The Dream Demon grinned and opened its mouth wide, saying, "I haven't tasted the flavor of an Upper Clear Sect disciple yet. Let me have a try!"
With that, it transformed into a gust of demonic wind and charged toward Ye Ziying for a fierce battle.
Ye Ziying also pushed her true energy to its limits, fighting the Dream Demon with all her might.
However, Ye Ziying was only at the seventh rank, while the Dream Demon had already reached the eighth rank. Although her "Jade Mirror Skill" allowed her to hold her ground, as time passed, her stamina started to dwindle, and her true energy began to deplete.
Gradually, Ye Ziying found herself at a disadvantage.
"Father, hurry and run!"
Ye Ziying knew she couldn't hold off the Dream Demon for much longer, so she urged her father, Ye Qingbei, to flee.
Ye Qingbei's face was filled with anxiety.
But he couldn't abandon his daughter and escape.
"Boom!"
With a single strike, the Dream Demon knocked Ye Ziying back. She couldn't block the attack, and a mouthful of blood spilled from her lips.
"An Upper Clear Sect disciple, and this is all you amount to?" The Dream Demon sneered.
Then, it turned to approach Ye Qingbei.
"Father!"
At that moment, Ye Ziying regretted underestimating her enemy. Before leaving, her senior brothers had offered help, but she had thought that in a small town like Baiyun City, only low-level demons would be around. She believed she could handle it easily and didn't even bring her spirit treasures.
She never expected that the Dream Demon in Baiyun City would be an eighth-rank cultivator, and it was specifically after her father.
"Don't touch my father!"
Just then, a voice came from behind the Dream Demon. Ye Yun appeared, holding a long staff and smashing it on the demon's head.
However, with Ye Yun's strength, the blow was nothing more than an itch to the Dream Demon.
"Kid."
"You're really brave."
The Dream Demon turned around and smirked, raising a bony hand and sending Ye Yun flying into the house.
Ye Yun immediately coughed up blood as he crashed to the ground in a daze.
"Yun'er!" Ye Qingbei shouted in horror.
"Enough." The Dream Demon turned back to Ye Qingbei and said, "Originally, I wanted to search for something through a dream, but now I'm too lazy to do it myself. Just tell me, where is the Ninth Prince?"
Hearing this, Ye Qingbei's expression changed, and he replied, "How could I possibly know the whereabouts of the Ninth Prince?"
"Is that so?" The Dream Demon nodded, then walked into the house, "If you don't know, I'll kill your son to give you a reminder!"
With those words, the Dream Demon grabbed Ye Yun, who was struggling on the ground, and squeezed his neck. Ye Yun's face contorted in pain, and the demon's grip seemed ready to snap his neck at any moment.
"Stop!"
Ye Qingbei roared, veins bulging on his forehead, struggling with his own conflicting emotions.
"I'll give you three breaths of time..." The Dream Demon slowly tightened its grip.
Ye Ziying, seeing her brother held in the demon's hand, felt helpless.
However, just as the Dream Demon was about to crush Ye Yun, she heard him say something through his strained breaths.
"What did you say?" The Dream Demon leaned in, curious.
"I said... you... die!" Ye Yun gathered all his remaining strength to shout those words, then suddenly raised his hand. Without the Dream Demon noticing, a talisman appeared in Ye Yun's palm.
Seizing the moment when the Dream Demon was distracted, Ye Yun slapped the talisman onto its forehead.
At the moment Ye Yun fell to the ground earlier, the talisman had been near him. Though he had doubted it before, in that moment of desperation, he chose to take a gamble.
"Buzz!"
In an instant, the talisman erupted with a brilliant light.
Under this light, it seemed that all demons and evil spirits were being purified. The eighth-rank Dream Demon didn't even let out a scream before being completely disintegrated into ash by the talisman!
With disbelief in everyone's eyes, the demon turned to flying ashes.
Crash.
Ye Yun dropped to the floor, coughing violently, his eyes wide in shock as he stared at the ashes, "This exorcism talisman really works. Father, Sister, this talisman is real! That Taoist really is an extraordinary master!"
Ye Ziying stood frozen, utterly stunned by the sight before her.
The Taoist sect had declined.
It had long lost its former glory.
There was no longer any orthodox Taoist sect in the world, and she had never heard of any Taoist masters who had reached the Transcendence realm. How could a single talisman possess such immense power?
That was an eighth-rank Dream Demon!
Just a talisman, and it was reduced to ashes in an instant.
What kind of expert could draw such a talisman?
Such a person must be someone worth befriending. It would be of immense benefit to Baiyun City.
"Yun'er." Ye Qingbei nodded, "Well done. Tomorrow, you should find that senior and thank them properly for saving our lives! Be sure to invite them to the City Lord's Manor as a guest."
"Leave it to me!"
For the first time, Ye Yun was praised by his father, and he couldn't help but feel overjoyed.
"Why hasn't he come back yet?"
Back at Changsheng Temple, Mike had expected that today would be the day Liu Dongyue returned, but there was still no sign of him. This made Mike lose his focus and he couldn't even bring himself to read.
There was also another issue that made Mike feel quite helpless.
Originally, he had true energy at the sixth rank, but as his spiritual energy increased, it ruthlessly consumed all of his true energy, almost as if it was devouring it for nourishment.
Now, Mike no longer had any trace of true energy in his body. To anyone looking, he seemed like an ordinary person.
What surprised Mike even more was that, according to the explanation in the Northern Emperor's Art, his current cultivation was actually in the Qi Refining stage.
This was a completely different system of cultivation.
Unfortunately, his Northern Emperor's Art was merely an inner sect secret technique and didn't include any spells.
"Master, Second Senior Brother has returned!"
At that moment, Yun Qianchu ran in excitedly.
"Finally!" Mike's eyes lit up.
Liu Dongyue had returned with one thousand silver taels!
However, when Mike walked out to meet him, he saw Liu Dongyue with a long face, carrying a large silver axe on his back.
"What happened?" Mike frowned. "Didn't you make it into the top thousand?"
"Yeah." Liu Dongyue had already thought up an excuse on the way back. Instead of admitting he didn't make it into the top rankings, he figured it would be easier to say he didn't make the cut at all. At least that way, he could save face. Who could have guessed that even the first place didn't offer any rewards?
"With my Seven Treasures Gourd, you still didn't make it into the top thousand?" Mike's expression was one of disappointment, as if he couldn't accept it.
One thousand silver taels… gone.
And the debt was coming due.
The Baiyun City gambling den had experts, and the entire Changsheng Temple, including Mike, the elderly, the sick, and the minors, couldn't possibly compete.
"So where did that axe come from?" Mike noticed the Brahma Axe and asked in surprise. When did Liu Dongyue start using an axe as his weapon?
"Oh, it was a souvenir from someone," Liu Dongyue quickly replied.