23 Duel

"Haha, never would I have thought that Daoist Gu Yunyue would know of our measly nickname. It's such an honor." The hunched elder's voice was extremely hoarse and sounded like metal pieces grating against each other.

The horse-faced young man remained silent, even though his slightly red eyes slowly sized up Han Li and the rest of the group. When he saw Yu Menghan and Liu Le'er, his eyes shone a little brighter, as he extended his tongue out to lick at his plump lips.

Liu Le'er hurriedly hid behind Han Li.

Seeing the other party like this, Yu Menghan shivered as well, a chill running down her spine.

Gu Yunyue panicked a little. Although she had predicted that the Sky Ghost Sect would send people after them, she never thought that they would be so quick to react. They had even sent out these two infamous people that were very hard to deal with.

However, she was still a cultivator that had experienced a fair amount of fights. She quickly regained her calmness before she said coldly, "No matter what, shouldn't the two of you give me an explanation for suddenly attacking me at the borders? Are you trying to start a war between our sects?"

"Hehe, let's not beat around the bush. I believe that you know very well why we're here. We're under the orders of Elder Qi to bring back the murderer that killed Disciple-Nephew Qi and this doll whose surname is Yu." The hunched elder chuckled weirdly, his eyes glancing towards Han Li and Yu Menghan carelessly.

Han Li remained unmoved, his expression calm while Yu Menghan immediately paled.

Gu Yunyue harrumphed coldly and did not reply to them immediately as she hurriedly thought of a way to deal with the situation.

"Daoist Gu, you have no animosity with us. As long as you give these two people to us, we promise that you can leave safely, what do you say?" the hunched elder said as he shook his head, like he was Old Master Q from the mortal world.

Gu Yunyue's position in the Cold Fire Sect wasn't low. If it was possible, they would not want to go against her.

"Daoist Han is now my sect's guest Elder. Gu Yunyue is also our sect's inner sect disciple. What do you think our Cold Fire Sect is to be demanding me to give them to you?" Gu Yunyue's expression immediately darkened as she chided determinedly.

"Humph, seems like you want to do this the hard way. Since you have a death wish, let us help you!" the hunched elder said coldly as he raised both of his eyebrows.

The horse-faced young man had already lost his patience and, seeing that the negotiations were going south, he immediately attacked first. With a wave of his sleeves, a large grayish inferno swarmed out from that sleeve.

He pointed his finger and the grayish fire immediately surged together to form a grayish fiery whirlpool.

A ghostly fire claw about the size of a house reached out from the whirlpool and grabbed at Gu Yunyue and the rest of the group.

Gu Yunyue who had long been prepared for it, stomped her feet. The flying boat glowed once more, before it flew backwards.

At the same time, with a stretch of her hand, the black longsword beside her immediately flew out. It transfigured into a sword rainbow and slashed at the ghostly fire claw.

Gu Yunyue's gaze darkened as she changed her hand gestures.

The black sword rainbow suddenly shrunk until it was at least two times smaller. However, it was even brighter and more eye-catching.

Boom!

The black sword rainbow cut through the ghostly fire claw and created a hole through it.

With a loud hum, the ghostly claw was torn to pieces and dissipated into smoke as the fire whirlpool in the air disappeared as well.

The horse-faced young man's expression darkened as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

He growled angrily, his eyes turning bloody red as he took out a black scroll. It looked like a scroll for painting.

With that, a grayish white glow surrounded him and he became hidden from their sight.

The hunched elder also kicked off with his foot. A glow that was as black as ink appeared around him and his late-stage Nascent Soul's strong spiritual pressure spread out.

Gu Yunyue's expression changed slightly as she waved to call back the sword rainbow, which spiraled above her. Her consciousness tightly fixed on the horse-faced young man and hunched elder.

In the meantime, the flying boat took the chance to move about a thousand feet back, before it stopped.

"Daoist Han, these two people are infamous. They are extremely strong. If things don't go well, please leave with my disciple and Le'er while I hold them back." The woman hurriedly transmitted a message to Han Li.

