Chapter 106: Uninvited Guests

Ding Songyan took only one look before withdrawing his gaze and saying quietly to Zheng Zhuxi, "Senior Sister, don’t keep looking. We don’t want Shen Wanli to notice."

He had already confirmed from the characteristics of the figure’s cultivation arts and physical anomalies that it was Shen Wanli hiding in the tree. But the arrest warrant offered little detail on this youngest of the Three Fiends, making it hard to rule out that he could enhance his senses through the surrounding mountain forest.

Zheng Zhuxi quickly moved her gaze to Ding Songyan and said in a very low voice, "I’ll circle around behind him and try to take out this sentry quickly, before Cao Yue and Lu Guangqing inside the temple notice anything."

Shen Wanli was only fifth-rank Profound Discerned. He could make use of mountainous and forestry terrain, but if caught off guard, he might not have time to use his strengths to their utmost. Zheng Zhuxi was reasonably confident.

At this point, Pan Yunzhou studied the terrain, pointed to a particular tree, and said to Zheng Zhuxi, "Junior Sister Zheng, in a moment I’ll make a small noise over there to draw Shen Wanli’s attention. Seize the opening and strike."

"All right." Zheng Zhuxi was once again struck by how rich Pan Yunzhou’s experience in the jianghu was.

For a surprise attack, quality mattered more than numbers. Seeing Zheng Zhuxi volunteer to handle it, Xing Chang and Xie Fengchao did not press to take part.

Ding Songyan leaned close to Zheng Zhuxi’s ear and said softly, "Senior Sister, watch the grass and plants underfoot and around you."

Zheng Zhuxi gave a small nod, showing she had taken note of it.

She understood what her junior brother meant. Shen Wanli had the ability to move as one with vegetation. The grass and plants within a certain range of him had very likely become extensions of himself, and she had to be careful.

Worried that her sword might reflect moonlight and starlight, Zheng Zhuxi left Autumnwater sheathed for now. She fell back a distance and circled around to Shen Wanli’s rear, using the trees for cover from a different angle.

Her figure was like something illusory, like the scattered shimmer of countless stars falling among the trees and grass. At a glance, it was impossible to tell whether it was a natural scene or someone passing through.

Before long, Zheng Zhuxi had reached the stretch of forest behind Shen Wanli without a sound, her presence concealed, drawing closer and closer as she almost melted into the moonlight.

Suddenly, with her Candle-Star Pupils active, she noticed the weeds ahead—not yet fully withered—moving in an unnatural way.

Zheng Zhuxi cautiously halted, stopping about four meters from Shen Wanli.

Seeing his senior sister stop advancing, Ding Songyan turned his head to signal Pan Yunzhou that it was time to make a commotion.

The austere-faced Pan Yunzhou gave a slight nod, crept carefully to the agreed spot, then deliberately let his foot slip and snapped a drooping branch.

At the faint crack of sound, Shen Wanli diagonally across from them snapped his gaze in that direction.

At the same moment, Zheng Zhuxi stepped forward.

Wherever she placed her feet, the weeds suddenly surged and lashed toward her. But Zheng Zhuxi needed only a light touch and a nimble change of direction to sidestep each of Shen Wanli’s extensions with perfect timing.

Then her quick boots kicked up dust as she moved, fleet and elusive as a spirit, her advance and retreat impossible to predict. She made three steps in succession, each landing where the vegetation had not yet stirred.

The Southern Dipper Calamity-Averting Steps—every step producing an opportunity for survival!

Three steps took only an instant, and Zheng Zhuxi had already reached the base of the tree where Shen Wanli was hiding.

Only at this moment did Shen Wanli sense the enemy striking from behind.

He spun in a panic. Before he could warn Cao Yue and Lu Guangqing, a clear, ice-cold sword light blazed before his eyes, its killing intent razor-sharp.

A flash of sword light appeared. Zheng Zhuxi had kicked off a tree trunk and driven Autumnwater into Shen Wanli’s throat.

