Chapter 102 The rumors are outrageous! Sitting inside, a heretical cultivator…
Song Yin: My luck is incredible...
After picking up Xia Xining, the three of them took a shortcut back to their resting place because of the evil cultivators, and did not plan to linger outside.
On the way, Song Yin also told the two about Changsun Li.
After they finished speaking about Changsun Li, they had just turned the corner when Song Yin saw Changsun Li casting a spell to seal away the evil energy and resentment, preventing them from leaking out.
The three people: ...
Changsun Li: ...
Fate seemed to have played a cruel joke on them.
Song Yin: "Heretical cultivator?"
Changsun Li: "...No."
Song Yin then turned to the two people beside her and said, "She said she's not an evil cultivator, let's go."
Xia Xining was dumbfounded. Her sisters were spouting nonsense. Who was it that just said Changsun Li was definitely an evil cultivator?
Changsun Li didn't want to get too involved with them. As long as they believed she wasn't an evil cultivator, that was enough. She continued walking forward, brushing past three good-looking strangers.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye; no one except the parties involved expected someone to intervene.
Song Yin acted swiftly and ruthlessly, without even turning her head, and the demon-repelling talisman was firmly stuck to Changsun Li's back.
If Changsun Li is truly an evil cultivator, the Demon-Slaying Talisman will cause her endless suffering; if she is not, then at most I will only lose one Demon-Slaying Talisman.
"No, huh?" Xia Xining was confused again. Who am I? Where am I?
They claimed that Changsun Li was an evil cultivator, but then they turned around and admitted that he wasn't. Changsun Li was willing to let them go, but Song Yin then swiftly put a demon-repelling talisman on him.
Xia Xining: "Which of your statements is true?"
Song Yin turned around and looked at Changsun Li, who was rolling on the ground in great pain. She replied, "It's all the truth."
Things change every second, and at the moment she spoke, she was telling the truth, only she changed her mind the next second.
Song Yin chuckled softly, her gaze calm and cold as a deep pool. "You still say you're not an evil cultivator? Go find the Dingfeng City Guard."
Xia Xining: "I'll go find it."
Through her pain, Changsun Li managed to squeeze out two words, "Wait."
The malevolent aura and resentment on her body gradually disappeared thanks to the exorcising talisman, and within just a minute or two, she was drenched in sweat, as if she had been pulled out of the water.
After a moment's pause, Changsun Li slowly got up, supporting herself on her hands. Her eyes still revealed her ruthlessness, but she said to Song Yin, "Thank you. I was struggling to get rid of the evil aura and resentment on my body. Your talisman helped me a lot. I'll pay you back however many spirit stones you ask."
Changsun Li's words left Song Yin speechless, and she asked again, "You're really not an evil cultivator?"
Changsun Li remained calm: "That evil cultivator was steeped in malevolent energy and resentment to the bone marrow, and the spiritual energy he released would also contain malevolent energy and resentment. If I were truly an evil cultivator, could I recover to normal in such a short time? The pain I felt just now was merely the removal of malevolent energy and resentment."
What she said made sense, and the malevolent aura and resentment on his body were indeed gone. Song Yin breathed a sigh of relief; at least he wasn't an evil cultivator.
"Where did the malevolent aura and resentment on your body come from?"
Changsun Li fell silent.
Song Yin: "You don't want to talk about it?"
Changsun Li: "I came to Dingfeng City to attend the Three Sects Exchange Meeting, but the inn was full. An old woman with white hair said that she lived alone and invited me to stay at her home, which I believed."
Upon hearing this, Song Yin and Xia Xining's pupils suddenly contracted! Changsun Li's description was remarkably similar to their own experiences!
However, Changsun Li believed the old man, while they rejected him.
Changsun Li continued, "Not long after I arrived at her house, I discovered that the house was equipped with an array that was draining my cultivation and lifespan. I realized something was wrong and rushed out, only to be discovered by the old woman. We fought, but because of the array, my strength was significantly weakened, and the wounds on my body were inflicted by the old woman."
