CH 7

The demonic carriage stopped in front of the glazed tower. From afar, the tower didn’t seem incredibly tall. Yet up close, it was impossible to see the top of the tower from the base.

The glazed tiles reflected turquoise under the sun, while the smoky-green copper bells hanging from the corner beams seemed even lusher under the shade of the surrounding pines and bamboo. 

Gan’er exclaimed excitedly, “What a beautiful tower!”

She had just finished speaking when her Venerable Lord shot her a disdainful look and said, “Is the Demon Palace not beautiful?”

After getting scolded once again, Gan’er hid by Yi Ning’s side, gripping onto Yi Ning’s clothes hem and feeling wronged. She finally realised that her Venerable Lord was only gentle to Immortal Master Yi Ning.

Seeing her scoot closer to Yi Ning, Yan Xuan sneered and mouthed, “Be careful of getting sealed.” 

Gan’er’s little hand trembled and loosened its grip on Yi Ning’s clothes as she hurriedly scurried back to Yan Xuan’s side.

Seeing her let go, Yan Xuan felt marginally satisfied, reaching out a hand and snagging Gan’er’s collar to hoist her in front of himself, splitting her and Yi Ning apart.

“I only seal those who aren’t right in the head.” As Yi Ning brushed past Yan Xuan, he lightly threw down such a phrase.

Yan Xuan: …

So he saw it all.

Tch, saying one thing but implying another, how duplicitous. Yan Xuan silently scolded, but still followed behind Yi Ning.

Outside the Glazed Tower, two guards stood on either side of the entrance. Yan Xuan cast a spell to disguise his and Gan’er’s demonic energy, then said commandingly, “Go knock on the door. Say you’re Immortal Master Yi Ning.”

Yi Ning sighed deeply, thinking, how is this person so naturally taking advantage of his reputation? 

Who could’ve expected that when the two guards heard they were people from outside the city, they immediately brandished their blades, refusing to hear Yi Ning’s explanation.

“Monsters have been rampaging in the city lately and have already spirited away 18 people. The city is now under martial law, so hurry and scram out of the city!” One of the guards wielding a saber reached out a hand to push Yi Ning, only to have his west caught by Yan Xuan.

A dark ruthlessness flashed through his eyes, and his fingers tightened, as if he wanted to crush the guard’s wrist in his hand.

“Don’t.” Yi Ning hurriedly pressed down on Yan Xuan’s hand, his warm fingertips covering the back of his hand. 

He continued quietly, “Don’t cause unnecessary trouble.”

Being touched by him like this, Yan Xuan couldn’t bring himself to proceed. He made a vague sound of affirmation and threw aside the guard’s wrist.

“What did you just say about monsters?” Yi Ning wasn’t that anxious about curing the poison; with Yan Xuan’s blood, he could feel the poison being suppressed.

The guard had been frightened by Yan Xuan, and understood that there were bigshots in front of him. He immediately explained in a respectful and servile tone, “Your Lordships might not be aware of this, but recent rumours say there is a rat demon in the city that eats newlywed brides. Already, 18 new brides have been spirited away, not even the eldest young lady from the illustrious Xu family could escape this unfortunate calamity…” 

A rat demon that solely ate newlywed brides.

Virtually in an instant, Yan Xuan and Gan’er’s eyes made contact, and they each understood the other’s thoughts.

If it were the rat race, then within Ganlin City, there was only Fang Shilan.

She was probably hidden in a corner of the Glazed Tower somewhere, and the 18 new brides were being held captive by her. 

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This was because Gan’er firmly believed that the Demon Venerable would return.

As for Fang Shilan, she belonged to the rat race that was among those who escaped back then and had married a human. Yan Xuan had always hated her.

“Open the door.” Yan Xuan’s voice cooled. He wanted to see for himself what Fang Shilan had become. 

Before Fang Shilan left that year, she kneeled in front of him and made a solemn oath.

“Venerable Lord, I wholeheartedly believe that he can make me happy, he isn’t like those other humans.”

Whether it be humans or demons, they both rejected the existence of half-demons, let alone each other.

The guard looked slightly troubled and shot Yi Ning a glance asking for his help. This time however, Yi Ning had no intention of helping him. “Open the door. We are from Mingguang Sect, here to help Ganlin City exterminate evil.” 

Upon hearing Mingguang Sect’s name, the guard’s eyes glittered, Mingguang Sect was a large righteous sect after all. He immediately commanded the person beside him to open the main door, then led the way in for Yi Ning and his group.

“Immortal Master, you lied.” Yan Xuan chuckled lightly, finger hooked onto the sword tassel at Yi Ning’s hip and toying with it.

Yi Ning’s expression was unchanging as he took back his sword tassel, fearful that in a fit of insanity, Yan Xuan would burn it as well. After a while, he replied, “I didn’t lie. I truly want to help them exterminate evil.”

