Yinlan City, part 4

Inside the Qianzhen Restaurant.

Dozen of soul beasts lowered their tails and pricked up their ears, sniffing everywhere in the dining building. Every time they passed a spot, they left behind one sticky black fog footprint after another.

Because they could not find any trace of their prey for a long time, the soul beasts gradually lost their patience, their tails swishing irritably.

Another half day passed. Once it was verified that those few human prey had indeed vanished mysteriously, they let out a few resentful low growls, transformed into a burst of black fog, and bored out of the restaurant’s shattered doors and windows.

Peering through a tiny crack, seeing that all the soul beasts had withdrawn from the dining building, Lin Ziyue extended her arm with great difficulty and tremblingly pasted a [Silence Talisman] upon the door.

From a pile of arms, Su Qing found her own arm. She pushed the cupboard door open extremely lightly, without making a single sound.

Outside the cupboard, aside from the ruined interior of the restaurant, there was nothing.

The five of them shared a look, all revealing expressions of letting out a small sigh of relief.

Su Qing moved her legs, originally intending to step out first, but she ended up tumbling out of the narrow cupboard along with Tian Ning, Tang Yueling, and Lin Ziyue.

Only after they came out did they drag out Pei Jingzhi, who had been squeezed into the very back and whose internal organs were nearly crushed out of position.

‘This counts as coming out of the closet in a literal sense.’

After Pei Jingzhi came out, he felt as if every part of his body was in pain, especially his left ribs—three of them were broken cleanly. A fishy sweetness rose in his throat; it was the scent of blood.

This cupboard they hid in was used to store wine, built exceptionally thick and solid, but the space was narrow. Originally, it wasn’t meant to fit five people, especially with three steel-and-iron-boned members of the Body School. But the incident happened too suddenly; the soul beasts were still chasing behind with wide-open jaws and dripping saliva, leaving no room to be picky.

With a sweeping glance, Su Qing had mapped out the best way to combine the five of them in her heart, rapidly curling up the most frail and weak Pei Jingzhi and stuffing him into the very back.

Next was folding Lin Ziyue slightly, and finally, the three members of the Body School squeezed inward with all their might before bringing the cupboard door shut—and that did the trick.

Although she had mysteriously heard a few crisp sounds of bones cracking, judging from the result, hadn’t they survived after all?

Pei Jingzhi gave a hollow chuckle, fished out injury medicine from his storage bag to pop into his mouth, and circulated his energy to heal his wounds.

He thought: ‘It truly is exactly as the seniors said. Because the Sword School severely punishes students for killing each other, the probability of being killed by a member of the Body School is very small.’

‘But it is definitely not zero.’

Fearing that making any sound would draw the soul beasts’ tracking, they all tacitly chose to use sound transmission.

Tang Yueling asked,

“Shall we withdraw now?”

Lin Ziyue agreed as well,

“While those soul beasts haven’t returned yet, let’s leave quickly.”

That battle with the soul beasts just now had consumed too much of their spiritual energy. If they encountered soul beasts again next, it would likely be highly disadvantageous to them.

But their team leader did not reply. Instead, she was searching the floor of the restaurant inch by inch with her divine sense, looking as if she were searching for something.

Tang Yueling asked just like that,

“What are you looking at?”

Pei Jingzhi guessed,

“Is there some kind of clue?”

“That’s not it,”

Su Qing raised her eyes.

“Although it was a very long time ago, I did indeed work in a teahouse for a long time. It’s just that the boss of that teahouse was very stingy, and the wages paid were very low…”

She pursed her lips and stopped her words, stating with certainty,

“This dining building definitely has a cellar. If our luck is good, we can leave through the cellar.”

Everyone’s eyes lit up simultaneously. If they could leave through the cellar, they would surely be able to bypass those troublesome soul beasts.

Just as Su Qing said, after a round of searching, they indeed discovered the entrance to a cellar right beneath the wooden staircase.

Su Qing moved the stone slab of the cellar aside, and Tian Ning leaped down first with her sword, followed by Lin Ziyue, Pei Jingzhi, Tang Yueling, and Su Qing bringing up the rear to guard them.

