Chapter 101: Nighttime Battle

Puchi!

In the darkness, fresh blood splattered everywhere.

A bandit who had been firing arrows clutched his throat and collapsed to the ground, his legs kicking wildly, a rattling sound coming from his throat before he quickly went still.

Beside him, three other bandits who had been firing concealed arrows were already dead.

Li Yan didn't even glance at them. Carrying his blade, he lowered his body, his footsteps silent yet incredibly swift as he sprinted toward another area.

To the merchants and martial artists, the surroundings were pitch black; with the bandits hidden in the darkness and arrows flying everywhere, they felt trapped in an inescapable ambush.

But Li Yan was employing his supernatural ability, and the scene was clear at a glance.

There weren't actually many bandits—fewer than two hundred in total. Over fifty men were divided into ten small squads, five to a group, hidden in various sectors.

The merchant caravans were relatively scattered, and because they all had campfires burning, they were obvious targets, while the enemies remained hidden in the shadows, creating this situation.

Truth be told, there were quite a few martial artists blocked on the road.

The bandits couldn't take them in a head-on fight, so they could only use this tactic.

In just a short time, Li Yan had already slaughtered three squads.

It wasn't that he was being meddlesome; if he let the bandits continue their attack, most of the groups would collapse sooner or later. Once they broke and fled, the bandits lying in ambush would swarm them like a pack of wolves, and no one would fare well then.

But one thing also struck him as strange.

According to intelligence, there were at least seven or eight hundred bandits on the mountain, and they had already united, creating a massive momentum. Furthermore, their retreat route had been cut off; if that weren't the case, how could they be trapped here?

Yet now, fewer than two hundred had come...

Li Yan didn't have time to dwell on what had happened.

Right now, he needed to break the stalemate as quickly as possible.

Soon, he crept behind another squad.

Sou! Sou!

Flying knives whistled through the air, and two bandits immediately clutched their throats and fell.

"Watch out for hidden weapons!"

The remaining three bandits scrambled to dodge.

However, facing Li Yan, who was also in the darkness, they had no advantage. They only heard the sound of wind, screams, and blades biting into flesh beside their ears before their vision went black and their lives were extinguished.

With four consecutive squads wiped out, the hidden arrows suddenly became sparse. The martial artists holding wooden boards also reacted, shouting, "There aren't many of them! Everyone, hold steady, don't fall for their tricks and run around!"

On the bandit side, they had naturally noticed long ago.

"Chieftain, over there!"

A hoarse voice rang out from the bandit ranks, followed by several whistling fire arrows.

Li Yan flashed his body and dodged in time.

Pu pu pu!

The fire arrows pierced the ground, immediately igniting the dry grass.

But Li Yan had already vanished into the darkness, creeping toward another squad.

Yet, halfway there, he leaped and hid behind a nearby tree trunk.

Pu pu pu!

Three more fire arrows embedded themselves in the ground.

The enemy had a sorcerer!

Li Yan immediately made a guess.

Eye-connection, ear-connection, nose-connection.

No matter which one it was, they could detect his position.

It wasn't that he was careless, but only after leaving Xianyang City and Mount Zhongnan did he realize how scarce sorcerers were; along the way, other than himself and Wang Fu, he hadn't seen a single one.

This was the true situation of the Mystic Sect.

There were many people in the Mystic Sect, but they were extremely scarce when placed among the general population.

Most Mystic Sect practitioners either hid in the mountains to cultivate or made a living in large cities. Even the weakest witches and shamans were considered capable people in the surrounding villages.

In some places, no sorcerer had ever appeared; just like in Li Family Fort, if he hadn't experienced it himself, he probably wouldn't have known the Mystic Sect existed.

Even in the martial world, not everyone could come into contact with the Mystic Sect.

How could these mountain bandits have a sorcerer?

If they had a sorcerer's help,

why were they so scared by Old Dragon Village's methods that they wanted to run?

Li Yan was puzzled, but his reaction was not slow. He blew the whistle he held in his mouth while running rapidly to avoid being locked onto by the opponent.

Chiu! Chiu chiu!

