Chapter 195 – War Breaks Out! The Gourd Spirit Weapon and the Crushing Might of a Fifth Rank Martial Artist - Part 3

With time to kill, Li Yuan struck up a casual conversation with Hua Yanmeng. After a while, he steered the topic toward Cleverseed Garden. He asked questions, and she answered openly, which gave him a clearer understanding of this world.

It turned out there were indeed cultivation pills here. However, they differed from what he’d read about in certain novels before crossing into this world. In those stories, spiritual herbs absorbed mystical energies from heaven and earth. In this world, however, plants usually thrived on Yin or Yang, meaning they needed to be grown near meat fields or ghost domains. Ordinarily, normal plants couldn’t survive in such places.

Cleverseed Garden specialized in selecting unusual plant species that could endure those conditions, cultivating them, and then handing them off for further refinement and eventually pill concocting. However, Cleverseed Garden only handled growing and harvesting; the actual alchemy was the Holy Tree Temple’s domain.

In past years, that connection had been severed, so Cleverseed Garden had dried and stored their herbs, hoping to preserve them. Fortunately, the dried plants remained usable, so when the Holy Tree Temple recently reestablished contact, the garden handed over everything in exchange for resources and an extra slot to study their life chronicle.

From daily exposure, Hua Yanmeng had learned the names of various pills. She counted them off on her fingertips for Li Yuan.

“Blood spirit pill, fasting pill, rejuvenation pill, clear mind pill, and breakthrough pill...

“The blood spirit pill, for instance, just one pill contains the essence of over five kilograms of demonic beast meat. The stronger the demonic beast, the harder the pill is to refine. Demonic beast meat doesn’t store well without freezing or special preservation, but the blood spirit pill only needs a simple ceramic container. It’s incredibly convenient to carry and keep.

“As for the fasting pill, once you swallow it, the medicinal power seeps out slowly, letting you go ten days or half a month without food. Granted, a sixth rank master like you would probably burn through it too fast for it to matter, but for most martial artists, it’s extremely helpful. It frees them to focus on closed-door cultivation without worrying about mundane needs.

“The rejuvenation pill is basically its namesake. It’s a pill that keeps ordinary people looking young. You have to take one every year for it to work.

“The clear mind pill helps clear the mind, banishing stray thoughts and making cultivation or meditation far more effective.

“Finally, the breakthrough pill... it’s by far the priciest and rarest of them all, containing a powerful surge of blood essence that can help martial artists push through to the next rank. But if the breakthrough fails, the user is left weak and vulnerable. As with the blood spirit pill, the higher the rank, the more difficult it is to produce and the more expensive it becomes.

“These pills aren’t mass-produced. They almost never appear on public listings; outsiders usually can’t buy them without connections.”

Still, none of this information was a deep secret, and Hua Yanmeng’s willingness to share it was a gesture of good faith.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

The next day.

Li Yuan followed Mu Hua to Eastspring County. Before leaving, he made a show of affection with Hua Yanmeng in front of everyone...tousling her hair, hugging her, and promising to return. When he was gone, a maid came to clean up his room and discovered a single spot of blood on the bedsheets.

News quickly spread that Hua Yanmeng, until now just an outer disciple posing as a brothel courtesan to earn merit, had suddenly become a distinguished inner disciple of Cleverseed Garden.

That same evening, as Li Yuan arrived at the Peakside Pavilion near Eastspring’s Heart Hill,

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Li Yuan climbed the winding path to the little pavilion on the mountain. After making a show of scanning his surroundings, he came upon a simple grave marker at a cliff’s edge. The inscription read—

"In memory of Woodson, sworn brother of Han Feng

."

The view was good, clouds drifting amid the distant green mountains, almost like a mountaintop grave with a scenic view.

Soon after, Li Yuan once again encountered that sixth rank couple, Han Feng and Leng Rou. This time, however, to avoid suspicion, he feigned coldness and kept them at arm’s length, dashing any hope they had of befriending him.

Both parties politely went their own way, with no further private interactions.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Time passed.

Over the next two weeks, Li Yuan went on six more missions, netting 150 taels of blood gold. He also changed tactics. Instead of his old

charging in blindly

method, he acted with careful deliberation. He would even force his accompanying disciples to scout

dangerous-looking places that weren’t truly dangerous

, terrifying them so much that they started missing the days when they’d followed the bold and decisive Mister Woodson. No one realized Gold Gloryroad and Woodson were the same man.

Still, Li Yuan could sense a massive shift. Early in the conflict, the undying husks were shrouded in mystery, so martial artists were constantly caught off-guard. But as these battles wore on, the martial artists began to uncover, and exploit weaknesses of the undying husks.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Three days later, early summer arrived.

A deafening thunderclap tore across the sky, jagged violet lightning flickering amid charcoal clouds. Violet, a color both mysterious and foreboding. Each flash of lightning burned away the darkness, revealing the world below for an instant.

Elder Zhu sat at the head of a great hall, watching the storm rage beyond the open doors. His ten fingers interlaced; a smoldering, destructive glint flickered in his eyes. One by one, people arrived—Mu Hua, Yan Mu, Shan Baishou, Yuan Zongzi, and the couple Han Feng and Leng Rou, along with Li Yuan under his assumed name, Gold Gloryroad. Once everyone was assembled, the doors were drawn shut.

