Galloping Steed, Soaring Dragon

Foreword:

When the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman profits.

--Liu Xiang

[Part 1: A Heart of Music and a Courage of Swords]

Descending from the mossy cave at the northern foot of the mountain, a raging fire erupted in the Hundred-Eyed Hall, reducing the corpses of numerous spirits to ashes. Strange butterflies, bearing no trace of Vita Imprint, flew out.

Every few hundred meters, there was a patrolling demon. He killed as he went. When the demons saw the shimmering butterfly Flash Butterfly Armor, they initially thought he was a confidant of the Goddess Zhuzhu from a distance. By the time Jiang Xueming reached him, it was too late to run. Fragrant Dream took turns catching them, and before they could even scream, they were killed with a single blow to the throat.

Berloberg's blade was scalding hot, yet no blood splattered out, and the Flash Butterfly Armor remained clean. Xue Ming continued to scout ahead and search the forest in the same way, killing sixteen patrolling monsters in total. There were eight giant stick insects and eight strange crickets with horns on their heads and wings on their backs. As they got closer to Yuehe Pass, they switched from flying insects to running beasts.

He leaped out of the woods and onto the rocky beach, approaching the checkpoint fence.

Two burly men came out from the checkpoint and tried to ask them questions.

Xue Ming didn't answer, but carefully inspected the guard post's defenses. There should still be eight demons in the thatched hut. Looking further into Yuehe Pass, there was an undulating stone path with demon caves on both sides. Judging from the dried meat drying outside the stone platform and the clothes these demons had changed into, there were at least two hundred minions gathered here.

The two burly men made strange grunting noises from their throats, and a foul stench emanated from their mouths and noses. Their faces were covered with a thick layer of black mane, clearly making them two wild boar monsters.

The leader of the men shouted, with an air of accusation. "Which immortal has descended the mountain? Does he possess the pass token of the Hundred Eyes Great King?"

Jiang Xueming picked up the cloth bag and opened one corner of the package.

The two wild boar monsters looked down--

--Then they saw a monkey-faced, short-statured Wood Virtue Star Lord bound hand and foot inside the bundle, its head peeking out with a pointed snout and monkey-like cheeks, looking weak and nearing its end.

"Whoa!" The leader of the wild boar monsters trembled with fear, reaching for the weapon at his waist.

Berloberg struck first, piercing the strong man's neck, entering through his chin and exiting through his eye socket, the crescent-shaped blade lodged in the wild boar's skull.

The wild boar henchman beside it hurriedly fought back, drawing its knife and using its defensive weapon to slash at the enemy!

Little did anyone know that the strange man in white was agile. He grabbed the man's wrist, lifted it, and with a flick of his wrist, the broadsword flew out of his hand and flipped in the air. Then, the strange man's elbow struck him, sending him spinning and hanging upside down!

With a clang, the weapon pierced its master's head, and the two boar monsters collapsed to the ground. Xue Ming Mingkong then took Berloberg away, taking two more lives with a single breath.

In an instant, five or six figures sprang out from the thatched hut at the pass. They were all wild monsters from the mountains, with horns on their heads and hair on their faces. They let out strange howls and wielded hooks, sickles, and forks. They were all the butchers and heroes of Yuehe Pass who cut out hearts and livers.

"Masked thief! How dare you harm my brother!"

A stern voice rang out from the demon ranks, its shout seeming to stir up a hornet's nest.

Those resting in the demon cave, those still eating, those buying human flesh goods, those practicing the art of refining elixirs, and those playing with their children—all of them suddenly emerged.

So many years --

--Last time, when a powerful enemy came to Yuehe Pass, it was just the Buddha Sculptor sending Government Soldiers to make a show of it. The lively scene of kicking down the door and challenging them was quite unusual, and these monsters certainly didn't want to miss it.

The brothers on guard duty turned their gaze to the corpses on the ground. The two wild boars had already turned back into their original forms and were lifeless.

Dead?

Died so quickly?!

Is there no hope?

By the time I understood this, it was too late.

The warrior, clad in soft spider silk armor, loosened his pack and charged toward the outpost, sword in hand.

