Chapter Eleven: Make a Move

Yu Qingxian’s aura surged fiercely, radiating an awe-inspiring pressure. Stones on the ground, visible to the naked eye, began to lift under the pull of her energy, while rolling booms sounded one after another. Then, cracks spread across the earth like a web of spider silk.

A master, and an exceptional one.

Shen Chang’an judged it at a glance. Yu Qingxian was very strong, frighteningly strong, and the sense of danger she gave him far surpassed Zheng Huyi by more than tenfold.

Yet Shen Chang’an remained utterly unmoved. He merely said coolly, “Is Lady Yu asking me? I was about to ask Lady Yu the same thing. Why are you killing these common folk?”

Yu Qingxian froze in astonishment, and the fierce momentum around her faltered.

“We?” she repeated the word, her expression changing slightly.

Shen Chang’an nodded and said softly, “Everyone in Qinghe Village was slain by the Zhennan Army. Lady Yu serves under the same court as they do, so calling it ‘you’ seems only natural, does it not?”

Yu Qingxian’s expression stiffened. Her red lips parted as though she wanted to say something, but after a long while not a word came out.

Ignoring her, Shen Chang’an picked up another severed head, slowly stitched it back together, and buried it in the pit.

Yu Qingxian sat down with a defeated air. The earlier trace of pride on her face had faded into weariness, and she no longer bothered with her appearance, simply leaning against a mound of earth nearby.

“Daoist, how did you know it was the Zhennan Army?”

While stitching the corpses together, Shen Chang’an tossed over a talismanic decree from the Purple Tenuity Palace. “This ought to be something left behind by the army’s war sorcerer.”

Yu Qingxian glanced at the decree, a flicker of coldness passing through her eyes, but it quickly dimmed again. She simply reclined against the dirt mound and stared blankly up at the sky.

“Daoist, do you have anything to eat?” she asked quietly.

Shen Chang’an stood up, sighed, and summoned his travel pack. From it he took out two compressed rations. Though he did not need to eat, he still kept emergency provisions on hand, just in case.

“Eat them with water.”

Yu Qingxian took the rations and looked at the packaging outside, curiosity lighting her eyes. She was about to ask something when Shen Chang’an spoke first.

“Open the wrapper and eat it directly. Don’t ask me how it is made. It is a secret formula of the Daoist school, and I cannot disclose it.”

Yu Qingxian pouted, but she had already lost interest in asking. She tore open the packaging, then washed it down with the clear water from her waterskin and ate heartily.

Those compressed rations were highly effective at filling the stomach. After two large cakes, Yu Qingxian felt much fuller at once.

By then, Shen Chang’an happened to feel a little tired, so he sat down to rest while also circulating his Nine-Breath Vital Ingestion technique to replenish his spiritual power.

Yu Qingxian watched this and could not help but marvel inwardly.

“Daoist, your breathing art is astonishing. Within nine breaths, you can draw in such an immense amount of heaven and earth’s primal energy. I fear there is no cultivation method in this world more formidable than your breathing art.”

Shen Chang’an nodded. “A secret formula of the Daoist school. Cannot disclose it.”

Yu Qingxian’s face fell, and she sighed. “I’m not after your technique... Forget it. I won’t say more.”

She lay back down again, her gaze drifting restlessly, as though she were pondering something.

Shen Chang’an no longer paid her any mind and instead worked together with the Supreme Purity Resonance Method to slowly recover his spiritual power.

As he recovered in this manner, he could not help but sigh. It was simply too slow.

Fasting through grain, after all, was only a divine ability for absorbing vital breath. Its true marvel lay in its continuity, in the way a little gathered into much. So long as one breathed, the ability would activate on its own, endlessly accumulating spiritual power without a moment’s pause.

But if one truly wished to cultivate in earnest, or wanted to recover spiritual power quickly, fasting through grain was not enough.

“If I could obtain the divine ability of Guiding and Drawing, cultivation might be faster.”

Among the Seventy-Two Earthly Transformations was a divine ability called Guiding and Drawing. It was the most orthodox art of refining qi through breathing, and could guide any cultivation method, making it the very foundation of qi cultivation.

The fasting-through-grain ability Shen Chang’an had obtained emphasized longevity and endurance; Nine-Breath Vital Ingestion was meant to draw on a specific type of heaven and earth’s energy over a short period. But as for proper cultivation techniques, he truly had none.

Even now, the Supreme Purity Resonance Method had only barely reached the second tier, and progress was agonizingly slow.

Lost in thought, he suddenly heard the rapid beat of hooves in the distance, and Shen Chang’an opened his eyes at once.

He stood up, and beside him, Yu Qingxian had also risen at some point. She had been lying on the ground just now, and so had heard the sound even earlier than he had.

