Chapter 89: Chapter 72: The Vicious Flame Blade of Ding Fire Breaks Evil, Leaving the Wolves with Nowhere to Hide

In the Fierce Evil Forest Ridge, the tavern was a chaotic, noisy mess, like a lively graveyard.

After only a moment of clamor, a woman in a simple cloth skirt and thorn hairpin was shoved outside.

It was freezing cold outside, the river frozen thick with ice, yet the woman’s full thighs were exposed, her pale, smooth skin faintly visible beneath her tattered skirt.

She leaned against the doorframe, waving incessantly.

“Come on in and have some fun, fellas!”

“We’ve got wine, we’ve got meat, and even more… fun to be had.”

Down the earthen slope, Jiang Yi tied the two horses to a tree and frowned.

“Who could possibly be fooled by such a crude trick?”

Yang Xun grinned.

“It’s more than enough for a scoundrel like He the Venerable.”

Jiang Yi looked up again. In the time it took to exchange those few words, He the Venerable had already swayed his way into the tavern. Jiang Yi was speechless.

“Grandpa, I’m afraid there’s something strange about this tavern. Could it be a Black Shop run by Tribulation Cultivators?”

He the Venerable was, after all, at the Qi Cultivation Second Layer. Although he had been worn down and his qi and blood were prematurely failing from his time in the Quenching Room, he had still undergone Muscle Forging and Bone Strengthening. His physique was far beyond that of a normal person; he shouldn’t have been so easily bewitched by a village woman showing a little skin.

A glint flashed in Jiang Yi’s eyes as he thought to himself:

’The problem must be the aroma of wine and meat.’

Yang Xun’s hairless brows twitched, his expression utterly ferocious, like a man-eating vulture.

“Just some meat pigs raised by the Yin Puppet Sect. To think they’d stray into Qianji Sect territory… I was just worrying about where to find materials for Sacrificial Refining Magical Artifacts! It’s our lucky day!”

He lowered his voice.

“I’ll explain later. You go first and draw their attention. I’ll apply a Silencing Talisman and a Hidden Traces Talisman, sneak in, and catch them completely by surprise! Take this Hidden Breath Talisman; it should be enough to fool them.”

“Understood, Grandpa.”

Jiang Yi brushed the snow from the shoulders of his Daoist Robe and drew a Mortal Iron Longsword from the saddlebag on his horse.

Yang Xun had picked it out for him when he bought the horses.

It was specifically for practicing the Flame Blade Skill, a technique that evolved after raising the grade of the Little Refining Yuan Fire Control Technique!

“Grandpa, should I charge in now, or wait a bit?”

This was Jiang Yi’s first time facing Tribulation Cultivators, and he might even have to engage in Magical Combat. He couldn’t help but feel a mix of excitement and trepidation.

“A hundred breaths is plenty of time. We won’t let that scoundrel He the Venerable end up in the stew pot.”

Yang Xun affixed talisman papers to his chest and back. He held the Black Slaughter Lock in his left hand and the Blood Soul Mirror in his right, with the Five Yin Pouch hanging from his waist.

He looked every bit the part of a Demon Cultivator!

Jiang Yi thought:

’Grandpa sure is practiced at this.’

The snow-laden wind whimpered, and the cold gales howled.

Inside the tavern, a stove blazed. To the left, a large cauldron of soup bubbled and steamed; to the right, long tables were lined with seven or eight jars of aged wine and more than a dozen hearty dishes.

In the center of the main hall, a large yellow ox was tied up securely with thick hemp ropes, moaning pitifully, “MOO… MOO…”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve tasted such fine, tough meat!”

“Today’s a good day for business!”

“Those medicinal dregs and scrap materials from the Dharma Lineage taste like nothing. Now, if we could feast on a Cultivator, full of qi and blood, with well-nourished and refined organs—that would really pair well with wine!”

“You haven’t even slept, and you’re already daydreaming…”

Amidst the babble, the greasy, filthy cloth curtain was flicked open with the tip of an iron sword.

Wind and snow gusted in, revealing the calm face of a young man beneath the curtain.

“I’m passing through and was hoping to find a meal and a place to stay. Might I trouble you for some assistance?”

The newcomer wasn’t old, spoke politely, and was wrapped tightly in a Daoist Robe.

He had handsome features, but because he kept his back slightly hunched, he appeared somewhat honest and timid.

“Assistance! Of course we can assist!”

“We Cultivators value nothing more than helping others!”

“Hahahaha, what a tender young lad, and what a nice, clean smell…”

The tavern’s main hall was surprisingly packed with dozens of figures.

Some had faces as black as charcoal and looked utterly malevolent; some had messy red hair and were as ugly as ghouls; others had their broad chests bared, reeking of a foul stench.

And above them all, a middle-aged man with sunken cheeks, dressed in a jet-black Daoist Robe, sat alone.

“Silence!”

His low shout rolled through the room like muffled thunder, and the noisy hall instantly fell quiet. The crowd went silent, as if their throats had been seized.

It was an immediate and impressive display of authority!

“To meet on the road is to be bound by fate. I am Zheng Qing of the Yin Puppet Sect. Might I ask where the Little Daoist has come from?”

“I am Jiang Yi, an unaffiliated cultivator. I’ve come from Sanhe District and am heading toward Lujiang. The Zhao You Sect has recently reduced its transport services, so I have to return on foot.”

Jiang Yi performed a Daoist salute, his expression respectful and timid.

Combined with his young, handsome face, he looked less like a High Cultivator from a Dharma Lineage and more like a fat sheep that had wandered into a tiger’s den.

“Are you from a rural clan?” Zheng Qing asked with a smile.

“The Lujiang Jiang Clan, but not the Direct Lineage. Just a side branch.”

Jiang Yi answered every question, appearing very obedient.

