With that, Zhao Changfeng strode straight toward the wooden door, his head held high.
"Move aside!"
He casually pushed Chen Jian, who was blocking the door. When he failed to budge him, he pushed harder, but Chen Jian's seemingly slender frame proved as unbreakable as his name suggested.
Chen Jian regarded Zhao Changfeng coldly, his handsome face expressionless. "I'll move on my own. Get your filthy hands off me."
If Zhao Changfeng hadn't exposed his identity, he could have stayed clear of this "demon spirit tide" originating in Tamu Town.
It would have been strange if he had treated Zhao Changfeng kindly.
"Oh, then move."
Zhao Changfeng let go, inwardly bewildered.
He was already proficient at circulating the Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding art. Yet when he secretly tried it just now, he found that Chen Jian's obsessive inner demons failed to appear within the second Small Cauldron inside him.
Life held countless tribulations, especially for long-lived cultivators.
Chen Jian's cultivation was unfathomable. Logically, he should have weathered all manner of wind and frost, and should have had a Heart-Demon Obsession.
Eager to draw a second person's Heart-Demon Obsession into the Small Cauldron, Zhao Changfeng had tried targeting Chen Jian, only to gain nothing.
Impossible. Could Chen Jian really have no Heart-Demon Obsession?
Or... is his realm so high that my Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding can't shake him yet?
Zhao Changfeng leaned toward the second possibility.
Chen Jian did step aside. Looking at him as though he were already dead, he said, "Lead the way."
The long, narrow street of Tamu Town.
Grayish-yellow rainwater had turned the uneven street into a muddy mess. Following the scene he had witnessed earlier, Zhao Changfeng headed straight toward the other corner of town.
That direction led to the far end of the long street, where everyone coming from Heavenly Shield City entered.
When the demon spirits swarm in, anyone who tries to flee in panic will most likely escape this way.
Song Zejun and his wife are stationed here. It looks like they don't intend to let a single living person leave. Escaping won't be easy for me either.
Zhao Changfeng muttered inwardly.
As he drew closer to his destination, his spirits grew heavier. He quietly tried mobilizing the blood energy he had just accumulated in his Middle Dantian, blending it with spiritual power and pouring it into his legs.
His realm was low, and Chen Jian harbored ill intentions. All he wanted was to do his best to survive.
It's damned hard to get by in this world. If the Heavenly Cauldron from Beyond the Heavens hadn't revealed its wondrous powers, I'd probably have died twice already.
Had he failed to spot the Soul-Pacifying Bead inside Song Ziyan back in the cave, Teng Kun would have disposed of him as well. Had the illusory Small Cauldron not suppressed the poison throughout his body, his dear senior sister would have poisoned him to death.
This time, he was caught in yet another situation where life and death hung in the balance.
He had arrived in this world barely ten days ago, yet spent every day racking his brains to stay alive. The thought filled him with rueful sighs.
A short while later.
Zhao Changfeng stopped. From nearly a hundred meters away, he pointed at a leaky shack and whispered, "They're inside."
Ruan Meizhen, who had followed him all the way, looked puzzled. "How long have you been watching them?"
Zhao Changfeng never left his room and kept his windows tightly shut. How could he be certain where the two were hiding?
"When you weren't around, I secretly watched them through the cracks in the window."
Zhao Changfeng offered his explanation.
Ruan Meizhen gave a soft snort and sneered. "You really have been scheming your heart out to get them killed!"
If Song Zejun and his wife had no involvement with demon spirits, that would prove everything Zhao Changfeng had said was nonsense. His actions would make him the scum of all scum!
Biased against Zhao Changfeng, Ruan Meizhen remained only half convinced even now.
"Keep leading the way."
"I want you standing before them, accusing them in person."
Chen Jian urged him on coldly, determined to make Zhao Changfeng get closer so the couple would be within reach to kill him.
How could Zhao Changfeng not know what Chen Jian was thinking?
