Chapter 48: The Song Ends, the Crowd Disperses

Chapter 48: The Song Ends, the Crowd Disperses

Li Yan's face was twisted in pain, beads of sweat the size of beans rolling down his cheeks. His earlier sneak attack had been thwarted, and one of his legs was now crippled.

Strategist Ji's face was just as contorted. He felt his strength faltering, and the venomous hatred in his eyes grew more intense. With a sudden burst of force from his right hand, he yanked Li Yan closer, dragging him to within mere inches of his own body.

Li Yan could feel Strategist Ji's left hand getting dangerously close. He had witnessed how Hong Linying had died just moments ago and had already formed a grim suspicion. Dong Fuyi had once warned him that Strategist Ji had mastered several immortal techniques and told him to be wary. That technique just now was likely one of them.

Li Yan felt the pulling force from the palm pressing on his crown intensify. He immediately channeled all his spiritual energy, pouring it frantically into his crown and lower body.

On one hand, this forced more fire spiritual energy into Strategist Ji's body; on the other, it made Li Yan's stance heavier and harder to move. He was gambling that Strategist Ji would be consumed by the fire poison before he himself ran dry of spiritual power.

Thus, the two clung bitterly to life. Strategist Ji's vision had already begun to blur, his head pounding, but no matter how he struggled, he couldn't pull Li Yan even a bit closer.

With a sudden bite to his own tongue, Strategist Ji forced himself into clarity. Eyes bloodshot, he abruptly released all spiritual power suppressing the fire poison in his body. That power split into two streams: a small one surged toward his left hand, while the majority flooded into his right.

With a roar like a dying beast, he yanked hard once more.

"Die, for, me!"

Li Yan gritted his teeth, enduring desperately. His whole body was drenched in sweat. With spiritual energy surging out so recklessly, he was approaching his limit. His heart thudded loudly, golden stars flickering before his eyes.

Suddenly, he felt an even greater force pulling down from his crown. He instantly realized, this was Strategist Ji's final gambit. With a cold resolve, he abruptly cut off the spiritual power flowing into both his crown and his lower body.

Strategist Ji felt all resistance vanish from his right hand, and Li Yan was suddenly flung forward, falling straight into his arms like a bird in flight. Though Ji had been trying to pull him in, this unexpected surrender caught him completely off guard.

A jarring mismatch of force hit him, like a full-strength strike hitting empty air. The flow of his left hand's seal faltered for a split second.

In that instant, so swift it was like a blink, Li Yan had already crashed into his chest. The moment he did, he suddenly raised his head sharply and then jerked it with full force, slash, a cold glint flashed under the moonlight...

It all happened too fast. Strategist Ji had intended to cast "Fireball Art" and then shove Li Yan away. But in that brief moment of hesitation, he was too slow. A sharp pain pierced his throat, and then all his strength and blood seemed to surge violently from that one fatal point!

Panic seized Strategist Ji. He instinctively tried to pull his right hand back to cover his throat, but the Spirit Absorption Technique was still in slow operation, he couldn't pull away. In his desperation, all the remaining spiritual energy and raging fire poison in his body rushed into his right hand, exploding outward and hurling Li Yan back.

The blood sprayed into the night like blossoms of the netherworld, spiraling and dancing, splashing across Li Yan's face and painting him like a vengeful ghost!

Between his bloodstained teeth, a thin blade still glinted with eerie light. In a haze, he felt a surge of spiritual power rush into him from his crown.

He could sense it clearly: there was some of the fire spiritual energy he had previously injected, but also an unfamiliar wood spiritual energy and fire poison, far more potent than the one in his own body, flooding in with it.

But he had no strength left to resist. Within a single breath, all of it poured into him.

Li Yan slumped against a tree, his breath feeble. The thin blade slipped powerlessly from his mouth, falling onto his chest. Strategist Ji lay nearby in a pool of blood.

One had to admit, cultivators were indeed tougher than mortals. Strategist Ji's throat bore a deep, gaping wound, flesh torn open in a gruesome, horrifying mess.

His body convulsed slightly. His eyes stared up at Li Yan with a deathly glare, his mouth bubbling with blood, letting out a ghastly hissing sound.

"You… trained… and… coughed… blood…"

"Heh heh heh… You finally figured it out? Hiss..."

Li Yan leaned against the tree, showing no fear at the gore before him. To him, it was no different than a dying beast he'd hunted in the mountains.

He sucked in a breath, pain shooting up both legs.

"Ever since I realized you were raising me like a pig for slaughter, I've been planning how to escape, how to protect myself and my family from your harm! Heh heh… Stop making those hissing sounds. They're unpleasant. I know you have questions… many questions...

But if I told you everything, could you even live long enough to hear it all? So, how did I figure out your intentions? What immortal techniques you cultivated? Find out in your next life, when you go 'seeking immortality' again!"

