Chapter 222: A Bowl at the Start

The evil spirit wore a smile on its face; it spread open its palm, and Lady Fu Shuanghui's fishing-net craft lay quietly within it.

Lady Fu Shuanghui flew into a rage: "You said you would not interfere in our matter!"

"This thing no longer has any influence on the outcome of your contest."

The answer from that thing actually held a certain logic!

The function of the fishing-net craft was to first entangle the flood-dragon, preventing it from escaping immediately.

It was to buy time for the Realgar Outer Pill.

Now that the Realgar mist had already softened the flood-dragon with medicine, it could not run away at all.

This craft was naturally dispensable.

Lady Fu Shuanghui gritted her teeth, snatched seven short halberds and fastened them to her waist, then pointed a long halberd in one hand and the Dragon-Slaying Sword in the other at the evil spirit: "Leave at once!"

Until now, Lady Fu Shuanghui had not realized that she had been treating the evil spirit far too well, not even uttering a single word of "Get lost."

"Very well." That thing took back the fishing-net craft, turned around, and left.

Lady Fu Shuanghui breathed a sigh of relief, turned, and glanced in the direction of Tian Da Wang.

He had already been captured and brought before the Tiger-Head Guillotine, about to be pressed beneath the blade.

Lady Fu Shuanghui gripped the Dragon-Slaying Sword and immediately charged into the Realgar mist.

But suddenly, her vision blurred, and that evil spirit had reappeared right before her!

Lady Fu Shuanghui flew into a rage: "Evil spirits are indeed not trustworthy!"

She raised her long halberd, not yet having thrust it out, when she saw that evil spirit produce a dirty, broken bowl and begin to sing:

"Bamboo clappers strike as I move forward, arriving at the bustling market entrance.

I see a great lord and ask his well-being; may he have fortune, longevity, and treasure.

Today I do not ask for treasure; give me a steamed bun to fill my belly..."

Lady Fu Shuanghui thrust her halberd forward: "Get out of the way—!"

The ghost flames on either side of that thing's snake tail swirled, and it skillfully dodged aside.

Then it continued singing, saying as it sang: "My lord possesses ten thousand rolls of wealth and overwhelming power; bestow a small gift at random, and the beggar will leave immediately."

Xu Yuan did not know what he could beg for.

Although the Begging Bowl had a compulsory nature, what was obtained was random.

Lady Fu Shuanghui did not want to give anything, yet she discovered that an object flew uncontrollably into the other's bowl!

Wei Huchen exclaimed from the side: "What is going on?!"

The Tiger-Head Guillotine flew up, and Liang Yan was lifted into mid-air.

Liang Yan saw the Tiger-Head Guillotine falling toward that broken bowl, and during this process, it gradually shrank and grew faster and faster!

Terrified, he quickly let go.

In just this short while, when he looked at his own hands again, they had already shrunk to half their size!

He was five and a half feet tall, yet his hands were the size of a child's!

It looked incredibly ridiculous and bizarre.

Liang Yan could not laugh at all; instead, he felt boundless terror.

Fortunately, he noticed his hands were slowly returning to normal, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking again at the Tiger-Head Guillotine, it had shrunk to the size of a steamed bun and clattered into the bowl!

Xu Yuan was overjoyed!

He never expected that a casual beg would actually seize the Shanhe Office's Tiger-Head Guillotine!

This was too critical.

With the Tiger-Head Guillotine, Tian Da Wang would always be suppressed, and might even be beheaded directly.

But the Tiger-Head Guillotine was extremely precious; how could it possibly be begged for?

Was it just luck? That was probably not so simple.

Xu Yuan guessed it was because he was a Fate Cultivator.

"Fate" was priceless.

An ordinary beggar on the street, after laboriously singing an entire piece of Lotus Flower, could only beg for half a steamed bun.

But if a noble from the Northern Capital spoke a single word, people would actively offer ten thousand rolls of wealth.

Xu Yuan stored both the Begging Bowl and the Tiger-Head Guillotine.

Inside the bowl, the Tiger-Head Guillotine was the size of half a steamed bun.

This craft was truly wonderful!

Xu Yuan praised it in his heart; no wonder the General Office wanted to embezzle it.

My Great Ming Taizu, in the past, also used a single bowl to beg for this empire.

