Old Refining Spirit

Inside the Xuanxuan Medical Clinic, the atmosphere was so cold it felt as if frost was about to freeze over.

The young woman knelt on the ground, her forehead bleeding from the blows, her desperate cries echoing in the courtyard. The baby in her arms was ashen-faced, its tiny body growing cold, and not a single rise or fall of its chest could be seen.

"Master Li... Master Li, what exactly is going on? This child is clearly no longer breathing, why do you say it's an array?" Mu Wanjiao stood aside, tightly gripping the silver whip in her hand, feeling a chill run down her spine.

Li Xuangeng did not speak, but took out a thin silver needle from his sleeve.

"As the Taoists say, at the beginning of life, everyone has a breath of 'Primordial Qi' within their body. This Qi is the source of life force and also the supreme tonic that demons who specialize in evil magic covet the most." Li Xuangeng's voice was gentle, but his movements were as fast as lightning.

He pointed his fingers like a sword and suddenly pressed them against the baby's forehead!

"Duh!"

With a soft shout, the silver needle pierced the Baihui acupoint on the top of the baby's head with perfect accuracy. Immediately afterwards, the Creation True Qi in Li Xuangeng's body flowed along the silver needle, like a warm sun, into the baby's nearly dried-up meridians.

"This child isn't quite dead yet. The person who set up the formation is extremely greedy. He doesn't intend to drain these infants instantly, but rather to use the 'Nine Netherworld Stealing Heaven Formation' to slowly extract the innate Qi of all the newborns in the city, like cutting flesh with a dull knife, and gather it into his own body."

Li Xuangeng flicked the end of the silver needle with his finger.

"Buzz—"

The silver needle emitted a crisp dragon's roar. The faintly visible blood-red "敕" (edict) character between the infant's brows, under the impact of the Creation True Qi, let out a shrill cry like a vengeful ghost, then completely dissipated like melting ice and snow!

"Wow--!"

A weak but clear cry of a newborn baby suddenly rang out in the clinic! The dead infant, whose face had been ashen, miraculously flushed red and began to breathe in fresh air in large gulps.

"He's alive! My child is alive!" The woman froze for a second, then burst into wild, joyful cries, clutching her child and frantically kowtowing to Li Xuangeng, "Thank you, living god! Thank you, living god!"

"Don't thank me yet." Li Xuangeng took out the clean white silk handkerchief and wiped his fingers where the needle had been removed. "I only used the 'Soul Locking and Spirit Fixing' technique to temporarily seal the remaining life force in this child's body. As long as the core of the 'Nine Netherworld Stealing Heaven Array' is not broken, when the Yin energy is at its heaviest at midnight tonight, all the hundreds of marked infants in the city will still die instantly."

"Then... what should we do?" Xiaoman asked, her eyes red with heartache as she looked at the baby who was still sobbing.

"What should we do?" Li Xuangeng casually tossed aside the silk handkerchief, his face beneath the white silk turning towards the center of Qingzhou City.

His lips curled up little by little, forming an elegant yet sickly smile.

"Since a chef from out of town has set up a big pot in our Qingzhou City and even stole my ingredients..." Li Xuangeng straightened his moon-white Taoist robe and strode out of the clinic. "As a semi-local, I should naturally go and overturn his pot, and while I'm at it... taste this chef's cooking."

In the very center of Qingzhou City, the original state government square has now been transformed into an enormous altar – the "Altar of Longevity".

This was ordered to be built overnight by Imperial Envoy Zhao Wuji after he arrived in Qingzhou. Ostensibly, it was to pray for the long life of the current Emperor of Dayuan and to pray for the salvation of the innocent people who died in the "demonic disaster" of Xuantian Sect.

At this moment, the Altar of Longevity was surrounded by layers upon layers of people from Qingzhou City. With their hands clasped together, under the watchful eyes of thousands of purple-clad guards, they devoutly recited the "Scripture of Praying for Longevity" promulgated by the Great Yuan Dynasty.

The incense was burning brightly, and the air was filled with swirling smoke.

At the top of the towering Altar of Longevity sat a burly man dressed in a purple python robe of the third rank.

He had a square face, never smiled, and his exposed skin had an eerie dark bronze color that even shimmered with a metallic sheen under the sunlight. He was Zhao Wuji, the commander of the Demon Suppression Division, the "Cold-Faced Buddha" who was renowned throughout the world.

"My lord, the innate Qi of the 365 newborns in the city with pure Yang and pure Yin destiny has been extracted by 70%. The great formation will be complete at midnight tonight." A lieutenant wearing a demon mask knelt on one knee beside Zhao Wuji and reported in a low voice.

"Very good." Zhao Wuji did not open his eyes. His voice was dry and harsh, like two rusty iron pieces rubbing together. "The Imperial Preceptor has ordered that even after the destruction of the Xuantian Sect, the blood food supply in Qingzhou must not be interrupted. Once this batch of 'Innate Blood Pills' is refined, it must be sent to the capital immediately by express courier."

"Yes! But..." the lieutenant hesitated, "that evil Taoist priest Li Xuangeng, who destroyed the Xuantian Sect, is still missing. I'm worried..."

"Just a rat hiding in the sewers." Zhao Wuji sneered, and a terrifying pressure instantly swept across the entire square, making the tens of thousands of people below almost unable to breathe. "I am here on the Emperor's orders, carrying the destiny of the Great Yuan Kingdom! If he dares to show himself, I will surely annihilate his soul and spirit!"

The moment Zhao Wuji finished speaking.

A clear, gentle, yet incredibly distinct voice abruptly pierced through the chanting of tens of thousands of people, echoing above the Altar of Longevity.

"Imperial decree? National destiny? All I smell is the stench of green-haired money that has been buried underground for thousands of years."

Beneath the Altar of Longevity, the crowded people seemed to have been forcibly cleaved into a three-zhang-wide road by an invisible force.

Li Xuangeng, dressed in white and blindfolded with a white silk ribbon, strolled leisurely through the crowd. Mu Wanjiao gripped her silver whip tightly, following nervously behind him.

"You audacious scoundrel! How dare you trespass on the Prayer Ceremony! Seize him!"

A dozen or so guards in purple robes, each wielding a long steel sword, roared and pounced on Li Xuangeng like tigers descending a mountain.

Li Xuangeng didn't even pause or turn his head. He simply and slowly twirled the string of white bone prayer beads in his left hand, his lips slightly parted.

"The Zhen hexagram signifies thunder."

"boom!"

Without any visible movement, the chests of the dozen or so purple-clad guards who had lunged into the air suddenly caved in, as if struck head-on by an invisible, massive hammer! Amidst the gushing of blood, the dozen or so corpses flew out like torn sacks, crashing heavily onto the stone steps of the Altar of Longevity, their bones broken and tendons snapped.

A deathly silence fell over the entire hall. The chanting abruptly stopped, and everyone stared in horror at the blind Taoist priest who resembled the Grim Reaper.

At the top of the Altar of Longevity, Zhao Wuji suddenly opened his eyes. They were terrifying pupils, devoid of whites and completely filled with dark green corpse poison.

"You are Li Xuangeng?" Zhao Wuji slowly stood up, and with each movement, a metallic scraping sound emanated from his body.

"Zhao Wuji, the cold-faced Buddha and commander of the Demon Suppression Division of the Great Abyss Dynasty." Li Xuangeng stopped below the Altar of Longevity, tilted his head slightly, and the white silk was facing the high and mighty scarlet figure.