Volume One: The Kingdom of the Long Night Chapter Sixty: You Possess the Grand Talent of Yuchu

The scholar standing on the bridge was drenched from head to toe.

Immediately followed by all kinds of screams.

The onlookers fled in panic.

The small boat used to pick up passengers for the painted pleasure boat bobbed up and down in the terrifying waves.

Because Jiang Wang struck with only a single saber, the river surface quickly returned to calm.

The Night Wandering Deity said, "Although the power of the Divine Kingdom has grown stronger, just like before, using my Golden Core as a medium, the borrowed power remains limited, and the duration it can be sustained is only longer by half a cup of tea."

It sat cross-legged in the Divine Kingdom, struggling to make a disdainful expression. In its view, Jiang Wang's insistence on borrowing power to strike a blow was, in the words of scholars, purely showing off before mortals.

Jiang Wang sat on the riverbank, one hand propped on his knee, the other holding his saber. Looking at the wretched-looking old man crouching on the boat, he said in a clear voice, "There is an ominous aura here. During the process of my boat ride going and returning, the ominous aura was at its heaviest. Without a doubt, it can only be you!"

Why did the Night Wandering Deity warn of an ominous aura when Jiang Wang boarded the boat?

Why was the ominous aura even stronger when Jiang Wang returned by boat than the one emanating from the young woman on the painted pleasure boat?

The commoners were all on the riverbank, and the river was filled with painted pleasure boats. Only the old man had been rowing back and forth, so there could only be one truth!

The young woman standing in the painted pleasure boat was utterly astonished.

There was actually another demon here?!

How had she not sensed it at all?

The sounds of air being rent echoed one after another.

The immortal seekers in Qixia Street were the first to notice the powerful aura in the East Market and rushed over successively.

The cultivators walking in mid-air almost covered the entire river surface.

"Mr. Jiang!"

With one accord, they respectfully saluted Jiang Wang.

Jiang Wang nodded silently.

The Night Wandering Deity couldn't help saying, "I truly forgot that you are no longer what you used to be. No wonder you are so bold and unconcerned. It's not just because the man surnamed Xiao is here; all the immortal seekers in Hun City hold you in extremely high regard. And you purposely drew your saber to scare away the onlookers, turning the demon into a turtle in a jar in an instant."

It suddenly felt a pang of shame.

Jiang Wang, who appeared dark-hearted and solely focused on showing off before mortals, had already invisibly trapped the demon within this river. It felt that its future remained bright.

However, looking at the painted pleasure boats on the river, the Night Wandering Deity paused slightly, "There are still many young women in those!"

Ning Shisi and Shu Ni also led some martial artists to the bridge.

They immediately leaped onto the painted pleasure boats, urging the boatmen to head for the shore while vigilantly watching the lonely old man on the small boat.

The Night Wandering Deity blinked and said, "Why do I always feel like you guys planned this out? That you actually never intended to listen to music at the pleasure quarters, but had a premeditated plan to hunt demons?"

Jiang Wang's mouth twitched slightly as he said, "Ning Shisi is from the Xiaoguo Army. In the face of danger, protecting the commoners should be an instinctive reaction, right? What does that have to do with me?"

The Night Wandering Deity also thought that if Jiang Wang and the others had truly planned it beforehand, how could it possibly not have known?

It could only be said that they had achieved a very coincidental, full-score tacit understanding.

Looking at Ning Shisi, who had leaped onto the painted pleasure boat and was guarding her, the young woman remained silent.

The old man sat on the small boat, panting slightly, as if he had not yet recovered from the previous turbulent waves.

Shu Ni flew to Jiang Wang's side and whispered, "I didn't sense any demonic aura at all?"

Jiang Wang said, "Your cultivation realm is shallow, and this demon's Taoist practice is too profound. It's completely normal that you couldn't sense it."

Shu Ni was very unconvinced. She channeled her vital energy and struck the river surface. The small boat suddenly shook violently, frightening the old man into a panic and nearly causing him to fall into the river.

"This is clearly just an ordinary commoner!"

Jiang Wang did not speak. Instead, he flew directly through the air onto the small boat, placed his saber against the old man's neck, and smiled, "Continuing to pretend is pointless."

The old man's complexion turned sallow, "What is the young master talking about? This old man is hard of hearing and cannot hear clearly..."

"Hard of hearing, is it?" Jiang Wang smiled slightly, his arm trembling slightly. The chilling light of the saber blade was razor-sharp, accompanied by a muffled, vibrating hum.

The old man clutched his ears and howled in pain.

Immediately following, Jiang Wang raised the saber in his hand, his face expressionless as he prepared to swing it down.

At that moment, ripples suddenly appeared on the river surface, and two pillars of water soared into the air, lifting the small boat up.

Black Qi swept across, and the old man hunched over, his eerie laughter echoing through the East Market.

"I had restrained my aura to the absolute limit, yet you were still able to sense it. You truly live up to being the person who defeated Marquis Wu."

The old man cast a sidelong glance toward the teahouse. From beginning to end, the man surnamed Xiao had been quietly drinking tea without even sparing a glance in this direction.

Jiang Wang frowned and said, "When speaking to me, do not look at others. That makes me lose a lot of face."

The old man smiled and said, "I am very curious, how did you discover me?"

Jiang Wang said, "I am equally curious, how did you sneak into Hun City?"

The old man said, "Little fellow, you are quite impolite. You should answer my question first."

Jiang Wang continued on his own, "This river extends outside the city. I suppose you are very skilled in water."

The old man raised an eyebrow slightly.

He had learned from casual conversations with green-robed and white-robed cultivators that, due to the rampant activities of demons, after the Battle of Mozhang, the Sui Empire established barriers. Aside from the old city, the bottoms of all important new cities contained items specifically designed to suppress demons, making it impossible for major demons to sneak in without a sound.

