Chapter 401: Fuzhou Encounter

Lu Wensheng said, "The only way now is to find the Demon Child and kill him. I truly don't understand why the Third Palace Master restricted intervention to only those of the same realm. How can such an important matter be delayed?"

Lu Cangsheng responded, "That is the Demon Child! He is backed by both Duo'e Temple and the Magic Kingdom. If he is killed in a contest between those of the same realm, it means his skills were inferior. But if an Everlasting Grandmaster dared to intervene, Duo'e Temple and the Magic Kingdom could deploy their transcendent experts to kill you, the Everlasting Grandmaster, and even wipe out your entire clan."

"Rules are made by the strong," Lu Cangsheng continued. "And for the strong to abide by these rules is already the greatest fairness they can offer the weak."

Qin Qian, with bright eyes and a beautiful smile, said, "Senior Brother, I told you that you misjudged the situation! The life-or-death battle between Li Weiyi and Xie Chucai involves the rise and fall of the world, the lives and deaths of countless women and children, and even the survival of humanity. How could it merely be a contest of pride?"

A disciple from the Leixiao Sect said with immense admiration, "I must say, Li Weiyi is truly a remarkable individual; he possesses the spirit of a young hero."

Lu Cangsheng stated calmly, "Martial arts cultivation isn't about who is bolder, more heroic, or more willing to fight. It's about who can survive to the very end. Beneath the lands of this Lingxiao Realm, how many young heroes have become mere bones in their graves before reaching the Everlasting Realm?"

"Exactly," Lu Wensheng added. "Li Weiyi fought so hard, yet last night he was still hunted by the imperial court and might already be dead in some prison. So, never meddle in others' affairs; your own life is more important than anything else."

After leaving Nanyan Pass, the group of Leixiao Sect disciples galloped eastward, leaving a trail of dust behind them.

Li Weiyi watched them depart, thinking to himself, "Escaping Lingxiao City as soon as possible is a good thing. Perhaps it's time to return to Lizhou, visit the Jiuli Hidden Sect, and have Yin Twenty-Four cook a delicious meal. Or go to Jiuli City to see Uncle Fourth. Or perhaps head to the Jiuli Temple to find Senior Sister Cai and Gao Huan and talk about the past two or three years."

He walked across Fuzhou Plain, heading south.

Given Li Weiyi's cultivation level, he could traverse the entire Fuzhou in a single day if he traveled at full speed. However, even after four full days of fast-paced travel, day and night, he had covered less than a thousand li.

He was truly walking. It felt as if countless chains were pulling him from behind, trying to drag him back to Lingxiao City, preventing him from moving quickly.

As evening approached, twilight descended.

Li Weiyi ascended a low ridge, a hundred meters high, and looked out.

The plain stretched out, a vast expanse of white, densely covered with mounds of graves and tombstones, half-obscured by ice and snow. An eerie and desolate feeling permeated the air.

About ten li away, there was a large market town, protected by stone walls and watchtowers, with scattered villages dotting the surrounding area.

Smoke rose from chimneys, and the faint glow of lights was visible.

Li Weiyi decided not to travel any further. Not only was he ravenously hungry, but his robes hadn't been changed or washed for days, leaving him utterly exhausted and covered in sweat. He planned to spend the night at the market town ahead.

He longed for a hot bath and a delicious meal.

He walked into the village.

Inside, it was silent. Doors and windows were broken, and there was not a single living soul.

Li Weiyi hurried, his body moving like a flash, heading directly towards the large market town.

The protective array script on the outskirts of the market town had been broken. He leaped over the stone wall, landing silently inside the town. Along the way, he saw many bloodstains and a few patrolling cult martial artists.

Following the scent of wood smoke and roasting meat, Li Weiyi arrived at the plaza in the south of the town.

He looked towards the plaza.

The residents of the market town and the surrounding villages had all been herded here.

More than half of the young men had died in battle, their bodies fed to exotic beast mounts, one by one consumed. Those who remained alive were transformed into Blood Curse Cult members.

