The Sorcerer's Nest

The water level of the Fanliang River has also dropped recently due to the drought.

However, the water volume remains abundant and plentiful, nourishing the excellent crops along the narrow, grid-like irrigation canals on both banks.

The people lived further away from the riverbank and on higher ground.

The fields resemble a giant chessboard.

The houses and shacks, like clusters of chess pieces, each grouped together yet clearly distinct, occupy this enormous chessboard.

The home of the sorcerer Heichi Nancang was located in the center of one of these clusters.

The more than ten pavilions and a large number of buildings, all brightly lit, are surrounded by a stone wall.

Its territory is so vast that it is equivalent to at least a hundred ordinary households.

Over the years, without anyone noticing, thousands of servants have come to live in this place.

The habits of Heichi Nancang and his confidants became a commandment that servants had to keep firmly in mind.

For example, during the first half of the night, all lights must remain on.

All those tall buildings were lit with smokeless, clean oil lamps. After eating, Heichi Nancang would very likely wander into one of the buildings at will.

Near the wall, however, regardless of whether there was smoke, the fires in those iron cauldrons and large pots were kept blazing, as long as the owner liked to see them.

However, Heichi Nancang never concentrates on his meals, and they often take a long time to finish.

He sat on the north side of the main hall, a position ten steps higher than the rest of the hall.

An extremely long, thin carpet of gold-threaded bamboo was laid out from the north side all the way to the gate. The feel of stepping on it was even cooler than stepping on stone slabs.

Exquisitely dressed female slaves danced here in groups, their waists supple and their feet slender.

There were six tables on each side of the hall, with seats provided, but only two trusted warriors were sitting there, eating heartily.

At the main gate on the south side, an old man was led over by a slave and immediately knelt on the threshold.

Heichi Nancang put down his wine cup, used a gold-threaded jade comb to smooth his long black beard, and squinted at the viewer.

"Yes, Uncle Seventeen?"

The old man nodded quickly and bowed in respect.

Heichi Nancang said unhappily, "Given our relationship, why are you kneeling on the threshold?"

"Someone, bring Uncle Seventeen a straw mat so he can kneel more comfortably."

A servant immediately brought over a straw mat.

The old man was so moved that tears streamed down his face. He quickly wiped them away and kowtowed in gratitude, saying, "I have come today to beg the shaman to grant my Sunzi the privilege of becoming a noble servant of the gods."

Heichi Nancang asked curiously, "While divine servants may offer some benefits, it's not worth your family begging for their help, is it?"

The old man bowed his head and said, "It was one of the three shamans who was selecting the offerings. He saw my grandson during the day and complimented him, saying he was quite good-looking."

"I thought to myself, they must be planning to include my grandson in the sacrificial offerings as well."

Of the seven most effective shamans in the Fanliang Land, two are from the Black Tooth Clan.

It seems that their relationship was naturally meant to be closer.

Initially, Heichi Nancang and Heichi San did get along very well, sharing distant relatives from their own clan as servants.

However, within a few years, Heichi Nancang discovered that doing so had enormous inconveniences.

Because when their servants negotiated with the servants of other sorcerers, outsiders could not easily discern which Heichi's servant represented which of the sorcerers.

Sometimes, even when things were accomplished by taking advantage of Heichi Nancang's influence, the benefits didn't actually end up in his hands.

This clearly shows that they suffered a loss.

Once or twice is fine.

Over the years, he had accumulated so much suffering that he had lost count of how many losses he had made.

At that time, a silent but ultimately bloody internal struggle broke out among the Heichi.

Heichi Nancang was more skilled and successfully gained control over the subordinates that the two sorcerers had jointly trained in the past.

Heichi San had to start from scratch, and now most of the divine servants and confidants he employs are from other races.

This left an unresolved knot in their relationship.

Hearing the old man's explanation, Heichi Nancang knew that the best solution was indeed to appoint the old man's Sunzi as a servant of the gods.

"Snort."