Northern Dipper Killing Sword!

She lifted the tip, and sword qi surged out in a burst. She landed on the branch beside Shen Wanli.

Shen Wanli’s eyes went wide. Even the strength to raise his hands to his throat was gone.

With Zheng Zhuxi deliberately bracing him with her sword, he slid slowly back against the trunk and came to rest sitting on a thick branch, without falling.

The attack had begun in silence and ended in silence.

As Autumnwater was withdrawn, Shen Wanli closed his eyes, his consciousness fading. His blood trickled down, pooled on the branch, and dripped steadily below, like a sparse rain falling in the forest.

The whole affair lasted only a few breaths. Zheng Zhuxi cradled Shen Wanli’s body, hopped lightly down from the tree, and laid the corpse among the grass and plants.

Inside the dilapidated mountain god temple, everything remained as before. Nothing had been noticed.

Not bad, a fine blade is forged through grinding... Ding Songyan watched with admiration.

Whether killing He Luo before or the current surprise attack on Shen Wanli, he had not helped Zheng Zhuxi from the shadows. He only offered a word or two of guidance. Yet his senior sister had managed this level of performance. She could truly be called accomplished in her swordsmanship.

Zheng Zhuxi wiped the blood from Autumnwater on Shen Wanli’s clothing, sheathed the sword, and switched to her Waxing Moon Phantom Form technique. Like a phantom, she flitted to the side of the ruined temple and peered quickly through a hole in the wall.

Two figures sat by a fire. One was meditating to recover; the other was stuffing dried meat into his mouth and drinking water, seemingly unable to get full no matter how much he ate.

The former had deep red skin and thick, abundant body hair. The latter was enormous, with yellow skin and a blue-black body, his head carrying the feel of a python’s—unmistakably Lu Guangqing and Cao Yue.

Zheng Zhuxi pressed her back to the wall and turned toward Ding Songyan and the others, holding up two fingers to indicate there was no one else inside the temple.

Taking out Shen Wanli ahead of time gave Xie Fengchao a great boost of confidence. He said to his companions, "Commander Xing, in a moment you and I will take on Cao Yue together. You occupy him from the front while I break through his blade resistance. Brother Pan, you support Heroine Zheng. When fighting Lu Guangqing, you must make it quick.

"Their cultivation and strength are higher than ours, but not by much, and we have the numbers. That’s enough to overwhelm them.

"And Young Hero Ding, you keep watch on the surroundings and guard against any surprises."

Xing Chang and Pan Yunzhou both agreed. Ding Songyan gave only a nod, then employed Waxing Moon Phantom Form and circled around to his senior sister’s side.

When the time came, Senior Sister would have to take the credit!

Pan Yunzhou employed the movement technique from the Myriad Stars Canon and followed closely behind Ding Songyan.

Seeing this, Xing Chang and Xie Fengchao crept one after the other across the withered, weedy clearing before the temple, preparing to attack from the front to draw attention and give Zheng Zhuxi and Pan Yunzhou the opening for a surprise strike.

Just as Pan Yunzhou was passing Shen Wanli’s body and drawing close to the side of the temple, he suddenly felt a powerful, rancid wind hit him.

He instinctively stepped back and to the side. An instant later, a rough but enormous wooden club slammed down in front of him with a boom, shaking the very ground.

Inside the mountain god temple, Cao Yue and Lu Guangqing were instantly on alert and leapt to their feet one after the other.

Upon seeing this, Xing Chang knew the surprise attack could no longer be carried out, and brought his broadaxe down hard on the half-shut ruined temple door.

As though struck by fully armored heavy cavalry, the door burst from its place and flew violently toward Cao Yue, ferocious enough to look as if it would flatten him.

