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Old Demon Slaughter’s expression was full of dense dread. After recovering from his near descent into madness, he dared not act recklessly.
The hall was riddled with the scars of battle, with blood and gore strewn all over the place.
All eyes were upon the elder in gray, but he ignored everyone else present.
He straightened up his clothes, then faced Su Yi, clasped his fist, and nodded in solemn greeting. “This old man is called Weng Jiu. Greetings, Young Lord.”
Everyone was stunned.
Madam Rou’s beautiful eyes widened, and waves of shock coursed through her heart.
She had lived in Nine Tripod City for years, and as the proprietor of the Song of the Sandy Creek, she was a highly influential figure in her own right. Only Spirit Dao cultivators were worthy of her attention.
However, with her status, when she saw the elder in gray, even she had no choice but to respectfully greet him as Elder Weng. She dared not be the least bit negligent!
She would never have guessed that someone of Weng Jiu’s status would take the initiative to bow to a young man!
There really is something strange about the boy’s identity! Madam Rou’s beautiful eyes filled with uncertainty.
She noticed earlier that Su Yi’s calm self-assurance was obviously out of place. Only now did she realize that he really did have someone to rely on!
When he saw this, Gu Cangning was inwardly surprised too.
Su Yi had heaven-defying combat prowess to begin with, but now, it seems his background is far greater than I imagined too.
Such a terrifying existence took the initiative to greet him. How could he possibly be ordinary?
Old Demon Slaughterer’s heart sank; he was increasingly aware that this didn’t bode well for him.
“Elder Weng, you… Why would you… Why would you bow to a rogue cultivator from the Great Zhou?” The distant Xia Jingyu looked on in disbelief.
“Young marquis, you’re a scion of the imperial clan, yet here you are, consorting with demonic cultivators. You’ve committed a grave taboo,” rasped the gray-robed man who called himself Weng Jiu. “Now, you’re going to have a nice sleep. When you wake up, I imagine your father will answer your questions about what happened here tonight.”
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and tapped the air.
Xia Jingyu fell directly unconscious.
Daoist Nun Feng broke out in cold sweats and frantically threw herself onto all fours, quivering from head to toe.
“Young Lord, what do you think we should do with the others?” Weng Jiu looked at Su Yi once more, his tone humble and respectful.
Old Demon Slaughterer’s heart sank. “Has the Heavenly Annihilation Demonic Gate ever offended you, Fellow Daoist? I think not, yet you’ve chosen to intervene in our affairs. Don’t tell me you wish to become our irrevocable enemy?”
Weng Jiu ignored him. He just maintained a slight bow as if awaiting Su Yi’s decision.
“You sure arrived right in the nick of time.” Su Yi frowned and sighed, sounding a bit frustrated. The man was here to help, he couldn’t really get angry.
Madam Rou’s heart quivered in terror. This punk kid… How dare he speak to Elder Weng like that?
But against her expectations, Weng Jiu didn't get angry. He even looked a bit ashamed. “Young Lord, please don’t take offense. I wouldn’t have thought that, when I found you, I’d encounter such a situation. I naturally couldn’t allow anything to happen to you.”
Madam Rou gasped. Even with no clues besides Elder Weng’s attitude, she was increasingly certain that this young man from the Great Zhou’s status absolutely wasn’t the least bit simple!
“Then how do you think we should resolve what happened here tonight?” asked Su Yi.
Weng Jiu pondered, turned, and faced Old Demon Slaughterer. He said seriously, “Ol’ Slaughterer, mind if I put your life to good use?”
As soon as he said this, Old Demon Slaughterer felt an ill premonition. He immediately turned to flee, unwilling to stay here any longer.
Whoosh!
When a Spiritual Manifestation cultivator chose to flee, just how fast could he move?
Old Demon Slaughterer blurred into a streak of bloody light and disappeared into thin air so fast that no one could react in time.
However, Weng Jiu shook his head, stretched out his hand, and grabbed.
Boom!
A giant hand manifested of the power of a formation appeared in the distant skies beyond the hall. It was fully one thousand feet across, and it grabbed the air.
That entire stretch of sky was thrown into turmoil as the giant hand seized a fly-like figure. It was none other than the fleeing Old Demon Slaughterer!
Bang!
The feeling demonic cultivator didn’t even have time to struggle before the hand crushed him. He burst apart, and even his soul dispersed.
This scene stunned Madam Rou, a fellow Spiritual Manifestation cultivator, so badly that she couldn’t help but break out in cold sweats. The blood drained from her delicate face.
Gu Cangning’s eyes widened, and his jaw hung slack.
In the modern era, Spirit Dao cultivators represented the very highest levels of power. Their majestic presence was such that they could easily flatten lesser factions of cultivators, and they could bring storms to the world.
Yet now, an old demonic cultivator of the Spiritual Manifestation Realm had been swatted as if he were a fly!
Su Yi’s eyebrows shifted upward, and he asked with Great Interest, “So, you can even call upon the power of such a formation?”
It used the Nine Divine Tripods as its base and linked with the dragon vein underground. Once activated, its power was indeed far beyond what someone like Old Demon Slaughter could resist!
Weng Jiu clasped his fist and said, “I knew I couldn’t escape your keen perception. However, with my cultivation, I can, at best, call upon a tiny portion of the formation’s power. Furthermore, it’s easy to suffer a backlash.”
He paused, then sighed. “After intervening as I just did, it’ll be hard to use this power again in the near future.”
He might have seemed as calm as he was before, but his brow shone with a faint sheen of sweat. There was no doubt about it; that attack had drained this terrifying expert enormously.