"The malevolent energy and resentment have prevented my wounds from healing for a long time, so I had to participate in the initial selection despite being injured. The reason I stopped you from going to find the guard team is because I still have to participate in the subsequent mid-term advancement competition. If I am taken away, I am afraid I will miss the competition."
"Why don't you go find the guards and tell them that you're the only one in Dingfeng City who knows about this evil cultivator's lair?" Xia Xining suggested.
Changsun Li gave Xia Xining a deep look: "I'm not going. If you have a chivalrous heart, you can go yourself."
Xia Xining shut up.
The scene quieted down for a moment, with houses lining both sides.
Suddenly, angry shouts and cries broke the silence from the house on the right.
"I'll teach you a lesson for staying out all night! I'll spank you until your bottom is bruised and bleeding!"
"Waaaaah! Mom, go easy on me! If you spank me again, my bottom will really bleed!"
"Several maids from the Qian family went missing last night, and cultivators from other places also went missing from the inn. The worst of those people were at the early stage of Qi Refining, and even those at the Foundation Establishment stage were captured by evil cultivators. You little brat with no cultivation dare to stay out all night! Do you know how worried I was last night?!"
"Mother! Mother! I was wrong, please stop hitting me!"
Song Yin's expression was serious. Someone else had been captured by evil cultivators, and it was the night before the opening of the Myriad Laws Exchange Conference.
Changsun Li seemed not to hear the voices inside the courtyard: "How many spirit stones is that talisman?"
Song Yin casually quoted a price, halving the sword cultivators' reward of 10,000 top-grade spirit stones twice, to "2,500 top-grade spirit stones."
"What kind of talisman is so expensive?"
Fifth-tier Demon-Slaying Talisman
Changsun Li murmured, "Tsk, there are so many high-level cultivators in the Xuan Tian Realm, and high-level items are so common..."
She tore off her sect identity token and threw it to Song Yin along with the IOU. "I don't have that many spirit stones, but I never owe anyone karma in my cultivation. Here's the sect identity token and the IOU; I'll gather the money to pay you back as soon as possible."
After saying that, Changsun Li left decisively.
Xia Xining leaned closer: "She's so strange."
Song Yin asked the two, "What would you call this world?"
Shi Heming: "The world of cultivation."
Xia Xining: "The cultivation world? What happened?"
Song Yin smiled with interest, thinking of something quite amusing. "She's talking about the Xuan Tian Realm, but the Xuan Tian Realm is divided into the mortal realm and the cultivation realm. Perhaps she..."
They are not from this world.
Neither Shi Heming nor Xia Xining heard her last words, but Shi Heming guessed what Song Yin meant.
She hadn't finished speaking when she ran into Changsun Li, and now that he was gone, Xia Xining continued speaking.
She clenched her fists, her eyes burning with rage: "Oh, right, I also saw that bastard in the weapon repair group. He passed the initial screening smoothly too. I really hope he gets eliminated in the mid-stage. He even dared to laugh at me. I'll make him look bad!"
Song Yin: "Keep it up, I support you. But he's at the Golden Core stage, and his father is the sect leader. He's grown up in a weapon-refining sect, so his weapon-refining skills should be quite good. So..." She changed the subject, "So go back and review the precautions for weapon refining."
Xia Xining quickened her pace: "I'm not full of fighting spirit anymore, just ignore what I said."
Song Yin covered her mouth behind her, trying her best not to laugh out loud.
Although the disappearances of heretical cultivators and other practitioners have caused widespread panic, the Myriad Laws Exchange Conference continues in full swing.
The initial selection process lasted three days, eliminating many cultivators in the Qi Refining stage, resulting in a sharp decrease in the number of participants by one-third.
During this time, Song Yin and her team stayed home, preparing for the upcoming competition.
