became extremely blurry.

This is a rare opportunity. If that evil path manages to escape, he will surely hide somewhere within the barrier and not reappear. When the barrier's duration ends, if he wishes to leave, Wang Zhenhuan and he themselves will find it impossible to stop him.

Thinking of this, Ao Shuang felt anxious, seeing that the evil Taoist was nowhere to be seen. The three ghost generals, having lost their target, also stood motionless in place.

He pondered for a moment, then took out a yellow talisman, made a hand seal, and chanted softly: "Heaven and earth are clear and pure, the sun and moon are bright and clear. I command the nine prefectures to disperse the clouds and clear the fog!"

"Supreme Dao Lord, hasten as the law commands! Disperse the fog!"

After chanting the incantation, he flung the talisman in his hand into the air. The yellow talisman spontaneously combusted upon leaving his hand, and the incantation took effect. It transformed into a dozen or so streams of light, each the size of a fingertip, which scattered in all directions.

Wherever the light touched, the mist seemed to be driven away, dispersing elsewhere. Soon, all the mist within a three-zhang radius vanished completely.

However, Wang Zhenhuan did not see the evil Taoist's figure, which puzzled him. Since the evil Taoist used the substitution technique to escape, and Ao Shuang raised the talisman to clear the mist, only a few breaths had passed. No matter how fast the evil Taoist was, he could not have teleported instantly.

Thinking of this, a sharp pain suddenly shot through the center of his forehead. Startled, Wang Zhenhuan immediately rolled on the ground without hesitation. Just then, he heard a whooshing sound behind him.

stab-

Wang Huanzhen's clothes ripped open at the back. He hurriedly got up from the ground and reached behind him, his palm immediately stained with blood. He half-squatted on the ground, panting heavily.

The feeling of struggling to escape from the brink of death made his heart pound. In the evil Taoist's hand, he saw a bloodstained dagger, the blade of which emitted a faint green light.

Oh no, it's poisonous!

This was the first thought that popped into Wang Zhenhuan's mind, but before he could react, Ao Shuang rushed over and threw him a blue porcelain bottle before leaving.

Wang Zhenhuan took the porcelain bottle, poured out a pill, and threw it into his mouth without even looking at it. After the pill entered his stomach, the feeling of weakness lessened considerably.

Meanwhile, Ao Shuang gathered her energy and lightly moved, reaching out in mid-air to pull out her belt. The belt instantly transformed into a soft sword.

Calling it a soft sword isn't entirely accurate; this sword is a deep blue, resembling segments of a fish skeleton pieced together. These fish skeletons are flattened triangles, becoming sharper towards the front. When connected, they form a soft sword.

Ao Shuang gripped the sword in her hand and swung it towards the evil Taoist. Seeing this, the evil Taoist didn't retreat but advanced. While dodging to the side, he took a step forward and swung the dagger horizontally with his backhand.

To his surprise, before Ao Shuang even landed, she changed her attack mid-air from a thrust to a swing. She flung the longsword in her hand downwards, and the fish bones on the sword suddenly separated, connected by a white tendon in the center, transforming into a long whip.

The whip was naturally longer than the sword, and before the evil Taoist could react, it lashed out at his left chest. The sharp fishbone instantly turned into barbs, tearing away a chunk of flesh and revealing two deep, bone-revealing wounds.

ah!!--

Caught off guard by Ao Shuang's sudden attack, the evil Taoist screamed and clutched his chest, trying to retreat. But how could Ao Shuang give him that chance?

As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot. After Ao Shuang landed, she retracted her long whip, which transformed back into a soft sword, and thrust it at the evil Taoist. The evil Taoist, having suffered a loss, realized the power of this sword.

This time, she learned her lesson and no longer met the attack head-on, but instead kept retreating. Seeing this, Ao Shuang used the same trick again, changing her thrust into a flick, and threw the soft sword in her hand.

The soft sword transformed into a long whip, flying horizontally towards the evil pather. Unexpectedly, upon seeing this, the evil pather stopped in his tracks, stomped on the ground, and used the momentum to propel himself forward. He suddenly rushed into Ao Shuang's arms.

The dagger in her hand was also aimed at his neck. The strength of long weapons lies in their attack range; as the saying goes, "an inch longer, an inch stronger; an inch shorter, an inch more dangerous." That's the principle.

However, the advantages are only relative. In close combat, long weapons are not as nimble as short weapons. After suffering a loss once, the evil Taoist quickly found the weakness of Ao Shuang's soft sword.

That is, while his attacks were fierce, his defensive speed was slow. So he chose to close the distance, wanting to entangle with Ao Shuang to avoid his weakness. He made this decision in an instant, which can be described as decisive.

At that moment, Ao Shuang's soft sword transformed into a long whip, leaving a large opening in front of her, which the evil Taoist priest seized. Ao Shuang gritted her teeth and fiercely released her grip on the sword.

He actually grabbed the dagger with his bare hands, while his other hand aimed directly at the evil path's seven orifices and divine palace. In less than ten breaths, Wang Zhenhuan had just taken the pill.

On Ao Shuang's side, things have turned into a lose-lose situation!