The elderly were chopped into pieces and put into sacks. A cultist, a 'Rice Man,' said they would be taken back to be used as rice fertilizer.

What made Li Weiyi's eyes almost burst with fury were the small figures being roasted over bonfires, and those on chopping boards by the stoves. The rage in his heart felt like it would ignite his entire being.

"Boom!"

His spiritual energy erupted, engulfing the entire market town.

"You are simply courting death!"

Li Weiyi summoned his Yellow Dragon Sword and strode towards the plaza. With a single strike, he cleaved three cult martial artists, who had no time to react, directly in half, sending their bodies flying tens of feet away.

It was almost no longer a secret that the headquarters of the Rice Cult were located beneath Fuzhou.

Various human factions were active across Fuzhou Plain, searching everywhere for an entrance to the headquarters.

Consequently, the Rice Cult began to create slaughter and chaos throughout Fuzhou Plain, tying up human experts and forcing them to spread their resources thin, unable to cope with everything at once.

The one in charge of today's massacre was a Dao Seed Realm martial artist dressed in a yellow monk's robe.

He was a deformed human, five meters tall, with a human torso and head, and his upper body was covered in thick gray fur. He raised a ten-foot-long Hundred-Character Heavy Blade and swung it at Li Weiyi.

Li Weiyi lunged forward like a cannonball, shattering the Hundred-Character Heavy Blade with a single punch.

In the terrified eyes of the monk-robed martial artist, Li Weiyi swung his arm, breaking his neck. The massive head flew off, rolling on the ground like a small water vat, its blood staining the earth red.

Inside the market town, cries of battle erupted everywhere.

At first, these cult martial artists attempted to form a battle array to resist, but after Li Weiyi tore through them, they immediately scattered and fled in all directions.

Unfortunately, they could not escape Li Weiyi's Dao Heart Manifestation.

After slaying the last cult martial artist, Li Weiyi returned to the market town and went to the plaza, illuminated by the fires, to help the dazed young men remove the Blood Curses from their bodies.

Around him, there were cries of sorrow everywhere, coming from young women and the surviving children.

"You must leave quickly and go to a nearby city..."

Li Weiyi couldn't bring himself to continue. Should he tell them that going to a nearby city would be useless, and that when full-scale war erupted, everything would be reduced to ashes?

Concerned that they might face retaliation from the cult, Li Weiyi decided to escort them for a while.

They packed their belongings, and without even having time to bury their family members, immediately set off at Li Weiyi's urging. The group, numbering about a hundred people, moved very slowly, covering only a little over ten li by the middle of the night.

"Whoosh!"

A wave of spiritual energy spread from afar.

Li Weiyi stopped, carefully sensing the strength of the energy. His expression suddenly changed as he peered into the boundless night ahead and then glanced back at the group behind him.

Since no cult experts had appeared after such a long time, it seemed that the attack on the market town must have been carried out by a lone group of cult martial artists on a specific mission.

The muffled roar of battle spread towards them.

The spiritual energy grew even stronger, creating gusts of cold wind.

Li Weiyi called over the man with the highest cultivation level in the group, who carried a spear. "I must go over there and investigate. If the battle spreads this way, I need to divert them beforehand."

The man said, "Understood! Please don't worry, Benefactor. It's only a few dozen li to Yuxian from here, and we often take this path."

Li Weiyi knew perfectly well that he couldn't protect them indefinitely; he could only offer temporary salvation, not lifelong security. So, he immediately transformed into a blur and rushed towards the center of the battle's fluctuations.

After rushing thirty li, the spiritual energy grew increasingly powerful. Li Weiyi sensed a familiar aura within the energy, and a thick demonic cloud, drifting over the low ridge, appeared in his sight.

The ground trembled, and sand and stones flew.

"It's the Demon Child's aura!"

Li Weiyi concealed his aura and quickly retreated.