Watching this, Ding Songyan felt genuine admiration. The Heaven-Shattering Precious Record truly lived up to its reputation for raw force. Though Xing Chang claimed only fifth-rank Profound Discerned, this one axe blow felt no weaker than Bull Ding had been. After all, Li Zhi was a fourth-rank Mortal Surpassed.

No wonder Miss Xiao Qing placed the Heaven-Shattering Precious Record alongside the Heaven-Opening Skill and the Mountain-Breaking Heaven-Toppling Scripture when it came to breaking open Leifeng Pagoda.

Cao Yue feared blunt force, not blades. Facing the howling black shape hurtling toward him, he didn’t meet it head-on. He turned, twisted at the waist, and drove his fist into the door with a boom.

The door splintered into pieces, scattering in all directions as chunks of wood. Every piece bore clear signs of corrosion, a good portion of its mass dissolved away.

As Cao Yue turned, Lu Guangqing caught sight of a bright sword light bursting through the window.

He had already drawn his saber and moved to meet it. Around his body, one after another, illusory streams of qi rose to the surface—black, red, brown, cyan, gold, and green.

The Six Pestilence Qi!

Standing outside the ruined temple, Ding Songyan couldn’t help raising an eyebrow. Lu Guangqing’s technique could affect the area within four meters of him, practically a scaled-down Grandmaster.

Every martial art has its own specialty... Ding Songyan did not rush to aid his senior sister but watched from outside the broken window first.

Lu Guangqing had no idea who this person was. He noticed only that she was quite striking in appearance, but her swordsmanship was ferociously sharp. He steadied himself and swung his long saber with lightning speed.

His Six-Qi Heresy Secret Script was paired with a set of fast saber techniques and supporting palm strikes, designed to dominate the opponent from the start.

And by the time his momentum was spent, the opponent should have contracted the pestilence, either rapidly weakening or wracked with coughing and sneezing.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Zheng Zhuxi met him with the rapid opening sequence of Kindling Passes to Candle, matching speed with speed, not yielding a single step.

Both moved with the speed of a rabbit starting and a falcon striking, their figures weaving past each other. The long saber and Autumnwater had already clashed many times in just a few breaths, the ringing sound ceaseless.

From Ding Songyan’s vantage, with every slash Lu Guangqing made, one of the six qi threads merged with the blade and transferred rapidly toward Zheng Zhuxi through the clash of weapons. Every saber strike truly did carry pestilence. A prolonged battle would be fatal.

Not far from Ding Songyan, Pan Yunzhou finally got a clear look at what had attacked him.

In the moonlight, the figure stood nearly four meters tall. It had a human-like face, but with lips grotesquely long and wide. Its entire body was black, with leather around its waist and thick black fur covering the rest. It held a crude but enormous wooden club, its heels pointing forward. Its expression was simultaneously fierce and cruel, yet somehow dim-witted and endearingly foolish.

Xiaoyang... The name surfaced in Pan Yunzhou’s and Ding Songyan’s minds at the same moment.

According to the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas, the Xiaoyang was one of the Hundred Species, and consuming it yielded no benefit. In practice, however, because the Xiaoyang were so dim-witted, the martial world regarded them as a kind of uncultured giant ape—neither spirit, nor monster, nor yao.

Folk legends often lumped it in with mountain spirits, but Ding Songyan knew better. If the Xiaoyang were a true mountain spirit, it could never have approached through Banishing Demons and Warding Off Evil, even drawn by the scent of blood and a fresh corpse.

Calling it a mountain savage or a wood wanderer was more accurate. Calling it a giant was perfectly fitting too.

Adult Xiaoyang were fond of eating humans. With their grotesque size and enormous strength, they were a match for third-rank Form Transfigured martial practitioners.

Seeing that it was a Xiaoyang, Pan Yunzhou’s scalp went numb.

How had they managed to attract one of these?

This thing might actually be stronger than Cao Yue!

Boom! The Xiaoyang swept its club sideways and snapped a tree clean through. Pan Yunzhou barely managed to dodge in time.

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