Chapter 25: So Fierce

Chi Yixuan spent seven days in seclusion studying, and finally understood the operating principles of arrays completely. At the same time, he became familiar with the uses of three hundred types of array patterns. The life-bound artifact praised him for possessing unparalleled talent in arrays, but Chi Yixuan said he would rather suffer more of life’s hardships than suffer through studying again. Shoving that much knowledge into his brain within just a few days was really not something human beings should do.

“Sooner or later, I’m going to let everyone live a lazy life.”

The life-bound artifact: …

After thoroughly understanding what arrays were all about, Chi Yixuan made slight modifications to the original array disk, strengthened its defensive function, then buried the array disk in the garden soil and activated it.

In an instant, a hemispherical barrier rapidly expanded outward with the array disk as its center.

The barrier flashed once when it activated, then faded into an invisible state. Of course, this invisibility only applied to the naked eye. Cultivators who had entered the Dao could still sense it.

However, right as the barrier completely enveloped the entire valley, Chi Yixuan heard several shrill screams.

He jumped in fright. “What happened?”

The life-bound artifact’s tone remained steady. [Something somewhat ridiculous happened.]

Chi Yixuan: ???

…

Half an hour earlier, a group of cultivators carrying sabers, swords, spears, and cudgels arrived at the north side of the Nameless Desert. They were covered in a vicious aura, and even the one with the lowest cultivation was at the third level of Qi Refining.

The person at their head was a sturdy one-eyed man. The left side of his face, covered by a black eyepatch, had a long scar accumulated over years and years. Most of his square face was also covered by a full beard. He carried a great saber inlaid with three copper rings, and the moment he opened his mouth, he spat vulgar curses. “Those dog-spawned bastards of the Chen family—sooner or later, I’ll fight my way back! Not a single one of their whole family should think of running. Even if it’s one of their damn worms, I’ll chop it in half!”

As soon as he finished speaking, a chorus of agreement rang out.

“Boss is mighty!”

“With Boss’s ambition, why would our Dragon-Tiger Gang ever worry about not making a comeback one day?”

“Sooner or later, we’ll make them understand that our Dragon-Tiger Gang are the real great immortals! When the time comes, we’ll make them kneel on the ground and lick Boss’s piss!”

The people of the Dragon-Tiger Gang chimed in one after another, and soon their fighting spirit rose again, as though they were not the ones who had been chased into the desert earlier.

Unfortunately, the direction they were walking in had no water source. Before long, the sun overhead roasted all their energy away. Especially after they discovered that even the cactuses had already been harvested once by someone else, they immediately hopped with rage one by one, as though what others had taken away was not cactus, but their own fathers and mothers.

The boss of the Dragon-Tiger Gang was also terribly thirsty. He stared at the tracks in the sand around them and said, “There are footprints, hoofprints, and wheel tracks. There must be people living nearby!”

The Dragon-Tiger Gang members, whose throats were so parched they were practically smoking, immediately perked up at those words.

Not long after, they followed the hoofprints and wheel ruts and found Zhaoge.

At first, they did not act rashly. Instead, they cautiously observed from the mouth of the valley for a while and discovered that everyone in the valley was busy and orderly. Most importantly, not far inside the valley, there was a large pot. There was water inside!

“It’s not just water. I see there’s also a Medical Workshop here. There must be quite a few valuable medicinal herbs!”

“With this many people, how much grain do they have to eat in a day? There must be plenty of silver and grain here!”

“They’re all mortals. There are only two at the third level of Qi Refining.”

The boss of the Dragon-Tiger Gang exchanged a look with his subordinates, and each saw the excitement and greed in the other’s eyes.

…

These days, everyone in Zhaoge had been working hard for their future home. They climbed out of bed at the first faint light of dawn and busied themselves for the whole day. Even after lying down to sleep at night, they still thought about getting up even earlier tomorrow so they could finish building their home sooner.

Many hands make light work. Today was only the sixth day, and they were already about to put the roofs on the houses!

The joy on everyone’s faces could not be concealed. While putting on the roofs, the corners of their mouths nearly stretched all the way to their molars.

However, right after they had just put the roof on and before they had time to clear away waste materials and debris, there was a loud bang from the direction of the valley entrance. Everyone turned around and saw a group of fierce men carrying sabers charging into the valley.

The people in the valley stared blankly. They saw that as soon as these people came in, they kicked over cart after cart parked near the valley entrance. The huge noise just now had been the sound of those carts being violently kicked aside. The fierce men also roared viciously, “All of you had better wise up! From today onward, this place is the territory of our Dragon-Tiger Gang!”

A servant rushed out of the Medical Workshop to stop them, but was slapped to the ground by one of them. After hitting him, the bandit remained outrageously arrogant. “What are you? A mortal who hasn’t entered the Dao dares to get in the way of our Dragon-Tiger Gang?”