This profession indeed has a bright future!

Lady Fu Shuanghui's eyes nearly burst from their sockets; just now, she had truly been blinded by lard, how could she have thought this evil spirit was like her own kind!

She still harbored a bit of goodwill and trust!

"This official will kill you!" Lady Fu Shuanghui shrieked, thrusting her long halberd and the Dragon-Slaying Sword out fiercely together!

The Tiger-Head Guillotine suddenly flew away; Tian Da Wang suddenly felt his entire body relax and collapsed with a thud onto the ground.

He had been exerting all his strength to resist the immense capturing power of the Tiger-Head Guillotine.

His two feet rubbed two deep tracks into the ground, yet he was still inevitably captured and dragged beneath the guillotine blade!

The arrangements and preparations he made using those items on the official boat had not played a critical role; all of them were countered by the opponent.

He had already been dragged beneath the blade, and the guillotine was raised high—

Tian Da Wang had struggled against the so-called "fate" for two hundred years, all for the sake of the flood dragon.

Even at this very moment, he still felt extremely unwilling to accept it.

But... was it truly despair?

He had no friends; he and the flood dragon were each other's most trusted companions in this mortal world.

No one would come to save them.

Yet suddenly, that guillotine blade flew up!

The immense power that had been restraining him also vanished without a trace!

Tian Da Wang fell in the most uncouth manner, face-first into the dirt...

Moreover, he was even more bewildered than Wei Huchen.

What on earth had happened?

He had been exerting his full strength to resist the Tiger-Head Guillotine; he had not spared a single bit of his attention for the transaction between Xu Yuan and Lady Fu Shuanghui.

Now he raised his head, only to see Lady Fu Shuanghui wielding a halberd and the Dragon-Slaying Sword, charging fiercely at a malevolent spirit—

This malevolent spirit looked strangely familiar to Tian Da Wang.

It was wreathed in swirling yin energy, and beneath that yin energy grew the white fur of a thousand-year-old corpse.

Its five fingers had transformed into claws, with nails five inches long, black and razor-sharp!

Sharp, jagged spines had grown on certain joints of its body and along the spine on its back.

Tian Da Wang was confused: I do not recall meeting a kinsman like this in the mountains?

Why would it suddenly appear to save me?

Because of that faint sense of kinship in his heart, Tian Da Wang instinctively guessed that the creature had come to rescue him.

But then he immediately rejected the thought: Do not be careless!

If the people of Shanhe wanted to devour the flood dragon, there might well be other malevolent spirits harboring the same intention.

This... kinsman might also be after the flood dragon.

But then why did it not wait until Shanhe had executed me before making its move?

Various thoughts flashed through Tian Da Wang's mind; he lay on the ground, having wasted no time at all. Like a toad, he pushed down with all four limbs, launching his body into the air, his eyes turning pitch black and deep...

Wei Huchen, upon meeting the gaze of those eyes, felt a surge of fear rise from the depths of his soul and instinctively took a step back.

Tian Da Wang opened his mouth and spat out dozens of yin soldiers.

These yin soldiers were not of high caliber, all merely of the eighth rank; with Lady Fu Shuanghui presiding nearby just now, summoning them would have been pointless.

The three-zhang Great Ghost and the Yin Python each led a squad, attacking Wei Huchen from the front and rear.

Tian Da Wang himself went to kill Liang Yan!

As the halberd and the Dragon-Slaying Sword in Lady Fu Shuanghui's hands both thrust toward Xu Yuan, a thought suddenly occurred to her: This set of long and short halberds was bought from that malevolent spirit.

Could it not have been tampered with by the malevolent spirit in secret?

So Lady Fu Shuanghui withdrew the halberd, slammed it forcefully into the ground, and held only the Dragon-Slaying Sword. She unleashed a set of exquisite sword techniques passed down in her family; the sword light flowed like liquid mercury poured upon the earth, continuous and unceasing, as she attacked Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan drew out the sword case, aimed it at the Dragon-Slaying Sword in Lady Fu Shuanghui's hand, and shouted: "Retrieve!"

Lady Fu Shuanghui felt her hand go suddenly empty; she stared in stunned silence as her Dragon-Slaying Sword flew into the sword case held by the malevolent spirit!

(End of this chapter)