Chapter 140: Senior Brother, Take Charge of the Situation
Amidst the dust and densely built-up blocks of the western city, a hundred-foot-wide circular patch of sand suddenly appeared. Ye Anping gazed at the golden bowl in the sand, narrowing his eyes slightly. The colossal mouth that had emerged from underground was the blood *kūn*’s orifice, and anything swallowed by it would turn to dust. Even a Nascent Soul cultivator would lose half their life if caught. Yet, this golden bowl had blocked the blood *kūn*’s orifice without a single crack appearing on its surface. Based on this effect alone, the golden bowl was likely a Dharma artifact of the Core Formation stage, or perhaps even the Nascent Soul stage. This was certainly not something a rogue cultivator could obtain. After this matter was settled, he felt it was imperative to investigate his Senior Brother Liang’s background. If he were truly the young master of some great family, bringing him to the Hundred Lotus Sect might lead to enmity between the sect and that great family, which would be quite troublesome.
Feng Yu Die, having snapped out of her stupor, asked, “Young Master Ye, what did that demonic cultivator do?”
“He went mad. After Left Min and Zi Tiancheng, the two formation eyes, died, he had to support all the remaining formation eyes alone. His spiritual energy was depleted, and seeing the killing formation he had researched for a hundred years easily broken by Liang Zhu, he doubted himself, went into demonic possession, and exploded.” Ye Anping replied. He pulled down his bamboo hat and, with his junior sister, leaped from the rooftop to the side of the golden bowl. He paced back and forth, observing it from the outside, before finally reaching out and gently tapping the bowl’s wall, calling out, “Senior Brother Liang, are you still alive? Your sixth brother has brought people to help you.”
The golden light gradually faded. The stone bowl, which had landed on the ground, flew up into the sky, shrinking to the size of a palm before returning to Liang Zhu’s hand. He looked at Ye Anping with a resentful gaze, remaining silent. Ye Anping raised an eyebrow, looking at the stone bowl in his hand. “Senior Brother Liang, what is the origin of this bowl? It actually blocked the blood *kūn*’s mouth without a scratch.”
Liang Zhu parted his lips slightly, took a deep breath, exhaled, and retracted the stone bowl into his storage bag. He adjusted his bamboo hat, which had been askew during the battle, glanced at Pei Lianxue and Feng Yu Die beside him, and asked, “Was the show good?”
“Senior Brother Liang’s dancing posture is renowned far and wide. Your sixth brother is impressed.”
“Did you know I had this golden bowl all along, or did you intend to sell me out here?”
“Your sixth brother merely trusts Senior Brother Liang’s strength. Moreover, even if Senior Brother Liang met with misfortune, your sixth brother would help take care of A Ting.”
“…” Liang Zhu’s eye twitched. He didn’t speak further, gave Ye Anping a look, then pulled off the bandages covering his face, took out a Spirit Gathering Pill, and chewed and swallowed it. Using the golden bowl had almost depleted all the spiritual energy in his qi sea; he needed to quickly meditate and recover. It was at this moment that a dragon’s roar echoed through the sky once more.
Whoosh—
The blood lotus suspended above the Chi Long Mansion contracted for the third time, scattering beams of crimson snowflakes. Ye Anping covered his bamboo hat, looked up at the sky for a moment, and then said, “Now, none of us four are seriously injured. Li Feng has four formation diagrams beside him. We’ll each be responsible for one, break the formation diagrams, and the Crimson Refining Five Lotus Formation will be broken. Then we can leave. Sounds quite simple, doesn’t it?”
Liang Zhu listened, imagined the scenario in his mind, and asked, “In front of a Nascent Soul cultivator, we’re going to dismantle four formation diagrams?”
“Yes.”
“How do we dismantle them?”
“Forcefully dismantle them.”
—
Outside the inner mansion’s gates, over twenty mansion guards were arrayed in formation, setting up countless anti-cavalry stakes. They, along with the surviving sect cultivators, established a final defensive line here to resist the surging blood spirits. The guard at the front, wielding a long spear and clad in armor, roared orders, “We must hold this place no matter what! Those severely injured retreat into the hall, and the rest of you, rise up to face the enemy!”
