Prologue (Part 2)

Chapter 2: Prologue (Part 2)

Yanhuadang is located in the southern part of Heavenly Secret Mountain. It is a land of water towns where the Li River flows down from above, surging forward. Upon entering Yanhuadang, the river is divided into numerous streams by the intricate terrain, slowing the current and irrigating the land, which in turn creates a stretch of fertile soil.

A small fishing boat is currently drifting slowly across the river, with fishing nets being cast from time to time.

In a small tea stall nearby, a few passing travelers are resting and drinking tea.

Sitting at the very edge is a woman who, despite her gender, is broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, as sturdy as an ox. Most importantly, while drinking tea, she is actually picking at her feet, occasionally bringing her fingers to her nose to take a sniff, looking quite satisfied; her behavior is no different from that of a boorish man.

Sitting with her are a scholar and a round-faced girl.

The scholar waves his folding fan, and every time that mountain-like tomboy raises her foot-picking hand, he fans vigorously, perhaps hoping to waft away the stench.

The round-faced girl is resting her chin on her hand, lost in thought, wondering what she is thinking about.

At a nearby table sits a hunchbacked old man, eating peanuts. Seeing that there are not many peanuts left in the dish, he calls out, "Waiter, another dish of peanuts and another pot of wine."

"Coming right up." The waiter who walks out is a young man with delicate features.

He serves the peanuts and wine to the hunchbacked old man, but his movements are truly clumsy; his hand tilts, and the wine from the pot spills onto the old man.

The old man is furious: "How are you doing your job?"

The waiter apologizes hurriedly: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

He is already using the dirty towel in his hand to wipe the wine stains off the old man.

The hunchbacked man grumbles for a long time before his anger subsides, saying, "Bring me another pot of wine, on the house."

"Yes, yes." The waiter rushes off to get more wine.

The round-faced girl nearby feels a bit angry upon seeing this: "This old man is being a bit too overbearing."

The sturdy woman picking her feet curls her lip: "Don't meddle in other people's business."

The folding-fan-wielding gentleman shakes his head: "As it is said, 'The cultivation of the person depends on rectifying the mind.' If the body is affected by anger, it cannot be rectified; if it is affected by fear, it cannot be rectified; if it is affected by fondness or pleasure, it cannot be rectified; if it is affected by worry or anxiety, it cannot be rectified. When the mind is not present, one looks but does not see, listens but does not hear, and eats without knowing the taste. This is what is meant by 'the cultivation of the person depends on rectifying the mind'... Junior Sister, do not let trivial matters disturb you."

The round-faced girl sneers: "Shen Linxin, you are the only one with so many pedantic remarks. If we were truly not to be disturbed by trivial matters, then what is the point of us coming down the mountain this time? Also, I am not the Junior Sister now, I am the Eighth Junior Sister!"

She emphasizes the last sentence particularly heavily.

The folding-fan-wielding gentleman chuckles: "The Junior Sister is right; it was my mistake to speak too much."

"Hmph." The round-faced girl crosses her arms and continues to stare blankly, her gaze fixed straight at the lake surface.

On the lake, the fishermen on the boat are still fishing, and the atmosphere is quiet and peaceful.

But just at this moment, ripples suddenly appear on the lake. A wave rises without any wind, shooting into the sky and forming a massive tidal wave that crashes down toward the fishing boat.

"It's here!" Witnessing this scene, the round-faced girl is not panicked but rather excited.

As the waves roll, a snow-white giant fish emerges from the lake tide. It looks quite beautiful, but the moment it opens its massive mouth, it reveals sharp, terrifying fangs.

Riding the wind and breaking the waves, it bites down toward the fishermen on the boat.

The head fisherman standing at the bow is also a sturdy man with a square face and large ears, his mid-face full, clearly a man of great strength. Yet, even so, seeing this scene, one would normally expect him to shrink back in fear.

But he does the opposite. Seeing the white fish appear, he laughs loudly: "I've finally waited for you!"

As he speaks, he stomps hard on the bow, causing the boat to sink significantly, and he leaps into the air, throwing a punch directly at the snow-white fish demon.

It is a seemingly ordinary punch, but it slams into the snow-white fish demon, simultaneously raising a flash of purple lightning that makes the fish demon let out a sharp, strange cry.

