Hibiscus Cooking Fragrance

The place they were heading to, where the disturbance had occurred, was called Unfilial Town.

It was not too far from the Wu Xiang Sect.

About a hundred li away, and if they were fast, they could arrive in just over an hour.

Thus, even flying on her sword, Lian Qiao did not suffer much from the elements.

Speaking of which, the name Unfilial Town was certainly strange enough.

It was said that it was originally called Joyful Town, but for some unknown reason, outsiders now called it Unfilial Town.

On the day the Kongtong Seal fragment was lost, a strange phenomenon occurred here: a blood moon hung in the sky and the river of stars was inverted, causing quite a commotion.

Yan Wushuang, standing on her sword, curled her lip. “What other reason could there be? Where I’m from, a town with a lot of pig butchers is called Pig Butchering Town, and a town with many blacksmiths is called Blacksmith Town. Unfilial Town just has a lot of unfilial people!”

Zhou Jiannan frowned. “Not at all, not at all. Your view is far too superficial. By your logic, would a town with many murders be called Murder Town?”

Yan Wushuang said, “…Is there a problem with that?”

“Vulgar! Utterly unrefined.” Zhou Jiannan straightened his collar and said seriously, “Based on my extensive reading, I surmise that this ‘Unfilial Town’ is likely a corruption of the original name. For example, the ‘Toad Mausoleum’ we just passed was originally called ‘Dismount Mausoleum.’ It is the burial place of a great Confucian scholar, so all who passed by had to dismount their horses as a sign of respect, hence the name. But through word of mouth, over time, it was mispronounced and corrupted by the villagers into Toad Mausoleum. According to your logic, that place should be full of toads. Did you see any when we passed by?”

He spoke with sound reasoning, and Lian Qiao had a vague memory of it.

Yan Wushuang, however, stared wide-eyed. “Jiannan, you scumbag, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“But of course!” Zhou Jiannan smiled smugly. “I am from the Qiao Ming Zhou family. Heritage, do you know what heritage is?”

However, before he could finish showing off, a loud curse suddenly erupted from the town below—

“So what if I’m unfilial? When disaster strikes, let’s see how many people still care about being filial! Don’t tell me you’re my mother-in-law; even if you were my own mother, you’re not getting through this gate today!”

Zhou Jiannan lost his balance and nearly fell off his sword.

He adjusted the crown on his head. “It must be a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding…”

The group looked down and saw two groups of people under the memorial archway at the town’s entrance, carrying hoes and arguing.

The loudest seemed to be an old woman and a young couple.

The old woman, being pushed and shoved, trembled as she pointed to the sky and cursed, “You’re the one who started this wicked trend! You… you venomous woman, you’ll be struck by lightning sooner or later!”

Lian Qiao and Yan Wushuang exchanged a glance and both let out a cold snort.

Zhou Jiannan: “…”

He silently sealed his own mouth shut.

Then he decided to go down and see for himself just how unfilial this Unfilial Town truly was.

By the time they descended, Lu Wu Jiu, who had been ahead of them, had already stopped, likely having heard the commotion below as well.

The magnificent dragon boat instantly shrank into a boat the size of a nut, and Lu Wu Jiu descended from the sky without a speck of dust on him, followed by a young boy with rosy lips and white teeth, his hair tied in childish topknots.

Lian Qiao thought, ‘So pretentious!’

She quickly recalled her sword and landed on the ground ahead of him.

A group of people, dressed in fluttering white robes, exuding an immortal aura, and each more handsome than the last, slowly descended from the sky.

The two factions that had been arguing were instantly dumbfounded.

They quickly hid their hoes behind their backs and said in disbelief, “Are these immortals?”

Another person stammered, “They can fly, they carry swords, and they look just like the figures in the temples. They must be.”

In recent years, the great aristocratic families had been widely recruiting disciples, and ordinary people had also begun to seek immortality and the Dao.

Thus, cultivators were not that rare, but ones who could fly on swords and possessed such an ethereal appearance were extremely uncommon.

And so, the crowd immediately bowed their heads in respectful greeting.

Lu Wu Jiu coolly told them to dispense with the courtesies.

In contrast, Lian Qiao was much warmer, personally helping people up.

In truth, however, the crowd’s gaze toward Lu Wu Jiu was clearly more reverent.

Still, the old woman was particularly fervent. Standing beside Lian Qiao, she tremblingly pointed at a woman with slicked-back hair across from her and cursed, “You unfilial wretch, even the immortals can’t stand it anymore and have come to deal with you! The heavens truly have eyes!”