Before the guarding leader could react, it saw the dead state of the wild boar brothers and felt a strong gust of wind and a flash of cold light.

Its insect-like skull immediately cracked open! From within burst forth the acidic liquid of its original form, the fire ant, scalding its brethren and causing them to scream in agony.

The King of Hell stopped and turned around, reaching out two palms from under the armpits of the Flash Butterfly Armor. Fragrant Dream seized the lambs waiting to be slaughtered in the guard team, and like an assembly line operation, it pulled back one, Xue Ming killed one with his bare hands.

After four more stabs and cuts, four more demon lives were lost, leaving four limp and powerless corpses, each with a burnt, stabbing wound running from the center of the forehead to the right side of the head.

In the valley, there were still some fairies who had gotten up a little later, yawning and fiddling with their brothers' clothes.

"What's going on? Let me take a look?"

The demons and monsters who had run outside the demon cave to witness all of this were so terrified that their legs went weak!

The brothers who stood guard at the pass were not only strong and powerful, but also top-notch soldiers in Yuehe Pass. Their duty was to protect the workers in these human flesh processing workshops.

But the patrol team and the demon soldiers and generals at the outposts were all dealt with by this guy alone with a single sword strike? He killed them like chickens and dogs?!

He was too fast! It was impossible to even see where the knife was coming from, or to fathom his strange and unpredictable footwork and movements!

"A celestial being has come to slay the demon!"

It's unclear who started it, but a scream suddenly erupted from Shipingzi.

These hundred-odd demons and monsters fled in terror, crying and screaming, heading towards the mountain path to seek help from the disciple of the Hundred Eyes Great King at the Four Directions Earth Temple.

--Oh, no, almost all of Hundred Eyes Great King's disciples are already dead.

Xue Ming's kill order was very reasonable. The area around the Hundred Eyes Great King's cave was warm and humid mossy land, where many high-value targets gathered, namely the chieftains or leaders of the minions near the mountainside and foot of the mountain.

Without the command of these high-value targets, scattered soldiers cannot muster the will to fight; they are nothing more than a bunch of chickens and dogs. Having fought against the Madness Butterfly Sect for many years, he knows how to slowly dismantle a Religious order from the inside out. In a mountain stronghold like Xia Bang, which is centered around a demon king, the same process and the same method apply.

Seeing the demons and monsters using every trick in the book to flee into the mountains and forests, Xue Ming didn't deliberately give chase.

--He doesn't have the time to hunt down the underlings. Once they get to the local temple, the rabble will be looking for Hundred Eyes since they can't find a leader. When the monsters break into Black Wind Town, the fight between the Buddha Sculptor and Hundred Eyes will be intensified, leaving no room for private talks and negotiations.

He picked up his baggage and searched the caves in Yuehe Pass one by one, where he also found many cowardly demons who had abandoned their children.

Jiang Xueming took out the Book of Merits and, while chanting the Great Compassion Mantra, slaughtered these wailing demon children and grandchildren one by one.

After killing off the dozen or so piglets in the first house with the wild boar monster door in Yuehe Pass, they moved to the second house with the cockroach door. They could smell a fishy, stinky odor as soon as they entered. Inside the dark cave, there were tables, chairs, wardrobes, as well as stoves and braziers.

A dozen or so larvae huddled around the warm stove and kang (a heated brick bed), shivering as they cared for thousands of cockroach egg cases. On the other side of the dining table, there were still some scraps left. It seemed that the parents had rushed out to see the commotion before finishing their human flesh, and then fled for their lives after encountering the disaster, leaving their children at home.

"Amitabha."

Jiang Xueming uttered the Sanskrit phrase "Amitabha Buddha"—

He took out his knife, grabbed an oil lamp and candles, smashed the oil bottle, overturned the stove, and then slaughtered the entire family.

As he continued his killing spree, the King of Hell knocked on each door, killing faster and more skillfully with each blow. His methods of slaughtering Xia Bang's livestock were becoming increasingly sophisticated. When he left Yuehe Pass, he had two sets of human bones in his hands, and there was no one left alive in the demon cave behind him.

