Daqin Zhentiansi

Chapter 574 What kind of bullshit immortal masters are they! They're all man-eating demons!
Luo Hongxiu's clean and ruthless killing not only shocked Chen Wu and his group, but also terrified the surrounding people.

“Black, Black Riders, so, so…” On the mountain road in the distance, the wealthy merchant in brocade robes could no longer stand and was trembling all over.

If he had said one more word, wouldn't he have been beheaded by now?
"when--"

Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass came from deep within the Taoist temple, and a hundred-foot-long blue light rose from the collapsed alchemy furnace.

A phantom figure, exuding an air of otherworldly grace, emerged, its feet resting on a yin-yang symbol. As its wide robe billowed, it stirred the nine rivers thousands of feet away, causing them to flow backward: "How dare you, mere ants?"

The power of the Grandmaster.

Or, to put it another way, it is to use the power of the altar and the magical artifacts and formations to reveal the power of a grandmaster.

Before the old man could finish his angry shout, the snake-shaped tattoo on Luo Hongxiu's temple ignited with a ghostly blue poisonous flame.

The Star Shattering Dagger she threw with her backhand pierced through the illusory figure's brow, and the vast poisonous mist even corroded the immortal light, creating spiderweb-like cracks!
"Chen Jiuyue of the Cold Crow Sword Sect, on the orders of my father, has led three hundred disciples to serve under Marquis Qingyang!"

A clear, long howl pierced the clouds, and three hundred streaks of dark blue sword light fell to the ground like meteors.

The young man at the head of the group shook off the black iron sword case, and the rusty broken blade regained its sharpness under the infusion of true energy.

He leaped through the dissipating rain of ice spikes, his sword pointing directly at the faint crack between the illusory figure's brows.

The thirty-year-old man, dressed in a blue martial robe, was surrounded by a fierce aura, indicating that his cultivation at the Grandmaster level was not yet stable.

Chen Duange of the Cold Crow Sword Sect exchanged three "Nine Tribulations Marrow Cleansing Pills," one of which was given to his only son, Chen Jiuyue, to help him break through to the Grandmaster realm.

Chen Jiuyue broke through three days ago, but his cultivation was not yet stable when Chen Duange sent him here.

Grandmaster.

Chen Wu and Huang Sanliang exchanged a glance, their expressions revealing a complex mix of emotions.

Nowadays, anyone without the cultivation level of a Grandmaster probably doesn't even qualify to serve under Brother Yuan.

"Lord Qingyang, Chen Jiuyue dares to request permission to slay this wicked man!"

Chen Jiuyue bowed and shouted.

The wooden carriage curtain trembled slightly, and the crisp sound of Zhang Yuan tapping his scabbard with his finger drowned out the sound of the rushing water.

Inside the carriage, Zhang Yuan remained calm, his hand lightly pressing on the hilt of his knife, and said indifferently, "Alright."

Luo Hongxiu lowered her head and retreated to the side of the carriage shaft, her figure seemingly disappearing. If one wasn't paying attention, one would completely forget that she was there.

In front of the vehicle, Chen Jiuyue leaped into the air, drawing his longsword from the scabbard on his back.

"Zheng!"

The instant Chen Jiuyue's sword deflected the ice spikes, the yin-yang fish in the palm of the ten-zhang-tall phantom suddenly collapsed.

The raging water elemental power transformed into a ferocious dragon, its cold, vertical pupils locking onto the youth's throat.

The three hundred disciples of the Cold Crow Sect shouted in unison, and the surging sword energy of the sword formation condensed into dark crow feathers in the sky above the army.

"break!"

The moment the broken blade pierced the dragon's reverse scale, the power of a grandmaster and the sword energy on Chen Jiuyue's body exploded wildly.

Below, the battlefield bloodlust of the black-armored cavalry poured into the dragon's body along the sword marks, and the phantom of Immortal Yu Chen let out an unwilling roar, and cracks spread from the dragon's head to the entire cloud vortex.

The people stared in disbelief as the young swordsman twirled through the air, leaving nine afterimages in the void as the secret movement technique of the Cold Crow Sword Sect was displayed.

As the last ray of immortal light was shattered by the sword formation, the surface of the Jiuchuan River returned to calm, reflecting the crumbling vermilion gate of the Xuanwei Temple.

"Such fierce sword energy..." Cao Xuan's hand, which was pressing on the Mo Dao, trembled with blue veins, and his eyes revealed a solemn expression.

Although Chen Jiuyue's cultivation level is not yet stable and there is a significant gap between him and Chen Jiuyue, this understanding of swordsmanship is already rare.

Most importantly, Chen Jiuyue is young, a grandmaster in his early thirties, with countless possibilities for the future.

"He can actually draw upon the baleful aura of the military formation to break through immortal techniques!"

Chen Wu took a deep breath to suppress his churning blood and qi, and he finally understood the profound meaning behind Qingyang Hou's plan.

The seemingly chaotic formation of the three hundred Cold Crow disciples actually conformed to the array diagram.

The murderous aura emanating from Chen Jiuyue's sword clearly resonated with the Black Knights' formation—

This is a new path that fuses martial arts from the Jianghu (江湖, the martial arts world) with battlefield tactics!

Before the ruins where the smoke and dust had cleared, the remaining celestial light in the sky was completely shattered by the banners of the Xuanjia Guards.

