Chongming Xianzong

Chapter 640 Yongli borrows the fog to escape; Tang Guchangxi frowns and questions the sand mountain.

—The following day, Tanggu County
It is said that established families like the Fengshi Fang family, who came from the capital region, are the best at knowing how to prosper.

Tanggu County was originally one of the most remote places in Yunjiao Prefecture. However, after it was incorporated into the Fengshi Fang family along with several surrounding counties and became their residence, it has become quite prosperous over the past few decades.

His achievements earned him praise from the disciples of Emperor Chongming who had served as county magistrates in various dynasties.

To be honest, if the Fengshi Fang family and the Yungu Zhang family, who had contributed to the offering of pills, had not had a long-standing feud, and the latter had not taken the initiative, it would be debatable which of the two families would hold a higher or lower position in the Chongming Sect.

However, as soon as Kang Changxi arrived at the Fengshi Fang family's territory, all he saw was a scene of devastation.

The thick black fog in the distance was about to envelop the entire Tanggu County. The roars of beasts in the fog were deafening, so terrifying that the beasts and birds around Kang Changxi would occasionally die of fright.

Because Feng Enbo Kuai En is the current governor of Shannan Road, the head of the Kang family, for the sake of both families' dignity, did not set up a Golden Elixir Gate within Yunjiao Prefecture.

Even now, the cities of Xuan and Han, which are guarded by the regular army, are only guarded by some trusted fake alchemists.

Normally, nothing serious would happen, but once they encountered this troublesome Golden Core demon, they were in for a calamity.

Before Kang Changxi could think further, and before he could find out whether the creature hidden in the black mist was the Xuanwu Hidden Scale Beast that his father had always been concerned about, he stepped into his spirit boots and rushed over.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Quick! Set up the Xuan character puppet at the east gate! The fog is about to roll in again!"

Yang Xun, one of the ten generals of Xuanwei City, shouted sharply, nearly causing the suspended beams of the city tower to fall down.

Zhao Wu, carrying half of a broken spirit shield, ran alongside the group, panting heavily.

He was originally one of the first batches of volunteers recruited by Chongmingzong. Because of his meritorious service in the battle to annihilate the Yunze Witch God Temple before the year 60, he was fortunate enough to be transferred to serve in the Xuanwei City Army.

You Xiaobao, the deputy general of Xuanwei City Army, was Zhao Wu's superior when Zhao Wu was serving as a volunteer in Yunjiao Prefecture. Therefore, Zhao Wu was able to thrive here.

Thanks to You Xiaobao's slight assistance, over the past few decades, Zhao Wu has been able to steadily become the head of the local militia and accumulate enough spiritual items for Foundation Establishment through pawning and selling his personal wealth.

However, his foundation as a rogue cultivator was too weak, and in the end, he failed at the last hurdle.

After his failed foundation-building attempt, Zhao Wu recuperated for several more years. Due to a lingering ailment that was difficult to cure, he eventually returned to his former position through past connections.

However, just as the captain's helmet was being returned to his head, they encountered a powerful demon that hadn't been seen in Yunjiao Prefecture for many years, which was quite unlucky.

But at this moment he had no time to sigh. Only after Bai Jiang ordered him to lead his troops to their positions could he lean against the city wall, take the hot wine from his deputy Li Erlang, and drink it to his heart's content.

The latter was determined to join the volunteer corps after hearing Zhao Wuyan's words back in Tang County, Xianzhou.

However, this risky riches were not for everyone. Along with him, Wang Laoshuan, Zhang Laomu, and other rogue cultivators from Tang County all died outside the formation of Yuejian Mountain not long after.

However, Li Erlang, who was lucky enough to survive, became addicted. Although he did not achieve any merit on his first attempt, he never missed a battle when Emperor Chongming was on the battlefield.

It's hard to say how much merit he's made in the last ten battles, but the spoils of war and the life-saving money given by Chongming Sect are still much better than what he was back then when he could only lean against the door and watch people drink.

He drifted along like this for several decades, eventually reaching the late stage of Qi Refining. He then used spirit stones to find a broker and bribed acquaintances with precious items, which finally allowed him to enter the Xuanwei City Garrison and gradually rise from a lowly soldier.

