Chapter 226

"Little Tian," the jiao spoke again, "go back and take a look."

Tian Da Wang knew the jiao had already made its decision.

He let out a long sigh to the sky, stomped his foot in anger, and turned to leave—when suddenly a voice came from inside the carriage: "Your subordinate is a Wen Xiu, wearing a painted skin, pretending to be a villager, hiding among the villagers, right?"

Tian Da Wang froze in place, his eyes filled with anxious hope as he stared at the carriage.

Could this man who brought miracles save him and the jiao once more…?

Yet he dared not hope too much, afraid of falling into utter despair.

Fu Shuanghui blurted out unconsciously: "How do you know…?"

Xu Yuan inside the carriage swallowed the last bit of realgar mist bait, then opened the door and stepped out: "Because I already killed that man."

As he spoke, Xu Yuan removed his clay mask.

The moment Fu Shuanghui saw Xu Yuan, her vertical pupils dilated wildly, her voice trembling: "Y-you-you! Xu Yuan! How are you still alive!"

"How can you still be alive, always ruining my plans! You should have died long ago!"

She leapt up, pointing at the jiao: "You two colluded!"

"The Quhui Si colluded with evil spirits!"

"You all deserve to die—Quhui Si's crimes are beyond redemption!"

Deep inside Fu Shuanghui, a terrible premonition stirred.

That bastard Xu Yuan wouldn't have given me his inner elixir for no reason—this inner elixir must be flawed!

Xu Yuan sneered: "On this earth, pigs only mock crows for being black, never looking at themselves."

Fu Shuanghui was shattered by these words: "Who are you calling a pig? I'll kill you—"

Xu Yuan spurred his fire wheel and dodged behind the jiao.

Then he patted its massive body: "Can you move? If you can, deal with this woman. If I teamed up with Tian Da Wang, it'd take more effort."

Xu Yuan never wanted to kill Fu Shuanghui himself.

He feared the Shanhe Si and the Fu clan might have special means to trace the killer.

Now he wanted it even less.

What if, after killing Fu Shuanghui… the inner elixir exploded…

Xu Yuan didn't want to become the first Dan Xiu in the history of the Great Ming to be injured by his own inner elixir!

But if the jiao swallowed Fu Shuanghui, its Void Swallowing Technique creates an independent void.

Just that this void is inside the jiao's belly.

An explosion within "Void Swallowing" won't harm anyone.

The jiao… can withstand it.

The jiao grumbled: "I don't want to kill…"

Xu Yuan raised his foot to kick it.

At the last moment, he stopped and retracted his foot.

Whatever, this thing is as stupid as Zhou Leizi sometimes.

Xu Yuan spread his hands: "She wanted to eat you. You decide."

The jiao opened its mouth—

Fu Shuanghui screamed: "Wait!"

But Xu Yuan didn't want to hear another word from her: "Do it!"

The jiao decided to obey Xu Yuan.

The Void Swallowing Technique activated; Fu Shuanghui, in her dying struggle, tried to activate the Puppet of Drama.

But the Haikou Toad cast one glance.

Moreover, Xu Yuan directly flung the Beast Sinew Rope, wrapping around the Puppet of Drama above her head and yanking it into his hand.

Fu Shuanghui vanished on the spot.

Tian Da Wang secretly gave Xu Yuan a thumbs-up.

This man understood his nature.

Why waste words with this woman? A curse that poisons ten thousand years deserves a swift kill!

Cut the grass, root and all!

Tian Da Wang picked up a short halberd from the ground and walked to the jiao: "I'll do it."

Xu Yuan glanced at him sideways: "I advise you not to do that."

Tian Da Wang laughed heartily: "I don't care about retaliation from Shanhe Si or the Fu clan."

Xu Yuan sighed: "Will you listen to advice?"

Tian Da Wang looked at the jiao, sighed: "Fine, I'll do it."

The jiao opened its mouth; after a moment inside, it suddenly belched, then gave Xu Yuan a slow, weary look.

Immediately after, it squirmed uncomfortably.

Puff—

From its rear end, an uncontrollable puff of yellow smoke erupted…

The jiao opened its mouth again; Tian Da Wang emerged, face blackened by smoke and soot, grumbling: "You… that's what you meant."

Xu Yuan spread his hands.

Your body is tough—you won't be killed by the explosion.

Now it seems… the jiao even spared you a little, and you're unharmed. Good enough.

The former Lady of the Shanhe Si's Zhancheng Office, her grand dream of becoming a dragon, ended up as nothing but an empty illusion.

Xu Yuan still had many questions: "You're the little boy from back then?"

Tian Da Wang nodded: "I'm Tian Jing. After the great flood receded, I found the jiao's corpse and sought to revive it, to repay its lifesaving grace."

The jiao laughed and added: "Back then, a little boy swore to me he would bring me back to life. I thought it amusing—but I never imagined that for two full centuries, he remained steadfast, and now he's nearly succeeded."

Tian Jing said: "Actually, it hasn't been two hundred years. For the first seventy-eight years, I trained under your guidance and made all kinds of preparations."

I married, had children, watched my great-grandchildren start families—only after my Tian lineage thrived and had heirs did I transform into a jiangshi and truly begin this task."

Tian Jing emphasized to Xu Yuan: "Becoming a jiangshi was my own choice, with no connection whatsoever to the jiao. If the Quhui Si's my lord wishes to take me back..."

Xu Yuan interrupted him: "I'm Xu Yuan."

"My lord Xu."

Xu Yuan had no intention of taking him back: "Why send me to Qingxia Temple? Why not Tian Jing?"

The jiao shook its head: "Only someone uninvolved in this matter may walk that path and enter Qingxia Temple."

Xu Yuan understood: Those who knew the truth would anticipate the outcome; the obsession's evil spirit would not choose him as a vessel.

Tian Jing: "Reviving a single person is already immensely difficult, let alone a jiao. Only three years ago did we finally complete all preparations."

But we still needed rare materials. Desperate, I controlled the yin serpent to stir up massive waves on the canal and seized several official ships—yet I never expected Shanhe Si would take notice."

Xu Yuan nodded and asked: "What about the giant snake bones buried in the village?"

Tian Jing: "Those were my own snakes. When they reached a certain age, I killed them for their blood, then periodically used the snake blood to circulate through the jiao's body, preserving its vitality."

But leaving those bones in Xiao Yu Shan risked them becoming evil spirits, so I transported them back to the village and buried them underground."

Too many bones buried elsewhere would have been discovered—and that would have been trouble.

Tian Jing added further: "After that incident, we never saw that old Daoist Priest again."

He never returned to retrieve the sword beneath the bridge."

I pulled out that sword and buried it beneath the village's old elm tree."

Perhaps because the sword was stained with the jiao's blood, the elm tree began behaving strangely. So I asked the jiao for a method and summoned a bolt of lightning to strike it."

Unexpectedly, the elm didn't die—but after being struck by lightning, its strangeness vanished."

Its roots, however, had wrapped around the sword and nearly grown into the well."

That was the village's only drinking well. Fortunately, I acted just in time—otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable."

Xu Yuan said: "The Dragon-Slaying Sword cannot be given to you..."

Both man and jiao shook their heads. Tian Jing said: "We cannot wield that sword. When I summoned lightning to strike the elm, I had already become a jiangshi. I tried digging it up—but I couldn't even approach the thing."

Xu Yuan nodded and asked: "What are your plans now?"

Tian Jing was astonished: "My lord won't take us in?"

(End of Chapter)