Chapter 362 Villain, Liang Xiaoliu!!!!
Dark clouds filled the sky above, and the cold wind made the wooden door creak.
Pixiu Town, nestled in the snow forest on the east side of the Northern Region, opened its doors for business as usual, selling pills.
Standing behind the counter was a young man who appeared to be in his twenties.
The young man’s name was Wang Er, and he was an apprentice taken in by the owner of this pill shop a few months ago. His cultivation was only at the Early Foundation Establishment Stage.
While it was natural for masters and disciples to impart knowledge and resolve doubts, in the several months with his master, Wang Er had not learned a single skill in alchemy or talisman drawing.
However, he had learned a great deal about “human relationships” from his master.
For example…
Creak—
The door of the pill shop was pushed open from the outside. Wang Er looked up and saw two rather peculiar cultivators stepping over the threshold, his face immediately revealing surprise.
The clothing 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 had their faces covered with masks.
But the things they carried on their backs were not ordinary.
A magical artifact resembling a guqin, wrapped in thick bandages, was carried jointly on their backs.
Because the magical artifact was too wide, the two men got stuck by the doorposts when entering. They had to shift their bodies to get inside.
The two cultivators walked to the counter, and the one in black clothes and a white bamboo hat scrutinized Wang Er and said:
“Snow covers the golden west, the sun sets.”
“Oh!”
Wang Er paused, gestured for the two to wait, took out a small notebook from his waist, and after flipping through it for a while, 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 was a desolate wilderness with few traces of human habitation, this pill shop had taken on the role of a “front” for many criminal organizations.
Whether it was the Seven Kill Gate, the Seven Xuan Sect, the Hundred Lily Association, or any other group, they could come here to make contact, gather information, or accept missions.
After repeatedly checking the records in the notebook and confirming he had not made a mistake, Wang Er quickly cupped his hands and asked:
“What would you two seniors like to inquire about?”
The cultivator in black clothes and a white bamboo hat narrowed his eyes and looked at him, asking:
“Newcomer?”
“Yes, I started on the path only a few months ago. My master is in the back refining pills. If you two seniors need anything, just tell your junior.”
The black-clothed cultivator hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand, forming a sword finger, and took out three portraits and a bag of spirit stones from his storage bag, asking:
“The locations of these three people.”
Wang Er leaned forward to take a look, his eyebrows twitching slightly:
“Hey, you two seniors are already the third ‘guests’ to inquire about these three people.”
The black-clothed cultivator’s brow furrowed slightly:
“…Where?”
“These three stayed in Pixiu Town for two days, and then they headed towards Snow Dragon Town to the west.”
“How many days ago did they leave?”
“They left five days ago. If you two are quick, you should be able to catch up. I saw that the three of them weren’t in a hurry to travel.”
“En.”
The black-clothed cultivator nodded, put the portraits back into his storage bag, signaled to the white-clothed cultivator beside him, and together they turned 190 degrees on the spot and walked out of the door sideways, like a pair of crabs.
Wang Er did not forget to wave goodbye:
“Safe travels, seniors!”
Not long after the two left, an old-looking cultivator emerged from the back room, seemingly having heard the commotion. He asked:
“Who just came?”
“Two cultivators from the Seven Kill Gate. One in white clothes and a black bamboo hat, the other in black clothes and a white bamboo hat.”
The old man took a deep breath upon hearing this and asked:
“Hiss— were they… carrying a zither?”
“Yes! Master, how did you know?”
“Are you stupid?” The old man rolled his eyes at him and explained, “Those two are the ‘Qin Kui’ of the Seven Kill Gate, known in the underworld as ‘Bai Yin’ and ‘Hei Yang’. Although they are both cultivators at the Core Formation Mid Stage, they once joined forces to take down a Nascent Soul cultivator. The zither they carry on their backs is also a profound treasure.”
“Is it powerful?”
“Nonsense! Those two have never failed.” The old man slapped Wang Er on the head. After hesitating for a moment, he asked again, “Are they also here to inquire about those two women and one man?”
“…Yes.”
“Hoo, the employer who posted this bounty is truly wealthy. The Qin Kui of the Seven Kill Gate, the Sword Master of the Seven Xuan Sect, and ‘Yu Potian’ of the Ghost Hunter Gate. To attract so many top assassins from the underworld, the bounty must be at least a million spirit stones?”
