Chapter 218: Bringing Disaster Upon Oneself
After the Imperial Court’s focus shifted to Northern City and Eastern City, Sui Sect naturally could no longer stay in Southern City, fearing retaliation from the Jiu Li tribe and Zuo Qiu Gatehouse.
Thus, they relocated to Northern City, about three li from the Governor’s Mansion.
They were one of the peripheral forces guarding the Governor’s Mansion.
The sky gradually darkened.
“Boom!”
The ground trembled slightly.
From the direction of the Governor’s Mansion came deafening thunder, with countless bolts of lightning shooting into the sky, startling all the martial cultivators and residents in the entire city area, who knew that another force had gone to war with the Imperial Court.
The Imperial Court’s martial cultivators hidden throughout the city area turned into streaks of afterimages, rapidly flying toward it.
“It’s the martial cultivators from Snow Sword Tang Court feigning an attack on the Governor’s Mansion who have made their move. Let’s go, it’s our turn to act!”
Li Weiyi transformed into the appearance of Yang Zhiyong, put on clothes stained with Yang Zhiyong’s blood, lay on a carriage, pretending to be seriously injured and unconscious, driven by Yang Yun, rushing toward the Sui Sect outpost.
The comatose state could maximize avoidance of interaction with Sui Sect martial cultivators, preventing exposure of flaws.
The four-compound courtyard where the Sui Sect outpost was located sat at a crossroad by the river, street, and bridge. The formation had already been activated, with layers of light gauze rising, formation scripts floating and sinking, making it impossible to see inside.
“Rumble!”
The speeding carriage crushed through the snowstorm and abruptly stopped outside the Sui Sect outpost courtyard.
Yang Yun jumped off the carriage, scrambling and shouting: “Quickly open the formation… it’s me, I’m Yang Yun, we’ve escaped, Uncle Seven is seriously injured and needs treatment…”
Bai Shu hid in a narrow alley across the river, watching closely, worried that Yang Yun would act recklessly.
After a while.
The formation light gauze opened a three-foot-wide gap, and Yang Yue, the second expert among Sui Sect’s younger generation, walked out.
Bai Shu’s expression changed slightly.
Yang Yue surprisingly hadn’t gone to the Governor’s Mansion, greatly increasing the danger for Li Weiyi.
Seeing Yang Yue, Yang Yun wept with joy and, as discussed beforehand, said: “Snow Sword Tang Court launched a full assault on the Governor’s Mansion, and Jiu Li tribe martial cultivators also went to assist. My uncle and I finally seized the opportunity to escape. Uncle brought me out of the heavy encirclement, but he himself… he’s too badly injured and has fallen unconscious.”
To Bai Shu and Li Weiyi’s relief, Yang Yun’s acting was superb. Yang Yue didn’t suspect a thing and didn’t even check the seriously injured and unconscious “Yang Zhiyong” on the carriage before letting them into the outpost.
Layers of formation light gauze closed up.
Yang Yun was pondering how to discreetly shake off Li Weiyi without anyone noticing, but the moment they pulled the carriage through the gate, his expression changed instantly, his vision went black, and his legs went weak.
There, before his eyes.
The ground inside the gate was awash with blood, littered with the corpses of Sui Sect’s young martial cultivators in disarray.
On the spirit screen wall, one person was nailed dead.
The water in the pool had turned into blood water.
A Sui Sect Five Seas Realm third realm martial cultivator who wasn’t quite dead yet lifted his head and, upon seeing Yang Yun, croaked from his throat: “Quick… quick, escape…”
“Pfft!”
Ahead, Yang Yue casually yanked up a broken spear stuck in the ground and pierced the back of his head, nailing his skull firmly to the ground so it could no longer lift.
Throughout, Yang Yue’s expression remained unchanged.
Behind the spirit screen wall, the second and third courtyards were filled with killing cries, incessant fighting sounds, and continuous screams.
With layers of formations isolating it, how would people outside know it had become a purgatory inside?
