Chapter 525: Provocation

"Crap."

Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai followed the trajectory of the Famous Yipin Knife, chasing after it hastily. However, when they finally caught up with it in a remote forest, they couldn't feel happy about it.

The good news was that they had found the knife.

The bad news was that there was a face under the knife...

A middle-aged man with bronze skin lay stiffly on the ground, with the Famous Yipin Knife embedded in his face. Most of the blade had sunk into his head. He was probably dead.

It was the middle of the night, in the desolate wilderness of a mountain. How on earth did they end up killing someone? It was truly unfortunate.

"Let's search his belongings and see if we can figure out where he's from. Let's send him home first," Chu Liang said.

There was no one around, so they could have just left the body there and taken the knife with no one ever knowing. Nevertheless, that was clearly not something Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai would do.

The two of them searched the corpse, only to find that the corpse was strangely hard... It wasn't the stiffness that came after death. Rather, it was the hardness of metal. There was even a metallic clang when they tapped the corpse.

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

It seemed the man had been a cultivator, and he likely had a high cultivation level. A corporeal body of this level would normally be very difficult to pierce.

However, when the Phoenix-Spirit Divine Fire erupted, the explosion had sent the Famous Yipin Knife flying with immense force. Furthermore, the knife was an incredibly sharp and almost indestructible legendary weapon... It meant the strike that killed the man had been terrifyingly powerful.

There was no vicious beast that could withstand the cutting power of the Famous Yipin Knife; it could cut through all kinds of scales and shells. Now, it seemed that humans were no different from the vicious beasts.

Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai quickly found a storage ring on one of the man's fingers. They sent their divine sense into it, searching for anything that might identify him.

Nonetheless, all Chu Liang saw were jars filled with body parts, along with other eerie objects emanating diabolical qi. They all looked rather sinister. It appeared that this middle-aged man wasn't a righteous cultivator.

Chu Liang found something familiar among the eerie items—an envelope.

"This letter..."

He took out the envelope from the storage ring. The envelope looked the same as the one he had found in the Violet Gold Marquess' storage enchanted tool.

Chu Liang opened it to take a look.

First Leader of Bronze Demon Ridge, your divine abilities are extraordinary. You are far too great to remain confined to one place. We at Evil Dragon Mountain sincerely invite all our comrades from the West Sea to gather in the capital of Yu during the Assembly of Immortal Sects. Together, we will unleash thunderous force, overturn the heavens and the earth, and cooperate in this grand event!

Like the other letter, this one was also signed off with "Immortal Yuan Lu" at the bottom.

"So, he was a member of a diabolical sect," Chu Liang commented.

The guilt weighing on his heart suddenly lifted.

What a grand event, indeed.

Before even getting to the capital of Yu, one has been killed intentionally, and another unintentionally.

Kind of feels like Immortal Yuan Lu's letters might be... cursed?

After flying through such a vast night sky, a cleaver somehow managed to strike the middle-aged man right in the face with such precision. If someone were to say it wasn't retribution for being a diabolical cultivator, it would be very hard to believe that to be true.

Since the middle-aged man was a diabolical cultivator, Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai could handle his corpse casually.

After looting the middle-aged man's enchanted storage tool, they searched his body but found nothing of value. Then they left the corpse by the roadside. They were going to wait until someone discovered it before deciding what to do next.

Since the matter of the stolen cleaver involved the chancellor, the fewer people who knew, the better it would be. Chu Liang didn't even plan to go through the Imperial Supervisory Bureau; he decided he would return the cleaver straight to Xue Yipin in private.

Done with the corpse, Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai flew off, heading back to the capital of Yu.

However, they hadn't noticed the several pairs of eyes watching them silently from a distance. They were the four young members of the Bronze Demon Ridge.

After looking around in midair for a while earlier, they had ultimately confirmed that something had happened to Second Leader. They landed and found him very quickly.

Unfortunately, they got there one step too late and found Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai searching Second Leader's corpse.

Third Leader, the red-haired youth, immediately wanted to rush over and fight Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai, but the three underlings held him back with all their strength.

