“Caw, caw!”
“Caw, caw!”
In the trees near the Old Night Bird Temple, pitch-black crows stared with wide eyes, letting out series of shrill, eerie cries. Even though it was broad daylight, it sent an involuntary chill down one's spine.
“Why is it you who came?”
Standing before the temple, Huang Shiduo glared gloomily at the newcomer and asked once more, fixing him with a steady stare:
“I thought I had shown plenty of sincerity. Your Little Aunt certainly puts on airs, sending an outsider like you to meet me.”
“Who's an outsider? Who are you calling an outsider?”
Lyu Dongfang had a short fuse and flared up the moment he was provoked. Hearing this, he immediately retorted:
“You think you're so capable, so high and mighty? You send some cryptic text message and expect Little Aunt to come help you in person? What kind of daydream are you living in? One moment you send Snow Essence, and the next you dredge up some Five-Witch Soldiers from god-knows-where to test her. Little Aunt is kindhearted, so she had me make a special trip to see what kind of scheme you're cooking up. But I'm only here out of respect for Little Aunt, got it? Otherwise, just on the fact that your Huang family made a move against the Ma family, I would've gone straight to Old Master Huang to rat you out! Tell me, if that big weasel found out you came running to cling to the Demon Suppression Division's thigh, would he beat your other eye into a lazy eye too?”
“The fact that she sent you means the Demon Suppression Division is indeed interested in the Outer Mongolian secret realm.”
Having his sore spot touched, a flash of humiliation crossed Huang Shiduo's eyes, but he quickly regained his composure and sneered:
“So my Joy Ghost really did fall at Nan Zhi's hands. She looks like a young, delicate girl, but she certainly leaves no room for mercy.”
—The Joy Ghost had indeed been sent by the Huang family to test Nan Zhi's strength.
Who could have guessed that in a single encounter, that red-clothed vengeful ghost would be killed without a sound?
What was more terrifying than death was the unknown.
No one knew how Nan Zhi had pulled it off.
Heaven only knew how many life-saving dharma treasures that girl carried on her!
With the current Spiritual Resurgence, many heirloom dharma treasures had already lost their spirituality. Whoever held a life-saving dharma treasure essentially possessed an extra life compared to everyone else!
The Huang family had also obtained a Five-Witch Banner by chance. Although damaged, it contained dozens of brutally ferocious evil ghosts and possessed boundless might.
Yet who could have predicted that Nan Zhi had several treasures on par with the Green Beetle Needles!
This was precisely why Old Master Huang was unwilling to drag her into the fray, going to great lengths to avoid crossing the Demon Suppression Division.
If they provoked the young one, an old monster might show up.
When that happened, they really would end up losing more than they bargained for.
“What do you mean? Didn't the Joy Ghost get away?”
Lyu Dongfang was somewhat confused, but he still remembered Nan Zhi's instructions:
“Little Aunt doesn't want to get involved in the business of your Five Families of Beidong. She plans to go dig for Snow Essence in the snowdrifts of Changbai Mountain. She just had me pass along a message to you—”
Lyu Dongfang cleared his throat and recited solemnly:
“‘The Huang family wants to use the other families to kill the Demon King. The Hu family wants to deal with the Huang and Hui families to vie for standing before the Demon King. As for you, you probably want to use the Demon Suppression Division to kill with a borrowed knife and wipe out the entire demon families of Beidong. Quite an appetite you have. But I have no patience for playing mind games, nor do I like being schemed against. You all have fun playing amongst yourselves. We people of the Demon Suppression Division prefer holding the blade in our own hands, so we never cooperate with anyone.’”
Having said all that, Lyu Dongfang clicked his tongue:
“I wouldn't have guessed it. You've got some guts, kid. I thought you only wanted to destroy the Huang family, but who knew you were sitting on such an explosive ambition.”
“...Demons deserve to die.”
Huang Shiduo remained expressionless:
“Demons are nothing more than slightly advanced beasts. Even if they don human skins, they can never truly become identical to humans. The Five Immortal Families of Beidong shouldn't even exist in this world. They are clearly beasts, yet they imitate human ways—speaking, doing business, interacting with people—isn't that revolting? Just thinking about how underneath those faces lurk furry, slimy beasts makes me feel... sick to my stomach.”
“Your past is tragic enough, so I can understand why you'd want to destroy the Huang family.”
Recalling Huang Shiduo's history, a hint of sympathy surfaced in Lyu Dongfang's eyes:
“But the Demon Suppression Division owes you nothing. Why should we get dragged into this mess for your sake?”
“In the Outer Mongolian secret realm, whoever enters dies. The Huang family has already lost a batch of demons inside.”