Yet, in reality, the demons in Hun City acted as if entering an uninhabited realm.

Either there were no demon-suppressing objects buried beneath Hun City at all, or the demons had found a way to bypass these suppressing items.

Jiang Wang believed the former was more likely. After all, Hun City was small and very remote.

Monsters and demons hid in ancient artifacts; if they weren't already there, they must have been unwittingly brought into the city by someone. Therefore, the existence of such entities was normal. However, before Jiang Wang encountered demons for the first time, Hun City had always been peaceful.

To this day, he still hadn't figured out how the Luozhi had suddenly appeared in Qixia Street.

Following that, Aoyin appeared, and the young woman in the painted pleasure boat had also been hiding in Hun City for a long time.

In a completely unprotected Hun City, it could be said to be exceptionally simple for demons to sneak in silently.

Logically speaking, demons should love a place like Hun City—devoid of major cultivation sects and remote enough that it would take time for cultivators to come to the rescue.

Yet, before the so-called auspicious omen of immortals descending to the mortal world, practically no demons ran amok in Hun City.

This was also a rather strange matter.

Before coming of age, Jiang Wang spent most of his time in the marquis's estate, having nothing else to do every day aside from reading.

Although there were certain secret lore or ancient texts that even the marquis's estate found difficult to acquire, and his mind was a jumble of stories told by professional storytellers, leaving Jiang Wang with limited true understanding of the Sui Empire, it could not be considered small either.

Under such circumstances, unless an extremely terrifying figure was hidden within Hun City, it meant the demons were deliberately avoiding the place.

However, this was not necessarily the same thing. The demons might be fearful, or they might have other reasons.

For example, there might be something the demons cherished greatly in Hun City. Causing trouble there would easily attract high-level cultivators, giving rise to extraneous complications.

The best way to avoid this was for the demons to deliberately steer clear of Hun City, ensuring that the world at large paid no attention to this place.

After all, large-scale demon attacks on cities were rare to begin with. Even if Hun City was the most suitable place for a demon attack, no one would easily suspect other problems.

Of course, this was merely Jiang Wang's conjecture, casually used as an example because many issues still could not be reasonably explained.

He merely suspected that the demons' purpose in attacking the city might not necessarily be related to the descent of immortals.

If that were the case, the demons' sole target should be killing immortals. Since the old man had already sneaked into Hun City, he should have gone straight to search for the immortal. Why take the risk of being discovered just to disguise himself as a boatman on a painted pleasure boat?

The old man was ultimately not a roundworm in Jiang Wang's stomach, otherwise his head would surely be filled with questions.

He clearly hadn't said anything, so why was Jiang Wang on the verge of guessing the truth?

With such an active imagination, why didn't you go become a novelist?

You truly possess the great talent of Yu Chu.

The old man said in a deep voice, "It seems you really enjoy exposing people's secrets. I came here simply to see what the two fellows who defeated Marquis Wu actually look like, but now, I'm afraid I'll have to simply wipe out Hun City."

"Such arrogant demons, behold my sword!"

An immortal seeker shouted angrily and flew straight toward the old man. However, a huge shadow suddenly emerged behind the old man. As the river churned and the splashes settled, the trace of that immortal seeker was already gone.

The old man gave a slight burp and patted his stomach.

Jiang Wang, standing on the small boat, was deeply shocked.

The old man looked at him and smiled, "I imagine you would taste even better."

Even the calves of Jiang Wang's legs were trembling—it was far too terrifying!

The young woman in the painted pleasure boat also had a slightly pale complexion, but she was not frightened by the old man's actions. Rather, based on the old man's words, she guessed that the other party had also discovered her true identity. Otherwise, how could he have said that Jiang Wang liked exposing secrets?

She had very important matters to attend to while staying in Hun City.

Looking at the old man's back, a hint of murderous intent flashed in her eyes.

"You pride yourself on being smart, but you're actually rather foolish. Such a number of Dongming-realm cultivators, even if they mean little to me, can at least somewhat increase my Taoist practice."

Jiang Wang's heart shook, and he hurriedly shouted, "Run!"

The old man laughed sinisterly, "Since you've come, don't be in such a hurry to leave."

The river churned once more, and the deafening roar of a ferocious beast directly swallowed up more than ten immortal seekers who were suspended in mid-air and too late to retreat.

Xiao Yu, who had been resting his eyes in the tavern, was finally awakened by the commotion.

Zhao Si was already so frightened that he had crawled under a table.

Ah Kong's cheeks were puffed out, looking endely naive.

The figures of Luo Xianshan and Xie Wuxing arrived one after the other.

The former's first reaction was naturally to look at Xiao Yu.

The latter did not pause at all, stepping directly across the river surface, drawing his sword to shatter the terrifying waves, and kicking the old man viciously in the face.

Caught off guard, the old man tumbled into the river.

Xie Wuxing looked at Jiang Wang and asked, "When it comes to fighting, why didn't you call me?"

Jiang Wang said, "I was only at the pleasure quarters... I didn't expect this kind of scene when I came here."

He looked toward the teahouse; the man surnamed Xiao was no longer there.

Glancing around, he saw the man surnamed Xiao moving rapidly through mid-air, pinching his fingers together as if tracing something.

Soon, golden patterns flashed out of thin air. In an instant, the tavern vanished without a trace, followed immediately by the painted pleasure boats and the fleeing immortal seekers, all disappearing in the same manner.

When the man surnamed Xiao hovered to a stop, the only ones left in the arena were Jiang Wang, Xie Wuxing, and the surging, turbulent river surface.

Jiang Wang was shocked and asked, "What on earth is this thing?!"

Xie Wuxing asked blankly, "Who are you asking?"