Chapter 27: Escape

The two men shrank back trembling, their shadows surging like black viscous water; two yin soldiers with clawed hands and bloodshot eyes suddenly burst forth, leaping onto their backs!

“Aaaah—”

The two screamed and instantly transformed into horrific monsters!

Their bodies twisted rapidly, becoming neither human nor demon, drooling foul-smelling saliva, eyes blazing red, howling and roaring as the maid’s servants lunged at Xu Yuan.

The maid pulled the Holy Mother and whispered, “Let’s go quickly!”

A living person fused with a yin soldier—neither survives, neither remains effective. The maid sacrificed her two yin soldiers to buy time for herself and the Holy Mother to escape!

But another yellow shadow splashed out of the pond.

Her fur was patchy and bald in places; she crouched low, glaring at the Holy Mother with hatred.

The maid gritted her teeth and stepped forward: “Holy Mother, you go first…”

The Holy Mother spoke: “I paid the toll.”

The fox suddenly froze, then spoke in human voice: “The law of trade… it was that crossbow bolt!”

The crossbow bolt was costly; my sister and I carried it in our mouths—that was the deal.

The fox reluctantly moved aside, clearing the path.

“This woman isn’t just a Craft Cultivator—she’s a Law Cultivator!” the fox muttered bitterly: “Damn it, she’s even craftier than foxes—we barely blinked and fell right into her trap!”

She could have forcibly broken the trade rules, but that would only worsen her injuries—no gain, only loss.

The Holy Mother and the maid retreated swiftly, vanishing into the mountains in a few flashes.

The fox glared after them, then turned to help Xu Yuan kill the two monsters.

Xu Yuan glanced coldly at the two foxes: “I don’t need your help.”

Both foxes were covered in wounds.

Especially when they saw their den—the plum tree—reduced to a bare, charred trunk—they huddled together, whimpering and crying.

Xu Yuan began looting the corpses; the two foxes instantly stopped crying and sprang up to block him: “Don’t touch!”

“They’re ours!”

In Xu Yuan’s palm, a golden pill spun lazily, as if he were idly playing with it.

“I killed all of them—how much did you contribute? Why should you take the lion’s share?” Xu Yuan sneered: “I came to partner with you, thinking you’d carved out territory in Ghost Witch Mountain—you must have some skill. Turns out you’re nothing but pretty faces and tricks.”

“This… ” The two foxes’ four little eyes darted frantically, searching for an excuse: “If we hadn’t held off those two women, how could you have killed so many blood offerings alone?”

Xu Yuan snorted: “Even if you’re right, it should be half each. Fine—keep all the blood offerings. I’ll take only what’s on their bodies.”

The two foxes pressed their heads together beneath the old plum tree, hunched their backs, and conferred.

Then the elder stepped forward, cleared her throat with a tiny paw, and feigned magnanimity: “Alright, for our first partnership, we sisters will take the loss. It’s settled.”

Xu Yuan swiftly stripped the corpses, not bothering to examine anything: “I’m chasing those two women. Are you coming? I’ll let you eat them both.”

The sisters waved their paws frantically: “No, no…”

Xu Yuan urged: “They’re both cultivators—rare, prime blood offerings…”

The sisters plunged into the pond with a splash, ignoring Xu Yuan’s enticement entirely.

Xu Yuan shook his head, scolding: “Can’t seize an opportunity!” Then he strode off after the direction the Holy Mother and maid had fled.

In Plum Pond, water splashed as two graceful figures swam and played: “Next time there’s a job like this, don’t come to us again.”

Beneath the ground beside the pond, something burrowed and writhed; ancient tree roots erupted from the earth, coiling around the corpses and dragging them into the water.

Chewing sounds began.

Moments later, the two yellow foxes, each clutching a gleaming white thigh bone in their jaws, chased and tumbled through the woods near the pond, laughing joyfully.

Strange laughter echoed through the mountains and streams.

…

With the aid of the “Soaring Cloud” and “Riding Wind” calligraphy scrolls, Xu Yuan strode swiftly beyond the pond’s range—then broke into a cold sweat, his face darkening, collapsing against a rocky cliff.

After catching his breath and treating himself with pills, he finally regained his composure.

The wounds left by the lantern ghost’s claws had worsened.

The ghostly energy corroded his flesh; a four-finger-wide area around the wound had lost all sensation.

Xu Yuan had been forcing himself to hold up—even the “golden pill” he’d been idly spinning in his palm was a fake, made from pills.

There had been only one golden pill, and it had shattered during his final clash with the Pill Cultivator.

But Xu Yuan was certain: if he showed even a hint of weakness, those two foxes would pounce without hesitation and turn him into another blood offering!

Even at the end, Xu Yuan had enthusiastically invited them to keep chasing the Holy Mother—only then had the foxes believed he wasn’t seriously injured.

Xu Yuan laid out everything he’d looted from the corpses.

First was the Pill Cultivator’s golden pill—this one had been refined to the point of rudimentary shaping, extremely valuable.

Xu Yuan unhesitatingly devoured it, then refined it with his inner fire.

There were also seven or eight kinds of pills: healing, antidotes, yang-enhancing, mind-disrupting… all made to swindle money.

If you believed the Pill Cultivator’s pills were truly miraculous, then… good—exactly what the Pill Cultivator wanted you to think.

But Xu Yuan also found a small gourd, containing only a few pills left.

Xu Yuan uncorked it and sniffed—immediately understood: this was the vile pill that turned humans into dog xiao!

The stench radiating from those dog xiao matched this pill exactly.

Xu Yuan tucked it away—might be useful later.

The Pill Cultivator’s satchel was unusual, divided into many small pouches, each filled with metals.

Each piece was small, but there were twenty-seven kinds.

Xu Yuan recognized only four or five.

This satchel revealed the Pill Cultivator’s true cultivation method: collecting various metals to feed and strengthen their golden pill.

The golden pill and inner fire were typically the Pill Cultivator’s two strongest combat tools.

Strengthening their own internal elixir, however, was difficult.

Xu Yuan was an oddity.

Xu Yuan devoured the rest, refining them into a second golden pill.

He planned to nurture the Pill Cultivator’s golden pill carefully; this second one was expendable—he’d need to prepare several such expendables in the future.

No need for them to be large—just the size of a dragon’s eye, like before.

From the Literary Cultivator, he found several calligraphy scrolls, but this Literary Cultivator was far weaker than Old Qiao.

His scrolls could only control ordinary people—useless to Xu Yuan now.

(End of Chapter)