Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 314 The RV and Twelve Unlucky Guys

The two traveled eastward, stopping and starting along the way, and before they knew it, it was already the third day of the ninth lunar month. Although they were traveling eastward, they were actually heading slightly northeast. It was already September, and they were getting closer to the north, so autumn was slowly approaching.

The roadside gradually became a kaleidoscope of colors, with shades of dark green, light green, pale yellow, and deep red. The sky slowly turned cool, and a chill began to creep into the air.

In the past nineteen days, the two had only passed through two inhabited villages and towns, both of which contained religious sects. One sect worshipped the Great Heavenly Venerable Who Saves the World from Suffering. The two parked their carriage outside the village and sneaked in to take a look. Li Wuxiang immediately realized that they worshipped wild gods and spirits from Mount Ling. The members of this sect would abduct passersby, confiscate their food and supplies and hand it over to the sect's treasury, and then force them to join the sect, saying that they would eat, drink and enjoy happiness together—a style reminiscent of a bandit stronghold.

Having witnessed this scene during the day, the two originally intended to kill people that night, but they happened to stumble upon several of the sect's senior disciples killing more than twenty people in the town's central courtyard. So, the two abandoned their murderous intent and turned to leave.

The reason those senior disciples killed was that the twenty-odd people had committed rape and kidnapping. These senior disciples were truly hypocritical, but in this kind of world, upholding such hypocrisy might actually save more lives.

The religion in the second village was the Great Wilderness Religion. They didn't worship the wild gods of Mount Ling, or at least Li Wuxiang didn't realize it. They worshipped the "Great Wilderness God," who claimed that the visions that everyone in the world had collectively dreamed of were divine revelations from the Great Wilderness God—that a future cataclysmic fire would destroy the world, turning it into a desolate wasteland, and only those who worshipped the Great Wilderness God could survive the calamity and usher in a new golden age.

Li Wuxiang's first impression of this sect was quite good. Everyone had food, though the quantity was small, just mushroom soup. So he planned to trade some potatoes for some mushrooms. But it was already autumn, and he didn't know where the mushrooms they were eating came from, so out of curiosity, he secretly took a look.

It turned out the fungus had grown on the bodies of the dead in the cellar. The leader of the Great Wilderness Sect was likely a cultivator who possessed some supernatural abilities, capable of using corpses as fertilizer to grow large clumps of mushrooms. Looking at the corpses, almost all of them were old, weak, sick, or disabled. Li Wuxiang found an old man that night and asked him if those people had starved to death, died of disease, or been murdered. The old man immediately turned and shouted for help out the window; the answer was self-evident.

So Li Wuxiang didn't fight the people who came, but instead gave them some potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts, and beans, telling them they could keep them to plant next year.

The sect leader hadn't expected to encounter such a person in this world. He was extremely grateful, and Li Wuxiang kindly told him that the Great Wilderness God was actually the incarnation of the Great Calamity True Lord, and that he could preside over the worship of the Great Calamity True Lord and assist in the worship of the Great Wilderness God.

He sensed something when he spoke to the cult leader—it was as if his words had enraged something, causing it to emerge from the shadows of the house and into the world. But it only appeared halfway, and after sensing that he was a Nascent Soul Sword Immortal, it immediately fled.

Since the creature seemed to know its place, Li Wuxiang didn't pursue the matter further and continued on his way.

Neither of the two villages they encountered were bad, so their mood wasn't too bad either. On the night of the third day of the ninth lunar month, the two arrived at the foot of Dapan Mountain.

Dapan Mountain is the Taoist temple of the Shangchi sect, where the "Five Sacrifices True Lord" is enshrined. Li Wuxiang had dealings with this Five Sacrifices True Lord before—he is what is commonly known as a door god. When Cheng Peixin wanted to use the lifespan of a child in Deyang, she first invited the door god to seal the small room in the backyard.

The Shangchi Sect's prized artifact is called "Kaoshan Jian" (meaning "Mountain Backing Mirror"). "Jian" refers to a mirror, but their Kaoshan Jian is actually forged from the scales of the Ninth Prince. The sect's main artifact is a suit of scale armor, said to be extremely shiny and reflective, just like a mirror. Wearing this armor not only makes the wearer exceptionally strong but also stabilizes their body and mind, as if leaning against a great mountain, hence its name.

This magical artifact is indeed extraordinary, but it leans towards defense, and the sect's style is rather conservative. Furthermore, because the area around Dapan Mountain is mostly mountainous and not a prosperous place, their strength is similar to, or even slightly weaker than, that of the Tianxin Sect—after all, the Tianxin Sect possesses vast plains within its territory.

