Chapter 534: Where Has This Daoist Gone?! Too Hard to Kill, Then Don’t Kill Him! The Prince Qing’s Mansion Rebels! Slaughtering the City!

To this witch spirit, the young Daoist had not only failed to provide much in the way of fortune, but after being dragged in here, he had instead shown every sign of going on a murderous rampage. It was terrifying, and to be honest, it was already regretting this.

After donning the Golden Radiance Crown, Li Yanchu completely concealed his form. Not only could the black-robed old monk at the peak of the Yin Spirit realm no longer see him, even this mysterious witch spirit was unable to perceive him.

He pondered briefly. This thing’s regenerative ability was truly terrifying; it didn’t look like something that could be casually slain.

Best to finish this quickly

, Li Yanchu thought to himself.

After all, this was the other party’s territory. If it suddenly expelled him from here, there would be little he could do about it.

Then, Li Yanchu cast a spell and took an exquisitely crafted bottle out of his Universe Pouch. It was the supreme Buddhist treasure, the Purity Glazed Bottle. It was a magical artifact he had seized earlier in the Mount Taoyuan Blissful Land.

Back then, even after he used the Spirit Officer Summoning Talisman, he had nearly been sucked into this very treasure. He had only refined it recently, making it just perfect for dealing with this unsolvable witch spirit.

As for how strong the witch spirit originally was, Li Yanchu didn’t know. But from their brief exchange just now, he had already realized that this thing’s actual level wasn’t particularly high. Its real trouble lay in the peculiarity of the space it inhabited and the strangeness of its methods.

Whoosh

!

The immense suction of the Purity Glazed Bottle instantly sucked the black shadow inside. A supreme Buddhist treasure, imbued with powerful divine abilities and seals,

was not something a spirit that hadn’t yet fully matured could possibly contend with.

After the spirit was captured, this unknown land did not disappear. However, Li Yanchu’s figure gradually faded from this place.

Looks like this place wasn’t created by the witch spirit

, Li Yanchu thought to himself.

In the next moment, he returned to the Taiping Inn. He removed the Golden Radiance Crown, which deactivated the state of invisibility.

“How did it go?” the innkeeper asked.

“Caught it. It was not easy to kill,” Li Yanchu said, lifting the bottle in his hand slightly.

Hearing his words, the innkeeper nodded. This outcome was exactly as she had expected. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have let Li Yanchu take such a risk.

Meanwhile, Ding Rou stood there dumbfounded. How could these two talk about it so casually? And that bottle with its powerful Buddhist aura, could it really be the legendary Buddhist treasure, the Purity Glazed Bottle?

Originally, Ding Rou had thought Li Yanchu was just a peer who was somewhat stronger than herself. But now she realized that Li Yanchu was absurdly strong! Liu Jun’s lethal crisis had been resolved so easily, so easily that it felt no different from an ordinary exorcism.

Yet anyone who understood the situation knew that this was an unsolvable case for anyone else. First of all, whether one could even discover that thread was already a problem. Even with his peak Yin Spirit cultivation, when Li Yanchu used the Spirit Eyes and Qi Sight, he saw nothing at all.

In the end, it was only after employing a magical artifact worth a hundred thousand merit points, the Eight Trigrams Mirror, that he finally saw the thread above Liu Jun’s head.

Secondly, that thread could neither be touched nor seen, and many techniques simply couldn’t affect it, let alone casually switch it to be tied to someone else. This was nothing short of a heaven-obscuring divine ability. It was hard to imagine that such a thing had been accomplished by the innkeeper, who was beautiful beyond belief.

And then there was the issue of whom the thread would be tied to next. The first time, it was linked to the demonic monk Fa Neng, a notorious heterodox cultivator of the Kingdom of Qian. Without using their trump cards, Xiao Ran and Ding Rou could only fight him to a standstill.

They had also seen Fa Neng’s final fate: dying inexplicably to an arrow fired by an ordinary yamen runner. They didn’t know the full story. In truth, that thread had also been connected to Fa Neng’s master, the black-robed old monk Kongxing!

Kongxing’s strength was obvious to all. Even while injured, he could still easily defeat a young prodigy like Xiao Ce. Even Master Yuanjue, who was half a step into the third realm, only had a chance of victory against him.