Yang Yun turned to flee…
Yang Yue’s lips curled up with a cold sneer.
His five fingers spread out in the air, and five streams of magic energy mist rivers surged out, wrapping around Yang Yun and yanking him back into his grasp.
With his neck seized by Yang Yue, Yang Yun had no power to resist and trembled in extreme terror: “Uncle… Uncle Yue… why?”
“Who’s your Uncle Yue? Kid, you just came back at the wrong time.”
Yang Yue hadn’t checked the seriously injured and unconscious “Yang Zhiyong” on the carriage. Dragging Yang Yun along like a chick, he headed toward the second courtyard inside.
“It’s over, another fake Uncle Yue.”
Yang Yun wanted to cry but had no tears, inwardly cursing his rotten luck for always running into tough characters. He felt this time he was probably doomed.
“Tell Yang Qingxi her brother has been captured by me! If she doesn’t want this kid to die, hand over the items obediently.”
Yang Yue’s voice was already coming from deep in the courtyard.
Silence all around.
On the carriage, Li Weiyi abruptly sat up, his eyes filled with shock.
Clearly, some force had struck Sui Sect first. Which side was it?
And for what?
Yang Qingxi’s Dragon Seed Voucher?
Li Weiyi activated the invisibility power of his night-walking clothes, converging his aura as much as possible, and carefully got off the carriage. Seeing the scene of corpses strewn everywhere, he immediately dismissed his earlier thought.
This was clearly a plan to exterminate Sui Sect’s younger generation!
For a single Dragon Seed Voucher, was it worth going this far?
The third courtyard of the Sui Sect outpost spanned two mu, paved with stone slabs, and had a training ground.
Countless figures filled the courtyard, with formation lights shining brightly.
Peering through the lattice window, Li Weiyi looked inside, his expression changing repeatedly.
On the training ground.
Over a dozen young Sui Sect Five Seas Realm martial cultivators were suppressed to their knees by the Left Attendant under Young Esteemed One with thick magic energy.
The Right Attendant had transformed into Yang Yue’s appearance and thrown Yang Yun out, rolling him next to those dozen-plus Sui Sect martial cultivators.
The real Yang Yue had his four limbs pierced, his human skin stripped off, reduced to a bloody mess of rotten flesh writhing in pain on the ground, his mouth emitting chilling screams.
Besides the left and right attendants, two Calamity Fire Realm great mind masters from San Chen Palace were breaking the formation of the fourth courtyard.
They dared not use Thunder Law Profound Ice, fearing too much noise.
Suddenly.
Li Weiyi spotted a figure that made all young martial cultivators in Qiu Zhou Prefecture City tremble in fear.
That person wore a liquid flowing silver mask, his form illusory and indistinct, with a terrifyingly unmatched aura.
It was none other than Hua Yuzi, the first expert under Young Esteemed One.
Southern Territory first rank second, ranked even higher than Zuo Qiu Ting.
It was Li Weiyi’s first time seeing Hua Yuzi, but such an aura and appearance were unmistakable at a glance. Moreover, Chen Wenwu stood beside Hua Yuzi.
After one glance, Li Weiyi immediately looked away, fearing detection by Hua Yuzi.
Hua Yuzi smiled faintly: “Wenwu, it seems Yang Qingxi doesn’t care much about her brother’s life.”
Chen Wenwu said: “If the brother dies, her mother can have another. It’s no big deal.”
“Makes sense!”
Hua Yuzi lost patience; it was too close to the Governor’s Mansion, so they needed to fight swiftly and decisively.
Thus, in a voice warm and gentle, he said: “Yang Qingxi, hand over the Dragon Seed Voucher and the five chests of Spring Coins, and everyone left in Sui Sect can live.”
Inside the formation of the fourth courtyard, only Yang Qingxi and eleven young Sui Sect martial cultivators and great mind masters remained, holding the formation.
Their eyes were full of hatred and killing intent, with no intention of compromise.
