Chapter 309: The Rogue Independent Cultivator Hu Jinbao, Demons Rampant, the Firefly Fruit! Madam Wang!

As soon as the woman spoke, Mr. Hua fell silent. He merely waved his hand, snorted coldly, and turned to leave!

Only after Mr. Hua had gone did Young Master Chu lean closer with a faint smile. “Many thanks, Ms. Yu, for stepping in on our behalf. Why not stay and share a few cups of wine?”

Ms. Yu smiled charmingly, then shook her head. “I still have duties to attend to inside. Another time, perhaps.”

Disappointment showed plainly on Young Master Chu’s face, as though he had just let a peerless beauty slip through his fingers. Once Mr. Hua and Ms. Yu were gone, the lively atmosphere returned to the banquet.

Li Yanchu, keeping his composure, found a quiet corner and took a seat.

The dead-fish-eyed servant boy[1] who had led him there had long since vanished without a trace.

At this particular table, there was only one other person. It was a middle-aged man of dignified bearing eating leisurely. The dishes before him were all delicacies of the mountains and seas, and their color, fragrance, and flavor were exquisite. Whether by coincidence or design, this table was for just the two of them.

Li Yanchu did not touch his chopsticks. In these desolate mountains, to find such a bustling banquet... He was certain the food on the table was nothing more than cockroaches, rats, and worms transformed into fine dishes, and human flesh and urine were no doubt part of the fare as well!

The rest of the hall was loud and lively, with cups clinking and wine flowing freely.

Some here wore the garb of martial monks and had razor-sharp precept knives at their waists. Some were accountants or stewards; some were elders with long flowing beards; while others were women of ravishing beauty. It was a jumble of every trade under heaven.

But Li Yanchu, relying on his Qi Sight, saw the truth beneath the surface. Each and every one of them was wreathed in baleful qi and entangled in karmic grudges. They were all ruthless and wicked sorts! And more than a few were not even human.

For example, that figure in the corner’s shadow was nothing but a mass of filth, given the faint semblance of a human face. And that rough, boisterous man drinking against the burly fellow, his face was plainly that of a pig. Needless to say, this hall was crammed full of crooked demons and heretics, a miasma of foulness.

At this time, the dignified middle-aged man’s gaze settled on Li Yanchu. He asked softly, “Are you a descendant of the Hu clan beyond the Pass?”

Li Yanchu shook his head. “I’m just an independent cultivator[2].”

“Not bad. Seems you too have been blessed by fortune.” The middle-aged man looked at him with the kindly eyes of an elder watching a younger generation.

Blessed your ass...

Li Yanchu only smiled faintly. Clearly, the man had mistaken him for some junior.

When Li Yanchu focused his gaze, he saw only a haze of demonic qi surrounding him yet faintly tinged with the aura of incense and worship. It was obvious this was a demon sustained by human offerings. Many so-called “wild gods” worshiped in the countryside were precisely such creatures, spirits of beasts that had gained power and influence.

Earlier, the middle-aged man had mentioned the “Hu clan beyond the Pass.”

That referred to one of the Five Great Immortals, Great Immortal Hu, the fox spirit[3]!

And since the Illusory Form caused demons to see him as one of their own, this fox spirit naturally assumed Li Yanchu was a junior of the Hu clan like himself. Never realizing that, just like himself, Li Yanchu was posing as nothing more than a rogue independent cultivator.

The atmosphere at the table grew even livelier, truly reaching the point where one could call it a pandemonium of demons dancing.

Hidden beneath the twin concealment of his Sun Veil and Illusory Form arts, and with his cautious replies, Li Yanchu left no flaws for them to suspect. What’s more, he gleaned much information from the middle-aged man’s words.

This middle-aged man’s name was Hu Jinbao, and he was a fox demon from the mountains of Xuzhou.

That Mr. Hua from earlier was one of the Six Great Guardians of the Xinyi Dao, and he was proficient in Soul Art!

And Ms. Yu was also one of the sect’s Six Great Guardians. Born with a naturally alluring charm, she was nonetheless hideous in appearance and had mastered the arts of unconventional Dao techniques.

The burly man surnamed Chang was named Chang Baopi[4].

He had once been a butcher in Xuzhou, but after death he turned into a ferocious wandering ghost. Somehow, he grew in power and regained his intelligence. A butcher’s aura was steeped in slaughter, and his soul was weighed down by endless blood-debt. For such a man to become a ghost, naturally, he was exceedingly vicious.

That young man with peach-blossom eyes, called Young Master Chu, was none other than a notorious flower thief[5] of the

jianghu

.

He looked dashing and elegant on the surface, but in truth, he was the kind of scoundrel despised even among the lowest of the underworld. He was a disciple of the Xinyi Dao, adept in illusions and beguiling minds. Who knew how many lives his hands had destroyed? He had ruthlessly crushed flowers[6] without mercy.

As for the pig-faced man, he was a descendant of the great demon Zhu Ben[7] from Mount Beiwang.

Among these guests, some were demons, others were ghosts. This mansion, however, belonged to the sect master of Xinyi Dao, Daoist Bichen[8].

The Grand Marshal of Feiyun Prefecture had dispatched troops to eradicate the sect and reduced this heretical group, who had twisted Daoist scriptures, into nothing more than stray dogs. Just like that, years of their scheming had all gone to waste.

The root cause was that female general Lu Li, who had uncovered one of Xinyi Dao’s bases in Xuzhou, and it was even a major branch. Not only was it completely uprooted, but the investigation also exposed a trove of the sect’s secrets.

