Chapter 30: Huang Ji Shocks the World

As early as when the Huo Lei and Huo Ting brothers were dispatched to pursue and kill the fake wheelchair, at the City Lord's mansion:

Shen Tang went around to the backyard woodshed, took out the Incinerate Flame Talisman given to her by A Nuo, and threw it directly inside.

Sheng Yuan Yao's mouth twitched slightly. This Shen Tang's approach was even more direct than hers, a renowned fire user. However, upon careful thought, there was nothing to hesitate about; it wasn't a problem.

When Dao cultivation hasn't reached a certain level, techniques often require incantations and cannot be instant cast. In fact, even for high-level cultivators, some powerful spells still need incantations to be cast, which is very inconvenient. Therefore, talismans were created. Techniques are engraved onto talismans in advance, allowing for instant casting in battle when taken out.

According to the standards of talisman drawers, the grade of a talisman tool can also enhance the effect of a technique. Thus, even high-level Dao cultivators carry a pile of talismans to unleash randomly.

After all, magic treasures are ultimately rare, and most people can only carry a limited number. Talismans, as long as you have money and time to prepare them, can be obtained as many as you want.

A Nuo's Incinerate Flame Talisman was a full seventh-grade one. Using it to burn down a house was simply overkill.

However, the problem was that martial cultivators generally couldn't activate it; everyone's cultivation system was different. Sheng Yuan Yao glanced at Shen Tang. Wasn't she a sword cultivator? Or perhaps, not just a sword cultivator?

Before Sheng Yuan Yao could think further, with a "boom," the Incinerate Flame Talisman landed, and half of the City Lord's mansion instantly turned red with fire. The fire spread rapidly in other directions, throwing the mansion into chaos. Countless people got up in the middle of the night to put out the fire.

One could imagine that if they hadn't participated in this matter, Lu Xingzhou's plan for A Nuo would have been simply to set fires and then use the Ten Thousand Souls Banner to simulate demonic qi, achieving a similar effect and luring away the official forces accompanying Huo Yu. But since they came, there was no need for simulation.

"Take advantage of this now," Shen Tang urgently said to Sheng Yuan Yao. "Your method of investigating the death row prisoner's traces can still be used, right?"

Sheng Yuan Yao withdrew her thoughts and nodded. "Yes, follow me."

Taking advantage of all the forces in the City Lord's mansion being concentrated on putting out the fire, the three quickly rushed straight to another corner. Sheng Yuan Yao was the first to leap over the courtyard wall.

Du Gu Qing Li looked at Shen Tang. "Shall I carry you in?"

Shen Tang shook her head slightly. "My body is a burden. I won't go in; I have my uses outside. You and Sheng Yuan Yao be careful. The details of this demon are unknown; this is a battle where we don't know the enemy."

"Then you also be careful," Du Gu Qing Li didn't waste words and flashed into the courtyard.

Sheng Yuan Yao was already waiting outside a secret room, with the corpses of two guards beside her. Du Gu Qing Li looked at Sheng Yuan Yao with some surprise. She hadn't expected this head catcher to be quite formidable, killing without a sound and so quickly.

The Sheng family's knowledge was indeed profound and not easy to deal with.

Seeing Du Gu Qing Li come in, Sheng Yuan Yao carefully opened the secret room door a crack.

Demonic qi rushed out, accompanied by a terrifying energy oppression and a foul smell that assailed the nostrils.

Fourth grade!

In this remote place, that was enough to be a king!

But the aura was somewhat chaotic, likely injured, and might not be able to exert fourth-grade strength.

From inside came a low roar: "What trick is Xu Bing Kun playing? It's noisy everywhere. What if someone bumps into here..."

A thought flashed in Sheng Yuan Yao's mind. She activated the recording stone and deliberately lowered her voice. "The City Lord said there's someone named Huo Yu investigating your traces everywhere, which is very troublesome. If you give the upper three-grade demon cultivation method now, the City Lord can still reluctantly help you cover up a bit and continue helping you heal."

The Sheng family had generations of experience working in the demon suppression office, so they might understand. According to past experience, when humans and demons collude, it's generally due to a few situations: one, being infatuated by appearance and falling in love or being bought as a spy or traitor; two, secretly raising thugs for personal ambition; three, obtaining demon cultivation body-forging methods from demons.

