Chapter 109: Gray Tide

Lanyang City.

In the rear courtyard of the Xu Residence, a secluded, independent compound was engulfed in the deep night.

Dozens of robust black-clad guards of the State Religion stood three paces apart, five paces a sentry, their defense impenetrable.

Inside the flower hall, the short Sect Master Hao was huddled within his voluminous purple robe. Three feet away, a similarly slender Cultivator of the State Religion, dressed in a green robe, stood bowed.

The two were very similar, not in appearance, but in that chilling, foul aura that emanated from them.

After a moment, the Green-Robed Cultivator cautiously said, “Old Ancestor, for you to single-handedly turn the tide for the State Religion this time, you should at least be canonized! You are the only hope of our Dongxuan lineage!”

Sect Master Hao gave a faint ‘hmm’, “Over in Central Heaven, the old emperor is about to collapse.”

“Old Ancestor, when will we cease our actions here?”

“No rush.” Sect Master Hao raised a withered finger, twirled his long, thin mustache, and said in a hoarse voice, “You’ll go out again tonight.”

“Please give your orders, Old Ancestor.”

“Go to Prince Lanyangs Estate. Qin Shou died at the hands of that Dutou. If I cannot avenge him, who else will be willing to follow This Seat in the future?”

“Yes!”

The Green-Robed Cultivator retreated three steps, creating space.

Sect Master Hao took a sip of the crimson dew, slowly rose, and spread his arms.

He let out a low growl, “Come!”

The next moment, his robes billowed without wind, rapidly expanding.

Inside the robes, a chorus of squeaking sounds immediately erupted, sharp and urgent.

It was as if countless living creatures were scurrying frantically, eager to break free from the confines of the robes.

The surface of the large purple robe undulated, changing erratically.

“Go!”

Sect Master Hao waved his hands forward, and the inflated robes rapidly deflated and contracted.

From beneath the hem, countless gray-black rats surged out like a breached dam, spilling everywhere and covering the ground.

They squirmed densely, climbing and trampling over each other.

“Go then.”

Upon receiving the command, the Green-Robed Cultivator twisted his neck, convulsing violently, his bones making soft ‘kaka’ sounds as his body grew smaller and smaller.

Until the voluminous robes lost their support and collapsed to the ground.

After another three to five breaths, the pile of robes subtly shifted, and a slightly larger Gray Rat emerged from beneath, facing Sect Master Hao, its hind legs propped on the ground, its front paws clasped in a bow.

Sect Master Hao nodded expressionlessly. The Gray Rat turned, burrowed into a rat hole along the wall, and the tangled mass of rats in the room, as if given a command, instantly transformed into a flowing, murky tide, rustling as they followed, pouring into the dark hole, and in a moment, they were all gone.

The flower hall returned to deathly silence.

Outside, a shadow clinging to the corridor swayed like rippling water, its graceful form silently merging into the darkness.

Prince Lanyangs Estate.

As a former guard of the Prince’s Estate, Ding Suian naturally took on the task of being stationed at the estate when he came to Lanyang this time.

Even his post hadn’t changed; it was still Diying Garden.

Around the hour of Chou (1-3 AM), he sat cross-legged on the couch, circulating Qi and comprehending the Empty Cicada movement technique from the Three Elemental Evasion.

The silent bell hanging by his bed suddenly vibrated without cause.

The intruder was extremely fast; almost at the same instant the warning was given, a phantom figure glided along the floor through the crack under the door and into the room.

Then, it gracefully rose, gradually solidifying from a phantom form.

“Headmaster Xu! Why are you here?”

Xu Jiuxi didn’t bother to answer, raising her hand directly to pull out four strangely shaped wooden hairpins from her bun. “Using the central axis of the Prince’s Estate as the center, insert these four Chaos-Suppressing Nails into the Zhen, Li, Dui, and Kan positions respectively. Go quickly!”

“.”

Seeing Ding Suian still sitting on the bed, Xu Jiuxi frowned and said with a hint of coldness, “A gray tide will harm you later; don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“What is a gray tide?”

“A rat tide!”

Ding Suian was secretly startled. This plague came suddenly, and as expected, someone in the State Religion possessed Divine Abilities to control rats.

The reason why the plague was difficult to contain was now easy to explain.

“I am Headmaster’s person. If someone harms me, isn’t that slapping Headmaster’s face?”