The fish demon immediately realizes things are going poorly and, instead of engaging in a prolonged fight, turns to flee.

"Trying to run!" Another person appears on the fishing boat—a fair-skinned, chubby man who looks like a wealthy merchant.

He points at the lake, and the ripples on the surface churn wildly, forming a water curtain that covers the sky. The fish demon, though naturally adept in water, crashes into the water curtain and finds itself unable to escape.

"Counter-Water Formation!" The fish demon speaks in human language: "You are from the Heavenly Mechanism Sect."

"Oh my, you recognized it. As expected, you little demon have a decent eye," the fair-skinned chubby man laughs. He is Feng Buting, the sixth disciple of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect, who excels in formation arts. With this move, he has sealed the fish demon's path of escape.

The square-faced, large-eared man has already been laughing and throwing several punches, each one like a scorching sun in the sky, accompanied by rolling heavenly thunder: "You fish demon have brought disaster to the countryside and devoured countless people; today is the day you meet your end!"

The fish demon is shocked: "Sun-Radiance Fist, Heavenly Thunder Curse—you are Zhao Longguang, the eldest disciple of Xin Ranzi!"

"You know quite a lot!" Zhao Longguang's fist momentum becomes even more ferocious.

At the same time, a man in gray clothes appears on the fishing boat, raising his hand to cast strands of wind-based bindings toward the fish demon.

He is Yin Tianzhao, the seventh in the Heavenly Mechanism Sect, who excels in binding techniques.

However, just as he begins to bind the target, Zhao Longguang shatters those wind strands with a single punch, shouting: "You don't need to intervene; I will deal with it myself. You just stay on the side and guard the formation."

Hearing this, the round-faced girl in the tea stall clutches her forehead: "The Eldest Senior Brother is at it again."

This round-faced girl is Xin Xiaoye, the only daughter of Xin Ranzi and the eighth among the nine disciples.

Zhao Longguang is the most combative; he never engages in group fights when he can fight one-on-one.

Although this fish demon is strong, it is only at the Hualun Realm, just like him, so what is there to fear?

At this moment, Zhao Longguang attacks violently, the thunder rolling and changing the color of the sky and earth, scaring the nearby commoners so much that they scramble to find places to hide. Even the waiter and the hunchbacked old man are so terrified that they huddle under the table, trembling.

While Zhao Longguang is still fighting the fish demon vigorously, the fish demon, despite its powerful demonic energy, is gradually losing the upper hand. Seeing Zhao Longguang's punches becoming increasingly fierce, it hardens its heart and suddenly opens its mouth to spit out a blood-red bead. A blood arrow shoots out from the bead, striking Zhao Longguang directly.

The fish demon is overjoyed: "Struck by my Essence Blood Arrow, let's see if you die!"

To my surprise, Zhao Longguang merely swayed his body and sneered, "You've heard of my name, but you don't know my nickname: the Dragon of Demon Addiction, do you?"

What?

It was only then that I recalled the rumors that Zhao Longguang possessed a unique, innate bloodline containing demonic essence, making him immune to demon toxins. I had assumed it was just a tall tale, but it turned out to be true.

The fish demon was stunned for a moment, but before it could react, Zhao Longguang's heavy fist slammed down, caving in a portion of its skull. Realizing there was no hope of survival, the fish demon gathered all its remaining demonic power, and its blood erupted toward Zhao Longguang like sharp arrows. The most terrifying part wasn't the force of the projectiles, but the fact that the demon blood was highly toxic.

Zhao Longguang, however, seemed not to notice, letting the blood arrows pierce his body as he finished off the fish demon completely. He grabbed the demon core, which had shriveled significantly, and shook his head with a sigh, "A pity. It consumed too much of its own essence; it's no longer perfect."

With that, he rode the wind and waves to the shore.

"Eldest Senior Brother is amazing!" Xin Xiaoye ran over. "I knew that as soon as you made a move, you'd solve this fish demon. We really made this trip for nothing; all that triple-layered preparation was completely redundant."

Unexpectedly, as soon as she said this, Zhao Longguang's expression changed drastically. "Move!"

He shoved Xin Xiaoye out of the way.

A spray of black liquid splashed through the spot where Xin Xiaoye had been standing, landing on a nearby tree, which withered instantly.