These two sets of human bones were the last remaining stock salvaged from the human flesh workshop. The offerings from Black Wind Town to the Four Directions Earth Temple had long been devoured by these demons, and even the bones had to be boiled in the soup pot—if Xue Ming had arrived any later, there wouldn't have been any bones left.

He randomly found a patch of wild land, buried the two sets of bones, and made a traditional earthen burial. He put up a wooden plaque to mark the spot, so that perhaps relatives and friends who came to visit the grave in the future could find a place to express their remembrance.

It won't take much effort to finish these things; it's just that Fragrant Dream is working for me. With the unimportant tasks done, the most important thing is next.

He also brought out the large iron pot for boiling bones. After entering the workshop, he immediately noticed the fine iron pot. It must have been a gift from Hundred Eyes Great King or the Buddha Sculptor to the demons of Yuehe Pass. Iron pots conduct heat evenly and are lighter than copper-iron alloys, making the food taste better. In Xue Ming's eyes, this fine iron object was of great use.

Fragrant Dream began the cold forging process, tearing the iron pot in half, rolling it into a thick, long tube, calculating the twist pitch, and rifling it. It then became a two-tube fire-blowing machine.

After making the firearms, Xue Ming rushed down the mountain, climbed the treetops, and leaped through the forest. After walking for more than half an hour, he finally saw the traces of the demons of Yuehe Pass and was about to enter Black Wind Town.

[Part ②: Battle of Wits]

At the foot of the mountain, the Buddha Sculptor and the Hundred Eyes Great King were locked in a fierce battle, which was about to reach its climax.

Without the hard work of Fire Wu Daoist and Water Virtue Star Lord, the poisonous miasma of Black Wind Ridge gradually dissipated. A shimmering light rose from between the mountains, and at night, the misty water vapor illuminated the lush green moss covering the ground. White clouds filled the sky, and mountain streams released wisps of smoke and haze—this was a natural phenomenon caused by the spiritual energy reaction resulting from the end of the barbecue feast in the Hundred Eyes Cave, when the poison and medicine in the demons' bodies had burned out.

The Buddha Sculptor had no time to admire the beautiful scenery; he was already drenched in sweat and severely injured.

A wildfire raged around the small farm, and wandering ghosts and evil spirits drifted in the twilight. The vengeful spirits that had been killed by the Buddha Sculptor in the past had become an army of hundreds and thousands, confronting the powerful incarnations of the mountain god and the earth god.

Looking again, the Hundred Eyes Demon had already removed his armor and was at his last gasp.

Its head, neck, chest, abdomen, and arms were all covered with dazzling golden evil eyes. Holding the Soul Dissolving Sword high, it chanted incantations and barely held on to its last breath. Its lower body was buried in the yellow earth. This was also the supernatural power of the Buddha Sculptor.

Just as its title "Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord" suggests, with the blessing of the Golden Evil Eyes, the inner demons released by the Soul Dissolving Sword are no longer just one or two, but all the sentient beings seen through these evil eyes, capable of forming an army from a single person.

Bai Mu dared to venture alone into Black Wind Town to kill the Buddha Sculptor, and this natal magic weapon was its reliance.

The farmland and fields within a radius of a hundred feet had become a battlefield of magical combat. On one side, demonic spirits and karmic ghosts charged forward, while on the other side, fire fans unleashed blazing tornadoes of flame ten meters high, retaliating against them.

Then a loud rumbling sound rose from the fields. These evil souls, clinging to the mud and sand, were grabbed by the ankles by the Buddha Sculptor's soul power, and were about to be dragged into the ground and taken back to the underworld.

This process was repeated ten or more times. Even if both sides had elixirs to enhance their spiritual energy, it would eventually be exhausted.

A swarm of red butterflies burst forth from the Buddha Sculptor's precious fan, the fan's spiritual energy seemingly reaching its limit.

The bald monk gritted his teeth, not wanting to lose face in front of his fellow villagers by disgracing his Buddhist status, and finally decided to pull out his most treasured secret weapon.

Xue Ming was nearby, hanging from a tree, eating dry rations to replenish his strength.

He had never seen a battle between two immortals, let alone one between two Wings of Light.