Whistle sounds of varying lengths echoed through the night sky.

This was their unique signal, known only to Wang Fu and Sha Lifei.

After sending the signal, Li Yan put away the whistle and took out a stalk of yarrow, wrapped it around his left hand, pinched a magic seal, stepped out a Big Dipper pace, and whispered: "Nuogao, open for the great-grandson Wang Jia, the Six Jia Green Dragon, the Six Yi Meeting Star, the Six Bing Bright Hall, the Six Ding Yin Center..."

As he performed the Mount-Climbing Art of the Embracing Simplicity, his aura rapidly converged.

Li Yan had long since practiced this art to perfection.

Although Luo Fengzi called it a mountain-climbing art, the so-called invisibility was only to hide one's form in front of yin mist, but Li Yan had discovered more wonderful uses.

For example, by converging his aura, the enemy sorcerer could not detect him.

Yet he could still smell the enemy's scent.

The various teams at the inn were now alert, and the bandits' tactic was broken. Li Yan couldn't be bothered to find the remaining people firing cold arrows and instead carefully hid himself.

He wanted to wait for an opportunity to take out the enemy sorcerer first.

He knew this opportunity would definitely appear...

"There's a sorcerer among the bandits!"

On the other side, hearing the whistle in the darkness, Wang Fu's expression immediately became solemn. He said in a deep voice, "Brother Sha, help me set up an altar to protect the Dharma!"

"You got it!"

Hearing this, Sha Lifei immediately sheathed his blade and quickly helped Wang Fu set up a simple Dharma altar, while calmly protecting him from behind.

After several battles, the three of them had long since developed a tacit understanding.

Sha Lifei knew what he had to do. The escort Wu Mao stared wide-eyed nearby; he had heard that Li Yan was both a blade-wielder and had entered the Mystic Sect, and that a Daoist followed him.

But looking at this situation, were they about to engage in a temporary sorcery battle?

Well, this was his first time seeing it.

Didn't sorcerers only know how to curse people from behind...

Wang Fu couldn't be bothered to pay him any mind and said in a deep voice to the side, "Master Zhou, I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you all."

"It's only right."

Master Zhou understood immediately and respectfully lifted a shrine from a wooden box, which was still covered with a red cloth—it was the soldier spirit they had invited from the mass grave earlier.

Wang Fu placed it on the Dharma altar, first lit three sticks of incense, circled the shrine three times, then inserted the incense and carefully lifted the red cloth.

In an instant, a cold, murderous aura overflowed, and the surrounding candle flames flickered.

Wang Fu couldn't help but praise, "Master Zhou has done well."

He knew the Spring Breeze Troupe had been offering good sacrifices to this one.

!.

If nothing unexpected happened, it would provide protection for a long time and would not cause trouble.

"The Master seems to really like listening to operas..."

Master Zhou's face lit up, and he nodded repeatedly.

People in Guanzhong generally respectfully addressed deities as "Master."

Although this one was a soldier spirit turned yin deity with a heavy murderous aura, it seemed to really like listening to operas and was very stable. Because of this, they had stabilized their position and performed two ghost operas to make a name for themselves.

"Operas themselves originate from Nuo operas to entertain the gods..."

Wang Fu gave a casual reply, his expression turning solemn. He paused his peach-wood sword, then stepped out the Big Dipper pace, spat out water, and activated the Dharma altar.

"By decree!"

Wang Fu picked up the decree, pointed at the air, then quickly turned to the side, slapped the Dharma altar three times, and then flicked the peach-wood sword, shattering the black jar and yellow talisman on the altar.

In an instant, cold winds rose all around.

Whether it was the porters or the old and young of the Spring Breeze Troupe, everyone swallowed hard, not daring to speak. They vaguely knew this was controlling soldiers and horses.

Of course, what they didn't know was that Wang Fu had no Dharma lineage to support him and his cultivation was low; he had only recruited one pathetic little yin soldier.

The only thing he could do was scout for information.

Because of this, he had to ask for the help of the Spring Breeze Troupe's soldier spirit.

