Kill That Taoist

Li Chu sheathed his sword and looked at the empty night sky ahead, feeling somewhat regretful.

Although he had killed that ghost, he had not gained much from it. He had a faint feeling that things would not end so simply.

A Qiang turned his head, staring at the empty courtyard ahead, and began to doubt his life.

Where was my wall?

Such a huge wall had just vanished?

The little Daoist priest's voice interrupted his shock once again.

"Please come back with me," Li Chu said.

Before the resentful qi on A Qiang dissipated, it was best not to let him remain here, lest some accident occur.

At a time like this, they had to be cautious. After all, human lives were at stake.

"Oh." A Qiang hurriedly got up.

He was actually a little afraid.

But when someone could sweep away everything more than ten or even tens of zhang away with a single slash of his sword from afar, it was difficult to say no to him.

Li Chu walked ahead in silence, while A Qiang followed behind him with lowered brows and obedient eyes.

After turning through several streets, A Qiang immediately recognized the road. It led to the county government office.

Summoning his courage, he asked, "Are you an official from Facing Heaven Pavilion?"

"No. I'm from Virtuous Cloud Temple outside the town," Li Chu shook his head and answered simply.

"Oh, you're Little Daoist Priest Li, right?" A Qiang remembered at once.

He had heard people say before that Virtuous Cloud Temple had an exceptionally handsome little Daoist priest. Thinking of Li Chu's face now, everything immediately matched up.

Then he suddenly remembered that A Zhen had been the one to tell him about it.

Another wave of grief washed over him.

Li Chu knew he must have something terribly sad on his mind, but he was not good at comforting people.

He brought him all the way to the county government office, where the three shifts of yamen runners had recently strengthened their guard, with Head Constable Zhou Dafu personally leading them.

He handed A Qiang over to Zhou Dafu and left the aftermath for him to handle.

When he returned to the backyard of the yamen office, he saw Li Xinyi waiting in the courtyard.

"Was it resolved?"

Li Xinyi knew what he had gone out to do.

"Mm. It went very smoothly," Li Chu said.

Li Xinyi looked at him with a complicated expression.

Just the day before yesterday, they had discussed observing qi. She had only just wanted to report to her sect and request that experts be dispatched.

Who would have thought that tonight, he would already be able to monitor the entirety of Yuhang Town?

Li Chu had discovered a place thick with resentful qi earlier, then gone there beforehand to wait for a hare by a tree stump. Sure enough, he had wiped out a ghost that came to bewitch people's hearts in one stroke.

But...

Li Xinyi really wanted to loudly question the man before her.

Why were you improving so fast?

But she knew that even if she asked, she would get no answer.

She had already asked during the day. At the time, Li Chu had frankly told her that he had mastered Blind God Sword senior's Mind's Eye Art.

Li Xinyi immediately cast him a pair of pitifully lovely eyes.

Longing. Wanting.

When a beauty showed such a look, not many men could refuse.

What was more, Li Chu had never intended to treasure his worn broom as if it were precious.

Blind God Sword senior had been so great, scattering his unique secret art throughout the martial world. How could he be so small-minded?

Thus, he carefully took out a stiff little Yellow Book...

If Li Chu had not been the one to take out this book, and it had been anyone else, Li Xinyi would certainly have thought he was a liar.

But Li Chu's expression was far too earnest, to the point that she truly believed his nonsense.

As though holding some treasure, she accepted this "secret manual" from Li Chu's hands.

Yet once she saw the cultivation method written inside, doubt rose in her heart again.

Just by closing one's eyes and feeling like this, without any incantation at all, one day one could suddenly sense the breathing of Heaven and Earth...

No matter how she looked at it, it seemed like a scam.

Even a child would not believe such nonsense, would they?

Yet she still cultivated according to the method in the book for an entire day.

She felt nothing at all.

It really was a scam!

Still, she was not disappointed.

Because this was how it should have been. Only fools would fall for something like this!

Miss Li stamped her feet.

But Li Chu explained with a straight face, "To observe qi, you need a Mind's Eye. You don't have one yet. Just take your time and keep feeling."

Indeed, that was what the book said.

But no matter how Li Xinyi listened, it sounded like a personal attack...

And no matter how much she refused to believe it, Li Chu's current ability to observe qi was undeniably real.

There was no way for her to refute that.

So infuriating.

White Bone Mountain, Corpse Hiding Cave.

This place had once been a lush, verdant mountain. It was said that during the He Luo Conquest Battle, an army had buried alive more than a hundred thousand surrendered soldiers of the Southern Kingdom here, and the entire mountain had gradually become barren, without even a blade of grass.

Several hundred years later, a mountain flood burst forth and washed down the mountain wall, unexpectedly carrying out a vast heap of white bones that filled the wilds in every direction.

The locals reburied the bones covering the mountain. Fearing that they might breed ghosts and fiends afterward, they invited an immortal master from Green Goat Palace, one of the Twelve Immortal Sects, to perform a ritual here.

From then on, the mountain was called White Bone Mountain. The cave where the bones had later been buried became known as Corpse Hiding Cave.

