Destiny is ashes

Chapter 660: Night Rain Mountain Temple (4400, thinking about the details, the update is a bit slow)
Chenli, the southern border of the wilderness, mountains, forests and hills.

The night is cold and silent with rain, the wind is blowing and the trees are swaying.

A scattered night rain covered the sky and the earth with the dark night. The outline of the distant mountain range was looming under the light of thunder, like a giant standing silently at the end of the sky, oppressive and suffocating.

In the ruined temple in the mountains, the fire was flickering, and the red light like dull blood filled the entire hall.

Inside the temple, there were four people, a warrior, a businessman, an old man, and a doctor. They were dressed differently, looked differently, and had different body shapes, but they all had the same expression. Some were holding weapons, while others were curled up in their coats, looking warily at the other three, sitting and lying silently beside the flickering campfire.

Outside the temple, there were many corpses scattered around. Some of them must have died recently. Their stomachs were ripped open and their internal organs were eaten by wild beasts. There were also huge teeth marks of demons on their skulls, and their bone marrow had even been sucked out.

There were even remains of children among them, but there were not many bones left, only heads rolling aside.

In this wilderness forest where demons roam, all life is in danger and the only person you can trust is yourself.

Click.

The sound of heavy iron boots crushing branches could be heard.

A little flame flickered in the dark rainy night.

The four of them raised their heads at the same time, looked outside the temple, and then looked at each other warily.

A figure holding a rainproof torch was slowly walking out of the forest in the middle of the night.

This is a young warrior, tall and sleek, like a majestic tiger or leopard. His face is hidden by a bamboo hat, but the raincoat covered with iron sheets, the long sword and light crossbow slung at his waist, and the head still dripping with blood in his hand are enough to show how dangerous he is.

Hot air like white mist came out of his mouth, lingering around his body and turning into white mist that lasted for a long time.

The surging blood flowed, making the slightly cold rainy night seem to be warmed up, and dangerous pains came from the stiff body, as if warning of the existence of crisis.

The bamboo hat was slightly lifted, revealing a scarlet eye, the pupil of which reflected the firelight in the temple.

He came closer, and a chill and oppression came with him.

"Monster!"

When the doctor saw this scene, he screamed and struggled to get up and step back, but he stumbled and stepped on his blanket and was about to fall into the bonfire.

At this critical moment, the young warrior bent his fingers and flicked out an invisible force like a fist, hitting the doctor backwards. He staggered backwards until he hit the wall, then he let out a groan and sat on the ground along the wall.

"It's not a demon."

Putting down his hand, the young warrior walked into the ruined temple holding the human head. At this moment, it can be seen clearly that the head in his hand has been distorted and demonized. The black hair has turned into sharp blades, while the eyes are sunken, and the spine under the neck has turned into a centipede-like insect. Although it is dead, it is still twitching.

"Traveling merchant Qiao Xuan."

He said, "I encountered a demon in the wild and tried my best to defeat it. I vaguely remembered that there was a bounty for killing demons recently, so I brought it with me to prevent it from resurrecting in the middle of the journey."

"Yes, I'm sorry, I misunderstood you, warrior."

The doctor also came back to his senses. He was a thin man. He bowed to Qiao Xuan and apologized: "I have been walking outside recently and have been frightened by demons. I have become a little crazy. Your Excellency, please be magnanimous. Please don't blame me..."

On the other side, the old man also lowered his head and said hoarsely: "Those who stay here are those who cannot enter the city... Hehe, the city is preparing a batch of very important supplies to return to the sect recently, and they are very afraid that demons will sneak in, but this also makes us the prey of demons."

"Indeed, a sect disciple reminded me not to enter the city during this period of time."

Qiao Xuan found a spot in front of the campfire and sat cross-legged. He placed the demon's head aside, leaned forward, stretched out his hands to warm the fire, and said naturally, "But I didn't expect the situation to be so serious. There are so many demons outside the city. Isn't the frost disaster over? Why are there more demons than before the disaster?"

No one answered this question.

"New guy, you didn't just kill demons, did you?"

After a while, the warrior sitting on the right turned his head. He spoke in a hoarse voice, with eyes as sharp as knives, staring straight at Qiao Xuan: "Tell me the truth, how many people did you kill just now? You smell so strong of blood."

"what."

Qiao Xuan was also fearless, staring at the fierce man with curly hair and beard, holding a knife and sitting, "So what if I killed someone? Brother, what you said was just a joke from my three-year-old child."

He stared closely at the warrior with a fierce expression and sneered, "Look at the world today. The frost disaster is over, but it's still so bad! There's no snow in the sky and the ground is green. I thought peace was coming, so I went out with my brothers to travel and do business, but what happened?"

