Chapter 17: Xianglu Town (Update Notice Included)

Leiyan looked at Heisha beside him and remained silent for a long time. At this moment, Heisha was no longer the previous Master of Luoyun Cave, nor could he even be considered a bearer of resentment. At least resentment that had taken physical form still possessed thoughts and emotions. However, the resentment absorbed into the Blood Soul Banner would be enslaved endlessly, devoid of thought, devoid of emotion, unless the Blood Soul Banner itself was destroyed. All of his actions and behaviors would strictly follow the commands of the banner's master, just like the Five Ghosts. Although Qinghe was dead, with the ownership of the Five Elements Pagoda transferred, the Five Ghosts would once again be enslaved by Leiyan.

After a moment, Leiyan seemed to have made up his decision. He formed an incantation with his hand, and a fiery red true essence, resembling an aurora, shot from his palm directly toward the Blood Soul Banner. The radiance enveloped the Blood Soul Banner like a bubble. Leiyan closed his eyes slightly and continuously poured true essence into the Blood Soul Banner.

The White Tiger raised its eyes and watched Leiyan's actions. It knew that Leiyan was refining the Blood Soul Banner as his natal magical treasure. This kind of natal refinement required some time. Curling its lip, it walked behind Leiyan. Coincidentally, there was a stone platform about a foot in radius behind Leiyan with a flat surface, which would serve nicely for sleeping. Having consumed more than twenty golden cores and several nascent souls, none of which had been refined yet, he could just use this time to refine them.

About half the span of an incense stick later, Leiyan withdrew the Blood Soul Banner into his body. Just as he turned around, he saw the White Tiger sprawled on the stone platform, sleeping soundly. He strode over and kicked it. "We're leaving."

To the White Tiger, this kick felt no different than a scratch. Completely oblivious, the White Tiger rolled over and continued to snore.

"Forget it. We'll be coming back anyway." Leiyan shook his head and waved his right hand. A golden longsword about three feet long appeared out of thin air in front of him. After Leiyan infused it with a strand of true essence, the previously dull golden sword began to emit a dazzling golden light. The glowing sword hovered about a foot away from Leiyan, moving in tandem with him.

Leiyan walked over to Qingling's corpse, picked her up gently, stepped onto the flying sword, and headed straight for the Poison King Valley.

Flying on a sword allowed one to traverse ten thousand miles in a single breath. This was Leiyan's first time experiencing sword flight. Before him lay a boundless expanse; the roaring sound of the wind filled his ears, and clusters of white clouds drifted past his sides, creating an exhilarating and refreshing sensation. Yet, Leiyan had no mood to appreciate it. Controlling his slightly unsteady body, within a few breaths, his figure appeared at the Poison King Valley.

Leiyan was unwilling to let Qingling's body lie in an unfamiliar environment, especially one filled with bloodshed and slaughter. A new grave had been erected in front of the wooden house where Qingling used to live inside the Poison King Valley. Leiyan stood quietly before Qingling's grave, every detail of his life with Qingling flashing through his mind.

After a long while, Leiyan turned and walked into the wooden house where Qingling had lived.

"Heisha, come out." As soon as he stepped inside, Leiyan spoke as if addressing the empty air.

Wisps of black Qi appeared out of thin air inside Qingling's small cabin, entangling together and instantly transforming into Heisha.

"You are a member of the Taizhen Sect?" Leiyan righted a fallen wooden chair, sat down upon it, and asked.

Heisha replied.

"I want to know why you abducted Qingling, and everything about the Taizhen Sect," Leiyan demanded.

Heisha held nothing back, narrating bit by bit as if recounting the affairs of a stranger. There was not the slightest expression on his face. Meanwhile, Leiyan listened with rapt attention, occasionally posing questions to which Heisha would answer fully and truthfully. Although Heisha lacked thoughts and emotions, his memories remained completely intact.

Through Heisha's narration, Leiyan finally understood the cause and effect of the entire matter. At the same time, he gained a deeper understanding of the Taizhen Sect. This Taizhen Sect was a mortal branch of the Immortal Realm's Taiwei Palace, and the Taiwei Palace had yet another mortal branch, the Weichen Pavilion. The Taizhen Sect and Weichen Pavilion shared a common breath and assisted each other. Combined with the intrinsic strength of the two major sects, they could be said to occupy the pinnacle of all sects in the entire cultivation world, without exception. Of course, this required the combined strength of both factions.

What surprised Leiyan the most was Heisha's identity. He turned out to be one of the elders of the Taizhen Sect who had founded Luoyun Cave out of dissatisfaction with the sect's rules and restrictions.

"Step back." With a wave of Leiyan's hand, Heisha's body was scattered like mist and slowly vanished into the air.

"It seems I must plan this carefully." Leiyan let out a slow sigh. The strength of the Taizhen Sect completely exceeded his expectations. He closed his eyes slightly, leaned his body backward, and folded his arms across his chest in deep thought.

"During this trip to Luoyun Cave, the demonic artifact 'Earth Element' was severely damaged; it seems it won't be usable in the short term. The flower demon 'Xiaolan' was actually refined into pills by Heisha, but her strength has reached the Nascent Soul stage, which means I can now use the third form of the Dragon-Driving Art. At the same time, through Qinghe's memories, I have also gained some comprehension of the third realm of the 'Medicine Classic'—that all things can be medicine." Leiyan was secretly calculating the gains and losses of this trip to Luoyun Cave in his heart. Even though his strength had reached the Nascent Soul stage, Leiyan could not feel happy. Qingling's death was too heavy a blow to him.

