Chapter 60
No news came from Yue Mingke, and the cultivators in the city didn't seem to be making any moves. Li Sheng was a little uneasy, so he sent the people in the room out to inquire about the situation.
But it's already noon, and there's still no news. Could it be that they've all...?
Having no other choice, Li Sheng pushed open the door and decided to go out and see for himself.
As he pushed open the courtyard gate, the figure of an ordinary woman appeared before him. She was a girl of about twelve or thirteen years old, wearing patched clothes and carrying a bamboo basket filled with some vegetable leaves, indicating that she lived nearby.
The girl looked at him with her big eyes, probably because she didn't recognize him, and asked in a clear voice, "Who are you? Are you the new tenant?"
Li Sheng didn't answer. He looked at the girl and asked, "And who are you?"
"I asked first."
"Li Sheng!" Everyone in the immortal sect knows the name Li Sheng.
The girl clearly hadn't heard of the name before. She looked at Li Sheng and continued, "You don't look familiar to me. Are you new here? Did you rent or buy this place? Although this is Beijing, the location isn't that great. Don't get scammed."
Faced with this talkative girl, Li Sheng was clearly getting impatient. The annoying array was still in effect, forcing him to use all his strength to fight against the irritating spiritual energy. This girl, too, could be used.
"I'm new here, and the prices here... are very reasonable."
"Oh, things around here are very cheap, but they might be a bit more expensive since you're a stranger. If you need to buy anything, you can ask me to come with you."
"No need for that."
"No trouble at all, you're a new neighbor, my house is right next door." Just as she finished speaking, a middle-aged woman's voice came from next door: "Qu Lian, come back for dinner."
“Okay,” the girl replied loudly to her mother, then smiled and said to Li Sheng, “If you want to repair the house, you can come to my dad. My dad used to be a craftsman in the Ministry of Works, and his prices are very reasonable. We’re all neighbors, so he won’t rip you off.”
Li Sheng felt extremely irritated as he listened to the girl's words, but he didn't show it on his face.
As the girl pushed open her courtyard gate, she turned back to look at Li Sheng and said, "Remember, you must come and find my father."
Yes, it will.
He had just thought this girl was someone he could take advantage of, but he never imagined that in her eyes he was just a sucker she could use to make money off him. He went to a crowded teahouse, ordered a pot of tea, and sat there quietly, listening to the conversations of the people around him.
Last night, the demons wreaked havoc in the capital, but some areas were unharmed. This particular area, untouched by the demons, had its teahouses packed with people discussing the events of the previous night in the capital.
They vividly described how cultivators from the immortal sects could behead a demon with a single stroke, and how members of the immortal sects had captured many high-ranking demon officials.
It was all just empty information. Li Sheng nearly crushed the teacup in his hand. Remembering the Demon Lord's warning before he left, he calmly placed the teacup on the table. The situation both inside and outside the capital was unfavorable to him; if he were to reveal his identity now, he would surely be killed.
"The Ten Directions Barrier at sea has been broken? How could the demons suddenly appear in the capital? There was no news of them coming to the capital before!"
"In other words, the immortal sect didn't inform anyone, so who knows what's going on?"
"A lot of people died last night, sigh." A long sigh silenced the teahouse.
The number of exorcist disciples dressed in black on the street never decreased, and there were even disciples from the Qingxu Sect's Tianyu Mountain. Looking at these people, Li Sheng slightly turned aside, pretending to casually drink tea.
"The cultivators on this street are really working hard. They were fighting to kill demons last night, and now they're patrolling the streets."
"Could it be that even the immortal sects haven't figured out how these demons came out?!"
The person who heard this laughed and said, "How is that possible? There are so many immortal sects guarding the sea. It's impossible that none of them were discovered."
"Then tell me what happened? So many people died, there has to be an explanation!"
Because of this one sentence, the people who were just drinking tea and chatting in the teahouse instantly turned into a cacophony of noise. Li Sheng looked at these people and tried his best to restrain himself from laughing out loud.
Look at humans! You say I'm emotionally unstable? Just look at these humans! A single sentence and they're already arguing. They all dress respectably, but they're all hypocrites. I really don't know why the immortal sects protect these mortals so much.
Li Sheng left the money for the tea on the table, then left the noisy place and strolled down the street. The street was bustling with activity; some people were crying, some were laughing—it was quite a lively scene.
Zhou Xuanzhi and the people of Tianyu Mountain searched the streets of the capital for demons. After the formation was activated last night, many demons were killed or injured, and some have now gone into hiding.
The capital city has been besieged, and the formation at the city gates has been changed, so no demons will be able to escape from the capital now.
It's unknown whether Li Sheng left the city before the formation was activated.
"So you go out on the street just to catch Li Sheng?" Xiao Mu looked at Zhou Xuanzhi, who was full of murderous aura, and suddenly remembered that Zhou Xuanzhi seemed to be like this when he first entered the sect. It was because of his murderous aura that few people were willing to take him as a disciple.
For so many years, he had thought that Zhou Xuanzhi had been transformed into a truly gentle and refined gentleman by Shi Wanqing, but now it seemed that it was all a facade. If his junior brother hadn't been injured, this man could have continued to pretend.
"He was also partly responsible for my master's death back then."
Looking at Zhou Xuanzhi, Xiao Mu couldn't help but shudder. The killing intent emanating from him was even stronger; he truly harbored a deep hatred for the demon race. This way, there was no fear that he might succumb to demonic possession due to the malevolent energy surrounding him.
But… Xiao Mu swallowed his words. Never mind, as long as he's still him, it's none of his business anymore.
