Li Jiu stopped by the roadside, his eyes like those of an eagle, fixed unwaveringly on the barren tree on the slope.
Rain was falling from the sky. This rain was light and gentle, swaying down together with the mild wind from above the do, devoid of the harshness and chill of winter, like a spring rain.
Spring rain nourishes everything.
A branch of the barren tree slowly sprouted a hint of green.
"The barren tree sprouts new buds... spring has arrived."
Suddenly, a teor shadow descended from the sky. That shadow crashed into the path with force, the emanating energy sweeping everything away, even halting the rain curtain for a mont. Amidst the turbulent and dangerous energy, Wang Shi slowly walked out, grinning, "It’s the end of January now, Great Li’s spring starts only in March!"
Li Jiu said nothing, continuing forward. He had a la right leg, a broken left hand, was blind in his right eye, and deaf in his left ear. If not for wearing a decently proper official uniform, finding an excuse to lie on the ground in the county town, he would be taken for a beggar without any disguise. Just this pitiful appearance would be enough to stir the gentle hearts of gentlen and ladies traveling outside.
Wang Shi was "not much better." Though he had all his limbs intact and robust, he was born with a harelip, upturned nose, protruding ears, beady eyes, and cheekbones as high as small hills. A "Nuo Ghost Face" as described in folk tales. Born without parents and living over a hundred years with the na "Wang Nuo," he only gained the na "Wang Shi" after entering the Soul-Devouring Abyssal Prison, becoming a prison guard, and earning an official’s al.
The two headed deeper into Queyu Mountain, the journey silent.
Wang Shi asked, "Isn’t it said that Queyu Mountain is rife with demons? Why is there nothing here?"
Li Jiu coughed, spitting out so blood.
Wang Shi said, "Your consumption is getting worse, at least this ti you can get so air."
Li Jiu leaned on his Arhat Head Walking Stick, staggering forward, "All killed."
"What was killed?"
"The demons here. The powerful ones were thoroughly wiped out, not a single one left. The weaker ones have all been scared away." Li Jiu’s voice was dry, like a leaking pipe.
Wang Shi imdiately looked regretful, his beady eyes even smaller, "Then it’s no fun, I thought there’d be so good killing."
"The Grand Commander told us to be cautious. Don’t cause too much commotion. We are here to investigate the Demon Martial Hall, not to kill," Li Jiu said.
Wang Shi snorted, "The head of the Demon Martial Hall is locked in the Abyssal Prison, what waves can these land-bound creatures outside make."
After a mont of silence, Li Jiu said in a low voice, "Princess Consort Ya is a good person."
Wang Shi looked at him coldly, saying eerily, "Li Jiu, think carefully before you speak. That’s a demoness, declared by the Holy Emperor himself."
Li Jiu replied calmly, "If Princess Consort Ya is evil, then there’s no good person in the world."
"The Holy Emperor isn’t a good person?"
"The Holy Emperor is a Saint."
"The Saint said she’s a demoness who disrupts the court, how can we re mortals not listen?"
Li Jiu stopped talking about it.
Going deeper, Wang Shi beca sowhat impatient, "Does this seem like a place with demon cultivators? Ji Wenrui is just making a joke of us!" His eyes emitted so red light, "Can’t stand it, really can’t stand it! Promised to co out for so killing, what the hell is this? Damn thing!"
He stomped violently on a newly blood wildflower by the roadside, "A damn wildflower trying to stand out, damn it, damn thing! This rain is annoying too! Why is it so clean, so comfortable!"
Wang Shi got increasingly angry, wantonly destroying everything he saw. Trees, flowers, rainwater, even an ordinary stone by the roadside seed to defy heavenly law to him, deserving to be killed!
"Ugh! Disgusting, truly disgusting!" Wang Shi squatted by the roadside, vomiting.
Li Jiu stood on a hill, looking forward. Under the curtain of rain at night, a small city lay quietly sleeping.
"We’ve arrived."
"Arrived where?"
"Sickness City."
Wang Shi instantly beca excited, scrambling up the hill, exclaiming excitedly, "Everyone in Sickness City is sick, right!"
"Yes."
"Heard they are sicker than us?"
"Hmm."
Wang Shi laughed like a mountain demon, "Look, look! Isn’t this great, this is the right place. Everyone should be sick. If everyone’s sick, then no one is. It’s the healthy ones that are the odd ones out." His eyes sparkled as he rubbed his hands, "Then they are our friends, we must have a good chat with them."
"We’re here to find the Demon Martial Hall," Li Jiu reminded.
Wang Shi’s face suddenly twisted as if punched hard. He stomped his foot angrily and irritably, "There’s no Demon Martial Hall here! I’ve said it many tis, Ji Wenrui is mocking us! Damn Demon Martial Hall! It’s been extinct for ages!"
He gasped, his chest heaving with tremors and excitent, "Here, this is the ho of our friends." Hot air flowed continuously from his nose.
Li Jiu didn’t like Wang Shi. He felt that even among those Abyss Prison Guards, Wang Shi wasn’t a good person.
Wang Shi enjoyed doing bad things and they were the lowest kind of wicked deeds. He liked torturing wives before their husbands, torturing children before their parents, torturing parents before their children. The only difference from demon cultivators was he hadn’t cultivated demon arts.
But Li Jiu had to admit, Wang Shi was right about one thing.
In this Queyu Mountain, there’s no trace of the old Demon Martial Hall. The slightest scent of demon cultivators from the Demon Hall seed to have been killed.
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