Chapter 160

Xu Yuan didn't recognize the helmsman, but he recognized Wu Jinghan and that arrow.

"So it was you two behind this," Xu Yuan snorted, opening the carriage and dumping out everyone inside.

In that chaotic void, Xu Yuan had been able to drag the carriage along.

After emerging, he found dozens of people inside—far too many for him to carry.

Then, Xu Yuan slung the carriage onto his shoulder and strode toward the two men.

The helmsman had already swallowed the pill, his face dark and terrifying.

Only by killing Xu Yuan might they still grasp a sliver of hope!

Neither believed Xu Yuan could have broken out of the temple unscathed.

This brat must be utterly spent.

They absolutely must not miss this golden opportunity!

Wu Jinghan pasted the plaster on the helmsman, then stood and spread his five fingers, five tiny sword pellets hovering beneath each fingertip.

Though small, they were exceptionally dense and sharp.

Moreover, Wu Jinghan possessed a specialized combined strike technique for sword pellets, convinced it was peerless—he feared no Dan cultivator in sword pellet combat.

"When I was at the Zhancheng Office, the Quhui Bureau crushed me—I dared not fight back."

"Now, you have no protection!"

"May the Great Saint Pingtian protect me and let me repay this great humiliation upon you!"

The helmsman gritted her teeth against the agony and lurched toward Xu Yuan.

Along the way, she began to swell, thick black fur bursting from beneath her skin…

Xu Yuan set the carriage down; on its surface, the Haikou Toad shadow puppet suddenly stood upright.

The puppet's two eyeballs stared at them.

The helmsman's transformation into a black bear halted halfway—frozen in place!

Wu Jinghan's hand had already lifted, the five tiny golden pellets beginning to elongate into slender swords.

Then they too froze.

Wu Jinghan's hand remained half-raised, angled diagonally toward the ground.

The five golden pellets continued their transformation into slender swords.

But Xu Yuan gave them no chance.

The divine crossbow beneath the carriage fired in rapid succession!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three arrows struck Wu Jinghan's chest and face—he died instantly.

The five sword pellets clattered to the ground.

The remaining bolts rained down on the helmsman.

She was more skilled; her transformation had progressed halfway and granted her a fraction of the black bear's tenacious vitality—she still lived.

Her eyes blazed with murderous intent, about to break free from the Haikou Toad's sinister art.

Xu Yuan snorted, stepped forward, raised the Yin-Yang Guillotine high above his head, and brought it down with full force.

Crack!

A half-human, half-bear head rolled to the ground; blood spurted nine feet from the neck, staining a vast patch of yellow earth red!

At last, the effect of the dog-skin plaster wore off.

Xu Yuan's body went limp; he collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily.

Dafu waddled over, head held high, standing beside his food cart.

A gust of mountain wind swept through, carrying away the stench of blood from the helmsman and Wu Jinghan.

After only a brief rest, strange, muffled sounds arose from the ditches and wild grass around him.

Even in broad daylight, bloodthirsty evil entities crept toward him!

Xu Yuan slapped his Quhui Bureau deputy inspector badge onto the carriage with a sharp slap.

The evil spirits scattered like birds and beasts.

To these low-level evil entities, the Quhui Bureau's golden emblem carried immense intimidation.

The temple had been utterly burned to ashes, leaving only a clay mask.

Just like the one Xu Yuan had seen earlier with the Yin-Yang Guillotine—the one chained behind those horned bones.

Likewise devoid of facial features, only depressions marking where eyes, nose, and mouth should be.

But… perhaps because of the fire, the mask had shrunk to the size of a copper coin.

And it had transformed from clay to pottery.

Xu Yuan had no idea what this thing was.

But Xu Yuan was bold—his "Nothing Forbidden" destiny shielded him from corruption; he reached out, picked it up, turned it over in his hands, then placed it inside the carriage.

I'll ask Elder Qu later.

If he doesn't know, I'll have to ask my stepmother.

Though he'd only been away from He Gong Alley for ten days or so, Xu Yuan already missed them.

Dozens of people lay sprawled crookedly nearby.

Xu Yuan was too exhausted to move a muscle.

With the dog-skin plaster's effect gone, his limbs felt weak and limp.

But seeing Fu Jingyu and Song Lu pinned beneath others, he sighed, shook his head, and went to drag them out.

Then Xu Yuan suddenly had another mischievous thought:

He placed the two of them overlapping each other.

It wasn't too excessive; he simply positioned Song Lu's head to rest exactly on Fu Jingyu's chest.

It looked as though Song Lu had collapsed into Young Master Fu's embrace.

"Heh heh heh..."

Now that he had taken action, Xu Yuan brought Shi Bading out as well, and the others truly did not wish to intervene.

Then Xu Yuan sat aside, took out dried rations, and ate voraciously to replenish his strength as quickly as possible.

After waiting for more than half a shichen, Shi Bading, who possessed the highest cultivation level, woke up first.

He maintained an extremely high state of alertness; the instant he opened his eyes, he sprang up with a carp-leap, his hand reaching for his waist as a soft sword shot out from his belt, moving dexterously in his grasp like a monstrous snake.

Shi Bading was also a Wu Xiu.

"Hmm?" He saw Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan sat on the ground, truly unwilling to move, and pointed at the corpses of the Helmsman and Wu Jinghan, saying, "It's over. It was all the work of the Pingtian Society."

Shi Bading's large face grew hot; he thought to himself that it was a good thing Inspector Xu was a direct subordinate of Lord Ma.

If Xie Qingman's people had rescued him, it would truly have forced him to slit his own throat on the spot.

Xu Yuan ate another two-liang piece of dried meat and gulped down a mouthful of water: "How did you fall into their trap?"

Shi Bading was filled with resentment: "This evil spirit is too difficult to deal with!"

Yesterday, Shi Bading, full of ambition, led two squads of elite troops to Shuangjiang Pass.

They actually arrived by noon.

Shi Bading knew this mission was important, so he inquired from many sources, clarified the situation, and estimated that he had a hundred percent certainty of handling it.

But with this delay, the sky was about to darken.

Shi Bading then ordered everyone to rest for the night, conserve their energy, and deal with that evil spirit early the next morning.

In the afternoon, the first messenger sent by the Helmsman arrived.

However, as Shi Bading was inquiring everywhere around Shuangjiang Pass, he ended up blocking this person outside the pass.

After Shi Bading and his men rested, this person hurriedly entered to report to Wu Jinghan.

Wu Jinghan had no time to leave and stayed another night.

Moreover, he did not put away the temple.

Who would have thought that early the next morning, Shi Bading would lead his men and charge straight over.

Shi Bading also did not expect that this temple was several times more powerful than what he had heard.

The two squads of elites, along with Shi Bading, were swallowed by the enemy in no time.

They were still considered lucky; this temple requires people to be standing on the ground to dissolve them.

But as soon as the temple swallowed them, Wu Jinghan retracted the temple and prepared to return to Zhan City.

With the Donation Body Temple carried on his back, he could only store the people inside, unable to dissolve and digest them.

On the way, he met the Helmsman's second messenger and immediately turned toward Qingyu Township.

The distance between Shuangjiang Pass and Qingyu Township was not far, so he only arrived a little later than the Helmsman.

This gave Xu Yuan the opportunity to save them.

If Shi Bading had not been cautious enough and had acted yesterday, he would have been swallowed by the temple; given a whole night, he would have long since been dissolved into soul fragments.

(End of this chapter)