Huang Shiduo thought for a moment before cautiously tossing out a piece of information:
“That secret realm is no immortal cave abode or blessed land cave heaven at all; those are all illusions. Once inside, there is murderous intent everywhere, with traps at every turn. Whoever enters must carry a specific object on them; otherwise, entering is suicide.”
His eyes shifted, as if recalling some terrifying scene, his lazy eye twitching uneasily:
“Have you ever seen a sword floating in the sky?”
“A giant sword a hundred meters long.”
“You can't even get close to it. The moment you are targeted by that thing, you turn to ashes in an instant, your flesh and bones eradicated, your soul scattered—you can't even become a ghost.”
“Once you've witnessed power like that, you know that in front of it, it's impossible to even muster the will to resist.”
The terror welling on Huang Shiduo's face was genuine fear of death, without the slightest falsehood:
“The gap is simply too vast. Mortals are truly like ants before that sword. You can only watch helplessly as it falls, seeing with your own eyes those around you turn to ash, gradually obliterated. That is the most despairing way to die.”
Lyu Dongfang was unconsciously infected by the despair radiating from him. He parted his lips and drew in a sharp breath.
On the tree before the Old Night Bird Temple, the black crows cawed:
“Caw! Caw!”
Jolted awake by the bird cries, Huang Shiduo slowly recovered his senses, though his face remained somewhat pale:
“When the Huang family dug up an old grave, they unearthed an iron token made of an unidentifiable material. Only with that object can one enter the secret realm. The few Witch-ghosts kept by the Huang family were brought out from in there. I hope you can pass a message to Miss Nan Zhi: If I offer up that token with both hands, once this matter is settled, could the Demon Suppression Division intervene to spare my life?”
Lyu Dongfang was uncertain, only half-believing Huang Shiduo's words.
He dialed the phone to check. A moment later, his expression became exceptionally colorful:
“Liu Guansheng said Little Aunt left half an hour ago. Given the speed of her flying boat, she should be almost at Heaven Lake by now... Could you hold off on dying and wait until Little Aunt gets back in half a month?”
“Fuck!”
His face ashen, Huang Shiduo punched the tree beside him in frustration, startling a flock of pitch-black crows into flight.
...
“Caw, caw!”
The flock of crows flew high, a dense black swarm heading toward the dense forest like a dark, fast-moving storm cloud.
As the crow flock soared high, in the blink of an eye, one of the crows suddenly transformed into Nan Zhi draped in black wings.
Her hands were wings; from below her elbows down, rather than slender arms, there was a pair of feathered wings shimmering faintly with dark luster under the sunlight.
Below her knees were not human feet either, but a pair of pitch-black avian talons.
【Black Crow Wings (Purple Quality): Wings from the Black Crow People. Donning them allows the user to transform into a black crow and take flight. When landing as a human, black talons and wings are grown. (Agility +100, Speed +50)】
Nan Zhi retracted the wings and returned to her original appearance, while far away in Qingmeng Mountain, the White Tiger Demon King suddenly sneered as if talking to someone:
“That brat Huang Shiduo truly has grand ambitions. This Lord thought he wanted to seek refuge with my Qingmeng Mountain, but who knew he was secretly contacting the Demon Suppression Division.”
“It's understandable. Both of his parents were killed by demons, and he ended up in that state himself; it's only natural his temperament would become somewhat extreme.”
Nan Zhi murmured to herself:
“He has endured for years and knows how to bide his time. If his temperament is tempered further, he might actually prove useful to the Demon Suppression Division.”
“We aren't so starved for people that we need to drag just anything into our nest, good or bad.”
White Tiger Nan Zhi flicked her tail lazily:
“Hu Manni, Lyu Dongfang, and Liu Guansheng aren't of much use, but at least they're obedient. After stringing them along with the Demon Suppression Division's name for so long, aren't you worried they'll get improper ideas?”
“I don't even know which secret realm the Demon Suppression Tower fell into, or if it even still exists in this world. Where would I conjure a Demon Suppression Monastery for them to take the induction trial?”
Nan Zhi muttered:
“With you keeping watch over Beidong, I'll first make a trip to the Outer Mongolian secret realm to check out that hundred-meter floating giant sword.”
“Go ahead.”
White Tiger Nan Zhi gave a noncommittal, lazy reply with a casual demeanor:
“Either way, This Lord will be here to back you up. If the turmoil among the Five Families drags on for too long, I'll just swallow them all in one bite to save the trouble.”
Nan Zhi: “...”
How should she put it?
Every time she had a dialogue with herself, it felt like some massive split-personality spectacle.
...
Rate on N.U.