It rained at night, ruining the paper horse, so Li Wuxiang parked the carriage in a grove of trees by a large river, and the two of them stopped to rest.

These days, Li Wuxiang had built two stoves, both by the window. It was raining outside, and the two of them lit the fires inside the carriage to prepare some dinner.

Tonight's dinner menu is potatoes. Two potatoes, boiled in a pot until the skin cracked open and they were incredibly soft and tender. After peeling them, I used chopsticks to break them into bite-sized pieces and placed them in a bowl, then spread sauce on top.

This sauce is homemade. It's made by stir-frying diced eggplant, chopped cilantro, and chopped mushrooms in sesame oil, with a little bit of chili flakes. It has a light and delicious flavor.

After they finished eating, Li Wuxiang moved two small chairs, and the two of them sat by the window watching the rain. Xue Baoping held her small bowl and ate slowly, occasionally feeding Li Wuxiang a bite to satisfy his craving.

The distant Dapan Mountain is very high, with a cliff on one side and the Mohe River flowing alongside the road. As the saying goes, one autumn rain brings a chill, and since autumn began, there has been a lot of rain, causing the Mohe River to swell. Enveloped in rain and mist, it is pitch black and the opposite bank cannot be seen.

But lights could be seen dotting the distant Dapan Mountain, looking very beautiful in the rain and mist.

Xue Baoping ate about half a bowl and asked, "Are we going up the mountain tomorrow?"

"Ah."

"So, like Senior Sister Mei said, you're just going to ask them for their sect's most prized treasure? Wouldn't that be a bit too domineering?"

Li Wuxiang nodded: "It is a bit domineering, but there's no other way. The True Lord of Fate is not dead yet. What Senior Sister Mei destroyed at the Great Calamity Mountain was its incarnation—this thing is actually immortal. Since it can't die, it will cause trouble. So either the Blood God Cult or the Taiyi Cult will rise up. There is no third option. As for the thirty-six sects, they either follow the Blood God Cult or the Taiyi Cult. There is no compromise."

"However, you heard what Senior Sister Mei said: hand over the sect's treasure, and those who want to go to the Great Calamity Mountain can go, and those who don't want to can just not go to the Blood God Sect. If the Blood God Sect comes, they won't be so polite; they'll all be turned into corpses. So compared to the Blood God Sect, Senior Sister gave them a way out."

“But…if they lose their sect’s most prized possession…” Xue Baoping frowned, “wouldn’t we still have to rob them?”

Some might find her question pedantic. But Li Wuxiang thought her thinking was excellent, showing that she at least had her own standards.

He thought for a moment and said, “Murder is bad, stealing is bad, robbery is bad. These used to be the rules of the world. But times have changed. It’s unrealistic to stick to the old rules now. Take you, Lao Zeng, and me, for example. We’ve seen many things that we would have definitely intervened in the past. But now we won’t intervene because we understand why they do it. They can’t survive if they don’t do it.”

"In this new world, there must be new rules. But there are different people everywhere, with varying levels of morality and acceptance of rules. How can you tell if the rules you follow are right? Actually, there's no way to tell. Everyone thinks they're right. So you have to look at your own conscience and do what your senior sisters used to say: have a clear conscience."

Xue Baoping sighed: "But everyone thinks that what they did is right, so everyone feels that they have a clear conscience."

"Yes, so we need to establish a new standard that we can be proud of. Senior Sister Mei and the Blood God Sect are both doing this, establishing a new standard. However, the Blood God Sect's new standard is definitely not one we like, so we also have to contribute—the Shangchi Sect also has to contribute. Their contribution is to offer up their sect's treasure. But you can't really call it an offering; it's more like paying protection money."

"Huh? What about protection money?"

"Senior Sister Mei and I, together, killed the Descending God of Fate, which is why the Six Departments of the Mysterious Sect were intimidated and granted a thirty-year deadline. That is to say, during these thirty years, the Shangchi Sect will not have to worry about people from the diocese coming to deal with them—they will have to pay for it."

Xue Baoping's brows relaxed, and she nodded: "I feel better now that you say that. So we are... collecting protection money."

"Hey, there's a nicer way to say it—taxation. Now you're the tax official, and I'm your henchman."

Xue Baoping laughed and fed Li Wuxiang another piece: "Here you go, thank you little god for helping us drive away the Kitchen God."

Just as Li Wuxiang swallowed the mouthful with a smile, he suddenly saw a group of people running towards him through the rain in the distance.