Cellars were mostly used by dining buildings to store food and prepared ingredients, plunged into absolute darkness. Su Qing did not light a fire, producing a night-luminescent pearl to guide the way.

Following the stone stairs, they moved without making a single sound, walking lightheartedly into the cellar.

Because the Qianzhen Restaurant was the largest dining building in the Inner Subsidiary City—standing a full seven stories tall with a massive daily flow of customers—the supplies required were immense, and the cellar was naturally built to be vast, its boundaries out of sight at a single glance.

The first section the first team crossed was an area for pickled vegetables, behind which were rows upon rows of wine jars—looking out, there were at least several thousand jars. Because the cellar hadn’t been soaked in the toxic fog yet, these wines were all preserved exceptionally well.

This wasn’t surprising either. Yinlan City was in the Northern Border, where the weather was freezing cold; the citizens in the city loved to drink wine to warm their bodies, and the local specialties—Beast Bone Wine and Beast Blood Wine—were renowned throughout the land.

Su Qing silently looked at these wine jars standing in solemn alignment, blinking her eyes.

Tian Ning, who was at the very front, suddenly reminded them,

“There are people.”

There are people?

Didn’t they say all the citizens of the Inner Subsidiary City had died in the toxic fog? Could it be that some had hidden in the cellar and escaped the disaster by a fluke?

Everyone’s vigilance instantly cranked to the absolute maximum, each gripping the weapons in their hands.

Su Qing stepped forward to check. True to Tian Ning’s words, there were people ahead. The number wasn’t small either, easily two to three hundred people.

In the crowd, some looked like diners, while others looked like nearby residents. Families of several people huddled tightly together; women held infants, and white-haired elders squeezed on the outer edges. But at this very moment, they were all collapsed upon the ground, their faces ashen-pale, their chests perfectly still without a trace of rising or falling.

Yet the expressions on their faces remained lifelike—that surge of panic, anxiety, and dread practically wanted to leap out from beneath the skin, but not a single person made a movement. Right now, under the illumination of the night-luminescent pearl, it looked for all the world like bronze statues used for sacrificial burial inside a tomb, making one’s hair stand on end.

And the strangest thing was that wine bowls were laid out in front of all these people, looking as if they had drunk poisoned wine and passed away.

Su Qing plucked up her courage, stepping forward to inspect them carefully. The light of the night-luminescent pearl fell upon a woman’s face; the face of the infant in her arms still bore dried tear tracks. She pondered for a moment, finding it bizarre.

“According to the time when the soul-fog occurred, it should have been a month ago. Yet looking at the freshness of the corpses, they actually look as if they just died.”

Lin Ziyue scanned the surroundings, also sensing a mystery.

“There is so much food in this cellar. As long as the soul beasts didn’t chase them here, it was enough to support them for a month. Why would they seek death so early?”

Pei Jingzhi deduced,

“I fear that with these several hundred people gathered together, the power of their living souls was too strong, and it was only a matter of time before the soul beasts were drawn over. Perhaps they thought that a short pain is better than a long one, so it was better to just die and get it over with.”

Su Qing cast a glance at him, disagreeing with his statement.

His birth was too privileged; he didn’t understand people of the bottom layer like them. Those of the bottom layer were like wild grass—though their lives were small, they were exceptionally resilient. Even if it was a rotten life, they always wanted to live, and wouldn’t make such a move to seek death.

Tang Yueling suddenly lifted the oilcloth from a wine jar, and a mellow, fiery aroma of wine instantly drifted out. Su Qing felt almost intoxicated just smelling that wine scent, but Tang Yueling dipped her finger into a bit of the wine liquid, tasting it meticulously.

She spoke knowingly,

“Aside from the Yan Spear technique, Yinlan City has another famous product. Although I had heard rumors of it, I always believed it was merely a street rumor. Now, it seems that rumor is actually a few fractions true.”

Su Qing asked,

“What rumor?”

“The Technique of Feigned Death,”

Tang Yueling said.

