The Empress's No.1 Lackey

Chapter 1029 - 574: The Heavenly Master Shows the Way

"Swish!"

In the garden shrouded by a gloomy wind, Zhao Douan raised his right arm high, suddenly flinging out a magic pouch. As soon as it left his hand, the opening was shattered by his Qi Mechanism!

Before this assassination operation began, he had visited Zhang Yan Yi, who cryptically warned him of impending danger and gave him a magic pouch to be opened only in the most critical of moments.

Zhao Douan knew that now was the time to open it.

As the magic pouch opened, a stream of azure light spewed forth from its narrow opening.

The azure light was vast, seemingly capable of stirring the heavens, even causing the overcast clouds in the sky to tremble.

"Hmm?" Xu Jingtang was startled, his massive palm about to strike down suddenly stopped as he looked on warily.

Then, in everyone’s field of vision, the azure light enveloped Zhao Douan and his companions, creating a small patch of pure land in that place of roaring winds.

Within the azure glow, a silhouette gradually took shape:

A tall figure with narrow eyes, wearing a black Divine Officer’s Soft Robe, with long hair tied into a Daoist bun at the back of his head.

"Master!!?"

Zhong Pan, Jin Jian, and Yu Xiu exclaimed simultaneously, their expressions filled with astonishment.

Old Zhang, it really was you... the gamble paid off... Zhao Douan silently sighed in relief, his fists clenching excitedly.

Since it could only be opened in a desperate crisis, the magic pouch must contain an immediate means of salvation, and not likely something like a note... at such a critical moment, who would have time to open that?

"No, it’s just a Dharma Body of Master... possessing only a portion of Master’s power, and can only appear briefly." Zhong Pan held his sword with both hands, his expression slightly changing.

Zhao Douan wasn’t too surprised. If Zhang Yan Yi had hidden his real body in the magic pouch, it would have been too frightening...

He hastily said, "Isn’t Xu Jingtang also temporarily gaining divine power?"

Zhong Pan glanced at him, shaking his head solemnly, "It’s different. If your previous assumption is correct, Xu Jingtang relies on the mourning energy accumulated throughout months of war, further drawn upon by the collaborative array-setting of the entire White Clothes Sect sorcerers, to summon the divine. And crucially, he seems to have used some Secret Skill to attempt to temporarily absorb the divine power into his body..."

Jin Jian couldn’t listen anymore, "What is Senior Brother yammering about?" She gripped her Magic Wand tightly, shouting, "I don’t understand!"

Zhong Pan fell silent for a moment, then said simply, "Master’s Magic God will disappear before the opponent does."

Zhao Douan and the others looked grim.

"Zhang Yan Yi?!"

In mid-air, Xu Jingtang was instinctively frightened when he saw the Old Heavenly Master appear, even stepping back two paces.

Even Shi Youlian on the ground had a drastic change in facial expression.

But very quickly, they realized this wasn’t the real body.

Xu Jingtang breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "You scared me. If Zhang Yan Yi were truly here, I’d be a bit wary of you, but it’s just a Dharma Body; do you think it can threaten me?"

In the azure glow, Zhang Yan Yi stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze calmly sweeping across the scene before landing on the massive and tattered Sorrow God.

And at this moment, Xu Jingtang once again threw a fist down below!

With one punch, countless curses of inevitable death rained down densely.

"Hmph." Zhang Yan Yi seemed to snort coldly, raising his right hand, fingers spread. Instantly, within the vast azure glow, countless characters from the Heavenly Book appeared, roughly a glance showed tens of thousands.

Countless characters swirled around him, merging to form a sprawling azure cloud hand, fiercely colliding with the Sorrow God’s fist.

Silently, without a deafening explosion, yet at this moment, the entire area within a hundred miles of Jingchuan City was affected.

All cultivators within a hundred miles distinctly sensed Heavenly Mechanism fluctuations.

"Die! I want to see how long you can last!" Xu Jingtang, resembling a frenzied tiger, relentlessly punched, delivering over a hundred punches in an instant.

Zhao Douan and his five companions cowered beneath Zhang Yan Yi, trembling as they clearly witnessed the azure cloud above thinning layer by layer, becoming dim.

"At this rate, it won’t last long." Zhao Douan was anxious, could Old Zhang’s calculations have been off?

Just then, as if sensing his thoughts, Zhang Yan Yi in mid-air turned his head, glanced at him, and seemed to mutter, before sweeping his left sleeve, a beam of azure light suddenly smashed down on the five companions, engulfing them.

"Southwest, Zhengyang Mountain."

Zhao Douan only heard this phrase before his figure gradually disappeared, along with Zhong Pan and the others.

Meanwhile, unnoticed by anyone, outside the garden, at a secluded spot, a unicorn stomping nervously also widened its eyes, swallowed by an azure light appearing out of nowhere, disappearing without a trace.

"Boom!"

Xu Jingtang’s last punch created a sonic boom, destroying the entire inner residence. Zhang Yan Yi’s Dharma Body also vanished due to exhaustion.

"They’re gone!?" Xu Jingtang fixed his stare on the devastated ground, letting out an angry roar.

The eerie-looking Shi Youlian frowned and spoke, "They were transported away, but likely not far, they should still be in Jingchuan City."

Xu Jingtang’s expression fluctuated as he sensed carefully for a moment, then said, "You’re right. Trying to escape?"

He sneered, pondering slightly, his entire armor vibrating as he absorbed the enormous divine phantom behind him into his body. Glancing at the White Clothes Sect Master, he said:

"I need to make a trip, ensuring Zhao Douan’s death."

He now faced two choices.

One was to abandon Zhao Douan, rush to the battlefield, and use the power of the Sorrow God to eliminate Zhao Shixiong and defeat the court’s army.

However, doing so would mean he’d likely exhaust all his power on the battlefield.

The other choice was to pursue Zhao Douan, temporarily abandon the battlefield, and if all goes well, kill Zhao Douan with enough strength left to aid the battlefield.