Chapter 294 - The Scum Is Timid

"'ni lai Heilong'?" they looked at each other. "'you come in Heilong'?" they turned back to the stall owner. "What is Heilong?" they asked. 

"A black dragon?" Fei Yin asked, looking skeptical. As far as he knows, there are no dragons in the novel, thus in this world. So, where did this dragon come from? 

"Heilong is a Dark Realm, or the underworld as many people call it." The stall owner said. 

"A dark realm…" Wu Yuan muttered, a thoughtful expression on his face. 

"The underworld?" Cheng Sheng asked, then looked at Fei Yin. 

"It's not exactly the underworld." The stall owner said and thought for a moment. "But, it may be as one." He added. 

"What do you mean?" Wu Yuan asked. 

The stall owner turned to him. "Because within the Heilong, is the Wuran Kingdom." He answered. 

They were stunned. "The Wuran Kingdom… didn't it disappear a long time ago?!" they asked. 

"Wuran has been swallowed by the Heilong thousands of years ago." The stall owner said. 

"'swallowed'…" they muttered and stared at the stall owner, waiting for the next words he has to say. 

The stall owner saw their intense gaze and he gulped in nervousness. "This is just what I heard from those demonic cultivators!" the immediately said. 

Cheng Sheng frowned. "So, this Heilong Realm, it just suddenly appeared?" he asked. 

"Yes, that's right." The stall owner nodded. 

"How…" they muttered. 

The stall owner looked at them. "Those two righteous cultivators that came with us, they said it was because of too much demonic energy, thus a realm appeared…" his voice slowed down. He knitted his brows before he shook his head. "That isn't right. Their word is 'created'." He looked at them. "That's right. From the demonic energy, a realm was created!" he told them. 

Their jaw dropped in shock. Their conjecture before was right! "Just how much demonic energy is there in Wuran Kingdom…" they muttered, a look of disbelief in their face as they looked at each other. 

The stall owner cautiously looked at them. "The thing is, when we found the Ni Lai, the entrance to the Heilong, there was a demonic energy coming from it." He said. "In fact, the whole mountain turned bald because of it." He told them. 

They sharply inhaled a cold breath. "Could it be, the soil was poisoned because of the demonic energy?" Cheng Sheng asked. "If a plant was poisoned by the demonic energy, it will mutate and become a monster. However, everything died." He looked at the stall owner. "What does the soil look like?" he asked. 

The stall owner shifted in his butt when he met Cheng Sheng's unnerving gaze. "We… we tried to dig the soil. However – " he said. " – we found nothing on the soil. The topsoil is sandy." He explained. 

Cheng Sheng fell silent as he contemplated while Fei Yin who doesn't want to wrack his brain poured tea on Cheng Sheng's cup as he let his lover think deeply. 

Meanwhile, Wu Yuan asked the stall owner. "My father and uncle Jing… where are the two demonic cultivators now?" he asked. 

Cheng Sheng's attention was shifted and he and Fei Yin looked at the stall owner again. 

"That… they went inside the Heilong." The stall owner answered as he moved to the headboard of the bed to avoid their pressuring gazes and aura. 

"What?!" Wu Yuan's eyes widened as he grabbed the stall owner's collar. "You let them go?!" he asked. 

"What could I do?!" the stall owner's voice was filled with grievance and his eyes looked helpless. "I'm just an ordinary man trying to make a living. When I noticed the ominous atmosphere of the mountain, I don't want to go! But – " he said. " – how can I live with my pockets empty? I can't fill my stomach living as a coward. I am a timid person, but I still went!" he yelled. 

"Senior Wu." Cheng Sheng called and patted Wu Yuan's back. 

Wu Yuan stiffened and noticed that the stall owner's face is red. He is holding the stall owner's collar too tight, making the stall owner choke. He immediately let go of the stall owner. The stall owner almost cried in relief and he coughed, trying to catch his breath. 

"What does the entrance look like?" Cheng Sheng asked while Fei Yin gave the stall owner a cup of water. 