“What?” Yan Xuan’s voice darkened, as if he was incredibly dissatisfied. “Are you sticking your nose into other people’s business again? Worry about saving your own life first before you worry about others.” 

Yan Xuan didn’t care whether other people lived or died, but he also knew what Yi Ning was like. Even if he got angry and raged, Yi Ning would never change his mind.

He cursed under his breath, which fell into Yi Ning’s ears. Yi Ning’s lashes twitched and he stopped to address Yan Xuan, “I will go by myself to investigate the situation. You just need to wait here for my return. Once I am done, I will come back…”

“Shut it.”

Yan Xuan seized his sword tassel and used it to drag him in front of him, spitting out a warning one word at a time, “With your current cultivation, without me, you’re just sending yourself to your death. Understand?” 

Understood, but, release my sword tassel.

Yi Ning looked at his sword tassel, which had been tugged and squeezed by Yan Xuan until it had changed shape, and felt the corners of his lips twitch. This was the fourth item that had been destroyed by Yan Xuan. If this went on, every item on his body would eventually be destroyed by him.

“Okay,” Yi Ning sighed helplessly, “I won’t go.”

Not going? How did he agree so easily? Was there a trick somewhere? Yan Xuan stared suspiciously at him, and after a while, Gan’er’s little head poked out from between the two of them as she said in a small voice, “There’s so much demonic energy here! Venerable Lord, Immortal Master, do you feel it?” 

“I feel it.” Yi Ning’s expression was solemn, his hand resting lightly on his sword hilt in preparation. Ever since they entered the Glazed Tower, there was an unending surge of demonic energy coiling around them.

Yan Xuan didn’t speak, but his brows furrowed. Evidently, he had also sensed it.

There should not be such a high concentration of demonic energy here.

The entire tower was made from an enormous, hollowed out tree trunk, then connected and reinforced by planks of sturdy nanmu wood. All around them, interlocking wooden brackets connected beams to a center column that bore the load and supported the huge tower eaves. On the bottom floor, there was an incredibly long winding corridor that circled all the way up to the top of the tower. Several strange buddhist artworks were hung on the corridor walls, yet inside the altar covered in dust, there was not a single Buddha statue. 

The tower’s windows were made from a layer of clamshells that had been sanded thin, yet now they had been covered by thick oilpaper and only let in faint traces of light, causing the interior of the tower to seem much gloomier.

These phenomena were obviously incredibly strange, yet neither the guard leading the way nor the servant girls within the tower felt there was anything wrong.

“Esteemed Immortal, the CIty Lord only receives guests after Si-shi, I request you to wait here for the time being.” The guard led them to a square room. Within the room, two servant girls were sitting upright on prayer mats, waving fans and smiling sweetly at them.

There wasn’t anything that was obviously out of place, Yi Ning just felt that they were too calm. 

A pot of tea was warming on the table, Yan Xuan and Gan’er seemed very at home, busying themselves with pouring tea. Yi Ning pressed a hand to his forehead, using voice transmission to say to them, “There are many odd things occurring, do not touch anything here.”

Yan Xuan gave him a look, then under Yi Ning’s gaze, took a sip of the tea and even smiled provokingly at him.

Yi Ning: …

Alright then, just take it that he didn’t say anything. 

In the past, Yan Xuan liked to go against him, and even after being sealed for nine years, there was no improvement in that aspect of him. In fact, he seemed to have gotten worse.

“What, are you thinking about sealing me again?” Yan Xuan propped up his chin, leaning lazily against the Buddhist altar. A demonic cultivator dressed in black and a golden-yellow altar made up a strange yet oddly harmonic picture, bringing with it a weird beauty.

Yi Ning silently moved his gaze away and prayed that there was something within the tea, preferably something that would shut up Yan Xuan.

Yan Xuan used the tip of his saber to gently lift Yi Ning’s clothes hem, then said, “Isn’t your Mingguang Sect uniform too ugly? When you wear it, it seems even uglier; why not change into the clothes of my Demon Palace?” 

Yi Ning lifted up his tea cup and sniffed lightly. There weren’t any strange scents and he lifted his eyes with slight regret to look at Yan Xuan and replied, “No need.”

Hearing his words, Yan Xuan tsked again, then turned to bully Gan’er, tugging on her little braids.

Yan Xuan probably thought that he was boring too, just like Liu Rugeng said. Eventually, he would become like Gong Xiuxian and feel that he was too cold and indifferent, and grow tired of him.

But, this was him. 

Strange, why did he care how Yan Xuan saw him? Yi Ning closed his eyes and purged his mind of all stray thoughts, then looked at a servant girl and asked, “Do you know anything about the monsters running rampant in Ganlin City?”