On the low ridge in the distance, three figures appeared. Their close-quarters combat was incredibly fast, their movements like streaks of lightning.

"Haha, you two think you can kill me?"

The Demon Child spoke with a childish, tender voice. He unleashed a hand seal, and dark, dense demonic mist gathered, transforming into a giant handprint dozens of meters long. It struck an Everlasting Realm human martial artist, sending him plummeting away like a meteor.

"Boom!"

The Everlasting Realm human martial artist crashed to the ground less than a li from Li Weiyi.

His entire body was diagonally embedded in the earth, forming a long gully.

Large sections of the ground consequently buckled and rose.

"Whoosh!"

Song Yulou, wielding a Horse-Slaying Blade, flew out from beneath the ground. Blood streamed from all seven of his orifices; he had been gravely wounded by a single palm strike from the Demon Child.

He spotted the human martial artist hiding nearby but didn't recognize Li Weiyi. He said in a deep voice, "Leave quickly! This is an Everlasting Realm battle. You dare to watch? Be careful not to die from the lingering effects of the fight."

Having spoken, he rushed with a swish, charging towards the battlefield where Zuo Qiuling and the Demon Child were fighting.

On the ridge, the powerfully built Zuo Qiuling and the Demon Child, who appeared to be eight or nine years old, exchanged palm strikes. The sounds were like divine thunder tearing through the sky, unleashing immense energy ripples upon impact.

Zuo Qiuling was continuously forced back, his steps causing sections of the earth to collapse. Finally, his body crashed into and shattered the entire low hill.

"Hehe, your strength isn't bad. No wonder some old fellows at Duo'e Temple think highly of your Zuoqiu lineage. The Zuoqiu lineage truly produces many talents."

The Demon Child let out a high-pitched laugh, his eyes suddenly turning fierce. Remembering the humiliation at the West Sea King's Mansion, his killing intent surged.

The hundred demonic tattoos covering his upper body came alive, manifesting within the demonic clouds in the surrounding sky.

Each of these demons was the size of a millstone and grotesquely varied: some had fangs, some had wings, some had snake heads and human bodies...

With the power of a hundred demons bolstering him, the Demon Child's might vastly increased, and beams of light, dozens of feet long, shot from his eyes.

"Whoosh!"

The Nine Nether Spud flew out from Zuo Qiuling's ancestral field. Shaped like a rake and forged from immortal materials with nine prongs, it had a formidable reputation in the Lingxiao Realm.

Zuo Qiuling brandished the Nine Nether Spud, unleashing nine types of energy that converged into a nine-colored storm, to withstand the Demon Child's tyrannical punch, infused with the power of a hundred demons.

"Bang!"

The air vibrated violently. Within several li, all vegetation was reduced to ash.

Zuo Qiuling was sent flying three li back, sliding across the ground. He immediately plunged the Nine Nether Spud into the earth to steady himself, his five fingers gripping the spud trembling uncontrollably.

"To be able to withstand that punch of mine, you are truly impressive. Any other martial artist at the first stage of the Everlasting Realm would have had their body pierced through and died on the spot."

The Demon Child's body blurred and vanished from his spot, reappearing the next instant in close-quarters combat with Zuo Qiuling.

Li Weiyi retreated further, mentally transmitting a message to Tang Wanzhou, who was within the Buddha Relic: "Young Master, the Demon Child has appeared! He has already broken through to the Everlasting Realm. It seems only your intervention offers any hope; Zuo Qiuling and Song Yulou are no match for him."

Tang Wanzhou's voice echoed, "You finally remembered me? I've been calling you for days, asking you to let me out, but you didn't say a word back, acting as if you were going to drag me back to Lizhou."

Li Weiyi wore an awkward expression. "Did I? I didn't hear anything."

"Stop talking nonsense! Let me out. The Demon Child is my opponent. I want to see what power of the Sacred Infant he inherited to be able to mutate the Son-Mother Spring." Tang Wanzhou said.