Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Chapter 165 The Divine Steed is One Foot Taller Than the Demon, Xu Zhenjun is One Ten Feet Taller Th

In the dead of night, a fleeting shadow suddenly swept through the mountains and forests. "Divine Steed" Ma Ling rode his Wind and Fire Wheels at breakneck speed, the blue flames on the wheels scorching the grass and leaves black.

He gazed at the continuous campfires three miles away, which was the main camp where Li Hanxiao and his men were stationed.

Ma Ling's third eye felt slightly hot—he seemed to see seven bronze lamps floating around the central command tent, their blue flames forming the shape of the Big Dipper in front of the tent.

This is a basic protective formation set up by Xu Guanzhong. After the incident in Taihang Mountain, Xu Guanzhong became much more vigilant and took strict precautions against anyone who knew magic.

"Hmph, it's nothing but a trivial skill; how can it compare to mine?"

"Divine Steed" Ma Ling's magic is actually quite powerful in the human world. However, although his magic is similar to that of Emperor Huaguang, his magic power is not righteous and belongs to the evil god's magic.

He obtained a secret manual in a deserted temple of an evil god, and practiced the spells by following the instructions. This can be considered a form of self-taught magic.

"Divine Steed" Ma Ling sneered and made a hand seal, using his escape technique. His figure suddenly became as ethereal as smoke, drifting towards the lantern array with the night wind. Although there were guards constantly searching the camp where the two thousand people were stationed, they were simply too blind to see this kind of magic with their mortal eyes.

"Divine Steed" Ma Ling looked at Li Hanxiao's figure reading by candlelight in the lamplight of the tent, and thought to himself that he should be able to complete the mission soon. He killed Li Hanxiao and quickly retreated.

Unexpectedly, he crashed into an invisible barrier three zhang away from the tent curtain. Countless golden runes appeared in the air, causing him to reveal his true form.

"Fellow Daoist, why not visit openly and honestly? Why be so furtive?"

"Divine Steed" Ma Ling was unaware of the restrictions here and directly violated Xu Guanzhong's incantation.

A clear voice came from above. "Divine Steed" Ma Ling suddenly looked up and saw "True Lord Xu" Xu Guanzhong standing on the moon. He was floating in the air without using his feet for support. His gray Taoist robe was fluttering in the night wind. The sword at his waist was still sheathed, but the lightning-struck wooden Five Thunder Token tied to the sword tassel was already glowing with golden light.

"I didn't expect there to be a Taoist priest here, but your tricks are useless!"

"Divine Steed" Ma Ling roared and immediately launched an attack. Twelve golden rays flew out from his sleeve, which were twelve gold bricks. It turned out that his gold bricks could be combined to form a large gold brick or twelve small gold bricks, which could attack one place or many places.

Each gold brick swelled with the wind, eventually merging into one and transforming into the size of a millstone in the blink of an eye.

Blood-red runes appeared on the surface of the gold brick, which then hurtled towards Xu Guanzhong with a strong wind.

The arrival of Ma Ling at this moment, which caused such a commotion, startled the warhorses in the camp, causing them to neigh and run wildly, and the soldiers on night duty to crouch down with their heads in their hands.

Lu Zhishen, the "Flowery Monk," and Yang Zhi, the "Blue-Faced Beast," both wanted to come and help, but Xu Guanzhong stopped them with a single look.

People without magic can't help at all; they'll only make things worse.

Xu Guanzhong pointed his fingers like a sword, chanted an incantation, and suddenly five bolts of purple lightning struck down from the night sky.

Amidst the thunderous roar, the incantations on the surface of the gold brick shattered inch by inch, breaking apart like hailstones, and then crashed to the ground, turning into stubborn stones.

"Divine Steed" Ma Ling staggered backward, black blood seeping from his divine eyes. These gold bricks were connected to his body, so of course he would get injured.

But Xu Guanzhong had already landed gracefully, nine yellow talismans swirling around him, preparing his next move.

"The Five Thunder Heavenly Heart Orthodox Method?"

"Divine Steed" Ma Ling wiped the bloodstains from the corner of his eye, suddenly bit his tongue and spat out a mist of blood. His third eye on his head emitted a red light and shot towards Xu Guanzhong.

