Chapter 24 Small Town Suspicion

Flower Fox opened his mouth, unsure how to explain.

He had the same doubts in his heart. The scholar Tong Xuan’s knowledge was clearly far inferior to that of Mr. Wild Fox. If Scholar Tong Xuan possessed such abilities, how much more so Mr. Wild Fox?

Yet, Mr. Wild Fox had died, and Huqiu Village had been massacred.

“The ancient scriptures only teach knowledge, not application.”

Su Yun, who was still trying to condense his vital energy and blood and draw the blood-dragon back into his body, said, “Although Mr. Wild Fox’s knowledge was profound, he didn’t understand its application.”

He raised his head, a faint light flickering in his eyes: “Moreover, Mr. Water Mirror said that the ancient saints’ ultimate techniques are already outdated. What is taught in the city now are the new saints’ ultimate techniques. Therefore, we must leave the countryside and enter the city!”

Flower Fox and the three little foxes felt a heavy heart. They were fox demons, and they felt both fear and longing for the city.

They had an instinctive fear of the people in the city; Huqiu Village had been massacred by city dwellers. However, they also yearned for the life in the city.

If they, as fox demons, did not enter the city and learn the latest ultimate techniques, they would eventually be exterminated.

Just as Su Yun retracted his vital energy and blood, his expression suddenly changed. His old wounds burst open again, and vital energy and blood spurted out from the wounds, sizzling and splashing!

The blood-dragon entering his body meant that the violent vital energy and blood increasing within him had exceeded his body’s tolerance limit!

He was able to achieve the third accomplishment of the Dragon Roar, the manifestation of vital energy and blood into a dragon, because he had stolen the vital energy cloud that sustained the entire village, using it to strengthen his own vital energy and blood, which greatly enhanced his essence and blood.

But the crucial point was that while his cultivation had improved, his body had not kept pace.

His internal world could not contain so much vital energy and blood. The internal furnace of heaven and earth was rumbling, on the verge of bursting!

The excess vital energy and blood, seeking an outlet, flowed out of his body through his old wounds. As the vital energy and blood drained away, his pupils gradually constricted, about to be blocked by the sword shadow of the immortal sword!

“No wonder Mr. Water Mirror told me that I must cultivate the Furnace Transformation to the sixth stage to heal my eyes.”

Su Yun’s face darkened, allowing the excess vital energy and blood to be expelled from his body.

His vision gradually darkened, returning to blackness.

“However, I have already achieved the third accomplishment of the Dragon Roar. From now on, the cultivation of Furnace Transformation will only be faster.”

The young man raised his head, thunder rumbling beneath his feet: “I will soon cultivate Furnace Transformation to the sixth stage and heal my eyes!”

The dragon’s tribulation was gradually coming to an end. The thunder was sparse, and the clouds were thinning.

After dawn, a rope quietly descended above Snake Gorge. A small fox, the color of a civet cat, held the end of the rope and landed silently.

As soon as the little fox’s front paws touched the ground, it immediately scurried into the forest to hide, cautiously glancing around.

After a moment, this fox demon found a few pieces of dry cow dung in the forest, came to an old tree, dug a pit, and buried the cow dung inside.

After doing all this, the little fox respectfully kowtowed several times to the old tree, then got up and whispered to the old tree.

The old tree suddenly shook its branches and leaves, two dim old eyes grew on its trunk, and a mouth appeared on its bark, grumbling in a muffled voice: “Little fellow from Huqiu Village, stop tickling me… The fight last night was too fierce, two old fellows from Huang Village died, and the other three fled for their lives. Niujiazhuang also suffered heavy casualties, and the lead bull’s horns were broken. Quan Cun Chi Fan is very sinister; he secretly poisoned and killed more than a dozen good fighters from Linyi Village, and also poisoned a monk. But he was also captured by people from the city, who said they would make him a mount.”

“Earth Lord, Quan Cun Chi Fan was captured by people from the city?” the little fox demon asked in surprise.

This fox demon was precisely Li Xiaofan, who was sent to gather information because he was the most clever.

“Captured, but not taken away.”

The old tree spirit suddenly shivered and lowered its voice: “In the Dragonfall Valley,

A dragon is truly buried there! That dragon turned into a ghost, flew out of Dragonfall Valley, rescued Quan Cun Chi Fan, and two city dwellers were also injured and fled in a hurry.”

Li Xiaofan, having gathered the information, walked out of the woods, mimicked a partridge’s call a few times, and then pulled the immortal rope.

A moment later, Su Yun slid down the rope, followed by Flower Fox, Qingqiu Yue, and Hu Buping.