Yet once such a figure was linked by the thread, he still couldn’t withstand that terrifying drain of fortune, clearly showing just how perilous the situation had been.

And yet Li Yanchu had endured it. Not only had he endured it, he had even been dragged into the unknown land by the witch spirit behind the scenes, and in no great amount of time, he had captured that spirit and brought it back!

This was a case of outsiders just watching the spectacle, while insiders looked for the true skill involved.

Except now, even the insiders couldn’t see through it, they could only shout “666”[1] along with everyone else.

Over the next few days, Li Yanchu’s life became relatively leisurely. Every day was spent cultivating, drinking tea, and practicing martial arts. Life was full and satisfying.

With the innkeeper looming over everything like an immovable mountain, Ding Rou never found a chance to throw herself into Li Yanchu’s arms. After all, these past few days, Li Yanchu had spent every night staying with the innkeeper.

“That female Daoist has her eyes on you. Just look at her gaze, she can’t wait to devour you whole,” the innkeeper said lazily, draped in an outer robe.

Li Yanchu laughed. “Ding’s been wanting to devote herself to me for a long time. It’s just that my willpower is pretty strong. Back in the Mount Jinting Blissful Land, with no one watching, I still didn’t let my heart waver.”

“Really? Not even a flicker?” The innkeeper lightly bit her lip. “Didn’t you say men all like the allure of uniforms?”

Li Yanchu chuckled helplessly. “You even remembered that phrase. I don’t have that kind of mind right now, I just want to break through to the third realm as soon as possible and condense a Yang Spirit.”

Women only slow down the speed at which I draw my blade.

The innkeeper smiled without saying anything. She walked to the window and leaned against it. From behind, her figure traced an astonishing curve.

Bracing herself with both hands on the windowsill, she turned her head and smiled. “Still practicing?”

Li Yanchu burst out laughing. “How can I neglect my cultivation?”

***

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The next day...

Li Yanchu had just left the Taiping Inn when he was stopped on the street by a flustered Shen Hongye.

“Daoist Li, something’s happened!” Shen Hongye said in a panic.

“Don’t rush. What happened?” Li Yanchu replied.

This was the first time he had ever seen Shen Hongye in such a state of alarm.

“Prince Qing has rebelled!” Shen Hongye said.

“Rebelled?” Li Yanchu froze.

“That’s right. The Prince Qing’s heir has made connections with many cultivators, from all walks of life, including heterodox and unorthodox paths. When an envoy from the Court of Judicial Review went to investigate, they killed him on the spot. Then the old Prince Qing led his people to seize military authority. They’ve already swept through more than a dozen prefectures and counties!”

Li Yanchu was stunned. This heir of Prince Qing was seriously hardcore. He just went and rebelled like that?!

“If the Prince Qing has rebelled, the court can just send troops to suppress him. Why are you so panicked?” Li Yanchu was genuinely puzzled.

“The Prince Qing’s Mansion somehow invited a Yang Spirit expert, Daoist Spiritual Master Jiugong. Seven or eight powerful figures from the Buddhist and Daoist paths have already died at his hands. This man’s methods in attacking cities are extremely brutal, he directly massacred Huaiyang City. Of the entire city, over a hundred thousand civilians, not a single one was left alive.”

Shen Hongye’s voice was heavy. She had never expected Prince Qing’s uprising to be this vicious.

Hearing this, Li Yanchu fell silent. That was over a hundred thousand civilians...

“With a Yang Spirit powerhouse holding the line, no wonder Prince Qing’s Mansion dares to act with such confidence.”

In a xianxia world like this, individual martial power was amplified, and the destructive capacity of cultivators far exceeded that of ordinary soldiers. Once cultivators chose to bring chaos to the mortal world, the harm they could cause was incalculable, let alone a third realm Yang Spirit expert!

That was nothing short of a catastrophe!

1. “喊666” is modern Chinese internet slang.

It comes from gaming and online culture, where “666” is associated with the number six being pronounced liù, which sounds like “溜”, a word meaning slick, smooth, skillful, impressive. Over time, typing or saying “666” became a shorthand way to praise someone’s performance.

To “喊666” literally means to shout “666”, but in context it means openly expressing admiration or amazement, especially when witnessing something so impressive that you don’t even understand how it was done. It often carries a tone of amused awe: even experts can’t explain the trick, so all they can do is applaud and praise. ☜