"Third Leader! Don't be impulsive!" one of the underlings urged seriously. "If they killed Second Leader so easily, how could we possibly be their match?"

"Exactly!" another underling added. "Second Leader had already cultivated the Invincible Bronze Demon Body, yet he was killed in an instant. I can't even imagine what methods they used to kill him!"

"They could probably kill the four of us in an instant as well," the third underling chimed in.

Third Leader suppressed the fury surging in his chest.

After a moment, he finally gritted his teeth and said, "Remember those two. We must seek revenge for Second Leader!"

"Revenge!" the three underlings shouted in unison.

"Let's go!" Third Leader ordered.

"Yes!"

The three underlings immediately turned and ran after him.

The four of them left together without looking back.

...

Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai returned to the palace at the top of Emperor's Mound and checked the contents of the storage ring together. They decided to deal with the matter at hand first.

After all, there was no rush to return the knife, so they could do it the next day. It would be fine if they just dropped by the Famous Chef of the World when they had some free time.

Meanwhile, the other members of their team went over to them and asked what was going on. There was no need to hide anything from them, so Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai briefly explained what had happened.

The dead diabolical cultivator seemed to have a high level of cultivation, but he did not have many valuable items in his enchanted storage tool. It was likely because the West Sea was quite remote compared to the nine provinces.

Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai pulled the jars of body parts from the storage ring and placed them out for the others to see. The organs seemed to belong to some exotic beasts.

Ling Ao said, "This diabolical cultivator was probably from the Bronze Demon Ridge in the West Sea. These are materials used for cultivating their transcendent forms."

"

Huh?

" Chu Liang uttered, looking at him in surprise.

The letter had indeed mentioned Bronze Demon Ridge.

Chu Liang asked, "You know about them?"

"When I decided to take the path of physical cultivation, I studied the physical cultivation legacies of the four seas and the nine provinces," Ling Ao explained. "The Bronze Demon Ridge's Invincible Bronze Demon Body is quite formidable as a divine technique. But it's not well known because it requires resources that are difficult to obtain. That's why this sect hasn't been able to expand its influence."

Ling Ao picked up one of the jars. It contained a huge purple-black eyeball.

He continued, "The Invincible Bronze Demon Body requires each part of the body to be specially fortified. This is probably the eye of a Kui [1], which is a rare exotic beast. Its eyes are used to fortify the cultivator's eyes.

"This is the tendon of a Flying Dragon, used to fortify the cultivator's muscles and bones.

"This is the hoof of an Ancient Thunder Mountain Bull, used to fortify the cultivator's feet.

"This is the penis of a Mountain-Splitting Tiger, used to—"

Ling Ao suddenly paused there.

"Let's just save these for hotpot," Chu Liang said, quietly putting the jars away.

Aside from the jars, the storage ring had some jade slips containing cultivation arts manuals. They browsed through them briefly and confirmed it was pretty much just as Ling Ao had described.

The cultivation arts of the Bronze Demon Ridge had never really been a big secret. The necessary cultivation materials were so difficult to obtain that even if outsiders knew the techniques, they wouldn't bother trying to cultivate with them.

There were also some diabolical weapons in the storage ring, but being righteous cultivators, none of the team from the Mount Shu Sect cared much for them.

After sorting through everything, the most valuable items ended up being the exotic beasts' organs.

"All right. it's time to rest," Wang Xuanling told the team. "The Assembly of Immortal Sects begins tomorrow, so let's get there early and have a look."

Then he shifted his gaze to Chu Liang and smiled. "The two of you did very well today, but be more careful next time. If the person you accidentally killed had been a good person, you would have to bear the consequences."

"I understand, Senior Uncle. I was too reckless," Chu Liang replied.

"No worries. Just be more careful next time."

Still smiling, Wang Xuanling waved his sleeve and left.

"Why is Senior Uncle Wang being so weird?" Jiang Yuebai whispered.

"Indeed." Chu Liang nodded. "He seems unusually gentle. He'd normally scold us in situations like this. But even if he doesn't, he would at least give us a stern warning."