Heichi Nancang said, "I think that nephew is indeed good-looking, and what's most remarkable is that he even resembles me somewhat. How can we leave a servant's mark on his face?"

He instructed his trusted confidants, "Go find some good-looking and virtuous men tomorrow, and gather the required number of offerings in advance."

"Yes, in addition to the required number of offerings, find ten more as backups, just in case you try to find an excuse to increase the number of offerings later."

"That way, if Heichi San still wants to choose my nephew, I can naturally shut him up."

Although the old man did not achieve his goal, he was already very happy and kowtowed again.

He was very pleased to hear his Heichi Nancang uncle's profuse thanks.

The witchcraft he learned was most effective when used to refine the corpses of his own kind, especially among the ancestors of each family who were strong and physically robust in life.

Therefore, he dug up many ancestral graves in his clan.

Over the past thirty years, those in the clan who died of illness, fought, were arrested for disrespect, made mistakes while enslaved, or had exceptionally good bones and muscles have all been refined by him and put to other uses.

However, they were all Black Tooth Clan after all, and they had too many similarities.

Heichi Nancang used these tribesmen so often that he started to feel a little uncomfortable.

He had people from other Lineage captured and tried the product one by one, but in the end, he had no choice but to discover that burning it among his Lineage was the most effective.

It wouldn't be right to diminish the effectiveness of my cultivation for the sake of my people, so I had no choice but to follow the old practice.

But for this reason, Heichi Nancang has always taken good care of his people in other matters, as a kind of compensation.

Of the seven sorcerers, his appearance was the most approachable.

"All of you, step back."

Heichi Nancang dismissed all the female slaves who had performed the dance, and the music stopped, restoring silence to the hall.

He became interested and waved to his seventeenth uncle, asking the old man to kneel closer so he could talk about what had happened in Fanliang Land recently.

Some things simply wouldn't reach the ears of this wizard.

But he would occasionally want to hear others tell these little stories, because it was from these little stories that one could see how people respected and revered him, and dared not be negligent towards him.

The old man didn't walk on the long bamboo carpet; he climbed to the side and then moved forward.

The ferocious beast patterns embroidered with gold thread appeared so sacred and precious under the light.

Whether it was a misperception or not, the old man seemed to see it again.

On those patterns was a monster with an eagle's head and a human body, whose eyes suddenly darted around.

Originally, the eyeball should have been looking at the ceiling, but with this turn, it seemed as if the eagle's head had become three-dimensional, looking out of the hall.

Heichi Nancang's expression changed, and he suddenly let out a muffled, sharp shout.

The shout, consisting of two syllables, sounded like some kind of incantation.

No one in the hall could understand those two words.

However, all the spirits embroidered on that long carpet turned their heads as if they had heard a command.

Golden light suddenly stretched upwards from the blanket.

At the same time, a dark shadow suddenly slanted down from the high-rise building outside the hall.

Thump!!!

The threshold was broken in the middle, deeply dented, with large sections of stone slabs and bricks shattered, and dust was blown away by the strong wind.

His face was long like Horse-Faced's, and his body was fierce like a raging ape.

The dark figure was none other than a horse- Horse-Faced Jufu.

As the golden light and the strong wind collided, all the spirits within the light were fully revealed, almost filling the entire spacious hall.

A dozen or so human heads with bat wings flew out first.

The heads, their eyes red, let out terrified screams, bared their sharp teeth, and charged at Horse-Faced Jufu.

"Drink!"

Chu Tianshu hadn't expected the wizard to be so perceptive; it seemed that it wasn't even on his own, but rather on the carpet, that the danger was detected first.

But the speed at which the ape attacked far exceeded the speed at which these heads were flying.

The air vibrated violently.

It looked like a dozen or so afterimage arms erupting simultaneously, disappearing in a flash.

The heads froze in mid-air, then exploded simultaneously, like a dozen clumps of white ash.