“That’s why I came to save you. The Mangluo Array I just mentioned can not only save you but also trap them.”

“Oh?” Ding Suian didn’t believe that this enchanting Headmaster of the Law Academy came all the way from Central Heaven just to save him. “Headmaster, what do you need me to do?”

“You help me kill Sect Master Hao, but without implicating the State Religion.”

“Kill Sect Master Hao?”

Xu Jiuxi gave Ding Suian a charming smile, “Yes, help me kill him!”

“How do I kill him?”

“Figure it out yourself~”

Ding Suian was very willing to kill Sect Master Hao, but Xu Jiuxi’s ‘figure it out yourself’ was a bit shameless.

Sect Master Hao had at least thirty guards of the State Religion around him.

It was like the feeling of a foolhardy general attacking the Western Heaven, not only challenging Buddha but also wanting to destroy the Eight Great Bodhisattvas and Five Hundred Arhats.

At the first quarter of the hour of Chou, all was silent.

In the long-unused six-courtyard rear residence of Prince Lanyangs Estate, a faint rustling sound began to emerge, at first extremely subtle, then gradually becoming clearer and denser.

The starlight was dim, and tree shadows swayed.

Countless dark figures surged out from corners and cracks in the floor tiles, then connected into a continuous mass.

Led by a larger Gray Rat, they quickly surged towards the front residence.

After leaving the six-courtyard rear residence, the leading Gray Rat suddenly stopped in place, seemingly losing its sense of direction instantly.

But the rat tide behind continued to surge forward, and due to the Gray Rat’s halt, the formation, which had been advancing in several routes, gradually gathered more and more around the Gray Rat, forming a huge circular mass covering the floor tiles.

A moment later, the Gray Rat still hadn’t found its way forward, anxiously standing on its hind legs, looking around in confusion.

The rat tide also seemed to sense the Gray Rat’s confusion and became restless.

After a few breaths, the rat tide lost control and scattered in all directions with a whoosh.

Ji Pavilion.

Zhao Yan, who lived on the first floor, suddenly twitched her pointed ears in her sleep, and her delicate nose unconsciously sniffed.

This was the scent of prey.

Second floor.

Around the second quarter of the hour of Chou.

‘Squeak, squeak, squeak~’

‘Squeak, squeak~’

‘Hiss~ Hiss~’

Lin Hansu was awakened by the commotion downstairs. At first, she heard countless tiny gnawing sounds and the scratching of claws across the floor.

There was also a faint stench.

Lin Hansu put on her clothes and went downstairs.

But after a few steps, an unexpected sight directly entered her eyes.

On the first floor, gray-black rats scurried everywhere.

They climbed all over the place: tables, beams, curtains. They were frantically fleeing.

And their target of evasion…

The completely naked Zhao Yan’s eyes were red, her fox ears twitched nimbly, and her fox tail behind her hips wagged joyfully.

She was clinging to a pillar in a bizarre posture, her ten fingers leaving scratches wherever they went.

Seizing an opportunity, her extremely flexible waist twisted slightly, and as she landed gracefully, her hands, or rather front paws, had firmly pressed down on one.

The surrounding rats scattered instantly, as if encountering a god of death, clearing a space and hiding in all directions.

Zhao Yan, excited by the sight of prey, had entered a half-beast state, but she still remembered the one thing Ding Suian had repeatedly instructed: ‘The rats in Lanyang Prefecture cannot be eaten; eating them will lead to death.’

Not to eat, but to play with.

‘Squeak!~’

Her front paws twisted left and right, and the rat pinned to the ground was immediately torn in half.

Having dealt with one, Zhao Yan didn’t stop, turning to pounce again, her sharp, long claws, which had grown from the tips of her slender fingers, directly skewering another rat.

Another one, and another.

Zhao Yan was having a blast.

Lin Hansu, still frozen on the stairs, was so terrified by the scene before her that her legs trembled.

Instinct urged her to scream loudly. But with her naturally calm disposition, she desperately suppressed that instinct.

Zhao Yan and Ding Suian were bound by a Life-Sharing Curse.

If Lin Hansu screamed and attracted others, Zhao Yan would be in danger. If she had an accident, Ding Suian’s life would also be at risk.

Amidst immense fear, yet unable to release her emotions, Lin Hansu finally rolled her eyes and fainted.