Without any warning, this band of thieves had burst in, killing whoever they saw, bloodthirsty to the extreme.
Over half of Sui Sect’s younger generation Five Seas Realm martial cultivators had been killed in an instant.
This grudge was irreconcilable.
Below Yang Qingxi’s left collarbone was a bloody hole pierced by Hua Yuzi’s finger, blood soaking her clothes, unable to stop. Strange demon race magic energy invaded her wound, rampaging through her veins.
If Hua Yuzi could truly keep his word, she would naturally be willing to compromise.
But she knew very well that once she opened part of the formation to hand over the items, the enemy would seize the chance to break it. Then, they’d be lambs to the slaughter!
Delay time.
Yang Qingxi had heard the rumbling from the Governor’s Mansion earlier; a battle had likely erupted there, and Sui Sect’s abnormality would surely be noticed by the Imperial Court soon.
Thus, she feigned confusion: “May I ask what Mr. Hua means by the five chests of Spring Coins? Does it mean Sui Sect should gather five chests of money to buy our own lives?”
Hua Yuzi laughed: “If you keep playing dumb, everyone outside will die! At the water arena beside Soldier Ancestor Marsh, you were the one who snatched Li Weiyi’s five chests of Spring Coins. Many things can’t be concealed, like the special aura in your magic energy.”
Yang Qingxi’s eyes were full of bitterness, her face full of regret, a strong sense of self-blame rising in her heart: “So, Sui Sect’s cataclysm today is all because of those five chests of Spring Coins?”
“Not entirely! The root cause is that your Sui Sect abandoned the Far West Ash Region and chose the Imperial Court.” Hua Yuzi said.
The Far West Ash Region was naturally furious with Sui Sect.
It was Sui Sect’s withdrawal that caused a sudden change in Li Zhou’s battlefield, leaving them unable to swallow the Jiu Li tribe.
This had a fatal impact on the entire Southern Territory situation.
“Pfft!”
The Left Attendant punched a young Sui Sect martial cultivator to death on the spot, his head caving into his belly. He grinned ferociously: “Young Lady Yang still wants to stall? If you don’t hand over the Dragon Seed Voucher and Spring Coins soon, these dozen kneeling ones aren’t enough for me to kill.”
“It really was her who robbed my money.”
Li Weiyi naturally wouldn’t pity Sui Sect. If not for Yang Qingxi’s greed, Hua Yuzi probably wouldn’t have bothered with her. At least, not bothered to act personally.
Knowing it wasn’t safe to linger, that guy Yang Yun would surely sell him out at this life and death moment.
Li Weiyi was about to use Thunder Law Profound Ice to blast a gap in the Sui Sect outpost’s formation when he turned and saw a mourning hall draped entirely in white.
At the center of the mourning hall sat a blood-colored coffin.
No need to guess; it surely held Yang Qingchan’s corpse.
Out of some whim, Li Weiyi decided to check if Yang Qingchan was really dead. Thus, he invisibly flashed inside, appearing in the mourning hall strewn with white paper money.
The blood-colored coffin was about a zhang long, a very regular rectangular prism made of blood mud.
Embedded in the mud was a half-virtual, half-real white exotic substance, condensed into white mysterious ancient scripts covering the coffin. One look showed this coffin was extraordinary.
The material and shape were too eerie.
Li Weiyi didn’t dare act rashly and first used mind power to communicate with Jar Master and Spirit Tablet Master.
Jar Master said: “This is an otherworld coffin called a pre-death coffin. In the otherworld, the deceased would sense their end approaching and put themselves into the coffin ahead of time.”
“The coffin is covered in formations. Once the coffin lid is closed from inside and the formations activated, tomb robbers can’t open it from outside!”
“However, having followed the Jiu Li tribe for years, Sui Sect likely learned advanced coffin-opening methods. This coffin has already been opened, and the treasure inside taken long ago.”
“Using otherworld coffins to hold the corpses of close kin has been a Jiu Li tribe tradition since ancient times. It’s not strange.”
