About ten minutes later.
Before the abandoned inn, the arrival of Zhong Bai and the three others instantly drew the gaze of the crowd of Xieling Porters.
If not for Chen Yulou also walking behind the four of them, a fight likely would have already broken out between them.
"Brother Yulou, are these four your friends?"
Luo Laowai looked toward Zhong Bai and the three others with great interest, specifically focusing on Hua Ling among them.
Chen Yulou's heart sank, catching Luo Laowai's intentions from his gaze, and he hurriedly stepped forward to say, "Marshal Luo, they are all my friends, and they even saved my life just now."
The unspoken implication was to ask Luo Laowai to save face for him and not make trouble.
His mouth twitching slightly, Luo Laowai withdrew his gaze from Hua Ling and instead let it fall upon the chicken coop carried on Partridge Whistle's back.
"Ah well, since they are all your friends, Brother Yulou, I, Luo Laowai, am not that kind of person.
However... I wonder if your friend might gift me that rooster on his back so I can roast and taste it.
After two days on the mountain, my mouth is about to taste completely bland!"
"This..."
Chen Yulou froze; he felt things were becoming uncontrollable, and just as he was about to speak, he saw Zhong Bai behind Partridge Whistle cast a freezing glare his way.
"Bandit nature hard to eliminate, it seems this poor Daoist's trip to Bottle Mountain requires not only executing evils, but sweeping away bandits as well!"
As for Chen Yulou, Zhong Bai could choose to ignore him, but a bandit like Luo Laowai? Heh, provoking him meant Zhong Bai would only have to make the fellow understand what the clear Dao of heaven was, and what acting as heaven's agent of punishment meant!
"Kid, do you want to die!"
The moment Luo Laowai finished speaking, Zhong Bai utilized the thunder escape technique and arrived instantly before Luo Laowai.
His five fingers formed a claw, locking around Luo Laowai's throat and slowly hoisting him up.
All of this happened far too fast; the crowd of Xieling Porters had just been about to rise when Chen Yulou suppressed them back down with a look.
Meanwhile, the bunch of bandits brought by Luo Laowai stared fixedly at Zhong Bai with firelocks, broadswords, and long spears.
"Whether this poor Daoist wants to die is unknown, but you are truly bound to die today!"
With that, Zhong Bai did not even wait for Chen Yulou to speak and stop him. Exerting force with his fingers, the already terrified Luo Laowai instantly felt his whole body go limp.
The next second, fresh blood gushed forth, and Zhong Bai casually tossed him aside like garbage.
Immediately following that, his gaze swept toward the remaining bandits, and his inner blood qi rolled outward, transforming into an aura that blocked before him as thunder surged across both his palms.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Seeing this, the bandits fired their firelocks directly, yet they were unable to pierce through Zhong Bai's blood qi aura.
In merely the blink of an eye, streaks of lightning flashed across the pitch-black night sky.
Accompanied by a series of miserable screams, nearly all of the dozens of bandits collapsed in response.
Their entire bodies were charred black, resembling heavenly punishment.
After finishing all this, Zhong Bai slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, only then withdrawing the surging thunder light from his palms.
Chen Yulou and the crowd of Xieling Porters witnessed the entire process without daring to draw a full breath.
At this very moment, deep within their hearts, they felt only relief—relief that they had not stood up.
Chen Yulou's lips were even white; having seen with his own eyes thunder techniques obliterate Luo Laowai and the flock of bandits, he truly and properly understood what a gap in power meant.
"This immortal, Luo Laowai deserved to die, but this humble one and the Xieling brothers have never harmed the innocent, so I beg the immortal to spare our lives!"
Even though Zhong Bai had not made a move against them just now, in the end, he, Chen Yulou, and Luo Laowai were connected by a tangled thread and could not shake off the ties.
Begging for mercy was not for himself, nor for the sake of his face and dignity, but purely to preserve the lives of his old brothers.
Hearing this, Zhong Bai's expression remained cold.
"Though you Xieling Porters are not as deeply steeped in monstrous evils as bandits, you cannot be called good people either. This poor Daoist is not fond of slaughter; leave the mountain right now, and this poor Daoist can spare you a path to survival."
Zhong Bai was unwilling to have this bunch follow them into the Bottle Mountain ancient tomb, so using this opportunity to make Chen Yulou take his Xieling Porters and leave Bottle Mountain was the best possible outcome.
"Many thanks to the immortal for sparing our lives; we will immediately descend the mountain and will never linger!"
With those words, Chen Yulou hailed the crowd of Xieling Porters and hurriedly rushed straight down toward the mountain.
When everything returned to tranquility, Zhong Bai casually cast a glance at the corpses of those bandits, and dozens of talismans flew out from his embrace, catching fire upon contact and burning to ashes.
Watching these miraculous sights, Old Foreigner and Partridge Whistle held awe in their eyes.
As for the young girl Hua Ling, little stars flashed continuously within her eyes.
" Wow!