Wang Er stared blankly for a moment, then lowered his head and nodded, saying with envy:
“Then Master, do you think we should also go and get a piece of the pie?”
The old man kicked him in the butt and cursed, “Get a piece of the pie? Are you looking for death? You brat, go chop firewood in the backyard!”
After sending Wang Er to the backyard, the old man walked to the main entrance with his hands behind his back, looked up at the flying snow in June on the street, and murmured to himself:
“How much of a grudge must there be to set such a bounty? It must have alerted at least half of the black market in the Northern Region. No… probably more than just the black market.
“If the Hantian Kingdom’s court learns that someone has posted such a large bounty in the black market, they absolutely won’t stand by and watch. They’ll likely send people to investigate.
“I wonder, who did those three Core Formation cultivators anger to have such connections to post bounties in so many underworld factions, and still be so wealthy? This is truly… I’ve opened my eyes today…”
… …
—
Dark moon and high wind, with goose-like snow fluttering in the sky.
Under the eaves of the inn in Huilong Town, lanterns with firestones hung, swaying unceasingly in the cold wind.
In front of the inn’s main door, a woman in white clothes, holding a pot of strong liquor, was asking the snow with wine.
“Gulp, gulp—”
The strong liquor entered her throat, dispelling the cold air that had seeped into her body, followed by a clear bell sound.
Ding-a-ling—
Gu Mingxin lowered her head at the sound and looked at the pair of strange bells on her waist. These were given to her by a peculiar little girl in the forest outside Tianan City.
She had originally intended to throw them away 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 bombarded them with spells, they would reappear beside her intact the next moment.
She had even taken them to the artifact masters of the Tian Mo Sect, but no one could explain what they were.
Since they had no other ill effects besides making noise, Gu Mingxin simply tied them to her belt as a tassel, a constant reminder not to forget 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 ran 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 spirit fields or alchemy furnaces as fertilizer and materials.
Gu Mingxin herself spent more than a year recuperating before her injuries were fully healed. Afterwards, she stayed in the Eastern Region to recuperate and, following Xue E’s advice, made some decent friends.
Floating above, holding a small wine gourd, Xue E saw Gu Mingxin frowning and asked:
“Mingxin, are you thinking about what happened in Tianan City again?”
“Hmph, how could I forget?” Gu Mingxin gave a cold laugh and took another gulp of wine, “In my life, from birth until now, this is the first time I’ve suffered such a major setback… Liang Xiaoliu, I will never forget this name, even as a ghost.”
Xue E was somewhat helpless and sighed, saying:
“What becoming a ghost, that’s so inauspicious. Besides, this name sounds like a fake. Why do you remember it so clearly?”
“Then tell me what his real name is?” Gu Mingxin twisted her eyebrows and complained, “Useless thing, you call yourself the artifact spirit of the Heaven-Connecting Earth-Knowing Tian Mo Book Scroll yet you can’t even find out a person’s name…”
Xue E was somewhat frustrated and sighed helplessly, saying:
“The Tian Mo Book Scroll only records past events. Besides, that person was just a dual spiritual root cultivator. I disdained to record him in the book. Who knows, he might have died in the Core Formation tribulation last year or the year before.”
“… …”
“Oh, Mingxin, I meant for you to stop dwelling on him, be careful of inner demons.”
“Hmph.”
Gu Mingxin snorted coldly and took another mouthful of strong liquor, ignoring it.
Xue E was also helpless. After thinking for a moment, she added:
“Liang Xiaoliu’s spirit sword before was Yun Jian Shang Xian’s life-bound spirit sword, so he’s probably from the Yun family, right? His surname is Yun?”
“There are dozens of direct descendants in the Yun family of the Moon Shadow Sword Sect. Now only three girls are left. How could he be from the Yun family? Besides, he doesn’t have golden hair.”
“Maybe he dyed it? Or the Yun family hid him?”
Gu Mingxin completely ignored Xue E’s chatter and looked at the dimly lit street under the falling snow.
Perhaps because “Liang Xiaoliu” left such a deep impression on her, every time she went to a new town now, she felt a sense of unease, fearing that the town was full of ambushes.
This was also why she was not staying in her room late at night but standing at the inn entrance, drinking wine and watching the snow.
For a moment, Gu Mingxin found herself somewhat ridiculous.
The last time she was ambushed, it was a spy from the Tian Mo Sect who tipped off Liang Xiaoliu.
Now that the Tian Mo Sect had been purged, Liang Xiaoliu would definitely not be able to get any information.