At the same time, the robust woman and the fan-wielding young man struck toward the nearby grass. A large snake lunged from the brush, but instead of engaging, it fled at lightning speed. The robust woman and the fan-wielding man couldn't keep up.

Just then, a flash of sword light appeared in the sky, descending to strike the snake exactly at its seven-inch mark, severing it in two. The snake writhed, spraying countless droplets of venom, but the sword light swept through, preventing a single drop of blood from touching the wielder.

When the light faded, a handsome man in white robes was revealed, holding a sword. He tossed his hair with a flamboyant flair as he landed.

"Second Senior Brother is amazing!" Xin Xiaoye cheered happily.

The third disciple, Shen Linxin, waved his folding fan with disdain. "Show-off."

This man who loved to show off was named Lin Yufeng. He was a master of the sword and went by the nickname Wind-Riding Sword, a testament to the speed of his strikes.

Lin Yufeng walked over with a graceful air. "As expected, there was another demon lurking nearby, but it couldn't escape my fast sword."

"It's more like it couldn't escape the Junior Brother's calculations."

Another person appeared beside Lin Yufeng: Qing Lin.

The robust woman had already retrieved an object from the snake—a poison pill formed from the creature's concentrated essence.

She tossed it casually to the waiter standing nearby. "Here, this is what you wanted."

The waiter was none other than Ning Ye. He caught the pill, beaming with joy. "Many thanks, Fifth Senior Sister."

The robust woman was named Shan Rou, the fifth disciple of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect.

For this demon-hunting mission, all nine disciples of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect had come.

The hunchbacked old man nearby was trembling with fear. He ran to Ning Ye's feet and knelt. "I didn't know you were immortals! Please forgive my earlier rudeness, spare my life!"

Ning Ye smiled slightly. "It's fine. One cannot be blamed for what one does not know."

The hunchbacked old man breathed a sigh of relief and turned to leave.

Ning Ye, however, said, "I didn't say you could go. I can overlook your rudeness toward me, but I cannot let slide the fact that you've been raising demons to harm people."

The hunchbacked old man froze, his body stiffening. Even the other members of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect were startled and gathered around.

He looked back at Ning Ye. "This old man doesn't know what you're talking about. You came here to hunt demons, but I am a human, not a demon."

Ning Ye shook his head gently. "You can keep pretending, but do you really think the Heavenly Mechanism Sect would mobilize all its disciples just to deal with two ordinary demons?"

The old man's expression shifted instantly, and his body suddenly straightened. "The Heavenly Mechanism Sect really loves to meddle in other people's business!"

As he stood tall, the hump on his back burst open, and countless demon bees swarmed out, rushing toward the group in a dense cloud. Each bee was the size of a fist, moving with incredible speed, their stingers capable of piercing protective true energy.

The attack was sudden and caught Zhao Longguang and the others off guard, forcing them to scramble to defend themselves.

Zhao Longguang, possessing innate demonic blood, was immune to the toxins; wherever his fists landed, the bees perished. Lin Yufeng unleashed a web of sword light, blocking all the bees from his perimeter. Shen Linxin let out a low shout, and layers of strange silver runes circled him, keeping the bees at bay.

Qing Lin moved like a willow catkin, drifting with the wind, and not a single bee could catch him.

As for the fifth disciple, Shan Rou, her method was the simplest: she let out a tiger-like roar, her skin turning to bronze and her bones to iron. The stingers that could pierce true energy couldn't even scratch her skin.

Feng Buting deployed a portable formation to shield himself, while Yin Tianzhao manifested swirling vortices of wind around his body, deflecting every bee that entered his range.

Xin Xiaoye danced with her colorful ribbons, and wherever they passed, bees fell from the sky. She was fighting offense with offense—though she was the eighth disciple, she was, after all, the daughter of Xin Ranzi, and the ribbons were a rare magical treasure capable of protecting her.

The demon bees were fierce, but they couldn't handle so many people at once.

But just then, all eight disciples changed color and shouted in unison, "Junior Brother!"

Ning Ye had somehow been seized by the hunchbacked man.

The man pressed his hand against the crown of Ning Ye's head, cackling hideously, "You are all skilled fighters of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect, bullying the few with the many. I am no match for you, but fortunately, there is still one weak link... You haven't even reached the Hualun Realm, yet you dare to provoke me? You've practically delivered a weakness to me on a silver platter."

