Chapter 59 : Chapter 59
Chapter 59: Come, I’ll Give You a Chance to Rephrase That. Tell Me, Whose Territory Is This?
“No!!! I don’t want to!!! I can’t eat anymore... enough... I was wrong... kill me, please kill me...”
To make a man-eating Demon Beast realize its mistakes...
How savage.
Utterly savage.
Seeing that scene, A Ming could not help retching. It looked as though he would be having nightmares for a very long time to come.
The screams and muffled sobs by his ear were already growing weak and feeble, until at last they disappeared completely.
A terrifying Demon Beast had been stuffed to death just like that.
But he quickly came back to his senses.
“Lord Lu, Sister Xiaoyu has been poisoned. Please, save her!”
A Ming paid no attention to the ground covered in mangled flesh. He dropped straight to his knees and kowtowed.
He had heard that Lord Lu had once saved a gravely wounded young man in the Southern District of Peach Blossom Alley. A great figure like him surely had a way.
But would Lord Lu be willing to act?
Suddenly, A Ming felt his body grow light, and then an unexpectedly gentle voice sounded beside his ear.
“Where? Lead the way!”
Joy rose in A Ming’s heart. “Over there... in the grass beneath an old tree.”
He had only just raised his hand to point out the direction when he felt a strange sense of weightlessness, as though he were flying.
In the next moment, he landed.
“I’m... I’m back?”
Looking at the familiar surroundings, he could hardly believe it. It was not until he heard Xiaohui’s faint choking sobs beside him that he was finally certain.
“Wuwuwu... Brother A Ming has been gone so long. He must already be dead. Sister Xiaoyu, you absolutely have to hold on. If you die too, what are we supposed to do...?”
Suddenly, Liu Xiaoyu forced herself upright with all her strength, bent forward, and stared warily at the two blurred figures in the darkness.
With vigilance, she gave a low shout.
“Who’s there?!”
“Your alertness is not bad, but your strength is lacking.”
A voice of praise sounded from the darkness, and it was one she knew well.
Lord Lu!!!
The real Lord Lu!
This voice was absolutely not the same as the one from before. It was just that she did not know what twists and turns had happened in the meantime.
“Sister Xiaoyu, it’s me, A Ming.”
“This time it really is Lord Lu. You have no idea what just happened. It went like this, and then like that...”
A Ming quickly gave a brief account of everything that had just happened.
After listening, Liu Xiaoyu felt a lingering wave of fear, and she could not help reproaching him for his recklessness.
“You must never act like that again.”
Before the two of them could speak for long, Lu Zhan’s voice came from beside them. There was a commanding force in it that left no room for resistance.
“So you’re the one who was poisoned? Open your mouth.”
Liu Xiaoyu opened her mouth instinctively, and a drop of liquid flicked into it. It carried the fragrant sweetness of a spiritual medicine.
What had Lord Lu given her?
A precious pill? A spiritual elixir?
In the next moment, she felt the snake venom clinging to her body like maggots on rotting bone melt away like winter snow under a blazing sun, vanishing completely in an instant.
What a miraculous method.
Liu Xiaoyu could not help marveling inwardly.
“Sister Xiaoyu, your poison is gone?”
A Ming saw that the dark bruising on Liu Xiaoyu’s arm had disappeared completely, and he could not help letting out a breath of relief.
After dealing with matters here, Lu Zhan casually pointed in one direction.
“Later, just leave by heading that way. As for the Demon Beasts on the road, you needn’t worry. I’ve already cleared them all out.”
“Lord Lu, then what about you?”
Lu Zhan lifted his head, and a chill entered his eyes. “There’s a big one that’s already growing impatient. Since I am the master of Peach Blossom Alley, it is only natural that I give it a proper reception.”
Hearing that Lu Zhan was about to leave, A Ming felt a little disappointed.
But then his face flushed red, and his eyes filled with reverence as he said, “Lord Lu, one day, I want to become as strong as you are.”
Lu Zhan smiled. Not only did he refrain from crushing the young man’s confidence, he simply rested a large hand on his head.
“A fine ambition. I’ll be waiting for the day we fight side by side.”
Fight side by side?!!!
Feeling the warmth of that palm, A Ming’s blood instantly began to boil.
At that moment, he suddenly felt that Lord Lu, standing in the darkness, was radiating a dazzling light.
But...