Even if he still couldn't reach the Foundation Establishment stage in this lifetime, if he hadn't been willing to give up his life back then and had instead stayed in the still relatively prosperous Tang County, doing lowly jobs like standing up for mortals, he doesn't know if he would still be alive today.

It's said that risking one's life for a wealthy patron is the only way to make it worthwhile. Just look at Li Erlang, who has only been the deputy captain for a few years, yet he has already amassed a fortune of fifty thousand taels of land and several wives and concubines.

It was only because Zhao Wu's original deputy captain was unlucky that the two of them were transferred to work under Li Erlang, an old friend of Zhao Wu who could no longer remember his own name. Otherwise, the two might not have had much interaction.

Just as Zhao Wu swallowed the hot wine, his throat still burning, he saw the black fog outside the East Gate suddenly surge up, as if stirred by an invisible hand. Countless pairs of green eyes could be vaguely seen through the fog, making one's scalp tingle.

He quickly stuffed the wine gourd back into his waistband, grabbed the tattered spirit shield, and shouted at the soldiers in his ranks, "All of you, cock your crossbows! The Xuan-character puppet's spirit fire isn't fully charged yet, don't let the demon get close!"

Yunjiao Prefecture was a crucial place of great concern to the important figures of the Chongming Sect, and the two cities of Xuan and Han were of paramount importance. Therefore, the garrison troops in the cities were quite formidable.

Most of the soldiers under Zhao and Li's command had not experienced any major battles, but they had all lost some of their lives.

Although some movements were still not synchronized, the two of them only needed to give a little guidance and that was enough.

As soon as Zhao Wu stopped cursing, the black fog outside the city suddenly thickened by three times. The third-order array, which he considered extremely sturdy, was actually penetrated by a few strands of fog, which revealed themselves to be black beasts covered in black scales.

Covered in bone spurs, it roared and charged forward.

Zhao Wu's pupils contracted, and he quickly swung his shield to block the bone spikes of the black beast at the front. The shield shattered into dust with a clang.

Seeing that its attack had failed, the black beast opened its mouth to bite his neck. Zhao Wu raised his leg and kicked it in the stomach. The spiritual pattern on his boot lit up, and the black beast's flesh was trampled into pulp, and its intestines were crushed to pieces.

With a "splat," dark green blood splattered all over Zhao Wu's face, smelling both fishy and foul.

Just as he was about to pull his foot out, he heard Li Erlang shout, "Captain, watch out! There are more behind!"

Zhao Wu looked back and saw that three more black beasts had charged up. The leader's eyes were even redder, and its yellow teeth were three times sharper than the butcher's knives used in the city's killing spree.

Li Erlang reacted quickly, raising his hand to shoot out three spirit arrows, their tips wrapped in a pale blue spiritual light, which struck the head of the leading black beast.

The black beast groaned and fell to the ground. Its massive head shattered with a crash, and the liquid that flowed out soaked into the ground, instantly melting and corroding several small holes in the spirit patterns engraved on the blue bricks.

"This monster is truly wicked!" Li Erlang cursed. Several more wisps of black mist seeped in from outside. He had no choice but to stop wasting his breath and drew a few more golden arrows from his quiver. He asked suspiciously, "Why isn't the Ten Generals' end ready yet?!"

In just a few breaths, several soldiers from their garrison had already been killed or wounded.

Zhao and Li dared not show any mercy or compassion, and their urging became even more severe, barely managing to wipe out the infiltrated monsters.

Before the two could even tally the casualties or take stock of the damaged magical artifacts, they heard cheers coming from the main formation.

The Xuan-character puppet that Yang Xun mentioned, when it stood up, was as tall as a city gate. It was a majestic puppet with a pair of hands holding a gun. It was a second-tier top-grade mechanical puppet that Xiu An, the master of Qiaogong Fortress, and the puppeteers of the sect had been working tirelessly for years to develop.

He then sought guidance from the middle-aged shopkeeper of the Lu Gong School stationed in Xuanwei City, and refined the puppet, enabling it to withstand the combined attack of three or four fake core cultivators.

So as soon as the puppet stood up, cheers erupted all around.

