Chapter 445 - 426: Where’s My Anhe City?
"Very good."
Lin Qingfeng's voice was filled with undisguised satisfaction.
'As long as I can bring them back as Palu, that's all that matters! It's all for the sect's benefit anyway!'
He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his figure outlined by the moonlight.
"Besides you, you'll handle the remaining five candidates. Remember, we want 'Pokémon' that can win, not cannon fodder sent to their deaths."
Before his voice had even faded, his figure had already vanished, leaving only his ethereal, cloud-like words to echo in the night wind.
"First, the cold glint of light arrives, then the spear strikes like a dragon."
Su Ling'er's heart trembled violently.
'The cold glint of light... the spear strikes like a dragon...'
She instantly understood her Eldest Brother's profound meaning!
'He was enlightening me! When dealing with those sanctimonious Evil Cultivators, there's no need to play fair. I have to strike with the force of a thunderbolt, breaking through their defenses at a single point to hit their core!'
'The even deeper meaning is that if those in the team with deep-seated demonic roots reveal their true nature at the tournament, I'm to become that "cold glint of light." Before they can fall completely, I have to use the harshest methods to forcibly "straighten them out"!'
'Eldest Brother, you always go to such great lengths for those who can still be corrected.'
...
The bamboo house returned to silence.
Only the lone lamp on the table continued to flicker.
The night wind stirred the hem of her red dress, carrying the chill of the mountains.
'Eldest Brother has already placed the sword in my hands.'
'Now, it's time for me to swing it!'
Su Ling'er walked to the table, spread out a sheet of snow-white rice paper, and picked up a purple-bamboo wolf-hair brush.
The brush tip hovered over the paper, the ink pooled, on the verge of dripping but holding fast.
Since their opponents were those three sanctimonious orthodox sects—culprits in the Anhe City massacre—and since this trip seemed to be brimming with opportunity, her selections could not have the slightest error.
This was both a battle for revenge and a test of her judgment of character from her Eldest Brother.
Celestial Sword Pavilion, Golden Light Temple, Profound Talisman Sect... The foundations of these three sects were far beyond what Qingxu Temple could compare to.
If the people she brought couldn't hold their own, not only would they fail to seize the opportunity, but they would also bring shame upon her Eldest Brother, desecrating his grand wish to save the world.
The faces of the dozen or so remaining disciples flashed through her mind.
These people had all survived through exploitation, blood, and fire. Their mental fortitude was beyond question, but by the same token, their yearning for the demonic path was also laid bare.
Hoping they would be scared off was no longer realistic.
'I have to try and straighten each of them out this month!'
Her gaze fell upon the rice paper. The first name nearly flew from her brush on its own.
Wang Xiedi.
As the brush fell, the ink slowly bloomed across the paper.
Her gaze seemed to pierce through the walls of the bamboo house, seeing a wooden cabin among the row of dilapidated thatched huts in the distance.
That cabin was empty at the moment.
That junior brother of hers, who usually kept his head down and followed her around, was probably accompanying his two... "Daoist companions" right now, continuing his arduous cultivation within the sect.
The corners of Su Ling'er's mouth twitched involuntarily at the thought of those two.
There was the Alien Queen, with its head as sharp as a harpoon, its body pitch-black and gleaming with a cold light, and its maw filled with layered fangs. And then there was Gaye, whose white robes were purer than snow and black hair touched the ground. She exuded the resentful aura of the Core Formation Stage and had even sent Su Ling'er herself flying several times.
Su Ling'er couldn't help but rub her arms.
'This Mr. Wang's taste... it's not just a little heavy. It's utterly shocking, shaking the past and present!'
But on second thought, she was filled with solemn respect.
'To cultivate the supreme divine technique bestowed by Eldest Brother, he was actually willing to feed demons with his own body, sleeping in the same bed with such peerless monstrosities day and night, and even... performing the rites of intimacy.'
'Such mental fortitude!'
'Such a spirit of sacrifice!'
'Across the entire Guixi Sect, besides Eldest Brother himself—who endured humiliation to become an evil dragon—I'm afraid there isn't a second person who can compare!'
What's more, if those two fiends just stood on the tournament stage, they wouldn't have to do a thing. The terrifying pressure, born from primal fear, would be enough to shatter the Dao hearts of the other three sects and make them piss their pants in terror.
They're superweapons! Walking natural disasters!
Moreover, Su Ling'er hadn't forgotten that back when her master from Qingxu Temple had tried to kill her to silence her, it was this seemingly timid and cowardly junior brother who had mustered the courage to shield her, saving her life and buying precious time for Eldest Brother's arrival.
His heart is in the right place.
He is reliable.
Such a good junior brother—righteous, promising, blessed with great opportunities, and possessing immense perseverance. Aside from his... strange sexual preferences, there's nothing wrong with him. He must have a spot in this grand event to seize the opportunity!
Su Ling'er lifted her brush, preparing to write the second name.
Li Chunfeng.
The brush tip paused slightly on the paper as the image of a middle-aged man surfaced in her mind—one who always carried a simple Wooden Sword on his back and muttered, "This is a good thing."
No Spirit Root, no Cultivation, but he seems to possess Inner Strength now.
With just the body of a mortal, he was able to force a Qi Refining Stage cultivator to bow their head and admit defeat with a single sword strike during the sect's grand competition.
