Chapter 662: The Ninth Heavens Demon-Destroying Patriarch (2/2)

“Ready your formation!” Qing Yu commanded softly.

She raised her hand and sent a myriad of talismans dancing through the air, while Lin Yu and Lin Xuan hastened to deploy a formation without foundation and arrange the zombie-subduing talismans into a massive talisman formation. Positioned according to the constellations, a full three hundred and sixty-five talismans drew out a starry sky.

When everything was in place, pillars of bright yellow light fell from the formation and imprisoned the zombie in their midst.

Ouuuuu!

The cry of a tortoise sounded out as the previously shattered Black Tortoise Formation once again projected a giant black tortoise wading through empty air. This time, the hazy figure of a man appeared atop the tortoise’s head. While his silhouette was hard to distinguish, one could clearly spot eyes as bright as the stars gleaming out of his face. In his hand, a longsword glinted with frosty light.

This was… an art from Earth, the Ninth Heaven’s Demon-Destroying Patriarch! [1]

The archives of Lu Yun’s sect noted a way to summon the Demon-Destroying Patriarch. Only, there hadn’t been any qi on Earth to call this mighty character into being. Lu Yun had taught the method to Lin Yu and Lin Xuan, but hadn’t expected the two brothers to actually be successful in their summons.

“So it’s really possible!” Lu Yun retreated from the battlefield, retrieved the Divine Fire Bead, and looked dazedly at the hazy figure.

“If we can summon the Demon-Destroying Patriarch here, can I also bring out Sun Wukong and Erlang?” [2] Lu Yun shook his head, a wry smile on his lips. Of the ‘daoist arts’ written down in his sect’s records, the Demon-Destroying Patriarch was the only one mentioned.

“But… why do I sense a familiar aura from the patriarch...?” Lu Yun’s head hung low in thought, a frown on his brow. No matter how hard he wracked his brains, he couldn't remember where he’d seen the august figure before.

“Die, dastardly wretch!” The patriarch soared high in the air, his voice as clear and sonorous as the sound of the world’s grand dao.

Startled, the celestial emperor and nearby immortals subconsciously made way for him.

Swish!

The patriarch’s sword arced through the sky and landed heavily on the zombie imprisoned within the talisman formation.

Crackle!

An incandescent yellow flame ignited on the zombie, abruptly stilling it like it’d been frozen. It just quietly stood there and allowed the yellow fire to incinerate it without any resistance. A hundred or so breaths later, the zombie fell apart into ashes.

The Demon-Destroying Patriarch hovered in midair, his starlit eyes surveying the surroundings. When his gaze landed on Lu Yun, he gave a shallow nod, then faded into nothingness.

“Disposed of so easily… Who was that just now?!” A chill ran down the celestial emperor’s spine. Even with the help of his heavenly mandate and Exalted Chart, a fight between himself and an origin dao immortal zombie would’ve resulted in a pyrrhic victory, if he could even win at all. However, the man who’d suddenly appeared had destroyed it with a single stroke of his sword!

Who in the heavens was it? If there was truly such a heavyweight in the world… at the very least, it’d be someone on par with the silver scarlet ape of Levitating Island!

“That senior is a patriarch of our sect, the Ninth Heaven’s Demon-Destroying Patriarch!” Lin Xuan closed the thick book in his hand with a solid thump, his voice filled with pride.

1. This is a character mentioned in the Chinese classic Journey to the West. Also known as Xuanwu, who is depicted as a northern king in the novel, he’s also a high-ranking deity in Daoist mythology.

2. Sun Wukong and Erlang are also characters from Journey to the West. Wukong, the monkey, is the main character of the novel, while Erlang, another god in Chinese mythology, is depicted in the novel as a nephew of the Jade Emperor, the supreme ruler of the immortal court.