This last sentence was directed at Ning Ye.

Of the nine disciples of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect, the other eight were already in the Hualun Realm, with Zhao Longguang and Lin Yufeng being the strongest, both at the peak of the Hualun Realm.

Only Ning Ye was the weakest. After three years of cultivation, he was at the peak of the Cang Xiang Realm, just one step away from completion.

But the Cang Xiang Realm was merely the first stage, also known as the apprentice stage. How could he possibly be a match for this old man, who was also at the peak of the Hualun Realm? He had been subdued in a single move.

Seeing Ning Ye fall into the enemy's hands, everyone was frantic.

Xin Xiaoye, Qing Lin, and the others cried out, "Don't kill him! We can talk about this!"

"Talk about nothing! All of you, leave! You are not allowed to stay here!" the old man shouted.

Everyone retreated simultaneously without a moment's hesitation.

Ning Ye suddenly spoke up, "There is one thing you got wrong."

"What?" The old man was stunned, failing to react in time.

Ning Ye said earnestly, "This mission to eliminate demons and defend the path was assigned to me by my master. It counts as a trial from my sect, so this is not me meddling in other people's business."

"So what?" The old man was confused.

"It means... those two demons can be killed by my senior brothers, but you, you must be killed by me," Ning Ye answered seriously.

The old man was left dumbfounded by Ning Ye's statement, "You... you want to kill me? Does your master want you dead?"

"No, it's just that my master trusts me. You see, defeating someone might require raw strength, but killing someone doesn't necessarily require the same." Ning Ye said with a grin.

Hearing this, a sudden sense of foreboding rose in the old man's heart, "You..."

Ning Ye sighed, "Did you forget that you drank my wine and ate my food?"

The old man was horrified, suddenly discovering that he was completely powerless.

Ning Ye stepped lightly out of his grasp and arrived beside the others.

Xin Xiaoye was both surprised and delighted, "So you discovered he was suspicious early on and drugged him. Good lad, you've got guts. How did you know?"

Ning Ye smiled, "Demons eat people, but they have no interest in wealth. I've read all the files my master gave me and discovered that during this period, every victim of the local demons had their valuables missing as well. That was when I knew there was likely someone else pulling the strings behind the scenes."

"Weren't you afraid you'd picked the wrong person?" Shan Rou asked curiously.

Ning Ye spread his hands, "Who told him to pretend to be a hunchback so unconvincingly? When a hunchback walks, their body leans forward, making their footprints heavier in the front and lighter in the back, but this man was nothing like that. Actually, he could have avoided leaving footprints entirely, but he wanted to play the part of a mortal and failed. I intentionally spilled wine on him earlier and wiped it off; when I felt movement behind his hump, I knew this hunchback was the target I was looking for."

"You still should have been careful about getting the wrong person," Zhao Longguang frowned. Although Ning Ye's analysis made sense, there was still a possibility of error.

Ning Ye laughed, "That's why the poison I used wasn't lethal; it only rendered him powerless."

The hunchback realized what had happened and sneered, "Good, good, you've got talent. But thinking you can kill me with just this? You're still far off!"

As he spoke, his body suddenly exploded, transforming into a cloud of black smoke that scattered in all directions.

"The Shadow Escape Technique? He's from the Demon Sect!" Lin Yufeng's expression changed.

People from the Demon Sect were vicious and cruel, possessing a multitude of tricks and excelling at escape. This Shadow Escape Technique was one of their signature methods. Even the poison Ning Ye had administered failed to affect his ability to use it.

The group hadn't expected him to have such a trick up his sleeve and could only watch helplessly as he fled, all of them filled with frustration.

Ning Ye, however, sighed, "Those who court death cannot be saved. One... two... three..."

BOOM!

In the distant sky, a massive burst of white light suddenly erupted, filled with swirling toxic smoke, accompanied by the hunchback's frantic, desperate screams.

What was this?

The group was left bewildered.

Ning Ye said, "He shouldn't have tried to capture me alive. I didn't use a heavy hand in the food and wine, but after he captured me, things were different... It's just a pity about that poison pill I just acquired."

Ning Ye sounded quite regretful as he said the last sentence.

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