Chapter 763: Candied Hawthorn

Are you crazy?

Xu Xiaoshou was stunned to hear that this was another one of the Six Department Chief Seats, and he felt a bit dizzy.

Earlier, during his observation outside the trade fair site, he hadn't sensed so many powerful figures at all!

These people were hidden far too well.

And comparing it to the setup for Gou Wuyue last time in Bai Ku, he could clearly see just how massive the force deployed by Sheng Shen Dian Tang was this time.

"How could so many people have come?" Xu Xiaoshou whispered through a voice transmission.

"Because of Rao Yaoyao!"

The storyteller understood Xu Xiaoshou's thoughts and explained:

"Back in Bai Ku, Gou Wuyue was only half a member of Sheng Shen Dian Tang. When he fought, they had a testing mindset, so the forces they assigned him didn't exceed the limit."

"But Rao Yaoyao is different... Your friend Xuan Wuji said that if she's leading the team, the force allocation will definitely be at the maximum."

"Why?" Xu Xiaoshou was puzzled.

He knew that Rao Yaoyao was one of the Seven Sword Immortals.

But there was no reason for such a big difference in treatment!

The storyteller said solemnly: "Rao Yaoyao is a Sword Immortal cultivated by Sheng Shen Dian Tang itself, and more crucially, she has the surname Rao..."

"Rao?"

Xu Xiaoshou's brow twitched.

What could this have to do with her surname?

For some reason, a name flashed in his mind: Rao Yinyin.

He wasn't unfamiliar with the Rao surname—there was that senior sister from the inner court in Tian Sang Ling Gong, for example.

Besides, across the entire continent, there must be hundreds or thousands of talented people with the Rao surname, right?

Were they all from the same family?

A semi-saint clan?

Was that why Sheng Shen Dian Tang was being so cautious?

No way... Xu Xiaoshou dismissed the idea.

Because if that were the case, with his own surname Xu, he could probably claim some distant connection to one of the true Xu clans in the Five Domains of the continent.

But that was clearly impossible.

He had expected a response, but the storyteller just shook his head slightly and didn't explain further.

Changing the subject, he said: "Xu Xiaoshou, in the central district on Fenghuang Street, there's an abandoned Cao family blacksmith shop. Go inside, move the bellows on the right side of the central table, and you'll find a teleportation array. Use the Sheng Nu command token to pass through it to a secret underground room. There's another teleportation array there that can take you to your brother's side..."

"What do you mean?" Xu Xiaoshou narrowed his eyes and interrupted.

The storyteller urged anxiously: "Go there! Don't head to the trade fair site anymore. If Rao Yaoyao is leading, there might be more than two Six Department Chief Seats here. The priority is to hide!"

With those words, Xu Xiaoshou even detected a hint of desperation.

The tall figure of the Zhan Bu Chief Seat at the end of the long street now brought an overwhelming sense of pressure.

Earlier, when they encountered the Ti Bu Chief Seat Wang Dahui, the scruffy uncle had volunteered to hold the rear, and Xu Xiaoshou hadn't felt this strongly.

Because he knew the uncle was very powerful.

But now...

The storyteller was at the peak of Zhan Dao, even if he had fully survived the Nine Deaths Thunder Tribulation.

The Zhan Bu Chief Seat in the distance was Tai Xu!

And this was a figure from the previous era.

He couldn't have just broken through to Tai Xu now, right?

No—he was definitely an established Tai Xu.

How could the storyteller possibly win?

"Well?"

At that moment, a light laugh came from the end of the long street: "Have you two decided? One-on-one, or both together? I've been waiting for quite a while."

A thunderous boom exploded in the rainy night sky, with silver lightning snakes fracturing and spreading across the entire void in an instant, briefly illuminating the night before everything plunged back into darkness.

Xu Xiaoshou's heart tightened, then started racing.

He had never felt such intense tension, even with the Sheng Nu at his disposal.

Perhaps this was why, despite having eight Zun An as Sheng Nu leaders and many Tai Xu and Zhan Dao as the nine Sheng Nu seats, the entire Sheng Nu organization still had to hide in the shadows, avoiding the spotlight of Sheng Shen Dian Tang.

"Can you survive?" Xu Xiaoshou suddenly asked.

He saw the storyteller suddenly smile with a sense of resignation, then seriously add: "The honest truth."

The storyteller's smile faded, and he replied gravely: "Maybe."

Maybe...

Xu Xiaoshou's heart sank, and he pressed on: "What about Cen Qiaofu? And the other Sheng Nu nine seats? Don't the eight Zun An care about you, sending you out like this?"

The storyteller chuckled wryly: "You're underestimating them a bit too much. Back in the central domain, even Gou Wuyue couldn't take them down. Do you think this Teng Shanhai is stronger than Gou Wuyue?"

