Chapter 427

Within five hundred li in every direction, all the rescued villagers began to prostrate themselves in worship.

And Fang Yu continued onward.

His trip to the Northern Domain this time was not for some Origin, or faith power—his main objective was still Zishan.

Within Zishan lay one of the Nine Secrets, and that was the reason he had come to the Northern Domain.

So Fang Yu, while circulating his divine sense, headed in the direction of Zishan.

After traveling for some time, he came upon more people. Apart from one old man, the rest were all young and able-bodied, gathered around a stone mountain to watch.

"Sigh, life these days is getting harder and harder. We barely scraped together ten jin of Origin to hand over, and now that Wang Da-beard wants us to hand over another five jin. If we can't pay, he'll wipe out every man, woman, and child in our village."

"There's nothing we can do. The strongest person in our stockade is only at the Life Spring Realm—how could we fight those bandits?"

"Zhang Kuang, how about this stone mountain? Is there any Origin here at all?"

A very simple and honest-looking young man asked.

"There is definitely Origin inside this stone mountain, and it's a rich vein at that. But the mountain is over a hundred zhang tall, and our strength is too weak—we can't easily mine it."

The white-haired Zhang Kuang sighed.

Just as his words fell, that hundred-zhang tall mountain rose of its own accord, lifting into the void.

Then the entire stone mountain began to soften, as if it had become a mountain of mud.

Countless impurities flew out, leaving only the most essential substance behind.

There was indeed Origin here—three jin of it. For Fang Yu it was nothing much, but in the eyes of ordinary folk of the Northern Domain, it was a rich vein.

"Your eye is quite sharp—there is indeed Origin here."

Someone flew in from the void—it was Fang Yu, Ye Fan, and Pang Bo.

His gaze settled on the old man before him. This old man was called Zhang Kuang, and seemed to be a descendant of the Zhang family's Origin Heavenly Master.

Once they got close to the Zhang family village, Zishan would not be far off either.

Fang Yu did not take those three jin of Origin. He paused in the void, then descended, landing before that "Zhang Kuang."

"Immortal, this old man offers his greetings."

Seeing this, Zhang Kuang seemed somewhat incredulous. He stared at the three cultivators who had suddenly appeared, a look of shock spreading across his face.

"Please, Immortal, save us—we truly have no way out."

Behind the old man, a young man of seventeen or eighteen was the quickest-witted. Recalling how that mountain had simply flown up moments ago, how all the earth and rock had turned to mud and vanished, leaving only the Origin behind, he dropped to his knees in a flash, crying out for help.

Seeing him, the others also knelt.

Zhang Kuang knelt as well, his white-haired head touching the ground, and sighed: "We beg the Immortals to save our lives—we truly have no way out. Those brutes have threatened that if we don't scrape together five jin of Origin, they'll kill every man in our village and drag off the women."

"Please rise. Since I have come, there will be order upon this land."

Fang Yu spoke.

"Don't worry, old man. Since we've seen it, we won't stand by and do nothing. But who exactly are these people?"

Ye Fan asked.

"They're a band of bandits—wicked through and through, without even the backbone of true great thieves. They specialize in bullying the weak."

"Bandits like these are truly detestable."

……

The group talked over one another, laying out the whole story from beginning to end.

Not long ago, a band of bandits had arrived. They had no fixed base, roaming about to seize Origin wherever they went. Any resistance was met with immediate killing, and any beautiful women in the villages fell prey to their cruelty—wicked through and through.

"It's far too chaotic here. We can barely survive. Even if we can cultivate, we can't defeat them—we can only be bullied by them at every turn."

Zhang Kuang was deeply worried.

"Damn it, these bandits are truly rotten. If old Pang ran into them, I'd kill every one I saw—see one, kill one; see two, kill a pair."

Pang Bo listened, seething with indignation. He was the sort who loved to right wrongs, and hearing of such things in the Northern Domain, he was truly furious.

"Sigh, here in the Northern Domain, one batch of bandits leaves and another arrives—it never ends. You can't kill them all. Unless you grow strong in cultivation, but those bandits won't just sit and watch us get stronger. Behind them, they even have the backing of Zhengdaomen Sect."

Zhang Kuang was utterly helpless.

There were indeed some Zhengdaomen Sect in the Northern Domain, but none of them would bother to deal with those bandits. In fact, several of the bandit bands were secretly kept by these sects, doing their dirty work for them.

"It seems that from now on in the Northern Domain, one could just close one's eyes and kill—killing ten wouldn't accidentally kill a single innocent."

Fang Yu spoke lightly, following Zhang Kuang back toward the Zhang family village.

As he moved forward, bolts of lightning struck down across five hundred li in every direction, slaying bandit after bandit.

Wherever he passed, all living beings prostrated themselves in worship.