Chapter Ninety: Qi Comes Calling!

Another Feasting Day had arrived.

Seated in quiet dignity atop a wooden building behind Crimson Flower Town, the three Dao-attaining demons laughed and drank together. In their hands were teapots stained a vivid red, pouring out viscous, foul-smelling sludge. Their mouths were smeared crimson as they drank, vicious and grotesque.

“Judging by the number of demons that have come today, it should be about right,” Heavenly Feather said with a faint smile, savoring the mellow brew refined from virgin blood.

The grand demonic art was nearly complete.

The Scarlet Glow Sword Sect would fall in no time.

Two entire counties of people.

And on top of that, the cultivators of the Scarlet Glow Sword Sect.

That would keep them well fed for quite a while.

“With Third Brother’s Crimson Blessing Paste, this Crimson Flower Town of ours will surely become an unparalleled demon realm in this land. By then, we can enjoy what it means to be sect lords and founders ourselves. Ha ha ha!” Heavenly Elephant laughed uproariously, his long trunk swaying wildly.

He could already see the scene of himself becoming a great demon patriarch of an entire region.

“Second Brother is right. With the Crimson Blessing Paste in hand, more and more demons will come to us. Still, we can’t be too high-profile. Though our place is technically beyond law or order, if we flaunt ourselves too much, we’ll inevitably draw attention. Better to remain steady and cautious. That is the wisest course,” Heavenly Lion said slowly, his expression grave.

The tallest tree in the forest is the first to be cut down.

He had heard that saying from a schoolteacher once, and found it so sensible that he had kept it close to heart ever since, using it to warn himself.

“What Big Brother says is absolutely right. During this period, demons from all over the land are surging into Dian-Chuan. We should make our move now, take what we can, then keep a low profile and build up our strength. No need to invite disaster upon ourselves. Once the storm passes, we can continue plotting our rise,” Heavenly Feather said, nodding in agreement from the side.

“Exactly, exactly. That’s what I was thinking too. First we stockpile some humans and livestock, then each of us gets ourselves a magical weapon. Damn it all to hell. Grow bigger, grow stronger, and create even greater glory!” Heavenly Elephant exclaimed excitedly, gesturing wildly as he rose to his feet.

His mountainous body was so vast that it punched straight through the entire wooden building.

“Report! To Heavenly Feather, sir, today’s feasting has ended!”

Just as the wooden structure was about to collapse, a young crow demon appeared outside and cried out loudly.

Seeing that the building was about to come apart at the seams, Heavenly Feather sighed helplessly and motioned for Heavenly Elephant to calm down.

With a sweep of his wings, ancient and savage runes, carrying a wild and feral aura, lit up rapidly in the cracks and corners of the wooden building.

Creak—

Under the urging of that uncanny power, the nearly collapsed structure fused itself back together. The broken floorboards and loft steadied once more.

“How many demons came today?” Heavenly Feather asked, returning to his seat with a faint smile at his two brothers, waiting for the little demon outside to give him a satisfying number.

“Reporting to my lord, there were a total of one hundred and fourteen demons today, along with seventeen heretical cultivators.”

“How many?!” Heavenly Feather barked.

With a thunderous crash, the wooden door flew open.

A terrifying force of suction billowed out from within.

Before the crow demon could even react, it let out a shrill cry and was yanked inside.

A flurry of disordered feathers drifted slowly to the ground.

Gripping the crow demon by the throat with one hand, Heavenly Feather’s eyes turned vicious.

“Last time, more than two hundred demons came for the feast. Why was it only a little over a hundred today? Speak. Did you embezzle the Crimson Blessing Paste, causing the number of demons to drop?”

Its legs kicking wildly, the crow demon’s eyes bulged. Its neck was nearly crushed to pieces by Heavenly Feather’s grip, and it struggled to explain in desperation.

“My lord... please see clearly... how would we dare... covet the Crimson Blessing Paste... even if we wanted to... our bodies couldn’t eat that much either...”

After a moment’s thought, Heavenly Feather felt the crow demon had a point.

Besides, they would not dare to commit such an act beneath his very nose.

His composure restored, Heavenly Feather snorted and flung the crow demon aside.

“Go and investigate for me! Why have so many fewer demons come to town? If you cannot find the answer, then pluck out your own feathers and jump into the crimson cauldron!”

“Yes, yes, yes! This one will investigate at once, at once!”

Having just escaped with its life, the crow demon kowtowed several times with booming thuds, then scrambled down the town in a panic.

Half an hour later.

The crow demon returned trembling to the wooden building and fell to its knees with a thump before the doorway.

“Reporting to the three lords, this humble one has already learned the truth.

“The reason the number of demons coming to our town has dropped so sharply this time is that, at some point, a mysterious Daoist appeared outside the town. He carries a bizarre magical instrument and is highly skilled in poison.

“Any demon or dark cultivator passing through our area who encounters him is poisoned and rendered helpless, then taken away by that instrument.