The Xuan character puppet did not disappoint. With a flick of its wrist, a spear that was two zhang thick, a large plume of crimson flame rolled out from the red tassel at the spearhead.

In Li Erlang's eyes, even half of the sky above seemed to be dyed crimson. The originally arrogant black mist immediately showed some fear and sizzled as it was burned by the crimson flames.

As the light gradually faded, one or two charred black beasts would occasionally emerge from it and fall down.

Just as Zhao, Li, and the others felt the crimson flames scorching them from the inside out, their good fortune was short-lived. A brilliant spiritual light arrived in an instant, shattering the dense defensive array covering the Xuan character puppet into fragments.

The news from above quickly reached the ears of those below: the Venerable Scholar of Red Cloud Mountain was no match for the invading demon school, and the three Pill Masters who accompanied him all perished, leaving him alone.

The demon school, having forced Wen Zun Shang Xiu away, was clearly not satisfied. With a casual strike, it turned the Xuan-character puppet, the result of the painstaking efforts of everyone at Qiaogong Fortress, into scrap metal.

Before the fragments of the Xuan character puppet even hit the ground, the cheers around the city gate froze in mid-air.

Zhao Wu watched helplessly as the mechanical puppet, capable of defeating a fake Core Formation cultivator, split open from its chest. The joints, forged from spirit iron, creaked and groaned as it slammed into the city wall with a deafening crash, making the blue bricks at his feet bounce.

The body, just warmed by the crimson flames, instantly turned cold. Even a Golden Core cultivator was defeated, and few could remain undeterred. "What's the panic? Have you forgotten the warnings from the sect? The more panicked you are, the faster you'll die!" Li Erlang's roar was even more urgent than before. He was gripping the golden arrow in his hand so tightly that even the spiritual light on the shaft was unsteady.

Zhao Wu was slightly calmer than him, but that little bit of composure was useless at this moment.

Sure enough, as if given a command, the black fog suddenly rushed towards the city wall, becoming more than three times thicker than before.

A deep, muffled roar came from the fog. This time, it wasn't just the small, menacing black beasts, but a 10-foot-tall, second-tier scaled monster covered in barbs, spitting out green venom. With a single claw, it shattered the spirit shield array on the city wall.

"Scatter!" Yang Xun's voice came from the main formation. He held an earthen-yellow spirit shield in his hand, blocking the demon. The shield was covered with mysterious patterns, but it was sizzling as it was burned by the poison.

"Master Fang!"

Fang Zhong, the head of the Fang family, indifferently ordered his disciples to go forward, but he couldn't help feeling regretful.

This demon was originally lurking in the stone forest without any warning. Why did I have to listen to Kang Changxi's instigation, which led to heavy casualties among the disciples of the Fengshi Fang family?
However, once the arrow is released, it is difficult to turn back. This demon school, which travels in the dark clouds, has already awakened its spirit. It doesn't necessarily want to crash into the vicinity of Chongming Sect and suffer a bloody defeat.

However, the two city officials, Xuan and Han, also kept Kang Changxi's words in mind, and were truly reluctant to let this third-tier great demon slip away from their merit record.

Thus, by disregarding human life, many families in the courtyard abandoned any thought of protecting their own celestial offspring. Even if the head of the Fang family still had the desire to protect himself, he could hardly succeed.

It was this unity and concerted effort that prevented Yongli Demon School, which only wanted to leave, from making its escape.

A few more breaths passed, and after the defenders had lost more than a hundred soldiers, the remaining Fang family cultivators were terrified. It seemed that the arrogant Yongli Demon School had finally found the way.

But it was hidden in the black mist, roaring incessantly, its piercing howls causing the entire city tower to tremble.

Zhao Wu and Li Erlang had fought several battles alongside Chongmingzong, and it was not that they had not fulfilled their duty to be loyal to the sect.

However, at this moment, it was inevitable that they would pray that the upper sect would not take it too seriously and would release the demon beast that had already taken many lives into the hands of the cultivators.

Fortunately, Yongli Demon School did not wield its power for too long. The various families in the city who were restraining it from going out finally saw Kang Changxi, the elder of the Chongming Sect Battle Hall who was comparable to it, come here in person with a look of displeasure on his face.

