Chapter 316: 凡人当真如此无力?

Ji Yuan looked at the huge wolf corpse on the ground. Leaving it there would likely cause an aura of malevolence to spread, potentially fostering evil spirits or generating poisonous miasma over time. Moreover, if passersby saw it, they might be scared to death.

"This corpse cannot remain. By the way, do you need to devour it?"

Ji Yuan naturally asked the old ox, knowing that some demons chose to devour their opponents after killing them. This question stunned Niu Batian, who looked down at the gruesome corpse of the wolf demon.

*Is Mr. Ji really asking me if I want to eat this thing?*

"Uh, Mr. Ji, I don't have that kind of preference. Besides, this guy's demonic energy is impure, and it doesn't contain any inherent treasures. It looks quite disgusting. Why would I eat it?"

Ji Yuan nodded in understanding.

"I was just thinking of an old friend who always liked to devour evil demons after vanquishing them. I thought you might have the same preference."

"Who is it? Is it also a demon?" Niu Batian asked curiously.

Ji Yuan did not hide it. "You could say that, reluctantly. It's that old dragon from the Tongtian River within Dazhen, the Dragon Lord that Gao Tianming mentioned."

The old ox instinctively shuddered, and the words he was about to say caught in his throat. The existence of a true dragon was too mysterious, even eerie. Mr. Ji might dare to talk so casually, but Niu Batian certainly wouldn't dare to speak ill of it.

"Since you won't eat it, I'll destroy this demon corpse."

With Samadhi True Fire, doing this was most convenient.

As soon as Ji Yuan spoke, the old ox remembered the scene outside Nandao County, where Mr. Ji had incinerated a corpse with a breath of fire.

"Wait! Mr. Ji, wait!"

The old ox hastily called out, and under Ji Yuan's slightly puzzled gaze, he rushed to search around the wolf demon's corpse. He picked up a piece of torn cloth here, found a rope there, and after searching for a long time, finally chuckled as he found several fragments of jade pendants and a money pouch embroidered with a wolf pattern.

The old ox weighed the money pouch. Hearing the jingle, he opened it to see that it was full of silver and gold.

"Hehehe, that's enough, that's enough. Please proceed, Mr. Ji!"

Ji Yuan didn't comment on the old ox's actions; instead, as if reminded of something, he approached the wolf demon's corpse, flicked his sleeve, and the wolf corpse rotated, revealing its neck and belly. Ignoring the bloodstains on the ground, he took a few more steps closer and reached under the wolf demon's neck, plucking out a handful of wolf hairs. These wolf hairs were faintly grayish-white, about a finger long, stiff yet extremely flexible, and faintly glowed.

Niu Batian looked at the wolf hairs and smiled. "It seems I was wrong. This little wild dog did have some good stuff after all. If not for Mr. Ji's keen insight, we would have missed out..."

As he spoke, although Niu Batian was looking at Ji Yuan and the wolf hairs in his hand, his peripheral vision was fixed on Ji Yuan's feet. Despite stepping on the foul blood of the wolf demon, the blood automatically slid away from Mr. Ji's feet, and not even a speck of the blood's defilement touched him. As for whether Ji Yuan used any divine powers or spells, the old ox felt that the difference in their cultivation was too vast for him to tell. However, he instinctively felt that Mr. Ji hadn't cast any spells.

While the old ox was still pondering, the next moment Ji Yuan opened his mouth and exhaled. A reddish-gray mist engulfed the entire wolf corpse, not with soaring flames, but with a dull, burning red glow, like embers. Once a demon died, the remaining ancient and spiritual energy in its corpse became rootless, offering no resistance to the True Fire. Instead, they became the best fuel. In just a moment, the entire demon wolf corpse was completely reduced to ashes. Apart from the damage caused by the previous battle on the ground, nothing else was discernible.

"Let's go."

After speaking, Ji Yuan took the lead, rising on the wind and flying back towards Luping City. Niu Batian stretched his arms, cast a final glance at the black ashes on the ground, and followed close behind.

"Mr. Ji, what about the Lang Manor?" Niu Batian asked in the sky as they approached Luping City.

Ji Yuan shook his head. "The rest are ordinary people. With the wolf demon dead, they might search for a while initially. After some time, others with vested interests will come to capitalize on the situation and seize power. It will be chaotic for a while. I just need to leave a letter, and then it's no longer our concern."

From common folks to high officials, the human world was never simple. With the absence of Master Lang Liu, and no more demons 'eating people' in such a manner, there would still be many powerful individuals vying to 'devour' others.

***

At the Lang Manor, a group of servants, startled by the loud noise from the master's quarters in the back courtyard, rushed over to investigate. The servants of the household knew that the master of Lang Manor had a rule: no servants were allowed in the back courtyard when he was resting. However, something had clearly happened tonight, and the servants, disregarding the rules, all ran to the back courtyard.

Upon arriving, they saw that the front wall of the master's room was completely shattered, with most of the fragments scattered inside, as if some enormous object had crashed into the room. Inside, the room was a complete mess: furniture was overturned, the bed was shattered, the floor was covered in cracks, and a large hole gaped in the ceiling.

