Chapter 396: The Taixu Temple’s Celestial Maiden Huayang! The Wrath Lord! The Scholar! The Lin Family.

“Greetings, Lord Cao Cao!” The demons were quick to read the situation and bowed respectfully.

Li Yanchu gave a slight nod, refraining from any further slaughter. His overbearing and ruthless demeanor perfectly embodied that of a tyrannical demon king.

“I am Wolfie, please look after me, Lord Cao Cao!”

“I am Doge, I’m willing to serve you with all my heart, Lord Cao Cao!”

One after another, the demons tried to curry favor, dropping their fierce and lofty titles and adopting a far more fawning tone.

The demon world was simple: the strong ruled, the weak obeyed. The leopard spiritu who’d just been killed lay exposed in his true form, and the others soon forgot him entirely.

One wolf demon was already eyeing the leopard’s corpse greedily. The flesh, sinew, and bones all contained demonic power, and the inner core, a demon pill, could enhance cultivation when consumed.

“If you want to eat, then eat,” Li Yanchu said icily.

The demons exchanged glances, pleasantly surprised. This Lord Cao Cao didn’t seem as unreasonable as they’d feared. He even declined to claim the demon pill for himself. Seeing that, Ling Fengzi also felt embarrassed to compete with his subordinates.

Soon, the demons devoured the leopard’s remains. Their auras visibly grew stronger, the surrounding demonic energy even more oppressive.

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Meanwhile, the orange cat watched with disdain, a cold sneer curling her lips at the sight of such bloodthirsty creatures. Ling Fengzi had the highest cultivation among them and was nominally in charge of this mission, but given his deferential attitude toward Lord Cao Cao, it was obvious who the real power was here. And since this “Cao Cao” handled matters so decisively, even generously, their respect for him deepened.

Before long, they were all firmly under Li Yanchu’s command.

Over the next three days, another thirty-two demons joined them, essentially every notable demon in the Xuzhou Prefecture.

According to Ling Fengzi’s introductions, two among them were even stronger than he was. One of them was a massive black bear, renowned for its incredible physical might. Another was a giant wild-boar, whose true form was as large as a small house, exuding wild, domineering energy.

Both were notorious man-eaters and solitary predators, and even Ling Fengzi treated them with caution.

In these few days, Li Yanchu had found excuses to kill three more demons outright, then ordered their corpses distributed among the rest, making their already thick demonic aura grow darker and more violent.

The room they occupied was covered by a special formation barrier, preventing any sound or aura from escaping. Li Yanchu remained there patiently, waiting for the messenger of the Wrath Lord to contact them.

As for the orange cat, her injuries had completely healed, thanks not to her natural recovery, but to Li Yanchu’s Mount Jinting jujubes, whose restorative effects were extraordinary.

The black bear’s eyes darkened in surprise. “You’re the descendant of the Mountain God of Mount Xiaofeng?”

The orange cat lifted her head proudly at a forty-five-degree angle, gazing skyward. “Hmph, indeed I am!”

A feral grin crept across the black bear’s face, though he said nothing. If he could devour the bloodline of this cat demon, his own power would surely soar.

Still, he was wary of the young Daoist nearby.

A bear with such a handsome human form... that’s rare. Could it be some transformation technique?

he thought, puzzled.

***

In Donghe City of Xuzhou...

Inside a humble private school, a shabby scholar suddenly felt a chill of foreboding in his heart. He rose abruptly and hurried out of the classroom.

Moving with unnatural speed, he slipped into a narrow, hidden alleyway. From within the shadows, a figure emerged. He was clad in a black robe, wearing a mask carved with an angry human face.

“Your subordinate Feiyan greets you, Wrath Lord,” the middle-aged man said, bowing low.

“How is the matter I entrusted to you?” the Wrath Lord asked in a deep, cold voice.

“Hong Ling has already infiltrated the Lin family and enchanted their founding ancestor,” the scholar replied. “However... the object is in the hands of the Lin family’s young lady. She escaped with the help of a bodyguard, and their whereabouts are now unknown.”