This only made the eyes of everyone in the hall glint as they swallowed hard.

A few of the more impatient ones had already crept over to the soup cauldron, mentally calculating which piece of meat to chop off first.

Zheng Qing’s attitude became even more amiable.

“It’s freezing outside, and traveling is hard. Since you’ve come to this tavern, why not rest your feet?

Little Daoist, do you have any dietary restrictions? If not, we’re about to slaughter this ox. You can have some of the meat with us.”

Jiang Yi still seemed a bit worried. He picked a square table near the door and sat down, demurring,

“Oh… I couldn’t possibly.”

Zheng Qing laughed heartily.

“This ox is quite large! We won’t be able to finish it all, so what’s the harm in sharing some with you?”

Jiang Yi mentally counted the time since he had entered and asked with feigned curiosity:

“I saw the banner outside that says, ’We True Demon Cultivators are born without restraint.’ I wonder what that means.”

Hearing this, Zheng Qing stood up with a grin, a look of fascination in his eyes.

“That, my young friend, is something you wouldn’t know. The Demon Dao wasn’t always like this. Eons ago, we Demon Cultivators were the world’s true ’seekers of truth’!”

His voice grew deeper, each word like iron.

“All Cultivators in the world are but cattle; all things in existence serve to nourish us! We penned up trillions of mortals, using them for pills, for medicine, for materials! An inexhaustible supply to be killed and taken! How exhilarating!

That is the true nature of our Demon Dao! It was out of my admiration for the spirit of the Ancient Demon Cultivators that I wrote that phrase!”

Jiang Yi raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected to meet an old-school Demon Cultivator.

Such people were rare these days, a real curiosity.

“Patriarch Zheng is right. The Demon Dao cultivators of today do have too many rules.”

Jiang Yi played along, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the vicious, red-haired man could no longer hold back. The man strode into the center of the hall, grabbed a gleaming sharp knife, and looked ready to gut the ox.

MOO! MOO!

The ox looked in Jiang Yi’s direction, tears streaming from its eyes.

’If Grandpa doesn’t make a move soon, all of Brother He’s organs are going to end up in the pot.’

Just as Jiang Yi’s palm pressed down on the Mortal Iron Longsword lying on the table and he was about to rise,

BOOM! The wall of the second floor exploded, and as splinters of wood flew everywhere, wind and snow surged inside!

Several corpses were thrown down along with the debris, all of them burned to charcoal.

With the Silencing and Hidden Traces talismans applied, Yang Xun’s figure was extremely faint. Combined with his silent footsteps, he was like a phantom, his position difficult to track without close scrutiny.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Before anyone could get a clear look, a millstone-sized blaze of scorching flame spun through the air. Two men were turned into charred figures before they could even scream.

Their flesh SIZZLED as it burned, rendering fat that filled the air. A foul, scorched-meat stench instantly overpowered the metallic, gamey smell that had filled the hall!

“We’ve got a tough one!”

“Throw the Flowing Yin Sand! Break through his Protective True Qi!”

“Shit! He’s at the Qi Cultivation Sixth Layer! Damn it, Brother Zheng is only at the Qi Cultivation Fourth Layer, how the hell are we supposed to fight this…”

Yang Xun was like a tiger let loose among sheep. He formed hand seals and channeled his palms, sending streams of flame shooting in all directions like a hundred fire serpents. To be touched was to die, to be grazed was to perish!

A few, relying on their Qi Cultivation Third Layer and the sturdy bodies and great strength from their Blood and Marrow Transformation, tried to sneak up and restrain the elderly-looking Yang Xun.

“A fine welcome!”

But Yang Xun just yanked the Five Yin Pouch from his waist, channeled his True Qi, and activated it!

The Magical Artifact swelled in the air, its mouth gaping open to swallow one of the men whole.

A grinding, CRUNCHING sound came from within, as if from an iron millstone. In less than a moment, the man was ground into a pulp of flesh and bone fragments.

Such ferocious power scared the souls right out of everyone in the hall.

Only Zheng Qing forced himself to remain calm, roaring:

“Red-haired Ghost! Seize the young one! They’re together!”

Receiving the order, the man with the messy red hair, as hideous as a ghoul, let out a savage grin and charged toward the young, handsome Little Daoist!

’Picking on the soft target, are we?’

Jiang Yi suddenly straightened his back, his considerable height seeming to grow by several inches. His lips pressed into a thin line.

In an instant, the timid, honest Little Daoist transformed into a Little Demon Cultivator with a calm expression and a chillingly cold gaze!

He gripped the Mortal Iron Longsword, wiped two fingers along its blade, and a Fire Attribute Radiance coiled around it like a living thing. In a flash, the blade was coated in a layer of viscous, flowing, incandescent light.

Then, Jiang Yi strode forward to meet the vicious, messy-haired man.

His opponent must have been at the Qi Cultivation Third Layer, and his muscles and bones were abnormally strong, showing a faint bronze-like sheen.

But it would only take a single strike!

“Little Daoist—”

Jiang Yi merely glanced at him. Then, without following any particular set of moves, he formed a seal with his left hand and swung his sword with his right.

Roaring flames erupted several feet, coiling around the sword and burning the mortal iron a brilliant golden-red!

The sword light flashed past!

A hideous head tumbled off its shoulders, landing with a splash in the large, boiling cauldron.

The boiling soup gurgled, lifting the head to the surface. The skin on its face quickly boiled away, revealing a pair of hollow eyes filled with shock.

Keeping it company were several other heads, large and small.

Heads of women, heads of children, all of them swollen and pale.

“True Demon Cultivator… Heh!”

A flicker of fire appeared in Jiang Yi’s eyes. Holding the nearly molten Mortal Iron Longsword, he raised his head, strode forward, and continued the slaughter!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep