Chapter 29: Burial Xianzhen

East of Burial Xianzhen, the two-hundred-zhang-wide Sui River falls here as if broken, forming a spectacular cliff waterfall, like a dragon with a broken head, hence the name "Dragon-Killing Mouth."

The Nine Li clan salvages coffins from other realms from the Blood Sea Coffin Dock, then must carry the coffins through two hundred li of the extremely perilous Spirit-Passing Mist Realm, before ascending the small path's stone steps to reach Dragon-Slaying Mouth. Only here can they board the already prepared massive armored warships to transport the coffins from other realms to the various cities of the tribes downstream.

After Shi Jiuzhai entered Burial Xianzhen, the gray fog cloud clusters covering the three of them dissipated.

"Bang! Bang!"

Li Youyi and Gao Huan fell to the ground.

……

"Respectfully welcome Master's dharma carriage!"

"Xing Wanxing," "Fang Tong," and "Yan Qingqing," three dharma-martial experts in the Earth Wolf King Army, stepped forward to greet Shi Jiuzhai.

The three of them led over a thousand soldiers, arriving at Burial Immortal Town one day earlier than Shi Jiuzhai, and had already slaughtered all two hundred or so clansmen of the Nine Li tribe who were responsible for receiving, dining, resupplying, and docking ships in the town, piling their corpses into a bloody small mountain in the center of the market town.

Xing Wanxing was Shi Jiuzhai's tenth disciple, and also one of his money bags. He was not tall, had a big belly, and smiled: "Everything that should be interrogated has been interrogated clearly. This time, the one who went to the Blood Sea to salvage coffins was the Cangli tribe, one of the Nine Li. It was led by Li Songlin, the number one expert of this sixty-year cycle of the Cangli tribe, and accompanied by Cangli, who is known as the number one talent of the Cangli tribe in the past thousand years."

"I only care about how much money we can make this time," Shi Jiuzhai said.

Xing Wanxing had already calculated clearly: "Li Songlin brought five thousand people, salvaging at least a thousand coffins. If all are seized, selling them for a million Gushing Spring coins is conservative."

"They say coffins from other realms are terrifyingly expensive, things that only great cultivators can afford. They are truly worth a fortune, with no capital and ten thousand profits," Shi Jiuzhai was in a great mood.

Xing Wanxing followed with a smile: "If there are particularly rare coffins from other realms among them, one can sell for a million Gushing Spring coins, and converted into silver money, it is one hundred million."

"Besides, in the Nine Li tribe, only the future patriarch is qualified to be named after the tribe. If we can capture Cangli, won't the Cangli tribe obediently offer another million Gushing Spring coins to redeem him?"

Shi Jiuzhai was in an even better mood, only feeling that although this trip was long and far, it was worth it!

Yan Qingqing was twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with a plump and graceful figure, her eyes containing waves and charm. She was a dog-like deformed human species, with furry ears and a fiery red tail hanging from her skirt.

She reminded him coquettishly: "Master, the main purpose of our trip is not for money."

"Who said it's not for money? This master is for money."

Hundreds of millions of silver, not to mention that Shi Jiuzhai was jealous and anxious, even if it were the masters of the ten-million-level sects like the Dragon Gate or Zuoqiu who dominated a prefecture, they would definitely look at it.

To support such a large army, how can it be done without food and pay?

……

After Li Youyi was thrown to the ground by Shi Jiuzhai, he immediately stood up and found that he and the other three had gone to a distance to discuss something secretly.

So, his eyes quickly scanned the surroundings, observing the environment.

The surroundings were full of sturdy men in brown monk's robes holding weapons, and there were also a small number of half-beast, half-human monsters with huge bodies, accounting for only one or two percent, each one fierce and evil.

But when looking at the two of them, they were either suspicious or in awe.

Li Youyi quickly had an idea, pretending to be arrogant and fierce, and beckoned to a sturdy man who looked timid: "That's right. It's you, come here!"

Although Gao Huan couldn't understand what Li Youyi was saying, he felt that his demeanor, behavior, and tone were too arrogant, and his heart was so nervous that it was about to jump out.

After the timid sturdy man walked over, he immediately smiled apologetically, his mood even more nervous than Gao Huan's.

Li Youyi pointed to Shi Jiuzhai in the distance with his thumb and asked: "Do you know who we are?"

"Know, know," the timid sturdy man said repeatedly.

Li Youyi said: "If you know, then say it?"

The timid sturdy man didn't know who he and Gao Huan were at all. Everyone was temporarily drawn from the Earth Wolf King Army, rushed a thousand miles, and arrived at Burial Xianzhen only yesterday.

The timid sturdy man was naturally not really timid, but afraid of Shi Jiuzhai behind these two, so he had avoided Li Youyi's eyes just now.

Could those brought back by the Nine-Zhai King with dharma clouds be ordinary people?

Knowing he couldn't afford to offend them, the timid sturdy man told the truth: "Everyone arrived only yesterday, and they cleaned and arranged for a whole night, and haven't had time to rest. Forgive this little one for being blind, I really don't know the identity of the adults. But being able to travel with the Nine-Zhai King, the adults must be extraordinary figures that we can only look up to."

Li Youyi secretly breathed a sigh of relief and patted the timid sturdy man's chest: "It's good that you know. We two are the personal attendants of the Nine-Zhai King. Is there anything to eat?"

"Yes, yes..."

The timid sturdy man hurriedly went to get it.

Li Youyi took Gao Huan and followed along.

He didn't want to be active under the nose of that Nine-Zhai King, otherwise, he would be exposed sooner or later.

Fortunately, Shi Jiuzhai was meeting a top-secret distinguished guest, discussing various arrangements for seizing the coffins from other realms, and had no time to pay attention to these two "little wolf cubs."

This top-secret distinguished guest, in a silver robe and white coat, wearing a black Buddha-head mask, could be seen from his heroic figure and delicate white hands holding a flute that he must be quite young.

But it was such a young man who, facing Shi Jiuzhai who was feared by everyone, carried his hands on his back, his eyes and attitude not arrogant, but not afraid at all.

He said: "The meaning of the sect master is not only to seize the coffins but also to kill everyone. Only by being bloody enough can we provoke chaos in Lizhou."

Shi Jiuzhai only wanted to make money, his brows furrowed: "You noble people of the ten-million-level sects are even more ruthless than us thieves. Before, you didn't say you wanted to kill everyone. This includes Li Songlin, the first expert of the Cangli tribe, and five thousand Li people..."

The Buddha-head masked guest laughed: "Why, don't dare? Afraid of provoking those old monsters of the Nine Li Mountain and Nine Li City?"

Shi Jiuzhai shook his head: "This king's meaning is that seizing coffins is the price of seizing coffins, and killing people is the price of killing people. You have to add money!"

……

Under the leadership of the timid sturdy man, Li Youyi and Gao Huan had a full meal in the simple fire camp of the Earth Wolf King Army, eating very satisfactorily.

All strength and mental fighting spirit were instantly restored.

Gao Huan was stuffing and packing wildly, preparing to run away, whispering: "Just passed by the center of the market town, it was a river of blood, corpses piled into a mountain, it scared me to death! This group of people is definitely not practicing Buddhism, we must slip away as soon as possible."

Li Youyi said: "The robes similar to monk's robes on them are all new, definitely recently made. It is precisely because they know that this kind of robe is only worn by their own people that the Nine-Zhai King would mistake us."

"If my guess is correct, the three people eaten by the Thousand-Headed Dragon Vine might really be three of the personnel sent out to scout."

"In addition, although they call themselves the Earth Wolf King Army, I see that their military discipline is loose, all have fierce energy, and their strength is uneven; they don't look like a proper army."

"Third, I observed on the road that the intersections of this abandoned market town are all blocked. It's not so easy for us to escape without anyone knowing. If we are discovered... by then, even the capital of borrowing the tiger's prestige will be gone."

Gao Huan exclaimed: "On the way here, my mind was full of food, I didn't think of so much."

"Not only that."

Li Youyi continued: "They are hiding in this market town, they must be targeting that funeral procession. Just now on the low slope of the hillside, I calculated their marching speed; it will take at least two hours to arrive here."

Gao Huan said: "I know! Two hours later, when they start fighting, it will be our chance to escape."

"That's right."

After thinking, Li Youyi said again: "But I still don't understand one thing now, they have so many people hiding in the market town, how can they hide? There must be experts in that funeral procession, and the perception of experts is extremely keen."

Shi Jiuzhai came to the corpse mountain in the center of the market town, formed a seal with both hands, and spat out a mouthful of gray fog dharma power, covering it. At the same time, a nearly transparent bead flew out of his body with the gray fog, hovering over the market town.

"Boom!"

Shi Jiuzhai's palm slammed into the ground.

Flame-like dharma power rushed into the ground, and in an instant, the ground within a radius of ten zhang burned, and the heat wave surged toward the streets of the market town.

The blood energy in the corpse mountain steamed up, like strands of red smoke, rushing toward the bead in mid-air.

After absorbing all the blood energy, semi-transparent scriptures shot out from the bead, and not long after, the entire Burial Xianzhen was shrouded in scriptures.

"Pass the order down, wait for half of the Cangli tribe's people to come up before acting, cut the funeral procession into two sections. Kill everyone, leave no one alive," Shi Jiuzhai was majestic and intimidating, his tone extremely cold.

The fire camp was not too far from the center of the market town. Li Youyi heard this order from Shi Jiuzhai, and his face became extremely ugly.

Only then did he know that the timid sturdy man was not timid at all, but clearly feared Shi Jiuzhai's cultivation and murderous nature, so he also feared the two of them who followed Shi Jiuzhai.

"Kill everyone, leave no one alive. How many people are they going to kill?"

After Gao Huan found out, he said dejectedly: "I suddenly feel that wanting to survive is equally cruel everywhere, either be a cow or horse worked to death, or only be a pig or sheep waiting to be slaughtered. Only by standing out can one truly live."

……

Two hours later.

The vanguard of the Cangli tribe's funeral procession had arrived below the Dragon-Killing Mouth waterfall.

The water roared, and the air was humid.

A barefoot girl as beautiful as a night fog elf walked at the very front of the procession, holding a copper ancient lamp emitting faint blue fluorescent light with five slender jade fingers. On her wrist, she wore nine silver bracelets.

Although she was barefoot, her skin was like jade, not afraid of the gravel on the ground.

Every step she took was light and silent, but she could cross more than a zhang, and there were blue fog light traces flowing under her feet.

She was the "Nether Lamp Guiding Envoy" Li Ling of the Cangli tribe's funeral procession, a descendant of the priest, who could find the road through the Dead Soul Fog Domain through the Nether light, thereby leading the clansmen to arrive and leave the Blood Sea Coffin Dock.

……

(Reader cameos already written: Qin Ke, Xing Wanxing, Fang Tong, Yan Qingqing)

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 30 =====