East of Immortal Burial Town, the two-hundred-zhang-wide Sui River plunged as if severed, forming a magnificent cliffside waterfall like a beheaded giant dragon. Thus it earned the name "Dragon-Slaying Pass."
To salvage otherworld coffins from the Blood Sea Coffin Dock, the Jiuli Clan had to carry them on foot across two hundred li through the perilous Mist Domain of Departed Spirits. From there, they climbed stone steps along a narrow path to reach Dragon-Slaying Pass, where they could board waiting colossal warships to transport the coffins to various downstream tribes and cities.
Once Shi Jiuzhai stepped into Immortal Burial Town, the shroud of gray mist enveloping the three dispersed.
Thump! Thump!
Li Weiyi and Gao Huan dropped to the ground.
...
"Welcome, Master!"
Xing Wanxing, Fang Tong, and Yan Qingqing—three Dharma-Martial masters of the Earth Wolf King's Army—hastened forward and bowed in unison to Shi Jiuzhai.
Leading over a thousand soldiers, the three had arrived in Immortal Burial Town a day ahead of him. They had slaughtered all two hundred-plus Jiuli clansmen stationed in the town for reception, provisions, resupply, and mooring, piling their corpses into a ghastly, blood-drenched mound at the market center.
Xing Wanxing was Shi Jiuzhai's tenth disciple as well as one of his purses. Short and potbellied, he reported with a smile, "We've interrogated everyone thoroughly. The ones retrieving coffins from the Blood Sea this time belong to the Cangling Tribe, one of the branches of the Jiuli. The convoy is led by Li Songlin, the foremost expert of the Cangling Tribe in this sixty-year cycle, accompanied by Cang Li, hailed as their greatest prodigy in nearly a thousand years."
"I only care about how much money we can make this time," Shi Jiuzhai said.
Xing Wanxing had worked out the sums long ago. "Li Songlin brought five thousand men and dredged up at least a thousand coffins. If we seize them all, a million Gushing Spring coins would be a conservative estimate."
"They always say otherworld coffins cost a terrifying fortune, things only great cultivators can afford to dabble in. Priceless indeed—pure profit without capital," Shi Jiuzhai said in high spirits.
Xing Wanxing smiled along. "And if there are particularly rare otherworld coffins among them, a single one could fetch a million Gushing Spring coins. Converted to silver coins, that's a hundred million. Furthermore, in the Jiuli Clan, only a future clan leader is entitled to take the tribe's name. If we capture Cang Li, won't the Cangling Tribe obediently hand over another million Gushing Spring coins for his ransom?"
Shi Jiuzhai's mood grew even brighter. Though the journey had been long and arduous, it was well worth the trip!
Yan Qingqing appeared twenty-seven or twenty-eight, possessing a voluptuous figure and coquettish, watery eyes. She was of a canine aberrant breed, with furry ears and a fiery red tail trailing from beneath her skirt.
In a sweet, wheedling tone, she reminded him, "Master, our main purpose on this trip isn't just about money, is it?"
"Who says it isn't? Your master is doing this precisely for money."
Over a hundred million in silver—not only did it make Shi Jiuzhai's eyes burn with greed, even the sect masters of grand lineages like Longmen or Zuoqiu who dominated entire provinces would never scoff at such a sum.
How could he maintain such a massive army without food and pay?
...
Li Weiyi stood up the moment Shi Jiuzhai dropped them. Seeing that the man had walked off to confer in secret with three others, he swiftly scanned his surroundings.
Armed bruisers clad in brown monastic robes filled the area, alongside a scattering of hulking half-beast, half-human monstrosities that made up ten to twenty percent of the crowd. Every one of them looked ferocious and sinister.
Yet as their gazes fell upon the two newcomers, the looks were either puzzled or reverent.
An idea quickly formed in Li Weiyi's mind. Adopting a haughty, menacing air, he beckoned to one burly fellow who looked somewhat timid. "Yes, you. Come here!"
Although Gao Huan could not understand what Li Weiyi was saying, the sheer arrogance in his demeanor, posture, and tone made Gao Huan's heart thump so violently it felt ready to leap from his chest.
When the timid brute walked over, he immediately plastered on a fawning smile, feeling even more nervous than Gao Huan.
Li Weiyi gestured with his thumb toward Shi Jiuzhai in the distance. "Do you know who we are?"
"Yes, of course, of course," the timid brute said hurriedly.
"If you know, spit it out," Li Weiyi snapped.
How could he know who he and Gao Huan were? Everyone had been reassigned on short notice from the Earth Wolf King's Army, forced on a thousand-li forced march, and only arrived at Immortal Burial Town yesterday.
Of course, he was not truly a coward; he was afraid of Shi Jiuzhai, who stood behind these two, which was why he had avoided Li Weiyi's gaze just now.
Could anyone brought back in King Jiuzhai's cloud of magical power possibly be ordinary?
Knowing he could not afford to offend them, the burly man spoke truthfully: "We all just arrived yesterday, spent the entire night clearing the town and laying ambushes, and haven't even had time to rest. Forgive my poor eyesight, but I truly don't know your identity, my lord. Yet anyone traveling with King Jiuzhai must be an extraordinary figure far above the likes of us."
Li Weiyi breathed a silent sigh of relief and patted the man on the chest. "As long as you know. The two of us are King Jiuzhai's personal attendants. Got anything to eat?"
"Yes, yes..."
The man hurried to fetch some.
Li Weiyi grabbed Gao Huan and followed along.
He had no desire to linger under the nose of this "King Jiuzhai"—sooner or later their cover would be blown.