Xia State was remote but not on the border, so the first possibility was relatively small and didn't match this demon's attributes. Furthermore, this demon was stronger than Xu Bing Kun; he couldn't control such thugs, so the second possibility was also small.

The most likely remaining situation was the third: Xu Bing Kun was a martial cultivator, but his talent was limited. The methods he learned from the Tian Xing Sword Sect were only enough for him to cultivate to his current level, so he graduated early and made no further progress. To go further, he had to find another way, either obtaining top-secret books, some spirit pills, wondrous medicines, heavenly materials, or earthly treasures, or seeing if demons' body-forging methods offered any insights, thus taking risks. This kind of case had been numerous since ancient times.

As expected, Sheng Yuan Yao's bluff immediately elicited an angry roar from inside: "Humans are indeed treacherous, the most untrustworthy! You said you'd supply pills and blood food for three more days, not one day less is acceptable!"

Sheng Yuan Yao said, "If you recover after three days, who will you go find?"

The demon was enraged. "Then you be today's blood food!"

With a boom, the stone door suddenly opened, and an invisible demonic hand grabbed out. A terrifying suction simultaneously enveloped Sheng Yuan Yao and Du Gu Qing Li.

"Clang!" White hair lightly rose, and the ice sword left its sheath.

Du Gu Qing Li, person and sword united, shot in like electricity.

"Roar!" The terrifying sword qi invaded, and the demon could no longer hide in the secret room. The house instantly collapsed.

Amidst the shattered tiles and stones, a figure over a zhang tall broke out of the house, and demonic qi soared to the sky.

Above, the willow leaf knife, like a piece of moonlight, sprinkled down, blocking the demon's escape route. The demon slapped a claw on the side of the willow leaf knife. Sheng Yuan Yao's face turned slightly pale, but she didn't retreat a step.

Below, sword qi pursued closely, and the cold mist around it was like a prison, sealing the night sky.

The three fought in one place. The guards of the City Lord's mansion who were putting out the fire dropped the buckets in their hands, staring dumbfounded.

A demon?

How could there be a demon rushing to the sky from the City Lord's mansion, and Town Demon Division Commander Sheng was blocking it?

Who was that white-haired person? Also a demon? How were they cooperating with Commander Sheng?

Sheng Yuan Yao's voice spread throughout the area: "The demon is powerful, do not approach! Those at the eighth grade and below continue putting out the fire, those at the seventh grade and above form an array from afar to seal the surroundings. Consider this your great merit!"

In fact, Sheng Yuan Yao didn't dare to let the City Lord's mansion people approach. Who knew which ones were in the know? Approaching and secretly stabbing in the back was no joke. So, by publicly shouting not to approach, anyone who still dared to approach recklessly would be directly cut down.

In the distance, there were indeed many people from various forces in Xia State with considerable cultivation. They scattered far away and formed an array to seal the area at various key points.

Once a demon is exposed in human society, this is the inevitable result.

Sheng Yuan Yao breathed a sigh of relief, looking at Du Gu Qing Li's sword, which exuded coldness for hundreds of li. She also admired her in her heart. This demon's casual wave caused flying sand and stones; its strength was absolutely fourth grade. Due to injury, it couldn't exert its full power and was considered quasi-fourth grade. Sheng Yuan Yao herself would have her qi and blood chaotic after being hit once, but this Du Gu Qing Li could remain unmoved and withstand most of the pressure.

However, relying on the two of them, at most, they could only entangle this demon. With time, they feared they would fall into a disadvantage.

Sheng Yuan Yao roused her spirit to entangle and fight, feeling some worry in her heart. When Xu Bing Kun and others arrived, she didn't know what shady moves he would make in secret, what changes the situation would have... Was this strategy of directly rushing to the City Lord's mansion correct?

...

Xu Bing Kun anxiously rushed towards the City Lord's mansion. He used all his strength, not only leaving the Town Demon Division people far behind but also failing to keep up with his own guard team.

Once the matter of raising demons spread, let alone the position of city lord, he wouldn't even think about mixing in human society; he would surely die.

