Chapter 277: The Mountain Lord, the Serpent Demon, the Scholar, and the Heart-Eating Crone

Li Yanchu made no attempt to conceal things from the others. After hearing the rodent-faced elder’s account, his eyes grew pensive, thoughts turning.

Unconsciously, his gaze flicked toward Lu Ying. Lu Ying’s eyes were calm, betraying nothing of what she might be thinking.

Meanwhile, the elder’s beady eyes spun about ceaselessly, darting to and fro. Zhu Laosan had been crippled by a single punch, his spine broken. And as for his own frail, wiry frame, he feared that one blow would scatter him into pieces entirely.

He resolved that if he managed to escape alive this time, he would gorge himself on a few more fresh human hearts and livers, just to steady his nerves. This young Daoist was too terrifying!

Li Yanchu’s gaze sharpened, and his eyes were cold as a saber as they fixed squarely upon his face.

“You lied to me!”

The rodent-faced elder froze, dumbfounded. “Daoist Master, what I just said was the truth.”

All his life, his words had always been half-truths, half-lies. Yet what he had just spoken was entirely genuine. For a moment he couldn’t understand why this Daoist would accuse him so.

Li Yanchu’s face darkened. “I was willing to let you go, and you dared to deceive me? How bold!”

Bang!

He struck with his palm.

The elder’s head exploded instantly. Not even a mist of blood remained, and the blazing surge of qi and blood incinerated him completely, as though he had simply been erased from existence.

Li Yanchu turned, smiling faintly at Lu Ying. “These heretics... they never cherish the chances given to them. Why bother lying?”

Lu Ying just fell silent at his words.

Li Yanchu then strode to stand before the hulking brute. Terror flashed in the man’s eyes.

But, though he seemed a fool, his mind was sharp. He reasoned that if the young Daoist kept him alive, it must be for some purpose. That was his one hope for survival.

But to his surprise, Li Yanchu frowned at him and said, “What are you staring at me for!?”

Bang

!

With a single kick, he blasted the man’s head apart. His body transformed into a massive, bloated wild boar, and his true form was revealed.

As for the rodent-faced elder, he reverted into a huge black rat the size of a hound, which was sickening to look at.

The Beaked Daoist’s body was too mangled to tell exactly what kind of bird he had been, but in short, bird guts silled everywhere.

The few martial guards under Lu Ying watched as Li Yanchu dispatched the demons as though slicing melons and chopping vegetables, and their hearts surged with satisfaction.

Especially with that Beaked Daoist, who, all along the road, had plagued them with sinister and underhanded sorcery. He had such vile, low tricks! And yet, those twisted methods had been terribly hard to counter. They had assumed he would slip away once again.

Never had they expected that fool to provoke this young Daoist and get blown apart with a single palm!

And when the bloated man returned with reinforcements, the soldiers, though fierce and fearless, knew well that today would surely claim lives.

Even the Heaven Official’s Blessing did not make them immortal. A fatal wound would still mean death!

The more battles a veteran survived, the more dearly he treasured the days he had left. That did not conflict with their fearlessness in war, and it only made them value life when they still had it.

Thus, in their eyes, Li Yanchu was a man who could tear apart tigers and leopards with his bare hands, a hero whose very breath could swallow mountains and rivers!

Lu Ying, too, found herself deeply impressed with Li Yanchu.

When facing demons, what use were rules or codes of honor? When he saw one, he would kill one!

Li Yanchu’s thoughts, however, were on something else.

Is the Jinguang Temple playing with fire by recalling the relic?

His expression remained calm, but his eyes carried a look of contemplation.

According to what the rat-faced elder had just confessed, they were all underlings of the Mountain Lord of Qingfeng Ridge, ordered to intercept those transporting the high monk’s relics.

At first, Li Yanchu had thought they were coming for him. But from the elder’s words, they had specifically received orders to ambush a young man traveling with armed attendants.

In other words, their true target was Lu Ying. As for where the information had leaked from, the elder himself had no idea.

But that much was not difficult to guess. It could only mean betrayal from within the higher ranks. Someone had colluded with the Mountain Lord, secretly conspiring to use him to get rid of Lu Ying!

