Chapter 532: Legendary Figures

"This is f***ing interesting!"

Sha Lifei looked at the surrounding courtyard walls, gritted his teeth, and sneered, "Pulling this stunt, did we walk into a demon's nest?"

As he spoke, he pulled a flintlock pistol from his waist with a clatter.

The escort agency helpers in the courtyard were also scared out of their wits, hurriedly pulling out their weapons and standing back-to-back, looking around.

The Shunyuan Escort Agency belonged to the Huang Ling School and specifically took on transport missions for the Mystic Sect; they had followed Wang Tianzuo and seen quite a few strange things on the road.

But this was the first time they had encountered a situation like this.

The animals above clearly were some small demons that had gained spiritual intelligence and cultivation, and they weren't afraid of people at all.

Squeak, squeak!

Hiss~

They stared downward, making all sorts of sounds.

The Shunyuan Escort Agency only had Wang Tianzuo and one disciple who were practitioners; the rest were ordinary people, at most martial world experts who understood some taboos.

Hearing these sounds, they immediately fell into the trap.

Their eyes grew dull, and the weapons in their hands clattered to the ground.

"Get the hell out of here!"

Sha Lifei was furious when he saw this, one hand pinching the neck of the weasel's body, the other holding the pistol to Wang Tianzuo's head.

As soon as these words were spoken, those small animals closed their mouths at the same time.

Lu San was clearly also somewhat angry.

His expression was gloomy; he took a piece of armor from his robes.

This was a scale from the "Tuoshi" (Alligator Master).

After he formed a contract with this great demon, he could borrow its power, and this protective talisman made from the scale was the medium.

Whoosh~

As Lu San chanted, a fierce wind suddenly blew in the courtyard.

The overbearing aura of the "Tuoshi" dissipated accordingly.

Swish, swish, swish!

These small demons were immediately frightened and fled without a trace.

"Hmph!"

Sha Lifei let out a cold snort, his eyes somewhat strange, and he asked in a low voice, "Brother Lu San, why let them go?"

He knew that although there were many of these small demons, their cultivation was average, and Lu San had enough power to take them down.

At least he could have killed half of them.

"There's something fishy about this."

Lu San frowned and shook his head. "I checked when I entered the city; the incense at the Guanxian Chenghuangmiao is flourishing, and I heard they sacrifice to the Erlang God every year, and there is also a Yang Si General Temple at the river mouth."

"Ordinary small demons wouldn't dare to get close."

Sha Lifei thought thoughtfully, "You mean, there's someone behind this?"

"Save the person first, then we'll talk."

Lu San nodded, immediately went to the group, formed a seal with his left hand, shook the bone string, and patted each of the escort agency helpers on the head.

Slap, slap, slap!

A series of sounds, and they all regained their clarity.

These people were just soul-confused and could be easily resolved.

Wang Tianzuo was relatively more troublesome.

Lu San first took a piece of red rope, tied the weasel's body tightly, and only then formed a dharma seal, pressed his finger on Wang Tianzuo's forehead, and flicked forward.

Whoosh~

Yin wind rose, and a black smoke roared out of Wang Tianzuo's mouth, spinning and falling into the weasel's body.

Soon, Wang Tianzuo's eyes grew dull, he seemed to regain a bit of clarity, and then he fainted.

"Master!"

The disciple beside him saw this, full of anxiety.

"No harm, his soul was injured; he'll be fine after a sleep."

Sha Lifei and Lu San comforted him.

They had seen this kind of situation several times.

Any possession by a spirit would definitely injure the soul; the unlucky ones could become idiots, and the lucky ones would have to recuperate for half a month.

The other party had held back, so Wang Tianzuo hadn't suffered a severe injury.

This was also the reason Lu San hadn't dealt a ruthless blow.

First, they had to figure out why the other party had come to cause trouble.

Thinking of this, Lu San walked up to the old weasel and said coldly, "Since you're awake, stop pretending!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the old weasel immediately opened its eyes.

It was bound by Lu San with the red rope and placed under a restriction; it struggled for a bit, and seeing it couldn't escape, it stared with its black, bead-like eyes at Sha Lifei and the others.

"What are you looking at!"

Sha Lifei glared. "I know you can speak human language. Since you've been caught, be honest and confess: who sent you?"

Who would have thought that the old weasel remained unmoved, even closing its eyes, looking like it was waiting to die.

Lu San frowned, his mouth making clucking sounds, and he began to communicate with it using the Upper Language.

The old weasel seemed moved, but still didn't open its mouth.

At this, Sha Lifei finally grew somewhat angry, directly pulling out the Guan Mountain knife from his waist. "Since you want to die, I'll fulfill your wish!"

"Wait!"

Just then, Wang Tianzuo, who had been unconscious, woke up faintly, and seeing this, hurriedly stopped him, and with the disciple's support, came to the old weasel and said weakly:

"Was it Brother Lu who sent you?"

This sentence seemed to touch the other party's reverse scale, and the old weasel immediately exploded. "You... traitor!"

Its human speech wasn't fluent, and it stammered a curse before chattering and clucking in the Upper Language.

