Chapter 443: Chapter 161: Three People of Yuxu
A strong wind carried a man and a tiger to a mountain gorge, where the Taoist Riding Tiger looked in the direction where Jiang Li had disappeared, shaking his head with some regret. He patted the head of the tiger beneath him and said, "Tiger brother, you ran too slowly, we couldn’t even manage to intercept that fellow Daoist."
The white-foreheaded old tiger rolled a big white eye, shook its head to brush off the Daoist’s hand, and its long dragon whiskers fluttered beside its face.
"Shen Hou, with everyone wanting to beat you up, if I didn’t run fast, you would have been beaten to death by now," the tiger spoke in a human voice, with a wry tone, "Your reputation stinks to high heavens, it was clearly because they recognized your identity that they decisively fled. It has nothing to do with me."
"I happen to agree with that."
A young Daoist climbed up the cliff, spat out bloody phlegm, and expressed his agreement deeply.
"You agree with shit," Shen Hou also rolled his eyes, "If you hadn’t insisted on going ahead, you wouldn’t have ended up getting beaten like this."
They had all come to Liangzhou Province together, but this youngster in front of them insisted on going ahead, not wanting to travel with him. As a result, when trouble came, he couldn’t beat the other party and got hurt like this.
In Daoist Shen’s view, this was self-inflicted.
"Getting hurt while being chivalrous is unavoidable."
The young Daoist smiled nonchalantly, "It’s a pity it was Uncle Master Shen who came. If it were Uncle Master Yin, he would have been able to stop that snake demon."
"He went directly to Wuzhiqi," Shen Hou also saw the many fish and shrimp still bouncing on the ground around them, shaking his head, "Wuzhiqi brought a large number of demons as he traveled north, causing floods everywhere. If we could slay Wuzhiqi, it would surely lead to a great decline in the demonic calamity. That’s what your cockfighting uncle thinks."
"As for that snake demon..."
Shen Hou revealed a meaningful expression, looking in the direction where Jiang Li had disappeared, "To have fled under my divine skills, he either possesses remarkable cultivation or was aided by astonishing destiny. This person is no ordinary Devil Cultivator."
Remarkable cultivation could make one’s life essence incredibly powerful, while astonishing destiny would bring a great deal of "gravity." Only having one of these two could one potentially flee under Shen Hou’s divine skills.
And the opponent’s response didn’t seem like the former, so it must have been astonishing destiny.
"This person’s identity is definitely extraordinary; he could very well be related to the Great Venerable of the Devil God Sect." Shen Hou declared confidently.
Upon hearing this, the young Daoist’s face showed regret, "It’s my fault. If I could have detained him for a moment longer, we might have been able to capture him."
Capturing this significant figure might have allowed them to control the Devil God Sect to some extent, but unfortunately, the opportunity had slipped away and couldn’t be reclaimed.
"If you had delayed any longer, I could have been collecting your corpse."
Shen Hou said irritably, then patted the tiger’s backside, "Let’s go, let’s go. With you trying to eradicate demons all by yourself, how long will it take? It’s better to go to Shu County and join the fellows there. With the strength of many, we can suppress this demonic disaster together."
"Don’t pat my butt."
The dragon whisker tiger beneath him said dissatisfiedly upon hearing this, obediently conjured wind, and with a lift, it threw the young Daoist onto its back and soared into the air with the two of them, flying northwest. Before long, they had vanished from sight.
The once bustling mountain gorge suddenly became deserted, with only the howling wind and the rushing river.
Just like that, a quarter of an hour passed...
"No one?"
Shadows distorted, and the two men and one tiger who had left reappeared. Shen Hou, riding on the tiger’s back, swept his Divine Sense around, shaking his head dissatisfied, "The young people these days are no good; they actually just ran off. That’s way too straightforward."
He sighed deeply, and Shen Hou once again urged the tiger into flight.
Then another three quarters of an hour passed.
The ground heaved slightly, and the two men and tiger slowly rose from underground.
Shen Hou smiled lightly, "Fellow Daoist, you made one bad move, and now your tracks are revealed."
"Hoo—"
A great wind howled in response to his words, met only by prolonged silence.
The young Daoist, who was seated at the back healing his injuries, couldn’t help but sigh lightly, "Uncle Master, are you maybe overthinking this?"
"You don’t understand, nephew. It’s called being cautious to avoid major mistakes," Shen Hou responded, and after waiting another half quarter of an hour, he shook his head, "Seems like there really is no one; let’s go, let’s go."
He rode the tiger away once more.
The wind continued to blow, and another half hour passed.
Suddenly, a lingering figure hurried past, and a low curse could be heard through the wind, "Wasting my time."
This time, it seemed they had truly left.
Thus, after another hour had passed, a tiny blue butterfly crawled out of the rushing river, flicked its wings to shed the water droplets, and slowly took off, flitting away.
It flew roughly three miles, until it arrived at a dense forest where it leisurely landed on the finger of a person in green.