"Too dark." The stall owner answered after he gulped down the cup of water. "If not for the two righteous cultivators, we would've lost our life back there." he sighed. 

"What did they do?" Wu Yuan asked. 

The stall owner took a deep breath. "The mountain is barren and the boulders of rocks scattered all over it are sharp, some are broken." He said. "Many times, some of the people that went with us fell into the cliffs. Some became confused and lost their sanity. They hit their head on the rocks. The two righteous cultivators cleared our mind and protected us along the way." He explained. 

Wu Yuan's cold and hard expression finally softened when he heard something about his father. "And them?" he asked. 

"Aiyo! The two righteous cultivators are clearly strong. What could happen to them?!" the stall owner asked as he drink another cup of water, this time, he poured by himself. 

Wu Yuan fell silent. He is a taciturn person. It was Cheng Sheng who asked. "What senior Wu meant is that, what happened to the two righteous cultivators when they went inside the Ni Lai?" he asked. 

The stall owner's face relaxed when he heard Cheng Sheng's soothing tone. However, when he heard the question, he almost sprayed the water he's drinking. "You!" he said and wanted to point at them. But, remembering they are very strong, he clenched his fists. "If I went there, I wouldn't be here talking to you right now!" he told them. "Naturally, I didn't go inside! I even dare not go near the gate! How could I have the guts to walk into the danger?" he asked in a matter-of-fact tone. 

However, they ignored the complaint in the stall owner's voice and words. They caught a keyword. "'gate'?" they asked. 

The stall owner paused and turned to them. It was now that he remembered he hasn't told them about the gate. "That gate is called the Ni Lai Gate. It is the entrance to Heilong." He explained. 

"What does the gate look like?" Cheng Sheng asked. 

"Because it is too dark, you couldn't see the surroundings." The stall owner said. "But, I don't know what the two righteous cultivators did, the darkness surrounding the Ni Lai Gate disappeared." He said. An expression of awe is on his face, as if he is still marveling before him the scene he saw back then. 

The 'dark' must be referring to the demonic energy. Wu Fan and Chen Jing must have used a method to make the demonic energy disappear. "The Cleansing Talisman." Cheng Sheng suddenly spoke. 

"'talisman'?" the stall owner said. "That's right! I seem to remember something yellow flew in the darkness. Then, that yellow thing suddenly glowed and turned into gold! The darkness around us instantly disappeared!" he told them. 

Their expression turned serious. So, it's really the Cleansing Talisman. They thought as they looked at each other. "They are more prepared than us." Fei Yin patted Cheng Sheng's back, comforting him when he saw the sadness in his lover's face. 

Cheng Sheng deeply breathed to calm his emotions while Wu Yuan remained silent. 

The stall owner saw they look preoccupied. He silently got off the bed and walked on tiptoes towards the door. However, something white suddenly flashed before him and, before he knew it, something wrapped him tight. "Mmh! Mmph!" the stall owner cried. His cries are muffled. 

"What are you hurrying for?" he heard Cheng Sheng's voice asked. "We were very rude to you last night, so we wanted to invite you over a cup of tea. Can you join us?" he asked. 

You are still rude to me right now! The stall owner thought as he struggled inside the Shapeshifting Blanket. And, can I still say no? I'm afraid you would crush me to death if I dare to refuse! "Yes! Yes, I agree!" he screamed inside the Shapeshifting Blanket. 

Cheng Sheng giggled. "The stall owner is so kind." He said and waved his hand. The Shapeshifting Blanket shaped like a human flew and 'sat' on the chair across Cheng Sheng. Then, the Shapeshifting Blanket uncovered the head of the human inside. 

"Hah!" the stall owner breathed when his head was released, but neck down, he was still wrapped like a mummy. "What do you still want? I've already told you everything!" he told them. 

"Indeed, you've told us everything that we asked. However, whether your words are credible or not, it remains to be seen." Cheng Sheng said and smiled. 

The stall owner couldn't help but feel a chill ran down his spine. His heart thudded loudly. He has a bad feeling about this.