Chapter 456: Senior Brother, Beyond Expectations
The noisy conversation on the street, which had surrounded the group at the pill stall, seemed to vanish after Ye Anping’s seemingly joking remark. The air grew almost stagnant. Elder Cao couldn’t help but tighten his grip on the whisk tucked into his left arm, his eyes like sharp swords as he scrutinized the two individuals before him. However, noticing the many passersby, he felt a sense of difficulty. Of the two, the older one appeared to be relatively calm, but the younger male cultivator beside him turned ashen, his feet trembling uncontrollably.
“Calm down!” The demonic cultivator uncle immediately turned to his subordinate, glaring with his eyes to intimidate him. Then, he put on a smile and tried to placate Ye Anping.
“Senior, please don’t speak carelessly. My junior nephew and I are from Xue Men Immortal City in the Northern Region. We’ve come to the Southern Region to travel and sell some pills for spirit stones. How could we be demonic cultivators…”
The ability to infiltrate the Southern Region so stealthily and lie so calmly in front of a Nascent Soul Elder of the Taibai Sect proved that this person was no ordinary demonic cultivator. Ye Anping pondered for a moment, then spotted the slightly more flustered younger demonic cultivator beside him. He raised a hand and flicked his wrist, causing a golden spiritual light to fly out from his storage bag. He produced a common copper coin, circulating amongst mortals without any special spiritual energy, and held it out in his palm towards the young demonic cultivator. He narrowed his eyes and said, “This is a ‘Spirit Peeking Treasure.’ It’s a magical artifact gifted to me by Grand Elder Lei of the Xuan Xing Sect. Demonic cultivators below the Deity Transformation stage, no matter how they conceal their cultivation with magical artifacts or divine abilities, will reveal their true form before this item.”
“Spirit Peeking Treasure…” The demonic cultivator uncle’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing it was from a Deity Transformation stage cultivator. However, when he looked again, he saw no spiritual energy emanating from the copper coin in Ye Anping’s hand. At this moment, the Nascent Soul Elder from the Taibai Sect was already probing them with his spiritual sense. Their method of concealing their aura was also their elder’s Qi Concealing Gu. As long as they didn’t use spiritual energy, concealing it wouldn’t be a significant problem. However, being probed by the spiritual sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator, with one of them only at Foundation Establishment and the other at Core Formation, the pressure was immense.
The demonic cultivator uncle’s brow twitched slightly. He stared at the copper coin for two breaths and immediately realized it was a bluff. However, just as he was about to warn his junior nephew, Ye Anping suddenly raised his voice: “Come on! Be it immortal or demon, one touch will tell.”
The young demonic cultivator trembled and immediately threw a Gu worm towards Cao Yan’er’s face, then turned to flee. “Ahhh!” “Damn it! You idiot!” The elder demonic cultivator also quickly cast his Gu technique, preparing to take the pedestrians on this street as hostages, after all, they were facing a Nascent Soul Elder of the Taibai Sect. Pei Lianxue narrowed her eyes, about to draw her sword to intervene, but before she could, Elder Cao waved his whisk. Before the two could perform their Gu techniques, he bound them into two white fuzzy balls with his whisk. Seeing that the two could no longer harm the pedestrians, Elder Cao breathed a sigh of relief and asked, “Young Master Ye, how did you see through them?” Ye Anping smiled faintly, “I didn’t expect it to be real either. It seems I guessed correctly?”
Guess? This kid… Elder Cao’s brow twitched slightly, and he didn’t intend to ask further. After all, the events by the Qinshui River were “guesses” enough. She saw that Ye Anping was hiding his true strength, but as fellow immortal cultivators, it wasn’t a bad thing. Elder Cao was quite fortunate now that she had brought Zu Lingzhi with her. Zu Lingzhi was considered a prodigy within the Taibai Sect, surpassing cultivators of the same generation in both aptitude and cultivation speed, but she hadn’t had many opportunities for real combat before. She glanced at Zu Lingzhi beside her and noticed that Zu Lingzhi had clearly perceived Ye Anping was playing meek, her expression less than pleasant. On their journey here, Zu Lingzhi had looked down on Ye Anping, thinking he was merely living off a woman…
“How did you figure it out? Even Elder Cao couldn’t tell they were demonic cultivators just now.” “… … ” “Hey, I’m asking you, young lady!?” “Hm? Are you calling me, Ancestral Daoist? My surname is Ye, my given name is Anping, the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect.” Zu Lingzhi’s expression was somewhat unpleasant, but she understood the implied meaning. Taking a deep breath, she clasped her hands and asked, “Then, Young Master Ye, could you tell me how you identified them?” “Heaven told me.” “Huh?” Elder Cao looked at them, shook his head slightly, and raised his whisk to interrupt, “Alright, let’s find an inn to stay in first. Later, I’ll take these two…” Her words stopped abruptly. Elder Cao’s brow furrowed tightly, and he immediately waved his whisk again, releasing the whisk fibers that had bound the two demonic cultivators.
