Sword Sect Outer Sect

Chapter 11 Paper Man
"?!"

Before he could make a move, more and more vines broke through the soil and wrapped around his hands and feet in the blink of an eye, even covering his mouth tightly.

"How dare you, you coward!"

Lu Xiaowei's eyes were bloodshot, and three short nails gleaming with black light flew out from his sleeve, hovering in mid-air as he warily surveyed his surroundings.

"The prime of life..."

A figure appeared on the waterfall cliff, and the sound echoed down into the valley.

"What do you want with him?"

“Song Yesheng…”

Lu Xiaowei spoke slowly and deliberately, gritting his teeth.

"On a dark and windy night, you ambushed my three fellow disciples. Is this how a righteous sect behaves?"

Song Yan sneered: "Who told you that my Dongyuan Sect is a prestigious and righteous sect?"

"I'd like to ask you... what are you doing back here at this hour?"

"..."

Lu Xiaowei's eyes widened in surprise, and he remained silent.

What truly horrified him was that the cliff was at least fourteen or fifteen zhang (approximately 12-14 meters) away from the valley floor, and the magic could be manipulated over such a distance...

This Song Yesheng...

Could he be a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator?!
"It's getting late..."

Under the clear moonlight, Song Yan's voice sounded somewhat cold. A standard flying sword hung beside him, its tip pointing directly at Lu Xiaowei, ready to strike.

"I'm only giving you thirty breaths to explain..."

"What are your master's intentions...?"

"What do you want with Ah Nian...?"

"And... are those three missing villagers from Yunding Village related to you?"

Another disciple beside Lu Xiaowei reached into his Qiankun bag without making a sound, seemingly about to take something.

"hiss--"

He heard something strange and turned his head to see a pair of blue-gold vertical pupils in his field of vision.

A numbness shot through the back of my neck, followed by a wave of intense dizziness that made me collapse to the ground.

"..."

Lu Xiaowei turned his head to look, but the little snake had disappeared. Song Yan's voice came from behind him.

"You have twenty-five breaths left."

It wasn't that Song Yan was heartless; it was just that although his divine sense was sufficient to support him, given the strength of his spiritual power, he could only waste about thirty breaths controlling the spell at this distance.

"You forced me!"

A hint of madness flashed in Lu Xiaowei's eyes. His fingertips brushed across the storage bag, and three streaks of blood-red spiritual light flashed.

hum-

The counting stopped abruptly, and at the same instant, the flying sword beside him shot out, heading straight for Lu Xiaowei's face.

clang!
A dull sound came, and Song Yan frowned. A spirit stone quietly appeared in his hand, and he began to draw spiritual energy from it.

As the crimson light dissipated, three spirit wood coffins stood upright in front of Lu Xiaowei.

Song Yan's flying sword landed precisely on the middle coffin.

Bang!
The three coffins split open simultaneously, spewing out a foul-smelling black mist, from which three walking corpses slowly descended.

He wore coarse linen clothes, was emaciated, and had eerie green flames flickering in his eyes...

These three walking corpses must be the three missing villagers.

Song Yan's eyes suddenly turned cold; he had now completely extinguished any thought of forgiving the three.

Extend your right hand and make a loose grasping motion in the distance.

The Qi Refining Level 1 cultivator behind Lu Xiaowei, who was almost wrapped up like a human dumpling by green vines, seemed to sense something and struggled violently.

boom! !

The intense flames exploded and spread instantly across the vines, but several vines were still tightly wrapped around his mouth, preventing him from even letting out a scream.

Song Yan ignored him and tapped his fingertips, about to recall the flying sword, when he saw the walking corpse in the middle suddenly leap high into the air and snatch the flying sword from the sky!
"?"

Song Yan's expression hardened, a sense of doubt creeping into his heart.

In fact, the magic of controlling walking corpses is not necessarily evil. On the contrary, if we trace its origins, it actually stems from the beautiful wish of the shamanic tribes of southern Xinjiang for their souls to return to their homeland after death.

Later, some members of the Wunu tribe, in order to punish the most heinous cultivators, refined their corpses into Yin puppets to guard the tribe, thus atoning for their sins in life.

From then on, the magic of controlling Yin puppets began to develop and evolve.