Fortunately, Shi Jiuzhai was currently meeting with a top-secret distinguished guest to discuss the arrangements for seizing the otherworld coffins, and had no time to pay attention to two mere "wolf cubs."
This top-secret guest wore a silver robe over a white tunic and a black Buddha-head mask. Judging from his tall, refined build and the smooth, fair hands holding a xiao flute, he was undoubtedly quite young.
Yet despite his youth, facing the terrifying Shi Jiuzhai, the man stood with hands clasped behind his back, his demeanor completely devoid of fear, if not downright aloof.
"The Sect Master's intention is not merely to seize the coffins, but to slaughter every last one of them," he said. "Only by making it sufficiently bloody can we plunge Lizhou into total chaos."
Shi Jiuzhai only cared about profit, and his brow furrowed. "You nobles from grand lineages are even more ruthless than us bandits. You never mentioned killing every last one of them before. That includes Li Songlin, the foremost expert of the Cangling Tribe's current sixty-year cycle, not to mention five thousand Jiuli people..."
The guest in the Buddha-head mask chuckled. "What, got cold feet? Afraid of drawing out the old monsters from Mount Jiuli and Jiuli City?"
Shi Jiuzhai shook his head. "What I mean is, seizing coffins has its price, and killing people has another. You have to pay extra!"
...
Led by the timid brute, Li Weiyi and Gao Huan had a hearty meal in the rudimentary mess camp of the Earth Wolf King's Army, eating to their hearts' content.
Their physical strength, spirits, and resolve surged back in an instant.
Gao Huan was frantically stuffing food into wraps to prepare for their escape, whispering, "When we passed through the town center just now, blood was flowing like a river and corpses were piled into a mountain—it scared the life out of me! These people are definitely no Buddhist monks. We need to slip away as soon as possible."
Li Weiyi replied, "The robes they wear that resemble monastic garments are brand-new, clearly made recently. It was precisely because King Jiuzhai knew only his own men would wear them that he mistook us for his scouts.
"If I'm not mistaken, the three people devoured by the Thousand-Headed Dragon Vine were very likely part of the scouting party sent out.
"Furthermore, though they call themselves the Earth Wolf King's Army, their discipline is lax, every one of them reeks of viciousness, and their strengths are all over the place. They don't look like any proper army.
"Third, I observed the paths on our way here. Every exit from this derelict town is blockaded. Slipping out unnoticed won't be easy. If we get caught... we won't even have our bluff to protect us."
Gao Huan marveled, "On the way over, all I could think about was food. I can't believe you noticed so much."
"There's more," Li Weiyi continued. "They're lying in wait in this town, which means they must be targeting that coffin-bearing convoy. Earlier on the low hillside, I calculated their marching speed. It will take them at least four hours to get here."
Gao Huan said, "I get it! In four hours, once the fighting breaks out, that'll be our chance to get away."
"Exactly."
After thinking a moment, Li Weiyi added, "Still, there's one thing I can't figure out. With so many of them hiding in this town, how can they conceal themselves? A convoy carrying those coffins can't be without top experts, and experts have extremely sharp senses."
Meanwhile, Shi Jiuzhai arrived beneath the mountain of corpses at the center of town. Forming hand seals, he exhaled a plume of gray mist mana that blanketed the area. At the same time, an almost transparent bead flew out from his body along with the gray mist, hovering high above the town.
Boom!
Shi Jiuzhai slammed his palm violently against the ground.
Flame-like mana surged into the earth, and in an instant, the ground for dozens of paces around ignited, sending waves of heat rushing down the town's streets.
The blood qi within the mountain of corpses evaporated, rising like wisps of crimson smoke toward the hovering bead.
Having absorbed all the blood qi, translucent script burst forth from the bead, and before long, all of Immortal Burial Town was enveloped in glowing scripture.
"Pass down the order," Shi Jiuzhai commanded in an imposing, chillingly calm tone. "Wait until half of the Cangling Tribe's people have climbed up before striking. Cut their convoy in two. Slaughter them all—leave not a single survivor."
The mess camp was not far from the center of town. Hearing Shi Jiuzhai's command, Li Weiyi's expression turned grim.
Only now did he realize that the seemingly timid brute was not truly timid at all; he had simply been terrified by Shi Jiuzhai's cultivation and bloodthirst, which extended to his fear of the two who accompanied him.
"Slaughter them all, leave no survivors... Just how many people are they planning to kill?"
When Gao Huan heard this, he said dejectedly, "I'm starting to think survival is equally brutal anywhere. You either work yourself to the bone like cattle and beasts of burden, or you end up like pigs and sheep waiting for slaughter. The only way to truly live is to rise above the rest."
...
Four hours later.
The vanguard of the Cangling Tribe's coffin-bearing convoy reached the foot of the Dragon-Slaying Pass waterfall.
The water roared, and the air was laden with moisture.
A barefoot young woman, exquisite as a sprite of the night mist, walked at the very front of the procession. Her slender, jade-like fingers held an ancient bronze lamp that emanated a faint blue phosphorescence. Around her wrists were nine silver bangles.
Though barefoot, her jade-like skin took no harm from the gravel beneath her feet.
Every step was light and soundless, yet carried her more than a zhang forward, leaving faint trails of blue misty light swirling beneath her feet.
She was Li Ling, the Nether Lamp Wayfinder of the Cangling Tribe's coffin-bearing convoy. As the successor to the priesthood, she could perceive the path through the Mist Domain of Departed Spirits via the nether light, guiding her clansmen to and from the Blood Sea Coffin Dock.
Chapter 29