CH 16

The speed at which Wen Changchu descended the mountain was horrible. Lou Muge sat on his bumpy back, grabbed his fur tightly with both hands, and was barely thrown off. The wind and snow mercilessly slapped him on the face, causing him stabbing pain.

Lou Muge wanted him to slow down a bit, but just as he opened his mouth, he ate a mouthful of fresh ice and snow. Snow balls filled the tip of the tongue to his throat, so he hurriedly shut his mouth.

Wen Changchu stretched his four limbs majestically. He sprang high, high up in the air, crossed the distorted town, and landed in the middle of it from the sky. His landing seemingly shook Shan’an City for a while.  

He stopped so abruptly that Lou Muge, who had been clinging tightly the entire time, couldn’t contain his momentum and fell down from the wolf’s back, plunging headlong into the snow pit.

Ning Shaosi hurriedly slid down from above and fished him out of the snow pit.

By the time Lou Muge stood up, his head and shoulders were covered with snow. Just as he was about to teach Wen Changchu a lesson, the sight before him sucke his breath away. 

He saw mud pillars rising straight from the ground and swept the people of Shan’an City into it.All he could see and hear heads and non-stop screaming. On a closer look, they were all elders, though. The remaining pillar gathered next to the mud pillars, and the moment they saw Lou Muge and his companions suddenly descend, the opened the mouths and cried for help.

“Little Divine Immortal! Please save us!” Elder Guo, who sold them noodles, shouted among them.

Lou Muger raised his hand at her, signaling her to stay calm. However, the group were already scared out of their wits and could barely calm down. Thus, varying voices intertwined.

He turned his head and saw Tao Ming standing next to the statue of the Water Goddess in the middle of the city, dressed in blue. His eyes were still closed, and his face was calm, unperturbed by the chaos.

At this time, Tao Ming looked as gentle as usual. His chin was slightly raised and his lips appeared sharp. He exuded an inexplicable aggressiveness, but his eyes weren’t open, so no one could spy on his emotions.

Lou Muge looked left and right, but did not find anyone else. He frowned in confusion, “Is it you?”

Tao Ming tilted his head and replied, “It’s me.”

“Don’t tell me…” Lou Muge muttered.

The reason he was sure that the demons haunting the city weren’t the two brothers was because he couldn’t detect a trace of demonic aura on them. They were no different from a mortal both in and out.

If the culprits were indeed the pair of brothers, then since they could conceal themselves from Wen Changchu, Zhang Rong and others, either their powers were far superior than them, or they have a qiankun to hide their aura.

Before Lou Muge could figure things out, Lady Zhu, who was chasing after them, arrived with her fiery feather. She raised her hand and a flaming blade flew toward them. Lou Muge dodged in time. Unexpectedly, the fire blade grazed the Water Goddess statue and burned it in a moment.

The raging flames spread very fast. Tao Ming, who was standing next to the stone statue, felt the hot temperature and subconsciously stepped back. However, a thought seemingly struck him. He flinched and quickly stretched out his hand, catching the floating bead in the palm of the Water Goddess in his hand.

Tao Ming moved swiftly, but he was still burned by the flames. The power of the Vermilion Bird Divine Flame was unusual, so Tao Ming couldn’t resist it at all. In a blink, the flame landed on his arm and climbed along his body.

“Brother!” A frightened scream resounded somewhere, followed by Tao Zhai, who pounced up without delay with a radiance condensed in his palm. He covered the place where Tao Ming was burning, and the flames were snuffed out at once, revealing only black and blue burn marks.

Tao Ming was sweating and trembling from the fire, but he was holding the white bead that he snatched from the stone statue in his hand. Tao Ming was angry. He slapped his arms and shouted, “Are you crazy? Are you throwing away your life for the sake of a rubbish stone?!”

Tao Ming’s lips quivered: “This is not a rubbish stone!”

Tao Zhai seemed to love his elder brother very much. Seeing his pained appearance, he couldn’t bear to argue with him. He just healed him with the light condensed from his palm. In the twinkling of an eye, he looked daggers at Lady Zhu in the sky.

The woman sneered, “Yo, your courage has grown a lot. Is it because you saw people from the Immortal Realm here and think you have a backer?

Tao Ming looked up at her and said coldly, “No one will be our backer. We have agreed that you wanted souls, while I wanted mortal life. Since you got what you wanted, please leave quickly and don’t interfere with the life and death of these people.”

Lady Zhu retorted disdainfully, “I have no time to interfere with the life and death of these people. A tiny pest just provoked me, and I came here to take his life.”

The two exchanged words, seemingly having no intentions of covering up anything. Instead, they let Lou Muge and the others hear their intentions.

It turned out that what happened in Shan’an City was a conspiracy between the two parties.

Lou Muge interjected at the moment, but he took on the role of a peacemaker. He said to Tao Ming, “Don’t worry, no matter whether you demons want souls or lives, you have to go at it one by one.”

Wen Changchu grunted under his breath, “I have a good idea.”

“Say it.” Lou Muge quickly picked up his words.

Only to see him turning his wrist, drawing his dark scimitar and raising his chin to Lady Zhu: “I’ll deal with the one above, and you deal with these two below, how about it?”

Lou Muge looked at him in disbelief. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in Wen Changchu’s power, but they were talking about someone from the Zhu Clan. He didn’t have exact details about the woman. If he were to engage her head-on rashly, who knew who would lose?

His doubt stimulated Wen Changchu. He tore off his cotton padded robe and snorted heavily. He planned to uphold his name, so he flew up with a scimitar. He didn’t give others a chance to respond at all. The wind rolled up and ruffled Lou Muge’s long hair.