Sha Lifei and the others were confused.

And Lu San frowned, and after the old weasel finished speaking, turned to look at Wang Tianzuo and asked in a deep voice, "Brother Wang, what is the identity of the person you mentioned?"

Wang Tianzuo was also somewhat dazed and shook his head. "That person is named Lu; in the martial world, he's called Lu Laohei. I only know he's a shaman in a nearby village and has quite a reputation among the practitioners in Guanxian."

"I had a good relationship with him, so I entrusted him to inquire. But he suddenly got very angry, told me not to get involved in this matter, and then I was possessed..."

"What's wrong, what happened?"

Lu San shook his head. "That person is already dead; he died suddenly just after leaving the city."

"These demon creatures came to capture you for interrogation."

"Dead?!"

Wang Tianzuo was even more dazed. "Brother Lu just left me, how could he..."

"Don't rush."

Lu San turned his head, looked at the old weasel again, and communicated with it in the Upper Language for a while.

Soon after, he directly tore open the red rope on its body.

Swish!

The old weasel was freed and immediately darted onto the wall.

It saw Lu San didn't chase it, and even held down Sha Lifei's gun muzzle, so it hesitated, squeaked a few times, and jumped into the darkness.

"Quick, follow!"

Lu San gave a low shout, and the group immediately followed.

At this time, the ancient city of Guanxian was already deep in the night, the streets pitch black, and not a soul was in sight.

Strangely, the dogs in the surrounding alleys seemed to be frightened, hiding in their kennels, trembling, not daring to make a sound.

Under the moonlight, the old weasel ran on the street, stopping from time to time to look back, seemingly waiting for them.

The group quickened their pace and followed all the way.

Soon, they arrived at the gate of Guanxian.

What surprised them was that the garrison soldiers guarding the city were also stiff, their eyes dull, with large rats or weasels squatting on their shoulders.

The city gate, which should have been closed, was already wide open.

Sha Lifei saw this, his expression growing solemn, and he muttered, "Fine, Guanxian is the territory of the Erlang Manifestation Erlang Zhenjun; how did it become infested with demons, so bold?"

Lu San whispered, "Haven't you noticed? The Chenghuangmiao is turning a blind eye and not caring at all? Let's see first..."

As they spoke, the group had already left the city gate.

Squeak, squeak! The old weasel gave a low cry, and the surrounding woods and grass rustled, and the small demons that had fled before appeared again.

Seemingly having companions, the old weasel was no longer afraid and led them forward, heading into the mountains behind the ancient city.

Arriving before a mountain path, the old weasel stopped.

The group looked up and saw a corpse lying horizontally on the mountain path, with a large snake coiled beside it.

This snake was mottled, as thick as a person's thigh; seeing the group arrive, it slowly raised its head, staring with cold eyes, constantly flicking its tongue.

Squeak, squeak!

The old weasel stepped forward, chattered in the Upper Language for a while, seemingly negotiating, and the large snake also slowly retreated several meters, but still remained full of vigilance.

By now, Sha Lifei and the others had vaguely guessed something.

"It's Brother Lu..."

Wang Tianzuo's face was ugly; with the disciple's support, he struggled to come to the corpse and crouched down to examine it.

This was a man in black, with a face full of bushy beard, rough skin, and a dry tobacco pipe tucked into his waist, looking exactly like an old farmer working in the fields.

(Please... collect...!)

His eyes were wide open, black blood flowing from his seven orifices, as if he had seen something terrifying, his death extremely miserable.

"It's all my fault."

Wang Tianzuo was full of regret. "If it weren't for me..."

Lu San patted him on the shoulder, then crouched down, tore open the dead man's chest clothes, and felt two inches below the heart, immediately touching a hard lump of flesh.

"It's the Date Pit Curse."

Lu San said in a deep voice, "Daoist Wang told me about this; it has nothing to do with Brother Wang, he should have been hit several days ago."

With that, he pulled out the dagger from his waist and sliced open the lump of flesh.

Squeak, squeak!

The small demons around saw this and were in a commotion.

But they quickly quieted down.

Lu San sliced open the mouth and directly picked out a date pit.

This date pit had a strange rune on it, as if it had grown naturally, covered in blood, and when held in the hand, it was still emitting a cold chill.

Lu San said in a deep voice, "This is the curse method of the Scattered Hair Sect; bury the corpse of a person who died an unjust death under a date tree, chant the curse on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month, and nourish it with filthy blood."

"After it matures, you can get a dozen curse dates; just lure someone to eat them, chant the curse, and the date pit can break the stomach and pierce the heart, causing death."

"It's the Scattered Hair Sect again!"

Sha Lifei heard this, frowned, and stroked his chin.

The Scattered Hair Sect was also a folk dharma sect in the southwest, both righteous and evil, half-shaman and half-Daoist, with no specific mountain gate and scattered inheritance.

There were those who protected one side among the commoners.

And there were those who walked the evil path, performing arts to harm people.