Elder Zhu scanned the group before boldly announcing, “The undying husks have a critical weakness. They can’t remain outside in the real world for too long. They need a certain amount of time to fully enter that place they call the ancient ghost street. That’s the first point.

“Second, their assassinations are never instantaneous; they require time to set up. During that preparation phase, they’re at their most exposed.

“Third, the Immortal Worship Cult is highly suspect. They use rouge and incense, worshiping some vague entity in the void, chanting the name of a demonic Immortal. And all the disappearances, everything pointing to the deeper schemes of the undying husks, is tied to the Immortal Worship Cult.”

Elder Zhu paused, then continued, “Over this period, we’ve managed to identify every last member of the Immortal Worship Cult. Today, I’ve gathered all of you here to cast the net. In other words, we will kill every single cultist.

“This time, I’ve mobilized nine major sects across Northriver Prefecture, instructing them to seal off intelligence and stop any exchange of information between counties. When we move into a county, we’ll announce a complete lockdown. Anyone who dares move without permission will be killed. “Anyone who tries to stir up trouble will be killed as well. Once the cultists are dispatched, we’ll watch for suspicious individuals and detain them on the spot. We’ll lock them in cages at arrow-point, and if they so much as twitch, we shoot to kill. After finishing one county, we head straight to the next.”

The old man spoke with crisp efficiency, surprising even Yuan Zongzi, who hadn’t expected this volatile firebrand to have such a coherent plan. Elder Zhu next turned to Li Yuan and the couple, Han Feng and Leng Rou. “You three are our contracted enforcers. Rest assured, each county we clear will count as a separate engagement.”

All three quickly bowed to express their thanks. Elder Zhu then explained a few further details and distributed documents containing the names, appearances, and addresses of their targets.

Finally, he drew his blade and mounted his horse. Sensing everyone’s readiness, he let out a brash laugh. “A thunderstorm on a day like this, it’s the will of heaven to wash the filth out of Northriver Prefecture!”

“Move out!”

“Kill!”

Within half an hour, the eight of them arrived at Westplain County, where the undying husks and martial artists had been fighting on the front lines. The four directions into Westplain were already ringed by sect disciples, sealing the borders. Those disciples stood in formation, strictly ordered not to wander.

By now, the clouds had dissipated and the sky cleared. Leading the group, Elder Zhu vaulted from his saddle, launching himself into midair. Hovering above, he bellowed, “I am Zhu Nuyang! I’m here to purge these demons and fiends. Any who wish to live, sit down and don’t move! Anyone who disobeys... dies!”

Long before this day, the sects had circulated Elder Zhu’s name far and wide. Feeling the pressure, most townsfolk immediately dropped to the ground. Some, however, figured they could slip away without being noticed and ran. Elder Zhu offered no warning. He simply slapped the gourd at his waist and pulled out the cork.

A stifling heat rose from the red gourd, distorting the air around it. Its surface looked more like metal than any ordinary gourd, arcane and bizarre. With a pop, swarms of slender needles flew out, each needle like a tiny mosquito.

Following Elder Zhu’s silent command, the cloud of needles descended on every single runner he had warned, killing them instantly.

Seeing a few dead already, one man tried to rouse the crowd, shouting, “He’s going to kill us all anyway! Even if we sit still, they won’t spare us! These martial artists don’t see us as human! If we all stand up together, what can they do? They can’t kill every last one of us, can they?”

Before he could finish, one of those mosquito-like needles pierced his skull, dropping him where he stood. Above them, Elder Zhu stood astride the floating red gourd with a massive blade in hand, his senses reaching across the county. His expression was cold and unyielding.

Meanwhile, the other seven, including Mu Hua, Yan Mu, Shan Baishou, Yuan Zongzi, Han Feng, Leng Rou, and Li Yuan, fanned out and began swiftly hunting down their targets.

From below, Li Yuan glanced up at Elder Zhu’s imposing figure. A 1,360~3,080 floated above his head, while Li Yuan’s own combat power read 1,450~2,200. It implied that if Zhu Nuyang didn’t unleash his full power, he was actually weaker than Li Yuan in base strength.

That made sense to Li Yuan; after all, he’d created his own cultivation technique, attaining a kind of perfected enlightenment that might surpass standard learning. His 1,450 outranked even a fifth rank expert’s 1,360, which confirmed his suspicions.

But Zhu Nuyang’s potential explosion of power was far greater than Li Yuan’s. He guessed there must be more to it than just some

blood ignition

technique. His gaze shifted to the crimson gourd radiating a murderous aura.

At that moment, Li Yuan couldn’t help but think of it as an otherworldly warship, its swarm of flying needles akin to a fleet of warplanes.

So this is one of those spirit weapons forged by a weaponsmith using blood gold crystals,

Li Yuan realized. He took a moment to watch it in awe, then refocused on the Immortal Worship Cult roster in his hand.

With a final glance at the enthralling gourd overhead, he turned and began cutting down each cultist he tracked, one after another.