The Cannon Fodder Turns His Sister Into A Soaring Phoenix – Chapter 361

Chapter 362 Villain, Liang Xiaoliu!!!!

Above the sky curtain, dark clouds gathered, and the cold wind made the wooden door creak.

Pixiu Town, located in the snow forest to the east of the Northern Region, the Pill Shop opened as usual, selling pills.

Behind the counter stood a young man who looked to be in his early twenties.

The young man’s name was Wang Er, and he was an apprentice his master had taken in a few months ago. His cultivation was only at the Early Foundation Establishment Stage.

It was common for a master and disciple to impart knowledge and answer questions. However, in the months Wang Er had been with his master, he hadn’t learned a single skill in alchemy or talisman drawing.

Instead, he had learned a lot about “human nature” from his master.

Just like…

Creak—

The large door of the pill shop was pushed open from the outside. Wang Er looked up and saw two somewhat strange cultivators step across the threshold. He was immediately surprised.

The attire of these two cultivators was ordinary. One wore black clothes and a white bamboo hat, while the other wore white clothes and a black bamboo hat, both with face coverings.

But the things they carried on their backs were not ordinary.

A musical instrument resembling a guqin, wrapped in thick bandages, was carried on their backs by both of them.

Because the instrument was too wide, the two men got stuck between the door posts when entering. They had to shift their bodies to get inside the shop.

The two cultivators walked to the counter together. The one in black clothes and a white bamboo hat scrutinized Wang Er and said,

“Snow covers the golden west, and the sun sets in the west.”

“Oh!”

Wang Er paused for a moment. He gestured for the two to wait, took out a small notebook from his waist, flipped through it for a while, and replied,

“North hunts ten thousand tigers, facing the cold!”

This notebook contained everything he had learned from his master in the past three months.

Because the area within a hundred li radius was desolate and sparsely populated, this pill shop served as a “contact point” for many dark and evil forces.

Whether it was the Seven Kill Gate, the Seven Profound Sect, the Hundred Flowers Society, or any other organization, they could come here to make contact, gather information, or receive missions.

After repeatedly checking the records in his notebook and confirming he hadn’t answered incorrectly, Wang Er quickly cupped his hands and asked,

“What information do the two seniors seek?”

The cultivator in black clothes and a white bamboo hat narrowed his eyes and looked at him, asking,

“Newcomer?”

“Yes, I just started practicing cultivation a few months ago. My master is in the back room refining pills. You can tell this junior whatever you need.”

The black-clothed cultivator hesitated for a moment. He made a sword finger gesture, took out three portraits and a bag of spirit stones from his storage bag, and asked,

“The location of these three individuals.”

Wang Er leaned forward to take a look, his eyebrows raising slightly.

“Oh my, seniors, you are already the third group to inquire about these three people.”

The black-clothed cultivator frowned slightly.

“…Where?”

“These three stayed in Pixiu Town for two days, and then headed towards Snow Dragon Town in the west.”

“How many days ago did they leave?”

“They left five days ago. If you two are swift, you should be able to catch up. They didn’t seem to be in a hurry.”

“Mm.”

The black-clothed cultivator nodded, put the portraits back into his storage bag, gave a look to the white-clothed cultivator beside him, and together they turned 190 degrees on the spot, exiting the door sideways like a pair of crabs.

Wang Er waved goodbye, not forgetting to say,

“Safe travels, seniors!”

Shortly after they left, an elderly-looking cultivator came out from the inner room. Seemingly having heard the commotion, he asked,

“Who was just here?”

“Two cultivators from the Seven Kill Gate. One in white clothes and a black bamboo hat, and the other in black clothes and a white bamboo hat.”

The old man took a deep breath after hearing this and asked,

“Hiss— were they… carrying a guqin on their backs?”

“Yes! Master, how did you know?”

“Are you stupid?” The old man gave him a look and explained, “Those two are the “Gu Kuei” of the Seven Kill Gate, known in the underworld as ‘Bai Yin’ and ‘Hei Yang’. Although both are mid-Core Formation stage cultivators, they once teamed up to kill a Nascent Soul cultivator. The guqin they carry is also a profound treasure.”

“Are they powerful?”

“Nonsense! Those two have never failed.” The old man slapped Wang Er on the head, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, “Were they also here to inquire about those two women and one man?”

“…Yes.”

“Wow, the employer who posted this bounty must be extremely wealthy. The Gu Kuei of the Seven Kill Gate, the Sword Master of the Seven Profound Sect, and ‘Yu Potian’ of the Ghost Hunter Sect. To attract so many top killers from the underworld, this bounty must be at least a million spirit stones!”

Wang Er was stunned for a moment. He lowered his head and nodded, saying with envy,

“Then Master, do you think we should also try to get a share of the profit?”