Jiang Li, having resumed his human form, caught the Blue Butterfly and reflected, "Daoist Shen truly is difficult to deal with, fortunately I’m even better at surviving."
The Daoist’s surname was Shen, his true name unknown, but because he came from an aristocratic family that had fallen from grace, he styled himself as Shen Hou, and he was one of the Twelve Immortals currently in power at the Yuxu Temple.
That young Daoist must be a contemporary disciple of Yuxu Temple, judging by his methods, he seemed somewhat like he had inherited the Dao Fruit of Guang Chengzi and was a practitioner of that lineage, Daoist Guang Cheng.
As for the "Uncle Master Yin" they mentioned, he should be the one, the shortest among the Twelve Immortals, a Fourth-Grade Expert carrying the Divine Skills of the Three Altars Sea Meeting Great God, known as "Dragon Slayer Daoist," who specifically made trouble for the Dragon Palace.
It was said that the number of Dragon Dao Fruit Practitioners who died at his hands, including Flood Dragons, was close to a thousand if not eight hundred, rightfully earning him the title of a professional dragon slayer.
With this skill of slaying dragons, he quickly reached Fourth Grade Perfection in a short period of time and ranked among the top in power even among the fourth-rank.
Then, he prematurely enjoyed the treatment reserved for the third grade...
It was said that the Dragon Palace was always watching the Dragon Slayer Daoist, specifically sabotaging his Promotion Ceremony—even deploying third-grade experts for this cause, and since the other third-grade experts were also pleased to see this, they let the Dragon Palace do as it pleased.
Isn’t dispatching a third grade to watch someone else one less third grade to watch themselves? Moreover, Yuxu Temple itself had no shortage of third-grade experts—they had a total of three, and if there were one more, they might dare to forcefully advance in rank.
So, the group of Sixth Brothers not only turned a blind eye to the Dragon Palace’s actions but secretly assisted and fanned the flames.
Of course, the Dragon Palace wouldn’t be grateful for this because they wouldn’t allow the Dragon Slayer Daoist to be killed, thus liberating the combat power of the Dragon Palace’s third grade...
’Dragon Slayer Daoist, a fourth-rank, this Daoist Shen... This person must have contained the Dao Fruit of Shen Gongbao, and his lethal power seems even greater than the former’s.’
Thinking of his previous encounter, Jiang Li wanted to take a deep breath of cold air and muttered under his breath, "This old man is terrifying indeed."
He was possessed of the Three Emperors’ Destiny, with a defensive strength undoubtedly not inferior to the fourth-rank, yet he had still nearly been caught by Shen’s ploy. Even a fourth-rank probably couldn’t withstand a "Fellow Daoist, please stay."
With these two individuals arriving in Liangzhou Province, Shu County was definitely going to be lively.
’Listening to Daoist Shen Hou, that person went to look for Wuzhiqi, I wonder how that is going... According to them, quite some time seems to have passed since I entered Wushan...’
As Jiang Li pondered this, he looked up at the sky and calculated the date.
November 23rd.
The date he and Gongsun Yuanxi entered Wushan was November 14th.
So, had it been nine days? Was the flow of time in Wushan abnormal?
Jiang Li frowned; it seemed a bit too long. He continued his calculation.
He figured out that the flow of time in Wushan was indeed not normal, but it wasn’t extremely abnormal either, as he calculated that the duration of the previous cloud and rain event had totaled...
"Three days," Jiang Li said, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Because he had calculated that he and Gongsun Yuanxi had been together for three days, no wonder by the end he felt emptied, and even touching Gongsun Yuanxi’s slightly swollen belly.
It was just as well the benefits of advancing in Dao Fruit essence were significant; otherwise, Jiang Li wouldn’t be able to straighten his back.
After confirming that indeed nine days had passed, Jiang Li found the current situation a bit confusing.
Listening to those two Daoists, Wuzhiqi had already entered Liangzhou Province and brought a large number of subordinates, stirring up trouble, to the extent that people from Yuxu Temple wanted to fight upon seeing Jiang Li, most likely mistaking him for one of the trouble-making Devil Cultivators.
In addition, the Devil God Sect wouldn’t sit idly by either. At this point, the situation in Liangzhou Province was probably in complete chaos already, no wonder Yuxu Temple, which had always been neutral, had come to Liangzhou Province.
They were not summoned by the Taiping Sect, but for the chaotic situation itself.
While Jiang Li was thinking, he took out the Wind Queen Compass to calculate the situation.
His main objective now was to achieve Sixth Grade Perfection, and although the current situation wasn’t favorable for the court, it was advantageous for Jiang Li. However, to get involved, he still needed to find the right entry point.
And this entry point...
"Shu County," Jiang Li stopped in motion and declared these two words.
Shu County, the location where the Taiping Sect had invited all sects of the Mystic Sect, was also likely to be the site of the worst of the upcoming demon disasters.
Thus, to Shu County, he would go.