Chapter 438: 437

Hundred Flowers Tavern.

Hundred Flowers Tavern, located on the west side of Hanshui City, is among the top twenty taverns in the city. The tavern is famous for its unique wine, crafted from over 150 varieties of seasonal flowers. Owing to changing seasons, the taste of the Hundred Flowers Wine varies throughout the year.

Qiu Jin’an entered the bustling Hundred Flowers Tavern, which was to the brim with patrons. The waiters were spinning like tops, rushing back and forth between the lobby and the kitchen.

After some time, Qiu Jin’an finally found a vacant spot in a corner.

“Excuse me, is this seat taken?” he asked.

Sitting across from him was a rotund patron who was enjoying his meal profusely, his forehead gleaming with sweat.

The patron looked up at Qiu Jin’an and said with a stranger’s indifference, “No one, you can sit.”

“Unexpected, I must say, that there are so many people here even before dining time,” Qiu Jin’an made conversation with the patron as he waited for a waiter to come.

The patron, not much for conversation, concentrated on his meal and responded to Qiu Jin’an absentmindedly.

The waiter brought over the menu, and after browsing through it casually, Qiu Jin’an returned it. “A bowl of rice, five plates of your signature dishes, five plates of your most expensive dishes, and a pot of the Hundred Years Hundred Flowers Wine.”

“Very well, sir, please wait a moment,” responded the waiter.

It wasn’t long before a bowl of rice and ten alluring dishes were served to him, accompanied by a pot of the aged, fragrant Hundred Flowers Wine. It made the patron sitting across him drool with envy.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

“If there’s nothing else you need, I will take my leave, sir,” the waiter said.

However, Qiu Jin’an dispatched him a retort. “I, a living human, won’t be eating a dead man’s food.”

The waiter looked confused, not understanding what Qiu Jin’an was talking about.

Qiu Jin’an snapped his fingers as the sound of faint cracks filled the air, as if someone were stepping on a newly frozen surface of a lake. As the ice cracked, the true face of the lake was revealed.

Looking at the lobby again, the bustling tavern and its patrons were gone.

Each patron had their heads lowered, with small figures, roughly a meter tall, prancing on their necks.

The round patron sitting across Qiu Jin’an had an exaggerated belly, making him look like a ball.

The waiter was skinny as a rail, so thin that a gust of wind could blow him away.

The dishes laid out in front of Qiu Jin’an were not enticing at all. They were filled with maggots and raw meat still twitching on the plate.

The only thing that remained unchanged was the rice. However, it now had three chopsticks sticking out of it.

Qiu Jin’an’s smile widened. “Trying to confront me with just two kings of ghosts, the Bloated Ghost and the Starving Ghost, along with their lackeys? How quaint.”

The rotund patron and slim waiter dropped their pretense and showed their wicked grins.

A small figure quietly climbed onto Qiu Jin’an’s neck…

…

The Corpse Chasing Sect.

Four cultivators, garbed in ancient clothing, appeared collectively at the gates of the Corpse Chasing Sect. They ignored the sect’s disciples, each moving quickly in a different direction towards four locations in the Yin Corpse Mountain Range.

Boom——

Boom——

Boom——

Boom——

Battles broke out simultaneously at four locations.

“Damn it, that good-for-nothing Huang Ming must have secretly figured out our location!” Elder Gai said furiously. They hadn’t even yet begun to search the Corpse Chasing Sect before they found themselves under attack.

The four elders of the Corpse Chasing Sect were caught off guard. Fortunately, they reacted quickly enough to summon their Living Corpses.

One of the anciently garbed cultivators sneered, “So, you are a sect that accidentally obtained our legacy; you actually dare to oppose us?”

“You’re from the Witch Corpse Sect!” exclaimed Elder Gai. Recognizing their clothing and the way they spoke, his pupils contracted.

