Wei Yuan felt a twinge of shame inwardly. Xu Wan'er's concealment Dao arts were exceptionally formidable. If he hadn't possessed the Immortal Monarch's karmic formation plate, he definitely wouldn't have been able to find her. Before setting out, Wei Yuan habitually reviewed the intelligence first.
Lanshen Palace was located one thousand three hundred li northwest of Quliu Town; its mountain gate had been destroyed several years ago. Since fragments of a grotto-heaven had fallen there, it meant the fabric of space was exceptionally fragile. If a True Person of the Dharma Idol realm struck with full power, it would very likely trigger unforeseen disasters. At the same time, spells of karma, feng shui, divination, and tracking would see their efficacy greatly diminished, while curses would undergo unpredictable mutations. Choosing to meet there meant that if an unexpected mishap occurred, it would be easy to slip away amidst the chaos.
Judging from the message Yun Feifei had sent back, she seemed to be pursued by enemies as well, though it remained unclear what faction was hunting her.
Now that he had confirmed word of Yun Feifei, Wei Yuan delayed no longer. He produced a small silver bottle and said to Xu Wan'er, "Open your mouth."
Xu Wan'er obediently opened her mouth, letting Wei Yuan drip a single drop of liquid inside, then swallowed it.
"This is Immortal-Severing Liquid. With a mere shift of my divine sense, it can dissolve your dharma body, leaving only your origin soul behind. Don't entertain any thoughts of fleeing, either—if it fails to sense my divine sense for more than three days, it will flare up on its own. Once I meet Yun Feifei, I will naturally give you the antidote," Wei Yuan said.
"I will not run," Xu Wan'er nodded, offering no resistance whatsoever.
With a wave of Wei Yuan's hand, Xu Wenwu dropped down from the wall. Although his back had been turned toward them, he had heard everything clearly. Now that he had regained his freedom, he sidled over as well, tilting his head back, closing his eyes, opening his mouth, and sticking out his tongue, prepared to take the poison to demonstrate his loyalty.
Wei Yuan shoved him aside.
Immortal-Severing Liquid was no ordinary poison; it was a gift bestowed by the Immortal Monarch, capable of being triggered remotely by divine sense and worth a handsome sum. For someone like Xu Wenwu, who could be dispatched with a wave of the hand, there was no need to squander such immortal medicine.
After Xu Wan'er ingested the Immortal-Severing Liquid, Wei Yuan returned all the items he had confiscated from her, then packed their gear in preparation to leave Quliu Town. This time, right in front of Wei Yuan and with another fellow watching covetously from the side, Xu Wan'er felt embarrassed to tuck the items back into her flesh. Instead, she packed them into a knapsack and strapped it onto her back.
Before departing, Wei Yuan handed Wang Lang's corpse over to the innkeeper, exchanging it for eight hundred taels of immortal silver. Because the job had been completed cleanly and decisively, the innkeeper added an extra fifty taels to foster good relations.
Even though the bounty had been placed by Xu Wan'er, Wei Yuan couldn't very well take her money directly—wouldn't that be akin to robbery? Claiming the bounty was an entirely different matter; Wei Yuan accepted the money with a clear conscience, even if Wang Lang had technically been killed by Xu Wan'er. As the saying went: a gentleman loves wealth, but acquires it through proper means.
In the blink of an eye, everything was in order, and Wei Yuan led the two of them toward the former grounds of Lanshen Palace. Before setting off, Wei Yuan bought two more horses as mounts, so the three traveled on horseback. Frankly speaking, Xu Wan'er found Wei Yuan's decision quite bizarre. For a Dao Foundation cultivator, flying via artifacts was the fastest method; journeying on three mortal horses was scarcely faster than a snail's crawl. But since Wei Yuan had decided on it, she said nothing more, accepting it with gentle grace.
The night was still deep as the three scrawny horses plodded away from Lie-Flat Inn. They rode eastward through Quliu Town, turning northwest only after leaving the town behind; this detour alone would likely take until dawn.
In a grand manor in the northern district of Quliu Town, a young swordsman whose face was wrapped in bandages sat in the center of the main hall, his expression grim and gloomy. Down below, a servant was being flogged. The ones holding the whips were delicate young maidens, yet their lashes fell heavy and vicious, sending blood flying with every strike.
The servant rolled continuously under the lash, shrieking in agony. Only after dozens of lashes did the young swordsman vent enough of his foul temper to order the flogging stopped.
"Useless trash! Sent you to capture one person, and you couldn't even manage such a trivial task! Six in a row, all the wrong people! What good are you?!"