"Along the way, there was no end to the war. I traveled along the southern road and saw a civil war among hundreds of tribes in the distance from the mountain. The armies of the major tribes were facing each other in the fortress. King Jialuo and King Juguang were facing each other from a distance. There were also people in the Juguang tribe who rebelled. We had to take a detour."

"In the villages across Dongye, the frost on the battlefield where they fought against Dachen melted and the bodies rotted, causing plagues. Entire villages were killed."

"On the road, in addition to demons, there are also many ghosts. The damage caused by the frost is too severe. Many small towns have no workers to farm the land. It is obviously a good season, with fruits laden on the branches and fertile land. Even if you randomly sow seeds, they will sprout. But there is still not enough food. Some people starved to death in this season that should have been a good harvest."

As he spoke, the young warrior's voice became increasingly low and oppressive. He laughed solemnly and said, "Even if there were no demons or natural disasters, people would still kill each other. Even if the land was fertile but no one was growing crops, people would still starve to death in the streets."

"In this world, what is the difference between humans and demons? If I kill a few more bandits who dare to rob me, will it hinder you, brother?"

"Or……"

Qiao Xuan's words became more and more aggressive: "Are you one of the horse bandits?"

"Don't talk nonsense!"

The fierce warrior's expression changed. He looked around nervously at everyone present and immediately turned to accusing others of his crimes: "We are already doing well. Dachen is the one who is having a hard time. When you say this, do you mean you don't love Chenli and are a spy for Dachen?"

"indeed."

But Qiao Xuan nodded and continued, "Dachen is also sad. I like to tell the truth. We Chenli dare to say what the people of Dachen dare not say."

"Does their little emperor really not understand or is he pretending not to understand? They withdrew so many divine soldiers from the northern border, isn't it just to let the officials and warriors below eat as much as they want? A group of insects are running around in the border area, enclosing public land and turning it into private property. Even if the divine soldiers come back in the future, the Chamber of Commerce can continue to exist and become a local emperor of the border."

"Compared to them, ours is pretty good."

After these words came out, no one doubted that Qiao Xuan was from Dachen. The middle-aged businessman who had been silent all this time couldn't help but echoed and sighed: "In such a chaotic world, even if there are no demons and monsters, people will not have enough food to eat, so how can they not kill people? It's really a misunderstanding of the hero."

"You did misunderstand me, and I misunderstood you too."

Qiao Xuan remained calm. His sharp eyes swept across the four people present and he said with a smile, "Just now I saw traces of demons wreaking havoc outside the temple. So many people, their brains and marrow were sucked dry. It must be really hungry, enough to eat up an entire team in one go, right?"

"I thought there were demons lurking in the temple, but now it seems that everyone is a good person." "Hahaha." Everyone laughed dryly, and Qiao Xuan also laughed: "I used to be a traveling merchant, but now I am a demon slayer. May I ask your identities and why you are stopping here?"

"I am also a businessman." The panicked businessman said, "I was originally carrying a cart of fragrant wood and wanted to go to the border of Dachen to do some business, but I was attacked by demons halfway and my team was scattered. I was in a panic and could only hide in this temple."

"I am also a demon slayer." The fierce warrior took a sip of water, his eyes still scanning the people present: "To be honest, I have been chasing a man-eating demon all the way here. It is cruel and cunning, and can hide between people's hearts and bodies. There was a slight misunderstanding just now, please don't blame me."

"I, I'm... a doctor from the nearby Liujia Village." The thin doctor said timidly, "A child in the village is sick and needs medicine. I originally planned to go to the city to buy medicine, but because of that... anti-corruption operation, I can't enter the city. There are traitors and spies in the city, and there are very important things to transport. I have no choice but to try my luck in other towns, but I can't walk around at night, so I'll rest here..."

"Hehe, a little dust in the sect is like a mountain on the common people."

The old man laughed strangely: "I am the survivor of that sick village. Everyone in the village died. God didn't want me. Good days are coming, but the Mingjing Sect is still fighting among themselves and not letting everyone live well."

"Oh."

Qiao Xuan took a deep breath and said with admiration: "I can see that each of you has unique skills."

"To be honest with you," he said with a smile, "I came here to track down the traces of demons, and unexpectedly discovered that these demons might have human helpers - and now I can guarantee it."

"The demon and its helpers are in this temple."

Boom.

A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, and the pale light illuminated the small temple, as well as the four people whose expressions were filled with shock, fear, anger, and gloom.

"What do you mean!"

The demon slayer stood up in an instant. He grasped the hilt of the knife without knowing when. In an instant, a cold and sharp blade light flashed out: "I am the demon slayer Kong Zou. Are you saying that I can't tell who is a demon? Little brat, don't think you can speak nonsense just because you killed a few ghosts. If you dare to do anything, I will immediately cut your head off!"

