Chapter 351: Chapter 350: Ye Ruyan: Come Over to My Place
Qinglan Prefecture. A branch of the Wuya Ridge range, in the cave manor on Thousand Peaks Mountain.
In the main hall of the cave manor, Mo Qianlang sat in the seat of honor. A pot of wine and a plate of dried fruit lay on the table before him as he held a bewitchingly beautiful woman in each arm, smiling as he watched the fight below.
Down in the hall, two human teenagers were locked in a fight to the death.
This was the game he had prepared after waking up this morning. He first took a trip to the nearby area at the foot of the mountain, casually kidnapped two youths from the surrounding villages, then gave each of them a blade and told them that the survivor would be sent back down the mountain, while the loser would be eaten while still warm.
And so, the two youths, who had been complete strangers, suddenly began to fight for their lives.
Mo Qianlang sat in his seat of honor. His left hand wrapped around the slender waist of the woman beside him as he turned his head to the right to eat a piece of dried fruit offered by the other woman.
"Great King, I heard Lady Li went to Wuya Ridge..." the woman in green on his left said cautiously.
"Don’t mention her!" Mo Qianlang waved a dismissive hand, cutting the woman off. "She dares to keep a pretty boy just because Oldzi is the Red Wolf King? Does she really think Oldzi is afraid of her?"
The woman in green fell silent. The woman in red on his right, her eyes curving into crescents, peeled another grape-like fruit and popped it into Mo Qianlang’s mouth. "Great King, we sisters are the ones who really care for you, aren’t we?"
"Of course!" Mo Qianlang watched as one of the youths below traded an injury to take a life, stabbing the other boy to death with his blade. A cruel smile touched his lips.
"G-Great King, I won." The youth’s face was covered in blood, and a long gash ran across his waist, but he still looked at Mo Qianlang, full of hope. "Can I go home now?"
Mo Qianlang nodded. He suddenly reached out, and before the youth could react, he was pulled through the air toward Mo Qianlang, who snapped his neck with one hand and plunged the other into his chest, tearing out his heart.
"Blood boiling with the joy of victory... This is when the Heart’s Blood is sweetest and the heart is freshest!" Mo Qianlang took a large bite out of the heart and let out a satisfied sigh. "Delicious!"
Then he tore the remaining heart in two and gave the pieces to the women on either side of him. "You have a taste, too."
"Thank you for the reward, Great King!"
The woman in green and the woman in red accepted the pieces, their eyes filled with delight. They opened their cherry-red lips and took small, delicate bites. If not for the objects in their hands, their expressions would have been those of well-bred young ladies.
Mo Qianlang beckoned, and two figures darted out from the hall’s entrance. "The one on the floor is a reward for you. Take the other one and have it steamed. Tonight, I’m going to... hmm?"
As Mo Qianlang was speaking, his eyes suddenly narrowed. He had just noticed two other figures appearing behind his two Little Demon guards at the door—a man and a woman, watching him placidly.
Gu Zhao saw the two dead bodies in the hall, saw the bloody, half-eaten hearts in the hands of Mo Qianlang and the two women beside him, and also sensed the dense Evil Qi emanating from their bodies.
"SHIING—"
An afterimage of Mo Qianlang was still sitting in the seat of honor, but his real body was already in front of Gu Zhao. A hand, as fair and delicate as a woman’s, reached for Gu Zhao’s heart, its fingers still stained with the Heart’s Blood of the youth he had just killed.
"BUZZ!"
A golden light flared to life over Gu Zhao’s body, not only blocking Mo Qianlang’s clawed strike but also flinging him backward.
Mo Qianlang felt as if his claw had struck an iron plate. A searing energy traveled from the golden light, up his palm, and into his body. This energy carried a violent Thunder Power that shot straight into his meridians, crushing the Demon Qi within him.
"PTHOO!"
Mo Qianlang frantically circulated his Demon Qi, forcing the foreign energy up from his Dantian. He gathered it into a mouthful of Heart’s Blood and spat it out violently, finally expelling the energy that burned with the power of thunder.
"Who are you!?" Mo Qianlang retreated rapidly, his eyes filled with a mixture of shock and fury as he glared at Gu Zhao.
"I like your style. Attacking without a single word." Gu Zhao chuckled. "Since you’ve already made your move, why bother asking?"