The night was deep, and there was heavy rain. The reason they could be seen clearly from afar was because of the gleaming metal on their bodies, indicating they were wearing armor. As they drew closer, the clanging sound of the armor plates clattering could indeed be heard.

There were twelve of them, and they looked like a small army.

The four spearmen had spear shafts that were three meters long, with long blades that resembled small swords; they should actually be called shuo (槊).

The four swordsmen and shieldmen carried huge shields on their backs, as big as door panels.

There were also four who looked like swordsmen and shieldmen, but they carried small round shields and... oh, crossbows on their backs, so they must be four crossbowmen.

Li Wuxiang found it extremely novel; it was the first time in his life he had seen such a formation that resembled that of professional soldiers. Without a doubt, they were cultivators from the Shangchi Sect. The magical artifact they carried was likely the standard scale armor they wore.

The two men parked their car in the woods by the roadside. It was dark and raining, so these people shouldn't have been able to see them. However, thanks to the viewing window in the Myriad Transformations Cube, the two men could see them clearly.

This situation, where only one of them could see the other, was something Li Wuxiang and Xue Baoping had experienced many times before. Therefore, neither of them panicked, and they simply ate their food while watching them. The group of Shangchi Sect disciples stopped their carriage on the opposite side of the road, seemingly intending to rest. This wasn't a coincidence; they had stopped there because the riverbank across the road was sparsely vegetated and slightly elevated, offering a good view, and they had originally planned to enjoy the river scenery.

However, due to the rain, the river, which was like jade during the day, turned black and widened. In other places, it was about to overflow the roads, but here the water was still very little.

The twelve men, having run an unknown distance, stopped in the pouring rain, their breath steaming in the air. Four swordsmen and shield bearers lowered their large shields, forming a wall facing the river. Someone cast a spell on the shields, and a faint, mystical light emanated from them, blocking a small section of the torrential rain and turning it into a fine drizzle. The twelve men huddled under the four large shields, exchanging a few words, then took out dry biscuits from their robes, warmed them in the rain, and chewed them.

Their armor was soaked through, but they couldn't remove it; the inside must have been freezing cold against their skin. While they were running, it wouldn't have been so bad, but now that they'd stopped, Li Wuxiang estimated it was only around ten degrees Celsius outside, and everyone was shivering and chattering as they ate.

Sitting in the dry, warm car, listening to the heavy rain outside, Li Wuxiang shook his head: "The Shangchi faction. Wow, what a bunch of unlucky bastards."

Xue Baoping laughed and nudged him: "Why did you say that about them? Now you're not worried anymore, are you? They haven't turned into corpses."

"I'm already having a bad time, and now it's raining so hard and so cold. I'm shivering, and I'll probably have to get into a fight with someone soon."

How did you know they were going to get into a fight?

"Not human, but you could be considered human, it's a demon—have you ever seen a demon?"

Xue Baoping was taken aback: "No... demon? Where is it?"

Li Wuxiang raised his hand and pointed downstream, far from the Shangchi Sect: "There."

I sensed it while preparing the food—a demonic aura. This was the second time Li Wuxiang had encountered demonic energy. He could tell it was because the aura was very distinct—first, the smell. A very faint fishy smell wafted from the water. But because of the rain and rising water, the smell was very faint.

There was also an aura, which was spiritual energy. A cultivator's spiritual energy is not released outwards; if it were released to the point that people could detect it, it would be close to going astray. But the spiritual energy of that thing in the water seemed to be unable to restrain itself, or perhaps its internal circulation was very rough or out of control, thus it was dissipating into the surroundings.

Both of these points match the description he had read in the book that Senior Sister Mei had given him these days, so it was undoubtedly a demon, probably an aquatic creature.

However, the demon simply moved back and forth along the riverbed, unaware of the two people on the road. It didn't provoke Li Wuxiang, and Li Wuxiang didn't provoke it either, only thinking that once he finished his business at the Shangchi Sect, he would have the opportunity to take a good look at what the demon looked like.

But now Li Wuxiang sensed that demonic aura approaching, flowing downstream and slowly drawing near the twelve disciples of the Shangchi Sect. However, the demonic aura hesitated and paused, as if unsure whether to come closer.

Xue Baoping looked over there and asked, "Then...should we help them?"

"Let's take a look first."

When the demon was more than a hundred paces away from the disciples of the Shangchi Sect, they hadn't noticed it and were still eating. Then, as if the demon had made up its mind and no longer hesitated, it increased its speed.