Before long, a troop of riders came racing toward them. At their head was a young officer wielding a long spear, dressed in a white robe and silver armor, majestic and imposing, brimming with heroic spirit.

The red horse beneath him was even faster. In only a few bounds, it overtook the others and reached Shen Chang’an and Yu Qingxian first.

The moment he arrived and saw Shen Chang’an stitching up corpses, his brows shot upward and he barked haughtily, “You Daoist, were you the one disrupting my army’s formation here?”

Shen Chang’an was taken aback. He had not expected that one day, as a half-real, half-fake Daoist, he would actually be called a long-nosed Daoist.

He slowly lowered the head in his hands, rose to his feet, brushed the dust from his robe, and smiled lightly. “Might I ask who you are?”

“I am Zhang Hongyu, a thousand-household under General Sun of the Zhennan Army!”

Shen Chang’an narrowed his eyes and continued, “So it is Thousand-Household Zhang. Might I ask, Lord Thousand-Household, were all the villagers of Qinghe Village killed by your men?”

“Hmph! The Zhennan Army was ordered here to encircle and suppress the rebels. Li Qingren said human lives were needed to form the array, so of course we killed them!”

“It is enough that Lord Thousand-Household admits it...” Shen Chang’an said softly, his palm half-clenched, his eyes fixed dead on Zhang Hongyu. “Otherwise, when they go below, these villagers would not even know who to seek for vengeance.”

The words had barely fallen when Shen Chang’an shot forward like a bullet leaving the chamber. From his half-clenched palm, a long alloy staff flew into his grasp.

Then, surging with fierce momentum, Shen Chang’an brought the staff crashing down toward Zhang Hongyu’s head and face!

The staff emitted a sharp, piercing howl. Shen Chang’an did not hold back in the slightest. The divine power of strength was driven to its limit, until the muscles in his arms bulged with veins, nearly unable to withstand such terrifying force.

Zhang Hongyu was stunned. He had thought that by revealing his identity, the other man would not dare act recklessly. He never imagined that this murderer would be so brazen as to attempt to strike down a thousand-household.

“You arrogant wretch! To assassinate an imperial officer and defy the law—do you seek death?”

How could Zhang Hongyu know that Shen Chang’an had come from another world? He cared nothing for imperial officers, or for princes and nobles.

If the emperor himself dared slaughter the innocent before his eyes, then given the chance, Shen Chang’an would dare to send a staff straight through him.

Though Zhang Hongyu was extremely haughty, he was not entirely stupid. Seeing Shen Chang’an’s staff come crashing down, he knew it was already too late to turn his horse. He immediately drew his sword, leaving it in its scabbard, and raised both hands to block in front of him.

Clang!

A shrill, explosive impact rang out, followed by the scream of a horse. Shen Chang’an’s single strike carried force through Zhang Hongyu’s body and into the horse beneath him, forcing it to collapse to its knees at once.

Zhang Hongyu’s eyes nearly split with fury. In this era, a fine horse was no different from a luxury carriage in the present world. Now his own mount had been ruined by Shen Chang’an’s one blow, and he was so enraged that smoke seemed nearly to pour from his head.

But he also felt the overwhelming, domineering power in Shen Chang’an’s strike. With the Great Strength divine ability fully unleashed, Shen Chang’an poured in spiritual power as though it cost nothing, and even after years of cultivation, Zhang Hongyu felt utterly powerless to resist.

“Can’t go head-on with this man.”

That thought flashed through his mind. He no longer cared whether the precious horse lived or died; he used the sword scabbard to deflect Shen Chang’an’s staff, allowing it to smash down onto the red horse’s head, while he himself sprang aside and leaped clear.

Shen Chang’an’s staff landed on the red horse’s skull, instantly smashing the head to pieces. Bone and flesh flew everywhere, staining the ground red.

“Tsk, tsk. How is it that Lord Zhang can’t even protect his own horse? Well now, your horse is dead.”

Zhang Hongyu found Shen Chang’an’s mockery unbearably sharp. For a moment he could not even tell what the other man meant, but his expression darkened and he immediately ordered his men, “Loose arrows!”

“Hold!”

At that moment, Yu Qingxian, who had remained silent all this while, stepped forward and blocked Zhang Hongyu.

“People from the Demon-Pacifying Office?”

Zhang Hongyu frowned. The Demon-Pacifying Office wielded immense authority. Whenever demonic or ghostly calamity arose, they could mobilize the surrounding forces at any time to assist with the investigation.

Yu Qingxian was merely a hundred-household in the Demon-Pacifying Office, far lower in rank than Zhang Hongyu. But the office had, in all, no more than fifty hundred-households; compared with a thousand-household like him, they were far rarer.