The crisp sound of Chen Jiuyue sheathing his sword jolted the stunned soldiers awake. The new recruits watched the young swordsman's retreating figure as he walked towards the carriage, suddenly realizing that the "immortal arts" that had once terrified them seemed no match for the sharpness honed to the pinnacle by a martial artist. Suddenly, someone raised a spear, and the roar of five hundred men shook the river's surface: "Great Qin, victory!"

The loud shouts echoed through the sky.

"Chen Jiuyue has lived up to his mission and slew the demon." In front of the carriage, Chen Jiuyue bowed and clasped his hands.

He had personally witnessed the might of Marquis Qingyang in slaying a Grandmaster outside Yuncang City.

Compared to others, his respect for Zhang Yuan was purer.

That was a profound and awe-inspiring experience.

The people along the Jiuchuan River trembled as they straightened up, seeing for the first time the clear blue sky revealed after the collapse of the magic.

Several daring children picked up the fragments of the Taoist crown and discovered that the so-called "magical treasure" was nothing more than a bronze piece soaked in phosphorus powder.

The old herbalist broke open the scattered "elixir," and the pungent smell of mercury made him turn pale.

"Immortal, Immortal Master... defeated?" The old woman kneeling on the stone steps raised her head tremblingly, her cloudy pupils reflecting the smoke and dust from the collapsed vermilion mountain gate.

The blood-stained bodice she was clutching tightly in her arms had a hole torn in it by her fingernails. The tattered cloth was swept up by the mountain wind onto the ruins of the Taoist temple, where it happened to catch on the ankle of a half-charred child's corpse.

"What kind of bullshit elixir!" The one-armed woodcutter suddenly sprang to his feet, grabbing a blue brick with his single arm and smashing it against the ruins of the Pill Pavilion.

The bricks crashed into the broken bronze alchemy furnace, and the sparks ignited the scattered yellow talismans on the ground. The flames licked at the four characters "玄微通明" (Mysterious and Profound) on the gilded plaque.

Three hundred black-clad riders trampled the burning prayer flags and stormed into the inner hall. As Chen Wu's Mo Dao cleaved open the hidden door behind the statues of the Three Pure Ones, a stench of decay, mixed with the cries of children, suddenly exploded forth—

Seven bronze cauldrons contained purplish-black medicinal liquid, and the swollen, small corpses had their limbs tangled like twisted lotus roots.

The two characters "Yu Chen" engraved on the body of the cauldron were soaked in blood and grime, and undigested finger bones were still lying at the bottom of the cauldron.

"These beasts!" Huang Sanliang kicked over the scripture cabinet, and yellowed letters rolled out of the jade box with Qi-style patterns.

When Feng Cheng picked it up, his pupils constricted. The letter read, "Offer one hundred pairs of boys and girls and you will receive the formula for the Foundation Establishment Elixir." The signature was the wolf-head seal of the General of the Eastern Garrison of Wei!
Suddenly, a heart-wrenching wail came from outside the mountain gate.

The silk merchant slumped in a pool of blood, his infant son in his arms with half a pill hanging around his neck—

What was clearly a "longevity elixir" that a wealthy merchant had paid a hefty sum for, now revealed strange patterns resembling insect eggs under the sunlight.

"The elixir of immortality is made from babies..."

The white-haired old farmer suddenly grinned miserably, then staggered backward, clutching his hoe.

His cracked palm pointed to the ruins of the Pill Pavilion, where black riders were dragging out more than a dozen mummified corpses wrapped in Taoist robes. "Look! The immortal master has turned himself into a zombie!"

A mountain breeze carrying the smell of burning swept through the crowd, and someone grabbed a piece of gravel and threw it at the broken statue of the Three Pure Ones.

Amidst the crashing sound of the incense burner toppling over, the cries and curses of the people surged like a tidal wave: "No wonder so many children have gone missing in the county!"

"What kind of bullshit immortal masters are they! They're all man-eating demons!"

"My lord!" Chen Wu rushed out of the alchemy room, carrying a ledger stained with blood, the seams of his black armor soaked in blood. "Look at this pill formula—"

The carriage curtain was lifted by the scabbard, and Zhang Yuan's gaze swept over the seal script that read "using the blood of young boys and girls as a guide." Suddenly, the Autumn Frost scabbard smashed into the carriage shaft.

The people on both sides of the mountain road felt a dragon's roar explode in their ears, and when they looked up, they saw the Marquis of Qingyang's black python robe fluttering like a battle flag.

"Issue the order." Zhang Yuan pressed his sword and stomped on the blue bricks, cracks spreading like a spider web to the collapsed Dan Pavilion. "Seal off all Taoist temples within the jurisdiction of Donghan County. Anyone involved in evil practices—execute them immediately!"

As the last word fell, Luo Hongxiu bowed and disappeared from the spot.

The dark sword light of the Cold Crow Sword Sect followed closely behind, startling the egrets in the mountain stream into scattering and flying away.

Those people who had once knelt before the immortal master grabbed hoes and sickles and chased after the fleeing young Taoist priest, beating him all over the mountains and fields.

Half an hour later, the wooden carriage, escorted by black-armored warhorses, slowly departed.

Inside the carriage, across a small table from Zhang Yuan, Cao Jiada sat upright, his robes taut.

"Magistrate Cao has come all this way to catch me. What does he want to say to me?"

Zhang Yuan's voice was tinged with coldness.

Taking a deep breath, Cao Jiada slowly raised his head.

He knew that this was his only chance to change his fate after wasting twenty years in the East.

(End of this chapter)