Chapter 251 – With a Flip of the Hand, Clouds Turn to Rain, The Fiendish Li Yuan - Part 2

Midnight, the Ginger Tavern.

In a private room, three figures were whispering among themselves.

“The organization has sent many people into the city stronghold of the Holy Tree Temple. Our task is to extract Master Li.”

“He’ll come see me at noon tomorrow. Given his recent behavior, I suspect he’s already leaning toward leaving with us.”

“But, sir, right now he can’t just walk away. The Holy Tree Temple is watching him closely, afraid something might happen to him.”

“That’s not a problem. We can disguise him with the Yin makeup and let someone else act as his stand-in. That’s all there is to it.”

“But, his daughter and his wife are both here. He won’t agree to abandon them.”

“Heh. Cui Huayin will convince him. She’ll make him agree.”

“You mean...?”

“Naturally. Given her special status, she’s worth using that treasured item on.”

“All right, we’d better split up before anyone gets suspicious.”

Among these three, the man disguised as Manager Wu was clearly their leader. They huddled closer for a bit more hushed talk before parting ways.

Outside the tavern, a blackbird perched quietly, watching two of them leave. Soon, a masked figure in gray arrived. Moving like a ghost, this newcomer had no detectable presence, nor any visible features. He slipped toward the second floor of the Ginger Tavern without a sound, gently pushing open a window to enter.

Inside, the fake Manager Wu gave a loud yawn and lay down on a couch. Though an undying husk, he still needed to sleep. Once he had drifted off, the window creaked open again, and that gray figure glided in like a spirit.

Stepping into the room, the intruder clamped a hand over the fake Manager Wu’s mouth and hoisted him up with the other. The imposter, roused from deep sleep, felt his body suspended in midair. He heard the clink of a copper pendant, the protective charm falling from around his neck to the bedding below.

Disoriented, he tried to scream but couldn’t. His limbs felt like they’d come loose from his body, paralyzed. In the next instant, he saw a flash in the gray figure’s hand, then felt something soft and cold clamp around his wrists with a

click

. The object vanished from sight, replaced by a sudden, soul-deep sense of confinement.

With a dull thud, the gray figure dropped him. Gasping for breath, the imposter realized that without the protection against ghosts from the copper pendant, he was now utterly vulnerable to the human-skin manacles’ curse.

Moments later, the item took full effect. The fake Manager Wu flipped upright, fell to one knee, and bowed his head toward the gray-clad intruder.

“Greetings, Master. My name is Duan Yangsheng, and I am here to serve.”

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Early the next morning.

Li Yuan cheerfully led two ebony kinghounds over, loading them into Cui Huayin’s carriage.

She glanced at the nearly buckling wheel axles and protested, “What are you doing? They’re so heavy; they’ll crush the carriage!”

He replied with a smile, “Just making sure my lady stays safe.”

She shot him a look. “Ugh, don’t be so sappy.” But she didn’t refuse and let him place the dogs in the carriage before riding off.

Li Yuan had his usual breakfast, browsed his smithy for a bit, then arrived at the Ginger Tavern at noon as promised. Entering the private room, he found the fake Manager Wu waiting for him.

The imposter spoke at length, urging him to leave the Holy Tree Temple, while his eyes gleamed with a deferential shine like a man gazing upon his master.

After the two wrapped up their conversation, Li Yuan departed.

The fake Manager Wu lingered in the tavern a while, then headed to the ancient ghost street in Silkfloss Province. The vendors at the entrance weren’t hawking sugar figurines, rouge compacts, hairpins, or ornaments...but rather balloons, burlap sacks, and mirrors.

Familiar with the area, the imposter headed straight to a manor off to one side of the street, where he found another undying husk and reported in.

“It’s done.”

“So, Li Yuan agreed to come with us?”

“After learning his father-in-law is with our faction, and then seeing three fifth rank experts die in the Holy Tree Temple, his resolve wavered. He said he’s just a simple weaponsmith, only wanting to hone his craft in peace, and it doesn’t much matter where he does it. So, yes, he’s willing to leave with us. The only catch...”

“What is it?”

“He wants to wait a bit. First, he’s under heavy surveillance by the Holy Tree Temple. Second, his son Li Ping’an is still inside the temple. He won’t leave just yet.”

The other man snorted. “Heh, no need to worry. His beloved wife will persuade him.”

“By this evening, Cui Huayin will become our slave. She’ll do anything we say. She’ll convince Li Yuan that it’s safe to leave, and then try to sneak out his son. But in truth, she’ll never succeed. We’ll kill his son, forcing him into open conflict with the Holy Tree Temple and even the Five Elements Alliance. That will drive him even deeper under our control.”

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

That evening.

As dusk bled red across the sky, a carriage rumbled past the third gate, then the second. To reach the outermost exit, it had to pass through a barren stretch of land. The area was slated for future planting of spiritual herbs; no one lived there anymore.