He was increasingly grateful that he hadn't faced both Zhuzhu and Baimu at the same time. The physical essence of these two demons was truly formidable. Even if he used the Fragrant Dream to activate his hypnotic ability, he might not be able to completely lower the enemy's guard and put them to sleep in one round.

You should know that Zhuzhu needs to hold Xue Ming's hand the whole time to stay asleep.

Bai Mu should also have this constitution. Judging from the abundance of primordial essence, it would be extremely difficult to hypnotize and then kill this demon.

Looking at the Buddha Sculptor's magical artifact, the fire fan not only deals high-temperature, wide-area AOE damage, but it can also unleash Madness Butterfly. It's extremely difficult to dodge this kind of damage, making the Flash Butterfly Armor practically useless.

Besides the sword, fan, tree, gemstone, and staff, it seems the Buddha Sculptor will have to use a vase now that things have come to this point.

This is also what Xue Ming cares about most and is most concerned about.

--This jade bottle contains the soul power of Judas, and it is similar to Pellegrini's method of transferring power through blood. It uses a medium to preserve the soul power and lend one's superpowers to others.

He wanted to figure out what the treasure bottle was for and understand Judas's power.

In the blink of an eye, the trembling field fell silent.

The Buddha Sculptor's spirit broke through the encirclement, arching a cave into the grass and drawing a line of earthy yellow Earth Dragon, heading straight towards the location of Bai Mu.

Then, the Hundred Eyes Great King's expression suddenly changed. He seemed to have suffered from the Jade Bottle and wanted to avoid and retreat, but his lower body was already buried in the ground and he could not move.

Without the protection of a powerful spirit, the Buddha Sculptor was attacked and hacked by numerous inner demons, instantly bleeding profusely from his head and having his mouth bitten to pieces by vengeful spirits.

His face contorted with rage, and he roared, "[Turn It Into Midas Touch]! Kill this beast!"

This is the power of Judas's spirit, the life-protecting incantation that Judas taught to the Buddha Sculptor.

The lush green old monk suddenly burst out of the ground, holding a jade bottle and sprinkling out sweet dew!

Within the dew was an eye. Upon arriving in the mortal world and seeing the light, it immediately fixed its gaze on the Hundred Eyes Demon, this wicked and disobedient working monster.

A golden mask slowly grew from this eye, gradually expanding into a complete head, then regenerating into a human form, becoming the incarnation of Judas in the Netherworld.

[Turn It Into Midas Touch] --

--It has no feet, like an ethereal and invisible ghost, revealing a golden mask from within a neat, smooth, heavy robe, the lips of which are an eerie dark green.

It gently kissed the immobilized Hundred Eyes, who was terrified and swung its sword to strike!

The sword blade struck the mask's lips precisely, instantly turning into golden sparks and copper and iron filings.

The overwhelming spiritual pressure at that moment made Xue Ming concentrate, and a sense of horror arose in his heart.

What kind of strange ability is that?

The Hundred Eyes Demon's powerful magical artifacts melted away like ice and snow in an instant.

--It was originally made of a hundred-eyed vertebrae and a copper-iron alloy, but upon touching [Turn It Into Midas Touch], it seemed to decompose into elemental substances!

During the intense chemical reaction, the copper and iron elements were separated again, and the sword shape could no longer be maintained. The released heat turned into golden sparks, and its spinal magic weapon was destroyed in an instant!

At first glance, it's as if [Turn It Into Midas Touch] has devoured Bai Mu's magical treasure!

"You disobedient little bug!" Judas's voice boomed from behind the [Turn It Into Gold] Midas Touch. "You dare rebel?!"

Hundred Eyes Great King was so frightened that his soul almost left his body. The inner demons that had been surrounding the Buddha Sculptor gradually dissipated. Without his magical artifacts or support, King Hundred Eyes had fallen into a state of Gate of Death and could no longer stir up any trouble.

The Buddha Sculptor won in a very embarrassing manner. This bald monk was no match for the Hundred-Eyed Buddha and could only call upon the Lingguang Buddha for help—but even with the Buddha's assistance, he would also be punished. After all, the matter had already reached the higher-ups, and there was no way to resolve it.