Xu Xiaoshou had already figured it out: "Gou Wuyue was an outsider with no backup."

The storyteller explained: "Cen Qiaofu is still recovering and shouldn't act if possible, but Haitang Er and the others are in the royal city. They're probably at the trade fair site by now, so you don't need to worry about that side. Just go back."

Xu Xiaoshou: "..."

The topic shift was a bit too abrupt!

But he didn't say more.

Because at that moment, Teng Shanhai had started walking, each step leaving deep pits in the street as he approached from the other end.

The thumping footsteps echoed.

Clad in Cang Shen Armor, Teng Shanhai looked like a rampaging beast beginning its hunt.

"Go!"

The storyteller pushed Xu Xiaoshou away. "Disappear and don't show yourself."

Xu Xiaoshou stepped back a few paces and gritted his teeth.

He knew staying would just make him a burden.

"Stay alive!"

With those final words, Xu Xiaoshou vanished.

He felt so powerless...

No time...

No chance to grow...

Xu Xiaoshou once again sensed how inadequate time was.

Even though his cultivation speed was incredibly fast, like flying,

he felt that aside from freaks like the eight Zun An, who achieved Three Breaths First Heaven and Three Years Sword Immortal, there weren't many on the continent who could match him.

But it was still too slow.

There was no helping it.

As a young man, how could it be easy to stand shoulder to shoulder with Tai Xu figures from the previous era?

On the long street,

Teng Shanhai unfolded his domain, and the storyteller countered with his ancient book world.

The two tacitly moved beyond the limits of Xu Xiaoshou's perception.

A Zhan Dao and Tai Xu battle could only take place within a domain.

If it erupted in the royal city, it would be a catastrophe for the living, a disaster for the common people.

"Storyteller?"

Teng Shanhai, with his single eye, stared at the famous man in red before him.

He glanced further back: "That one just now—was that Xu Xiaoshou?"

"Otherwise," the storyteller shook his head, "his name is Wen Ming."

"Hah!"

Teng Shanhai sneered: "I've heard of the demonic talent of Sheng Nu Xu Xiaoshou—someone at the innate level who can toy with Wang Zuo and Zhan Dao figures. But seeing him now, he's just a coward who flees at the first sign of battle. Not all that impressive, is he?"

The storyteller retorted: "A Tai Xu like you, picking on a junior?"

"That is true..." Teng Shanhai shrugged, his Cang Shen Armor clanking as he changed the subject: "But do you really think someone who's caught the eye of the Six Department Chief Seats can escape safely, even if I let him go?"

The storyteller's eyes narrowed: "What do you mean?"

"Hahaha!"

Teng Shanhai laughed: "Ning Honghong? Right! I've looked into you. That should be your real name. Why abandon being a simple storyteller in the mundane world and dive into the murky waters of Sheng Nu?"

But the storyteller's mind was no longer on that.

Teng Shanhai's words made him realize something terrifying, and he asked: "How many from the Six Departments came this time?"

"Not many—just four."

Teng Shanhai actually answered, as if stating facts to a corpse: "Besides the ones you've seen—Wang Dahui and me—there's also Ye Xiao and Yi, that pair."

The storyteller's pupils shrank.

He immediately shattered his ancient book space and returned to the external world, shouting at the top of his lungs: "Xu Xiaoshou, come back!!!"

"Too late."

Teng Shanhai smoothly expanded his domain, enveloping the entire space and seizing the advantage.

He tilted his head, and his bones cracked loudly.

Then he clenched his fists, banging them together, sending a shockwave bursting from his fists that rippled through the void.

"Come on!"

"Let me see how you, the storyteller, escaped from Gou Wuyue's hands."

"Or perhaps, Gou Wuyue has been going easy on his missions all these years!"

On the other side,

Xu Xiaoshou, who was running too fast to hear the storyteller's call, felt his mind turning to mush as he dashed along.

"Fenghuang Street—what was the road again? And the Cao family blacksmith shop?"

He normally had a great memory, but now everything was a blur.

Too much was happening!

His mind was flooded: the trade fair site, the uncle, the storyteller, the eight Zun An...

Tonight was like the unveiling of a grand scheme in the royal city, full of twists and turns that left everyone on edge. One wrong move, and it would be checkmate.

Miss one step, and the rooks, knights, cannons, and soldiers would all come crashing down—death was inevitable.

"Fenghuang Street, Xun Gu Road... Yes, Xun Gu Road!"

"No, wait—it was Gu Xun Road..."

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly recalled.

Whether it was "Gu Xun" or "Xun Gu," he remembered the place and immediately wanted to head there.

But then, the image of Xuan Wuji's distress signal flashed in his mind.

Something that could make Mo Mo use a long-distance call for help must mean the trade fair site was in utter chaos.