Why was Lord Lu so warm and approachable after putting away his blade, almost like the older brother next door, when he had been so brutally savage while killing those Demon Beasts just moments earlier?
Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.
The blade!
The Asura Saber!
Realization dawned on him at once. “That’s right, it was the blade! It had to be the blade at Lord Lu’s waist.”
“The kind and gentle man just now is Lord Lu as he truly is. The savagery from earlier must have been because he was influenced by that blade.”
“I knew it. Someone as upright and kind as Lord Lu could never possibly do such a thing.”
At that moment, all of his doubts had an answer.
Deep within the Demon Nest, Lu Zhan arrived before a mountain valley. Inside the valley was a peach grove, and the peach blossoms were in full bloom. Unlike the rotting stench and decay outside, this place was lush with green grass, birdsong, and flowers, like a secluded paradise.
Whenever the wind passed through, the entire peach grove swayed gently, and petals danced through the air. The sight was exquisitely beautiful and refreshing to the soul.
Lu Zhan stepped calmly into the grove.
With each breath, he could smell the fragrance of peach blossoms. Lu Zhan raised a brow. The scent seemed strangely familiar.
Before he could think further, the wind passed and blossoms fell. Petal after petal drifted down, dazzling the eye. When they landed on his arm, they carried a cool, delicate touch.
Like the soft hand of a woman.
Had it been anyone else, they probably would have fallen hopelessly under its spell by now.
But this display only enraged Lu Zhan completely.
“Damn it, are you sick in the head? It’s the height of summer, and you’re showing me peach blossoms? Are you trying to fool me like I’m some idiot? Wait, Peach Blossom Miasma... no wonder it felt so familiar.”
“No, it’s not just poison... an illusion?”
Poison and illusion together. Anyone else might truly have fallen here.
But he was Lu Zhan.
“Heh, what a pity for you. Everything you can do, I happen to be able to counter.”
Lu Zhan gave a cold laugh.
The Eyes of the Candle Dragon talent activated!
In the next instant, Lu Zhan’s eyes were plated in a layer of red-gold light.
[ Effect 3: See Through Falsehood, Shatter Illusions ]
[ Grants immunity to illusions cast by those up to one major realm above the Host. Against illusions cast by those more than one major realm above the Host, damage taken is reduced by 30%. ]
Under the perspective of the Eyes of the Candle Dragon, the peach blossoms were still in bloom. Hm? Could it be that the other party’s mastery of illusions had already reached such a level?
No, that was not it. His gaze lowered.
The lush green grass vanished. In its place was only a ground full of withered bones.
“How curious. Peach blossoms blooming in midsummer after all. Is it because the Spiritual Energy here is so dense?”
Lu Zhan clicked his tongue in wonder.
But he had no mind to admire the scenery. Right now, all he wanted was to kill these foul things.
The Nine Heavens Breaking Fiend Art at the Entering the Divine level happened to restrain evil things like these. One tremendous streak of Saber Intent after another slashed toward the peach grove without cease.
“The world really is going downhill. Even a few rotten peach blossoms know how to flaunt themselves now. How disgusting.”
“Let’s see whether I don’t chop you down today!”
To be treated like this by a few peach trees...
Gooseflesh instantly rose all over his body, and his attacks grew even more ruthless.
Suddenly, the entire peach grove trembled. One of the peach trees actually had a bright and beautiful human face, and it spoke in human language:
“Human, why have you trespassed into my territory?!”
Lu Zhan looked up and saw that the trunk of that peach tree was twisted and gnarled, and dried blood still clung to the cracks in its dark brown bark.
Several strips of torn black cloth still hung from its crown.
They were human garments.
“My territory?” Lu Zhan sneered.
So they had really come right to his doorstep to bully him, had they?
He had been sitting at home, minding his own business, and this Demon Nest had appeared right in his face, yet now this thing was telling him this was its territory?
Good.
Excellent.
Lu Zhan’s gaze turned ice-cold. He did not waste words. With lightning flashing around him, he appeared directly in front of the peach tree. Before it could react, he kicked the grotesque tree away with brutal force.
Roots, soil, and all.
To be fair, it was quite sturdy. It did not break.
Then he chased after it, planted one foot hard on top of the grotesque peach tree, leaned the upper half of his body forward slightly, pressed his elbow against his thigh, and stared down at it with indifferent eyes.
In a lofty, condescending tone, he said, “Come, I’ll give you a chance to rephrase that. Tell me, whose territory is this?”