The woman across from her looked utterly fearless. “Hmph! Who knows if you’re real immortals or fake ones. Besides, even if you are, it’s anyone’s guess whether you’re here to punish me or to punish you people who’ve been cursed. If I didn’t still consider you my mother-in-law, I’d have beaten you to death with a stick long ago. Do you think I’d be chasing you away so nicely?”

The old woman trembled with rage, then looked toward a farmer-like man in the opposite crowd who had remained silent.

The farmer’s lips trembled, as if he wanted to say something, but when the woman glared at him, he immediately shrank back.

The old woman berated her son for being useless, and the two sides immediately began to quarrel, spitting curses until dog’s blood was splattered on the boundary stone.

Lian Qiao and her group had never witnessed such a scene of public fury, nor had they seen a mother and son turn on each other like this. For a moment, they were both astonished and shocked.

Yan Wushuang’s head ached. “This son is truly inhuman, but what about the mother-in-law? I don’t understand what’s happening.”

Zhou Jiannan’s eyes had been shining ever since he saw Lu Wu Jiu appear.

He had been desperate for a chance to show off and finally found it.

Clearing his throat, he interjected, “I understand. Let me explain!”

“This mother, son, and daughter-in-law originally lived in the neighboring town. The mother-in-law often came to Unfilial Town to sell vegetables to support her family. Unfortunately, a demon that rips out people’s hearts suddenly appeared in this town. The mother-in-law wanted to flee home, but all who had previously escaped back to seek refuge were sought out by the demon. Not only did they die, but their families also had their hearts torn out. As a result, the people of the neighboring town are in a state of panic and forbid anyone from this town from seeking refuge there. That’s why they’ve blocked the town entrance with hoes!”

“This son is likely one of them, and he happened to run into his own mother who was trapped in this town. When mother and son met, each had their own hardships. The mother wants to return, but the son fears she will lead the demon to their home to tear out their hearts. At a stalemate, they staged the scene we just saw.”

As he finished, he sighed with some sorrow. What a human tragedy this was.

He then stole a glance at Lu Wu Jiu, who had a faint expression, and so he coughed and pretended to be very mature as well.

Lian Qiao’s guess was similar to Zhou Jiannan’s, and she was quite pleased with herself. Her judgment of people was still very good.

Just then, the argument between the two groups grew more heated.

With a swing of their hoes, they looked ready to start a brawl.

Seeing things were about to get out of hand, Lian Qiao quickly stepped in to stop them, casting an immobilization spell that barely managed to calm the two sides down.

“Everyone, rest assured, we are here to capture the demon. We will definitely eliminate this evil and ensure everyone’s safety.”

But the spell could only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.

The woman with the slicked-back hair stood stiffly and said, “Safety? This demon is extremely powerful. If you let these people come over, then we can only continue to flee further away. If that happens, who knows how many more people will be affected. Immortal, you can’t just care about them and not our lives!”

As soon as she said this, the people from the neighboring town instantly became agitated again, shouting and cursing all at once.

Lian Qiao was also in a difficult position.

Just as she was pondering a solution that would satisfy both sides, a voice reached her ear—

“Then seal the town.”

It was Lu Wu Jiu.

Lian Qiao was dumbfounded. Listen to him, were those the words of a human being?

He showed a complete disregard for the lives of the entire town!

Sure enough, the faces of the people in Unfilial Town changed instantly.

No matter how respectful they had been to Lu Wu Jiu at first, their gazes now turned to hatred.

“What about us? Are our lives worthless?”

“Exactly, what kind of immortal are you to say something like that?”

“Immortal? I think he might be the demon in disguise, planning to catch us all in one fell swoop!”

Discussions broke out among the crowd.

Zhou Jiannan’s face turned red with anger, and he stood up to defend him. “Don’t talk nonsense! What demon? We came from afar to help you eliminate the demon. If we leave, you will have truly fallen for the demon’s trick! His Highness… Senior Brother Lu has his reasons for saying this. He is extremely powerful. Even if he seals the town, he can definitely ensure everyone’s safety. If you don’t believe me, look at his clothes. They are embroidered with the pattern of the Three-legged Golden Crow!”

The crowd took a closer look and indeed saw the dark pattern of a Three-legged Golden Crow embroidered with some unknown thread on the hem of his moon-white robes.

Even if they were ignorant, they knew that the totem of the current sovereign, the Tian Yu Lu family, was the Three-legged Golden Crow.

Besides the royal family, no one would dare to wear such an emblem. It seemed this man was not just an immortal, but likely an immortal from the Tian Yu family.

The townspeople quieted down a bit, but they were still very unconvinced.

