I Have a Compass for Opportunity

Liou Yuan continued his days of deep yet simple cultivation.

Just when he thought he’d peacefully get through this period of Auspicious Star shift, waiting for the day the Evil Star arrives.

On a day with heavy, swirling snow, two days before Star Shift, a sudden visitor disturbed Liou Yuan’s tranquil life.

The chill of winter grew harsher; snowflakes mixed with a sharp wind swept wildly through the mountains.

Near the cave residence, every tree branch was weighed down by heavy snow, some bending under the strain. With the wind, the branches swayed gently, snowflakes cascaded down with a faint rustling sound.​

Inside Liou Yuan’s cave, a bonfire burned, keeping the outside cold at bay, making the atmosphere rather pleasant.

With his cultivation, he no longer feared cold or heat, but that didn’t stop him from enjoying the comfort of the fire.

He was buried in the cave, intently engraving an Array Disc for the "Cold River Illusionary Water Array".

Crunch~

Suddenly, a faint unusual sound drifted through the snowy wind to Liou Yuan’s ears. His hands paused, eyes narrowed, looking toward the path leading down the mountain.

The mountain trail had long been buried beneath deep snow, invisible now.

But that sound clearly came from along that path.

At first, Liou Yuan paid it no mind, thinking it was just a beast crossing the mountain trail.

He was about to go back to focusing on the array disc, already more than half engraved, resting in his palm.

But the Array Disc Liou Yuan placed in the center of the cave suddenly flashed with a milky white glow.

This caught Liou Yuan’s attention. He raised a brow, looking thoughtfully at the array disc.

That was a Qi Cultivation-level array he had set up named "Guardian Array" around the cave residence.

This array had no offensive or defensive capabilities, its sole function was to warn of living beings entering its range.

Compared to the Cold River Illusionary Water Array, this array was much simpler for Liou Yuan, crafted with ease and laid around his cave.

Because the mountain was blocked by snow, since setting up the Guardian Array, it had never been triggered—today was a first.

Liou Yuan figured he certainly needed to check things out.

"Who’s the unlucky idiot getting close to my cave?" he muttered, setting down the array disc and activating his Evil Eyes to look toward the point triggered by the Guardian Array.

A cluster of pitch-black Spiritual Power fluctuations appeared in Liou Yuan’s vision.

People from the Jin Dynasty or Qingyou Prefecture all absorb pure Star Spiritual Power, their energy nearly colorless.

The presence of such Spiritual Power fluctuations could mean only one thing: Demon Cultivator.

The moment Liou Yuan saw this color, his expression darkened, more or less guessing the identity of the visitor.

"I don’t go anywhere, keep to myself, and now someone’s eyeing me already?"

His gaze shifted to the mountain path five hundred feet from his cave.

A middle-aged man in a filthy cotton coat was waddling forward, face dull and wooden, stepping along the snowy path.

His hole-ridden shoes crunched in the snow with every step.

His expression was stiff, eyes blank, body rigid like a puppet; no trace of life on his face as he trudged numbly toward Liou Yuan’s cave.

Behind the middle-aged man, several others with the same expression followed, more than a dozen figures.

Judging by their clothing, they were all local Qingyou Prefecture cultivators.

Ahead of them, in the direction of the cave, a pair of rebellious, sharp eyes watched coldly.

"Living corpses?" Liou Yuan’s first reaction was that he’d run into one of those corpse-refining Demon Cultivators.

But inspecting the figures entering his array’s range, though their bodies lacked life, they didn’t display the mindless frenzy of living corpses.

He’d seen living corpses before at Han Zhenzi’s Corpse Nurturing Land, but these cultivators looked entirely different.

Liou Yuan, now experienced, quickly figured it out and said with newfound certainty, "Flesh Puppets."

Living corpses and flesh puppets seem similar, but in fact belong to two completely different branches of Demon Dao.

The birth of living corpses requires Corpse Nurturing Land and much harsher conditions; once refined, living corpses have bronze skin and iron bones, impervious to blades.

Flesh puppets are easier; a simple secret technique can create them, but each individual is far weaker than a living corpse.

But because the crafting is simple, their numbers are often vast.

Liou Yuan looked down at the snow-covered mountain waist, seeing dense shadows of flesh puppets continuously emerging—there were already more than twenty.

"All these flesh puppets used to be Qingyou Prefecture cultivators."

"This guy’s got balls, killing so many people and still not afraid of attracting the Jin Dynasty Foundation Establishment?"

Having confirmed their identities, Liou Yuan didn’t show the slightest panic.

From his Evil Eyes’ earlier probe, he’d already determined the Demon Cultivator hidden in the shadows was only around Qi Cultivation eighth or ninth layer.

Its aura was subtle, flickering on and off; Liou Yuan’s Evil Eyes couldn’t make out exact details.

But absolutely no sign of Foundation Establishment.

As long as it’s not Foundation Establishment, Liou Yuan wasn’t afraid of anything now.

While Liou Yuan observed the flesh puppets, their group was already within a hundred feet of the cave.

This distance was well within the attacking range of Liou Yuan’s Celestial Calculation Skill for Taming Objects.

He didn’t bother being polite to the Demon Cultivator in the darkness, flicking his finger lightly against his Canglan Sword at his waist.

"Whatever the hell you are, I’ll just kill you first."

Bang! Azure sword light swept a curve in the air, shooting out from the cave and streaking toward the flesh puppets nearing the cave.