Li Yan spoke wearily, looking into Strategist Ji's wide, unwilling eyes and laughed softly.

Upon hearing Li Yan's words, Strategist Ji's chest began to heave violently. Louder hissing rose from his throat. Li Yan knew he'd struck a nerve, that Strategist Ji understood what those words "seeking immortality" truly meant.

Yet Li Yan paid no mind to his desperate expression.

"I practiced your handwriting from annotated books, masked my scent with herbs, placed 'Zhi Yin Insect' scent on your robes. I kept buying miscellaneous items to wear down your divine sense.

Don't give me that look. Of course I know about divine sense. I also know you're at the peak of third-level Qi Condensation stage, and you scan me with divine sense every day.

Once you deemed my purchases harmless, you let your guard down. I had my brother from the Ironware Pavilion forge blade-hidden boots, a soft-sword belt, and a mouth-sized thin blade.

Also, some basic trap mechanisms and tools. My brother's just an apprentice, he couldn't make them but his senior and master could. Heh heh...

Aside from the soft-sword belt being too obvious and risking detection if your divine sense swept past, the rest you barely paid attention to after your lazy scans during my trips to town.

So, I began carrying them with me and training in secret. The blade-hidden boots just had a simple trigger. I got used to them after a few tries... Cough cough..."

The earlier rebound of wood spiritual energy, mingled with fire poison, had stirred up the fire poison inside Li Yan again. His belly burned like it was aflame, and the pain from his broken leg seemed to vanish in comparison. He gasped heavily for a moment.

He could feel his strength draining rapidly, like an old man rambling his last words.

"Training with that thin blade under my tongue was the worst, cut my mouth up so bad, it was full of blood. I had to pretend it was fire poison backlash from cultivation.

I was always terrified you'd notice but... cough... in the end, it worked!

Heh heh… cough cough... You got one thing wrong. That wasn't my final trump card. The mountains, the forest, the belt, the boots, they were.

Be… because… because I could never be sure which one would finally kill you. So every time… I went for a kill shot. Cough cough..."

Li Yan tilted his head slightly, looking toward a scorched patch nearby, where only a small piece of blackened char remained, and the burly man who'd become a "skewer."

"Just didn't expect Marshal Hong to end up like that too… I wonder what the Meng Kingdom..."

At that moment, thoughts of his parents surfaced. Of his third brother, his sister, their little mountain village… his childhood friends… and the dog that used to dart between everyone's legs with its tail tucked between them.

A thunderous roar echoed in Li Yan's mind as a fiery storm erupted in his abdomen. Just before the last shred of consciousness slipped away, he saw that Ji, the military advisor, lying in a pool of blood, had opened his eyes wide, though he had clearly been dead for quite some time.

Half an hour later, several streaks of light sliced across the sky, descending to hover above the mountain valley, circling as if searching for something.

"Senior Brother Wu, over here!"

Moments later, one of the lights descended into the forest below.

As the glow receded, it revealed a round-faced young man with a stocky frame and large eyes. He stared down at Ji's blood-soaked body.

Soon after, two more beams of light arrived. When they dissipated, they revealed a dark-skinned, long-faced youth and a gentle-looking man. All three wore long robes of deep green.

The dark-skinned youth quickly stepped to the side of the stocky man.

"Junior Brother Lu, your 'Minor Tracing Art' grows more precise by the day. Looks like you found it first," said the gentle youth with a smile before the dark-skinned one could speak.

"Heh, I've always been timid. I tend to scout the area more carefully when I travel. It seems my caution gave me a head start this time," replied the stocky youth, offering a shy smile. Despite his modest tone, a hint of pride flashed across his face.

Once the three had gathered, they began scanning their surroundings.

"So this is the military advisor."

The one called Senior Brother Wu, the dark-skinned youth, crouched beside the body, examining Ji's face closely. His voice turned cold.

The other two quickly came over, scrutinizing the face now twisted in agony.

After a moment, the stocky youth nodded.

"He resembles the image in the jade slip from the Law Enforcement team senior brother, though the face is badly bloodied and contorted. These wounds… tsk tsk, someone didn't hold back."

"I agree, he's at least seventy percent similar to the image. The twisted expression from the throat wound aside, the signs match the backlash from an improper initiation of the Dark Night Cyan Curtain Technique. And let's not forget what you're holding in your hands, Senior Brother Wu hehe…"

The gentle youth glanced toward Wu, who was holding a jade book that had once hung from Ji's waist.

"Yes, this is the very technique that the outer sect traitor fled with. See if the other book, the one written on paper is still on him."

At this, the gentle youth smiled and flicked his finger. Ji's robes parted, revealing his inner garments. Crouching down, he quickly retrieved a book.