The old man kicked him in the backside and cursed, “Get a share? Are you looking to die? You brat, go chop firewood in the backyard!”

After kicking Wang Er to the backyard, the old man walked to the main entrance with his hands behind his back, looked up at the June snow falling on the street, and muttered to himself,

“What kind of deep-seated hatred would warrant such a bounty? It’s enough to alert more than half of the Northern Region’s black market, isn’t it? No… probably more than just the black market.

If the Hantian Kingdom’s court learns that such a large bounty has been posted on the black market, they definitely won’t stand by and do nothing. They’ll likely send people to investigate as well.

I wonder who these three Core Formation stage cultivators have offended? To have the connections to post bounties with so many underworld forces, and to be so wealthy. This is truly… I’ve opened my eyes today…”

… …

—

Dark moon and high wind, with goose-feather snow fluttering in the sky.

Under the eaves of the inn in Huilong Town, lanterns lit by fire stones swayed in the wind.

At the entrance of the inn, a woman in white clothes held a pot of strong liquor, offering it to the falling snow.

“Gulp, gulp—”

The strong liquor quenched her thirst and dispelled the cold air entering her body, followed by a crisp bell sound.

Ding-a-ling—

Gu Mingxin looked down at the pair of strange bells on her waist. They were given to her by a strange young girl in the forest outside Tianan City.

Originally, she planned to discard them after returning to the Eastern Region.

However, these bells seemed to be bound to her soul. No matter if she buried them, threw them into lava, smashed them with a hammer, or attacked them with spells, they would return to her side intact the next moment.

She had even taken them to the artifact refiners of the Tian Mo Sect, but no one could explain what they were.

Since they were always on her, and besides ringing, they caused no other harm, Gu Mingxin simply tied them to her belt like a tassel, as a constant reminder of the lesson she learned in Tianan City three years ago.

After returning to the Tian Mo Sect from the Central Region that time, she immediately rushed to tell her master about her experiences in the Central Region.

Her master was furious. In three years, at least four thousand disciples of the Tian Mo Sect were sent to the spirit fields or alchemy furnaces as fertilizer and materials for alchemy.

Gu Mingxin herself spent over a year recuperating before her injuries completely healed. She then stayed in the Eastern Region, and on Xue E’s advice, made some relatively good friends.

Xue E, floating above with a small wine gourd in her hand, looked at Gu Mingxin’s furrowed brow and asked,

“Mingxin, are you thinking about the incident in Tianan City again?”

“Hmph, how could I forget?” Gu Mingxin let out a cold laugh, raised her head, and took another gulp of liquor. “In my entire life, this is the first time I’ve suffered such a major setback… Liang Xiaoliu, I will never forget that name, even in death.”

Xue E seemed helpless. She sighed and said,

“Why talk about becoming a ghost? It’s so inauspicious. Besides, that name sounds like a fake name. Why remember it so clearly?”

“Then tell me, what is his real name?” Gu Mingxin twisted her brows, complaining, “Useless thing, you call yourself the spirit of the Tian Mo Book Scroll that knows everything in the heavens and earth. You can’t even find a person’s name…”

Xue E seemed troubled and sighed helplessly, saying,

“The Tian Mo Book Scroll only records past events. Moreover, that person was just a dual-spiritual root cultivator, I disdained to record him in the book. He might have died last year or the year before in the Core Formation heavenly tribulation.”

“…”

“Oh, Mingxin, I mean for you to stop dwelling on him. Be careful of inner demons.”

“Hmph.”

Gu Mingxin snorted coldly, took another mouthful of strong liquor, and ignored it.

Xue E was also helpless. After thinking for a moment, she added,

“Liang Xiaoliu used Yun Jian Shang Xian’s natal spirit sword before. So he’s probably from the Yun family, right? Surname Yun?”

“There are only three girls left among the dozens of direct disciples of the Yun family of the Moon Shadow Sword Sect. How could he be from the Yun family? And he doesn’t have golden hair.”

“Maybe he dyed his hair? And the Yun family is hiding him?”

Gu Mingxin let it go in one ear and out the other, not wanting to listen to Xue E’s nagging. She looked at the dim street under the falling snow.

Perhaps because “Liang Xiaoliu” had left such a deep impression on her, every time she arrived in a new town, she felt a sense of unease, fearing that the town was full of ambushes.

This was also why she wasn’t in her room late at night, but standing at the inn’s entrance, drinking in the snow and wind.

For a moment, Gu Mingxin found herself a little ridiculous.

The last time she was ambushed, it was a spy from the Tian Mo Sect who informed Liang Xiaoliu.

Now that the Tian Mo Sect had been thoroughly purged, Liang Xiaoliu would definitely not be able to get any more information.

Moreover, Liang Xiaoliu looked like a cultivator from the Southern or Western Regions, and wouldn’t appear in the Northern Region.