Xu Guanzhong, known as "True Lord Xu," frowned slightly. His longsword was drawn with a clang, the blade slicing across his palm and drawing blood. He then drew a ten-foot-long edict in the air: "The Mysterious Ancestor of Heaven and Earth, the Root of All Qi!"

The golden light surged like the rising sun, making Ma Ling hiss and smoke. The red and golden lights on both sides clashed, emitting a series of ghostly howls. Seeing that even his third eye was no match, "Divine Steed" Ma Ling seized the opportunity to throw out the Wind and Fire Wheels. Two balls of bluish-purple flames rushed straight towards the central army tent.

"Fellow Daoist, why don't you stop?"

Xu Guanzhong, known as "True Lord Xu," lightly flicked the tip of his sword, and nine yellow talismans formed an eight-trigram array.

Dark clouds churned in the night sky, and a bolt of lightning as thick as a bowl crashed down, knocking away the fiery wheel that Ma Ling had thrown out.

"Divine Steed" Ma Ling roared and opened his third eye, using all his strength to strike Xu Guanzhong. But then, a blue light condensed into a barrier, and lightning exploded on the surface of the barrier, creating thousands of electric snakes.

The camp suddenly fell silent.

All the soldiers held their breath, watching the lightning and blue light stalemate in mid-air. Xu Guanzhong's clothes were torn, and tiny sparks of electricity crackled through his hair.

Xu Guanzhong's situation was nothing compared to Ma Ling's, who was truly in dire straits. At this moment, blood was seeping from all seven orifices of his body, and the ground beneath his feet was cracked into a spiderweb pattern.

Suddenly, a crisp sound of shattering glass rang out, and cracks appeared in the blue light barrier.

"Wind and Fire Decree, break!"

Xu Guanzhong flicked out two yellow talismans with his left hand. These were the Wind and Fire Talismans from their sect. The cyan wind blades cut through the night, and the crimson fire dragon raised its head and roared angrily. The wind fueled the fire and instantly engulfed the cyan light.

"Divine Steed" Ma Ling had reached his limit. Suddenly, the Dharma Eye on his forehead burst open with blood and exploded with a "bang"!

"Divine Steed" Ma Ling screamed and covered his forehead. He immediately used the Five Elements Escape Technique, and his body exploded into a blood mist as he disappeared into the night sky, leaving only half of the charred halberd stuck in the scorched earth.

At this moment, Li Hanxiao, wielding a three-pointed double-edged sword, burst out of the tent and asked Xu Guanzhong, "Mr. Xu, what kind of sorcerer is that?"

Xu Guanzhong waved his sleeve and said, "This person practices sorcery and is indeed quite powerful, but I can deal with him!"

Although Xu Guanzhong could sense that Ma Ling was leaving quickly, he felt that Ma Ling wasn't going to let things go so easily...

In order to completely eliminate the threat, Xu Guanzhong knew that although "Divine Steed" Ma Ling's cultivation was based on evil magic, it was hard-won, so he rode his sword forward to chase after him.

The night was as dark as ink, and Ma Ling huddled in a crevice in the cliff, the black blood flowing from his third eye etching wisps of blue smoke onto the rocks.

His trembling fingers reached for the leather pouch at his waist, but instead of healing pills, he pulled out three blood-red thunderbolts—treasures of the Zoroastrian religion obtained from the Western Xia, made from a special magical artifact made of sulfur and saltpeter, which would explode upon contact with the ground and ignite upon contact with the wind.

He himself was beaten so badly, if he were to use this thing now, with Li Hanxiao and the others stationed in the mountains and forests, and combined with his Wind and Fire Wheels, they could burn a large area and get revenge directly.

Suddenly, his shattered eye on his forehead throbbed with pain. He seemed to see Xu Guanzhong walking on stars, the cold light of his sword piercing his remaining left eye, causing it to weep uncontrollably.

"To exterminate them all... Since we can't all live... then none of us should live at all..."

"Divine Steed" Ma Ling pressed Thunderbolt into the groove of the Wind and Fire Wheel, a sinister smile twisting his bloodied lips. "Then I'll make all of you pay with your lives!"