Moreover, Liang Xiaoliu looked like a cultivator from the Southern or Western Regions and would not appear in the Northern Region.
“Hoo—”
Her cherry lips parted, exhaling a breath of warm air, which condensed into ice mist about three feet from her nose and fell to the ground.
Gu Mingxin shook her head, took the last sip of wine, and prepared to return to her room to rest.
Her mission in the Northern Region was to ascertain the location of the Hantian Kingdom’s Heavenly Snow Array 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 major demonic sects had secretly dispatched thirty-seven Core Formation cultivators and hundreds of Foundation Establishment cultivators to infiltrate. They had divided into several teams and headed towards the east, south, west, and north of the Northern Region, respectively.
She and the other two Core Formation cultivators accompanying her were one of these teams, responsible for searching the southwest of the Northern Region and secretly gathering intelligence on the Hantian Kingdom’s movements.
Gu Mingxin was contemplating how to complete her mission. Just as she was about to push open the door to return to the inn, the inn’s 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 cultivation at the Early Core Formation Stage.
Upon seeing him, Gu Mingxin raised her eyebrows and smiled:
“Junior Brother Wu, why are you out so late instead of resting?”
“Isn’t Senior Sister Gu also not asleep?”
Wu Tianci glanced at Gu Mingxin, walked 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 vast expanse of falling snow reminds me of my incompetent father.” Wu Tianci narrowed his eyes slightly, grinding his teeth, “I still can’t figure out how my father, with his skills, could have fallen in a mere Chi Long Mansion.”
Gu Mingxin raised her eyebrows and said:
“I didn’t expect Junior Brother Wu, you still care about this father-son relationship? Aren’t you said to be irreconcilable with Senior Wu?”
“I’m not thinking about this father-son relationship,” Wu Tianci replied indifferently. “I’m thinking about the Thousand Punishments Formation Diagram in his storage bag. I wonder where his storage bag has gone.”
Gu Mingxin raised her eyebrows upon hearing this and gave Xue E, who was floating above, a look.
Xue E rolled her eyes at her, then pulled out a black scroll, which was slightly larger than itself, from under her skirt. After flipping through it for a while, she said:
“Yes.”
Gu Mingxin nodded and said:
“Then, if Senior Sister were to get a formation diagram for you, how would you repay Senior Sister?”
Wu Tianci squinted upon hearing this and asked:
“That would depend on what Senior Sister Gu wants to take from her junior brother.”
“Let’s just say we’re making friends.”
“Heh… Among demonic cultivators, we don’t talk about ‘friends’,” Wu Tianci sneered. “But if Senior Sister truly obtains it, then this junior brother will naturally help Senior Sister get what she wants.”
“What I want is nothing more than a person.”
“Who?”
“Liang Xiaoliu. If Junior Brother helps me kill him, will Senior Sister get the Thousand Punishments Formation Diagram for you?”
Wu Tianci smiled and cupped his hands in reply, “Then this junior brother will remember it…”
Rustle—
As the two were chatting, they suddenly heard footsteps crunching on the snow from the end of the otherwise empty street.
Gu Mingxin and Wu Tianci immediately became vigilant and looked towards the source of the sound.
They saw two strange cultivators, carrying something resembling a zither together, walking towards them.
One wore white clothes and a black bamboo hat, the other black clothes and a white bamboo hat.
“… …”
Gu Mingxin frowned slightly, her gaze fixed on the two approaching them. She was curious why any cultivators would be out in the northern snow at this hour.
Xue E, floating above, glanced at the two and said:
“Mingxin, both of them are Core Formation Mid Stage cultivators. The thing they’re carrying on their backs should be a profound treasure, not someone to be trifled with.”
Gu Mingxin subtly frowned and replied with her divine sense:
“Why should I provoke them? They look like ‘blades’ from the black market.”
Then, she looked back at Wu Tianci and said:
“Junior Brother, let’s go back inside. Let’s avoid them.”
“En…”
Just as the two were about to push the door to go back into the inn.
Suddenly, a fierce wind rose.
Boom—
A ball of fire exploded and blew off the inn’s roof. A red figure on the second floor, covered in flames, smashed through the wall and landed on the thick snow on the street.
Gu Mingxin was startled and turned to look, only to see that the person who fell was another demonic cultivator at the Core Formation Stage, who had accompanied her and Wu Tianci.
