Chapter 428: Crisis

The Hundred Blossom Restaurant.

The Hundred Blossom Restaurant is located on the west side of Hanshui City and is one of the top twenty largest restaurants in the city. It's most famous for its Hundred Blossom Wine, which is made from over 150 kinds of seasonal fresh flowers. Because of the varying seasons, the taste of the Hundred Blossom Wine is unique in each season.

Qiu Jin'an stepped into the Hundred Blossom Restaurant. The place was packed, bustling with noise so loud it seemed capable of shaking the building. Waiters moved like spinning tops, constantly shuttling between the dining hall and the kitchen.

Qiu Jin'an finally managed to find an empty seat in a corner.

“Excuse me, is this seat taken?”

Across from him sat a customer with a round belly, thoroughly enjoying his meal, beads of sweat glistening on his forehead.

The customer looked up at Qiu Jin'an, finding his face unfamiliar. “No, it’s not. Sit down.”

“I can't believe it's not even mealtime yet, and there are so many people dining here,” Qiu Jin'an remarked, chatting with the customer while waiting for a waiter.

The customer wasn't much of a talker; he focused on his meal, offering only intermittent replies to Qiu Jin'an.

A waiter brought the menu. Qiu Jin'an casually flipped through it before handing it back. “One bowl of rice, five plates of your signature dishes, five plates of your most expensive dishes, and a pot of hundred-year-old Hundred Blossom Wine.”

“Alright, please wait a moment, honored guest.”

Qiu Jin'an didn't wait long. A bowl of rice and ten delicious dishes, colorful and fragrant, were placed on the table, along with a pot of mellow, hundred-year-old Hundred Blossom Wine. The customer across from him looked on enviously.

“If there’s nothing else, esteemed guest, I’ll take my leave,” the waiter said.

Just as the waiter was about to attend to other customers, Qiu Jin'an stopped him. “Waiter, I am a living person. How can I eat things meant for the dead?”

The waiter looked bewildered, unsure what Qiu Jin'an was talking about.

Qiu Jin'an snapped his fingers. A series of faint cracking sounds followed, like someone stepping on newly formed ice, causing it to shatter and reveal the lake beneath.

Looking at the dining hall again, there was no bustling restaurant or lively customers.

The customers had their heads bowed, with meter-tall figures riding on their necks, gesticulating wildly.

The stout customer sitting across from Qiu Jin'an had an exaggeratedly large belly, making him resemble a sphere.

The waiter was bone-thin, frail, and seemed as though a gust of wind could blow him away.

What lay before Qiu Jin'an were no longer delicious dishes but maggots and raw meat, still wriggling on the plates.

Only the white rice remained unchanged, except for three chopsticks stuck upright in it.

Qiu Jin'an's smile widened. “Two ghost kings—the Bloated Ghost and the Starved Ghost—along with their petty minions. You think this lineup can handle me?”

The stout customer and the waiter dropped their disguises, revealing eerie smiles.

A small figure silently climbed onto Qiu Jin'an's neck...

The Corpse-Driving Sect.

Four cultivators, dressed in ancient robes, appeared together before the gates of the Corpse-Driving Sect. Ignoring the vigilant disciples, they quickly split up, heading towards four different locations within the Yin Corpse Mountain Range.

Boom—Boom—Boom—Boom—

Violent battles erupted simultaneously in all four locations.

“Damn it, that scoundrel Huang Ming secretly found out our location!” Elder Gai roared, enraged. They hadn't even begun their search of the Corpse-Driving Sect when they were attacked.

The four elders of the Corpse-Driving Sect were caught off guard, but thankfully, they reacted quickly, summoning all of their living corpses.

One of the ancient-robed cultivators sneered, “Hmph, a sect that merely stumbled upon our heritage dares to oppose us?”

“You're from the Necromancy Sect!” Elder Gai's pupils constricted as he recognized the cultivators' attire and heard their words.

The Corpse-Driving Sect's origins lay in a fortuitous encounter. Their founding patriarch accidentally stumbled into a secret realm, evaded three fatal crises, and obtained a complete inheritance: a full set of corpse-driving techniques.

This inheritance originated from a sect called the Necromancy Sect during the Great Yu Dynasty. According to the Great Xia's classification, the Necromancy Sect was a supreme-grade sect, with a Tribulation Transcending stage cultivator presiding over it.

The Necromancy Sect was destroyed during the conquest wars at the beginning of the Great Xia's founding, leaving behind only one inheritance, which was acquired by the Corpse-Driving Sect's founding patriarch.

The ancient-robed cultivator rubbed a ring. One by one, long-sealed living corpses broke through their seals, emerging with an ancient, deathly aura, spanning over a hundred thousand years of history to engage in battle with their descendants.

Four, eight, sixteen, twenty… a total of twenty living corpses appeared, encircling Elder Gai and the others!

“Then let us elders see how much skill you juniors have truly learned.”

A towering figure stood in the sky above Hanshui City, directly above the Governor's mansion.

This person walked with a majestic stride, like a born emperor, exuding dominance and power in every gesture.

His presence was so overwhelming that everyone in Hanshui City involuntarily looked up at the sky. Seeing that majestic man, comparable to the sun, an inexplicable panic arose in their hearts.

“After preparing for so long, the plan was ultimately leaked. Huang Ming and Meng Tian, those two good-for-nothing failures!”

Murderous intent flashed in the emperor-like figure's eyes. If he hadn't lost contact with those two, he wouldn't have appeared prematurely.

A little later, just a little later, once the conditions for activating the grand formation were met, the plan would have been flawless.

“Oh well, there are no perfect plans in this world.”

“Heavenly Calamity Venerable failed and was captured in Qingzhou. It's said that a sudden master apprehended him.”

“I have investigated Hanshui City these past few days, and there is no one within the city who poses a threat to me.”

“To be safe, I hereby establish a rule: for one day, no information can be transmitted out of Hanshui City.”

Adding a time limit makes the rule more potent.

Lu Yang looked up at the emperor-like figure floating in the sky, a headache beginning to form.

The moment Immortal Bu朽 reminded him, he tried to summon his Senior Sister, but unfortunately, he was a step too late. The emperor-like figure had established a rule here, preventing his Pictographic Fist from borrowing power from Senior Sister, meaning she wouldn't be able to learn of the situation.

“Logically, aren't Tribulation Transcending cultivators supposed to be rare? Why do I keep running into them everywhere? Governor said this place was the safest, but I feel like it's the most dangerous!”

“Maybe it's because my status as Young Sect Master is too high; everyone is rushing to see me.”

“Hey, since you're the Young Sect Master now, shouldn't I also get a position in the Heavenly Court Sect?”

“How about you become the Young Sect Master’s henchman?”

“Get lost.”

Old Ma felt the Tribulation Transcending aura emanating from the sky and wondered if he should retire.

Meng Jingzhou's father had entrusted it with being Meng Jingzhou's protector. It thought the task would be quite simple and readily agreed.

Recalling from the beginning, when it brought Yun Zhi to the Dao Seeking Sect, then resurrected Immortal Bu朽 at the Yanjiang Branch, then encountered ancient Tribulation Transcending cultivators in Qingzhou, and now again in Huangzhou...

It felt it had been overconfident.

Man Gu had always been confident in Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou. With two Senior Brothers present, nothing could go wrong, so he remained very calm.

Zhao Po was the most flustered of the four. He had just encountered Lord Meng Tian, a Great Yu Integration Stage cultivator, that morning, and by the afternoon, he was facing a Great Yu Tribulation Transcending cultivator.

What kind of luck was this?

He felt his luck had been consistently bad lately. When did it start getting worse?

(End of Chapter)