Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 388 - 25 Departure
Chapter 388: Chapter 25 Departure
Chapter 388: Chapter 25 Departure
“I had said before, if we can’t even lay our hands on the prize, how we plan to divide it is nothing but idle talk, Chang,”
Li Wuyi finally won’t be singing a different tune with me this time, will he?”
This was a modest guest room, equipped with an inside and an outside partition. Hu San sat in a chair on the outside, while bizarrely shaped demon immortals perched on the table, cabinet, and beams. As soon as his voice faded, the inner door burst open, and a purple-black snake body filled the entire area. A snake head the size of a grindstone squeezed out of the inner door, bloated and covered with knife wounds.
Chang Tianzai’s snake eyes were as sharp as lightning, and he exuded a strong medicinal scent, hissing bitterly with his forked tongue.
Having been struck by Cha Xiaodao in his inner core, he was temporarily unable to return to his human form and had also lost his ability to speak.
“Mr. Hu San, where did the authorities find such a person? Inside or outside the Pass, I’ve never heard of such a character,”
Someone with the body of a jar and four limbs spoke with a voice that echoed from within the jar, sounding vexed.
“On the vast lands of Shen Zhou, there’s no shortage of extraordinary folks. Without the suppression of the Dragon Tiger Qi, it’s not odd for any kind of strange being to emerge. Whether that Double Blade Man is a reincarnation of a heavenly constellation, or a Bodhisattva from the underworld reborn, we’re only interested in the Dragon Tiger Banner,”
Hu San pondered for a moment and then relaxed his brow: “It might not be such a bad thing after all. Old Lady Fox Bone wasn’t lying. Heavenly Master Zhang Yian is not a senile fool. With the presence of the Banner, the righteous energy that the mainstream people depend on is suppressed, while the heretics act with impunity. Without any support, how could Dragon Tiger Mountain and the Divine Emperor dare to organize the Banner’s escort on their own? The guards of the Banner are highly skilled, which only proves that the Banner is genuine.”
“A single Double Blade Man has cost us a third of our forces, let alone that unarmed stone-shooting general? Mr. Hu San just said, if we can’t secure the item, what does it matter whether it’s real or fake?”
Someone began to entertain thoughts of backing out.
“With Chang’s fifteen hundred years of cultivation, plus many brothers from the heretical paths, such a force could even storm the Dragon Tiger Office in the state’s prefecture. Yet they were defeated and returned with their feathers clipped by the Double Blade Man. As I see it, the Double Blade Man is the real guardian of the Banner, and the general is just a decoy,”
someone else speculated.
Hu San did not refute; he only sighed: “Today I witnessed the general’s ruthless killing to establish authority. I believe he is pressuring the Dragon Tiger Servants of the counties to intensify their crackdown on celestial demons from outside the Pass, leaving us no room to move against him.”
“Hee hee hee~”
While everyone was speaking at once, a coquettish fox-like voice could be heard: “I’ve often heard that third brother Hu is clever as a treasure, why would he bolster others’ morale while dampening his own spirit? Commoners ultimately can’t escape the three poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance. Why resort to brute force?”
Hu San remained calm: “So, does Miss Yu Zan find it hard to restrain herself and intends to make a move on those two?”
“There’s a bit of interest indeed, but I need the magic of several immortal elders to assist me. As for the division of the Banner…”
Without a second thought, Hu San replied: “If your method proves effective, I have authority over the Five Immortals and will surely grant you an entire piece of the Banner.”
“Good, it’s a deal,”
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A fragrant breeze swept through along with several dark shadows that escaped through the window lattices, but Hu San did not care and merely swirled the teacup in his hand.
The forty-eight paths of the heretics were counted according to their respective heavenly domains and estates.
When Five Blessings Tower issued the invitations, a total of one hundred and twenty-seven were sent, and one hundred and nine appeared. Ninety-eight were involved in the joint endeavor. Subtracting the twenty-odd casualties from the previous night, there were about seventy left.
Even so, each person present harbored their own schemes, and the headstrong and unmanageable ones like Chang Tianzai were not uncommon amongst them.
Expecting such a disorganized mob to unite with a single purpose and seize the Banner was a fool’s dream. If Hu San had insisted on rallying troops and launching a tough assault from the start, I fear more than a quarter would have perished, and the rest would have scattered like birds and beasts.
Besides, with fourteen Banners, there truly wouldn’t be enough to go around with so many hands…
Let them bump into the wall for a while, distracting the Banner’s guardians in the process. When the time is ripe, I naturally have my ways…
Suddenly, Hu San recalled a trivial matter and instantly opened his eyes: “Wu Sanqing.”
