Black Robe's Night Raid

"It was only two people in the See Me Realm, not the Peeping God Realm. If they dared come looking for trouble, I'd have no qualms about striking first."

Mortal wore an unconcerned expression, a perfect example of the distinctive customs of overseas cultivators.

Hanyu said nothing, but his unmoved expression showed that he didn't care either.

"Hanyu, you've gotten hooked on fighting lately! You're starting to get cocky."

Little Glazed giggled in his mind.

Cousin could only look helplessly at the two fools who had no concept of the cultivation world. He decided to give them a proper lesson.

Though the cultivation world was dotted with countless sects, the strongest of them all were the Three Yuan Nine Sects.

The Upper Yuan Three Sects were Nanli Sword Sanctuary, Jialan Temple, and Misty City.

The Middle Yuan Three Sects were Star Moon Pavilion, Dragon Phoenix Palace, and Qinglan Sect.

The Lower Yuan Three Sects were Peerless Tower, Divine Machine Institute, and Langya Mountain.

Hanyu listened in utter confusion. Even Mortal, an overseas cultivator, didn't seem to understand much.

Cousin clapped a hand to his forehead and sighed. He thought, I knew explaining it to you two would be like playing a lute to a cow.

"Let me put it this way! Peerless Tower has three towers and six institutes, with nearly a thousand cultivators. If you've provoked one of them, isn't that like provoking the whole nest?"

At the Prefectural Yamen in Shuzhou City, Ou Mingdong nervously reached the entrance, only to be stopped by the Prefectural Guards.

"I'd like to see your prefectural guard commander. Sorry to trouble you, but could you announce me? My name is Ou Mingdong."

The guard looked him up and down. Seeing his extraordinary bearing, he knew Ou Mingdong wasn't an ordinary person. He nodded, then hurried inside to report.

At that moment, Su Wanjun was frowning deeply as she sorted through letters that had arrived in recent days. In the end, she had decided to report the discovery Hanyu and the others had made a few days ago, while also contacting several nearby prefectures.

A guard hurried in and told her about the visitor at the entrance. Su Wanjun frowned and told him to bring the man in.

Ou Mingdong soon entered, his face alight with excitement. He'd been afraid he would be turned away and leave empty-handed.

He had prepared a whole speech in advance, but when he saw Su Wanjun's stunning face, he could only stammer, unable to get the words out.

After a brief silence, Su Wanjun spoke first, her voice clear and sweet. "Did you travel through the area on your way here?"

"I..."

Ou Mingdong had meant to say that he'd come specifically to see her. But he knew Su Wanjun's temperament; if he said that, she'd probably throw him out. So he hurriedly changed his answer.

"I was passing through with my junior brother."

Su Wanjun's gaze shifted. "As you traveled here, did you notice any places where large numbers of people had gone missing?"

Ou Mingdong froze at the question. He didn't know how to answer. He'd come straight here; he hadn't stopped anywhere along the way.

"I didn't pay attention."

Su Wanjun looked away, disappointed. Ou Mingdong hesitated, then tentatively asked, "Did something happen?"

Su Wanjun thought for a moment, then handed him the letters she was holding.

Ou Mingdong read them carefully. Only after a while did he finish going through them all.

He frowned. He'd heard of the Corpse Refining lineage, but only in connection with events from long ago, before his generation. All he knew had come from things his elders had mentioned.

"Do you need me to stay and protect him?"

Ou Mingdong looked at Su Wanjun as he spoke. Naturally, "him" meant her cousin, the young master of the Mo Family.

His offer left her with a complicated expression.

Su Wanjun asked pointedly, "How is your junior brother?"

Ou Mingdong blushed. Wang Shiyi was doing rather badly. After returning to their lodgings, he'd spent half an hour squatting on the privy.

Now he was lying on his bed, groaning.

But Ou Mingdong had been so eager to see Su Wanjun that he'd completely forgotten about his junior brother.

Su Wanjun wasn't really concerned about Wang Shiyi. She was only using him as an excuse to hint at the relationship between Peerless Tower and the Mo Family.

"Try not to offend them too badly in the future. The Nine Great Sects care most about their reputation."

Cousin sighed.

Hanyu asked curiously, "If your family can afford to antagonize Peerless Tower, you must be from one of the Nine Sects too, right?"

It wasn't hard to figure out. Since Peerless Tower was as formidable as Cousin had described, that meant his family must be just as powerful.

Cousin's expression grew complicated, but he still answered, "My name is actually Mo Xiuwen. My family is part of the Divine Machine Institute."

Neither of them was surprised.

Mortal teased, "So you're an aristocratic young master after all."

Cousin rolled his eyes and said with a bitter smile, "I'm talking about the trouble we're in, and you two are more interested in my family background."

Mortal spread his hands. "The Medicine Master was the one who gave us the medicine."