A bloody smell instantly assaulted their senses. The two had already transformed into a mass of rotten flesh, with countless Gu worms crawling and writhing within… Zu Lingzhi instinctively covered her mouth and averted her gaze. Even Ye Anping and Pei Lianxue frowned slightly, but Elder Cao quickly took out a bottle of jade liquid and poured it, covering the disgusting smell of blood with the fragrance of flowers. “Young Master Ye, let’s go to the City Lord’s Mansion. There are three Nascent Soul cultivators stationed at the Nanke Immortal City City Lord’s Mansion…” “I am a guest, so of course, I will follow Senior’s arrangements.” Elder Cao’s eyes scanned the surroundings seriously before gesturing with her hand. Ye Anping nodded in agreement and followed behind Elder Cao, walking towards the twelve-story pavilion in the center of the city.
The four of them walked along the center of the street, paying attention to the pedestrians on both sides. After crossing three streets, they arrived in front of the Nanke Immortal City City Lord’s Mansion. Because Elder Cao was present, after the guards at the City Lord’s Mansion reported their arrival, the Nanke Immortal City Lord, “Zhou Nanke,” immediately led the other two Nascent Soul cultivators in the city to greet them. Upon hearing Elder Cao recount the incident of flying swords on the street, he immediately led everyone to the pavilion in the City Lord’s Mansion, where they approached an exquisite sand table of the city and informed them about the demonic cultivator situation in the city.
“Actually, the city guard had already found traces of many Gu insects in the city before, but Nanke is located in a vital area of the immortal families. I was afraid of causing panic among the rogue cultivators, so I didn’t dare to make too much of a fuss. That demonic cultivator is quite cunning, spreading Gu insects through the city’s canals to hide his aura. Daoist Xu and Senior Qin and I have been searching for at least ten days, but we still haven’t found any trace of him.” Elder Cao couldn’t help but show a distressed expression upon hearing this. “A cunning fox has three burrows. If it were a Law Cultivator or a Sword Cultivator, it would be easier, but Gu cultivators are inherently good at hiding their aura, and they often have methods for transforming Gu. If they truly hide, you’d have to dig up three feet of earth to find them.” “Indeed, if it were in the mountains and forests, digging three feet is easy, but this is within an immortal city. There are hundreds of thousands of rogue cultivators and travelers here, so it’s not easy for us to make any big moves.” “Furthermore, how could a Nascent Soul demonic cultivator penetrate so deeply into the Southern Region? What are the guards at Jianmen Pass doing?” “There’s more than one road from the Eastern Region to the Southern Region. Let’s focus on the matter at hand and first find a way to force the Gu cultivator out of the city before discussing where he came from…”
On one side, Elder Cao was discussing with the three Nascent Soul cultivators in the city. On the other side of the room, Ye Anping and Pei Lianxue sat in a corner, calmly drinking tea and eating pastries. Zu Lingzhi was also introducing the origins of each pastry to Pei Lianxue. “Junior Sister Pei, this is a Dan Xin Osmanthus Cake. The red in the middle is an immortal date. Try it…” “Oh…” Ye Anping ignored them, drinking his tea with a calm expression, but he was actually listening intently to the conversation of Elder Cao and the others, thinking of more clever ways to lure out the Gu cultivator. The only feasible method he could think of was to act as bait to lure the demonic cultivator into making a move, and then have Elder Cao and the other three Nascent Soul cultivators attack him together. However, he was currently unaware of the specific identity of the Gu cultivator. rashly making himself bait and exposing himself to a Nascent Soul Gu cultivator was indeed a very dangerous matter. Elder Cao had already sent a message to the Taibai Sect. It would be better to wait for the Grand Elder of the Taibai Sect to arrive in a few days before dealing with it. As it happened, Ye Anping was waiting for the “east wind,” and a few days more or less wouldn’t affect him.