Their curse methods were ruthless; back in Chongqing Prefecture, a Scattered Hair Sect practitioner had caused trouble, using the lives of a theater troupe to block disaster for a wealthy family.

"Scattered Hair Sect..."

Wang Tianzuo gritted his teeth. "This matter is either the Shu Prince's Mansion or related to that Young Master Wuxiang!"

Lu San was thoughtful, looked at the old weasel, and spoke in the Upper Language, chattering away in communication.

Seemingly because the cause of death was found, these small demons completely dropped their hostility toward them, chattering away in communication.

And Lu San's expression grew more and more surprised.

Sha Lifei was dying of curiosity and couldn't help but ask, "Brother Lu San, what's going on?"

Lu San looked at the dead body on the ground and shook his head. "Have you heard of the story of the Seven Sages of Meishan?"

"Of course."

Sha Lifei nodded hurriedly. "The opera says they are the brothers of the Erlang Manifestation Erlang Zhenjun."

Lu San said in a deep voice, "The prototype in the opera is them. Meishan is actually 'Meishan' (Eyebrow Mountain)."

"They are a secret sect that believes in the Shu region's Lord Erlang..."

…………

Before dawn, Li Yan opened his eyes.

He had slept very early last night, and Mount Qingcheng was rich in spiritual Qi; although it was somewhat cold, he had slept very peacefully.

Waking up, he felt refreshed.

Li Yan was in a good mood, went out directly, came to a stone platform outside Chaoyang Cave, breathed in, and exercised his fists and feet.

His martial arts had already stepped into the Hua Jin (Transformation) stage.

The Pi-Gua (Splitting-Hanging) was open and closed, like a whip, mixed with the Hong Fist's support and slashing as the mother, and the eight methods as the change; between the fierce and the fierce, a single red point appeared in the strike.

The two types of boxing had been completely fused by him.

He didn't strike fast, but between each punch and palm, the fascia of his chest and abdomen vibrated, and there was even a faint sound of thunder, with an astonishing momentum.

This was the next step in martial arts.

Li Yan had to fuse all his spirit, will, and blood-fascia strength into one, holding the elixir like a primordial chaos.

After the elixir holding was successful, not a single bit of strength would be wasted, his Qi pulse would be long, and the operation of his strength would have no flaws.

Reaching this step, he had reached the limit of the physical body.

His strength wouldn't increase much, but he would be able to fight for a long time.

Those ancient military fierce generals who could ride horses and wield heavy weapons, killing seven in and seven out in the chaotic army without exhaustion, were in the Elixir Holding realm.

Reaching the next step, holding the elixir to gestate "momentum," he could trigger gang-qi attacks, blessing his fists, feet, and weapons, which was called "Gang Strength."

Approaching the end of the year, the mountains were sealed by snow, and there were no other guests in Chaoyang Cave, but there were quite a few young Daoists.

Hearing the movement, they were all attracted, watching Li Yan practice his boxing, each one dumbfounded.

Originally, watching others practice martial arts was a taboo.

But they only took one look and couldn't pull their eyes away, as if there was some kind of magic attracting them.

Just then, Ling Yunzi also happened to arrive; seeing this, he frowned, but just as he was about to reprimand them, he was stopped by Wang Daoxuan with a smile.

"Don't worry, Brother Yan doesn't have this taboo."

"Many thanks."

Ling Yunzi cupped his hands solemnly and instructed the young Daoists, "Since you have this opportunity, watch carefully, and don't talk nonsense in the future."

For a time, everyone remained silent and watched.

The martial arts of Mount Qingcheng naturally didn't need to be mentioned, but this kind of opportunity to observe an expert practicing martial arts wasn't something that happened all the time.

Even Ling Yunzi had some realization.

Today was a rare sunny day.

Unknowingly, the sun in the distance gradually rose.

The moment the sun emerged from the distant mountains, thousands of golden rays shone toward Chaoyang Cave, and the steep mountain walls seemed to be inlaid with broken gold.

And Li Yan had long since stepped into the state of self-forgetfulness; his heart stirred, and he suddenly opened his mouth toward the east, taking a deep breath.

I don't know if it was an illusion, but everyone only felt that in the golden sunlight shooting from afar, a hint of purple flashed by.

"Purple energy coming from the east..."

Ling Yunzi was somewhat surprised, and looking at Li Yan who had closed his eyes, he knew the other party had gained an advantage, feeling somewhat envious.

This "Purple energy coming from the east" wasn't as mysterious as the legends said, allowing people to understand the Great Dao, but it was also a kind of opportunity that could cleanse the body and mind.

Many people waited for several days and didn't find the opportunity.

Whoosh~

Li Yan slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, feeling his whole body transparent, sweat seeping from his forehead, his brain feeling as if it had been washed by water.

"Congratulations, young hero Li."

Ling Yunzi hurriedly stepped forward to congratulate him.

"Luck, Qingcheng is truly a blessed land of the cave heaven."

Li Yan said modestly, then said, "The Daoist has come; wait for us to have a meal, and then we'll set off."

"No need!"

Before he finished speaking, a figure flashed on the mountain path opposite...

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 533 =====