Of their Six Great Guardians, three had already perished. And now, they were calling upon nearby demons and monsters, offering Firefly Fruit as payment to enlist these outsiders’ aid to bolster their strength.

The Firefly Fruit was a supreme tonic, a rare treasure that could enhance a cultivator’s power. It was a once-in-a-lifetime find.

Daoist Bichen, for some reason, had obtained an immortal herb. And Firefly Fruit, born of this herb, was promised as a gift to anyone willing to join the Xinyi Dao. With this lure, he had gathered nearly every demon and fiend in the region that could be invited.

One could call this a small-scale grand assembly, a gathering of cultivators of the Demonic Dao.

“Everyone, this matter is simple. You only have to use your skills to chop off the head of that Grand Marshal of Feiyun Prefecture!” The pig-faced man laughed as he spoke, his face full of smugness.

But suddenly, an old man with a long beard sneered, “That Grand Marshal is a natural-born eccentric, and his arts are both domineering and profound, not to mention he has many experts as his subordinates! You, a mere fledgling who’s only just stepped into the second realm, thinking to take his head, now

that

is the biggest joke in the world!”

The long-bearded elder showed no mercy in his rebuke.

Hearing this, the pig-faced man glared furiously. “What now, you long-bearded old geezer, are you looking to test my methods!?”

A wave of demonic qi surged from his body, and his eyes glinted with murderous light. But the long-bearded elder remained utterly unafraid.

“Such arrogance! Even if that Zhu Ben himself were here, he wouldn’t dare speak to me like that!”

Just as Li Yanchu thought the two sides were about to clash, suddenly someone shouted, “Madam Wang has arrived!”

Everyone turned to look. They saw a bride draped in a bright-red wedding gown slowly walking forward. Her features were delicate and charming, and her figure was voluptuous and alluring. She was a lively, radiant young widow.

By his side stood a groom with a delicate, refined appearance, whose demeanor made him look like a weak, bookish scholar incapable of trussing even a chicken.

But compared to Madam Wang’s glowing beauty, the groom’s face was pale, and his legs were trembling. As his eyes swept across the guests in the courtyard, there wasn’t a trace of color left in his face.

“Madam Wang, why is it every groom you find is this kind of weakling scholar!”

“Exactly! What’s so good about such bookworms, how can they compare to us, strong and robust men?”

“Madam Wang, why not try out a different type of man tonight?”

That delicate, seductive widow was indeed a widow by name. Her late husband had borne the surname Wang, and he was a scholar of notable talent and literary reputation. After her death, she had remained faithful to him, thus she always called herself

Madam Wang

.

Tonight was her eightieth wedding, and every single husband she had taken was a scholar. Whether by coincidence or not, counting tonight’s groom, this would make eighty-one husbands in total!

Madam Wang clearly valued tonight’s husband greatly, to the point of holding her wedding even at the grand gathering hosted by her foster father.

1. Have already explained this term before, but I’ll leave this here for those who’ve forgotten. The term 死鱼眼 (sǐ yú yǎn) literally translates to “dead fish eyes” and is a colloquial expression in Chinese used to describe a certain appearance of the eyes. It refers to eyes that look dull, lifeless, or half-closed, giving an impression of fatigue, boredom, or lack of alertness. ☜

2. practitioners who cultivate independently without belonging to any sect or school. They study the Dao and seek resources on their own, without the protection or restrictions of a sect. This gives them relative freedom, but they also face challenges such as scarce resources and difficulties in survival. ☜

3. In this context, the name 胡大仙 (Hú Dàxiān) is a playful pun that relies on Chinese homophones. The surname 胡 (Hú) sounds exactly the same as 狐 (hú), which means “fox.” Because of this, even though the character is written as 胡, it immediately evokes the image of a fox spirit or fox demon in the listener’s mind. This kind of wordplay is common in Chinese literature and folklore, where a character’s name can subtly hint at their nature or identity. ☜

4. 常 Chang was unlisted among the most recent rankings of the 100 most common Chinese surnames in mainland China and on Taiwan based on household registrations in 2007, although the Ministry of Public Security in 2008 listed it as the 87th most common surname in China based on its database of National Identity Cards, shared by at least 2.4 million Chinese citizens. It was the 94th-most-common surname during the 1982 Chinese census.

常, means “often” or “frequent,” giving a sense of regularity or habit, while 剥皮 literally means “to peel skin.”

In my opinion, 剥皮 (“peeling skin”) directly references the butcher’s work of processing meat, which makes the name very descriptive of the profession. The 常 (“frequent” or “always”) adds a sense of reliability or habitual skill, implying that this is what they do regularly and professionally. ☜

5. ‘Flower thief’ 采花大盗 originally refers to a thief who steals flowers and plants. It also refers to certain perverts who have a penchant for meddling with unmarried women, and by extension, it can mean a rapist. ☜

6. The ‘flowers’ here, of course, refer to women. ☜

7. The surname 朱 Zhu is pronounced exactly the same as 猪 Zhu, meaning “pig,” which immediately links the demon 朱奔 to the pig-faced man. ☜

8. The first character, 辟, can mean “to ward off” or “to avoid,” often implying protection or purification in a spiritual sense. The second character, 尘, literally means “dust” but in Daoist and Buddhist contexts symbolizes worldly attachments, impurities, or the distractions of mundane life. Together, 辟尘 conveys the idea of “warding off dust” or “avoiding worldly impurities,” evoking the image of someone striving for spiritual clarity and remaining untainted by the chaos of ordinary existence. ☜