Like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, he simply dug in his heels and refused to move. "Unless you kill me right now, I'm not taking another step forward!"
"Suddenly frightened? Where's all that courage from earlier? You even told me to move aside."
Chen Jian's face was icy, his tone mocking.
Zhao Changfeng remained unmoved.
Chen Jian nodded. Realizing Zhao Changfeng was absolutely determined not to advance, he hesitated no longer.
"Song Zejun!"
"Zhou Jin!"
"You two have colluded with demon spirits and lurked in Tamu Town with intentions worthy of death! You deserve to die ten thousand times!"
"Now your disciple, Zhao Changfeng, has personally led me here to slaughter you both!"
On the muddy street at dusk, Chen Jian shouted at the top of his lungs. With a shake of his sleeve, he released a Yin Ghost Spirit-Seizing Banner and sent it flying straight toward the shack.
Whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh!
Nearly a hundred yin ghosts he had refined howled forth. Like bearers carrying a carpet, they held up the steadily expanding black banner and brought it crashing down toward the shack.
The seemingly weightless banner suddenly seemed infused with limitless power as it descended toward the shack, giving the impression of a crushing weight of countless tons.
Fuck your mother!
Zhao Changfeng cursed inwardly, wanting to cry but finding no tears.
He had planned to cover his face with the loose robes of the Crippled Demon Sect as soon as fighting broke out, and had already picked out the nearest hiding place.
Naturally, he would leave the fighting to Chen Jian. His realm was too low; he only wanted to stay clear of trouble and avoid being seen by Song Zejun and his wife as much as possible.
But Chen Jian had announced his name before even deploying the Yin Ghost Spirit-Seizing Banner.
How could Song Zejun and his wife possibly spare him now?
Boom!
Wood splinters and shattered stone mingled with muddy water and filth, spraying everywhere as the shack abruptly exploded. The yin ghosts swarmed forward, lunging at Song Zejun and his wife.
Battle erupted in an instant.
Zhao Changfeng sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.
He had finally witnessed the terrifying might of a High-Rank Spirit Artifact. He was also convinced that his inability to absorb Chen Jian's Heart-Demon Obsession through Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding was almost certainly due to the man's realm being too high.
"Chen Jian!"
"Zhao Changfeng?"
Startled cries erupted everywhere. Cultivators scattered throughout Tamu Town were all roused by the astonishing fluctuations and converged from every direction.
At the top of the tower, Cui Pinyuan's expression darkened.
Events had exceeded his expectations. He had never imagined that this junior from the Ghost-Controlling Sect, so taciturn during their meeting, would actually believe Zhao Changfeng's nonsense.
The Ghost-Controlling Sect was, after all, a Demon Dao Great Sect. And as Ruan Meizhen had said, Chen Jian was in the primordial spirit realm. Cui Pinyuan had no way to restrain him.
Still, he inwardly grumbled, certain that Chen Jian's recklessness would drive Song Zejun and his wife away, depriving Tamu Town of two sources of support.
Crack! Crash!
The shack collapsed completely, allowing those nearby to see the true situation.
Amid a heap of broken stones and clods of mud, Song Zejun and his wife stood shoulder to shoulder.
The man was refined and gentle, the woman elegant in bearing. Both possessed an extraordinary presence.
Zhou Jin held open a large white umbrella embroidered with red flowers. Apparently, she had previously used it to block the rain leaking through the roof; now it kept every last yin ghost outside.
Song Zejun remained composed. Standing beneath the umbrella, his expression was calm, as though unaware of the calamity bearing down on him.
"Changfeng, it's been a long time. I never expected you were still alive."
From a hundred meters away, his eyes, deep as the sea, settled on Zhao Changfeng. He even gave him a faint smile.
A chill swept through Zhao Changfeng's entire body. He had no idea how to answer.
Song Zejun's words made one thing clear: the couple's appearance in Tamu Town probably had nothing to do with him.