Xu Ziyang guessed, "It's probably because of the food you brought back from our meal. It seems like my teacher really enjoyed it."

Hearing that, Chu Liang realized what the reason was.

So, it's because he ate the food that he's not saying much now.

[2]

Chu Liang could already picture the scene.

The old fellow must have been grumbling about why I wasted money on such expensive food. But he probably ate it with a huge, satisfied grin.

...

The Assembly of Immortal Sects began the next day, kicking off with the first round—the Great Selection of the Four Seas.

Over six hundred sects of various sizes were participating this time. The imperial court had set up over a dozen arenas outside the capital of Yu. The plan was to have three consecutive days of elimination matches, resulting in eighty-one teams selected for the next round.

The rules were simple. Each representative team would send three members to participate in a match of three duels. For a team to win the match, two of their three members had to win their duels. The losing team would be eliminated, and the winning team would have another match the next day. Any team that won three days in a row would advance to the second round.

The process was straightforward but brutal. Life-and-death battles were daily occurrences for every sect, so everyone was bound to give it their all. The more powerful sects could crush their opponents without even sending their main fighters.

In any case, the duels were sure to be intense.

The people of the capital flocked in droves to watch the matches. Each team only had one match per day, but with over three hundred matches on the first day alone, each arena had dozens of matches lined up. That ensured it would be a full day of exciting matches.

When Wang Xuanling and the Mount Shu Sect's team arrived, they caused quite a stir. After all, the Mount Shu Sect was considered a heavyweight in this year's Assembly of Immortal Sects.

The crowd erupted with screams and yells. Most of the people screamed "Jiangjiang" or "Fairy Jiang," but there was a small group of people that yelled "The Young Hero with the Divine Whip." There were even some people who called out "Xu Ziyang."

Only a few voices scattered among the crowd shouting Ling Ao's name. However, they were mostly saying things like... "Little Baldy, move to the side a little! Don't block our view of Jiangjiang!"

After a bit of searching, the group from the Mount Shu Sect finally spotted the Profound Mind Sect team sitting by the side of an arena. They quickly went over there.

"This place was hard to find, so we're a bit late," Wang Xuanling said. Then he realized that the whole team from the Profound Mind Sect were sitting there. "Weren't you supposed to be in the first match? Has it not started yet?"

Chen Xuanlu looked up and replied, "Senior Brother Wang, it's already over."

Wang Xuanling looked at the Profound Mind Sect disciples and their ashen faces.

"

Eh?

"

He was a little surprised.

The Profound Mind Sect's team wasn't particularly strong, but their members had at least reached the fourth realm—a decent level for their age group. Liu Yunzheng, in particular, was considered one of the more outstanding young cultivators in the capital's circle.

Based on the standard from the previous assemblies, the team from the Profound Mind Sect had a fair chance of making it into the Competition of a Hundred Sects.

So, how did this happen?

It had only taken them a short while to get there, yet the match was already over. That could only mean it had been a complete defeat.

"We faced the team from Fuyao Kingdom," Chen Xuanlu explained, sounding stunned and dejected. He raised his gaze and directed it to the opposite side of the arena. "They were too strong."

This wasn't Chen Xuanlu's first time participating in the Assembly of Immortal Sects. In fact, he had participated in it many times as a disciple and a sect leader, so losing was nothing new to him. That made it quite strange that Chen Xuanlu seemed so shocked by the result.

Chu Liang followed Chen Xuanlu's gaze and saw a youth in black combat attire with a knife on his back.

The youth wore a sinister smile as he looked at Chu Liang. He had clearly recognized Chu Liang.

As their eyes met, the youth raised his hand and made a throat-slitting gesture.

Whoa,

Chu Liang thought.

How arrogant.

1. A one-legged creature from ancient Chinese mythology. There are two possible versions: one is shaped like an ox, with a blue-green body and no horns; the other has a snake-like form that resembles a dragon. See translator's thoughts for illustration. ☜

2. This is referring to the Chinese saying "吃人嘴软，拿人手短", which translates to means that once you've accepted someone's generosity, you'll be more accommodating toward them, overlooking their flaws/mistakes. ☜