He pointed his knife directly at Qiao Xuan. Although he looked hot-tempered and mentally unstable, he actually held the knife very steadily. When he drew the knife from the sheath, one could even faintly hear the sound of a tiger's roar, which was enough to prove that this warrior was indeed a master.

Not only that, after the knife was drawn out, a terrifying aura like a military battle suddenly emerged around the entire mountain temple. The broken weapons among the corpses shook slightly, as if they were about to shatter in this aura, and dedicate all their remaining essence to the sharp long knife!

Wumai magic weapon! In this small dilapidated temple, there is actually a peak warrior holding a Wumai magic weapon!
"Finished?"

But just as the demon-slaying warrior finished his words, Qiao Xuan stood up suddenly.

At the moment when the demon slayer warrior had no time to react, a sword light like a white rainbow instantly shattered the white mist of breath, and pierced the long sword in the warrior's hand like a thunderbolt, knocking it away, and then a sword energy pierced straight forward -

It passed over the neck of the demon-slayer warrior who was full of astonishment and anger, and stabbed straight into the neck of the doctor who had quietly circled behind him and was planning to escape by jumping out the window without him noticing!

There was no time for the doctor to react as his neck was cut off immediately. Smelly blood gushed out from his seemingly frail body and directly sprayed onto the roof of the temple, dripping down like rain.

This sword was like thunder from the sky, striking down from the top of the sky. It was domineering and majestic, and contained an extremely fierce murderous intent.

But even so, the doctor, whose head and body were separated by the sword, was not dead yet. His head was wailing and screaming, but spider-like limbs grew out of the severed wound and crawled on the ground at a rapid speed, as if trying to escape.

"How?!"

The demon-slaying warrior was dumbfounded, he thought he was dead, but Qiao Xuan passed him and stabbed the doctor's head that turned into a spider with his sword.

"You guy!"

Qiao Xuan shouted, "Those corpses outside are wearing the same clothes as you. And the corpses of the children are the sick children you mentioned. You must have eaten them!"

"You just released the demonic energy that enveloped the surroundings. Your next step is to devour the other people, right?"

"The smell of blood is much stronger on you than on me!"

The businessman screamed, the old man watched coldly, the demon-slaying warrior's face turned purple, and he didn't even dare to pick up the knife. He just turned around and looked at the head of the doctor who was still struggling but had not died immediately.

"I, I don't want to either..."

Blood and tears flowed from the demonized doctor's eyes. He screamed and cried, "I brought them out because I really wanted to find medicine to cure them... But I can't buy the medicine. I can't buy it. They will definitely die. They will die! I really want to save them!"

"If they die, I'll be finished, hehe... I'll be insulted and laughed at when I return to the village, and I'll be looked down upon and unable to hold my head up for the rest of my life... I originally wanted to protect them and heal them... But, rather than dying of illness, it's better for them to be killed by me. I'll say they were demons, and it was the demons that killed them!"

As he spoke, his head became more and more hideous, and his fangs and hair began to deform: "I was bewitched, and it was just a matter of one thought..."

Fallen.

The doctor's head turned into a complete monster, and Qiao Xuan then swung his sword, completely crushing his brain.

At this moment, the doctor's body began to change drastically. It lost its head and its back began to bulge with hideous tumors with child-like faces. It let out a strange and shrill laugh, but before its transformation was complete, Qiao Xuan struck out with another palm.

This palm was extremely hot, and the surging blood and vitality were like a furnace, stirring the surrounding air like a red-hot iron, forming a handprint as big as a person.

With a slap, the demon's body was instantly shattered. Without being able to make any movement, it immediately exploded and scattered!

“It’s actually a demon!”

Seeing Qiao Xuan kill a demon so cleanly, a merchant nearby exclaimed, "You, Master Qiao, are you a martial artist?!"

The demon-slaying warrior at the side silently picked up the sword and put it back into the sheath. He stood aside without saying a word, as if he was a student who had done something wrong waiting for punishment, or a gambler who admitted defeat and waited for the verdict.

The old man's expression also became serious: "Such a young martial vein, who are you..."

"stop."

Qiao Xuan raised his hand and said, "Stop flattering me and talking trash. Everyone here is not easy to mess with. I don't believe that I can tell that this person has been corrupted by the devil, and I don't believe that I have disguised myself."

"Now, there must be some smart people among you who can see who I am, so let's speak frankly."

An Jing squinted his eyes and glanced at everyone present. He said leisurely: "The three of you are all Dachen, Taiming..."

"Maybe even a spy from the Shangxuan Sect?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of the three people changed.

(End of this chapter)