"This... where's the master?"

"I don't know. Did someone from the jianghu come?"

"I think I heard a cow bellow just now..." "Oh, I heard it too."

"Should we report this to the authorities?"

"But didn't the master say we shouldn't disturb the authorities, no matter what happens in the manor?"

"What if the master is missing?"

The servants were at a loss. It was the steward who rushed over at that moment. After seeing the scene, he immediately decided to notify several casino owners who were close to their master, hoping to find out if an enemy had come seeking revenge.

Meanwhile, in one of the courtyards, there was a side room filled with the sound of crying. It was locked from the outside and guarded, but the two guards were now lying unconscious on the ground. A small paper crane landed on the door lock and began pecking at it with its paper beak.

"Ding, ding, ding... click..."

The lock broke open and slid down with an iron chain, clattering onto the ground.

"Creak."

The door opened by itself. The crying women and children inside all fell silent, nervously looking out the door but seeing no one enter. One woman bravely walked to the doorway to peek out. She found the lock on the ground and the guards lying unconscious outside. Looking further into the courtyard, she saw more household servants sprawled on the ground.

A paper crane was perched on a tree in the courtyard, attentively observing the group inside. It saw them nervously huddle at the doorway and noticed the servants who had been pecked unconscious. Yet, strangely, no one dared to step out of the unguarded door. The paper crane didn't know why this was, so it simply kept watching.

After a short while, the woman and children by the door heard a calm and gentle voice.

"Master Lang Liu committed many evil deeds and delighted in cruel killings. He has been slain by us, righteous heroes of the jianghu. You should take this opportunity to escape quickly. The Lang Manor people will soon be too busy to care about you."

As the voice sounded, the paper crane raised its head and looked at the sky, knowing its master was above. However, it didn't fly away, but continued watching the people inside, observing them cautiously step out and then carefully make their escape.

***

Above the entrance of Lang Manor, a piece of white paper flew out from Ji Yuan's sleeve, accompanied by a brush still stained with wet ink. Ji Yuan pointed at the paper, and it unfurled and held steady in the air. He then took the brush and began to write on it.

Niu Batian watched intently from the side, muttering softly aloud. "Lang Liu of Luping City, a tyrant who oppressed men and women, committed many wicked deeds, delighted in killing in the wilderness, and often harmed people with gambling tricks. I consider him a blight upon the human world. Seeing such injustice, I took action to eliminate him... utterly destroying him!"

Ji Yuan's handwriting this time was not his usual style, but rather resembled printed regular script from his previous life—neat and square, each character like a block. After writing a full page, most of the content detailed Lang Liu's crimes and explicitly stated that a righteous hero had executed him.

As the final stroke fell, Ji Yuan took the paper in his hand, then gently blew on it. The paper drifted down from the sky towards the entrance of Lang Manor. Afterward, Ji Yuan waved his hand, drew a withered branch from the ground, and casually flicked it.

"Swish... *thwack*..."

The withered branch pierced through the paper, nailing it to the Lang Manor's plaque, splitting the plaque both top and bottom.

"Let's go. Time to rest."

The old ox looked at the situation outside Lang Manor, then at the women and children who had been previously captured, now cautiously slipping out through the opened gate. He asked nothing and walked with Ji Yuan towards the inn.

About a dozen breaths later, a paper crane flew up from behind, flapping its wings. It first landed on Ji Yuan's shoulder, pecked twice, then nestled into his embrace. However, it didn't fully return to the brocade pouch, instead poking its head out and staring at Niu Batian.

"Uh, Mr. Ji, is this paper bird some kind of unusual spell? It even observes me?" The old ox found it quite amusing to be stared at by the paper bird.

"It's not really an unusual spell. It's a minor technique I developed years ago for communication, which I originally thought wouldn't be very practical. But now, it often has some wonderfully convenient uses. And yes, it's quite well-behaved." As Ji Yuan spoke, a knowing smile appeared on his face. He felt as if he were petting a companion from his previous life. Of course, in his past life, he had only kept pets as a child and, perhaps due to his young age, didn't quite know how to care for them, leading to less than ideal outcomes.

The two walked and talked, gradually moving away from Lang Manor in the north of the city. To Ji Yuan's ears, the sounds of commotion from the manor grew increasingly chaotic, indicating that people had clearly discovered the letter left outside the gate and the many unconscious servants inside.

***

Inside the Tianlang Inn, Yan Fei hadn't actually slept at all. His mind kept replaying the events of recent days: outside Nandao County, within Wuyuan Ghost City, and the absurd encounter with Niu Batian that evening.

*'I've treasured this outfit for a long time. If you tear it, I don't have a second one!'*

The old ox's voice echoed in Yan Fei's mind, making him instinctively grip the bedding. After tossing and turning for a long time, Yan Fei sat up from the bed. His gaze fell on the sword resting horizontally at the head of his bed. He picked it up and drew it ten inches from its sheath; even in the night, its cold gleam was striking.

"Are mortals truly so powerless? Is martial arts truly so powerless?"