“Hoo—”

Her cherry lips parted, exhaling a warm breath that condensed into ice mist about three feet from her nose and fell to the ground.

Gu Mingxin shook her head, drank the last sip of liquor, and prepared to return to her room to rest.

Her mission in the Northern Region was to locate the position of the Hantian Kingdom’s Heavenly Snow Array’s eye, in order to help the demonic sects of the Eastern Region break through the Hantian Kingdom’s borders, kill the Hantian Kingdom’s Empress, and bring the Northern Region under the control of demonic cultivators.

To this end, the six great demonic sects had secretly dispatched thirty-seven Core Formation stage cultivators and hundreds of Foundation Establishment stage cultivators to infiltrate, divided into several teams, heading in the four cardinal directions of the Northern Region.

She and the other two Core Formation stage cultivators traveling with her were one of these teams, responsible for searching the southwest of the Northern Region and secretly probing the Hantian Kingdom’s movements.

Gu Mingxin was contemplating how to complete her mission. Just as she was about to push the door and return to the inn, the inn door was pulled open from the inside.

The man who opened the door was named Wu Tianci, a high-ranking inner disciple of the Tian Mo Sect, with a cultivation at the early Core Formation stage.

Upon seeing him, Gu Mingxin raised an eyebrow and smiled.

“Junior Brother Wu, why aren’t you resting? What are you doing out in the middle of the night?”

“And Senior Sister Gu isn’t sleeping either?”

Wu Tianci glanced at Gu Mingxin, stepped out of the room, looked up at the snow falling in the sky, and suddenly sighed, “Hoo—”

“What’s wrong? Why the sigh?”

“Seeing this falling snow reminds me of my useless father.” Wu Tianci narrowed his eyes slightly, gritted his teeth, and said, “I still can’t figure out how my father, with his abilities, could have perished in a mere Chi Long Mansion.”

Gu Mingxin raised an eyebrow and said,

“I didn’t expect Junior Brother Wu to still care about family ties? Wasn’t it said that you and Senior Wu were like fire and water?”

“I’m not thinking about family ties,” Wu Tianci replied coldly. “I’m thinking about the Thousand Punishments Formation Diagram in his storage bag. I don’t know where his storage bag ended up.”

Upon hearing this, Gu Mingxin raised an eyebrow and gave Xue E, who was floating in the sky, a look.

Xue E rolled her eyes at her, then took out a black scroll from under her skirt, which was slightly larger than herself. After flipping through it for a while, she said,

“Yes.”

Gu Mingxin nodded and said,

“Then if Senior Sister can get you a formation diagram, how will you repay Senior Sister?”

Wu Tianci narrowed his eyes upon hearing this and asked,

“That depends on what Senior Sister Gu wants to take from me.”

“Let’s just be friends.”

“Heh… Among demonic cultivators, we don’t talk about ‘friends’,” Wu Tianci sneered. “But if Senior Sister truly obtains it, then Junior Brother will naturally help Senior Sister get what she desires.”

“What I desire is nothing more than a person.”

“Who?”

“Liang Xiaoliu. If Junior Brother helps me kill him, Senior Sister will go find the Thousand Punishments Formation Diagram for you, how about it?”

Wu Tianci smiled and cupped his hands in response, “Then Junior Brother will remember this…”

Rustle—

As the two were talking, the sound of footsteps crunching on snow suddenly came from the end of the otherwise deserted street.

Gu Mingxin and Wu Tianci immediately became alert, looking towards the source of the sound.

They saw two strange cultivators, carrying something resembling a guqin together, walking towards them.

One in white clothes and a black bamboo hat, the other in black clothes and a white bamboo hat.

“…”

Gu Mingxin frowned slightly, her gaze fixed on the two approaching them. She wondered why any cultivators would be traveling in the Northern Region’s wind and snow in the middle of the night.

Xue E, floating above, glanced at the two and said,

“Mingxin, both of them are mid-Core Formation stage cultivators. What they are carrying on their backs is likely a profound treasure. They are not to be trifled with.”

Gu Mingxin knitted her brows subtly and replied with her divine sense,

“Why would I provoke them? They look like ‘knives’ from the black market.”

Then, she looked back at Wu Tianci and said,

“Junior Brother, let’s go back inside first and avoid them.”

“Mm…”

Just as the two were about to push the door and return to the inn.

Suddenly, a fierce wind erupted.

Boom—

A ball of fire blasted away the inn’s roof. A red figure on the second floor, engulfed in flames, crashed through the wall and landed on the thick snow on the street.

Gu Mingxin was startled and turned to look. She saw that the person who had fallen was another demonic cultivator at the Core Formation stage, who had been traveling with her and Wu Tianci.