At midnight, the fiery wheel crashed through the clouds, leaving a trail of bluish-purple flames ten miles long.

"not good!"

Xu Guanzhong noticed that Ma Ling's power had suddenly surged and immediately gave chase, but Ma Ling used his divine speed technique and returned to the camp in the blink of an eye.

"Divine Steed" Ma Ling hovered above the camp on two wheels, forcibly opening his shattered divine eyes, his pupils reflecting the scattered tents and torches of the night patrol below.

He bit off the tip of his tongue and spat his blood onto the Thunderbolt. The three demonic fire meteors fell like meteors toward the grain camp, stables, and central command tent, but when they were ten feet off the ground, they collided with a golden light curtain that suddenly rose up. The seven ancient bronze lamps had somehow moved to the edge of the camp, and their wicks burst out with seven-colored flames that formed a lotus-shaped magic array.

The moment the thunderbolt exploded, thousands of fire snakes were completely contained by the lotus petals. Xu Guanzhong's figure was clearly visible in the firelight, and the Big Dipper on his Taoist robe flickered with his breath.

"Die! All of you!"

Although Xu Guanzhong's formation protected everyone, Ma Ling was not without a backup plan. He squeezed out those three words through gritted teeth, and the Wind and Fire Wheels under his feet suddenly disintegrated, unleashing a torrential downpour of 360 flaming blades.

The burning blades shattered Xu Guanzhong's protective barrier, and flames shot up from the haystacks, while warhorses neighed and galloped wildly amidst the flames.

"Don't be so arrogant!"

Xu Guanzhong pointed his sword at the sky and drew talismans, but the thunder in the clouds was slow to arrive. Ma Ling laughed wildly and tore open the talisman robe on his chest, exerting his full strength. The fire spread underground, and the heat wave distorted the moonlight. Xu Guanzhong's beard and hair began to curl and turn scorched.

He thrust his sword into the scorched earth with a backhand motion, the Five Thunder Token on the hilt humming and vibrating: "The Yellow River winds nine times, Water God Tianwu, today demonic fire burns the sky, I beseech the revered deity to send down water!"

The moment the talisman was cast, a sound like muffled thunder came from the western sky, and a column of turbid water suddenly gushed out from the cracked ground—it was the Yellow River water vein from thirty miles away being drawn to this place!

"Divine Steed" Ma Ling stared in disbelief as he watched the towering waves surge like dragons rushing into fire. Amidst the white mist of water and fire clashing, Xu Guanzhong rose up on the waves, a bronze mirror covered in tadpole-like characters appearing in his hand.

The Yellow River Water God King, also known as the Yellow River Water Lord, is a mythological figure in the Ming Dynasty fantasy novel "Journey to the West". He is the water god of the Water Virtue Star Lord Department. He has a water-holding magic weapon called "White Jade Bowl" in his sleeve, which can unleash the torrent of Yellow River water. On the journey to the west, he helped Sun Wukong fight against the One-Horned Rhinoceros King by using his magic weapon White Jade Bowl to gush out the Yellow River water and flood the Golden Gourd Cave.

At this moment, Xu Guanzhong borrowed the water from the Yellow River God to extinguish Ma Ling's fire!

This mirror was a treasure passed down by Xu Xun, the founder of their Jingming Sect. The moment the mirror flipped, Ma Ling felt the air around him suddenly freeze.

He frantically activated his Divine Speed ​​Technique, only to find his feet sinking into a whirlpool that appeared out of nowhere—it wasn't water, but a massive dew drop condensed from the Yellow River by Xu Guanzhong!

The shattered Dharma Eye brought excruciating pain. He roared and tore off all the Thunderbolts from his waist and threw them into the air, but they were torn to pieces the instant they touched the bronze mirror by the golden-armored god who sprang out from the mirror.

Xu Guanzhong shouted: "Look who's in this mirror!"

Ma Ling's two remaining eyes suddenly widened—the bronze mirror reflected his own image. Ma Ling's shattered Dharma Eye on his forehead exploded, and black blood splattered onto the Wind and Fire Wheels, igniting eerie green ghost fire!

He screamed as he plummeted from mid-air, but before hitting the ground, he made one last hand seal—burning his life essence to activate the Divine Speed ​​Technique, transforming into a blood-red light that rushed straight towards the dense forest in the southeast.

