When the tip of the blade pressed against Ji Yuan's chest, the sharpness, upon piercing his daoist robe, sent a chilling killing intent through his body, making him feel utterly cold.
It was at this moment that a thread of golden light flowed from beneath his torn robe, then suddenly expanded severalfold, erupting like a torrent of water.
In an instant, the dazzling golden light illuminated more than half of the courtyard, possessing both the ethereal charm of Taoism, the grand solemnity of Buddhism, and even the vast righteousness of Confucianism.
Within the endless golden light, the coldness in his body rapidly receded, his physique no longer stiffening, and the power that had been nearly frozen within his body reignited with vitality.
Simultaneously, the blade's tip, brimming with sharpness, after piercing the daoist robe, pressed against something soft and could not advance even an inch further.
Ji Yuan slowly raised his head, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. He swept his right hand towards his waist, and immediately a cold light appeared.
The middle-aged man hastily retreated, desperately trying to dodge the cold light before him. Though he moved several feet back in an instant, he was still unable to fully evade, and his left arm was cleanly severed.
In that breath, Ji Yuan's soft sword was taut, planted into the ground beneath his feet, while his hand now held five talismans.
A wisp of essence flowed into them, instantly igniting the talisman cores. Then, one by one, the talismans shot through the air, quickly reaching the middle-aged man.
In the time it took to snap one's fingers, the five talismans either transformed into scorching flames or condensed into water droplets that exploded. Amidst this dense assault, a brilliant sword light suddenly erupted.
Before this sword light, with its unstoppable sharpness, it seemed as if everything in the world could be cut, and nothing was unbreakable!
*Pfft!!!*
In the middle-aged man's stunned gaze, the sword light flashed, and a thin line spread down from his forehead.
Wisps of grey energy continuously seeped from this thin line. As the scorching flames and exploding water droplets assailed him, his body shattered, transforming back into a chaotic gust of evil wind.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly summoned two fire pythons, which surrounded the ball of evil wind about ten feet away, continuously scorching it with intense flames.
After a moment's thought, he seemed to still feel uneasy. He took out a handful of Yang Fire talismans from his sleeve and threw them all into the evil wind. Instantly, harrowing screams echoed again.
Having completed these actions, Ji Yuan quickly looked down at his own body. A gaping hole in his chest was now radiating golden light, dyeing more than half of the courtyard golden.
As he willed it, the golden light on his body gradually subsided. He then swiftly untied his daoist robe and, upon finding himself unharmed, finally relaxed his tense heart.
A short while later, Ji Yuan glanced beneath his daoist robe at the densely packed talismans, feeling a sense of relief.
Fortunately, several months prior, he had seen a protective robe for sale at Mingyue Pavilion. He had been extremely covetous but reluctant to spend the silver. So, he had pulled Shen Lang and Hui Xin to help him craft a robe with similar functions, combining Taoist talismans, Confucian texts, and Buddhist scriptures.
If not for this, he might truly have been in mortal danger at that very moment and lost his life there.
Still feeling shaken, Ji Yuan quickly looked up. He saw the evil wind, which had been driven back into its original form, continuously emitting piteous wails under the assault of the two fire pythons and the burning of the Yang Fire.
Large amounts of grey energy rose, drifting towards the sky amidst the surging flames.
Yet, for some reason, despite the seemingly favorable situation, a sense of unease arose within him and rapidly grew.
"That saber!"
Suddenly, Ji Yuan's eyes widened, and he immediately looked for the pitch-black long saber that was comparable to a divine weapon.
But at that very moment, countless sharp saber qi burst forth, instantly annihilating a large amount of Yang Fire and causing the bodies of the two fire pythons to collapse, extinguishing them in the air.
Losing the spiritual energy from the two fire pythons, the bronze oil lamp in his hand dimmed, its radiance reduced by more than half.
However, Ji Yuan had no time to pay attention. He retreated two steps warily, his gaze fixed on the ball of evil wind about ten feet away.
At this moment, a pitch-black long saber was releasing dense, sharp saber qi. Within this endless saber qi, the evil wind once again condensed into human form, its hand gently gripping the saber's hilt.