—Lu Meimei, a high-ranking inner disciple of the Hehuan Sect, mid-Core Formation stage.

Lu Meimei’s back hit the snow heavily. Her already scantily clad clothes became even more revealing under the burning flames. When they touched the snow, they emitted a sizzling sound like roasting meat.

She recovered slightly, quickly stood up, and spat out a mouthful of blood,

“Ptooey— Damnable!”

Gu Mingxin was slightly puzzled. She immediately stepped forward, helped her up, and stared at the cave emitting thick smoke on the second floor, asking,

“Sister Lu, what happened?”

“I slept with thunder.” Lu Meimei puffed out her chest and pouted. “That person was quite good-looking, but halfway through, he suddenly stabbed me with his sword.”

?

Gu Mingxin twisted her brows, subconsciously wondering if her bewitching technique had failed, causing the furnace cauldron she had casually grabbed in town to escape.

After all, she was a cultivator of the Hehuan Sect and couldn’t live without men. For the past half month, every town they passed, Lu Meimei would grab a man for her nightly use, and incidentally, to gather information about the town.

However, before she could voice her doubts, a dark shadow suddenly shot out from the cave on the second floor.

Gu Mingxin’s eyes widened slightly, and she immediately raised her spirit sword.

Clang—

Sparks flew.

A spirit sword was blocked directly in front of her chest. Gu Mingxin narrowed her eyes and looked at the person who had attacked, seeing a cultivator in a cyan robe with a cultivation level around the mid-Core Formation stage.

Wu Tianci, who was under the inn’s eaves, instantly flashed behind the cyan-robed cultivator and punched him in the back.

Boom—

Fist winds roared, but the cyan-robed cultivator dodged it with a skillful movement technique, leaping back ten feet away.

At this time, the two cultivators carrying the guqin who had appeared at the end of the road also walked under the inn.

Seeing the cyan-robed cultivator, the two of them showed a hint of hostility in their eyes. The cyan-robed cultivator, however, smiled crookedly upon seeing them.

“Hei Yang, Bai Yin, have you two seniors also arrived?”

“Mm.” Hei Yang nodded slightly, glancing at Gu Mingxin and the others. “They are not easy to deal with.”

“Indeed. Shall we divide them later?”

“Here!”

Swoosh—

Hei Yang and Bai Yin lightly waved their hands, and the long guqin on their backs was flung into the air with the bandages. Then, they sat down simultaneously, floating above the ground.

A dark green light appeared on the guqin strings, precisely landing above their laps.

Seeing this, Gu Mingxin’s eyebrows twisted into a frown.

What is going on?

Our group, apart from the men Lu Meimei grabbed, hasn’t done anything to attract attention. Why are we being targeted?

Furthermore, these three don’t look like righteous cultivators. A playboy cyan-robed Sword Cultivator, and two strange Law Cultivators wielding profound treasures…

They look like the kind of cultivators who like to kill for treasure.

It’s helpless to encounter such cultivators, but the key is why, all three of them have appeared at the same time, and they have even joined forces.

Gu Mingxin was dumbfounded, and the chesty but brainless Lu Meimei was even more bewildered.

“You two in the white and black clothes, do we have any grudges? I can understand if you want to kill me because I tied up the one in yellow. But where did you two come from?”

The cyan-robed cultivator chuckled, “Fairy Lu, these two are my reinforcements.”

“Reinforcements?”

Lu Meimei still didn’t react.

However, upon hearing this, both Gu Mingxin and Wu Tianci caught a detail.

This cyan-robed cultivator knew Lu Meimei’s surname.

In other words, these people were completely targeting them.

Wu Tianci felt that the situation was not good and whispered,

“Senior Sister Gu, something is wrong, let’s leave…”

However, Gu Mingxin didn’t hear him at all. Her eyes were staring blankly at the three people in front of her, as if she had lost her soul.

“Senior Sister Gu?”

“Heh heh… Heh heh…”

“…”

Wu Tianci narrowed his eyes, not knowing what was wrong with her. But in the next moment.

Gu Mingxin’s laughter grew louder. She held her forehead with her left hand, tilted her chin up.

“Heh heh hahahaha—”

Her mad laughter echoed throughout the small town.

Then, a red light shot straight into the sky, breaking through the thick dark clouds above.

A strong bloody aura flowed from Gu Mingxin’s entire body, dyeing the falling snow into streaks of blood.

“LIANG XIAOLIU!!!!”

The sound wave shook the doors of the houses on both sides of the street.

Lu Meimei, startled by her roar, trembled her ample chest, took a step back, and asked,

“Sister Gu, who is Liang Xiaoliu?”

The next moment, with a loud “Boom”.

Gu Mingxin stomped and scattered the snow below, transforming into a brilliant and ethereal shadow, charging directly towards the face of the cyan-robed cultivator.

… …