Chu Tianshu had already charged forward, and with a slam of his knee, he smashed the head of a white bull.

Call!!!

With the impact, the ape flipped over the white bull's back with a single hand, and its two large feet slammed into the python behind the white bull.

The python was stomped on with tremendous force, its head and tail suddenly straightened, the two ends swelled up, and it burst open.

The monkey's arm, like a large iron whip, suddenly extended and swung.

The three horse -Horse-Faced Jufu in front of him, wielding knives, had already had their heads smashed.

Chu Tianshu's profound internal strength was not outwardly displayed, but it was surging within him, strengthening every corner of his body.

After transforming into Horse-Faced Jufu, his mastery of Tongbei Fist became even more extraordinary.

He didn't even bother to examine the large number of spirits that emerged from the golden light.

He could only vaguely make out a shape before his large hand lashed out, exploding through the head and chest, and piercing through the body.

Uncle Seventeen only saw...

Amidst the horde of spirits, clumps of white ash exploded in a chain reaction, while dark shadows surged forward fiercely.

In the blink of an eye, it was unclear whether he had killed thirty or forty monsters, and he was about to wreak havoc through the hall.

Not to mention Uncle Seventeen, even Heichi Nancang was so shocked that his facial features were elongated, revealing reddened eyelids.

The bones of the Black Tooth Clan are harder than those of many other races.

Using witchcraft, they were able to burn a kind of golden thread from their bones.

The patterns embroidered with this gold thread, when inscribed with secret spells, can manifest various spirits and monsters when necessary.

Over decades, Heichi Nancang had accumulated wealth and decorated each of his large houses with utensils adorned with Heichi and gold thread.

This gave him a growing sense of power and peace of mind.

The long carpet in the main hall is one of his most powerful magical artifacts.

The eagle-headed, human-bodied monster and the monster with horns on its nose did not directly stop the dark figure, but instead overlapped with the two guards.

The guards on the west side suddenly swelled their muscles, their clothes tore, and cracks appeared Shangdu their skin due to the excessive strain caused by the sudden muscle expansion.

The guard on the east side suddenly contracted, becoming thinner and stiffer, his eyes sharp like a hawk's, and he swooped out abruptly.

His sharp eyes could see every detail of Chu Tianshu's movements.

But then, Chu Tianshu's heel suddenly trembled.

The stone slab on which the monkey stood sank violently, while the stone slabs on either side bounced into the air simultaneously.

Chu Tianshu pushed the stone slab with his right hand.

Regardless of what tricks or techniques the guard on the east side might use to exploit the enemy's weaknesses, he was already completely enveloped in the shadow of the stone slab.

BOOM!!

The guard on the east side flew backward, his arms twisted and contorted, and slammed against the wall.

The stone slab returned to Chu Tianshu's hand after the collision.

His left hand had already gripped the corner of the western stone slab, and he turned around.

The two stone slabs were spun and shot out.

The guards on the west side punched him twice, sending him flying through the air.

Unexpectedly, Chu Tianshu kicked him again, this time at his ankle.

The guard on the west side stumbled to the side, but before he could land, Chu Tianshu grabbed his belt.

Chu Tianshu swung the guard forward as if he were wielding a heavy battering ram, sending him crashing straight into the wizard.

In a panic, Heichi Nancang actually rammed his head backward.

There was a wall behind him, and when he bumped into it, it looked like he was going to smash the back of his head against the wall.

But when he actually crashed into it, the wall surprisingly softened.

An arm reached out from the wall, embraced the wizard, and with a twist of its body, used its back to block the oncoming guard.

Thump!!

The guard was thrown forward and fell to the ground without a sound.

The person who used their back to block the impact only swayed slightly.

With this sudden movement, a chain reaction occurred on the surrounding walls, causing large amounts of wall plaster to fall and revealing human-shaped outlines.

It spreads from the north wall to the east and west walls.

There are so many arched holes in the walls of this hall.

Inside each arched hole lies... a corpse!

(End of this chapter)