Although Song Yan had never actually seen the magic of controlling corpses, he had seen comments on such magic from senior members of the sect in a certain classic text.

"There are techniques for controlling corpses in the southern border region, but the corpses that can be controlled during the Qi Refining stage are slow-moving and have fragile bodies. In battles during the Qi Refining stage, victory often comes from sheer numbers..." Lu Xiaowei was only at the third level of Qi Refining...

The corpse in front of me is not like a martial arts master, able to leap into the air several feet high with ease.

Before Song Yan could think, the corpse gripped the flying sword in the back of its hand and swung it violently, sending the sword, coated in thick black blood, hurtling towards him!

Song Yan used both spiritual power and divine sense to regain control, but the black blood on the sword seemed to hinder the manipulation of spiritual power, making it less effective for him to wield the flying sword.

Song Yan remained calm and collected, storing the flying sword into his Qiankun bag without making a sound.

"I still lack experience in fighting against others..."

In the blink of an eye, the three walking corpses were rapidly climbing against the cliff and waterfall, their joints making a teeth-grinding grinding sound.

The foremost zombie suddenly opened its jaw, and a foul gust of wind carrying putrid poison sprayed directly into Song Yan's face.

Fireball.

Song Yan made a series of hand seals, and three flames shot out one after another, dispersing the poisonous mist.

"Hahahaha... So what if I'm in the mid-stage of Qi Refining? I have the Yin Puppet Reincarnation Nails that my master gave me... Uh... cough cough..."

Lu Xiaowei was no longer recognizable as a human being; his eyes were bloodshot and his face was rapidly losing color.

He knelt on the ground, coughing up blood repeatedly. The protective spiritual energy around him became unstable and dissipated on its own.

"Kan position, reverse!"

Song Yan seemed to have anticipated this, and did not dodge or retreat. He simply stared at Lu Xiaowei, sneered a few times, and made a hand gesture.

Twelve fragments of magical artifacts, which had been scattered beforehand, flew backward from behind Lu Xiaowei and easily pierced through his body.

The sound of several fragments piercing flesh echoed through the valley.

Most of the fragments fell to the edge of the waterfall after passing through Lu Xiaowei's body. Only three fragments continued to fly towards Song Yan without slowing down.

Just as the three zombies were about to get close...

Puff puff.

Three fragments pierced through the heads of three zombies, bringing out three eerie black nails on their foreheads. Then, their speed decreased abruptly, and they shot into the rocks behind Song Yan.

The leader of the zombies collapsed like rotten flesh, falling to Song Yan's feet.

Huogong Village may not have much else, but it has plenty of fragments of magical artifacts.

"You're about to die... and you still won't talk? What exactly do you want with Ah Nian?"

"The one surnamed Song... heh... heh heh heh..."

Lu Xiaowei's expression was complex, a mixture of regret, relief, and even exhilaration...

But there was no "regret".

"Master... will surely achieve a great and lasting legacy..."

"This human realm..."

"It's nothing more than something I can easily take!"

"Hahaha...hahahaha...ha..."

Lu Xiaowei collapsed to the ground, his laughter growing weaker and weaker until, at a certain moment, he breathed his last.

"..."

Song Yan didn't bother asking any more questions, but simply watched him breathe his last.

sieve.

Two fireballs were launched and landed on Lu Xiaowei and the corpse of the Qi Refining Level 1 cultivator who had already been killed by Xiao He's poisonous fangs.

Looking at the burning corpse, Song Yan pondered deeply.

"The more I listen... the more it sounds like a demonic cultivator..."

Xinshan Sanren...

Are you a rogue cultivator?
Song Yan had heard that independent cultivators would also set up a market town similar to a village or stronghold on a certain mountain, sticking together for mutual support.

Usually, the person who dares to name themselves after a mountain must be the top leader of that mountain, right?
However, Song Yan had never heard of a place called Xin Mountain in the State of Chu.

"Ok?"

Song Yan's thoughts were interrupted, and her eyes became somewhat dazed.

On the three completely burned remains in front of him, three small paper figures stained with blood were slowly crawling out...

"This……"

The little paper figure belonging to Lu Xiaowei's remains waved its hands, sweeping away the ashes.

The scarlet "head" slowly rose, looking at Song Yan not far away...

It seems she wanted to remember what he looked like.

(End of this chapter)