“Because the beast tides here are severe, and even when there is no beast tide, fierce beasts frequently roam the Myriad Beast Forest. There were even instances where citizens encountered wild beasts when going out to gather firewood or dig up vegetables. Therefore, the residents in the city came up with a method—drinking an excessive amount of Beast Blood Wine, paired with a breath-concealing cultivation technique, which can cause the body to enter a state of suspended animation. Certain wild beasts that only eat fresh food will bypass them and return to the forest. The number of citizens preserved by this method is roughly one or two out of ten—the chance isn’t big, but it is always a sliver of hope.”

Lin Ziyue was struck with admiration.

“In other words, these people are highly likely to have also consumed an excessive amount of Beast Blood Wine, causing their bodies to enter a state of suspended animation to prevent the soul beasts from perceiving the power of their living souls and coming to find them?”

“Exactly.”

Tang Yueling nodded.

“I tasted it; these wines are all Beast Blood Wines that possess spiritual energy.”

Tian Ning asked,

“How do we wake them up again?”

Tang Yueling pondered,

“Word is that either you wait for the alcohol to wear off and they wake up naturally, or you forcefully wake them using external force.”

Su Qing understood.

“In other words, as long as we resolve the problem of the maze-fog as quickly as possible, these people still have a very high probability of surviving.”

Everyone’s expressions grew solemn, feeling the weight on their shoulders grow a few notches heavier.

These were two to three hundred living human lives. Their Sword School had come to reinforce Yinlan City; wasn’t their purpose precisely to snatch human lives from the beast tide?

If they could bring these people out of the Inner Subsidiary City…

Su Qing produced a map from her storage bag, spreading it flat upon the ground. Under the current conditions, she didn’t care about any immortal poise before outsiders. Several of them either squatted or sat, stretching their heads to look at the map, especially at the position Su Qing’s finger was pointing to.

The night-luminescent pearl illuminated the map exceptionally clearly.

Su Qing pointed at the location where the Qianzhen Restaurant was situated.

“The Qianzhen Restaurant is the largest and most famous dining building in the Inner Subsidiary City. It doesn’t merely sit on the Twelfth Street alone, but rather at the intersection of the Twelfth, Eleventh, Fourth, and Second Streets.”

The layout of the entire Inner Subsidiary City was not parallel, nor was it grid-like. Instead, it resembled the fan-shape of a conch, and possessed a center point. The twelve major streets roughly radiated outward from this center point.

Among them, the First Street crossed directly through the center point, and the most primary structures—such as the Inner Subsidiary City Martial Arts Square and the City Lord’s estate in the exact center—were situated on this street, making it the most important street.

And the position of the Qianzhen Restaurant was not far from that center point of the main urban area, separated by a distance of less than a thousand meters.

“It is known that these soul beasts can merge into more powerful soul beasts. Furthermore, these soul beasts are extremely afraid of fire and heat.” Su Qing’s hand pointed toward that center point. “In that case, do we have a chance to make those soul beasts gather in one location, and use a fire to burn them entirely?”

This way, they would be able to resolve all the roaming soul beasts on the streets once and for all, liberating the manpower of the other teams so they could finish exploring the streets as quickly as possible and withdraw in time.

Lin Ziyue knit her brow.

“But where would such a massive fire come from?”

She turned her head, suddenly realizing something. Looking back, several thousand jars of wine stood silently in the rear, displaying an invisible sense of presence.

But while this plan possessed feasibility, it was inevitably a bit crude; could it truly succeed?

Yet looking around again, aside from Pei Jingzhi showing an identical thoughtful face as hers, Tang Yueling’s eyes burst with an excited radiance. She arched an eyebrow and said,

“Splendid. I’ve been annoyed by those ugly things for a long time anyway; burning them with a fire is for the best. I’ll light the fire, and I’ll blast them into the sky!”

Tian Ning had already stood up, rolling up her sleeves, holding her storage bag, and beginning to collect the wine jars. With a point of her hand, wine jars weighing several hundred jin each flew easily into the palm-sized storage bag.

As for Su Qing herself, who had proposed this plan, she was unconsciously frowning, tapping the map with her knuckles. Obviously, her gaze revealed that she wasn’t fearing or hesitating over this plan, but rather considering how to carry it out.

Lin Ziyue clicked her tongue secretly in her heart: ‘People of the Body School—whether the one proposing the plan or the one starting to implement it immediately without a single shred of doubt—are all sufficiently crazy.’