As soon as Kang Changxi's toes touched the blue bricks of the city tower, a circle of pale golden spiritual light rose around him, like the sun breaking through the clouds, forcing the surrounding black mist back several feet.

The spiritual light contained a vast amount of vital energy, which even caused the demonic energy condensed on the wooden beams of the city tower to sizzle and smoke. Zhao Wu felt a warm sensation rush from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and his hands and feet, which had been frozen stiff by the demonic mist, instantly came back to life.

"Elder Kang!" Yang Xun staggered forward, his spirit shield already shattered into several pieces, his chest stained with dark green venom. He was unaware that the entire Chongming Sect already knew the details of this demonic beast, and he hurriedly said:
"This demon school is a Xuanwu Hidden Scale Beast of Eternal Strength, a mid-grade third-tier beast, and it is skilled in controlling mist to conceal its form. Even a high-level cultivator like Wen Zun has been defeated by it, so how could it possibly be able to get past you, young master, be careful!"

Upon hearing this, Kang Changxi's face showed a fleeting look of excitement.

Before he could answer, golden light suddenly flashed in his eyes—the very same Golden Eyes of Truth personally taught by Headmaster Kang! Two beams of golden light pierced through layers of dark mist like sharp swords, locking onto the dark figure lurking within.

The black mist suddenly contracted, as if stung by the golden eyes, and let out a sharp roar. The faint "click" sound of scales rubbing together could be heard from within the mist, indicating that Yongli Demon School had been exposed and was shocked and angry.

"You cowardly rat, how dare you cause trouble in the territory of Chongming Sect?" Kang Changxi's voice was as loud as a bell. He raised his right hand, and the long spear at his waist was drawn with a "whoosh". The spear body was filled with a bright red spiritual light, and the tip of the spear immediately condensed into a flame that was more than ten feet long.

"Today I'll show you what it means to provoke the tyrant!"

The Yongli Demon School, whose ferocity had been suppressed, was furious. It had previously followed the Fengwen Demon School into the Southwest Three Paths to seek food, and had originally had some lofty ambitions.

However, after all these decades, it has been fleeing everywhere. Even now, it dares to send a bunch of worthless people to intercept and kill it, even a nobody who has just entered the Golden Core stage. How can it not be furious?!
Enraged, Yongli the Demon School unleashed a torrent of black mist that surged into a dozen massive black claws, each as thick as a bucket, their tips coated in dark green venom. They lunged at Kang Changxi with a stench that filled the air. Before the claws even reached him, the spiritual barrier on the blue bricks of the city wall was utterly destroyed, causing smoke to rise from the city walls.

Even Yang Xun, who was using a fake elixir, felt a tightness in his chest and hurriedly pulled the disciple beside him back.

This demonic power is several times stronger than before!

Kang Changxi remained unmoved, the golden light in his penetrating eyes growing ever brighter, allowing him to see clearly the demonic power entwined on the black claws.

With a flick of his wrist, he unleashed a crimson spear that swept out horizontally. The flames on the spearhead shone like a fire dragon's tail, and with a few crisp clangs, it severed more than a dozen black claws in one fell swoop!
The black mist at the break was burned by the flames and dissipated into wisps of green smoke, without even a trace of poison touching his robes.

"Impossible!" Yongli exclaimed in surprise from within the mist. It simply couldn't believe that a cultivator at the early stage of the Golden Core realm could break its proud mist control technique.

It inhaled sharply, and the black mist instantly condensed into a ten-foot-thick demon shield, its surface covered with barbs. At the same time, a hundred or so second-tier black beasts burst out of the mist and rushed towards the city tower like a tidal wave.

Kang Changxi's lips curled into a cold smile. He stomped his foot and his pale golden spiritual light suddenly surged as he activated the Primordial Body!
The energy and blood within that spiritual light boiled like a furnace, causing the wooden beams on the city tower to vibrate and hum. The black beasts that pounced were crushed by the surging energy and blood as soon as they reached the outer edge of the spiritual light, their bones broken and tendons snapped, and they fell silent upon landing.

Kang Changxi's skills may not be significantly better than Yongli Demon School's, but because the latter was in a confined place and was blocked by strong reinforcements, the morale of the various families in the city rose again, and they gradually showed some intention to make this third-level demon school lose face.