With that roar, the wounds on his face tore open again, blood soaking through the bandages. Beside him, a young maiden immediately said softly, "Young Master, your wound has split open again. Let me take you to the back and change the medicine for you!"
"Not in the mood!"
The girl leaned against him, clinging to his arm. "Then we can change it right here."
The young swordsman waved his hand and shoved the girl away, snapping irritably, "I said I'm not in the mood! It's truly like seeing a ghost this time—an injury healing so slowly that even the wound medicine from the Hall of Life and Death doesn't work!"
The maiden asked, "Could you have been cursed? Perhaps we should consult a master to dispel it?"
"It seems I really do need to find a master." The young swordsman suddenly recalled something and asked, "Wasn't there some fool named Li something recently, claiming to be the 'Double Paragon of Cauldron and Sword' and making quite a racket? Why haven't you dragged him back for me?"
A burly man standing by the side of the hall stepped forward and said in a low voice, "Young Master, that fellow departed overnight, along with two companions. However, they all left on ordinary mortal horses, so they must be charlatans. At the time, I had to pursue Yu Yirou, the 'Soul-Extinguishing Cauldron,' so I paid him no heed."
The young swordsman showed a glimmer of interest. "Yu Yirou? I heard she has some looks?"
The burly man replied, "A bit past her prime. She dresses like a maiden, but when tested, her skeletal age is well over forty, with numerous traces of Dao arts used to maintain and touch up her skin."
The young swordsman instantly lost interest and said, "Then keep searching until you find that fellow! The blow that smashed into this young master was definitely no simple strike. It must have been from someone of at least the Heaven Tier, perhaps even in the late stages."
"Subordinate understands. I will screen accordingly."
The young swordsman walked toward the inner hall and said, "Prepare that girl surnamed Xu. A distant niece of the commandery governor is worth playing with a few more times. Humph, if Xu Zhijie knew of this, he probably wouldn't rest in peace in death. Pity his daughter escaped—she was the truly pretty one."
The burly man asked, "What should we do with the people we mistakenly captured?"
"They're still worth some money. Sell them off to the west." Just as he was about to enter the back hall, the young swordsman suddenly recalled something and looked up at a plaque hanging in the main hall. In his eyes, that plaque was radiating a clear light, dispersing the faint wisps of dark red qi around it.
A sudden thought struck the young swordsman, and he barked sharply, "Quick, go pursue that Double Paragon of Cauldron and Sword! That title grates on my ears!"
The burly man was somewhat surprised, but asked no questions and took his leave to carry out the order.
Outside Quliu Town, the three scrawny horses were ambling along at a leisurely pace.
Xu Wenwu was incapable of keeping his mouth shut. He chattered, "In our world, roads are paved exceptionally flat and smooth. Some are fully enclosed from start to finish, called expressways. Look at the roads here—pitted, bumpy, and full of puddles everywhere! How can this work? At our current speed, in one hour—no, one shichen—can we even travel thirty li? You have no idea, but in my world there's also something called a car. On an expressway, it can cover four or five hundred li in a single shichen..."
Wei Yuan flicked his hand, casting out a rope with a Tight-Binding Art that strapped Xu Wenwu firmly to his horse, the end of the rope conveniently gagging his mouth. Then, three wisps of black qi invisible to the naked eye shot forth and sank into the bodies of the three horses. The three scrawny horses neighed in pain, their frames expanding by a full size. Then they broke into a trot, covering two zhang with each stride, galloping faster and faster until, in the blink of an eye, they vanished into the night.
As the surrounding scenery receded at breathtaking speed, Xu Wan'er clutched the reins tightly, inwardly astounded. This speed was barely slower than a cultivator flying at full tilt—and these were ordinary mortal horses, not immortal steeds!
Xu Wenwu, on the other hand, was scared out of his wits and tried to scream, but with the rope wrapped twice around his mouth, no shouts could escape, leaving him to whimper and grunt the whole way.
Leaning forward, Wei Yuan spurred his mount faster and faster until its four hooves barely touched the ground, as though treading upon the wind. The other two horses galloped closely behind under his control.
Outside Quliu Town, several cultivators flew out from the town. After circling the road once, they flew northward along it, then turned northwest. Flying at top speed, they covered over a hundred li in moments, but the road in the darkness of the night lay pitch-black, without a single figure in sight as far as the eye could see.