Xu Guanzhong then produced twelve yellow talismans from his sleeve, which immediately transformed into twelve Yellow Turban Warriors upon landing.

The warriors pounded the ground with their copper hammers, and the entire mountain forest suddenly seemed to come alive, rising and writhing. The blood-red light that Ma Ling had transformed into darted left and right, and every time it was about to rush out of the valley, earthen walls would rise from the ground.

The earth's veins surged and churned like dragons under the influence of the talisman. Xu Guanzhong bit his fingertip and drew an edict in the air: "Central Earth, Yellow Dragon, bind the demons!"

This is the extremely profound "Earth Dragon Supporting the Sky Formation" of the Jingming School. The soil within a radius of ten miles suddenly turns into sand, forming a whirlpool of quicksand that is hundreds of feet deep.

The "Divine Steed" Ma Ling's Blood Escape Technique was sluggish in the quicksand, as if trapped in a quagmire. He frantically formed hand seals, trying to summon the Wind and Fire Wheels, but found that the magical artifacts had long been imbued with spiritual energy by the Yellow River's water vapor and were no longer under his control.

Suddenly, blue flames erupted from the shattered eye socket on his forehead, as if he was about to destroy his dantian and detonate his primordial spirit!

Stubborn and unyielding!

Xu Guanzhong stepped out with the steps of Yu, and the bronze mirror reflected the light of the waning moon onto the quicksand. Suddenly, the sand grains condensed into eight earthen dragons, their bodies wrapped with the light patterns of the Big Dipper, which entangled the "divine steed" Ma Ling.

The azure flames burning around Ma Ling were forcibly suppressed back into his body by the primordial yellow energy spewed out by the earth dragon. He roared, revealing his unwillingness, but Xu Guanzhong's pupils suddenly contracted, and the sword in his hand suddenly flew out, the blade wrapped with the clear moonlight drawn from the bronze mirror, like a silver river pouring down and piercing through the "Divine Steed" Ma Ling's Tanzhong acupoint.

The red light on "Divine Steed" Ma Ling instantly went out, and Ma Ling collapsed into the quicksand like a snake whose spine had been removed.

Xu Guanzhong made a grabbing motion in mid-air, and the twelve Yellow Turban Warriors transformed into twelve golden chains that bound Ma Ling's limbs.

He pointed his sword at the southeast Xun position, and suddenly an octagonal altar rose from the bottom of the quicksand vortex.

Ma Ling was dragged by chains and pressed to the Zhen trigram position. Xu Guanzhong bit his fingertip and drew the Taiqing Edict in the center of the altar: "Heavenly thunder rumbles, earthly thunder dazzles, dispel evil obstacles, destroy evil spirits and eradicate plague!"

Nine bolts of purple lightning suddenly struck down from the night sky, but instead of hitting Ma Ling, they flowed into his body and circulated through his three jiaos.

Ma Ling convulsed violently, black smoke billowing from his seven orifices—this was the "Marrow Cleansing Thunder" secretly passed down by the Celestial Master's Mansion, specifically designed to destroy the foundation of evil cultivators. Once the thunder dissipated, all the evil techniques he had painstakingly cultivated over thirty years had been abolished, and even the incredibly strong meridians he had developed through the Divine Speed ​​Technique were broken inch by inch.

As dawn broke in the east, Xu Guanzhong carried the limp and lifeless "Divine Steed" Ma Ling out of the forest. The "Divine Steed" had now become a "Dead Steed," with twelve spirit-suppressing talismans covering its entire body, and even its hair was wrapped with ink lines soaked in black dog blood.

On the Taoist robe damp with morning dew, the Big Dipper faintly gleamed with golden light—a sign that the Jingming School had achieved mastery of "star power infusion."

Xu Guanzhong benefited greatly from his battle with "Divine Steed" Ma Ling, and made significant progress in his own abilities.

Xu Guanzhong gazed at the camp gradually becoming clearer in the distance. The mixed smell of scorched earth and burning locust wood wafted through the mountains and forests, reminding him that the thrilling battle of the previous night was no illusion. Xu Guanzhong had no idea where such enemies came from.