“There were originally more than two hundred demons coming to our town for the feast this time. But before they even entered the town’s limits, nearly half were captured by that man.

“On top of that, his fierce reputation has already spread through the surrounding area. Demons and dark cultivators alike tremble at the mere mention of him. That is why the demons coming to town have become fewer and fewer.”

Terrified that speaking too slowly might cost it its life as well, the crow demon blurted out the entire story in one breath, nearly suffocating itself in the process.

“A mysterious Daoist, seizing demons?”

The three Dao-attaining demons exchanged glances, their eyes cold, killing intent surging.

This Crimson Flower Town was a foundation they had spent great effort building.

Where had this reckless bastard come from?

To think he would dare openly try to destroy it.

“He thinks that because he holds a magical instrument, he can do whatever he pleases? Watch me go seize this mortal and chew him to pieces as a drink companion,” Heavenly Elephant growled, his temper the most explosive of the three. He rose abruptly, and the terrifying demonic aura of a Dao-attaining demon erupted at once. Dense black mist roared outward like a tide, seeking to swallow everything in its path.

“Second Brother, do not act rashly. The arrival of this Daoist is strange indeed. To provoke us so brazenly, he may not be an ordinary person. Please, both of you, stay your hands for the moment. I shall go investigate first, and then we can decide our course,” Heavenly Feather said, soothing him with a few words before rising and stepping out of the wooden building.

In an instant, he transformed back into his true form.

A black-feathered vulture with a wingspan of nearly ten yards let out a piercing screech, beat its wings, and rose on a gale of thunderous force, vanishing into the distance.

...

Outside Crimson Flower Town.

Mountains rolled in layered waves, lush and green, stretching away like an endless sea.

Leaning on a branch of a towering ancient tree, Qi Xiu circulated the profound method of the Primordial Dragon-Tiger True Scripture. Around him, his pores faintly breathed out a heavy, richly colored mist.

Using Crimson Flower Town as a gathering basin for demons, Qi Xiu was steadily capturing monsters and refining pills without pause.

With enough Essence-Gathering Pills to supply the vital energy needed for cultivation, the progress of his Primordial Harmonization Body Refinement also advanced without rest, growing stronger day by day.

He had already begun to faintly touch the threshold of the ancient Gathering Celestial Canopy stage.

Once he crossed that threshold, he would be able to trigger the Celestial Canopy tribulation on his own.

If he could endure that calamity,

he would shed all mortal traces and complete the Dao-entry realm.

Just as the power of another Essence-Gathering Pill was fully absorbed, Qi Xiu slowly opened his eyes, a flash of iridescent light passing through them in an instant.

Boom—

At that moment, a deafening thunderclap that only Qi Xiu could hear suddenly rang out from the sky.

The blast was immense, coming sharp and violent, and carried within it a faint force that shook the spirit itself.

The Celestial Canopy tribulation was stirring once more.

It was trying to use the sound of calamity to create a flaw in Qi Xiu.

Then, with lightning and disaster, it would strike him out of existence.

Qi Xiu glanced at the clear blue vault above his head and smiled faintly, his gaze calm and untroubled.

Recently, the vibrations of the tribulation’s sound had become more and more frequent.

From once every several days before, to several times a day now.

Yet because of that, he was actually much more at ease.

For this meant the tribulation’s confidence in erasing him was steadily weakening.

It could only rely on the sound of calamity to make trouble for him, searching for a flaw that grew smaller by the day.

This tribulation would not last much longer.

Just as Qi Xiu finished his cultivation and was preparing to look for today’s distinguished guest to invite into the Essence-Gathering Treasure Pouch, a vast and weighty demonic aura suddenly rose from the direction of Crimson Flower Town and swept toward him at terrifying speed. The force of its wind made the entire forest sway.

“So, you’ve finally noticed me?”

Qi Xiu understood at once that the three Dao-attaining demons from Crimson Flower Town were coming for him. Yet his expression remained calm, clearly having already anticipated this.

He drew a deep breath and reversed the inner circulation of the Primordial Dragon-Tiger True Scripture.

At once, Qi Xiu’s pupils turned pitch black, leaving not a trace of white behind.

His complexion also faded into a dead, ashen pallor.

The living aura around him vanished at a speed visible to the eye.

In the blink of an eye, he had become a “dead thing” no different from a withered tree or a stubborn rock.

The Primordial Dragon-Tiger True Scripture was a profound art that exhausted the transformations of yin and yang.

It could strengthen the body through the yang method of internal energy.

Naturally, it could also reverse vitality by turning the yin scripture of spiritual power backward.

Sitting motionless on the branch and looking up at the terrifying giant vulture whose wings seemed ready to blot out the entire sky, Qi Xiu’s cold, rigid face curved into a slight smile.

Since you are in such a hurry to find me, then I shall indulge you.

In a few more days, once the “gift” is fully prepared,

I, Qi Xiu, will personally bring it to town.

And come calling at your door.