The burly man in the lead halted in midair, frowning as he peered northwest. Faint traces of three people's auras still lingered in that direction, yet there was no sign of them whatsoever. The Shattered Lands at night were exceedingly perilous, serving as a natural hunting ground for the Wuyu Clan. Although the burly man had collaborated with the Wuyu Clan numerous times, he never trusted them—even less so any unfamiliar Wuyu.
After pondering a moment, the burly man said, "No need to pursue further. They definitely haven't gone far. Let's head back and search slowly!"
Could three mortal horses cover hundreds of li in under half a shichen? That was obviously impossible. Those three must have laid a false trail; in reality, they had either sneaked back into town or fled in another direction—both were plausible. But no matter where they fled, they definitely hadn't gotten far. The burly man was confident that with his tracking arts, he would be able to ferret them out.
After galloping at full speed for an entire shichen, Wei Yuan finally reined in his horse to rest atop a small hill by the roadside.
By now, even Xu Wan'er's aura had weakened noticeably, clearly having depleted a good deal of Dao power. Having a mortal horse run at the speed of an immortal steed was not without its drawbacks; the jolting and bouncing were amplified severalfold, far more agonizing than riding an immortal steed. Moreover, the horse beneath Xu Wan'er was completely beyond her control, so she had simply levitated just above its back, binding herself to the horse with Dao power so that it effectively dragged her along as it flew. While this indeed spared her the torment of the bumps, it drastically increased her consumption of Dao power, leaving even her somewhat drained after a full shichen.
As for Xu Wenwu, he hadn't made a sound, having passed out long ago.
Wei Yuan dismounted and recalled his fortune.
The three streams of black qi returned, yet one of them was actually missing a tiny bit! Although the lost portion was negligible, it was enough to put Wei Yuan on alert. Carefully tracing where the missing fortune had gone, he discovered that the fortune had diminished slightly on the horse Xu Wenwu had been riding.
Originally, it had been the most ordinary of mortal horses, a patchwork of red, grey, and white—a typical crossbreed. Yet after Wei Yuan recalled the fortune, it did not revert to its former state like the other two horses. Instead, it was nearly half a head taller than before, its frame slightly broader, and its aura noticeably more vigorous. Despite having galloped nearly a thousand li in one breath, it remained full of spirit. Though it was still a mortal horse, it had now become a rare steed among ordinary horses.
Fortune could be used like this? Was it due to the fortune itself, or because of Xu Wenwu?
By then, Xu Wan'er had untied Xu Wenwu's ropes, hauled him off the horse onto the ground, and cast a Heart-Clearing Art on him. Xu Wenwu slowly came around, but his stomach churned violently, and he dropped onto all fours, vomiting wretchedly.
Wei Yuan retrieved a sheet of jade paper bearing an exceptionally detailed map of the Shattered Lands. This map alone was worth five hundred merit points in the Hall of Merits. But since this mission was an Immortal Monarch making moves on the board, things like the map and the Immortal-Severing Liquid had been provided directly, requiring no expense on Wei Yuan's part.
Wei Yuan's current position was still over five hundred li from Lanshen Palace, and nine hundred li from Quliu Town. Because they had to detour around mountains and marshes along the way, they had actually covered just over a thousand li in a little more than a shichen. Wei Yuan looked at the map, then thought about Xu Wenwu's words, falling into contemplation.
If this Xu Wenwu wasn't lying, then those so-called cars he spoke of weren't even as fast as the three of them. Moreover, cars required roads that were perfectly smooth without a single pothole; in reality, aside from within the mountain gates of immortal sects, where could such roads possibly exist?
Roads were meant only for mortals. Cultivators flying via artifacts had no need for roads, and when Wei Yuan turned mortal horses into immortal steeds, they didn't need roads either. Even on roads, those so-called cars could only travel five or six hundred li in a shichen; they seemed rather useless.
Xu Wenwu had blabbered about plenty of other things, but Wei Yuan found them merely odd, with nothing particularly memorable. Supposedly, tall buildings in that world were routinely built to over a hundred stories, which had piqued Wei Yuan's interest slightly. But after inquiring carefully, Wei Yuan realized that those so-called skyscrapers didn't live up to their name. Many halls in the Palace of Grand Beginning stood over a hundred zhang tall—meaning a single story was equivalent to more than a hundred stories in Xu Wenwu's world. By Wei Yuan's intuition, for the same height, building over a hundred stories was easy, while building a single story was vastly more difficult.
Moreover, Xu Wenwu was an endless chatterbox, so after listening for a while, Wei Yuan lost interest. He tied up the man's mouth with rope and turned instead to ask Xu Wan'er about her past experiences.
Chapter 107