Weng Jiu said seriously, “Of course, since it meant helping you kill your enemy and if it calmed your fury, this expenditure… doesn’t amount to anything.”
“Oh?” said Su Yi with a faint smile. “Did you kill a Spiritual Manifestation cultivator in front of me in the hope that I’d owe your master an enormous favor?”
Weng Jiu was stunned, and his expression shifted slightly as he said in a low voice, “Do you think my sincerity is insufficient?”
Su Yi said calmly, “Even if you hadn’t come here today, those who deserved to die wouldn’t have left here alive. But you did step in to help me, and I can’t overlook that.”
He paused here and shook his head. “Alas, your favor came with too many strings attached. It’s really no different from a business transaction. Given that that’s the case… of course your sincerity is insufficient.”
How could he fail to realize that Weng Jiu had come here to request something of him?
Furthermore, if he weren’t mistaken, it had something to do with the ancient formation surrounding Nine Tripod City.
Given the circumstances, Su Yi couldn’t possibly feel truly grateful even though Weng Jiu had intervened of his own volition and killed a Spiritual Manifestation cultivator as a show of sincerity!
Weng Jiu pondered for a moment, then nodded. “Indeed, compared to your abilities, this display of sincerity is rather shoddy and unpresentable.”
“????” Gu Cangning was dumbstruck. Killing a Spiritual Manifestation demonic cultivator is… shoddy and unpresentable?
He couldn’t wrap his head around Su Yi and Weng Jiu’s conversation. He couldn’t even discern the nature of their relationship.
Meanwhile, Madam Rou’s heart shook. She inwardly cried out, This is bad! They call that insufficient sincerity? Doesn’t that mean Elder Weng is going to keep killing?
The proprietor of the Song of the Sandy Creek, a beautiful, dignified Spiritual Manifestation Realm cultivator, couldn’t hold back any longer. She stepped up and said, “Fellow Daoist Su, earlier, I was blind. I humbly request your forgiveness.”
Her voice was uneasy, apologetic, and bitter.
Despite her lofty status, she had to lower her head before a mere youth. It was easy to imagine just how aggrieved and helpless she must feel.
But there was nothing for it; circumstance had forced her hand.
With Weng Jiu here, she had no other choice!
Su Yi glanced at Madam Rou. “I’ve always disdained borrowing others’ power to suppress my enemies. If you’re not convinced, you’re welcome to come looking for me whenever you please.”
Madam Rou’s delicate frame quivered, and she lowered her beautiful head. “I’m too busy being grateful for your forgiveness to even consider that. How could I dare cause trouble again?”
Su Yi sighed to himself.
She was all too well-suited to be his opponent. Alas, Weng Jiu’s majesty intimidated her too much for her to act against him…
Su Yi couldn’t help but lose interest. He turned and walked up to Gu Cangning, then placed the unconscious Yue Shichan on his back. He then faced Gu Cangning and said, “Thank you.”
Gu Cangning said bitterly, “I didn’t do much. Besides, I owe you one after what you did for me in Spiritbend City. I was just doing what I ought to do.”
“One good turn deserves another,” said Su Yi. “If you run into trouble going forward, you can come looking for me.”
With that, he walked out of the wrecked hall, carrying Yue Shichan on his back.
When Weng Jiu saw this, he couldn’t help but say, “Young Lord, my master wants to meet with you tonight…”
Before he could finish, Su Yi left without so much as turning his head. “I don’t have time tonight. Have him come visit me some other time.”
“....”
Weng Jiu watched Su Yi fade from view. After he disappeared, he couldn’t help but rub his nose and sigh. “That conceit and contemptuousness is really enviable…”
Was Su Yi conceited?
Very much so!
But for some reason, Weng Jiu dared not be angry. There was nothing for it; he wanted something from Su Yi!
Madam Rou had already calmed down, but when she faced Weng Jiu, she was still a bit reverent and uneasy. She whispered, “Elder Weng, just who is this Su Yi person? With your status, why…”
Weng Jiu said calmly, “Madam Rou, there are some things it’s best not to ask about. I hope no word of what happened here leaves this place, and I don’t want to see any uproar over this. Do you understand?”
Madam Rou’s heart shook, but she nodded her agreement. “I understand. It’s just… The Heavenly Annihilation Demonic Gate standing behind Sikong Bao…”
A hint of disdain appeared on Weng Jiu’s face. “The world is no longer as it was thirty thousand years ago, and the Heavenly Annihilation Demonic Gate is no longer a peak-level orthodoxy. They’re just a handful of evildoers fortunate enough to have survived the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness, that’s all. Should they dare to kick up a fuss in Nine Tripod City, certain doom awaits them.”
It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
He paused, then said, “The factions backing the various monsters of the ancient era do indeed include a few we cannot afford to underestimate. However, the Heavenly Annihilation Demonic Gate is not one of them.”
When she heard that, Madam Rou instantly and completely relaxed.
Next, Weng Jiu looked at Daoist Nun Feng. “Bring your young master home, but do not leak a single word of what happened here tonight.”
“Yes, sir!” Daoist Nun Feng agreed in panic and terror.
Weng Jiu turned and left.
Madam Rou watched him disappear into the boundless darkness of the night. Only then did she shift her gaze to the battle-scarred, corpse-strewn, bloodied wreckage of the hall. She couldn’t help but feel bitter.
This time, the Song of the Sandy Creek had unquestionably fallen flat on its face, but they could only hold their nose and call themselves unlucky…
Just who was that Su kid? And why does Elder Weng value him so highly? Madam Rou couldn’t help but recall that young man in his blue robes. A look of bewilderment arose on her beautiful, dignified features.