Ye Anping raised his teacup and turned to look towards the window. After entering the City Lord’s Mansion, he had already asked Xiao Tian to contact Feng Yu Die, asking them to come to the City Lord’s Mansion to meet him as soon as possible. However, when he sent Xiao Tian to find them, the sun had just met the distant horizon, and now the sun had completely set below the horizon, and Xiao Tian still hadn’t returned. “Mm…” After thinking for a moment, Ye Anping worried that the two had encountered trouble, so he took out the Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword, which was wrapped in bandages, from his storage bag. “Junior Sister.” “Mm.” “Take the sword and go to the street to find the hornet’s nest you discovered earlier.” “?” Pei Lianxue froze for a moment, then twisted her brows. It seemed she only now realized what the hornet’s nest was. She asked, “Is it Yunluo?” Ye Anping had seen her not mention it earlier and thought she had already known. Seeing her reaction, he felt somewhat speechless. He sighed and nodded, “Yes.” At this moment, Zu Lingzhi, who was drinking tea and eating pastries beside them, looked at the sword in Ye Anping’s hand and asked, “Why is this sword wrapped in bandages? And what’s this about a hornet’s nest and Yunluo? What were you and Junior Sister Pei talking about just now?” “Nothing.” “…Mysterious,” Zu Lingzhi rolled her eyes at him and asked again, “Young Master Ye, tell me, how exactly did you see through those two as demonic cultivators just now?” “Guessing.” “Really guessing?” “Mm.” Ye Anping shrugged. “Junior Sister, go.” Pei Lianxue nodded, took the hilt of the sword, and got up to head towards the door.
However, as she reached the wooden door of the pavilion, there was a sound of hurried footsteps from the staircase outside. Tap-tap-tap— “Report!!!” The voice of the city guard came from outside the door. Elder Cao and the others, who were at the innermost part of the room, turned their heads towards the door upon hearing this. “Enter!” After receiving the City Lord’s response, the person outside the door quickly pushed the door open and entered. However, it wasn’t just the city guard who entered. Following them were two girls who used blood as rouge, their skirts stained with blood and disgusting slime. Pei Lianxue, standing by the door, didn’t recognize them at first, but seeing the hornet’s nest wrapped around one of their heads, she tentatively called out, “Yunluo?” Xiao Yunluo’s face was full of resentment. She nodded, “…Mm, it’s me.” Since Ye Anping had seen Xiao Tian floating above their heads, pinching her nose when the two entered, he immediately recognized their identities. However, seeing Feng Yu Die’s black hair now and the bloodstains on their bodies, he was momentarily unsure and didn’t speak.
Feng Yu Die turned to look at Pei Lianxue, then proudly looked at Ye Anping, her face full of pride like a dog wanting praise, “Hmph hmph~~” Ye Anping didn’t know where they had gone to get into such a state. At this time, the four Nascent Soul cultivators in front of the sand table also walked over. Elder Cao looked at the two and asked, “Two, what brings you here?” “Mm~ Hehehe.” Feng Yu Die giggled and raised her hand, directly pulling a storage bag embroidered with a scorpion pattern from her sleeve and throwing it in front of them. She wiped her nose with her right thumb and replied, “We just eliminated a mid-stage Nascent Soul Gu cultivator hiding in the city.” “……” The four Nascent Soul cultivators were stunned. They could see that both Feng Yu Die and Xiao Yunluo were at the late stage of Core Formation, and they found it hard to believe. The Nanke City Lord quickly used his spiritual power to lift the storage bag Feng Yu Die had thrown to the ground and probed its contents with his spiritual sense. It was a top-grade storage bag, and the embroidery was the totem of the Gu Poison Sect, but it was empty inside, containing only a seal and a jade tablet engraved with their identity and cultivation. He took out the jade tablet and looked at it: Grand Tutor of the Gu Poison Sect, “Bug Head.” Ye Anping glanced at the jade tablet that fell into the City Lord’s hand and couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. To be honest, he really hadn’t expected this. Yet, he had just been thinking about how to deal with this matter, and they had directly found the Gu cultivator and buried him. The Nanke City Lord’s brow twitched as he asked, “Where are the other things inside?” “In my storage bag.” Feng Yu Die nodded and replied, “I killed the person, so the things should belong to me, right? Right, Young Master Ye, isn’t that the logic!” After Feng Yu Die’s words, everyone’s attention shifted to Ye Anping, who was holding his teacup and drinking tea. Ye Anping felt a little helpless. After thinking for a moment, he put down his teacup, stood up, clasped his hands, and introduced to Elder Cao and the others, “Seniors, these two are my cultivation partners, Feng Yunluo and Xiao Yu Die… I suppose they were worried about my safety and followed me from the Xuan Xing Sect.” Elder Cao raised an eyebrow and looked at Pei Lianxue beside him. But before they could ask, Ye Anping quickly added, “Miss Pei is also my cultivation partner. I have quite a few cultivation partners.” “……” Looking at Ye Anping calmly utter these words, Elder Cao and the three Nascent Soul cultivators felt a mixture of emotions. Zu Lingzhi’s eyes twitched, and she couldn’t help but click her tongue. Tsk— Ye Anping glanced at them, ignored them, and calmly sat down, picking up his teacup again, as if it had nothing to do with him, and continued to drink his tea… “Slurp…” But immediately after, Ye Anping couldn’t help but curl the corners of his mouth upwards slightly. … …
