The speed at which Wen Changchu descended the mountain was hair-raising. Lou Muge sat on the bumpy back, clutching onto his fur tightly, barely avoiding being thrown off. The unforgiving wind and snow slapped against their faces, stinging relentlessly.
Lou Muge wanted Wen Changchu to slow down, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he tasted fresh snow, causing him to shut his mouth quickly, feeling the snowflakes on his tongue.
Wen Changchu’s four legs moved with great power, leaping into the air and landing in the center of the distorted town. The impact seemed to shake Shan’an village for a moment.
He stopped abruptly, and Lou Muge, who had been holding on tightly all the way, couldn’t withstand the sudden force, falling off the wolf’s back and plunging into a snow pit.
Ning Shaosi quickly slid down from above to help him out of the snow pit.
As Lou Muge stood up, snow covered his shoulders and back. Just as he was about to reprimand Wen Changchu, his attention was drawn to the scene before him.
Columns of mud rose from the ground, engulfing the people of Shan’an village . Only their heads remained visible, screaming in agony. Lou Muge noticed they were all elderly. Beside the mud columns, the remaining people pleaded for help upon seeing Lou Muge and the others descending suddenly.
“Little immortal! Please save us!” Mrs. Guo, who sold dumplings, cried out among them.
Lou Muge gestured for her to calm down but the group was too terrified to remain calm, their voices merging into a cacophony.
Turning his head, Lou Muge saw Tao Ming, dressed in blue, standing beside the statue of the Water Goddess in the center of the village . He remained with closed eyes, his expression serene, unaffected by the chaos.
Tao Ming appeared unusually calm, with a hint of aggression evident in the slight raise of his chin and the sharpness of his lips. However, his eyes remained closed, revealing no emotion.
Lou Muge looked around but saw no one else. He furrowed his brow in confusion. “Is it you?”
Tao Ming turned his head. “It’s me.”
“This shouldn’t be…” Lou Muge muttered.
He was convinced that the reason behind the mischief wasn’t these two brothers because neither of them emitted any demonic aura, appearing completely human inside and out.
If it was indeed the two brothers, then either they were far more powerful than Wen Changchu and the others, or they possessed abilities to conceal their true nature.
Before Lou Muge could comprehend this, the Zhushi woman chasing from behind arrived, wielding a fiery feather. She swung her hand, sending a blade of fire towards Lou Muge. He dodged in time, but the fire grazed the Water Goddess statue, instantly setting it ablaze.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The fire spread rapidly. Tao Ming, standing beside the statue, felt the scorching heat and instinctively stepped back. Then, as if remembering something, his expression changed abruptly. He quickly reached out, grabbing the floating pearl from the Water Goddess’s palm.
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Tao Zhai was sweating profusely, his body trembling from the burns, but he held onto the white pearl snatched from the statue tightly. Tao Ming, with a face full of anger, grabbed his brother’s arms and yelled, “Are you insane? Risking your life for a piece of stone?!”
Tao Ming’s lips trembled. “This isn’t just a stone!”
Tao Zhai seemed to care deeply for his brother. Seeing him in pain, he couldn’t bear to argue further. Instead, he used the light in his palms to heal Tao Ming’s injuries. Then, with a resentful glance at the sky, he addressed the Zhushi woman.
“Oh, you’ve grown quite courageous. Do you think having someone from the Immortal Realm around gives you a backing?” Zhushi woman retorted coldly.
Tao Ming raised his head to face her, his voice icy. “No one is our backing. We made a deal with you. You got what you wanted. Now, leave these people alone and go about your business.”
The Zhushi woman sneered. “I don’t have time to meddle with these people’s lives. I was merely provoked by a little pest and came here to take its life.”
In the exchange between the two, it seemed they had no intention of hiding anything further, which allowed Lou Muge and the others to grasp the underlying meaning.
It turned out that the events in Shan’an village were a collusion between two parties.
At this moment, Lou Muge stepped forward, assuming a peacemaker’s demeanor, and said to Tao Ming, “Don’t rush, whether you demons want souls or lives, you’ll have to come one by one.”
Wen Changchu snorted, “I have a good idea.”
“You speak,” Lou Muge quickly responded.
He then flicked his wrist, drawing out the dark-cast curved blade and gestured towards the Zhushi woman , “I’ll deal with the one above, you handle these two below, how about it?”
Lou Muge glanced at him with some doubt, not because he didn’t trust Wen Changchu’s strength, but because he was facing the Zhu family, and he didn’t know the woman’s background. If he rashly engaged, he didn’t know who would come out worse.
However, Wen Changchu was provoked by this doubt, tearing off his cotton robe with a heavy snort, intending to clear his name. He grabbed his curved blade and flew up without giving anyone a chance to react, the wind he stirred up tousling Lou Muge’s long hair.
Seeing his swift action, the Zhu woman immediately cast out several fire blades. Despite Wen Changchu’s seemingly reckless demeanor, he moved with precision, skillfully evading them. His blade aimed directly at the woman’s neck, prompting her to flip backward to avoid it, then she wielded her fire feather to counterattack.
Lou Muge thought to himself that this guy still had some skills.
