Chapter 35: Yellow Wind Ridge, Eight Hundred Miles
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Listening to the waiter’s indignant account, Yang Qingyuan and Wangquan Zui exchanged a glance.
“You mean these sandstorms are being caused by demons from Huangfeng Ridge outside the city?”
Yang Qingyuan took a small sip of the local “wine,” its bottom still clouded with grains of sand. Then, without changing expression, he placed several copper coins on the table, signaling the waiter to continue.
The moment the waiter saw the coins, his eyes lit up.
To Wangquan Zui, they were loose change too heavy to bother carrying. To the waiter, however, they represented several days’ wages.
“You two must be the young master and young miss of some distinguished family, right? I knew it the moment I laid eyes on you! What bearing, what elegance—a perfect match, and so generous besides!”
“Enough flattery. Tell us about Huangfeng Ridge outside the city.”
“Hehe, of course!”
The waiter chuckled as he swiftly gathered the coins from the table and continued:
“Tushan has always been ruled by the Tushan Fox-Demon Clan. The fox demons of Tushan have gentle dispositions and never harm people without cause.
“Especially since the current Fox-Demon Queen, Tushan Honghong, took the throne—her attitude toward us humans has been exceptionally amicable.
“Under the leadership of the Tushan Fox-Demon Clan, the demons within Tushan’s territory have always kept to their own side of the river and left us humans alone.
“But recently, I don’t know what happened. The demons of Huangfeng Ridge suddenly became very restless.
“They haven’t actually clashed with us yet, but anyone with even a little cultivation can sense these yellow sands the moment they leave the city. There’s no doubt the demons are causing trouble in secret!”
“Indeed. I sensed something strange about the sand while we were still in the sky. There is demonic power in it…” Yang Qingyuan nodded.
“Then didn’t you report it to the Dao Alliance?”
“Of course we did. How could we not? But the demons of Huangfeng Ridge haven’t truly attacked us, have they?
“Those Dao lords of the One Qi Dao Alliance stand high above the world. Which of them would be willing to travel all the way to this remote Yellow Wind City and remain here to protect us from the sandstorms?”
“I see…” A flicker of understanding crossed Wangquan Zui’s eyes.
In truth, all they needed to do to deal with the sandstorms was establish a protective formation around Yellow Wind City.
But for a border city like Yellow Wind City, how many members of the One Qi Dao Alliance would truly take it seriously?
Even more than a decade later, when Wangquan Baye served as Alliance Leader, would he have paid attention to this place if such a major incident had not suddenly occurred at Huangfeng Ridge?
By now, Yang Qingyuan had more or less grasped the whole situation.
“Qingyuan, shall we go take a look?”
“Mm.”
Yang Qingyuan nodded. They were headed that way anyway. Since they had happened upon the matter, there was naturally no reason to stand by and do nothing.
After all, was one of the original purposes behind forming the Masked Group not to uphold justice and defend the innocent?
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After eating and drinking their fill, Yang Qingyuan and Wangquan Zui wasted no time. They immediately flew out of the city on their swords.
In the sky, Yang Qingyuan’s brows drew together slightly as he watched another sandstorm suddenly rise from nowhere below them.
“It’s happening again…”
“What do you plan to do now?”
“Simple.”
Yang Qingyuan raised a hand. In an instant, the previously cloudless sky darkened beneath a mass of storm clouds, while peals of thunder flashed among them.
Rumble!
“Go!”
Following the direction of Yang Qingyuan’s sword-pointing fingers, a bolt of lightning struck straight into the eye of the sandstorm.
Under the violent might of Yang Qingyuan’s Five-Thunder Art, the demonic power controlling the storm was scattered in an instant. The demon concealed within the sandstorm came tumbling to the ground, covered in dust.
“Ptooey, ptooey! Which busybody of a stinking Daoist dared to ambush me, your grandfather?”
Clang!
Before the demon could finish cursing and crawl out of the sand, a three-pointed, double-edged spear suddenly slammed into the ground beside him, passing within a hair’s breadth of his cheek.
Without the slightest hesitation, the demon reacted entirely on instinct.
“Great Immortal, spare me! Please, spare me!”
Seeing the little rat demon kneeling on the ground below and begging for mercy repeatedly without even daring to raise his head, Wangquan Zui could not help finding it amusing.
“You’re remarkably practiced at that.”
“Can’t be helped. I had to practice.”
Yang Qingyuan shrugged, then slowly descended before the little demon.
“You’re a demon from Huangfeng Ridge?”
“Yes, Great Immortal,” the little demon answered nervously.
“Were these sandstorms all your doing?”
“I… No, no, no! Great Immortal, I was only obeying my king’s orders!”
“Your king?” Wangquan Zui pressed.
“My king is the lord of Huangfeng Ridge—Jin Wuwei!”
“Jin Wuwei…”
Yang Qingyuan stroked his chin, a thoughtful look crossing his eyes.
As he recalled, Jin Wuwei would later become the spark that ignited the Huangfeng Ridge incident, only to have his entire family slaughtered by the people from the Sword Mound…
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Judging by the current progress, since Jin Wuwei was still alive, the people from the Sword Mound had not yet arrived at Huangfeng Ridge.
“Why did your king do this?”
The little demon’s eyes flickered with hesitation.
Seeing this, Wangquan Zui immediately placed the Illusory Dream Sword against his neck.
“Tell the truth. Otherwise…”
As she spoke, Wangquan Zui tilted the blade slightly, drawing a shallow line of blood across the little demon’s throat.
Unlike Yang Qingyuan, who was a transmigrator, every other member of the Masked Group—including Wangquan Zui—had been raised from childhood on teachings that demons were all deserving of death.
Thus, Wangquan Zui would have felt no psychological burden whatsoever if she killed this little demon on the spot.
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Please spare me, auntie!
“This really has nothing to do with my king. The humans of Yellow Wind City stole something belonging to him first. My king tried to negotiate with them, but when that failed, he had no choice but to resort to this!”
“They stole something belonging to your king?”
A trace of suspicion appeared in Wangquan Zui’s eyes.
“You. Raise your head and look into my eyes.”
“Yes!”
The instant the little demon lifted his head, Wangquan Zui activated the illusion technique she had created herself, dragging him into an illusory realm.
After questioning the demon again while he was trapped within the illusion and receiving an account identical to his previous statement, Wangquan Zui finally ended the interrogation.
“It seems this matter isn’t nearly as simple as it appears on the surface…”
“Mm.”
Yang Qingyuan nodded.
“What should we do with this little demon? Kill him?”
“No. Let him go.”
“I knew you’d say that…”
Wangquan Zui looked at Yang Qingyuan with some exasperation.
After knowing him for so long, she had gained a fairly good understanding of what kind of person Yang Qingyuan was.
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