Now, for some reason, the demon was suddenly exposed in the mansion. Xu Bing Kun now had only two paths to choose: either find a way to save the demon, or take advantage of the chaos to kill it once and for all.

No matter which path he chose, he absolutely couldn't be seen by others doing it. He couldn't even bring his own guard team, otherwise, others would instantly know what was going on.

Xu Bing Kun turned into the alley behind the City Lord's mansion, quickly took off his outer robe, changed into the tight clothes of a common warrior, and took out a mask with flowing spiritual energy to cover his face.

The mask hadn't been put on yet when his hand suddenly shook.

The sound of wheels rolling on the stone slabs came from one side of the alley. A wheelchair slowly appeared, and Shen Tang's figure gradually became clear from the darkness: "City Lord Xu, Shishu Xu, what are you doing?"

Xu Bing Kun suddenly realized: "The demon was released by you all?"

Shen Tang laughed: "I thought City Lord Xu would still want to pretend with me a bit."

Since the demon was released by them, they knew everything, so there was no point in pretending. Xu Bing Kun chuckled coldly in his heart, and slowly drew his sword: "Although I don't know why you all know about the demon... Since Sect Master Shen is here, why not go and surround and attack the demon?"

Shen Tang said faintly: "My body is inconvenient. Even if I participated in the battle, I wouldn't be able to take down the demon for a while. On the contrary, in a fierce battle, if there was a sudden sneak attack from a strong person like City Lord Xu, the situation could easily collapse... Therefore, this seat deliberately waited outside, just for you."

"I" became "this seat," and the city lord became "you."

The momentum in that instant made Xu Bing Kun somewhat dazed, as if he was seeing the Master in the sword sect back then, not just a 21-22-year-old female sect master.

Shen Tang said again: "As a city lord, what are you still dissatisfied with? Why do such heartless and crazy things as feeding demons blood food?"

Xu Bing Kun coldly snorted: "What I feed are death row prisoners. Aren't they all going to die, whether sooner or later?"

"If the death row prisoners aren't enough, and it continues to demand others, then what? When it thoroughly recovers and rampages in Xia State, what will you do then?" Shen Tang said coldly: "Acting so against the way, foolish and ignorant, then don't blame this seat for cleaning up the sect."

"Stop acting like a sect master to this old man!" Xu Bing Kun laughed coldly: "Since you are self-aware that your body is inconvenient and don't even dare to participate in surrounding and attacking the demon, yet you still come to lecture this old man... Aren't you too confident?"

The long sword left its sheath, and light flashed urgently. Before he finished speaking, the sword light had already reached Shen Tang's face.

Shen Tang stretched out two fingers.

With a "ding," the tip of the sword was actually lightly and easily clamped between her two fingers.

The sword light dispersed, revealing Xu Bing Kun's shocked expression: "You... How is that possible..."

Shen Tang's mouth corners slightly raised, as if mocking: "Using the sword arts of the Tian Xing Sword Sect to deal with the sect master of the Tian Xing Sword Sect... City Lord Xu, you have ideas."

Xu Bing Kun angrily drew his sword. Shen Tang, however, let go of her hand. Xu Bing Kun used the wrong force and almost staggered, both ashamed and angry: "The Tian Xing Sword Sect hides and doesn't teach; all the secret methods are left for you direct descendants. This old man seeks another path for breakthrough. What's wrong with that!"

Along with his words, the sword qi coiling around his body vaguely began to change. The clear sword qi became yellowish, just like the flying sand and stones in the center of the fierce battle now, filled with demonic qi.

Even his pupils became somewhat red, and his killing intent was stern: "Let you see what this seat obtained outside, compared to the Tian Xing Sword Sect!"

"Swoosh!" The sword light rose again, and a strong wind howled. That stock of baleful qi and pressure seemed to double compared to the previous sword.

"Just waiting for you to expose your demonic qi," Shen Tang smiled slightly. Suddenly, her long hair moved automatically, and her eyes shone brightly with purple light.

"Bang!" A mountain-collapsing and sea-roaring energy suddenly surged forth, fierce, tyrannical, and completely unreasonable.

Xu Bing Kun only felt as if he had hit a wall. His sword broke, and he flew back, suddenly spitting out a mouthful of blood in mid-air: "Imperial Extreme Shocking World Scripture! You are..."