A tall, thin man with a long crown who had clappers and gongs tucked at his waist looked up at his name.
“A few days ago, Niu Sanxi, who came from within the Pass, was the one who brought me the invitation from Golden Mountain Old Ancestor. Didn’t I ask you to take care of him? I noticed you two were getting along well, so where is he now?”
The tall and skinny man blinked, simply unable to bring himself to speak.
“Hmm?”
“He, he should be having the time of his life now…”
…
“This humble official really doesn’t have the fortune to enjoy such things.”
Li Wuyi was holding a bowl of steaming rice, facing a table full of beef with a troubled expression, finding it hard to take a bite.
“Lord Governor, this, this is the flesh of a demon beast, an ominous meat, this—this—this—this.”
Li Yan burst into hearty laughter and took the bowl of rice from Li Wuyi’s hands, “If County Magistrate Li does not wish to eat, then don’t. However, you must join me for a farewell drink, two cups at least.”
Li Wuyi forced a smile and raised his cup, looking at Li Yan with a very strange expression in his eyes.
If possible, he would rather not see Governor Li again in this lifetime. In less than a day of meeting him, he killed a Supervisor, coerced a Judicial Assistant, surrounded the government office, and now he had even killed a bovine demon to cook and eat! His brutal and savage actions left Li Wuyi, a seventh-rank County Magistrate accustomed to official etiquette, completely without a sense of security.
There was no need to speak of Cha Xiaodao’s cooking skills—beef stew with potatoes was incredibly fragrant, among other dishes, accompanied by steamed rice, spread out over a large table.
However, at the beginning, not many people dared to pick up their chopsticks.
The Soldiers and Judicial Assistants watched with wide eyes as Cha Xiaodao’s knife fell, and Official Zhen with his dark-green eyes fell to the ground, no longer concealed by illusion, revealing a plump yellow ox.
The problem was, everyone had seen this ox-demon talk and work, seemingly endowed with human traits. Who would have the nerve to eat such meat?
Yet some dared to eat.
For instance, General Zheng, as well as most of the Soldiers.
After all, in those times, meat was considered a rare delicacy, and the law prohibited the private slaughter of draft cattle, which made beef incredibly expensive, a luxury only the wealthy could afford.
Even more crucial was the fact that in this world, just as there are people like County Magistrate Li who believe “to eat meat from demons endowed with human traits is inauspicious,” there are those like General Zheng who think, “There’s all sorts of meat in the world, beef is rare, demon meat even rarer—I must seize the chance to taste this delicacy.”
It was not necessary to strictly judge whether one’s approach was conservative or bold, it was simply a matter of different ways of living.
Take Cha Xiaodao, for example; as a chef, he held the belief that if I kill you it’s to eat you, it’s not wasteful—it’s just like a leopard eating an antelope, an antelope eating tender grass. It’s about survival. As for Li Yan, he simply wouldn’t care about these concerns.
The meal was lively and lasted over an hour. Official Zhen led his wife to thank Li Yan for avenging his mother and for executing the yellow cow demon that nearly disgraced him. By the way, Official Zhen ate the most vigorously at the banquet.
When it was time to leave, Official Zhen offered to pay five thousand taels of Patterned Silver, hoping Li Yan would find the puppet master behind his mother’s death and bring that person to justice.
Interestingly, Yan Fu actually provided a hint, indicating that this was part of an ongoing, long-term series of Yan Fu events. The final reward would be an artifact containing abundant Dragon Tiger Qi, but at the same time, it specified that the event would take at least six months to complete. Once accepted, one could not leave this world without high-level authority and tools.
Li Yan thought it over for a moment but ultimately refused. He already had enough to worry about.
Was the Celestial Demon besieged on Dragon Tiger Mountain truly Lady Dan? If so, even Lady Dan, a figure of the Six Ministries, could not escape, and considering the sheer enormity of Dragon Tiger Mountain, Li Yan would have to make ample preparations if he were to take action. Naturally, he could not afford to spend half a year on an artifact imbued with Dragon Tiger Qi in a place Outside of the Pass.
Zhang Shouhan also made a promise to cooperate with the Dragon Tiger Servants Outside of the Pass in tracking the whereabouts of the Five Immortals.
With these matters resolved, before noon, the three-person group of Li Yan swiftly set off in a horse-drawn carriage towards Shandong.