The Hundred Eyes Demon let out a strange howl, and a bloody gash appeared on its waist and abdomen. It abandoned its lower body and tried to escape up the mountain.

[Turn It Into Midas Touch] Instead of rushing to track him down, he bent down and kissed the half-buried limb in the yellow earth.

The scene was like slurping noodles. In Xue Ming's view, the half of the Hundred Eyes Demon's body that had sunk into the ground was like ice cream, quickly burrowing into Judas's Soul Might's stomach. After a while, a tender white hand emerged from the spirit robe, holding a flesh ball the size of a watermelon—a pill made from the flesh and blood of the Hundred-Eyed Demon.

Judas wanted to find out the cause and course of events. Perhaps keeping the Hundred Eyes Demon alive would still be useful, and the Immortal Embryo was also in Black Wind Ridge. It wouldn't be good to end things in a lose-lose situation.

The spirit incarnation of [Turn It Into Midas Touch] drifted toward the Buddha Sculptor, ready to get to the bottom of things.

Just then, a group of lesser demons rushed out from the mountains and fields—

Judas, "Rebellion?! What is going on Buddha Sculptor?!"

Before the Buddha Sculptor could reply, a strange cry of seagulls rang out from behind.

Judas was terrified! He saw a fiery meteor, as fast as lightning, emerge from the mountains and forests!

A spherical flame erupted from the mechanism. Xue Ming used copper sheets and the redstone from the small pouch in the doctor's bag to rub together a few dust crystal bullets, preparing for a fatal blow.

The Buddha Sculptor had no time to dodge; his mind was only on the Lingguang Buddha. The moment the Buddha approached him, he hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, too busy expressing his gratitude to even think about it. Who would be wary of their benefactor?

Judas's attention was entirely focused on the monsters fleeing in panic through the forest; he felt only anger and did not notice Xue Ming's presence.

The arrow exploded in the face of the Buddha Sculptor.

--The scattered, shattered copper sheets twisted, deformed, and stretched, becoming incomparably sharp flying swords.

It sliced open the Buddha Sculptor's skull, chopping and smashing it along with the spirit of the old monk with the green light! Flames washed over it, and then a surge of overpressure rapidly widened the wound!

After the air was burned away, the skull, which had been split into several pieces, immediately closed up and squeezed together, along with part of the torso, and was pulverized! Fragments of flesh and blood blasted dozens of meters away, landing on the rooftops of houses, turning into a rain of blood.

[Turn It Midas Touch Gold] was stunned by the red stone dust crystal and didn't recover for more than half a second. He could barely maintain his spiritual body. Judas, who was far away, was about to fall into the Gate of Death. He quickly released his soul power and dared not look behind him - the familiar yet unfamiliar cries of seagulls rang out!

Judas abruptly raised his head, waking from his reverie. No longer daring to send his consciousness into the jade bottle, he quickly released his spiritual power.

"Heh"

He gasped, still unable to pull himself out of the near-death experience.

He was gripped by fear and didn't even know who his enemy was.

He walked out of the hotel, reached the alley entrance, leaned against the wall, and vomited up a bunch of bloody worms.

"Ugh!--Ugh!--"

Death had terrified him to the point of losing his mind.

"Who is it? Who on earth is it?!"

"They escaped?"

Jiang Xueming put away the mechanism tube; the second dust crystal arrow missed its target.

[Turn It Into Midas Touch] The moment it was enveloped in flames, it suddenly vanished, like a wisp of green mist that was scattered by firecrackers. The spirit did not disintegrate, nor did it produce any extra spiritual energy. This arrow was wasted, but the other one did not— the Buddha Sculptor's head and half of his body disappeared.

When the townspeople first saw the Lingguang Buddha, they all gathered around the Buddha Sculptor. Later, when so many demons rushed down from the mountain, they all fled back to their homes, and not a single person was willing to collect the Buddha Sculptor's body.

His body was still warm, convulsing on the grass. His relatively intact left hand still held the tattered precious fan. Many White Lady crawled out of the corpse, and the little insects had just finished eating the intestines, but could not find the heart or liver.

It's obvious--

He's dead!