She shook her head slightly, unable to keep from laughing at her own thoughts.

A person who wasn’t crazy fundamentally wouldn’t practice body tempering. Transforming one’s own body directly into the most powerful weapon against enemies and rushing straight to the front lines was never a highly wise decision to begin with.

But to be honest, this streak of craziness was indeed alluring, leaving even her hands itching with an impulse to act.

Su Qing happened to ask her,

“Do you have a method to contact the Talisman School members in the other teams so we can put our strength together?”

Lin Ziyue nodded.

“I do.”

She truly did—it was precisely the high-tier communication talisman that the Talisman School members had received from Xu Ruiyi together before entering the Inner Subsidiary City.

Three quarters of an hour later, Lin Ziyue had contacted eight of the other eleven teams; the remaining three could not be contacted, and their situation was likely not very optimistic.

“They said we can try. Furthermore, we can travel directly to the First Street through the entrances of the maze formations that their streets have already cracked. This way, it will cut the time by nearly twofold.”

They had only entered the Inner Subsidiary City for a short day and a half, yet three teams had already lost contact; Lin Ziyue’s heart instantly sank.

“Don’t worry,”

Su Qing comforted her.

“As long as we resolve the bulk of it as quickly as possible on our end, they will be fine.”

By this time, they had already agreed upon a countermeasure. The location for arson was set at the City Lord’s estate, because the entire three-story building of the City Lord’s estate was a wooden structure. Even if it had been corroded until only a skeleton remained, it was highly easy to draw fire.

The required wine, firewood, alcohol-soaked fuses, and so forth were all prepared inside their storage bags, capable of being pulled out instantly when used.

The time for arson was set around the hour of dawn, which was the time when soul beasts were most prone to manifest. Once the agreed time arrived, the other teams would use any means necessary to forcefully lure the soul beasts within their streets toward the vicinity of the designated center point.

The problems were almost all resolved, except for one point—and that was how exactly to make the soul beasts gather at the City Lord’s estate, or even merge, giving them the chance to burn them through with fire?

In truth, this problem wasn’t hard to resolve either.

Soul beasts would be drawn by blood, and they would be drawn by massive sounds.

These were all easy to handle; Su Qing had beast blood in her storage bag, originally prepared for the [Ten Rakshasa Blood-Splendor Array], but using it here was fine as well. Lin Ziyue was a member of the Talisman School, requiring beast blood to draw talismans at any time; her storage bag stored a large amount of Tier 2 and even Tier 3 beast blood.

But these still weren’t enough; they still lacked one thing that the soul beasts were truly interested in—and that was a living soul.

In short:

“We need a bait.”

They needed a bait to use the aura of a living soul and the aura of spiritual blood to draw the soul beasts to gather.

So here came the question—who would play this role of bait?

If Su Qing did it, it wasn’t impossible, but who would command the plan’s landing and implementation? Furthermore, there was no logic in a team letting their captain act as bait right off the bat; there was no such rule.

The task of lighting the fire fell upon Tang Yueling; at that time, she had to focus her entire mind to manipulate the Tier 4 earth fire to detonate the soul beasts, so naturally she couldn’t act as bait either.

Lin Ziyue was even more out of the question; they still had to rely on her to contact the Talisman School members of the other teams and coordinate the progress of the other squads.

In that case, Tian Ning? First, letting the person with the strongest strength act as bait would likely be disadvantageous to the team.

Second, she, with her ice spiritual root, was as cold all over as a block of frozen ice, and even her aura was cold—displaying an entire state of a living person who was slightly dead, truly lacking much attraction to the soul beasts.

From this, it could be seen that the most suitable person to act as bait was precisely Pei Jingzhi—who was frail and weak, with delicate flesh and skin, and an overflowing vitality, looking at a single glance like something the soul beasts would love to eat.

Pei Jingzhi was originally a shrewd person himself. The moment the word bait was out, he knew who was going to suffer terrible luck.

He accepted his fate with a sigh. Rather than being shamefully voted out to act as bait by a four-to-one method like: ‘We choose Pei Jingzhi as the bait, whoever agrees raise their hand,’ it was better to negotiate the terms right from the start.

After all, in terms of martial force, he absolutely couldn’t win a dispute against members of the Body School.

