The demonic cultivators from the Thousand Gu Sect and the Thousand Ghosts Sect had been scared out of their wits by the suddenly resurrected Lord Duantian, they had ended up volunteering to take care of the guys from the righteous path.
“You backstabbing scumbags!” Liu Bi’s group were caught off guard by the demonic cultivators’ attack; several disciples were hurt by the Gu insects.
“Humph. You’re the ones trespassing into Lord Duantian’s residence, thieves get what they deserve!” the Thousand Gu Sect’s Elder said with a malevolent laugh.
The people of Qingyun Sect wanted to protest, they were about to say something like “the things here are ownerless, we should all get a share”, when Mo Xiong interrupted, “You speak as if you were not thieves yourselves!”
“…” The people from Qingyun Sect were struck dumb.
The guys from the demonic sects did not waste any more breath on them, they quickly got into formation and attacked.
Mo Xiong rushed forwards with his large sword but Xuanji dragged him back.
“Shishu?”
“There’s something odd about all this, don’t act rashly,” Xuanji said inscrutably. In his mind he secretly cursed Mo Tianliao, that treacherous guy; he was the one who incited the people from the demonic path in the first place and then he left them here alone.
After all, Liu Bi was a Half-Immortal cultivator, she was strong enough to crush those guys from the demonic sects. Only the Grand Elder of the Thousand Gu Sect could land a couple of hits, but he was losing ground.
The demonic sects’ disciples ignored the battle between the Elders; the ones from the Thousand Gu Sect took the frontline position, combining spells and insects to fight against the disciples of the righteous path, while the people from the Thousand Ghosts Sect quickly took the rearguard position.
“It’s amazing how well they work together,” said Meng Hu, flabbergasted, from where he was watching from beside Mo Tianliao. Not fifteen minutes ago, these people from the demonic sects were all suspicious of each other and kept quarrelling, but now they were like brothers who had gone through hell together, they cooperated perfectly.
Mo Tianliao merely smiled silently. On average, the people from the demonic path seemed like a heap of loose sand, but as long as there was a Demonic Lord, they would instantly coalesce. This was because all the people in the demonic path feared death, and when facing a Demonic Lord who “would as soon kill you as look at you” the possibility of that death was infinitely high.
The shrieks of the Gu and the wails of the ghost array gradually forced the group of righteous path’s disciples into the forest that was behind them. This forest had an array on it, if they entered, they would surely be unable to get out again.
Right at that moment, Liu Bi suddenly struck and sent the Elder of the Thousand Gu Sect flying with a powerful move, she then turned and went to rescue the disciples.
Mo Tianliao patted Meng Hu and signalled at him to hide while he himself glided down towards the fight. He raised his hand, summoning a fire dragon and attacked Liu Bi from behind.
Liu Bi abruptly turned around and was frightened. She quickly created a water wall to defend, but unexpectedly the fire dragon broke through the water wall. It had quickly lost its defined shape, but a cyan flame still burned, shaped like a sword, around the fire dragon. After piercing the water wall, it shot straight at her eyebrows.
Liu Bi had to abandon the water wall and roll to one side in order to avoid it. “Mo Tianliao? What’s the meaning of this?!”
Mo Tianliao’s face was no longer hidden, so Liu Bi had naturally recognized him. Mo Tianliao had made quite a splash during the Three Sects Conference, and his handsome appearance made him unforgettable. Liu Bi, who had also been present at the conference, vividly remembered him.
“Milord, let me help you.” After spitting out a mouthful of blood, the Thousand Gu Sect’s Elder sprang up and rushed at Liu Bi, who again slapped him back.
“Milord? Who the hell are you?” Liu Bi gasped, an Elder in the late period of the Nascent Soul stage was not at all easy for her to handle. Then she stared at Xuanji , who was cringing nearby. “Xuanji, what’s going on?”
Mo Xiong and the rest of the Woyun Sect’s disciples were also shocked.
Xuanji looked clueless, wearing an expression that screamed “How should I know?”, then he stared at Mo Tianliao and asked wretchedly, “Evil disciple, what do you think you are doing?”