Xia Xining said she would ignore her words, but people are all about pride, so she immersed herself in the world of weapon forging, determined to trample the bastard underfoot and his father's sect underfoot as well.
So that everyone in the Eastern Continent would know that their weapon-forging skills, which they were so proud of, were nothing compared to those of the Immortal Firmament Sect!
After the initial selection rounds concluded, the mid-stage advancement rounds began the following day.
The difficulty of this test for the alchemy group is moderate. Alchemists are required to refine pills at will. Those who refine Rank 3 pills will advance directly, while those who refine Rank 2 pills will be judged on the quality of the pills to determine whether they advance.
At this stage, everyone generally assumes that only those at the Foundation Establishment and Golden Core stages can successfully advance.
A third-grade pill is enough to successfully advance, so Song Yin refined a mediocre Spirit Recovery Pill.
At this point, Song Yin felt that advancing all the way to the final decisive stage would be very easy.
After successfully advancing, Song Yin wondered what kind of questions would be asked in the final stage. She needed to stand out among many Golden Core cultivators, but unfortunately, until the very end, none of the contestants knew what the competition would be about.
The competition ended early, and she wandered around other venues. The sword cultivators were still fighting on the stage, the weapon cultivators were clanging and banging their hammers, the talisman cultivators were sitting behind their desks, writing with great concentration, and the music cultivators were playing instruments and singing on the stage...
There were many spectators at each venue. As Song Yin walked through the crowd, she heard not about the competition, but about how the evil cultivators had arrested many more people.
"You mean the evil cultivators are taking advantage of the chaos to arrest people every day? And they can't even catch the guards of Dingfeng City?"
Song Yin slowed down and mingled in the crowd to listen to them talk.
"That's right! Someone else has gone missing. Many families are looking for them, but there are no clues."
“Brother, I’m planning to move away from Dingfeng City. If I don’t leave soon, I’m afraid I’ll become the next target of evil cultivators. After all, they capture men, women, and children of all ages. The city lord is just a figurehead. He’s always talking about catching evil cultivators, but he hasn’t caught any after a year.”
"The city lord is too useless. The Immortal Alliance has intervened directly and sent people to arrest the evil cultivators. There's no need to worry."
"Do you think there might not be just one evil cultivator, but many?"
"But the information released by the city lord indicates that there is only one evil cultivator. Do you intend to question the city lord?"
“My relative’s or neighbor’s child was stolen. He was only twelve years old and had just begun to cultivate his inner energy. They were planning to send him to a sect next year. What a tragedy.”
Song Yin interjected, "Who is the city lord of Dingfeng City? I'm from out of town, so I don't know."
"Fellow Daoist, do you not know the City Lord of Dingfeng City? The City Lord's surname is Luo, and his name is Luo Liangzhi. He is a Nascent Soul cultivator at the Great Perfection stage and could advance to the Divine Transformation stage at any time," the kind brother in front said.
The female cultivator beside her said, "But I heard that the city lord has not advanced in many years, and I also heard that the city lord will be three thousand years old in a few decades."
The lifespan of a Nascent Soul cultivator is three thousand years. If the Lord of Dingfeng City does not break through, he will only have one option: to perish.
The chubby cultivator next to him joined the conversation, "I have some inside information! The city lord hasn't shown up for over a year, and the time coincides with the appearance of the evil cultivator. Many people are guessing that the evil cultivator is the city lord."
The kind-hearted brother said, "Brother, where did you hear this rumor? It's so sensational! I love hearing more."
The chubby cultivator said, "Yes, brothers. There are also rumors that the city lord wants to use the Three Sects Exchange Conference to possess the bodies of the participating prodigies! For example, Song Yin of the Immortal Cloud Sect, Xie Jiang of the Myriad Swords Sect, Changsun Li of the Water Moon Sect, Wang Hong of the Weapon Forging Sect, and so on. After all, he will die soon, and it is impossible for him to break through his cultivation in such a short time. In order to survive, he can only choose to possess a body."