From the elder’s account, the Mountain Lord[1] was a white-browed tiger demon with hanging eyes, who had cultivated into a spirit. He had taken Qingfeng Ridge as his lair, preying on humans, with subordinates like these under his command.

There were three others: a serpent demon, a scholar who practiced dark arts, and an old crone who ate human hearts.

The first was a true demon. The latter two were evil cultivators, who had taken shelter under the Mountain Lord to escape pursuit from the authorities.

Notably, the serpent demon and the scholar were husband and wife.

The scholar had once been an ordinary man. But years of living alongside monsters had steeped him in demonic qi, twisting his mind ever darker, until at last he cultivated foul sorcery and became a demonic practitioner.

The old woman had once been a village shaman. But after hearing that eating human hearts could grant longevity, she secretly murdered villagers.

When discovered, she was arrested and handed over to the authorities, only to kill two constables during her transfer and escape.

These three were all vicious heretics. But the Mountain Lord was the true threat, as his cultivation was frighteningly deep.

Li Yanchu glanced at Lu Ying and said, “Looks like your whereabouts were sold out.”

Lu Ying gave a faint, mocking smile. “Schemes and treachery... the officialdom has always been like this. Nothing surprising.”

By those words, she had also admitted to her official identity. Li Yanchu smiled lightly, saying nothing more.

They had met by chance. Though both were escorting the relics of the high monk, there was no real bond between them. And nothing was more taboo than speaking too deeply with a shallow acquaintance.

As for her precise identity, he wasn’t interested. Just now, the Beaked Daoist had used illusion arts; in reality, the weather remained a raging blizzard. Now, with the broken door, cold wind howled into the room, nearly toppling the fire in the brazier.

And that hulking brute hadn’t only smashed the door, but had also broken down part of the wall around the frame.

Lady Yun, still shaken, stared blankly at the shattered doorway. Meanwhile, Li Yanchu cast her a glance, thoughtful.

The room had returned to calm, but the cold wind kept pouring in. Lady Yun’s clothes were thin, her face now pale. She fetched a floral jacket from inside and put it on, but still her teeth chattered from the chill.

“Lady Yun, let me drive away the cold wind for you as an apology for my earlier rashness,” Li Yanchu spoke calmly.

Lady Yun’s face flushed, and she turned her head aside, revealing the coiled bun framing her cheeks.

However, Li Yanchu didn’t bother to explain. He simply raised his hand and gave a casual wave.

The doorway had gaped and initially leaked wind, but suddenly, the wind stopped, and icy air no longer whistled in through the hole. To them, this was nothing short of an immortal’s miracle.

Lady Yun’s eyes widened in amazement.

Lu Ying too let out a soft “

Eh

?” and turned her gaze toward him.

In truth, even that wave of his hand had only been for effect. What he relied on was the magical artifact, the Wind Tamer!

Just then, Li Yanchu gave Lady Yun a small smile and handed her the wineskin in his hand. “How about it? Have a sip of wine to warm yourself.”

Lady Yun accepted the leather wineskin, hesitated for a moment, then lowered her voice. “Thank you.”

She tilted her head back and took a small swallow, and her face flushed rosy at once.

For some reason, she suddenly thought of something, and stole a furtive glance at Li Yanchu while her cheeks were burning red. It must have been because she remembered that Li Yanchu had drunk directly from this very wineskin earlier.

Unconsciously, she looked at him again and realized that this young, handsome Daoist didn’t seem quite so disagreeable after all. That little display of his had already made the burly soldiers regard him as a living immortal. This was true immortal magic!

Yet, though they longed to come forward and speak with him, military orders bound them; they dared not act too freely.

But then, one of the burly soldiers suddenly collapsed to the ground. His eyes rolled white, as though he was suffocating, and he clutched his own throat in agony.

1. 山君 is a Chinese term that carries a dual meaning, referring both to animals and to deities worshiped in spiritual belief. The term first appeared in the

Shuowen Jiezi

, which explains the tiger as the chief beast of the mountains, and thus it was called 山君 Mountain Lord. ☜