As both sides watched each other, Lu Wu Jiu finally spoke. “Within seven days, I will eliminate this demon. If I have not done so by then, you will no longer be restrained.”

Hearing this, the clamor gradually subsided as the people began to consider it seriously.

It was only seven days.

In any case, with the neighboring town guarding against them day and night, they probably couldn’t escape successfully within seven days anyway. They might as well give it a try.

The people of Unfilial Town looked at each other and felt it wasn’t a bad idea.

They nodded, half-believing.

In an instant, a rainbow-like sword aura flashed across the sky.

Following that, a wall like a curtain of light rose from the ground at the border of the two towns.

Then, the wall shot up rapidly, as if to pierce the clouds, and spread out in all directions.

The entire Unfilial Town was completely enveloped by a wall that emitted a faint glow.

The spectating commoners rubbed their eyes in disbelief.

A bold one reached out to touch it, then quickly retracted his hand, exclaiming in surprise, “It’s soft!”

But although it was soft, the wall could not be pierced no matter what.

At most, one could only push a finger’s length into it before being bounced back.

Witnessing such a great feat with their own eyes, the townspeople were finally and thoroughly convinced.

Lian Qiao also glanced sideways, slightly impressed.

Barrier techniques were not originally high-level spells and were often used for self-protection.

But usually, one could at most use it to protect oneself, or perhaps one other person.

Lian Qiao had never seen anything like this, building a barrier wall that reached the heavens and surrounded an entire town.

Zhou Jiannan’s eyes widened even more. “This… this is just the simplest barrier technique?”

Taotie crossed his arms and boasted smugly, “An eye-opener, isn’t it? I told you, my master is incredibly powerful!”

Lian Qiao snorted coldly. “A petty trick.”

Taotie shouted indignantly, “A petty trick? Can you do it? If you can, why don’t you?”

Of course, Lian Qiao could do it, she had just never tried.

She frowned at Lu Wu Jiu, angry about something else. It was bad enough that he had arbitrarily sealed the town, but he had even set such a short time limit for catching the demon!

“Hey, who told you to set it for seven days? This demon might have a fragment of the Kongtong Seal, it can’t be underestimated. How could you make such a decision without even saying a word?”

Lu Wu Jiu’s tone was cold, as if he considered it a trivial matter. “Since I said it, I naturally have a way.”

“A way?” Lian Qiao was baffled. “You talk big. How many days do you usually need to catch a demon?”

Lu Wu Jiu said, “Also seven days.”

Lian Qiao’s eyes widened slightly. “How many?”

Then Taotie, infuriatingly, yelled at the top of his lungs, “And that’s for the most difficult ones! For insignificant little demons like Jiao-dragons, my master can catch them in a day. In seven days, they’d be caught and dried into dragon jerky!”

Lian Qiao was speechless.

First, this was the first time she had ever heard a great demon like a Jiao-dragon be called an “insignificant little demon.”

Second, did she hear that right? Seven days at most? What kind of terrifying speed was that!

Lu Wu Jiu glanced at her. “You seem very surprised. Does it usually take you a long time?”

Lian Qiao’s competitive spirit was instantly ignited.

She retorted without thinking, “Of course not! I’m just surprised that you are so slow. Besides, this demon might have the Kongtong Seal. This artifact is unfathomable, how can we delay like this?”

“Oh? So you think I’m too slow.” Lu Wu Jiu was surprisingly good-tempered. “In that case, in your opinion, how many days should you use this time?”

“Five days. Five days at most.” Lian Qiao lifted her chin and boasted wildly, “Hah, you just wait and see. I’ll definitely be faster than you!”

Yan Wushuang and Zhou Jiannan looked at each other in dismay.

Hey, hey, this was a heart-ripping monster that had killed dozens of people. Even if you were going to brag, you couldn’t brag like this, could you?

A five-day limit was simply absurd.

Zhou Jiannan couldn’t help himself. “Lian Qiao, that’s not a good idea. I remember you used to…”

Lian Qiao clapped a hand over his mouth. “What? You think I was so amazing in the past that five days is still too generous? Alas, what can I do? Since I’m with someone else this time, I should be considerate. Let’s tentatively set it at five days, otherwise, he’ll lose so much face.”

Zhou Jiannan: “.”

After all, though Lian Qiao was smiling, she was twisting his arm under her sleeve.

If he dared to say another word, Lian Qiao would probably tear his entire arm off.

So crude!

So brutal!

Lu Wu Jiu, however, didn’t show much of a reaction.

He merely gave a faint glance at their hands, tangled together beneath their wide sleeves.

As he turned to leave, his gaze paused for a moment, seemingly with a trace of displeasure.