Flower Fox froze. The other little foxes were still squabbling, unconcerned with who had saved The Whole Village Eats that night.
"Perhaps the person who saved The Whole Village Eats wasn't a Dragon Spirit at all."
Su Yun continued, "Perhaps that night, there were not only nearby villagers, not only people from the Tong Family who came from the city, and not only us. Perhaps someone else had been hiding nearby as well."
He set the food on the table and took a seat. "That night, I sensed four powerful currents of qi and blood, but there were only three on the other side. The fourth had concealed itself. Perhaps that person's goal was to use The Whole Village Eats to release the Human Demon." (See Chapter 19, Visitors from Shuofang City)
Flower Fox sat down as well, puzzled. "Release the Human Demon? The Human Demon is terrifying beyond measure. Wouldn't releasing it bring devastation to all living things and throw the world into chaos?"
Su Yun called the still-arguing little foxes over and had them sit down to eat. "Perhaps that person's goal was precisely to throw the world into chaos. Heroes emerge in troubled times. Some people want to be heroes."
He picked up a green bean with his chopsticks and smiled. "But this person still left a clue behind. When he saved The Whole Village Eats from the Tong Family members, he used a Spiritual Ability, a True Dragon-type divine ability. It was so exquisite that even Earth Lord mistook it for the Dragon Spirit of Dragon Burial Mound flying out."
Flower Fox came to a realization and smiled. "There cannot be many people in the world with such exquisite True Dragon Spiritual Abilities. Sooner or later, this person who fears the world not being chaotic enough will expose himself through that divine ability."
Su Yun put the green bean into his mouth, took a mouthful of rice, and suddenly sat there in a daze, forgetting even to chew the food in his mouth.
At the table, the three little foxes shoveled down rice as they heatedly debated the fates of the Human Demon and Team Leader Senior Brother. Flower Fox kept urging them to eat, bustling back and forth.
Suddenly, Su Yun slammed down his bowl and chopsticks. Rice and green beans sprayed from his mouth as he cried out, "I know the outcome of the Blizzard Battle at Dragon Burial Mound!"
The three little foxes jumped in fright and turned to look at him in unison.
Flower Fox was startled as well. Su Yun hurriedly chewed the remaining rice and green beans in his mouth twice, swallowed them, then leaped to his feet in excitement and laughed. "True Dragon Spiritual Abilities! Second Brother, it was True Dragon Spiritual Abilities! The first page of that book said that in Year of Yuanfeng Six, a dragon fell into Tianshiyuan, and the Martial Emperor ordered Tiandao Academy Scholar to tame the dragon. Tiandao Academy Scholar dissected the divine dragon's corpse, and their research was compiled into sixteen volumes of True Dragon cultivation methods and divine abilities."
He paced back and forth, striking his fist into his palm as he spoke rapidly. "The Martial Emperor ordering Tiandao Academy Scholar to tame the dragon meant that Yuanshuo Kingdom had no top-tier True Dragon cultivation methods or divine abilities. Even if it had some, they must have been of a low grade. Otherwise, the Great Emperor of Yuanshuo Kingdom would not have personally issued such an order. The Great Emperor personally giving the order showed how seriously he regarded it."
"That night, the True Dragon divine ability fooled even Earth Lord into thinking that the True Dragon Spirit of Dragon Burial Mound had acted to save The Whole Village Eats. That means the person's True Dragon divine ability was almost capable of passing off the fake as real!"
"This kind of divine ability could only have come from the sixteen volumes of True Dragon arts obtained by Tiandao Academy Scholar through dragon taming!"
Su Yun walked faster and faster, his thoughts growing ever clearer. "We went to Dragon Burial Mound and saw that Tiandao Academy Scholar's manuscripts had all been destroyed. Other than the Tiandao Academy Scholar from back then, no outsider could possibly have learned these sixteen volumes of True Dragon cultivation methods and divine abilities. Therefore, the person who saved The Whole Village Eats that night was either one of those Tiandao Academy Scholar or his successor!"
"And there was only one possibility for that Tiandao Academy Scholar!"