"Well, he had it on him after all. Saves us a trip to his residence."

He handed the book to Senior Brother Wu.

"He's dead now, so there's no use subjecting him to the Soul-Binding Threadworm. But that one slumped against the tree must be his disciple. He's clearly cultivated the same flawed technique and is barely clinging to life."

Wu took the book, glanced at Ji's corpse, then turned to Li Yan slumped nearby.

His eyes narrowed when he saw the thin blade resting on Li Yan's chest.

"Hmph… So the strategist was likely killed by this one. And those two nearby, killed by Fireball and Wood Spike spells? What in the world happened here?"

Wu looked to another part of the clearing, where a scorched corpse lay amidst ashes. He couldn't piece it together.

"Senior Brother Wu, since the strategist died due to a misstep in cultivation, what use is his disciple now?" asked the gentle youth coolly, still staring at Li Yan.

"Judging from the scene, I'd say that disciple of his turned on him. Probably joined forces with two martial artists to ambush him, which led to this outcome."

Wu scanned the area again, his eyes narrowing in contemplation.

"Hmph! That strategist was a fool. He thought using such a low-level method could purge fire poison from his body? Laughable, does he take our sect's techniques so lightly?"

The stocky youth snorted in disdain.

"His disciple is rather unfortunate, he got caught up in an undeserved calamity!"

The gentle youth sighed and shook his head.

"Might as well finish him off. No point in wasting effort to heal him and then feed him to the Soul-Binding Threadworm. Would be a waste of elixirs too."

The stocky youth raised a hand to form a spell, and Wu nodded coldly in approval.

"Wait!"

Just as the stocky youth was about to cast the spell, the gentle youth's eyes suddenly sharpened, and he shouted.

The abrupt cry startled the stocky youth, who flinched and lost control of the spell, nearly suffering a backlash.

"Brother Yu! You nearly scared me to death shouting like that!"

The stocky youth grumbled in protest.

But the gentle youth ignored him, stepping quickly to Li Yan and releasing a wave of divine sense.

The next moment, his expression changed drastically. He hastily formed a seal, sending a streak of blue light into Li Yan's abdomen.

Wu, frowning at the interruption, said nothing. But when he saw the spell cast, he leaned in, letting out a surprised "Hm?"

Moments later, the gentle youth looked up at Wu. The two spoke in unison.

"Fractured Poison Body!"

"Fractured Poison Body?" the stocky youth echoed, stunned.

"H-how do we kill him now…"

…

By dawn, light spilled across the eastern sky. It was a clear, bright morning in early summer.

At the foot of Great Qing Mountain, the air was fresh and filled with birdsong. Smoke from morning cooking curled above the small mountain village, drifting lazily on the breeze.

The green fields surrounding the village stretched out in tiers, dotted here and there with blooming yellow rapeseed flowers, creating a vibrant landscape.

This year's favorable weather had kept disasters at bay. It seemed the effects of the locust plague would be fully behind them in another month.

Uncle Chang wiped his mouth after breakfast and grinned broadly.

Life had been good these past few months. His family had grown more prosperous, not just from the enlistment payout when his fifth son joined the army, but also from the extra dozen taels of silver the boy sent each month.

In just half a year, they'd saved enough to live comfortably for decades in a remote village like this.

Yesterday, they'd even received a belt from the city, said to be a gift from Lord Ji himself. The village chief insisted it be kept in the village ancestral hall.

Uncle Chang had argued bitterly with Li Guoxin over it, but finally agreed reluctantly, though clearly proud.

Li Guoxin had promised that during the ancestral rites this year, Uncle Chang's family would lead the ceremonies, lighting incense, offering prayers, everything.

All day yesterday, Uncle Chang had strolled around the village, soaking in the admiration and greetings from neighbors.

"No farming today, I got some village laborers to help last night. With this good weather, we should fix up the house properly! This afternoon, we'll start building a few more rooms next to it. Little third's wedding can be held in fall."

After setting down his bowl, Uncle Chang stood up, his spirits high, and headed outside.

Li Wei scratched his head awkwardly, then limped over to grab the tools against the wall and followed.

Li Yan's mother chuckled as she watched them go.

"Look at you two, acting like you can fly to the heavens now!"

She turned to her daughter. "Xiaozhu, let's go butcher and clean that half pig. The ones helping with the housework should eat well today. The better we treat them, the harder they'll work later."

But as she looked at her grinning daughter, her expression suddenly changed.

"And you! Why is your fiancé's family so useless? Spring's long past, and they still haven't gathered the money to marry you! Hmph! We don't need to feed another mouth anymore. Once your third brother's house is done, I'll call in a matchmaker and find you a better one!"

Hearing this, Xiaozhu's cheeks flushed red, and with a stomp of her foot, she ran out in embarrassment.

(Chaper End)