They hadn't even known he was still alive.
I was rash. I took far too much for granted...
Realization struck, and Zhao Changfeng regretted it until his guts nearly turned green. Had he been willing to bear the consequences of betraying a sect for the second time, perhaps he really could have slipped quietly out of Tamu Town.
For all his calculations, who could have known Song Zejun and his wife thought he had died long ago?
"He sold out his sect for personal glory, and now he's joined outsiders in attacking his own master and his master's wife. This man..."
Having heard the commotion, Shen Yanrong approached the battlefield with Qin Hui.
As she passed Zhao Changfeng, she suddenly paused and gave him a curious glance.
A moment later, she hastily looked away, as though afraid someone like Zhao Changfeng would sully her eyes.
Qin Hui, broad and imposing as a mountain, ignored Zhao Changfeng. He merely said to Ruan Meizhen, "You shouldn't have joined them in this foolishness. Whatever else, that couple could help shoulder some of the pressure from the demon spirits."
Ruan Meizhen bit her lustrous lower lip without arguing, inwardly furious at herself for being so bewitched that she had believed Zhao Changfeng's nonsense.
The radiance emanating from Zhou Jin's embroidered umbrella was upright and pure. Where was even a trace of contamination by demon spirits?
Song Zejun's bearing was even more poised and untroubled.
A disciple like Zhao Changfeng had brought attackers to his door, and Chen Jian had even demolished the shack sheltering him from the rain, yet he could still smile so gently at Zhao Changfeng.
What sign was there of such a man colluding with demon spirits?
At that thought, she glared resentfully at Zhao Changfeng and said coldly, "I'll make you pay for this later!"
Zhao Changfeng couldn't have defended himself even with a hundred mouths. He knew something was wrong with Song Zejun and his wife, but had no way to prove it.
At that moment, he knew he stood condemned by everyone.
"Zhao Changfeng. Heh."
Chen Haoming and the fellow disciples in his squad gathered in a leaky stone house to watch the battlefield. Shaking his head, he remarked, "Song Zejun and his wife are quite something, surviving Master's hands. But our Junior Brother Zhao is even more remarkable."
The contempt for Zhao Changfeng's character in his tone was unmistakable.
Chi Jingchen and the others repeatedly agreed.
"Chen Jian, what are you standing there for?"
"Keep attacking! Beat them until they show their true colors!"
Zhao Changfeng shouted urgently.
Only a fiercer offensive might force Song Zejun and his wife to reveal their abnormalities. He could only pin his hopes on Chen Jian, whose first strike had failed.
Strangely enough... Chen Jian actually did as he said!
At Chen Jian's mental command, the yin ghosts circling near the banner abruptly gathered, forming a gigantic, three-headed, six-armed fiend. Grasping the Yin Ghost Spirit-Seizing Banner in all six hands, it smashed the banner down toward the embroidered umbrella.
"Chen Jian, don't! Hear me out!"
Cui Pinyuan shouted to stop him.
Chen Jian turned a deaf ear and said indifferently, "Whether or not they've colluded with demon spirits, the Lingxiao Sect is a righteous sect. By daring to appear in Tamu Town, they're courting death!"
With that, he abruptly turned toward Shen Yanrong and Qin Hui and asked in a low voice, "What do you two say?"
Qin Hui nodded lightly. "We'll follow your lead."
Both the Demon Dao Great Sects and the various Demon Kingdoms bore the responsibility of extinguishing the lingering light of the righteous path. Since Chen Jian had invoked that ironclad rule, they could only join him in attacking.
Whoosh!
The large white umbrella embroidered with red flowers abruptly rose into the air, colliding with the banner wielded by the fiend and sending out ripples of brilliant, flowing energy.
Many of the yin ghosts coiled around the fiend's arms instantly had their souls annihilated.
Zhou Jin, poised and dignified, narrowed her eyes as a chill gradually surfaced within them. "How strange. We never denied our involvement with demon spirits."