'People like him were born to slap the faces of those so-called geniuses until they're swollen!'
It's just...
Su Ling'er gently tapped the shaft of the brush against her smooth chin.
Mr. Li was ordered to investigate the old site of Qingxu Temple. Based on his travel speed, he should have been back long ago.
A strange feeling suddenly arose in her heart. It seemed she had forgotten something important.
'That's right!'
'After I returned to the sect from Anhe City, I completely forgot to send someone to inform him!'
'Ah! Could something have happened to him? He should know I'm back, right?!'
Su Ling'er's heart suddenly clenched, but then it relaxed again.
'I'll save this spot for him for now.'
She shook her head, suppressing this thread of unease, and set her brush to paper, writing his name.
She trusted Mr. Li. He was an old hand who had struggled in the mortal world for many years. He could find his way back from a place like Anhe City with his eyes closed.
After hearing the descriptions from the city's common folk, he would naturally know to come find her at the sect.
The third name.
Mu Ling.
The ink had just touched the paper when Su Ling'er's wrist moved, smearing the two characters into a black blotch.
The storyteller from Anhe City, his heart filled with guilt for his deceased wife and an obsession for revenge.
Now that those people were dead and his great vengeance was achieved, he had completely broken down.
The final pillar supporting his will to live had crumbled with it. Now, he spent his days in a daze, only knowing how to sweep the grounds.
'If I take him, he'll probably just seek death, and that's not the victory Eldest Brother is looking for.'
'Forget it. It's better to let him stay at the sect, sweeping the grounds and recovering.'
Su Ling'er sighed softly, picked up her brush again, and, in the third spot, wrote her own name stroke by stroke.
As the captain, the responsibility was hers to bear.
The fourth.
Lu...
The brush tip hovered again, and Su Ling'er didn't continue writing.
Lu Ping.
That slacker who had strolled leisurely up the Asking Dao Ladder, reaching the eightieth step in a single go, triggering a downpour of Spiritual Qi that caused him to reach Foundation Establishment on the spot.
A character like that can often do the unexpected, disrupting everyone's plans.
But Su Ling'er still couldn't be sure of his character.
'I'll just have to observe him a bit more.'
As for the last two spots...
Her gaze passed through the window, settling on the area with the simple thatched huts in the distance.
There lived the last dozen or so stubborn disciples from the original three hundred.
A group of people who, in her eyes, had deep-seated demonic roots and needed to undergo "righteous path re-education through labor" via the harshest methods.
'I need to think this through carefully.'
'Speaking of which, Feng shouldn't get lost, right?'
...
「At this very moment.」
The old site of Anhe City.
It should now be called "Anhe Player's Nocturnal City."
A figure flashed across the night sky, his toes tapping lightly on a protruding treetop, using the momentum to rise higher.
His form was ethereal as he took six consecutive steps through the air.
With the final step, he landed silently on a huge boulder beside the main road.
Li Chunfeng stabilized himself, his chest heaving as he exhaled a long, turbid breath.
He wore a proud expression.
He had braved the elements on his journey, and while he hadn't found any decent food to fill his stomach, his Lightweight Skill had become smoother and more exquisite the more he used it.
He had already maxed out his proficiency with the original "Wind Manipulation Three Stacks."
Now, through his diligent practice day and night, he had unlocked its successor technique—"Six Forms of Sky-Treading."
Briefly levitating and walking on air was no longer difficult.
"Just a little further ahead is the north gate of Anhe City."
He raised his head, looking toward the familiar silhouette ahead.
But in the next second...
The smile on his face froze.
The wind stopped.
Li Chunfeng rubbed his eyes forcefully, but the scene before him didn't change in the slightest.
He rubbed them again.
Finally, he raised a hand and pinched his thigh hard.
A jolt of pain shot through him.
'This isn't a dream.'
But he wished he were.
Ahead, where the majestic, ancient city walls should have stood, there was only emptiness.
In its place was a bizarre, indescribable jungle of steel, wood, and stone.
Dozens of towers built from giant timbers and black iron shot up from the ground, piercing the clouds, their forms far exceeding imagination.
Countless exposed wooden gears and copper levers between the towers drove suspended wooden platforms up and down through the air, transporting people and goods.
The towers were connected by innumerable bamboo suspension bridges and zip lines.
Tens of thousands of lanterns made with five-colored glazed paper hung in every available space, converging into rivers of light that flowed through the darkness, illuminating the entire area as bright as day and casting bizarre shadows.
Even more astonishing, channels diverted water from the mountain peaks, sending it rushing down the outer walls of the buildings to power enormous water wheels, which let out a deafening ROAR.
Li Chunfeng's gaze moved numbly upward.
High in the sky, a few daredevils were maneuvering crude wings made of wooden frames and oiled cloth, gliding between the towers and letting out strange cries.
The entire city—or rather, this behemoth—was filled with vibrant life.
This was a living, breathing city of monsters, constructed from wood, stone, steel, gears, and endless lights!
Li Chunfeng turned around and looked at the familiar, silent main road he had come from.
He turned back again, staring at the sight before him that was supposed to be "Anhe City."
'Who am I?'
'Where am I?'
'I was only gone for a little while... How did Anhe City... turn into this?'