“What now? Does the Demon-Pacifying Office think it can interfere with military affairs at the border?” Zhang Hongyu said coldly.

Yu Qingxian frowned slightly and snorted. “Lord Zhang, mind your words. Don’t think you can casually pin charges on me. On this matter, your lot cannot compare with the Demon-Pacifying Office.”

Zhang Hongyu’s face stiffened. He wanted to retort, but he truly did not dare offend Yu Qingxian outright.

Just as Yu Qingxian had said, when it came to pinning charges, there was no one in the Great Qian who could surpass the Demon-Pacifying Office.

With a little something sinister and spectral, they could make your entire household live in unrest. And once you showed any weakness, they could even connect you to the evil thing and convict you of colluding with demons and monsters. Even if you were eventually cleared, you would still lose a layer of skin.

“Heh, that was careless of me. Still, Lady Hundred-Household of the Demon-Pacifying Office, what brings you here?”

Yu Qingxian said indifferently, “Did you kill the villagers of Qinghe Village and set up some wicked art? Is that true?”

“And if it is?” Zhang Hongyu frowned.

Yu Qingxian gave a cold laugh and continued, “If so, then this involves evil energy and wicked sorcery, which naturally falls within the jurisdiction of my Demon-Pacifying Office. Lord Zhang, what explanation do you have?”

Zhang Hongyu raised an eyebrow. By now he was certain the other side had come to oppose the Zhennan Army over this very matter.

“Demon-Pacifying Office, hundred-household, woman... So, you must be the female hundred-household of the Demon-Pacifying Office, Lady Yu Qingxian.”

“That is correct.” Yu Qingxian admitted readily.

Zhang Hongyu then said, “Lady Yu, I speak so courteously with you out of respect for the Demon-Pacifying Office. But I hope you know your place. I do have some scruples toward your office, but you cannot come here and ruin an important matter for my Zhennan Army!”

“Suppressing the rebels is a matter of the highest priority. If the various thousand-households of the Demon-Pacifying Office knew you delayed the Zhennan Army’s campaign against the rebels, would they still shelter you?”

Yu Qingxian frowned. For the sake of the villagers of Qinghe Village, she had acted out of her own conscience. But if she really brought this matter before the Demon-Pacifying Office, the others might not necessarily stand with her.

The Demon-Pacifying Office never got involved in military or political affairs. They only slayed demons and exorcised evil, and could only slay demons and exorcise evil. Once they stepped beyond that and became entangled in other matters, they would be branded as devils and heretics, and executed on the spot.

“Lady Yu, if you stand aside now, Zhang will still owe you a favor later. But if you insist on interfering, then Zhang will have no choice but to go and speak with the Demon-Pacifying Office!”

Yu Qingxian looked torn. Just as she was about to say something, Shen Chang’an spoke up beside her.

“Lady Yu, just stand by and watch.”

“What?” Yu Qingxian stared at him in surprise.

But Shen Chang’an merely said calmly, “Lady Yu wishes to punish evil and uphold justice, yet has many misgivings in her heart. I can understand that. I am alone in the world, with no family or close friends. Let me be the one to butcher this pack of beasts.”

Zhang Hongyu looked at Shen Chang’an, his eyes turning cold. “Daoist, don’t get too smug. What if you have a bit of strength? When ten thousand arrows are loosed together, let’s see how you survive!”

Shen Chang’an chuckled. “If you truly had ten thousand arrows, this Daoist would have no choice but to flee in disgrace. Pity. With only a hundred men, I rather want to see your so-called ten thousand arrows.”

Zhang Hongyu’s expression darkened, and then he turned to Yu Qingxian and snorted, “Lady Yu, if you still remain beside that criminal, then don’t blame Zhang for being heartless!”

Yu Qingxian hesitated time and again, but in the end she still walked to Shen Chang’an’s side and gritted out, “If I abandon my own conscience, then what difference is there between Yu Qingxian and a beast living in this world?”

“Well said!” Shen Chang’an laughed aloud. “The one before us is indeed a beast beyond repentance, slaughtering the innocent and even using souls to refine wicked sorcery. He is no better than a pig or dog!”

Zhang Hongyu was so furious that his beard and hair bristled. He roared, “Loose the arrows! All of you, loose them now!”

The hundred soldiers Zhang Hongyu had brought were all elites, each equipped with bow and arrows. At his command earlier, they had already drawn their bows and nocked their arrows. The moment the order came, they loosed them at once!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

A continuous storm of sounds rang out as arrows shot toward Shen Chang’an in dense volleys. In an instant, it seemed as though dark clouds had blotted out the sky, the arrows flying straight for his face!