Yongli Demon School didn't mean anything by it. Ever since Fengwen Demon Commander was beheaded by Bai Canhong as a pledge of allegiance, it had been leading its followers to survive with great difficulty.

Normally, he would only do minor things like swallowing up mortal cities and wiping out cultivator markets. He really didn't know why he was being repeatedly attacked by cultivators.

It was, after all, a mid-grade third-tier demon beast. Seeing that it could not defeat this young master of a noble family under normal circumstances, it abandoned its desire to win and only thought about how to escape.

This beast's skill in escaping is legendary. Back then, even the Buddhist disciple Ga Da, along with several familiar Golden Core cultivators, couldn't stop him. This time, even the Chongming Sect had many cultivators who were able to control him and block his escape route.

However, after a few days, the sharpness of these true and lesser cultivators had long been worn away by the corpses. Even with Kang Changxi personally taking action now, Yongli Demon School still managed to find a weakness.

"crash"

One hundred soldiers of the Fang family were struck down from mid-air like snowflakes by a cloud of black mist, losing their lives in an instant, which made the surrounding cultivators tremble.

Kang Changxi knew things were not going well. He was not confident that he could keep Yongli Demon School at bay. He just wanted to stall the latter and wait for the sect leaders to come.

But at this point, there's no time to hold onto that idea of ​​a safe haven.

As soon as Yongli Demon School found a weakness, he immediately tightened the surrounding fog, gathering all the ferocious black beasts that had been scattered back into place.

The two golden beams of light shot from Kang Changxi were completely blocked by the life of one or two hundred first-level black beasts. Afterwards, Yongli Demon School did not linger at all and immediately flew away to other paths.

Only then did Kang Changxi, witnessing this scene, utter a sigh of regret.

He was a veteran of the battlefields of the Two Rivers, having witnessed countless perilous battles in this Nascent Soul battlefield. How could he not know that if this demon school were to escape from this place, given its abilities, it would be difficult to find it in the future?
Kang Changxi saw the black light flash by like lightning, skimming along the city wall of Tanggu County, and in an instant it was dozens of feet away, its tail of mist still leaving a dark afterimage in the air.

His heart tightened instantly, spiritual light surged beneath his feet, and he pushed his Primordial Body to its limit. His spiritual power was as abundant as a spring, and his blood and qi surged like waves. He transformed into a streak of crimson-gold light and chased after it.

Ke Yongli's ability to escape was truly cunning. The black mist kept exploding behind him, and each explosion helped him accelerate, widening the distance even further.

"What a pity!" Kang Changxi gritted his teeth, his spear condensing into three streaks of flame, which he shot towards the back of the black light. But the demon seemed to have eyes in the back of its head; the black mist suddenly swirled back, transforming into a thick shield. The flames struck the shield, only causing a few wisps of smoke to rise, not even slowing down its escape.

Yang Xun, Fang Zhong, and the other pseudo-Dan masters on the city wall were all extremely anxious. The death of this vicious demon was of little importance to them, but if Kang Changxi were to suffer any mishap because of it, that would be...
However, at this critical moment, a muffled "hum" suddenly came from the southeast, and a beam of earth-yellow spiritual light broke through the air, its speed even three points faster than Kang Changxi's crimson gold escape light!

When the spiritual light landed, it revealed itself to be a coffin half a zhang tall, its body engraved with mysterious runes. Nine dark chains shot out from the gaps in the coffin lid, coiling like serpents toward the black light of the Eternal Power Demon School.

"How come I don't remember any Golden Core cultivators within the sect possessing such abilities?!"

Kang Changxi was just beginning to have doubts when he saw another layer of spiritual light flow across the nine dark chains, tightly binding the dark cloud that Yongli Demon School had transformed into, making it difficult for it to break free!
Then, a hearty laugh reached Kang Changxi's ears.

"The magical fruit I obtained from the Earl is truly useful; this beast will finally be brought to justice today!!"

At this moment, Kang Changxi finally recognized who it was, and saw that the man's brows were furrowed and he asked sharply, "Shashan?! How come you are within the territory of my Chongming Sect?!"

(End of this chapter)