Su Yun abruptly stopped and said in a deep voice, "Team Leader Senior Brother!"
"In the Blizzard Battle at Dragon Burial Mound, Team Leader Senior Brother's battle with the Human Demon ended with Team Leader Senior Brother winning. He killed the recorder possessed by the Human Demon!"
"He alone walked out of Dragon Burial Mound alive!"
Flower Fox and the three little foxes were dumbstruck. They stared at him blankly, unable to say a word.
Su Yun pulled out his chair, returned to his seat, picked up his chopsticks and bowl, and said calmly, "He sealed the Human Demon and the Dragon Spirit inside Dragon Burial Mound. He had no way to explain the deaths of Tiandao Academy Scholar to the Martial Emperor, nor did he want to pass down the sixteen volumes of True Dragon arts, so he concealed his name and changed his identity. Then one day, he felt that his abilities had reached the necessary level and that his ambitions could be realized, so he used The Whole Village Eats to release the Human Demon."
The four fox demons at the table all shuddered. Flower Fox's heart also pounded in alarm as he laughed. "Little Yun, that's terrifying. But you forgot one thing. The Blizzard Battle at Dragon Burial Mound happened one hundred and fifty years ago. Team Leader Senior Brother should have been around twenty then. If he were still alive now, wouldn't he be one hundred and seventy years old?"
He laughed heartily. "Even demons have difficulty living that long, much less humans. Even if he were still alive, he would be a feeble old man with nothing left but breath. How could he still bring disaster upon the world?"
Su Yun thought about it and found that it did make sense.
Qingqiu Yue was also somewhat unconvinced and argued, "Brother Little Yun, Team Leader Senior Brother was clearly a good person! You're thinking too badly of him!"
"That's right! Xiao Yue is right!"
Hu Buping and Li Xiaofan voiced their agreement. "Team Leader Senior Brother was wise and mighty, defeating the Human Demon alone. How could he have been as bad as you say?"
Su Yun picked up some food and smiled as he ate. "I was only guessing at an ending because I heard you discussing it so passionately. Hurry and eat! We need to get up early tomorrow to cultivate!"
Early the next morning, before the sun had risen, they had already gotten up, washed, and arrived at the cliffside of Tianmen Town. Facing the sea, they breathed in and out as they waited for sunrise.
The little foxes were still arguing over the outcome of the Blizzard Battle at Dragon Burial Mound, while Su Yun slowly circulated Great Furnace Transformation and performed Flood Dragon's Chant.
Each time he performed an Unbound Move, four kinds of thunderous sounds arose from within his body as his vital energy and blood circulated.
Then the four kinds of thunder sounds converged into one, transforming into the thunderous roar of a flood dragon.
The rolling thunder rose above the great furnace within his body, surging from his heart and lungs into his limbs, reaching his palms and the soles of his feet.
The thunder shook his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, large intestine, small intestine, gallbladder, stomach, bladder, and triple burner, stimulating his stomach and intestines, strengthening his heart and lungs, and improving his bodily functions.
As he performed move after move of the Unbound Moves, his qi and blood flowed faster and more violently. Gradually, with every strike and stance, his qi and blood surfaced upon his skin, becoming dragon tattoos.
The dragon tattoos changed with his movements. Different moves produced different tattoos. His palm alone could become a dragon claw tattoo at times, a dragon head tattoo at others, or even a dragon tail tattoo.
After performing all thirty-six Unbound Moves of Flood Dragon's Chant once, sweat steamed from his body. Impurities within his body and filth in his blood were expelled through his pores along with the sweat.
During the final strike, Su Yun's qi and blood even spilled out of his body, forming a sharp and savage dragon claw over the surface of his palm!
Only after his qi and blood gradually calmed did this manifested phenomenon slowly disappear.
Flower Fox was deeply envious at the sight and immediately ordered the three little foxes to cultivate, forbidding them from arguing any further.
The three little foxes hurriedly began cultivating as well.
Su Yun calmed down and sensed that his physical condition had improved, while the qi and blood in his body had also increased considerably. His heart was utterly tranquil.