” ” “Yes!!” ” ”
It was at this moment that a sect cultivator, half his body bleeding, approached and responded sternly, “Where is Immortal Master Li? What is your Chi Long Mansion’s Immortal Master Li doing? It’s been so long, why hasn’t he made a move yet? The demonic cultivators have already reached the inner mansion!” His complaint instantly ignited the anger of the sect cultivators recuperating behind him. An elder with a white, wrinkled face immediately stood up and asked, “That’s right! We were invited to the Chi Long Convention, and this is what happened. Could it be that Li Feng, that old bastard, has fallen into demonic possession and set a trap for us?”
“Exactly! Where is Li Feng? As a Nascent Soul cultivator, resolving this matter would be as easy as waving his hand. Why hasn’t he acted yet? Does he really want to wait until we’re all dead before making a move?”
…
Looking at the sect cultivators leaning or lying within the hall, the mansion guard’s brow furrowed. He could understand the source of their resentment and was even wondering why their Prefecture Lord hadn’t made a move yet. Although not officially counted, nearly ten thousand people had already been killed or injured within the Chi Long Mansion. Why hadn’t Li Feng stepped forward for such a major event? Furthermore, even their Young Miss was missing and hadn’t come out to take charge of the situation? The mansion guard looked at everyone, then forcefully slammed the long spear in his right hand onto the ground.
Dong Dong—
“Silence!!”
Then, he took a deep breath and replied, “After this matter is resolved, the Chi Long Mansion will definitely provide a reasonable explanation to all the sects. For now, please be patient. If those blood spirits charge into the inner mansion, that is a consequence that none of you would wish to see.”
A mansion guard, whose entire body was wrapped in bandages, ran over from the direction of the inner mansion and whispered into his ear, “Guard Captain, I searched the entire inner mansion and couldn’t find the Prefecture Lord.”
“What about the Young Miss?”
“The Young Miss was also not found.”
“Tsk… Keep searching!!”
“Yes…”
At this moment, four cultivators wearing bamboo hats and with bandages wrapped around their faces entered the hall. The guard captain turned his head and, seeing them as the group who had held the Young Miss’s jade token at the Chi Long Mansion’s main gate earlier, quickly stepped forward, cupped his fists, and said, “My lords.”
Ye Anping, the leader, glanced at the guard’s eyes, then scanned the other sect cultivators in the hall, and said, “Order your mansion guards to search the city for survivors. The blood spirits are not strong; you should be able to handle them easily.”
“But my lord… there are three Core Formation stage demonic cultivators in the city.”
“They are dead. The only threat in the city now is those cultivators who were corrupted by Scarlet Snow and transformed into blood spirits.”
Hearing this, the guard captain looked incredibly disbelieving. Of the four people before him, three were at the Early Foundation Establishment stage, and only one was at the Late Foundation Establishment stage. However, recalling the golden dragon that had appeared in the central urban area earlier, he didn’t doubt them, merely adding, “Please, my lord, help calm these sect cultivators. Immortal Master Li is missing, and so is the Young Miss. If this continues, these people will likely…”
“Mmm…” Ye Anping pondered for a moment, then looked at the sect cultivators who were now all casting their gazes towards him. He stepped forward, took out Li Longling’s jade token and his Xuan Xing Sect’s identity token, and held them up for everyone to see. “Everyone, I am a disciple of the Xuan Xing Sect. I hold the Chi Long Mansion Young Miss’s jade token and command the mansion guards to deal with this demonic cultivator invasion.” Upon seeing the Xuan Xing Sect’s waist token, everyone was slightly surprised.
Ye Anping paused, then continued, “Immortal Master Li is currently fighting a Nascent Soul stage demonic cultivator and has no spare capacity to come and assist.”
“A Nascent Soul stage demonic cultivator? A Nascent Soul stage demonic cultivator has come to the Western Regions?”
“Yes. You should all know that Immortal Master Li once followed our Xuan Xing Sect’s master, Immortal Dan Yue, on countless campaigns, resisting demonic cultivators and driving those evil beings to the Eastern Domain to eke out a living. Therefore, please rest assured, Immortal Master Li will resolve this matter and give everyone an explanation.” With that, Ye Anping glanced at Feng Yu Die and the others, then, with the three of them, walked through the hall and continued towards the inner mansion.
…