Ning Shaosi tugged on his sleeve, drawing his gaze down from the sky to meet Tao Zhai’s eyes.
As usual, Tao Zhai’s expression remained cold. From the beginning, this young man had never shown him a friendly face.
Lou Muge wondered, “Have I desecrated your ancestors’ graves?”
Ignoring his frivolous words, Tao Zhai said, “The people of Shan’an sow their own seeds of disaster and reap their own fruits of evil. I don’t want to harm the innocent. I advise you not to meddle in other people’s affairs.”
Lou Muge smiled, raising the fairy stone on his wrist, “To be honest, I don’t want to meddle in your affairs either, but I have no choice.”
“How will you?” Tao Zhai asked.
“It’s how you will,” Lou Muge replied.
Tao Zhai glanced at his older brother, his words carrying a cold edge, “I want the lives of everyone in Shan’an village .”
“Younger brother…” Tao Ming couldn’t help but interject, but Tao Zhai interrupted, “Shut up, these people deserve to die.”
“Oh?” Lou Muge raised an eyebrow, “Why do they deserve to die?”
Tao Zhai’s gaze turned cold, but he didn’t say anything more.
While Wen Changchu and the Zhu woman were engaged in their fiery exchange in the sky, the elderly trapped in the mud pillars continued to cry for help without respite. The people of Shan’an huddled together, trembling in fear at the sight, none daring to speak up.
It seemed like the situation had reached a stalemate again.
Just as Lou Muge was about to inquire further, suddenly, Zhang Rong’s voice came from the side, “Why waste words with these demon scum? Just kill them and report back to the Immortal Realm!”
The man who had been severely injured by the Zhu woman just now had somehow arrived here as well. Perhaps he had seen that the disruptors were the two Tao brothers, and Lou Muge’s nonchalant demeanor made him unable to hold back.
As long as they killed the two brothers, they could open the Immortal Gate, ending the first trial. With the Zhu family causing chaos here, if they didn’t find a way to escape soon, they might all die here.
Zhang Rong belongs to the water dragon clan of the immortal realm, capable of controlling the myriad waters of the world. With a single move, dozens of water-formed sharp arrows shot straight towards the two brothers.
Water sustains all things, being the softest and yet the strongest substance in the world.
In the instant that Lou Muge turned his head, he saw those water arrows whizzing past his ears, aiming straight for Tao Ming and Tao Zhai’s hearts. He wanted to block them, but the water wall that formed in that instant couldn’t stop Zhang Rong’s sharp arrows.
There’s a fundamental disparity in strength between water demons and water dragons.
Tao Ming couldn’t see, but he could feel the imminent threat. Without hesitation, he pushed Tao Zhai away. With no one left to protect him, the water arrows accurately pierced Tao Ming’s chest. After being struck in the chest, he was hit in the shoulder and abdomen by two more arrows.
These water arrows melted upon entering their bodies, without a drop of blood shed. Tao Ming staggered backward and sat directly on the ground. Tao Zhai screamed and rushed over, embracing him and covering the wound on his chest with his hand.
Just as Zhang Rong was about to attack again, he was hit in the face with a snowball thrown by Lou Muge.
“I’m fine,” Tao Ming said, handing the beads in his hand to Tao Zhai. “I’ll go back to the mountain first. Please, don’t do anything foolish. I’ll wait for you there.”
Gritting his teeth, Tao Zhai’s arm bulged with veins as if he wanted to crush the beads in his hand. But in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He said to Tao Ming, “I’m not going back.”
Only after hearing this did Tao Ming’s calm demeanor break, replaced by intense emotions. “Listen to me, you must go back!”
“How can I rest easy without avenging this grudge?!” Tao Zhai replied loudly, his eyes bloodshot. “Am I supposed to let you sacrifice your eyes in vain?”
“No matter what, my eyes can’t come back. Please, stop,” Tao Ming pleaded. “I just want the two of us to live well.”
“But I can’t accept it! I can’t accept it!” Tao Zhai roared, tears welling up in his eyes. A tear fell gently on Tao Ming’s chin.
Feeling the tear, Tao Ming struggled, his voice trembling with fear. “What are you doing?! Please, don’t cry!”
After that tear fell from Tao Zhai, a faint glow emanated from his body, as white as snow, growing brighter and brighter. In Tao Ming’s panicked voice, a burst of light exploded, forming a ring of light, sweeping up snowflakes all over the ground. The tremendous force shook the earth, with howling winds and rolling thunderclouds, dimming the sky in an instant.
Lou Muge was blown with cold wind and snowflakes on his face. Amidst the fluttering of his long hair and robe, he suddenly felt a familiar aura. His entire body stiffened, his eyes fixed on Tao Zhai emitting a radiant glow. In those beautiful eyes, emotions surged, breaking the calmness.
This was an aura that Lou Muge couldn’t forget no matter how many hundreds of years had passed.
Peerless and unique, it belonged solely to Ning Shaosi’s aura.
Thank You for the new chapter ♡ฅ(ᐤˊ꒳ฅˋᐤ)
Ahhh cliffhanger!! 😫