Song Yin probably never expected that her name would be mentioned in the rumors.
Song Yin: "Is the city lord male or female? Why are there both male and female targets for possession?"
The chubby cultivator gave him a knowing look and said seriously, "That's normal. The city lord's goal is to live. As for what happens after the possession, it doesn't matter whether he's a man or a woman."
Song Yin tilted her head and widened her eyes. "You fatso, your rumors are outrageous!"
Does the city lord know that it doesn't matter whether he is a man or a woman?
The chubby cultivator thought his news had shocked Song Yin, and proudly straightened his body, which he considered to be very robust.
The chubby cultivator pointed at the group, "These are all secrets. You absolutely must not tell anyone. The city lord has many eyes and ears. If he finds out..." He made a throat-slitting gesture, "it could lead to your death."
"Uh." Song Yin hesitated, "Since you can bring about a deadly disaster, how dare you, fat man, say it in a crowd? Don't you see that there are quite a few people around listening?"
The fat man had already walked far away, but as he walked, he turned back and said, "Remember, never say anything carelessly."
After giving instructions to the group, the fat man rushed off to another location.
As he passed through some crowded areas, he overheard people discussing heretical cultivators and the city lord. He immediately calmed down and found a suitable opportunity to join in.
"I have some inside information, do you want to hear it? It's about the city lord..."
After listening more in the crowd and learning that the evil cultivators only arrested people at night, Song Yin quietly left the crowd.
Inside the city lord's mansion in Dingfeng City, Luo Liangzhi wrote down the rumors presented to him, slammed them onto the table, rubbed his temples, and said to the assassin beside him, "Don't pay attention to these rumors; they'll just cover up my true purpose."
Death Soldier: "Yes, Lord City Lord."
Luo Liangzhi: "Also, tell those evil cultivators to hurry up. I can't wait too long. I'm giving them three years to get that thing back to me, or they'll have to keep hiding and won't be able to change their identities and live a normal life in Dingfeng City."
Death Soldier: "Understood."
"Reporting to the city lord, someone has come to visit."
Luo Liangzhi waved his hand, signaling the assassins to hide.
"Come in."
A woman with mixed black and white hair, dressed simply, walked in.
"Lord Luo, news has come in that the number of people is still far from enough."
Luo Liangzhi placed his rough, wrinkled hands, like tree bark, on the table, his fingertips stroking back and forth on the folds filled with rumors and gossip, remaining silent for a long time.
The quiet atmosphere made the woman frown. "Lord Luo."
Luo Liangzhi threw the folded document at the woman.
"Look at what's written here. Isn't it enough that I, the city lord, have already let you take away fifteen people? I might as well give you the entire city, and you can even sit on the chairs I'm sitting on."
The woman's fingertips twitched slightly, and the folded book that had fallen to her feet flew up automatically and landed in her hand, which she opened and read carefully.
“The number of people needed is far from enough. Naturally, the more people there are, the faster the catalysis will be. Lord Luo, you must be able to wait.” The woman considerately closed the folded document and stepped forward to place it back on the table.
Luo Liangzhi said fiercely, "You know whether I can afford to wait."
The woman chuckled, her aged hand touching her face. "Lord Luo, you can also learn from me and seize the lifespan of young people. In less than ten days, I have gone from looking like a mortal in his hundred years to looking like a mortal in his fifties or sixties."
Luo Liangzhi rolled his eyes and looked away: "I, the city lord, disdain to use the methods of evil cultivators."
The woman laughed even harder, "Hahaha, Lord Luo is really funny. He disdains to use our evil cultivators' methods, yet he associates with us evil cultivators and gives us preferential treatment in Dingfeng City."
Luo Liangzhi: "Alright, how many more people do you need? Tonight I'll have the guards avoid the area where you made your move and have them patrol elsewhere."
The woman said, "Of course, the more the better."