In a mere instant, the dense, stream-like saber qi dissipated, and a one-armed middle-aged man reappeared in the courtyard.
The middle-aged man looked down briefly, then looked up at his severed arm about ten feet away.
Without any apparent action, his severed arm, which had fallen to the ground, suddenly collapsed, transforming into evil wind imbued with grey energy. Within a few breaths, it swirled back and entwined with the stump of his left arm.
In just a few blinks of an eye, an arm was restored as if new, even the sleeve of his robe was the same, showing no sign of any issue.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan's expression immediately became stern, but he could only offer a bitter smile inwardly. He had not only failed to completely deal with the middle-aged man before him despite using a graded offensive talisman, but the opponent could even regrow a severed arm.
In such a situation, he truly did not know how he could possibly kill this evil being before him.
"You... are not the sacrifice..."
As Ji Yuan watched warily, the middle-aged man was also sizing him up. He then spoke in a stiff tone.
Upon hearing this, Ji Yuan's heart stirred, and a vague inference formed. His expression immediately turned grim.
If he guessed correctly, the current state of the Zhao family was likely not entirely caused by the evil creature. It was possible that Old Master Zhao had also played a part.
However, he could not yet deduce why the old man would do such a thing.
"Since... you are not the sacrifice... then... die!"
The middle-aged man stammered, and as he uttered the last word, he suddenly transformed into an afterimage, charging forward at extreme speed.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan advanced instead of retreating. He quickly stepped forward, drew his soft sword planted in the ground, and as the two closed in, he suddenly bent down and spun, slashing horizontally at the opponent's waist with his blade.
At the same moment, the pitch-black saber swept over his head. It was precisely this movement that allowed him to evade a blow that would have decapitated him.
As his soft sword was about to strike the opponent's waist, golden light erupted from its edge – they were talismans written in golden ink.
Individually, these talismans would be useless, but when linked together, they formed a command token for beheading ghosts and evil spirits!
With a flash of cold light amidst the golden radiance, the sharp soft sword plunged into the middle-aged man's waist. Unfortunately, the blade was too thin to cleave him in two.
The next instant, the pitch-black long saber returned and swept down, aiming to split his neck. The opponent seemed to have learned his lesson, no longer attacking his body but specifically targeting his neck, which was exposed without the daoist robe.
Before the long saber could make contact, the fierce saber qi emanating from its edge arrived first, causing a bloody gash to appear on his neck.
At this moment of life and death, Ji Yuan disregarded everything else. He quickly let go of his soft sword, then ducked down and rolled on the ground. Though he ended up covered in mud and blood, looking utterly disheveled, he had at least managed to dodge this fatal blow.
However, as he was about to get up, he felt a piercing pain in his right calf. He looked down and saw a bloody gash on his lower leg, almost deep enough to expose bone.
It must have been cut by the saber qi that had been spewing from the blade while he was dodging.
Ji Yuan's expression darkened. He quickly took out a talisman and stuck it onto the wound on his calf. A faint green light flashed, temporarily stabilizing the injury and stopping the bleeding.
He then looked up and saw the middle-aged man attempting to pull out the soft sword that was embedded halfway into his waist. However, a golden light flowed along the sword's body, preventing him from daring to touch it.
If their skin made contact, it would burn like wildfire, causing grey energy to rise from the opponent's palm.
Yet, if he allowed the soft sword to remain in his body, he would have to endure the burning pain constantly, with the fundamental grey energy within him continuously seeping out and dissipating into the world.
Almost every moment, his aura weakened. In the long run, even without anyone intervening, he would completely vanish.
Finally, the middle-aged man gritted his teeth. Disregarding the searing pain in his palm, he firmly grasped the hilt of the soft sword and attempted to forcibly pull it out.
Seeing this, a cold glint appeared on Ji Yuan's face. Ignoring the ache in his heart, he formed seven or eight hand seals with one hand and softly shouted, "Explode!"
*BOOM!!!*
The instant the word left his lips, the talismanic golden light on the soft sword flared, and a deafening explosion immediately followed.