As for brainpower, though these few people weren’t necessarily as clever as him, they were all tough customers who could kill an old master with a flurry of wild punches. He… had better choose self-preservation above all else. Going to act as bait wouldn’t necessarily mean death, but under the hands of the Body School crowd, living wasn’t a guarantee either.

“I can go,”

Pei Jingzhi looked toward Lin Ziyue.

“But you have to give me the teleportation talisman that Elder Xu Ruiyi gave you.”

Lin Ziyue agreed readily,

“Even if you didn’t say it, I would have given it to you.”

With that, this matter was considered settled.

Su Qing said,

“Thank you. Rest assured, you will be fine.”

Tang Yueling also spoke up,

“A minor matter. You can come back alive.”

Since both of them had spoken to show their stance, Tian Ning was raring to go, also wanting to say a few words. She thought for a moment and said seriously,

“Great kindness and virtue cannot be repaid except by…”

“Don’t,”

Pei Jingzhi stopped her, his teeth aching.

“That’s enough. Don’t speak as if I’m going out to deliver myself to death.”

Late the next night, which was also before the dawn of the third day.

At the front sections of eight out of the twelve streets—which was the location closest to the center point—a world-shaking roar suddenly erupted. In the night, the soul beasts were drawn by this sudden anomalous sound, sprinting toward the center point location one after another.

The first team that Su Qing was in had already traversed through the cellars and small alleys by this time, entering the First Street along the maze formation entrances cracked by the other teams.

Thereafter, half a quarter of an hour later.

Inside the City Lord’s estate of the First Street, a blood-scent still rich in spiritual energy suddenly drifted out, and within this blood-qi was the wonderful flavor of a living soul.

The soul beasts, who had originally been drawn to the vicinity of the center point by the anomalous sounds, were instantly attracted by this alluring blood-qi, plunging into the First City Lord’s estate without a single shred of hesitation.

The City Lord’s estate had been heavily corroded by the toxic fog, to the point where even the lintels had flaked into ash. But the skeleton of the entire estate remained; though it was in a precarious state, looking as if it might collapse with a single breath, it barely held up.

Gu Tian, a Talisman School disciple from the Eighth Street, transmitted a sound,

[The soul beasts of the Eighth Street have all withdrawn, a total of thirty-five large and small ones.]

The Sixth Street team immediately followed with a sound transmission,

[The soul beasts of the Sixth Street have withdrawn, twelve large soul beasts and fourteen small soul beasts, not ruling out the possibility of merging.]

The Third Street:

[The soul beasts have withdrawn from the Third Street, twenty-eight in total, and have leaped into the Martial Arts Square.]

A total of two hundred and sixteen soul beasts across the eight streets. Lin Ziyue silently recited this terrifying number, transmitting a sound to Su Qing,

[Fifty percent of the soul beast crowd has already leaped into the Martial Arts Square, plunging toward the City Lord’s estate. It is estimated that they will find Pei Jingzhi after a count of one hundred and eighty.]

Su Qing rose, standing upon the roof ridge. Her obsidian eyes gazed toward the direction of the City Lord’s estate three hundred meters away. For some reason, the more tense the moment grew, the more peaceful she became—peaceful to the point where she could hear the thrumming of her blood and the forceful beating of her heart.

[All teams, transfer the living soul bait inside the Martial Arts Square now.]

The moment her words faded, the other members of the Array School instantly activated their shifting arrays, swapping their teammate back. This trick was something Su Qing had seen them use back when they were snatching heavenly lightning in their second academic year—moving with extreme speed, making it impossible to guard against.

Once their teammate was transferred to a safe location, it was time for Tang Yueling and Tian Ning to play their part.

The Martial Arts Square suddenly exploded with countless red bursts of Beast Blood Wine. Wine sufficient to supply this city for half a year poured out simultaneously at this moment, looking for all the world like a sudden downpour from heaven or a waterfall.

A sky-soaring blood-qi and wine-vapor instantly diffused; every drop of wine liquid, under the muddled dark light, vibrated and splattered in the air like deep red blood—as if they themselves also possessed life, dyeing half the sky crimson in nearly an instant.