—Lu Meimei, a high-ranking inner disciple of the Hehuan Sect, Core Formation Mid Stage.
Lu Meimei’s back hit the snow heavily. Her already revealing clothes became even more insufficient after being scorched by the flames. When they touched the snow, they let out sizzling sounds of roasting meat.
She recovered for a moment, quickly stood up, and spat the blood from her mouth to the side:
“Pfft— bad luck!!”
Gu Mingxin felt a bit confused and immediately stepped forward, helping her up. Her gaze was fixed on the burning hole on the second floor of the inn, and she asked:
“Sister Lu, what happened?”
“I ‘piao’ed a thunder.” Lu Meimei puffed out her chest, curled her lips, “That person was quite good-looking, but halfway through, he suddenly stabbed me with his sword.”
?
Gu Mingxin twisted her eyebrows, subconsciously wondering if her bewitching technique had failed, causing the furnace cauldron she had casually grabbed in town to break free.
After all, she was a cultivator from the Hehuan Sect and couldn’t do without men. For the past half month, every town they passed through, Lu Meimei had to grab a man for her nightly use and, incidentally, to extract information about the town.
However, before she could voice her doubts, a black shadow suddenly shot out from the cave on the second floor.
Gu Mingxin’s eyes widened slightly and she immediately raised the spirit sword in her hand.
Clang—
Sparks flew.
A spirit sword was blocked by her chest. Gu Mingxin squinted slightly and looked at the person thrusting the sword, only to see a cultivator in a green robe, with cultivation also around the Core Formation Mid Stage.
Wu Tianci, who had been under the inn’s eaves, instantly flashed behind the green-robed cultivator and punched him in the back.
Boom—
Fist winds raged, but the green-robed cultivator dodged with a skillful movement and leaped back ten feet away.
At this moment, the two cultivators with the zither who had appeared at the end of the road also arrived under the inn.
Seeing the green-robed cultivator, their eyes revealed a hint of hostility, while the green-robed cultivator smiled wryly upon seeing them:
“Hei Yang, Bai Yin, seniors, you’ve arrived too?”
“En.” Hei Yang nodded slightly, glancing at Gu Mingxin and the others, “Difficult to deal with.”
“Indeed, so shall we divide them later?”
“Here!”
Whoosh—
Hei Yang and Bai Yin waved their hands, and the long zither on their backs was flung into the air with bandages. Then, they both sat down cross-legged, floating above the ground.
Dark green light appeared on the zither’s strings, falling precisely above their thighs.
Gu Mingxin’s eyebrows furrowed into a deep line as she watched this scene.
What was going on?
Except for Lu Meimei grabbing a few men, their group hadn’t done anything to attract attention, so why were they being targeted?
Moreover, these three people, no matter how you looked at them, didn’t seem like cultivators of righteous sects. A prodigal green-robed sword cultivator, and two strange law cultivators holding profound treasures…
They looked like cultivators who enjoyed killing for treasure.
There was nothing they could do against such cultivators, but the key was why they had encountered three people at once, and these three people had even joined forces.
Gu Mingxin was dumbfounded, and the chesty but brainless Lu Meimei was even more bewildered:
“The two in white and black clothes, do we have any grudges? If you say you tied up the one in green and he tried to kill me, I can understand. Where did you two come from?”
The green-robed cultivator chuckled: “Fairy Lu, these two are my reinforcements.”
“Reinforcements?”
Lu Meimei still hadn’t caught on.
However, upon hearing this, Gu Mingxin and Wu Tianci both caught a detail.
This green-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, the situation is bad, let’s go…”
However, Gu Mingxin didn’t hear him at all. Her eyes were fixed blankly on the three people in front of her, as if she had lost her soul.
“Senior Sister Gu?”
“Heh… heh…”
“… …”
Wu Tianci squinted, not knowing what was wrong with her, but in the next moment.
Gu Mingxin’s laughter grew louder, she supported her forehead with her left hand and tilted her chin up:
“Hehehe Hahahaha—”
Her wild laughter spread throughout the small town.
Immediately, a red light shot straight into the sky, breaking through the thick dark clouds above.
A rich aura of blood 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 was startled by her loud shout, her round chest trembled, and she took a step back, asking:
“Sister Gu, who is Liang Xiaoliu?”
The next moment, with a resounding boom.
Gu Mingxin stomped the snow below, transforming into a fleeting shadow, and charged directly at the green-robed cultivator’s face.
… …