"Little junior sister..."

Xu Xiaoshou's heart tightened.

Sang Lao was gone—his little junior sister couldn't die too!

He turned on the spot, ready to fly toward the trade fair site.

But the storyteller's words echoed in his mind.

Haitang Er was already there—what good would he do by going?

It would be safer to find the teleportation array and get to the eight Zun An's side.

But was that really okay?

Everyone else was fighting, and he'd be hiding...

Then Xu Xiaoshou remembered someone.

Yes!

He still had one person he could use!

"Mr. Mei Siren..."

If tonight's Sheng Shen Dian Tang operation was led by the Seven Sword Immortals' Rao Yaoyao,

then the only one who could counter her would be another of the Seven Sword Immortals, Mei Siren!

Coincidentally, Mei Siren should still be at Tian Shang First Tower.

"Get him to come out!"

Xu Xiaoshou decided on the spot and started to head back to Tian Shang First Tower.

But just then...

Splash!

A crisp sound cut through Xu Xiaoshou's jumbled thoughts.

Emerging from the heart demon nightmare, the patter of raindrops hitting the ground returned to his ears, along with the howl of the cold night wind.

In the distance, he heard a little girl sobbing loudly.

Xu Xiaoshou realized he was panicking.

He finally understood that, as a young man with little experience, he couldn't match the cunning of those old foxes.

Even if he thought himself clever, he was no match for their schemes.

Once he got stuck in a rut, it was as good as seeking his own destruction.

The enemy's layered traps were probably aiming for exactly this kind of obsessive state, like qi deviation.

"Waaah—"

The crying grew louder. Xu Xiaoshou turned and saw a little girl soaked in the street rain, kneeling in a puddle and wailing over a half-eaten candied hawthorn stick in the dirty water.

"Whose kid is this, running around so late?"

Xu Xiaoshou stared in a daze.

Letting a little girl wander the empty streets in the middle of the night...

Weren't they afraid she'd be kidnapped?

"Under heart demon influence, passive value, 1."

Xu Xiaoshou had learned from his last experience with Yu Ling Drop and always kept an eye on his information panel.

As it updated, his attention was immediately drawn.

But at that moment,

the little girl in the puddle suddenly stopped crying, grabbed the candied hawthorn from the filthy water, and shoved it into her mouth.

"Is she crazy?"

Xu Xiaoshou lunged forward. "You can't eat that!"

Whoosh.

His hand swung out but hit nothing.

He was still in his invisible state, so he couldn't physically interfere.

He stumbled, his form passing right through the little girl.

Glancing back, he saw her biting into the dirty candied hawthorn and now clutching her throat, dry-heaving.

Clearly, it didn't taste good.

"Under heart demon influence, passive value, 1."

The panel updated again.

Xu Xiaoshou sensed something was wrong.

But the little girl, choked by the candied hawthorn, was coughing violently, her eyes rolling back as she thrashed about, unable to dislodge it.

"You idiot!"

Xu Xiaoshou reached out.

He felt his thoughts slipping from his control.

Two ideas clashed in his mind:

One urged him to pull back and stay out of it.

But the other condemned that idea as vile and wicked— a truly kind person wouldn't even think it.

In the end, justice triumphed over evil.

Xu Xiaoshou, with a gamble in mind, quickly dispelled the invisibility on two fingers and used them to pull the candied hawthorn from the little girl's throat.

"Waaah—"

Freed, the little girl cried even harder, tears streaming as she hugged the suddenly appearing fingers in front of her.

By then, it was already too late for her.

Because as soon as Xu Xiaoshou removed the candied hawthorn, he reactivated his invisibility.

Yet, in that split second, the little girl stopped crying briefly and grabbed hold of the finger that had been slow to vanish—his index finger.

"Waaah, big brother, my candied hawthorn is gone..."

In the pouring rain, the little girl looked up, her big eyes full of rain and tears, her wet lashes stuck to her eyelids, making her blink repeatedly.

Her flushed cheeks from crying, her twitching nose, her downturned little mouth, and her fluttering, tear-filled eyes made her utterly pitiable.

The moment Xu Xiaoshou's index finger was grabbed, a chill ran through his entire body.

The next second, he forgot about it all—the panel, the warning—and involuntarily dropped his invisibility.

"Okay, big brother will buy you a new one. Don't cry..."

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes grew dull. He knelt down, gently patting the little girl's head.

The little girl kept crying: "Waaah, where can we buy it? There's nowhere!"

"There's a place that sells them..."

Xu Xiaoshou stood up in the rain, still holding the little girl's tight grip on his finger, and stared blankly toward the trade fair site.

"Look over there!"

"There's a big sister named Rao who sells candied hawthorn. We'll go find her, okay? Don't cry."