Mo Tianliao’s lips curved in a wicked smile. “Xuanji Zhenren, how about we make a deal?” After speaking, he pulled out a snow-coloured outer garment from his storage bracelet, it was covered in blood. It was the one that he had taken off of Qingtong on the snowy mountain. Clothing made from transformed fur could be instantly cleaned, but the same could not be said of the mermaid silk outer robe; Qingtong always threw his clothes away when they got dirty, Mo Tianliao had just picked it up.
“Qingtong!” Xuanji cried in alarm. “You– What have you done to Qingtong?”
Everyone recognized the mermaid silk robe and knew it belonged to Qingtong Zhenren. They were in shock. Among the Half-Immortal masters, Qingtong was not a weakling. To think he could be so injured!
“As long as you kill this woman, I will take you to see him,” Mo Tianliao said with a cold smile.
“Mo shidi, how could you do something like that to your own teacher!” Mo Xiong’s eyes were red with anger, he recklessly slashed at Mo Tianliao with his sword.
With a wave of his hand, Mo Tianliao pushed Mo Xiong against a cliff face, and with a snap of his fingers, a lingshi was embedded in an indentation on the rock wall. Instantly, thousands of stone spikes grew from the wall, they curved and twisted, firmly trapping Mo Xiong.
“Xuanji Zhenren, don’t listen to him,” Liu Bi said hurriedly. “He’ll just use you against me and attack you again after. Only by joining forces to kill him will we be able to save Qingtong.”
“If you don’t want to, then forget it. This excellency is busy and has no time to play with you.” Mo Tianliao put away the bloodstained clothes and turned to leave.
“Wait!” Xuanji called to Mo Tianliao, at the same time, he quickly attacked Liu Bi.
The battle between the two Half-Immortals made the heavens shake and the earth tremble. Fortunately, Mo Tianliao’s Great Mountain Guarding Array was strong enough to endure, the various disciples, however, were not so lucky and were caught in the crossfire.
Liu Bi had previously fought against the Thousand Gu Sect’s Elder and had used up a lot of her vital force. Moreover, her cultivation was inferior to Xuanji’s to begin with, she was soon at a disadvantage. Xuanji struck at her and the little blue snake on Liu Bi’s shoulder suddenly jumped out and spat ice at him.
Xuanji made a quick decision and threw his turtle shell, hitting the snake with a thud, at the same time, he hit Liu Bi, pushing her into the woods.
The trap array in the forest was activated, making the trees shake wildly. Xuanji , his eyes red with bloodthirst, turned and looked towards the Thousand Gu Sect’s Elder. Then he picked him up and threw him in as well.
“N– no, don’t! We’ll go in by ourselves!” The demonic cultivators knew when they were beaten, they scurried into the forest on their own.
The surroundings had turned abruptly quiet; all those who had to die were dead and those who had to enter the array had entered it. Only Xuanji and the tied-up Mo Xiong were left there, even Mo Tianliao had disappeared.
Xuanji took a few steps silently, picked up the turtle shell, wiped it carefully, and put it away.
“Shishu.” A call came from behind him; Xuanji turned around to see a large head emerging from behind a rock. It was Meng Hu.
Xuanji broke the stone surrounding Mo Xiong and asked, “Where is Mo Tianliao?”
“He went to catch some fish for Master,” Meng Hu said, scratching his head.
“That traitor! He actually dares to catch fish for xiaoshishu!” Mo Xiong said through gritted teeth. Then he froze, “Wait. Fish?”
Xuanji rolled his eyes and turned to ask Meng Hu, “You knew?”
Meng Hu nodded.
*****
The Mo Palace was deserted and gone to seed. There had been no significant subordinates stationed all year round in Duantian’s Mo Palace, most of them had been in charge of various administrative tasks outside. What the Mo Palace had had were servants, people who tended the fires and the like. When the Great Death Array had been activated, it had killed indiscriminately most of the people who had broken into the Mo Palace and the servants that had been inside, the people who tended the fires who had not died had also taken the treasures with them when they fled. The whole Mo Palace looked cold and desolate, yet it was hard to obscure its opulent character. It would only need a good sweep to restore it to its original appearance.
