Chapter 813: Ghost King's Grand Wedding

This bandit leader had a strong will to survive, and upon hearing his words, Xu Jie and the others were also intrigued and asked.

"Give the details."

Evil creatures also count as sect points, so we definitely can't miss them.

Under the gaze of the many disciples of Dao Yi Shengdi, this bandit leader blurted out everything he knew.

It turns out not far from here lies the Earth Flame Dynasty, which borders the Heavenly Feather Dynasty.

However, compared to the Heavenly Feather Dynasty, the situation in the Earth Flame Dynasty is extremely chaotic, mainly because its current emperor is decadent and tyrannical, utterly disregarding the lives of the people.

This has led to bandits running rampant across the land, countless evil creatures, and in the court corruption is rampant with treacherous officials everywhere.

The gathering place of those evil creatures mentioned by the bandit leader lies not far within the Earth Flame Dynasty, close to the Heavenly Feather Dynasty.

It is called Black Mountain, ruled by a Ghost King, whose subordinates are said to harbor countless evil creatures, dominating the region.

The court of the Earth Flame Dynasty also pays no heed to it, as it is merely a borderland, left to its own devices.

This, however, brings great suffering to the surrounding populace, who face the threat of evil creatures almost every day.

As for this bandit leader, he previously had a few dealings with the Black Mountain Ghost King, so he knows these circumstances.

Now, to save his life, he unreservedly spills all he knows.

"Oh, you're a human cultivator—what good could there be in cooperating with a Ghost King?"

Hearing the bandit leader's words, Xu Jie chuckled lightly.

Upon hearing this, the bandit leader hesitated for a moment, but eventually spoke.

"Back then... back then the Black Mountain Ghost King needed a batch of blood food, and we just happened to have a batch of people on hand, so..."

I see, upon hearing the bandit leader's words, Xu Jie's expression remained unchanged.

"Hmm, thank you, you may go on your way."

"You.............."

Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Jie directly slew this bandit leader with a single sword.

As a human cultivator, colluding with evil creatures naturally leaves no room for mercy; even if spared, they would remain a disaster.

After dealing with this band of bandits, Xu Jie turned to Zhao Zhengping and smiled.

"Senior Brother, what do you think?"

"The Black Mountain Ghost King hasn't interfered in the affairs of the Heavenly Feather Dynasty, so I don't know if it counts as sect points; also, we probably aren't a match for it."

A Ghost King is equivalent to a Human Race cultivator at the Shèngjìng realm, while Zhao Zhengping and I, though our cultivation has surged, are merely at the Tianren realm at best.

We are still some distance from the Shèngjìng.

To rashly clash with a Ghost King would be extremely dangerous; Zhao Zhengping harbors some hesitation.

Upon hearing this, Xu Jie laughed.

"Then we simply won't provoke the Black Mountain Ghost King—we'll slay its underlings, those evil creatures."

"As for the sect points issue, does the sect trust us, or does it trust those evil creatures?"

"It's true the Black Mountain Ghost King hasn't meddled in the Heavenly Feather Dynasty's affairs, but does that matter? I say if you intervene, you've intervened."

Upon hearing Xu Jie's words, Zhao Zhengping pondered for a moment, then nodded.

"In that case, we can give it a try."

"Sect points are still insufficient; right now this huge piece of fat meat is right before our lips, and Zhao Zhengping can't restrain his excitement."

As for the other junior brothers, hearing that sect points are up for grabs, they certainly won't refuse.

Thus, after some discussion, Zhao Zhengping, Xu Jie, and the group of junior disciples set their sights on heading to the Earth Flame Dynasty.

Meanwhile, within the Earth Flame Dynasty's territory, in the Black Mountain range, a sinister ghost palace towers deep in the valley.

Originally pitch-black, the ghost palace now has many red silk ribbons added as decoration.

It looks just like a wedding.

Indeed, in a few days it will be the day the Black Mountain Ghost King weds.

As for the bride, she is said to be the daughter of a prefect from the Earth Flame Dynasty.

A Ghost King marrying a human woman is rare, yet the Black Mountain Ghost King seems delighted by this.

The human woman the Ghost King intends to marry is either eighty or over a hundred years old; however, these human women usually end up abused to death, and hardly survive a month.

This is the brutality of evil creatures.

Yet facing the mighty Black Mountain Ghost King, the surrounding people simply lack the power to resist.

Even the prefect representing the court, before the Black Mountain Ghost King, bows and scrapes like a mere dog.

No one has failed to consider asking the court to send troops to exterminate the Black Mountain Ghost King.

But successive prefects have repeatedly submitted memorials to the court, all of which vanished like stones sunk in the sea, receiving no response at all.

The court treats the Black Mountain Ghost King with indifference, caring nothing for the lives of the surrounding populace.

Consequently, the Black Mountain Ghost King grows ever more arrogant; those who can flee have already done so, while those who cannot can only scrape by.

Even now, the prefect's daughter cannot escape the clutches of the Black Mountain Ghost King.

Using the lives of countless commoners as leverage, the prefect has no choice but to ultimately sacrifice his own daughter.

At this moment, Haoyang Prefecture City is also decked out in red.

Just like the Black Mountain Ghost Palace, it is adorned with a festive, joyous atmosphere.

However, upon entering the city, you will see that although red silk drapes are visible everywhere,

the faces of the coming and going people show not a trace of a smile; on the contrary, each wears a frown of sorrow, overwhelmed with grief.

This ought to be a joyous occasion—the prefect's daughter is about to marry—yet the whole city lacks any delight, naturally because the groom is none other than the notorious Black Mountain Ghost King.

Everyone knows that once the prefect's daughter marries him, her fate is sealed.

Surviving even a month would be considered fortunate.

After several days of travel, Zhao Zhengping, Xu Jie and the group finally arrived at Haoyang Prefecture City.

Having removed the Dao Yi Shengdi robes, Zhao Zhengping, Xu Jie and the group now looked like a band of wandering cultivators who had merely happened to pass through.

As they traveled, gazing upon the lifeless Haoyang Prefecture City, a disciple curiously remarked.

"The city's scale is not small; one can tell it used to be a major city, but unfortunately everywhere are ruined walls and broken fortifications, and the shops on the streets—hardly any are open."

The entire Haoyang Prefecture City exudes an atmosphere of deathly stillness.

Moreover, the people coming and going are all sallow and thin.

Moreover, as they traveled, Xu Jie and the others found that, up to now, they had not encountered a single cultivator in the city.

The people coming and going are almost all ordinary folk lacking any cultivation.

This is strange, for in Zhongzhou, not to say everyone has Xiūliàn talent, but thanks to the exceptionally favorable environment, at least over half of those who set foot on the path of cultivation do so.

Of course, many more of them are still at the Body Refining realm, after all, lacking talent and sufficient resources, breaking through the Body Refining realm is too difficult.

But in Haoyang Prefecture City, not even a single Body Refining cultivator can be seen—this is truly strange.

Moreover, there are red silk decorations all around—whose family is getting married? What a grand affair.

After much difficulty, they found an open inn; although it is very dilapidated, this is, up to now, the only open inn that everyone has seen.