Chapter 72: The Big Dipper Has Seven Stars, and Yuheng is the Fifth

Seven stars adorn the Northern Dipper, and the fifth is Yuhang.

Cultivators, upon piercing the five Inner Mansions, anchor their Star Domain within the Outer Building realm. The exploration of the starry void by those who cultivate has been a ceaseless endeavor, yet the end of this cosmic journey remains ever elusive.

Legend has it that Yuhang Peak in Sanshan City finds its celestial counterpart in the Yuhang star of the distant Northern Dipper. When the opportune moment arrives, transformations of unimaginable scale are said to unfold.

Of course, this remains but a tale, one that no one has ever substantiated.

The sole certainty for the cultivators of Sanshan City is that this very peak has, for decades, been a primary source of the beastly calamities plaguing their lands. Nearly endless hordes of ferocious creatures have surged down its slopes, breaching the domain of Sanshan City, laying waste to official roads and farmlands, and devouring both man and beast.

And now, the time has finally come to bring an end to this relentless onslaught.

Before Sun Heng’s time, such a thought would have been unthinkable. But after Shubi Peak was cleansed, Yuhang Peak naturally became the second target.

For this very day, Sanshan City had been amassing its strength for two long years.

Deceased cultivators needed to be replaced, new ones had to mature, and those mystic artifacts, medicinal remedies for injuries... every manner of resource required replenishment.

Two years was the limit.

Certainly, had it not been for the turmoil wrought by the Devourer of Heart Demons, Sanshan City’s preparations would have been even more thorough.

But further accumulation was no longer feasible. Under the rampant beasts, the domain of Sanshan City had entered a vicious cycle. And new, fearsome beasts had begun to roam the vicinity of Shubi Peak…

Time was not on Sanshan City’s side.

Thus, although Zhuang Ting withheld approval for a considerable time, and likewise refused to allocate resources, the current city lord, Dou Yuemei, nonetheless depleted the treasury and launched the second campaign of suppression.

This time, Sanshan City welcomed a multitude of external aids. In addition to cultivators from neighboring city domains, even masters from beyond the territory had arrived.

Take, for instance, a woman veiled in white gauze, rumored to be a master from a mysterious sect within the Cloud Kingdom. She alone held a defensive line, permitting none to approach within a mile.

The greatest obstacle of Yuhang Peak was not its precipitous terrain, but rather a swarm of killer rock bees dwelling at its base.

These fearsome beasts were small in stature, vast in number, and nigh unkillable. Furthermore, their attack power was formidable, and they were virtually ubiquitous. They resided in the scattered rock caves at the foot of Yuhang Peak, gathering in immense throngs.

Sanshan City had attempted to employ Daoist techniques covering vast areas, yet these killer rock bees possessed a natural sensitivity to fluctuations of the Dao, and often took flight during the formation of such techniques. Even the elimination of some would only incite the killer rock bees to a frenzy.

Tens of millions of killer rock bees, gathering and arriving, could almost blot out the sky and the earth, and nothing could stand in their path.

Two years prior, Sun Heng had not chosen Yuhang Peak as his point of breakthrough precisely because of this.

Dou Yuemei, in selecting Yuhang Peak over Feilai Peak after two years, was naturally not without preparation.

The cultivator team of Sanshan City opened a gap, and Sun Xiaoyan was pushed out with a mournful countenance.

"Mother!" he cried, "Are you truly sending your son to his death?"

Dou Yuemei held Sun Xiaoman’s hand, a smile playing upon her lips as she looked at her son: "I’ll help you catch your sister, and when you return with your merits, I’ll make her apologize to you sincerely! Be good, don’t be afraid, you won’t die. Your father is protecting you!"

*My father is already dead.*

Thinking this, Sun Xiaoyan was even more terrified, tears threatening to burst forth as he covered his plump face.

However, under his mother’s unwavering gaze, he dared not move.

Although ever since Sun Heng’s death, everyone knew that Dou Yuemei doted on this son, and almost always deferred to him.

But Sun Xiaoyan himself knew that if Dou Yuemei truly made up her mind, he was utterly powerless to alter her decision.

Just like the last time he traveled to Fenglin City to participate in the Three Cities Debate, he knew he would face beatings on the road, but Dou Yuemei acquiesced, and he could only depart with his sister, tears streaming down his face.

Under the gaze of the assembled crowd, some curious, some amused, Sun Xiaoyan moved with a reluctant, almost step-by-step pace, his body, a veritable meatball, inching forward.

Jiang Wang and the others arrived at Yuhang Peak in this very situation.

They indeed encountered many familiar faces. The Fenglin City domain, being the closest, naturally sent more than just Li Jianqiu’s team.

Jiang Wang even spotted Fang Heling, though in the time since he last saw him, he had, inexplicably, lost a considerable amount of weight, acquiring a hint of ruthlessness in his demeanor.

Through what channels, he had managed to infiltrate the team of Shen Nanqi, ranked fifth on the Fenglin City Dao Xun list, remained a mystery.

Zhao Rucheng noticed him and whispered to Jiang Wang: "The Fang family is currently seeking evidence everywhere, and it is said that they intend to bring a suit against you before the city lord, claiming that you deliberately guided Xiong Wen to the Fang family’s ancestral land, causing countless casualties."