Luo Liangzhi: "Stop when you've had enough."
Woman: "Alright, we'll catch three to five tonight."
Luo Liangzhi: "I can't control the people from the Immortal Alliance. If they catch you, remember to stay far away. Go into any house's yard or escape outside the city. I won't protect you if you get caught, and I believe your evil cultivator companions won't come to your rescue either."
The woman said a street name and turned to leave.
Luo Liangzhi tapped the table lightly with his knuckles, and the assassin reappeared.
Luo Liangzhi: "Stay close to her. If she is captured by the Immortal Alliance, remember to kill her and erase her soul as well, so as not to expose me."
"Yes, ma'am."
...
Wu Jue also attended the Wanfa Exchange Conference. After learning where Song Yin and the others lived, he went directly to their door.
The four sat in the courtyard talking about Changsun Li, and also about Xiao Daiheng's situation.
Wu Jue: "The cultivators of the Shuiyue Sect are just ignorant. Unlike us sword cultivators, if I knew the lair of the evil cultivators, I would be the first to report to the city lord, and then I would join the guard team to charge in and eliminate the demons and protect the righteous path!"
"After saying all this, I still don't know how Xiao Daiheng is doing now. Have you been in contact with him?" Song Yin neatly stacked the sunflower seed shells one by one.
Honestly, Han Changyu's roasted sunflower seeds are getting better and better; they're good enough to open a shop and sell. I'll have Zhuang Dai put them on the shelves sometime and see if anyone buys them.
Wu Jue sighed, "Every time I use the communication stone to ask my senior brother, he reads my message but doesn't reply. I hope my senior brother can overcome his inner demons soon."
What was said in jest was taken seriously by the listener, and Shi Heming's heart stirred.
Xiao Daiheng's inner demons stemmed from the female cultivator of the Qingxuan Sect, while his own inner demons were also caused by one person.
At this moment, he desperately hoped that Xiao Daiheng could overcome his inner demons, so that he could ask Xiao Daiheng for advice on how to overcome them.
Since he developed his inner demons, he has become increasingly strange, and the more he tries to restrain himself, the more he thinks.
He really wishes he could go back to a time when he didn't have inner demons, instead of the way he is now.
He feels somewhat awkward around Yinyin now, and each time he talks to her, he has a different feeling, making it difficult for him to speak to her openly, so he can only reduce their communication.
He was truly afraid that she would discover the truth about his inner demons and thus come to loathe himself.
The feeling of being out of control is very bad.
Wu Jue left after a short while, as everyone had to prepare for the later decisive stages of the competition and didn't have much time to chat.
Since they came to the competition, they naturally all wanted to get a good ranking.
As the bright moon hung above the eaves at night, and more and more people disappeared, the once bustling city of Dingfeng became much quieter.
Families with children kept their doors and windows tightly shut. Those who were bold and indifferent continued to roam freely, completely disregarding any supposed heretical practices.
The man, drunk from eating flowers and drinking, staggered to a window seat and looked up to admire the moon.
"The moonlight...it's so beautiful...hahaha...drink...keep drinking..."
Several figures flew away quickly, blocking the moonlight. When the man looked closely, they had already disappeared.
"What the heck... I'm seeing things..." The man swayed from side to side, and finally lost his balance and fell to the ground with a thud.
He thought the figure that had been flying away was still chasing its target. They were all members of the Immortal Alliance, and tonight they had finally found the traces of the evil cultivator.
Given the circumstances, if they had arrived any later, the evil practitioners would have kidnapped even more young people.
As the woman fled, she gritted her teeth and glanced back. Seeing that the people from the Immortal Alliance were chasing her closely, she had no choice but to hide in a random house.
She sped up and blew a cloud of smoke behind her.
The members of the Immortal Alliance had their vision completely obscured by the smoke, so they immediately used their divine sense to locate her, but the woman had already vanished without a trace.