Tian Ning, carrying Tang Yueling, flashed into the sky above the square within a single breath. The Snowfall Sword moved with extreme speed, looking practically like a streak of flowing light; with a few flashes of her body, she lanced through countless howling soul beasts.

Tang Yueling pulled the corners of her mouth into a grin, and a cluster of flame suddenly lanced out from her hand.

“Twelve Million, charge for me!”

This leaping fire spirit was precisely the Tier 4 earth fire that Tang Yueling had bought from the Pill School using ten million spirit stones. She was too lazy to think of a name, so she casually called it Twelve Million.

She cast out the earth fire worth ten million spirit stones without a shred of mercy. And this drop of flame didn’t shame its price tag, showing great competence—the instant it came into contact with the countless bursting wine liquids in the air, the flame exploded instantly, leaping violently a hundredfold and a thousandfold, burning the entire Martial Arts Square into a massive ring of living fire.

The firelight soared into the sky, illuminating the sky above the Inner Subsidiary City, even burning a red glow into the leaden heavens.

The black soul beasts caught within this Tier 4 earth fire wailed one after another, vanishing into ash and smoke. Those that escaped by a fluke couldn’t burst out of this furiously burning ring of fire either, only capable of roaring in agony as they lunged toward the City Lord’s estate in the center.

Not only was there a living soul calling to them over there, but it was also the only place where they could hide.

They fled all the way, the large soul beasts devouring the small soul beasts along the path. By the time they reached the front of the City Lord’s estate, all the soul beasts had condensed into a massive, terrifying black beast silhouette—standing nearly as tall as the City Lord’s estate itself, howling as it lunged toward Pei Jingzhi in the center.

Pei Jingzhi didn’t even need Su Qing’s order; he cherished his life immensely. The moment he saw the beast silhouette, he instantly crushed the teleportation talisman in his hand, transferring to a safe location.

Before his silhouette dissipated completely, he flung a seed of fire from his sleeve—this was precisely a split-fire of the Tier 4 earth fire that Tang Yueling had given him. The earth fire instantly caught along the wine liquid that had been splattered in advance.

A resonance originally existed between the split-fire and the primary fire. Combined with the fact that the wine liquid from the square to the City Lord’s estate was flowing everywhere like red puddles, very quickly, the outer ring of fire lanced toward the center as if receiving a summoning, burning the entire wooden City Lord’s estate until it rocked violently, soon collapsing amidst the sky-spanning firelight.

Viewing it from Su Qing’s angle, this hearty bout of arson even possessed a fair bit of aesthetic beauty. At any rate, she had never imagined that she would actually have a day where she set fire to a city gate and witnessed a city burn with her own eyes—it could be considered gaining a rare life experience. She didn’t even forget to remind them,

[After the fog is burned, the toxicity becomes stronger. Please ensure you maintain good protection.]

The orange-red firelight was mirrored upon her face and deep within her cold eyes, actually displaying an untimely gentleness.

And that three-story-tall soul beast also struggled within the scorching flames, yet it couldn’t match the ferocity of the fire. Finally, its silhouette fractured into pieces, ultimately transforming into countless ashes that dissipated between heaven and earth.

Lin Ziyue murmured,

“Resolved…”

Su Qing glanced at the skyglow in the distance.

Because this fire had burned the Inner Subsidiary City red, reflecting against the horizon like a crimson fire-cloud, judging solely by the color of the sky, it was impossible to gauge the current time.

However, everything was still in time.

She used her communication talisman to transmit a sound, her tone very lighthearted,

[Basically resolved. Everyone, start working.]

Meanwhile, Deng Mingjian, Xu Ruiyi, and the others outside the city, who were watching everything through the Sky Eye, were all struck dumb.

Deng Mingjian clapped his hands against the table and rose in incredulity,

“Such a careless plan actually succeeded?”

He truly couldn’t understand the brains of the Body School crowd—how could they just start when they said start, and burn when they said burn? From planning to execution, there wasn’t a single breath of pause, nor a single moment of doubt!

“If you don’t know how to talk, I’ll help rip your mouth open.”

A sliver of a smile that shared in the glory surfaced deep in Lin Hebai’s eyes.

“Didn’t they do a magnificent job?”