The Corpse Chasing Sect’s founder owes the creation of this sect to a stroke of luck where he rushed into a Secret Realm by accident, survived three life-or-death crises, and obtained a complete Corpse Chasing Technique.

This legacy originates from a group known as the Witch Corpse Sect during the Great Yu dynasty. According to the classification by the Great Xia, the Witch Corpse Sect was a Superb Sect, with a Transcendence Tribulation Stage cultivator as its stalwart.

The Witch Corpse Sect fell during the early wars of Great Xia’s founding, leaving behind only a legacy that was obtained by the founder of the Corpse Chasing Sect.

One of the anciently garbed cultivators rubbed his ring, summoning dust-covered Living Corpses whose seals had been broken. These corpses, redolent of antiquity and death, crossed a span of over a hundred thousand years to wage battle with the present generation.

Four, eight, sixteen, twenty… a total of twenty Living Corpses appeared, besieging Elder Gai and the others!

“Let’s see, you young ones, how much of our abilities you’ve managed to learn,” he remarked.

…

A majestic figure stood in the sky above Hanshui City, right above the State Governor Mansion.

This man was like a king, standing tall on his feet, displaying a sense of dominance and aggression with his every movement.

His presence was so powerful that the people of Hanshui City couldn’t help but look up at the sky. Seeing the magnificent man, who seemed as imposing as the sun, stirred an inexplicable panic in their hearts.

“After all the preparation, the plan has been revealed. Why can’t Huang Ming and Mong Tian, who are good for nothing, accomplish anything substantial?”

The king-like figure’s eyes flashed with murderous intent. If he had been able to get in touch with those two, he wouldn’t have to expose himself this early.

A little later, just a little more, and the plan would have been flawless, once the Great Array had been activated.

“Oh well, there’s no such thing as a perfect plan in this world.”

“The Heavenly Calamity Sovereign has failed and fallen into Qingzhou, reportedly apprehended by an unexpected master.”

“Over the past few days, I’ve already investigated Hanshui City. No one here poses a threat to me.”

“To be on the safe side, I’ll establish a rule here. For one day, no information could be transmitted out of Hanshui City.”

Adding a time limit could enhance the enforcement of the rule.

Lu Yang looked up at the royal-like figure in the sky and felt overwhelmed.

At the first warning from Fairy Eternity, he tried to call on his Eldest Senior Sister using the Imitation Fist to borrow her power, but he was a step too late. A new rule had been established in the area by the king-like figure, making it impossible for him to contact her.

“Aren’t supposed to be very few people at the Transcendence Tribulation Stage? Why do I keep encountering them? The City Governor even said that this place is the safest, but why do I feel this is the most dangerous?”

“Could it be because I’m the young Master of Heaven’s Court, and they’re all eager to see me?”

“Hey, since you’re already a young Master, shouldn’t I get a position as well in Heaven’s Court?”

“How about becoming the bootlicker of the young Master?”

“Sod off.”

Old horse sensed the Transcendence Tribulation Stage pressure emanating from the sky, contemplating whether it was time for it to retire.

Meng Jingzhou’s father had asked him to be Meng Jingzhou’s protector, and it had thought the task was quite simple. Thus, it agreed without hesitation.

However, upon recalling how it first recruited Yun Zhi to the Seek Dao Sect then revived Fairy Eternity at the Yanjiang Rudder, getting involved with an ancient Transcendence Tribulation cultivator in Qingzhou, and now encountering another one here in Wild State, it felt it had taken on too much.

Men Gu had always had faith in Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou. He believed that nothing would go wrong as long as the two senior brothers were around, hence he looked quite calm.

Zhao Po was the most fretful among the four. They had just had an encounter with Mong Tian, a union-stage practitioner of the Great Yu in the morning, and now in the afternoon, they had another encounter with a Transcendence Tribulation Stage practitioner from Great Yu.

What kind of luck was this?

Of late, he felt that his luck had been very bad. But when did it start to turn bad?