Chapter 29: Burial Immortal Town

East of Burial Immortal Town, the two-hundred-zhang wide Sui River plunges down as if broken, forming a magnificent cliff waterfall. It resembles a giant dragon's severed head, giving rise to the name "Dragon-Slaying Mouth."

To retrieve otherworldly coffins from the Sea of Blood Coffin Dock, the Jiuli tribe must carry them through two hundred li of treacherous Spirit Mist Territory. Afterward, they ascend a small path with steps to reach Dragon-Slaying Mouth, where they board pre-arranged immense warships to transport the coffins to various tribal cities downstream.

As Shi Jiuzhai stepped into Burial Immortal Town, the gray mist cloud enveloping the three of them dissipated.

Thud! Thud!

Li Weiyi and Gao Huan fell to the ground.

"Welcome, Master!"

The three Law-Martial experts from the Earth Wolf King's army—Xing Wanxing, Fang Tong, and Yan Qingqing—quickly stepped forward and bowed in unison to Shi Jiuzhai.

These three, leading over a thousand soldiers, had arrived in Burial Immortal Town a day earlier than Shi Jiuzhai. They had already slaughtered all more than two hundred Jiuli tribesmen who were left in the town to handle reception, meals, supplies, and ship docking. Their bodies were piled into a gruesome mound in the center of the market town.

Xing Wanxing, Shi Jiuzhai's tenth disciple and one of his treasurers, was not tall and had a potbelly. He reported with a smile: "Everything that needed to be interrogated has been made clear. This time, the tribe heading to the Sea of Blood to retrieve coffins is the Cangli tribe, one of the Jiuli. It is led by Li Songlin, the Cangli tribe's top master of this sixty-year cycle, accompanied by Cangli, who is hailed as the Cangli tribe's foremost prodigy in nearly a thousand years."

"I only care about how much money we can make this time," Shi Jiuzhai said.

Xing Wanxing had already calculated everything clearly: "Li Songlin brought five thousand people; they'll retrieve at least a thousand coffins. If we seize them all, selling them for a million Yongquan coins would be a conservative estimate."

"They say otherworldly coffins are terrifyingly expensive, something only grand cultivators can afford. They are indeed priceless, yielding immense profit without investment." Shi Jiuzhai was in a very good mood.

Xing Wanxing chuckled along: "If there are particularly rare otherworldly coffins among them, a single one could sell for a million Yongquan coins, which converts to one hundred million in silver."

"Furthermore, in the Jiuli tribe, only a future chieftain is qualified to bear the tribe's name. If we can capture Cangli, won't the Cangli tribe obediently offer another million Yongquan coins for his ransom?"

Shi Jiuzhai's mood improved even further; he felt that despite the long and arduous journey, it was well worth it!

Yan Qingqing, aged around twenty-seven or twenty-eight, had a voluptuous and graceful figure and eyes that shimmered with allure. She was a canine-like variant human, with furry ears and a fiery red tail hanging from her skirt.

She cooed softly, reminding him, "Master, our main objective this trip isn't just for money."

"Who says it's not about money? Your master is precisely here for the money."

One hundred million in silver. Not only would Shi Jiuzhai be greedy and impatient upon seeing it, but even the leaders of powerful sects like Longmen or Zuoqiu, who dominate an entire province, would certainly covet it.

How can one maintain such a large army without provisions and pay?

After being dropped by Shi Jiuzhai, Li Weiyi immediately stood up and noticed that Shi Jiuzhai and the other three had gone to a secluded spot to discuss something.

So, he quickly scanned his surroundings to observe the environment.

All around were burly men in brown monk robes, carrying weapons. There were also a small number of towering beast-human hybrids, making up only ten to twenty percent of the group, each looking fierce and malevolent.

But when they looked at the two of them, their expressions were either puzzled or awestruck.

Li Weiyi quickly came up with an idea, assuming an arrogant and fierce demeanor. He waved to one of the burly men who seemed a bit timid: "That's right. You, come here!"

Although Gao Huan didn't understand what Li Weiyi was saying, he felt that Li's demeanor, actions, and tone were overly arrogant, and his heart pounded with anxiety.

When the seemingly timid burly man approached, he immediately put on a fawning smile, his mood even more anxious than Gao Huan's.

Li Weiyi, pointing a thumb towards Shi Jiuzhai in the distance, asked, "Do you know who we are?"

"Yes, yes," the timid burly man said repeatedly.

Li Weiyi said, "If you know, then tell me?"

How would the timid burly man know who he and Gao Huan were? Everyone had been temporarily seconded from the Earth Wolf King's army, having rushed thousands of li and only arrived at Burial Immortal Town yesterday.

The timid burly man wasn't truly timid; he was afraid of Shi Jiuzhai, who was behind these two. That's why he had just avoided Li Weiyi's gaze.

Could someone brought back by King Jiuzhai with a cloud of magical power be an ordinary person?

Knowing he couldn't afford to offend them, the timid burly man spoke truthfully: "Everyone just arrived yesterday, and we spent the whole night cleaning and arranging things, with no time to rest. Please forgive my ignorance, I truly don't know your esteemed identity. But to be traveling with King Jiuzhai, you must be extraordinary individuals whom we can only look up to."

Li Weiyi secretly breathed a sigh of relief and patted the timid burly man's chest: "Good that you know. We are King Jiuzhai's personal attendants. Do you have any food?"

"Yes, yes..."

The timid burly man quickly went to fetch it.

Li Weiyi pulled Gao Huan along and followed.

