Glutton Tail

"Now I know Wang Xi's entire plan. Besides, he's arrogant and thinks highly of himself. If that Song Yan is clever enough, he might yet turn the tables."

Inside a secluded cave, a black-robed youth sat cross-legged, holding the strangely shaped Ancient Flute.

"I'm rather curious what an Inner Sect disciple of the Xuanyuan Sect keeps in his Heaven and Earth Bag."

"Unfortunately, I'll have to let that Song Yan learn the secret of this Ancient Flute after all."

Wan Songran chuckled, but cold killing intent filled his eyes. "In that case, I might as well be frank with him."

"Oh?"

"Abandoning your territory, so easy to defend and hard to attack, and coming straight to my doorstep... Hmph, everyone says foxes are highly intelligent. I don't think they amount to much. A beast is still a beast."

"But this does save me some trouble."

Reckoning that it was about time, the youth rose from the ground and walked out of the cave.

The ground below the cave was strewn with densely packed Wolf Demon and Fox Demon corpses. Wan Songran looked at the flute in his hand and grinned, delight and greed gleaming in his eyes.

It was said that the ancestor of the Wan Clan had been a great cultivator whose powers reached through heaven and earth, though no one knew his exact cultivation realm.

Later, that great cultivator had fallen victim to a villain's schemes and passed away in Danyang Prefecture, Chen Province.

The Wan Lineage had flourished for a time afterward, but with too many enemies and each generation of disciples less gifted than the last, it had gradually declined.

Now, excluding descendants with no aptitude for cultivation, the Wan Clan of Chen Province had barely more than twenty actual cultivators.

They were a boat tossed in wind and rain.

Wan Songran was the most gifted disciple of his generation, and the head of the Wan Clan had sent him to the Spirit Talisman Sect, one of the six great sects.

A month and a half ago, the previous head of the Wan Clan—Wan Songran's grandfather—had summoned him back to the family and bestowed this strange flute upon him.

"What a bunch of stupid old fossils."

Wan Songran muttered to himself.

"With such a fine treasure, how could our Wan Clan have sunk this low if we'd made proper use of it?"

"But this isn't bad either. Let me, Wan Songran, lead the Wan Clan back to glory."

He bounded forward.

"They still haven't finished?"

He stopped on a tree branch and looked into the distance.

"Awooo-"

At that moment, in the clearing nearby, a high-grade first-tier Wolf Demon was locked in a savage struggle with a Fox Demon. The wolf king let out a furious roar that left even Wan Songran dizzy from afar.

"Even the Night Wind Wolf Clan, with their incomplete intelligence, can roar so terrifyingly."

"My strength is still insufficient. The flute can only slightly influence First-Order Late-Stage Demon Beasts, and only for a breath or two. Trying to contend with these two beasts using it would be nothing but a fool's dream."

"But..."

"Hum-"

The flame between the great fox's brows had fully ignited. It slowly raised its head and fixed the Night Wind Wolf king before it with a cold stare.

Its golden, slit-pupiled eyes shone faintly with brilliant, flowing light. Reflected in the darkness, that light seemed like a proclamation of death.

Boom!

Explosive flames surged toward the Night Wind Wolf king. It was about to dodge when a melodious flute sounded through the mountain forest.

A moment's distraction and hesitation made the wolf king take the full impact of the flames, and briefly threw the great fox's demonic art into disarray as well.

The great fox cast a thoughtful glance northward.

"Hiss-"

"Awooo..."

The wolf king screamed. It, too, seemed to sense something amiss, but its limited intelligence did not allow him to think further. It merely urged it to pour all its fury onto the sworn enemy before it.

The wolf king lunged savagely at the great fox.

"Night Wind Wolves are bloodthirsty fighters, and Fire-Pattern Foxes command demonic arts. Once both are badly wounded, I'll step in and reap the fisherman's rewards. Two First-Order Late-Stage Demon Beast cores! And all these Demon Beast corpses..."