Hanyu rolled his eyes. "Mortal was the one who slipped it to him."

Mortal thought it over, then pointed at Cousin. "And they came after him."

By the end of it, all three of them were involved.

Wang Shiyi lay alone in bed, tossing and turning. He was nearly at the end of his strength. Just moments ago, he'd gotten up to use the privy again.

His senior brother had left without a word. He didn't even know whether he'd gone to find a physician.

As a cultivator in the See Me Realm, he'd long since forgotten what it felt like to be sick. Now, though, he was suffering miserably.

His surging True Essence circulated through his chest and abdomen, yet it couldn't do a thing to ease the painful bloating in his stomach.

When had cultivators of the Upper Yuan ever suffered like this? At that moment, three faces appeared in his mind, and he ground his teeth in hatred.

He looked out at the night beyond the window. Ou Mingdong still hadn't returned...

Cousin stayed at the inn until late into the night.

"You're not going back?"

Hanyu looked at him in surprise.

Cousin's expression was inscrutable. He cleared his throat a few times and said he'd already rented a room next door, so he wouldn't be staying at the Prefectural Yamen for the time being.

Hanyu was curious. Was Cousin avoiding Su Wanjun? Impossible. Cousin was used to getting a thrashing from her and wasn't afraid of that at all. At most, she'd beat him up.

Cousin awkwardly explained, "Ou Mingdong definitely came here specifically to see my cousin. I'd better stay away from the yamen for now. Knowing him, he'll be running over there every day."

"Are you afraid of him, or do you have a guilty conscience?"

Hanyu teased him with a grin.

Cousin rubbed his nose. "I don't dislike him or anything. It's just that whenever I see him, the look in his eyes makes me feel guilty."

"And I'm also afraid that if my cousin pushes him too far one day, he'll kill me to vent his anger."

Mortal suddenly burst out laughing, leaving the other two baffled. He laughed until tears came to his eyes, then clutched his stomach and said, "I was just thinking—if his cousin ever married someone else, wouldn't the first thing Ou Mingdong did be to hunt Cousin down across the world?"

"That can't be right, can it?"

Cousin's face fell.

But as soon as the words left his mouth, the doors and windows suddenly exploded. A mighty Blade Qi burst through the window and shot toward them.

Hanyu's expression turned grave. He stepped forward and crossed his arms to block the Blade Qi. But the instant he stopped it, another wall of fire surged into the room, setting everything around them alight.

In the blink of an eye, the room became a sea of fire.

"Get out first!"

Hanyu shouted and vaulted outside. Cousin and Mortal exchanged a glance, then hurried after him.

The street was deserted and silent. After leaping down, Hanyu froze.

Two figures stood not far away, one in front of him and one behind.

He recognized Wang Shiyi, naturally. But who was the figure on the other side, covered head to toe in a black robe?

"Wang Shiyi, you shameless bastard! You even brought someone else along?"

After landing, Cousin glared at the Black Robe and angrily cursed.

Wang Shiyi was just as bewildered. He'd been unable to sleep all night, growing more and more miserable with every passing moment, until he finally decided to come take revenge.

So he'd sneaked over to the inn where the three of them were staying. Seeing that the light was still on in their room, he'd decided to launch a sneak attack from outside.

But just as he swung his blade with all his might, a black-robed figure suddenly appeared. That person was even more ruthless, setting the room ablaze with a single wave of fire.

When the Black Robe saw the three of them leap down, he said nothing. He rose into the air, his True Essence surging around him as a tremendous pressure forced everyone below to turn pale.

"The Peeping God Realm!"

Cousin cried out, his face pale.

A sea of fire gathered around the Black Robe, blazing in midair until the night was as bright as day.

With a wave of the Black Robe's hand, the flames plunged down like a river turned upside down, leaving nowhere to run.

Hanyu was the first to be caught in the flames. His clothes ignited at once, and no matter how hard he slapped at them, he couldn't put them out.

Mortal's injured leg still hadn't fully healed. He dodged nimbly several times, but was a step too slow. The flames soon licked his upper body, setting his whole arm alight in an instant.

Cousin fared even worse. Both pant legs caught fire, and he jumped around in a panic. He tried to shake the flames out with a pulse of True Essence, only to find it had no effect.

"This is a fire divine ability!"

Cousin cried out in alarm.

Wang Shiyi had planned to sit back and watch the two sides fight, but he didn't get to enjoy the spectacle for long before the sea of fire spread toward him too.

"Angry Dragon Slash!"

He poured a vast amount of True Essence into a tornado formed by his blade's rising Qi and sent it crashing toward the flames. Not only did it fail to extinguish them, it made the fire surge even more fiercely...

It was another day of rapid-fire updates.

Explosive Update Pill: The person who takes it develops an odd compulsion to post rapid-fire updates. Side effect: They'll feel miserable for a day if they don't.