Not even the time it took to snap a finger, and the middle-aged man was engulfed in blinding golden light, with surging spiritual energy that seemed to tear everything apart!
However, at this very moment, a fierce glint flashed in Ji Yuan's eyes. He endured the pain in his right leg and charged into the explosion as if his life depended on it. A halo appeared on his daoist robe.
He withstood the rampaging spiritual energy head-on. Despite the protection of the talismans on his daoist robe, his face, hands, and lower legs were still cut by the wild currents, leaving bloody marks.
It took him more than ten breaths to cover a distance of only a few steps, finally reaching within three steps of the middle-aged man.
At this point, more than half of the opponent's body had collapsed. The spiritual energy sealed within the soft sword, along with the power to annihilate evil spirits contained within the talismans, had eroded a significant portion of his fundamental grey energy.
And that grey energy was the pure evil essence and resentment that constituted his entire life force and power.
As the surging, wild spiritual energy around began to show signs of subsiding, Ji Yuan's gaze fell upon the pitch-black long saber in the opponent's hand.
Having gone through this once, he naturally would not allow the opponent another chance to reform after being severely injured. That was why he gritted his teeth and, disregarding everything, rushed into the range of the soft sword's self-destruction.
Ji Yuan took a deep breath. At the cost of burning more than half of the talismans on his daoist robe, he lunged forward, snatched the long saber from the opponent's hand, and rolled half a zhang on the ground in a disheveled manner before finally stopping.
"Ah!"
The moment the long saber was snatched away, the middle-aged man let out a roar of rage.
He struggled to walk towards Ji Yuan, his gaze fixed on the long saber as if it were his life.
In just a few breaths, the middle-aged man laboriously emerged from the gradually subsiding wild spiritual energy. By now, he was only a remnant of a body, with only a meager amount of grey energy forming a rough outline.
Ji Yuan didn't even have to make a move. After the opponent opened his mouth and then uttered no sound, he scattered with the wind, his entire body turning to dust.
However, Ji Yuan dared not relax in the slightest. He scanned his surroundings warily, and only after a long time, when he was certain that the middle-aged man would not 'resurrect' again, did he exhale heavily.
At this moment, with his mental tension largely released, fatigue washed over him like a tide. His entire body ached. The brief exchange had forced him to walk the line between life and death multiple times.
Yet, just then, he felt a piercing pain in his hand, almost causing him to groan and collapse on the spot.
He quickly looked down and saw wisps of sharp saber qi flowing on the long saber in his hand, accompanied by a faint hum.
The entire long saber trembled uncontrollably, not from his hand shaking, but as if the saber itself possessed sentience and wanted to break free from his grasp.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan snorted coldly. A faint light appeared between his eyebrows, and the Violet Mansion and Jade Pill within slowly opened a small crack.
Through that crack, one could see the entire Violet Mansion filled with sword qi, like a vast lake. The endless sword qi even coalesced into lake water, possessing boundless sharpness and an aura of immense weight.
Above this lake of sword qi, a white jade flying sword merrily roamed, occasionally leaping and rolling, sometimes diving into the lake, carrying countless sword qi to the heavens.
At this moment, as if sensing the presence of the long saber, wisps of sword qi emerged from the crack in the Violet Mansion, flowed through Ji Yuan's meridians, and instantly reached his right palm.
Under the relentless suppression of sword qi, the long saber finally stopped struggling, its low hum gradually subsiding.
Only then did he slowly exhale, a mixture of sword qi and saber qi within him. With the manifestation in the Violet Mansion suppressing it, he regained some strength and prepared to stand up from the ground.
However, as Ji Yuan just got to his feet, he caught sight of a dark shadow appearing on the ground before him. He seemed to be enveloped in a shadow.
In his haste, he only managed to activate the talismans beneath his daoist robe before feeling a powerful force on his back. In an instant, his body was uncontrollably propelled forward.
In mid-air, Ji Yuan struggled to turn his head. In his line of sight was an old man standing in the moonlight, his white hair flowing without wind, his eyes filled with fierce killing intent.
That old man... was none other than Old Master Zhao!