"Wang Xi, oh, Wang Xi. Should I thank you...?"

While Wan Songran indulged in his fantasies, another pair of alert eyes watched the battlefield.

Song Yan extended his spiritual sense and tentatively swept it toward the source of the flute music. Sure enough, he found him.

"Wan Songran...?"

At merely the Qi Refining Sixth Layer, he could command a pack of Night Wind Wolf Demons that included high-grade first-tier Demon Beasts. Was that flute truly so miraculous?

"No, those two great demons only seemed to be affected for an instant..."

The two Demon Beasts clashed again, and the flute sounded once more.

The great fox was about to dodge the wolf king's wind-blade-wreathed claws, but the flute bewitched it, making it hesitate for an instant.

Squelch.

The strike nearly tore off the great fox's right ear, and blood gushed from its clawed eye.

"Wooo-"

Song Yan lowered his head and asked, "Xiao He, this flute music seems able to control Demon Beasts. Does it... affect you?"

"It seems... I'm just a little sleepy. Other than that, it doesn't really affect me."

Xiao He poked her head out and said softly, "This flute music probably only works on the Demon Beasts he wants to command. If I stay alert, I'll definitely be fine!"

Song Yan nodded, feeling somewhat reassured.

"Hiss-"

Beneath the Fox Demon's claws, the wolf king caught it off guard and hooked its hind legs around the great fox's neck, then raised a foreclaw and slammed it viciously toward its left eye.

The battle remained deadlocked. Several parts of the Night Wind Wolf king's body had been burned to charcoal, and the great fox had bitten clean through the joint of its left hind leg. The great fox was little better off: its right ear had vanished, blood streamed endlessly from its right eye, and claw wounds covered its body as it panted heavily.

"One last tune to send you on your way."

Wan Songran smiled contemptuously, so arrogant that he seemed to regard the two Demon Beasts as playthings in his palm.

The flute sounded, and the wolf king and great fox lunged at each other, beginning their final desperate struggle to the death.

"Fellow Daoist Song, now that you've witnessed the miraculous effects of my Glutton Tail Immortal Flute, why not show yourself?"

Since Song Yan had come of his own accord after receiving that Sound Transmission Talisman, there was naturally no need to keep hiding. He even deliberately released a trace of spiritual power for the other man to detect.

He walked out slowly without speaking, merely watching the two First-Order Late-Stage great demons gradually lose all signs of life as they fought in the clearing.

"Since you came, I'll take that as your agreement."

A conversation between clever people needed no explicit explanation. That Sound Transmission Talisman had plainly been an invitation to join forces against an enemy.

"Who wants to kill us?"

"Wang Xi of the Xuanyuan Sect."

Wang Xi?

Song Yan frowned. During their previous operations, perhaps because he had been engrossed in practicing several techniques from the Essentials of Swordsmanship, he had noticed nothing strange about Wang Xi.

"Why?"

"Heh..."

Wan Songran scoffed. "In the cultivation world, the strong devour the weak. Does killing someone for their possessions need a reason?"

"..."

"But I, Wan Songran, cultivate for immortality, for the freedom to live as I please..."

A sharp light flashed in his eyes. "I simply refuse to be an ant or livestock in someone else's eyes!"

"Tell me, then. What's your plan?"

Wan Songran raised an eyebrow. "Plan? There is no plan."

"We wait for him to come to us, then you and I bring out all our strength and kill him. It's that simple."

This Wan Songran seemed very confident in his own strength?

Song Yan found it rather baffling.

Even with this strange flute, how could two penniless disciples from other sects fight an elite Inner Sect disciple of the Chu Kingdom's foremost sect?

"The secret realm will only last half an hour. When its exit opens, it will only remain there for a moment."

"Wang Xi's spiritual power is already approaching this place." Wan Songran's expression was cold and stern. Several Jade-Eyed Falcons circled and perched among the treetops. "The Jade Pendant at his waist can sense the location of the secret realm's exit."

"Only by killing him can we survive."

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