Seeing his whirlwind movement, Lady Zhu immediately hurled several fire blades at him. Wen Changchu might look like he was bluffing, but his strikes were unambiguous. He nimbly dodged, and aimed his blade straight into the woman’s neck. The woman flipped to dodge and didn’t dare to take him lightly. Armed with fiery feathers, she confronted him head-on.

Lou Muge muttered inwardly: The whelp still has a trick or two.

Ning Shaosi tugged at his sleeve, dragging his eyes down from the air and locked eyes with Tao Zhai.

He was still as grim and cold as ever. From the very start, this young man had always faced him with hostility.

Lou Muge wondered, “Have I dug your family’s ancestral grave?”

Tao Zhai ignored his nonsense and just said, “The Shan’an people sowed their own sins, and became victims to their own evil deeds. I do not want to hurt the innocent, so advise you not to meddle in this matter.”

Lou Muger smiled, raised the immortal stone worn on his wrist and said, “Let me be honest with you. I actually don’t want to meddle in your business, but I can’t help it.”

“What do you want?” Tao Zhai asked.

“It’s what you want,” Lou Muge replied.

Tao Zhai glanced at his brother beside him and uttered, fiercely and coldly, “I want the lives of everyone in Shan’an City.”

“Brother…” Tao Ming couldn’t help but call out to him. However, Tao Zhai interrupted him, “Shut up. These people long deserved to die.”

“Oh?” Lou Muge raised his eyebrows. “Why do they deserve to die?”

Tao Zhai’s eyes were chilly, but he didn’t say anything further.

Wen Changchu and Lady Zhu were already fervently fighting in the air, and their moves were all murderous. Meanwhile, the old people gathered inside the mud pillars kept crying for help. The rest of the Shan’an residents huddled together only shivered in fright as they watched on, but none could stand up or say a word.

It seemed like things were at a standstill again.

Just when Lou Muge wanted to ask some more, he heard Zhang Rong’s voice suddenly sounding from the side: “What nonsense are you wasting on these demons? Just kill them and return to Immortal Realm to report on the completion of our task!”

The man, whom Lady Zhu seriously injured earlier, also arrived at some point. Perhaps knowing that all the disturbance was the work of the two Tao brothers, he couldn’t restrain himself from commenting when Lou Muge acted as if he had all the time in the world.

As long as the two brothers were dead, the immortal gates would open and it would be the end of the first trial. Lady Zhu was making trouble in the city, so if they couldn’t find a way to escape quickly, they’d likely all die here.

Zhang Rong was a member of the Water Dragon clan in the Immortal Realm and could control all waters in the world. The moment he took a shot, dozens of water condensed into sharp arrows flew straight to the two brothers.

Water bore all things, was the softest matter in the world, and also also the strongest thing.

Just as Lou Muge turned his head, he saw those water arrows grazing past his ears and aiming at Tao Ming and Tao Zhai’s hearts. He wanted to stop it, but a water wall condensed at that moment, preventing him from stopping Zhang Rong’s sharp arrows.

There was still an essential disparity in strength between water demons and water dragons.

Tao Ming might be blind, but he could sense the killing intent. Without a second thought, he pushed Tao Zhai out of the way. Without the only one who could protect him, those water arrows pierced Tao Ming’s heart accurately. After an arrow pierced his chest, two more arrows hit his shoulder and abdomen.

The water arrows melted into his body, but didn’t shed blood. Tao Ming stumbled back and collapsed directly on the ground. Tao Zhai screamed and rushed forward, hugging him in his arms and covering the wound in his heart with his hand.

Seeing this, Zhang Rong attempted to strike again, but a snowball that Lou Muge formed hit smashed him in the face.

“I’m fine,” Tao Ming said, shoving the bead in his hand into Tao Zai’s. “I’m going back to the mountain first. You must not do anything stupid. I’ll wait for you back there.”

Tao Zhai clenched his teeth, and even the blue veins in his arms seemed to burst. He gave off the feeling that he would crush the bead in his hand, but in the end, he couldn’t bear to do it. He said to Tao Ming, “I won’t go back.”

After Tao Ming heard his response, his calm mood suddenly fluctuated: “Listen to me, you must return!”

“How can I feel at ease if this vengeance isn’t exacted?!” Tao Zhai retorted with an even louder shout. Even his eyes reddened. “Should I just let you give away this pair of eyes for nothing?”

“No matter what, I can never retrieve my eyes. Please stop.” Tao Ming begged, “I just want you and me to live.”

“But I’m unwilling! I’m not willing!” Tao Zhai gritted his teeth and roared. His eyes moistened, and a condensed tear fell, gently dropping on Tao Ming’s chin.

Feeling this teardrop, Tao Ming struggled at once, and his voice hinted on a fearful tremble: “What are you doing? Don’t cry!”

After Tao Zhai shed this tear, a light condensed on his body. It was as white as frost and snow, and it increasingly brightened. Amidst Tao Ming’s panicked scream, a layer of circle light violently burst. Snowstorm blew all over the ground, and an impactful force shook the earth. All that could be heard was the howling wind. Thunder clouds surged, and the sky darkened in an instant.

The snowstorm blew Lou Muge away. His face was icy cold, and his long hair fluttered. His robes flapped, but he suddenly sensed a familiar aura. He froze almost immediately, and his eyes fixed on Tao Zhai, who was emitting light. Excitement ignited in his beautiful eyes, breaking their calmness.

800 years might have passed, but this was an aura that Lou Muge could never forget no matter how time flew.

Unparalleled in the world, the aura that belonged to Ning Shaosi alone.