Although she managed to deliver a minor setback to the horse-faced young man, she knew that she wasn't capable of defeating the hunched elder. Furthermore, with Han Li's unknown strength, it was a question if they could gain an advantage over their opponents if they worked together. That was why she hurriedly told them to flee.

Han Li remained standing there quietly. He did not speak and looked as indifferent as ever.

However, at this moment, a dark and hoarse voice rang in the woman's ears.

"You want to run? Can you even run?"

Gu Yunyue's heart immediately jumped to her throat.

With a loud bang the black aura around the hunched elder suddenly exploded and his shadow also turned into a blurry figure in the dark, before it transformed into a gray skull.

Seeing this, Gu Yunyue immediately froze. Han Li's eyes also sparkled a little.

Right at this moment, there was a sudden and violent fluctuation in the void above the flying boat. A black glow surged out from there and the hunched elder's shadow suddenly appeared from the black glow.

He waved his hands and golden sparkles flashed in front of him as a giant golden pagoda that was ten feet tall appeared out of nowhere and fell ruthlessly towards the flying boat.

With the sudden drop of the terrifying pressure, the aura surrounding the flying boat churned violently, like it was about to break apart anytime.

Gu Yunyue grunted softly and her hands moved as quickly as lightning while she made different hand seals that corresponded with the various sword techniques the black longsword displayed above her.

The black longsword trembled violently, as countless sword shadows appeared and slashed towards the giant pagoda.

Rumble!

Countless explosions sounded!

All of the sword shadows that slashed at the giant pagoda shattered into pieces and disappeared as they did not even leave any marks on the pagoda.

However, for just a second the pagoda's descent was slowed under the flurry of attacks from the sword shadows.

Gu Yunyue took the chance to curse softly. A silver-white glow flew out from her hand. However, it was a silver handkerchief that grew with the wind and emitted a glaring silver light.

A shadow of a mountain river appeared over the handkerchief and it produced an alarming amount of energy. It stopped under the golden pagoda and managed to halt its descent.

Gu Yunyue's tense expression relaxed a little and the coldness in her eyes jumped as she changed her hand seal.

That black longsword immediately turned around and shot out a huge black light before it grew crazily. In the blink of an eye, a giant black sword that was about six yards tall slashed towards the hunched elder.

The hunched elder coldly laughed, before he waved his hand to make another hand seal.

The bottom of the golden pagoda cracked apart with a loud rumble. A black hole appeared and a dazzling golden light sprayed out from within as it turned into a giant golden ring of light.

A scary sucking pressure formed from within and everything within a hundred feet of the ring was sucked upwards.

The giant black sword immediately stopped as if it were carrying a ton of weight. It spun and spun, flying towards the circular hole under the golden pagoda.

Gu Yunyue tried to use her hand seals to stop and stabilize the giant sword. However, it was to no avail. Within the timespan of three breaths, the giant sword was sucked into the pagoda with a whoosh.

Gu Yunyue turned pale; the mental connection she had with the black flying sword was cut off completely.

The glow of the golden pagoda sparkled even more as it rumbled loudly and the pagoda continued to fall.

The silver handkerchief slowly sank as it was being pulled down by the sucking force of the golden pagoda. The mountain river phantom that surfaced also warped out of shape, as if it too was going to be sucked in by the giant pagoda.

Gu Yunyue hurriedly made another hand seal as she put in as much magic as she could.

The river mountain phantom on top of the handkerchief grew in size, as it rumbled softly before it stabilized once more.

The hunched elder chuckled coldly and raised his arm to do something.

Bang!

A dull sound trailed from afar as the grayish-white glow around the horse-faced young man exploded, his figure appearing from within. A black scroll appeared in front of him, the very same one he had taken out earlier. However, it was spread open now and dense ghost emblems drawn on it, all of them emitting an intense black glow.

"B*tch! You dare hurt me! Brother, don't do anything! I want to let her taste a life worse than death!" The horse-faced young man growled as he glared at Gu Yunyue evilly.