"It's time to head to Xianglu Town in Feng City." Leiyan's eyes suddenly snapped open, and he slowly stood up.

Feng City was located in the central part of Qingzhou, governing thirteen towns under its jurisdiction. The Lei family had herbal medicine businesses in every single town. Back then, the Lei family had assigned Leiyan to these thirteen towns in Feng City. He had already visited the Hundred Herb Hall in Fangfang Town, but twelve other towns remained. This time, he decided to completely take over the herbal medicine business across all thirteen towns.

Of course, choosing Xianglu Town was not a random selection by Leiyan; it was related to Qinghe's memories. Qinghe had sealed a stone tablet at the bottom of the canal in Xianglu Town using a formation. He had obtained this stone tablet by chance back then, and it recorded the evolution of the Heavenly Dao's Five Elements. It was precisely by relying on this stone tablet that he had attained the realm of an immortal.

Walking out of the cabin, Leiyan set up a Five Elements Annihilation Formation within the Poison King Valley. Then, he flew on his sword toward the outer perimeter. Hovering in mid-air, Leiyan waved his right hand, and dozens of square spiritual stones flew toward the entire mountain. At the same time, Leiyan's fiery red true essence surged into the spiritual stones.

As the fiery red true essence merged into the spiritual stones, gusts of breeze began to blow from an unknown direction, and subtle birdsong echoed subtly through the air. Gradually, the birdsong was drowned out by the sound of crashing waves. Following that, the fragrance of countless flowers and the earthy scent dampened by rain—a variety of exotic aromas assaulted the senses. The spiritual stones floating in mid-air resonated and emitted rays of red light. The interconnected red rays abruptly concealed the entire mountain, replacing it with a mountain completely different from before.

"The Myriad Phenomena Formation on the outside, and the Five Elements Annihilation Formation on the inside. One is an illusion formation, the other a killing formation. At least now I can feel somewhat at ease," Leiyan muttered inwardly as he hovered in the air. He did not want Qingling to be disturbed in any way.

Pointing his right hand forward, Leiyan drove his sword and flew toward Luoyun Mountain.

"Hoo... hoo..." The White Tiger's throat emitted heavy breathing sounds; Leiyan's return seemed to have had no impact on its sleep whatsoever.

Without disturbing the White Tiger, Leiyan walked straight toward the forbidden area at the summit of Luoyun Mountain. According to Heisha, Jinghui was imprisoned within the forbidden area at the peak. Summoning Heisha to lead the way, Leiyan stepped into a secret chamber. What met his eyes was a withered corpse lying on the ground. From the outline of the corpse, it was undoubtedly Jinghui. Having originally intended to inform Jinghui on how to enter the formation he had set up, upon seeing the scene before him, he turned and left.

The people he knew were dying off one by one, and Leiyan's state of mind was drifting toward an extreme. Walking up to a boulder halfway up the mountain, Leiyan abruptly released his murderous intent.

"Which rat-faced coward, why don't you get your ass out here!" The White Tiger startled awake and roared.

"Let's go," Leiyan said coldly.

"So it was you guys." The White Tiger yawned as it relaxed.

The man and the tiger advanced rapidly toward Xianglu Town. Sword flight allowed Leiyan's speed to reach an unimaginable level. Within a few breaths, Leiyan arrived in the skies above Xianglu Town, closely followed by the White Tiger treading on white clouds.

"This... this is a Bagua, a natural Bagua." Leiyan looked down at Xianglu Town below. The town was circular, and a winding canal ran through it, dividing it into two halves.

"Let's go, down we go." Leiyan pointed his right hand toward Xianglu Town and flew downward.

Xianglu Town was relatively remote, and its commerce was not as developed compared to Fangfang Town. However, the canal running through the entire village and town also brought transportation convenience to Xianglu Town. Wharves and boat households of all sizes were extremely numerous, spreading across both banks of the canal. The coolies and boatmen engaged in this trade were as numerous as the hairs on an ox, numbering in the tens of thousands. Wutan was one of those who made a living by the docks.

Wutan was nicknamed Water Otter, and he lived up to his name: his eyes protruded slightly, his ears were short and small, and he had a few short whiskers in the center of his chin. Hunched over, he looked exactly like an otter. Thanks to his skill in reading people's expressions and his talent for bootlicking, he had managed to become a minor gang leader at the docks, managing dozens of coolies and porters, making a living by helping passing merchants transport goods and luggage.

Early this morning, Wutan emerged from the gang's quarters as usual and headed straight for the sedan-bearer ground at the north of the town. Call it a sedan-bearer ground, but it was actually just a strip of ground near the town entrance where sedan chairs were placed. The space was small, only able to accommodate a dozen sedan chairs lined up side by side. According to his original plan, after inspecting the sedan-bearer ground at the north of the town, he would head directly to the riverside, which was the real battleground contested by major gangs.

Just as Wutan was about to leave, his gaze swept across two people entering from the north of the town, and his footsteps paused simultaneously. One was a young man who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old, and the other was a yawning brawny man.

The young man wore a blood-red robe, his eyes filled with murderous intent. He had stopped the moment he stepped into the town. Meanwhile, the other brawny man seemed unusually exhausted, wearing a look of lacking sleep, yet the casual glance he cast toward Wutan contained a hint of mockery. This trace of mockery made Wutan involuntarily take two steps back as he thought to himself, "Who on earth are these two people?"

*(PS: Just this one chapter today. Regarding the update schedule: I am now updating 6,000 words a day. Anything more counts as a burst, and anything less will be made up later. Any issues will likewise be left in the author's notes. I was delayed by things over the past two days, falling short by about 5,000 words. I will make up for it in the next day or two.)*