By "observing" Jiao Shuao evolve from a snake into a black flood dragon, he had gained insight and transformed his own qi and blood from a crocodile dragon into a flood dragon. Ever since achieving the Flood Dragon Transformation, his physical condition had improved much faster than before.
Over the past two days, he could clearly feel the improvement in his physical condition!
Flower Fox, Qingqiu Yue, and the others had also made rapid progress by observing Jiao Shuao's transformation. When they performed Crocodile Dragon's Roar, they were like four little flood dragons, extremely fierce.
The sun rose from beneath the sea. Warm sunlight shone upon Su Yun's face as he breathed in and out toward the morning sun, absorbing the essence of sunlight and turning it into scalding vital energy within the great furnace in his body. That vital energy then circulated throughout his body, improving his bodily functions.
"Once my body improves enough to contain sufficient qi and blood, my qi and blood should be able to break through the Immortal Sword imprint in my eyes."
A smile appeared on his face. That day was drawing ever closer.
Several more days passed, and Huangji Town opened its market.
Over the past two days, Su Yun and the four little foxes had taken advantage of the North Sea tide on the fifteenth and sixteenth of September to gather seafood along the shore and collect their fish traps. They caught some seafood, intending to trade it at the market for clothing and daily necessities.
The market was not in Tianmen Town.
Although Tianmen Town was the largest town within a dozen or so li, the nearby residents clearly held a deep "prejudice" against it. If the market were held in Tianmen Town, no "villager" would dare attend it.
Every time Su Yun went to the market, it was a great hassle. He had to carry the seafood six or seven li west along mountain paths, go around Mao Family Village, cross Tianping Bridge, and only then could he reach Huangji Town.
—The villagers of Mao Family Village were the cat demons in the horn ensemble hired for Niu Family Village's funeral. Those demons were temperamental and unpredictable, so Su Yun tried his best to avoid them.
Tianping Bridge lay between two cliffs, with a hundred-zhang abyss between them. In the middle stood a solitary stone peak, taller than the cliffs on either side.
A stone bridge rested precisely atop that stone peak. It was neither too long nor too short, just enough to reach both cliffs.
But the stone peak was too high. If one end of the stone bridge pressed down upon a cliff, the other end would rise up.
Therefore, when crossing the bridge, many people had to stand at one end and wait until there were enough of them. Then they would walk to the other side and weigh down that end of the bridge before reaching the opposite cliff.
Whenever Su Yun crossed the bridge, he had to wait beside it for a long time until enough people gathered. Naturally, in his mind, everyone crossing Tianping Bridge with him was human. Little did he know that he was surrounded by demons large and small, and he alone was human.
Standing among a crowd of demons, he was especially conspicuous.
Though Huangji Town was not easy to reach, Su Yun still enjoyed going to the Huangji market.
Besides buying daily necessities such as oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, he could also hear rumors from outside.
Near Huangji Town, many villagers had family members who had left Tianshiyuan to make a living in the city. They often brought back news from outside, telling stories of enviable city life.
The rumors of the city made Su Yun feel that it was a bizarre and dazzling place, far more exciting, dangerous, and strange than the countryside.
"Making a living in the city isn't so easy!"
When Su Yun traded seafood for clothes, Silkworm Girl, who sold clothes, told him, "Without ability, you can't survive in the city! The city isn't as full of human warmth as our countryside!"
The surrounding demons all nodded, deeply agreeing. "City people have no human warmth!"
"If Little Yun wants to enter the city, he can wait until the end of the year."
Aunt Hou, who sold him soy sauce, said, "A few of my children work in the city. They'll come back for the New Year at the end of the year, and you can ask them."
"He'd also have to transform into a human, looking proper and decent, before he could enter the city..." someone nearby whispered.
"But he doesn't need to!"
"That's true."
Zhai Zhu: If you think it's good, please recommend it to your family and friends. Zhai Zhu gives his thanks!
Also, the fifth important character, the Human Demon, has appeared. Everyone, remember to show some love for Human Demon big sister~~
Before you continue