Inside the carriage, Cui Huayin sat with her eyes half shut, focusing on the shifting lines she’d observed in the life chronicle. She could feel something stirring in her blood, as if it were tracing a special path, an omen that she was on the cusp of breaking through to sixth rank.

Suddenly, the driver’s startled voice rang out from up front.

“Who are you? Why are you blocking the road—?!”

His words cut off in a violent scream.

Alarmed, Cui Huayin snatched up the long blade at her side, ready to draw. Then the carriage curtains blew back with a gale so strong it whipped her hair behind her.

In the waning light, two figures approached, and the driver’s body lay on the ground in a pool of blood, head neatly severed.

One of the men calmly placed the severed head on a nearby stone, pulled out a small rouge compact, and began applying makeup to it. The grotesque sight was beyond unnerving.

The second figure, a burly man, leered at Cui Huayin as he advanced. “So this is the legendary Yin Consort, beautiful enough to topple a kingdom. The rumors don’t exaggerate.”

She glared warily. “Who are you?”

Grinning, he made no effort to conceal his power. Far beyond the vigor of a seventh rank martial artist, a potent aura radiated from him, enveloping the carriage.

“Your Highness, soon enough, you’ll learn that my identity isn’t what matters. What matters is that I’ll be your master, the one you obey without question.”

His voice carried a lecherous undertone. Sensing the crushing force of his aura, Cui Huayin realized the horrifying truth. She swallowed hard, lips trembling as she forced out a single phrase, “Sixth rank...”

Still smirking, the burly man stomped forward, unleashing a blast of wind so fierce it threatened to flip the carriage. Cui Huayin braced a foot behind her on the carriage floor, stopping it from toppling. While she did, she darted a glance into the dark corners of the cabin.

There, hidden in the shadows, sat two coal-black hounds. Their deep, rumbling breaths set their tongues lolling as their tails thumped the floor. Each was easily 500 kg of muscle. No gust, no matter how strong, could budge that carriage now.

The man approached like a cat stalking a mouse, a mocking smile on his lips. Cui Huayin gripped her blade, putting on a trembling show of fear.

He chuckled darkly. “Heh heh...” His five fingers lunged for her.

But just then, she gave a sharp command, “Attack!”

Before the man could fully process what she’d said, two black shapes lunged from the carriage. Like twin bursts of raging flame, they smashed head-on into him.

Caught off-guard, the sixth rank man barely managed to raise his arms in defense before one of the ebony kinghounds slammed him off his feet. He skidded across the ground, carving a trail into the dirt. He tried to spring up, only for the second ebony kinghound to leap from above, jaws gaping wide.

He rolled frantically away, only to feel a sudden chill at his throat. The other ebony kinghound had crept behind him and sank its teeth into the back of his neck. Panicking, he channeled his power to fight back and began drawing an ancestral seal to recover. But the first hound simply clamped down on his hand.

As an ordinary sixth rank martial artist, he was no match for two prime sixth rank demon dogs. His neck gave a sickening crack, and his head lolled to one side, eyes filled with disbelief. Even then, the ebony kinghound didn’t let go. It kept snarling and pulling until it tore his head clean off, then bounded over to the corpse to claw for the heart, that prized reservoir of Yang energy that demonic beasts craved.

Meanwhile, the man who’d been calmly applying makeup to the severed head moments before was now frozen with terror. He tried to flee, but where could he run against two ebony kinghounds?

In mere seconds, the second undying husk had his neck snapped by one of the ebony kinghounds. Blood gushed across the barren dirt, turning the dusty ground crimson.

All trace of tension vanished from Cui Huayin’s eyes. She had only been acting.

She stepped down from the carriage and stared at the disemboweled, heartless corpse of the burly sixth rank martial artist. If not for the ebony kinghounds, her own fate would have been unthinkable.

Cui Huayin silently regarded the bodies, then, remembering something, quickly drew her blade and gave each corpse a few extra stabs. She used the tip of the blade to peel back their collars and began searching them. Soon, she found three items—a mirror, a small rouge compact, and some manacles. All three radiated a cold that bit deep, like gripping a block of solid ice.

Quickly, she grabbed the cloak she normally used against the morning and evening chill, wrapped the items in it, and tossed them into the carriage. Glancing over, she saw the two ebony kinghounds still feasting on the dead man’s heart.

Cui Huayin climbed up to the driver’s seat, pulled on her cloak, and lowered the hood over her face. “Get in,” she ordered the demonic beasts, but it was as if they hadn’t heard her.

Making a quick beckoning gesture, she finally got their attention. They abandoned the half-eaten heart, dug a shallow pit nearby, shoved the sixth rank corpse into it, and covered it with dirt. Then in a final show of disdainl, they both lifted a hind leg. Once done, they leaped back into the carriage.

With that, Cui Huayin cracked the reins and drove off for Peach Blossom Alley at full speed. It didn’t take long for people in the city to sense something amiss and rush over to investigate.