The Wrath Lord’s tone turned icy. “The Lin family may be an influential clan of the Kingdom of Qian, but they don’t even know the true purpose of that token. They’re of no concern. Send people to track the girl down, she and that bodyguard must be found.”

“Yes, my lord,” Feiyan answered, bowing again.

The Wrath Lord continued grimly, “Today marks the beginning of our operation. I’ve recruited a great number of rogue cultivators in Xuzhou to join the Demon Kingdom. When the time comes, they’ll disperse across the counties and towns, stirring chaos and drawing the experts of Taixu Temple out from their mountain. Then, we’ll seize the opportunity for the founding ancestor Ziyun of Taixu Temple to possess Celestial Maiden Huayang’s soul, which will spark turmoil throughout the realm.”

Cultivators depended above all on a steady heart. If Taixu Temple chose to guard Celestial Maiden Huayang and refused to descend the mountain to subdue demons, her compassionate nature would plunge her into inner demons. If they did descend, the temple would be left unguarded, and that would be the perfect moment to send agents to infiltrate and enable founding ancestor Ziyun’s rebirth.

The Wrath Lord’s tone softened slightly. “Once you’ve settled the Lin family matter, go to Qingmu County and find Daoist Shou Yi. When this affair is done, you’ll no longer need to hide in this region.”

The middle-aged scholar brightened, bowing deeply. “Many thanks, Wrath Lord!”

Unlike Ling Fengzi and those other loose demons, this man was a true member of the White Marsh Demon Kingdom’s inner circle. Were it not for a grave mistake in the past, forcing him to atone through such covert work, he would never have been assigned to these dangerous infiltration missions.

The Wrath Lord gave a slight nod, his figure gradually fading into the surrounding shadows.

***

At Taixu Temple...

Inside the grand hall, four Daoist priestesses, three elderly and one young, sat facing each other. All were women.

The youngest was Celestial Maiden Huayang, dressed in a plain, simple Daoist robe. Her face was fair and coldly serene, breathtakingly beautiful. Even with the robe concealing her figure, it could not hide her graceful curves and alluring form.

Though she was thirty-five years old, time had left no trace upon her; her skin remained as fair as snow, smooth and firm.

Huayang had been an orphan since childhood, taken in and raised by her master. From the moment she entered the sect, she displayed astonishing talent in cultivation, her aptitude far surpassing her peers.

At sixteen, she successfully condensed her Yin Spirit, and was appointed as the next successor of Taixu Temple. She was brilliant beyond comparison.

Yet, in the world today, it seemed as if an unseen shackle bound all living beings, locking away the third realm and making the condensation of the Yang Spirit an almost impossible feat.

But at last, Huayang had succeeded. She had condensed her Yang Spirit, becoming a cultivator of the third realm, a being revered as a near-immortal among Daoists.

However, Huayang had lately been feeling deeply unsettled, her heart constantly on edge. For a cultivator of her level, a faint awareness of impending destiny was normal.

But Taixu Temple followed the sword cultivation lineage, not the art of divination or destiny. Especially when it came to divining one’s own fate, such insight was nearly impossible.

Thus, she could only assume it was inner demons disturbing her state of mind.

“Master, I’ve felt restless lately,” Celestial Maiden Huayang said softly to an elderly woman before her. “I fear something great may be about to happen.”

The old woman was none other than Daoist Spiritual Master Xuanji, the current head of Taixu Temple.

“There’s no need for concern,” Xuanji said gently. “Condensing the Yang Spirit is no small matter. Now that heaven and earth themselves are shifting, perhaps your Yang Spirit merely resonates with the tides of the world.”

Celestial Maiden Huayang nodded slightly. Resting across her knees was an ancient sword, Moonshadow.

It was the personal sword of Taixu Temple’s founding ancestor, Celestial Maiden Ziyun, and Huayang had long wielded it to slay demons and purge evil. When she had once descended the mountain to wander the mortal realm, few had ever matched her in battle.

Now, that divine sword lay quietly across her lap, its polished blade glowing faintly with sacred light.

Xuanji’s gaze fell, almost imperceptibly, upon the Moonshadow as she sighed inwardly.

Huayang

, she thought silently,

do not blame your master.