Li Wuxiang guessed that it was so hungry that it couldn't care less about being afraid.

When they were about thirty paces away, one of the twelve finally reacted. One of the swordsmen and shield bearers, who was probably the leader because a wet red tassel hung from his helmet, suddenly stood up, looked through the gaps in his large shield at the river, and shouted, "Stop eating! That monster is coming!"

The remaining people immediately stuffed the unfinished pancakes into their pockets and got up with a clatter.

They moved with lightning speed. Four swordsmen and shieldmen stood in front, shields in hand, while four spearmen followed behind, their large spears resting on the shoulders of the swordsmen and thrusting forward. Four crossbowmen stood in a semi-circle behind them, about five paces away, and also drew their crossbows, aiming them at the river.

The leader, hidden behind a large shield, shouted at the dark water, "Old demon! We've been looking for you for ages, and you've delivered yourself right to our doorstep! Today we'll avenge our brothers who died in your mouth!"

Xue Baoping nudged Li Wuxiang: "They've come for revenge."

Li Wuxiang said, "Hmm."

There was no movement on the river, and the heavy rain continued. But Li Wuxiang could sense that the demon had quietly crept to the water's edge and was now hiding underwater, lying motionless as if waiting for its chance.

But the leader of the swordsmen and shieldmen was still looking into the distance, continuing to shout, "If you have the guts, don't run! Come out! Aren't you hungry?! We've practically delivered ourselves to your doorstep!"

"Where is it?" Xue Baoping asked quietly.

Li Wuxiang gestured towards the other side of the road: "They're right under their feet."

"Huh? Should we tell them?"

"No need to say anything. Look where those four crossbowmen are aiming."

The water demons couldn't see it, but Xue Baoping could—the four crossbowmen were aiming at the riverbank.

The leader shouted a few more times, but the monster in the water remained motionless. He then poked his head out of the water, looked at the surface, and cursed, "Damn it! It should be gone! Pack up and rest for a bit before continuing the search!"

Upon hearing this, the four large shields slightly dispersed and lifted off the ground. Just then, a cold light suddenly leaped from the water, as if it were clad in iron armor, gleaming in the rain, and slammed into the four large shields on the shore!
Li Wuxiang immediately saw it clearly: what a huge crocodile!
This crocodile was huge and long, with an even longer belly between its two pairs of front legs and two pairs of hind legs, making it look almost like a dragon. Its head was also very long, with two high protrusions on its forehead, as if it were about to grow horns.

But the four swordsmen and shieldmen already knew that the demon was lurking underwater. The moment it leaped up, the large shield slammed back to the ground with a thud, instantly creating a burst of mysterious light in the rain.

The crocodile demon crashed solidly into the shield of light, but didn't break through. It sprang back into the water. But at that moment, the crossbowmen behind it pulled the trigger. With four loud "bang bang bang bang" sounds, four bolts, trailing golden light, struck the crocodile demon's limbs.

The crossbow bolt sank deep into the flesh, but the four golden rays did not dissipate; instead, they transformed into ropes. The crossbowman immediately changed from holding to embracing, and fell backward while holding the crossbow. The ropes snapped taut with a bang, creating a large cloud of water mist.

As they fired their arrows, the four spearmen also attacked—the crocodile demon crashed into the large shield, its body bouncing in mid-air, but its limbs were pulled back, its belly exposed. Then, the four large spears were thrust into the crocodile demon's belly, almost halfway in! Then came four muffled thuds; the spearheads seemed to have sprung out barbs, which became lodged inside its body.

The crocodile demon was in excruciating pain and immediately let out a roar, its voice similar to a tiger's low growl, but crisper. It twisted and struggled violently, but its entire body was pulled by ropes and a large spear, firmly pressed against the four large shields—the strength of twelve men was almost equal to that of the crocodile demon, pulling it so tightly that it could not move!

The crocodile demon's tail swung along the shore, finally touching the water's surface. The tail instantly grew extremely long, plunging deep into the water, and then with a sudden thud—its body exerted immense force, instantly flipping the two swordsmen and shield bearers in front of it, and snapping the three ropes. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the crocodile demon opened its massive jaws, spraying out a jet of water that made the scales of the Shangchi Sect disciples clang, knocking off several scales.

As they lost their strength, the crocodile demon immediately leaped back into the water with the four large spears on its body, causing a large pool of blood to gush out.

Xue Baoping forgot all about eating, clenching her fists and staring wide-eyed out the window.

Li Wuxiang sighed inwardly.

How intense... this is a battle of noobs!

(End of this chapter)