Zhou Xuanzhi could tell that Xiao Mu had something to say to him, so he took the initiative to speak: "We previously speculated that those demons came out through the weakness of the Ten Directions Barrier, but Li Sheng appeared, so they did not come out through the Ten Directions Barrier!"
Xiao Mu looked at Zhou Xuanzhi, whose eyes were bloodshot, and wanted to say that the sect leaders were all trying to find a solution, so they shouldn't worry about it. But he didn't have the courage to say it, and in the end, he said comforting words: "We will definitely find out their route, and we will definitely catch that Illusion Demon."
Some people were immersed in the grief of losing their loved ones, while others numbly carried large bundles and walked step by step toward the city gate.
People around him whispered, "What a tragedy, this whole family is down to just one person."
He was a middle-aged man whose face showed no signs of age, yet he appeared unusually old, with most of his tied-up hair being white.
“Not even a complete skeleton of the family can be found,” he said, pointing to the bundle on the middle-aged man’s body. “All their relatives are inside.”
Looking at the middle-aged man, Xiao Mu suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness. He cultivated on Tianyu Mountain to protect the peace of this region, but it seemed he could do nothing at all. These people were ultimately...
“Master said that our cultivation is for the purpose of protecting the people. Master failed to protect everyone, and so did I.” Shi Yunzhou, who had been injured by Li Sheng, was still unconscious, and Zhou Xuanzhi was in a very low mood.
“You experienced that great battle more, and we could only protect everyone.” Xiao Mu looked at the devastation of the city and thought of Zhou Xuanzhi, who had witnessed his master’s death and his junior brother being taken away by the people of Huanhai.
How did he get through that time?
A faint trace of demonic energy emanated from behind.
Neither of them moved, they merely exchanged a glance, and then immediately drew their swords to attack.
Li Sheng originally intended to take this opportunity to take his disciple Shi Wanqing away, but the formation in the city was too strong, and the two juniors discovered him. Helpless, he had no choice but to draw his sword and meet them.
After fighting for a while, Xiao Mu's hand gripping his sword began to tremble uncontrollably. This demon envoy was truly strong. Even under these circumstances, he and Zhou Xuanzhi combined were no match for him.
But it doesn't matter, his whereabouts have now been discovered.
Looking at the person in front of him, Zhou Xuanzhi disregarded the difference in strength between himself and his opponent and attacked again, slashing with his sword one after another, but Li Sheng blocked each of his sword strikes.
"Shi Wanqing's disciple is nothing special." Fighting Zhou Xuanzhi under these circumstances would be exhausting, and the spiritual energy throughout the city was beginning to erode his body. But it didn't matter; the person before him was nothing to fear.
Zhou Xuanzhi couldn't stand these words. At this moment, he didn't care that he was on the streets of the capital. He put all his strength into every move. Fortunately, he had plenty of spiritual energy at the moment.
When the people on the street saw the disciples of Tianyu Mountain fighting with a man, everyone on the street instantly fled. Xiao Mu, seeing Zhou Xuanzhi and Li Sheng's relentless attitude, had no choice but to help the people move to a safer place. He also needed to find reinforcements for Zhou Xuanzhi. Although Li Sheng was having a hard time in the capital city due to his spiritual energy, his cultivation was too high; Zhou Xuanzhi was no match for him.
Zhou Xuanzhi's fighting style completely abandoned defense, and before long his body was covered in wounds.
Li Sheng felt his steps growing heavier and heavier, and Zhou Xuanzhi thrust his sword at him with a desperate stab. Helpless, he had no choice but to raise his sword to meet the attack. Two swords pierced through their bodies, and the two men then raised their hands and struck each other, sending the other flying.
Zhou Xuan took a few steps back and stopped.
Li Sheng was in a worse state; the spiritual energy had entered his body through the wound, making him feel even more uncomfortable. He used his knife to support himself on the ground, stabilizing his body, and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Zhou Xuanzhi walked step by step toward Li Sheng, his sword pointing at Li Sheng.
Li Sheng watched Zhou Xuanzhi approach him step by step, his expression unchanged, without the slightest fear. When the sword was placed against his neck, a smile appeared on his face.
Seeing Li Sheng's smile, Zhou Xuanzhi knew he was in trouble; he'd been tricked. A sharp pain shot through his back; a dagger was already embedded in his body. He didn't know why he'd been in such a state of extreme rage just now, not caring about anything else; it seemed this man was responsible for it all.
He used his spiritual power to force the dagger out from behind him, and the instant the dagger appeared, he knelt on the ground, his consciousness fading. The dagger was poisoned, and there was no one around; no one could save him.
He tried to stay awake and attempted to stand up.
At this moment, his situation was reversed compared to Li Sheng's. Li Sheng covered his wound, stood up, and looked at the dazed Zhou Xuanzhi, saying, "Why don't you come with me!"
He reached for the knife in his hand, but suddenly sensed something. He looked around and said with a self-deprecating laugh, "Looks like you're lucky today. See you next time." With that, he vanished, leaving only the unconscious Zhou Xuanzhi on the ground.
The two who arrived were Shen Junning from the Qingxu Sect and Su Liyue from the Exorcism Division. Looking at the empty street and Zhou Xuanzhi lying on the ground, they had no idea what had happened. Sensing a trace of demonic energy within the spiritual energy, they had rushed over in that direction.
Shen Junning checked Zhou Xuanzhi's pulse and breathed a sigh of relief: "He's still alive, just unconscious."
Su Liyue looked around. The signs of a fight were obvious, and some houses were damaged. There was no one here, and no ordinary people were injured or killed, so someone must have helped the people here leave.
"The people should have reached a safe place. Let's return to the Exorcism Bureau first."
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