"What if we lose track of them?" The members of the Immortal Alliance stopped in mid-air and discussed their next move.
"There's no spiritual energy fluctuation from the teleportation talisman, so she hasn't teleported away. She must still be nearby, definitely hiding. Let's continue searching in this area."
In this situation, the woman casually slipped into the backyard of a house. To avoid being captured, she concealed all her aura and used a magical artifact to completely hide her cultivation level, making her look like an ordinary person.
Not satisfied with just that, she saw a dog hole in the corner of the wall and gritted her teeth to turn herself into a little black dog.
One of the Immortal Alliance members landed on a tree branch in the backyard, his divine sense covering the entire courtyard, including three young cultivators and an ordinary mortal dog.
Song Yin, who was meditating in the room, twitched her ears and keenly heard an unusual sound, as well as a divine sense that could not be ignored.
She got up and flew out of the window, landing in the backyard. Her gaze immediately locked onto the person in the tree, who was at the Golden Core stage.
The little black dog huddled in the corner, too afraid to move.
"Breaking into a private residence at night, who are you?"
The person in white jumped down from the tree and took out her identity token. "I am from the Immortal Alliance. We are hunting down an evil cultivator. She went missing in this area. We suspect she has gone into hiding in someone's house."
"Can the Immortal Alliance really so easily dismiss the matter of trespassing on a private residence?" Shi Heming also came to the backyard. "You sir, you trespassed on a private residence to arrest an evil cultivator. May I ask where the evil cultivator is?"
"We've checked with our divine senses, and there are no evil cultivators hiding in your private residence." The members of the Immortal Alliance clasped their hands in apology: "We are very sorry for the emergency. If you have any information about evil cultivators, please feel free to inform the Immortal Alliance."
The little black dog lay down in the corner, its dark eyes fixed on the three people, especially Song Yin.
She had encountered these snacks before the Three Sects Exchange Meeting, but unfortunately, she didn't take the bait. Unexpectedly, she ran into one of the Immortal Alliance's lackeys today instead of avoiding it. The little black dog licked its lips, eyeing the female cultivator's appearance with longing.
With such a young and beautiful appearance, it would definitely be a good deal to possess her body.
Song Yin: "Considering your circumstances are understandable, we will not pursue the matter today."
The Immortal Alliance member said, "Thank you very much, farewell."
Song Yin called out to her, "Wait a minute."
"What's wrong?"
Song Yin pointed to the corner of the wall, "Take your dog away."
The people from the Immortal Alliance asked, "Isn't this your dog?" Their gaze fell on the corner of the wall, and no matter how they looked at it, it was just an ordinary little black dog, without a trace of spiritual energy.
Shi Heming stared suspiciously at the little black dog in the corner, his brows furrowing slightly. "This private residence has never had a dog from the beginning."
The members of the Immortal Alliance walked step by step to the corner of the wall and squatted down, while the little black dog that the woman had transformed into watched helplessly as the large hand fell.
"Woof woof woof!"
The little black dog stood up, wagging its tail, and nuzzled the palms of the Immortal Alliance members with its head.
The people from the Immortal Alliance pointed to the dog hole, saying, "They probably crawled in through the dog hole."
Song Yin: "Then please take it with you, fellow Daoist."
“Sure, it wouldn’t be bad to take it back and raise it.” The people from the Immortal Alliance grabbed the little black dog by the scruff of its neck.
No, I can't follow the people from the Immortal Alliance, otherwise we'll be exposed sooner or later.
The little black dog twisted its body frantically, trying to break free and escape.
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Author's Note: Little Black Dog: I'll f*** you, you idiot Yu Lao Er, you'd be better off not saving me %&@、 (Birds sing and flowers bloom)
Song Yin: Your organization is a bit stupid. [Shut up]
Little black dog: Keep your voice down! Is it something to be proud of?! [Clown]
Hooray! Another 6,000 words today! [rainbow fart]
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[Empty bowl]
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