This was, of course, a jest. Regardless of the extent of Jiang Wang’s involvement, the very nature of Xiong Wen’s intrusion into Fenglin City was a consequence of Zhu Weimo’s pursuit. Should responsibility for the killings committed by Xiong Wen along his path be truly assigned, only Zhu Weimo held the qualification.

So, did the Fang family dare to seek trouble with Zhu Weimo? The answer was self-evident.

However, while no major tribulations loomed, minor vexations were unavoidable.

At this time, Jiang Wang had obtained the mystical longsword promised by Sanshan City. This blade was engraved with a golden arrow, not the most ideal configuration for Jiang Wang. Yet, the inherent sturdiness of the sword itself was enough to earn Jiang Wang’s affection.

He was carefully examining the longsword, and upon hearing the words, merely shrugged: "Otherwise, why would I come out to avoid it? I didn't expect that I still couldn't escape it."

Zhao Rucheng chuckled.

What surprised Jiang Wang was that Fang Heling showed no reaction this time when facing him, and even his gaze merely swept over, as if he no longer recognized him at all.

...

However, Sun Xiaoyan’s glacial pace eventually tested Dou Yuemei’s patience.

This woman must have been exceedingly beautiful in her youth, and even now possessed a striking appearance, but her willow eyebrows were subtly raised, revealing a hint of fierceness.

"Little Fatty, don't dawdle."

Sun Xiaoyan lowered his gaze, finally realizing that the situation was irreversible.

So he gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and charged directly towards the largest rock cave.

He raised his Stone-Covering Fist and slammed it into the ground!

Buzzing...

A vast swarm of killer rock bees surged out.

Countless tail needles shot towards the intruder.

Sun Xiaoman felt her mother’s hand clench, as if intending to break her finger bones, and then release it in the next moment of sudden realization.

But Sun Xiaoman had no time to cry out in pain, for she too was watching her brother’s plight.

Killer rock bees do not sting inanimate objects, and they will never easily unleash their tail needles upon creatures that pose no threat, so the bait could only be cultivators.

However, besides Sun Xiaoyan wearing the Kunpi Drum, who could withstand a single round of tail needle onslaught from the killer rock bees?

That was human skin, stripped from the powerful body of Sun Heng, inscribed with array patterns, and combined with the effect of the Kunpi Drum’s Daoist technique, its defense surpassed even Sun Heng's own while he was alive.

The dense rain of tail needles fell to the ground, and then, what followed was a large area of falling killer rock bees.

At that moment, the tail needles descended like rain, and Sun Xiaoyan’s plump figure stood firm against the downpour.

The Kunpi Drum was held aloft!

But he cried out in a loud voice: "It hurts! It hurts! I can't do it!"

He turned and ran back, desiring to return to a place of safety and escape the pain he could not endure.

But he was halted by Dou Yuemei’s shout: "Sun Xiaoyan, you are not allowed to move!"

Sun Xiaoyan was already in tears, but he still subconsciously halted, and he wept: "Mother! It truly hurts! I really can’t bear it, I’m dying from the pain, let me go back!"

"You are not allowed to move!"

The Sanshan City cultivators, having been prepared for a long time, employed various Daoist techniques, some manipulating the earth, some the wind, to draw the fallen killer rock bees forward and eliminate them all.

This was Sanshan City’s plan: to use the son of the City Lord of Sanshan City as bait to attract the attacks of the killer rock bees.

The killer rock bees would experience a period of weakness after unleashing their tail needles, causing them to fall to the ground one after another. Normally, their tribe would provide protection at this time, but how could they tolerate their target of attack howling in front of them?

So it was another round of tail needle barrages.

Sun Xiaoyan cried out in pain, his plump flesh shaking with agony, but he was indeed a child who listened to his mother, and he remained utterly still.

Dou Yuemei held back the tears in her eyes and calmly issued command after command.

Although Sun Xiaoman usually bullied her brother, she could not bear to see him suffer like this. She wanted to rush out, but she was pulled back by Dou Yuemei.

"Mother! How much Little Fatty must hurt!" Sun Xiaoman cried out.

"Otherwise, why do you think your father didn’t give you the Kunpi Drum? He loves you so much!" Dou Yuemei’s emotions, which had threatened to spiral out of control, were immediately reined in, and she calmly stated: "This was your dead old father’s plan. Before he died, he had already considered how to deal with the killer rock bees."

Sun Xiaoman suddenly froze, and the tears the size of beans could not be stopped.

She had not complained, had not lamented that her father was partial. He had always said that he loved her the most, yet before he died, he had chosen to provide a permanently solidified defense for her younger brother.

She had once believed that her father’s act of stripping the skin from his body for his younger brother was a testament to how much he loved him, how biased he was towards him.

But she hadn’t expected it. She was the child her father was partial to.

This was her father’s last act of love.

He couldn’t bear to see his daughter suffer.

No one in Sanshan City was willing to come, and he had come here alone.

The people under his rule were scorned as mountain barbarians, and Sun Heng had since called himself Sun Manzi (roughly translates to "Mountain Brute").

Such a man, what kind of hope had he placed when he named his daughter Xiaoman (roughly translates to "Little Brute")?