He certainly didn't want to be active under the nose of King Jiuzhai, or their true identities would be exposed sooner or later.

Fortunately, Shi Jiuzhai was meeting with a top-secret guest to discuss arrangements for seizing the otherworldly coffins, so he had no time to pay attention to the two "little wolf cubs."

This top-secret guest wore silver robes and white vestments, and a black Buddha-head mask. From his imposing figure and the delicate, fair hands holding a xiao flute, it was clear he was quite young.

Yet, this young man, facing the fearsome Shi Jiuzhai, stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze and demeanor, if not arrogant, certainly showed no fear.

He said, "The Master's instruction is not only to seize the coffins, but to kill everyone. Only by making it bloody enough can we instigate great chaos in Lizhou."

Shi Jiuzhai, whose only desire was to make money, frowned deeply: "You noble people from the powerful sects are even more ruthless than us mere bandits. Before, you didn't say to kill everyone. This includes Li Songlin, the Cangli tribe's leader, and five thousand of their people..."

The noble guest with the Buddha-head mask smiled: "What, are you afraid now? Afraid of provoking those old monsters from Jiuli Mountain and Jiuli City?"

Shi Jiuzhai shook his head: "My point is, seizing coffins has its price, and killing people has a separate price. You need to pay more!"

Led by the timid burly man, Li Weiyi and Gao Huan had a satisfying meal in the Earth Wolf King's army's crude mess hall.

All their strength and fighting spirit were instantly restored.

Gao Huan was frantically stuffing and packing, preparing to flee, and whispered, "When we passed through the market town center just now, blood was flowing like a river and bodies were piled up like mountains; it nearly scared me to death! These people are definitely not Buddhist cultivators; we need to get out of here as quickly as possible."

Li Weiyi said, "Their monk-like robes are all new, definitely recently made. It's precisely because they knew only their own people would wear such robes that King Jiuzhai mistook us."

"If my guess is correct, the three people eaten by the Thousand-Headed Dragon Vine were very likely three of their scouts sent out."

"Furthermore, although they call themselves the Earth Wolf King's army, I see their discipline is lax, and they all exude a fierce aura. Their strength is also inconsistent, not like a proper army at all."

"Third, I observed on the way here that all roads leading out of this abandoned market town are blocked. It might not be so easy for us to escape unnoticed. If we are discovered... then even our ability to leverage borrowed authority will be completely gone."

Gao Huan exclaimed, "On the way here, all I could think about was food! I can't believe you observed so much."

"Not just that."

Li Weiyi continued, "They are hiding in this market town, certainly intending to ambush that coffin-carrying team. I calculated their travel speed on the hillside earlier; it will take them at least two more hours to reach this place."

Gao Huan said, "I get it! In two hours, when they start fighting, that will be our chance to escape."

"Exactly."

After thinking for a moment, Li Weiyi added, "However, there's still one thing I don't understand. With so many of them hidden in the market town, how can they remain undetected? There must be experts among the coffin-carrying team, and an expert's perception is extremely sharp."

Shi Jiuzhai arrived at the base of the mound of bodies in the market town center and formed a hand seal. He exhaled a mouthful of gray magical mist, which spread over the area. At the same time, a nearly transparent bead flew out from his body along with the gray mist and hovered above the market town.

Boom!

Shi Jiuzhai's palm suddenly struck the ground.

Flame-like magical energy surged into the ground, and in an instant, the ground for dozens of zhang around ignited. Heat waves swept through the market town's streets.

The bloody aura from the mound of bodies steamed up like tendrils of red smoke, surging towards the bead suspended in mid-air.

After absorbing all the bloody aura, semi-transparent scriptures burst forth from the bead. Soon after, the entire Burial Immortal Town was enveloped by the scriptures.

"Give the order: wait until half of the Cangli tribe has ascended before attacking, splitting the coffin-carrying team in two. Slaughter them all, leave no one alive." Shi Jiuzhai's voice was imperiously chilling, filled with an awe-inspiring authority.

The mess hall was not too far from the market town center, and when Li Weiyi heard Shi Jiuzhai's command, his face turned extremely grim.

Only then did he realize that the seemingly timid burly man wasn't timid at all; he was clearly terrified of Shi Jiuzhai's cultivation level and bloodlust. Thus, he also feared the two of them who were accompanying Shi Jiuzhai.

"'Slaughter them all, leave no one alive.' How many people do they intend to kill?"

Upon learning this, Gao Huan said despairingly, "I suddenly feel that survival, no matter where, is equally cruel. Either you work tirelessly like an ox or a horse, or you become a pig or lamb awaiting slaughter. Only by distinguishing oneself can one truly live."

Two hours later.

The vanguard of the Cangli tribe's coffin-carrying team had reached the base of the Dragon-Slaying Mouth waterfall.

The water roared, and the air was humid.

A barefoot girl, as beautiful as a night mist sprite, walked at the very front of the team. Her five slender, jade-like fingers held an ancient bronze lamp emitting a faint blue glow. On her wrist, she wore nine silver bracelets.

Although barefoot, her skin was like jade, unafraid of the broken stones on the ground.

Each step was light and silent, yet she could cover more than a zhang in distance, with trails of blue misty light flowing beneath her feet.

She was Li Ling, the "Underworld Lantern Guide" of the Cangli tribe's coffin-carrying team, a successor to the High Priest. She could use the underworld light to find paths through the Spirit Mist Territory, thus guiding her tribesmen to and from the Sea of Blood Coffin Dock.