As his voice fell, Gu Zhao, relying on the protection of his Golden Light Divine Curse, shot forward. He drew a Long Spear from his gourd with a backhanded motion. Violet-gold thunder crackled along the spear’s shaft as he thrust it straight at Mo Qianlang’s heart.
"I thought you were supposed to be powerful. Turns out you only have a little over a thousand years of Dao Practice. Your Divine Soul is impure, your Demon Qi is a mess... and with skills like these, you still dare to run around killing and eating people? Who gave you the nerve?"
Mo Qianlang: ???
Mo Qianlang was completely baffled. He had over fifteen hundred years of Dao Practice. If not enough to run rampant across the world, it was at least enough to live a carefree life. He ate two or three hundred people a year, and even the Spirit Court only ever gave him a gentle reminder not to overdo it.
’Who is this person?’
’What is he talking about?’
’What kind of logic is that?!’
But before he could think it through, the Long Spear, crackling with thunder, was already at his chest. Mo Qianlang couldn’t help but roar as a long saber appeared in his hand, which he used to block the attack horizontally.
"CLANG!"
As saber met spear, to Mo Qianlang’s utter shock, his own Treasure Saber—forged with Red Copper—was chipped. Then, a surge of Thunder Power once again spread through his body.
Fortunately, Mo Qianlang was prepared this time. He protected himself with his Demon Qi, blocking the thunder, but he was still knocked back again.
"Who in the world are you?" Mo Qianlang was furious. "We have no grievance or grudge between us! If you’re going to attack me in my own home, you should at least give a reason!"
Gu Zhao twirled his Pure Steel Long Spear in a flourish, creating a flower of thunder that bloomed in mid-air with a violet-gold light, surrounded by a multicolored halo. He thrust again, straight at Mo Qianlang’s chest.
At the same time, a cold voice entered his ears. "When you killed and ate all those people, did you bother to give them a reason?"
Mo Qianlang’s expression turned savage. "You really came here for those worthless peasants?"
"Ye Ruyan?"
Just then, the two women in the hall finally had a chance to speak. The one in red cried out Ye Ruyan’s name. "Thousand Peaks Mountain and Yanxia Ridge have always been at peace! What is the meaning of this?"
Ye Ruyan gave a bewitching smile. "I am now a Guardian Star Official of Daluo Palace. This isn’t a grudge between Thousand Peaks Mountain and Yanxia Ridge. This is Daluo Palace, enacting justice on behalf of the heavens."
"Daluo Palace!?"
Whether it was the two women standing in the back or Mo Qianlang facing Gu Zhao directly, all of them felt their hearts tremble as their eyes narrowed in focus.
A man is known by his name, a tree by its shadow. Unless you were a deaf hermit like Old Ghost Lan, completely ignorant of the outside world, you had heard of Daluo Palace’s zealous and radical crusade to eliminate evil.
’It’s a death sentence!’
It was said that in the territories of Daluo Palace, all the Demons and Ghosts had either fled or scattered. Those who remained went underground to wage a guerrilla war. In any case, overt acts like killing and eating people, harvesting yin and yang, or devouring souls had been completely wiped out.
However, Daluo Palace’s territory was in Jiangzhou, while Thousand Peaks Mountain was located in Yazhou. Although Mo Qianlang had heard of Daluo Palace, he had never paid it much mind, and he certainly hadn’t curbed his behavior in the slightest.
’I can’t believe Ye Ruyan actually joined Daluo Palace and came after me!’
’Do I look like an easy target?’
Just as he was boiling with rage, his vision filled with a blinding violet-gold light. He quickly shouted, "Wait a moment, my friend! We can talk about this!"
Gu Zhao smiled faintly. "No. We have nothing to talk about."
...
A short while later, Thousand Peaks Mountain fell silent.
Gu Zhao and Ye Ruyan arrived at the summit of Thousand Peaks Mountain. They watched as a few Little Demons and Monsters, who had no Evil Qi, fearfully led a group of mortals down the mountain before scattering in all directions.
"All done. Let’s wrap it up!" Gu Zhao clapped his hands together. "Time to go home."
Ye Ruyan looked at Gu Zhao, her charming eyes sending ripples of flirtation, and extended an invitation. "My cave manor on Yanxia Ridge isn’t far from here in Wuya Ridge. It has its own unique scenery. Now that our work is done, why don’t you stop by my place for a visit?"
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