The servant girl waved her fan, seeming unafraid, and even her tone when talking about the rat demon was natural. “Replying Esteemed Immortal, rumour has it that it only kidnaps new brides, and has already stolen away 18 girls.”

This was something Yi Ning already knew, he wanted to hear something different, for example: “Does the City Lord know of the current situation?”

“Naturally. Didn’t the Lord invite you here to exterminate evil?” The servant girl’s smile was warm, and she seemed incredibly trusting of the City Lord. 

“The Lord said that since immortals from the Mingguang Sect have come, then the monster will surely be exterminated.”

The City Lord invited immortals from the Mingguang Sect to exterminate evil? Yi Ning took a moment to react to the news that the Ganlin City Lord had actually invited Mingguang Sect cultivators to exterminate evil.

However, it was definitely not Yi Ning. At that time, Yi Ning was probably still in the Demon Palace.

Then, who was the one who came? 

Creak–

The door to the room was pushed open and everybody within the room looked over. Yi Ning’s grip on his sword unconsciously tightened.

“Shizun.”

It was the worst possibility, Gong Xiuxian. 

Gong Xiuxian seemed haggard, as if he hadn’t slept well for a long time. There were dark shadows under his eyes which made him look wan and sallow, but the instant when his gaze fell on Yi Ning, a spark lit up the depths of his eyes. Standing behind him was none other than Liu Rugeng.

“Xiuxian, Ganlin City is so much more bustling than the village under our Mount Yunqing, why don’t we…” His words died on his tongue the moment he caught sight of Yi Ning and Yan Xuan, a glimmer of shock and fear flashing through his eyes which swiftly transformed into boundless hatred.

Ever since that day when Yan Xuan crushed his fingers, no matter how many spiritual medicines Gong Xiuxian gave him, his fingers couldn’t regain their normal operation because the bones inside had already been completely crushed.

Yet the one who Liu Rugeng hated the most wasn’t Yan Xuan but Yi Ning. Yi Ning must have cajoled this wild man to take revenge on him. 

On the other side of the room, Yan Xuan instantly pulled out his saber, the wind from the blade being pulled out incomparably sharp and nearly reducing the tea table to smithereens.

To the side, the servant girls let out shrill screams and tossed away the fans in their hands.

“Don’t!” Yi Ning raised his sword to block Yan Xuan’s saber, using all his strength to barely stop him.

If they fought in such confined space, not just the bottom floor, but the entire Glazed Tower could be destroyed by the sword auras. 

At that time, everyone inside would be crushed to death.

Yi Ning unconsciously shielded Yan Xuan and Gan’er behind him; he was still in the mindset of Immortal Master Yi Ning, where everybody needed his protection.

This scene pierced into the eyes of Gong Xiuxian. Why was Shizun protecting a couple of demonic cultivators? He was Yi Ning’s disciple, in the past, the one who was protected by Shizun had always been him.

“Shizun, are you aware of what you’re doing right now? Are you aware of how, according to Mingguang Sect’s rules, you would be punished for protecting demonic cultivators?” Gong Xiuxian’s heart was shaken, this was the first time he knew the taste of hate borne of jealousy. 

The punishment was to be stripped of his immortal body and be reduced to a regular mortal.

So what?

Yi Ning was unwilling to speak to him, even looking at him was irritating.

Liu Rugeng hid behind Gong Xiuxian timidly, saying tearfully, “Xiuxian, I’m scared.” 

Hearing that, Gong Xiuxian shielded Liu Rugeng behind him, intentionally placing his hand on Liu Rugeng’s waist and saying gently, “Don’t be afraid, I’m here.”

Even if Shizun was still harbouring anger, he definitely would not be able to endure him treating somebody else tenderly. According to Gong Xiuxian’s understanding of Yi Ning, if he begged him softly, Shizun would never turn back.

He was innately cold and indifferent, yet he treated him specially, because he was the disciple who had accompanied him for nine years. Gong Xiuxian had unwavering belief in this fact.

Yi Ning only gave them a glance and felt disgusted at the sight. He shifted his gaze to look somewhere else, but when this sight fell into Gong Xiuxian’s eyes, he only felt that this was a display of how much Yi Ning was bothered by it. 

“Esteemed Immortals, p-please don’t fight here.” Seeing that they had finally calmed down somewhat, a servant girl spoke weakly, “The City Lord will be here after Si-shi, please calm down and enjoy some tea.”

In a short while, the room was completely silent. Yi Ning pursed his lips and finally asked, “Are there any other waiting rooms?”

“The City Lord is not a fan of extravagance, so this is the only one suitable for hosting guests.” The servant girl replied timidly.

Yi Ning let out a long sigh, then replied, “I understand.” 

Since that was the case, then he’ll just endure it for the time being. Curing the poison and exterminating evil was more important.

“Tell them to scram.” The next second, Yan Xuan spoke, and his tone was as cold as fallen snow.