The peach-wood sword in Wang Fu's hand trembled slightly, and he recited a spell rapidly, so fast that no one could hear what he was saying, then suddenly pointed at the night sky.

Hu~

Cold winds rose, and everyone felt a chill, but then the chill quickly vanished.

In the woods, Li Yan tightly pinched his hand seals, not leaking a single bit of aura.

The sorcerer among the bandits shouldn't have high cultivation either, as he couldn't even detect his most basic invisibility art.

At this moment, he had approached the main bandit force, less than a hundred meters away.

Suddenly, he looked at the night sky, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

He naturally recognized the scent of Wang Fu's yin soldier.

As long as he found the movements of that bandit sorcerer, he could take advantage of the chaos to behead him when the bandits attacked later, eliminating future trouble.

Many sorcerers were indeed not skilled in martial arts; once approached by an expert, they were mostly dead.

But after truly entering the Mystic Sect, he realized how terrifying the lethality of a sorcerer could be if they had protection and set up an altar to cast spells.

"Hmph, daring to cast spells to spy!"

A cold voice rang out from the bandit crowd.

Following that, Li Yan's expression changed slightly.

He smelled three cold, murderous scents.

Among the many bandits, one person was being guarded. With disheveled hair and a Supreme Ultimate diagram drawn in cinnabar on his forehead, it was none other than the Jiangzuo sorcerer Yu Laosi, who had once been an advisor to the Iron Blade Society.

He hid in the Iron Blade Society, on one hand to accumulate wealth with the help of Zheng Heibei's power, and on the other to secretly plot for the Heaven-Spirit Earth-Treasure that the Longchang Opera Troupe was about to form.

That Heaven-Spirit Earth-Treasure was the statue itself.

The statue was made of extraordinary wood, and after a hundred years of worship by the Longchang Opera Troupe, combined with its location at the spiritual aperture of a yang residence's geomancy, inheriting the thousand-year-old charm of Xianyang City, and listening to the joys and sorrows of the human world, it had become a treasure.

If he hadn't accidentally listened to an opera, he wouldn't have discovered this thing.

Later, the statue hid its spiritual charm, and no one knew about it.

If he obtained this item and refined it with evil arts, he could obtain a powerful protective yin general. For this, he didn't hesitate to wait several years in Xianyang City.

Unfortunately, this news was still told to Luo Shihai by the living yin messenger.

Luo Shihai was furious and went to the Iron Blade Society himself to catch him.

Although Yu Laosi escaped a disaster using secret arts, he knew the treasure would be hard to obtain again. Plus, without the Iron Blade Society's cover, he feared the Law Enforcement Hall would find him, so he fled Xianyang City overnight.

He had mastered the ear-connection, and because of this, he had detected the attack in advance that night; Li Yan's position earlier had also been pointed out by him.

The yin soldier sent by Wang Fu naturally couldn't hide from him.

Yu Laosi also set up a Dharma altar, but on the altar were straw dolls, blood basins, corpse rice, bone powder, and even children's skulls—one look and you knew it wasn't a righteous method.

Yu Laosi noticed the yin soldier in the night sky, his eyes full of disdain. He gave a sinister smile, picked up a straw doll, bowed to the sky three times, and then casually picked up a yellow talisman and stuck it directly onto the straw doll.

In an instant, the straw doll became cold and possessed the aura of a yin soldier.

Yu Laosi placed the straw doll on the Dharma altar.

Beside the straw doll, there were three small arrows, the arrows covered in blood-colored talisman scripts.

He picked up a talisman arrow, pinched a magic seal, held it in his hand, and chanted: "Heaven is black, earth is black, the Divine Lord orders me to hook the soul, call the Six Jia on the left, call the Six Ding on the right, the Front Emperor God, the Rear Yue Zhang, heaven locks the soul, earth locks the spirit, hurry, hurry, like the law!"

After speaking, he plunged the arrow into the straw doll.

Li Yan stared at the sky, stunned for a moment.

The yin soldier hovering above vanished instantly.

At the same time, the wandering soul jar on Wang Fu's Dharma altar also shattered with a crack...

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 102 =====