Su Yun sneezed a few times and rubbed his nose. It was too cold up in the sky. Unlike Flower Fox and the others, he didn’t have fur, and the howling cold wind all night almost froze him stiff.

“So much happened last night?”

Li Xiaofan told them the news he had gathered, and Su Yun and the fox demons were astonished: “There really is a dragon in Dragonfall Valley? A dragon that turned into a ghost?”

Hu Buping excitedly said, “The dragon ghost rescued Quan Cun Chi Fan. Is it going to eat him? I really want to go see!”

“Let’s go back to sleep first.” Su Yun turned and walked away.

The fox demons quickly followed him.

However, none of them noticed a Bi Fang divine bird standing on the cliff top, slowly preening its feathers.

Su Yun and the others returned to Tianmen Town. Tianmen Town was bustling, with the townspeople busy with their own affairs. The young man greeted the townspeople along the way, and the townspeople responded warmly, while the four foxes lowered their heads, tucked their tails, and walked obediently without looking sideways.

Tianmen Town was still overcast, but only Su Yun’s courtyard was bathed in sunlight.

They ate something, then lay down and slept. They had been tired all night and were truly exhausted.

Outside Tianmen Town, a firebird circled in the sky. After a moment, a woman holding a floral umbrella walked slowly. The Bi Fang divine bird suddenly flapped its wings and flew over, swooping onto the floral umbrella with sparks flying.

The Bi Fang divine bird disappeared, transforming into the firebird pattern on the floral umbrella.

Beneath the floral umbrella was the woman from the Tong family of Shuofang City, with a graceful and exquisite figure, walking with light steps into Tianmen Town.

Tianmen Town was as peaceful as ever. The townspeople were busy with their own tasks. Uncle Qu was climbing onto the Heavenly Gate, chiseling away with a clanging sound. Grandma Luo was running a pharmacy. Sister Fang’er was whispering and laughing with a neighboring young man, her face flushed with shyness.

Uncle Xu, an old invalid, was sickly carrying his medicine pot out to dump the dregs, spreading them on the road.

Grandma Le was scolding Grandpa Le, who was peeking at Grandma Luo. Grandpa Le sat upright, head bowed, hands on his knees, not saying a word.

The woman with the floral umbrella walked into the small town, and also saw a stableman brushing a horse, a drunk man urinating against a wall in the corner, and on the opposite side of the street, in a building with open windows, a pretty girl was looking into a mirror, doing her makeup.

Downstairs, a man was taking down a door panel, likely having just gotten married, so his business started later than usual.

By the street, there was also a steamed bun shop, with steaming baskets. A waiter with a towel draped over his shoulder was busy attending to customers, his shouts constant.

The woman with the floral umbrella walked with a smile down the center of the street, heading towards Su Yun’s residence.

At this moment, the noisy sounds on the street suddenly vanished. Time seemed to completely stop. Everyone turned their heads in unison, staring intently at the woman with the floral umbrella, unmoving.

Even the drunkard urinating against the wall had strangely turned his head.

Even more bizarrely, his urine had stopped in mid-air, the steam from the steamed bun shop’s steamer had paused, and the shattered stones chiseled by Uncle Qu on the Heavenly Gate were also suspended in the air, motionless.

In the entire Tianmen Town, only the ‘clack-clack’ sound of the floral umbrella woman’s wooden clogs on the bluestone slabs could be heard.

The woman with the floral umbrella let out a cold laugh, and a clear, cold voice came from beneath the umbrella: “Playing tricks! The Tong family of Shuofang is handling business here. All unrelated parties, retreat!”

There was still no sound in Tianmen Town.

The woman with the floral umbrella stopped, and the floral umbrella was slightly raised, revealing the lower half of her face below her eyes. She said coldly, “If you don’t want to be annihilated…”

“Little girl, has no one told you that this is a no-man’s-land? We were annihilated a long time ago.”

The woman with the floral umbrella suddenly turned around, looking towards the Heavenly Gate at the end of the street.

On the Heavenly Gate, Uncle Qu began to move again, chiseling the patterns on the gate, and the ‘ding-ding’ sound could be heard.

“In this world, only one person can give orders to Tianmen Town, and that person is Emperor Ping of Yuan Shuo.”

Uncle Qu meticulously chiseled the Heavenly Gate. Suddenly, the mist around Tianmen Town dispersed, and all the houses, buildings, shops, and townspeople in the town disintegrated at the moment the mist cleared!

The woman with the floral umbrella was horrified. She saw that Tianmen Town was now filled with tombs, overgrown with weeds, and littered with debris!