Xuanji and Mo Xiong came in, and, like Meng Hu earlier, their jaws dropped.
Mo Tianliao handed over a bunch of rats to Xuanji and went back to his quest of finding fish to feed the cat.
As he had expected, all the cold spring fish in the cold pools had died out completely. Cold spring fish were very delicate and could only survive in deep, pristine cold pools. However, they also needed to eat, so they needed to be fed regularly while keeping the water clean. The bodies of cold Spring Fish contained no impurities, when they died, they turned into a puddle of icy water, that was why the cold pool was still unsoiled.
Mo Tianliao scratched his head. They were all dead, what would he feed the cat?
Unwilling to give up, he jumped into the cold pool and searched around. It was not easy for the artificially fed cold spring fish in the pool to survive, but above this cold pool was a ten-thousand-year-old icy spring he had found, which was the optimum environment for cold spring fish, there should be some wild cold spring fish there.
The water was so cold it pierced him to the bone, under it, everything took on an ice-blue tint. Mo Tianliao dove into the depths of the cold pond, there was no light there, so he lit a spark of woodfire on his finger and illuminated the surroundings. There was something ice-blue moving through the crystal-clear water. Looking closely, it turned out to be a fish that blended almost seamlessly with the water.
Ice spring fish!
Mo Tianliao was delighted. This almost transparent fish, the wild species of the cold spring fish which only lived in places where snowmelt flowed into another body of water, tasted even better than cold spring fish. Who would have thought, after all these years, that the cold spring fish would die but ice spring fish would be born in the pool instead?
While Xuanji and the others looked around the inner palace, Mo Tianliao cooked the fish, washed away the smell of blood, and came back to feed his cat while feeling very pleased with himself.
“This is delicious.” Qingtong ate the last piece of fish, licked his pale thin lips, and narrowed his eyes in satisfaction. The tender fish meat had melted in the mouth, it had had a trace of refreshing coldness but also the smoky flavour of barbecued meat; even without seasoning, it had been delicious.
“You may be full baby.” Mo Tianliao slowly drew closer and licked the pink lips. “But I’m still hungry.”
Qingtong raised his eyebrows and looked at him. “Then go bask in the sun.” As a tree, as long as he got some sunshine and drank some water, he would not be hungry.
Mo Tianliao choked. He pushed the beauty down on the soft bed, and said through his teeth, “This Everlasting Tree has recently evolved, it now needs to eat cats when it’s hungry.”
“Don’t talk rubbish… Oh…”
*****
The inside of the palace was very different from the outside. Xuanji was amazed, it seemed like their shidi had been living a cushy life during all those years when he had been following this devil.
“Where’s Qingtong?” Xuanji looked around, Mo Xiong had not yet recovered from all the shocking information he had learnt along the way and was still in a daze.
Meng Hu cheerfully led the way, pointing to an exquisite palace and saying, “He’s over there.”
The bedroom inside the palace actually had no windows or walls, thanks to the Duantian fire underground, the place was like springtime all year round. There were only a number of exquisite pillars around the bedroom hung with elaborate curtains. That meant that the sounds from inside carried outstandingly well and could be heard very clearly.
“Oh… It hurts…”
“Baby, relax a little, it’ll stop hurting in a bit…”
“Ah… slow– slow down… Ahn…”
Qingtong’s usually melodious voice sounded a bit hoarse and nasal at the moment, like he was whimpering.
The three people were dumbstruck and just stared blankly for a long time. Xuanji was the first to react and, without saying a word, rolled up his sleeves and went inside, ready to fight Mo Tianliao to the death!
Unedited, please point out any mistakes
If the cold spring fish turn into water when they die then how can MTL cook them for his kitty to eat?
Sorry for the long wait, will make up for it by posting daily. I’ve been without computer access, then without electricity and then finally I fell from the top of the stairs Next chapter in a couple of hours.