Chapter 1161: Man-Made Beast Tide
The guards at the city gates stared at Lu Yang as if they had seen a ghost. Based on the students’ descriptions, he had clearly been in a situation with no chance of survival. Can this really be explained by having enough life-preserving methods?
Lu Yang returned to Muxue City, escorted by his students. The entourage was completely at odds with the city’s tense atmosphere. With the beast tide imminent, all of Muxue City was preparing for war, and every cultivator had been conscripted.
Before returning to the martial arts school, Lu Yang instructed the students to go home. Today’s outdoor activity has been a great success.
The martial arts school was empty. After asking around, Lu Yang learned that the city lord had summoned every cultivator in the city to deal with the beast tide. As cultivators, Murong You and the others had all been called up.
“Come to think of it, who exactly triggered this beast tide?” Lying in bed, Lu Yang mumbled to himself as he recalled the remnants of what appeared to be beast-taming techniques he had discovered within the bodies of the four great demon kings.
This means that this beast tide is not the natural disaster others believe it to be, but a man-made calamity.
“Were they trying to use the beast tide to destroy Muxue City?”
To control four great demon kings with beast-taming techniques, the caster has to be a Transcendent Tribulation cultivator. But for someone with that level of power, annihilating Muxue City would have been effortless.
“Were they unwilling to act personally, or did they have some other motive?”
Suddenly, a commotion came from the martial arts school.
“Did you see Vice City Lord Ma’s expression? It was hilarious. I thought he only wore a gloomy face, but it turns out he has other expressions too.”
“Alright, that’s enough. Keep your voices down. If any of Vice City Lord Ma’s people hear us, we’re done for.”
Lu Yang stepped out and saw that Murong You and his disciples had returned.
“Little Lu, you’re fine? I heard you took the children out to hunt demon beasts outside the city. You scared me to death,” Murong You said with concern.
“My luck was pretty good. I didn’t run into any powerful demon beasts.”
“Sigh. I’ve got to say, you really weren’t bragging about your luck. It’s truly amazing. A beast tide arrived while you were out. Had you encountered that, you would have been finished.”
“Exactly, exactly! That was a beast tide capable of obliterating a city. Even the city lord was helpless,” the inner disciples chimed in. This was the first time in their lives they had encountered a legendary beast tide.
Lu Yang smiled but made no comments.
“I heard from the neighbors that you were all deployed by the city lord to deal with the beast tide?”
“You don’t say. I really thought I was going to die this time.” Murong You slapped his thigh, still shaken.
“No hurry, no hurry. Sit down and take your time to tell me about it.” Lu Yang smiled. “I happened to catch a few wild rabbits outside the city. It’s the perfect timing for us to roast them together.”
“Yo, that sounds wonderful!” Murong You beamed, and his disciples were equally delighted. In the desolate Extreme North, barbecuing was one of the few forms of entertainment available.
Lu Yang skillfully set up the grill with practiced ease, listening to Murong You’s tale as he barbecued.
“At first, when Vice City Lord Ma gathered us, we were terrified. After all, that was a beast tide! What use could Qi Training, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core cultivators like us be? We would just be marching to our deaths.
“That hypocritical Ma even said it was all for the survival of Muxue City and demanded that we hand over our cultivation resources for centralized distribution. If he had any genuine ability, he would have been the first to charge at the beast tide. It was all bullshit. I reckon he just wanted to line his own pockets. The moment the city is breached, he would be the first to grab everything and flee for his life!
“After trying to persuade us for half a day, Vice City Lord Ma started losing his temper when he saw that none of us were willing to hand over our cultivation resources. That was when Vice City Lord Yao showed up and said we didn’t need to worry about the beast tide anymore.
“A peerless expert had slain the four great demon kings with a single strike of the sword. Tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of demon beasts were massacred, completely eradicating the beast tide at its source.
“Ma initially accused Vice City Lord Yao of fabricating military reports to undermine morale, but after he took a group out of the city to see for himself, he came back in a daze, mumbling something like ‘impossible.’ He was also severely injured by the residual sword qi.”
His youngest disciple interjected, his eyes flickering with admiration. “I heard that the city lord personally inspected the scene and judged that it was the work of a supreme figure who had reached the pinnacle of Sword Dao.
“A supreme lord in Sword Dao! If I could meet this Sword Dao supreme lord just once, it would make my life worthwhile.”
Lu Yang brought over four roasted rabbits and teased, “What’s so special about a Sword Dao supreme lord?”
The little disciple grinned. “Fellow Daoist Lu, you wouldn’t understand. What if this Sword Dao supreme lord finds me pleasing to the eye and imparts a sword technique or two to me? Wouldn’t I be able to strut around Muxue City unimpeded?”
Murong You took a bite of the roasted rabbit leg, and his eyes lit up. “Hey, Little Lu, your skills are great. You could open a shop. I’ve been eating barbeque in Muxue City for nearly a hundred years, yet not one of them has ever topped yours!”
“You’re exaggerating, you’re exaggerating.”
~~~
Ever since Vice City Lord Ma returned home to the Ma Family Estate, he had shut himself away, refusing to see even his own family.
He sat cross-legged on a straw cushion, eyes closed, teeth clenched, and arms crossed. Beads of sweat trickled from his forehead, running down his chin and cheeks before dripping onto the floor.
The Sword Dao supreme lord’s sword qi lingered within his body. He tried every method to expel it, but to no avail. He could only let it wear away bit by bit.
But that wasn’t what he was concerned about. He suddenly opened his eyes and murmured, “This is impossible, this is impossible...”
“What’s impossible?” A weathered voice sounded beside Vice City Lord Ma.
“Who goes there?” Vice City Lord Ma tensed. This is my cultivation site. It’s supposed to be absolutely secure. Not even the city lord can barge in here.
“What, you still have one of my sword qi in your body, yet you don’t recognize me?”
Vice City Lord Ma’s pupils constricted sharply, and his voice quivered. “It’s you—no, it’s You!”[1]
It’s that peerless sword venerable who had slain the four great demon kings!
“Vice City Lord Ma, what do you think is impossible? That the beast tide that should have attacked the city was stopped by me?”
Feeling the sword venerable’s oppressive aura, Vice City Lord Ma dropped to his knees with a thud, sweat the size of soybeans beading on his forehead.
“N-no, that’s not what I meant,” he stammered.
The sword venerable withdrew his oppressive pressure. He could tell that Vice City Lord Ma was also a sword cultivator. Faced with the overwhelming aura of a sword cultivator far beyond him, he couldn’t have lied.
“I-I never imagined that a sword cultivator would reach such a level,” Vice City Lord Ma said bitterly. As a sword cultivator himself, he understood all too well the chasm between him and this peerless sword venerable.
But he had refused to accept it. That was why he had recklessly touched the sword qi left in the great demon kings’ corpses, thereby sustaining grievous injuries.
He had realized that an unbridgeable gulf lay between himself and a true sword cultivator, and despair had taken root in his heart.
The sword venerable sneered. “You are a sword cultivator, yet you harbored impure intentions. When faced with the beast tide, you only thought of abandoning the city, displaying not the slightest bit of backbone and indomitable spirit, yet you still aspire to reach the pinnacle of Sword Dao? Utterly risible.”
“Have you ever raised your sword against someone stronger than you in your entire life?”
Vice City Lord Ma felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
The sword venerable withdrew the sword qi lingering in Vice City Lord Ma and vanished.
~~~
Lu Yang appeared outside the Ma Family Estate and shook his head, muttering to himself, “It seems he had nothing to do with the beast tide.”
1. He is using the honorific form of “you” the second time. ☜
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