Several more hundred years passed.

At this moment, moonlight slanted into Corpse Hiding Cave.

It illuminated four shadows of different shapes.

To the east sat a figure dressed in the robes of the Previous Dynasty, wearing a plain white robe with wide sleeves that drifted and swayed. Looking closely, one would discover that the garments beneath seemed empty.

Looking higher, there was unexpectedly a skull above the clothing. Its bones were ghastly white, its eye sockets hollow, with two points of ghostfire swaying faintly within.

It raised one hand, which was indeed also a pale skeletal frame.

As its fingers moved, a shriek echoed through the cave.

"I ran into a Daoist! Ah—"

The cry ended in a piercing scream.

"That was Lan Cai's voice transmission. It went to Yuhang Town just now to collect Life Silver and only sent back this message. It should... have already met with disaster by now."

The white-robed skeleton spoke in a low, hoarse voice.

"A Daoist? The Daoist who went on a killing spree in the Ghost Building?"

Seated to the south was a tall ghost clad in heavy armor. The moonlight could not illuminate its face clearly, revealing only the mottled bloodstains and rust on its iron armor. It seemed to have endured who knew how many years.

Its voice was harsh and unpleasant, like metal scraping against metal.

"It was most likely him." The white-robed skeleton replied, "After what happened at the Ghost Building, we feared that if this continued, the followers who rebelled from the Ghost Kingdom with us would sooner or later all be slaughtered by him. That was why we hastened the collection of Life Silver. Who could have expected... that even while collecting Life Silver, it would fall victim to his vicious hand?"

"Foolish. Once Our King's seal is broken, there will be as many lowly followers as we want. By rushing for quick success, you instead doomed a Ghost General! Heh heh."

Seated to the west, opposite the skeleton, was an incomparably broad back. It stood roughly three zhang tall, with shoulders more than one zhang wide. Though its shape resembled a human's, it was clearly not human.

Its voice was equally broad and thunderous, its cold laughter humming and reverberating through the cave.

"Black Fang!" The white-robed skeleton barked. "You should know that Lan Cai and I made the decision to accelerate the collection of Life Silver together. Besides... it is not as though we will not be killed simply because we are not urgently breaking Our King's seal. That Daoist may very well be coming for us."

"That's right."

The final ghost in the cave sat within the northern shadows. Her voice was seductive and lingering, and she was unexpectedly a woman.

She said slowly, "How could such a formidable Daoist suddenly emerge in a Jiangnan Town? He is most likely some ox-nosed Daoist from either White Jade Capital or Green Goat Palace, having found some spider silk of a clue and kept watch over us here."

"What should we do now? I would like to hear your plans." The white-robed skeleton asked.

The armored ghost to the south said, "Our King's seal is on the verge of breaking. We only need a little more Life Silver. Why not collect Life Silver elsewhere? Even if it is farther away. So long as it is safe..."

The white-robed skeleton remained silent.

The ghost called Black Fang to the west said, "Where else can we hide? Have we not already hidden far enough? If you ask me, there will be other Cultivators elsewhere too. He is only one Daoist. We might as well kill him directly and settle it once and for all. We cannot always place our hopes on Our King. How could Life Silver be so easy to collect? Before then, we may be slaughtered one by one."

The seductive-voiced woman hesitated. "Even so, we still do not know that Daoist's strength..."

Black Fang continued, "If he truly were someone of peerless cultivation, he would have found this place long ago. How could we still sit here so calmly and discuss matters?"

"But..."

The woman was about to say more when the white-robed skeleton spoke.

"Enough."

"Black Fang and I have come to the same conclusion without prior consultation," the white-robed skeleton said. "I too believe that killing him sooner is the best choice. He first went on a killing spree in the Ghost Building, and now he has obstructed our collection of Life Silver. He is plainly coming for us. Black Fang is right: we cannot always place our hopes on Our King!"

"Heh heh." Black Fang laughed twice.

Its laughter was still echoing through the cave when the white-robed skeleton continued:

"Then I will leave this matter to you, Black Fang. First investigate the Daoist's background, then prepare to strike. Green Armor and Red Ribbon will both be at your command. You must make certain that nothing goes wrong!"

Black Fang's laughter came to an abrupt halt.

It hesitated, paused, and asked, "Bai Jian, you..."

The white-robed skeleton immediately replied, "I must remain here to refine the Life Silver we previously collected. This is precisely a critical moment when I cannot get away. If this matter delays the breaking of Our King's seal, the loss will outweigh the gain."

"But you are..."

Black Fang still wanted to say something.

Then the white-robed skeleton said, "Black Fang, you would not be unable to do it, would you? You were the one speaking most passionately just now. I thought you were the Ghost General worthy of being called the first. If you are afraid, we can take a long-term view instead..."

"How could I possibly be afraid!"

Black Fang roared, abruptly rose to its feet, and strode out of the cave with wind billowing around it.

Its footsteps were as simple as a blank sheet of paper.

Thanks to "Xiaodong Again" for the five hundred reward.