Not only can Big Brother Zhong execute the legendary thunder technique divine ability, but he can even wield talisman divine ability as naturally as his own arm—this is the first time Hua Ling has ever seen it!"
Beside Zhong Bai, Hua Ling started chattering and asking questions endlessly, and the night gradually dissipated amidst such an eerie atmosphere.
Dawn arrived. He rose, his true essence vibrating, instantly eradicating all the dust clinging to his clothing.
Today was the day to enter the Bottle Mountain ancient tomb, so the three members of Partridge Whistle all got up quite early.
Packing their things and making all preparations, the four of them headed toward the Bottle Mountain cliffs.
Dropping down from the cliff face to enter the great hall and directly executing that six-winged centipede was the objective of Zhong Bai's trip.
As for the Yuan Dynasty poisonous corpses created by the infestation of toxic bugs in Bottle Mountain, they were the next target.
Arriving at the cliff face and gazing down at the mist-enshrouded valley floor below, Zhong Bai took the lead.
A light leap sent him flying downward, transforming into thunder light as he continuously used the cliff face to borrow force for his descent, reaching the valley floor in the span of a moment.
As for Partridge Whistle, he had Old Foreigner and Hua Ling wait at the cliff face, then employed Mountain-Splitting methods to similarly arrive at the valley floor and rendezvous with Zhong Bai.
"Brother Partridge, go ahead and release the furious rooster; those poisonous bugs have already sensed your and my presence."
Zhong Bai smiled and said.
"It should be so."
Partridge Whistle did not doubt it, opening the chicken coop on his back. In an instant, the furious rooster burst forth like a fierce tiger leaving its cage, circling once through the empty air before landing upon a giant boulder on the valley floor. With a single crow, all the poisonous bugs in the valley floor reacted as if they had heard suppression and terror originating from their very bloodlines, scurrying into the earth to hide.
"This place ought to be where the pill palace is located. If that six-winged centipede truly exists, it presumably is hiding right in here."
Partridge Whistle looked around, gathered information to analyze the situation, and spoke again, "Taoist Qianhe, if the six-winged centipede is too terrifying, this humble one can buy time for the Daoist—you must live and walk out..."
Partridge Whistle's gaze was complicated. Though he had witnessed Zhong Bai's miraculous methods, he had also heard Zhong Bai say he lacked absolute certainty in dealing with the six-winged centipede.
If it truly proved impossible to slay, then he, Partridge Whistle, was willing to die if it meant letting Zhong Bai leave alive.
For a debt of saving grace, and with the Ghost Cave Tribe curses weighing on his junior sister and junior brother, Zhong Bai would certainly not stand idly by and ignore it; thus, sacrificing himself to fulfill his junior sister and junior brother was something Partridge Whistle felt was worth it!
As for this little train of thought in Partridge Whistle's mind, Zhong Bai couldn't even be bothered to complain.
Powerful though the six-winged centipede might be, he, Zhong Bai, was no ordinary figure either. At the fifth layer of Qi Refining, coupled with the Divine Firmament Five Thunder Art and mastered Thunder Escape Technique, if he couldn't beat it, leaving safely was still entirely possible.
"Brother Partridge thinks too heavily of this. If we are no match, Brother Partridge can simply leave first. Moreover, when this poor Daoist descended the mountain, my master also bestowed methods for self-defense; a mere six-winged centipede is simply incapable of stirring up any great waves."
Zhong Bai was not speaking idly here; within the cosmic ring, aside from some commonly used magic tools, True Immortal Qianyuan had also prepared five Heavenly Thunder Talismans for Zhong Bai!
These were personally drawn by a Mount Mao true immortal at the peak of Foundation Establishment using top-grade jade plaques.
To say the might of a Heavenly Thunder Jade Talisman was somewhat unqualified to blast and kill a demon soldier comparable to the Foundation Establishment realm might be true, but blasting and killing demon soldiers below the demon soldier rank was absolute certainty!
Of course, this was merely a trump card after all.
Zhong Bai did not believe this six-winged centipede had grown to the point where utilizing a heavenly thunder talisman was required to slay it.
Uh...
Partridge Whistle felt a bit awkward, yet he still braced himself, exchanged a smile with Zhong Bai, and spoke.
"Since that is the case, then this humble one can rest easy. I shall first drive the furious rooster forward to scout the path!"
With those words, Partridge Whistle began blowing a whistling sound with his hand. Hearing it, the furious rooster immediately flapped its wings in excitement and hurried forward toward the pill palace.
Ah, Luo Laowai really wasn't a good piece of work; killing him shouldn't affect anything, hehe. As for Chen Yulou, hm, he had a whole household trailing along, so there was no need to get entangled. In a single word: annoying.
Right then, many thanks to all the esteemed readers for your support. It's the beginning of the month, and I look forward to everyone's monthly votes and follow-up reads; as for tips, forget it, I've stopped expecting those. If anyone feels something is unreasonable, or notices typos, you're welcome to point them out in the comment section—I will definitely make reasonable revisions! Thank you everyone!
Before you continue