Qiu Ping’an said angrily, “How dare you! The master of this place is a cultivator!”

“A cultivator?” The people of the Dragon-Tiger Gang seemed to have heard some kind of joke. They pointed at him and laughed. “If there’s a cultivator here, then all of us are immortal gate elders!”

The boss of the Dragon-Tiger Gang said, “Why waste words with them? Beat them all into obedience. From now on, this will be our Dragon-Tiger Gang’s place!”

Guo Qianshan and the others with higher cultivation and stronger combat power were all outside the valley right now. At present, the only two people in the valley with cultivation were two third-level Qi Refining servants: Ren Rubi, who had summoned wild grass, and Lu Wuxing, who had summoned a broom.

The two consciously shouldered responsibility. Ever since these fierce people came in, they had been the first to stand in front of everyone else.

The people of the Dragon-Tiger Gang assumed these two were the cultivators Qiu Ping’an was talking about, and inwardly only felt that the mortals here were ignorant, unable to even distinguish cultivators from true cultivators.

Mere third-level Qi Refining…

However, very soon, the Dragon-Tiger Gang discovered that they had underestimated these two cultivators. They saw the wild grass in Ren Rubi’s hand grow wildly in the blink of an eye, wrapping around them and refusing to let go. Even when it was cut away with sabers or burned away with fire, it could endlessly grow back again. As for Lu Wuxing’s plain-looking broom, when it swept toward them, they either slipped underfoot or crashed into one another. In the end, for some unfathomable reason, not a single one of their attacks landed.

Seeing this, the boss of the Dragon-Tiger Gang had no choice but to enter the fight personally. As soon as he attacked, Ren Rubi and Lu Wuxing felt the pressure. They discovered that the other party was actually at the sixth level of Qi Refining!

Before long, the two were defeated and kicked aside by the members of the Dragon-Tiger Gang.

Seeing that the two of them could not beat the Dragon-Tiger Gang, the other people in the valley did not dare move either. Qiu Ping’an could not help glancing toward his employer’s residence to the east, but he saw only a wall.

When they had been building the houses according to the drawings their employer had given them, Ma Hongxuan felt that having the valley entrance face directly toward their employer’s residence was somewhat disrespectful, so everyone discussed it and added a wall as a partition.

At this moment, the fierce men who had come from outside were just like them. Their line of sight was blocked by this wall, so they also could not see their employer’s residence.

Hmph! This bunch of reckless thieves. Once his employer came out, they would have plenty to regret!

However, the moment this thought flashed through his mind, Qiu Ping’an began despising himself. How could he rely on his employer for everything? Besides, none of the people in front of him were true cultivators. What right did they have to make his employer take action?

Previously, he had sworn that he would go through water and tread on fire for his employer. Now, with just this little matter, he wanted his employer to step forward and protect them? Was his employer their bodyguard?

Qiu Ping’an clenched his fists, hating himself for having no cultivation while hoping that Guo Qianshan and the others would hurry back.

At this time, the people of the Dragon-Tiger Gang had already started inspecting the valley without the slightest restraint. They first walked up to the rows of houses that had just had their roofs sealed.

There was no other reason. In this valley, these identical and neatly arranged houses were truly eye-catching. Moreover, they were in a style none of the people of the Dragon-Tiger Gang had ever seen before.

Although the roofs were thatched and the pillars and windows were all ordinary timber, the layout was simply too beautiful. Every house had a front and rear courtyard. Once inside, all necessities were complete. Downstairs were a kitchen, a woodshed, a main room, and a privy. Upstairs were two bedrooms and a bathing room.

Before seeing these houses, the people of the Dragon-Tiger Gang had never seen houses with such compact layouts and yet such excellent lighting.

“Boss, the most amazing parts are the bathing room and privy inside. There’s an ingenious mechanism in there. The water used in the upstairs bathing room can go straight into the water tank of the downstairs privy. The toilet downstairs has a hole leading underground. Living in this house, you don’t even need to dump the filth. A flush of water carries it away.”

“It even saves water!”

Although they had never used it, the upstairs bathing room and downstairs privy were connected by a hollowed-out bamboo pipe. They were not idiots. How could they not understand it?

Even if they did not understand it, with people all over the valley, wouldn’t everything be clear after randomly grabbing one and asking?

The boss of the Dragon-Tiger Gang liked these houses more and more the longer he looked at them. “The houses are good, sure, but the brain of the person who built them has holes in it. This is a desert. Where would they get so much water for bathing?”

“Exactly. They even use it to flush filth? What a waste!”

The servants in the valley who had no cultivation understood that rushing up would only get them beaten, so they could only help the injured Ren Rubi and Lu Wuxing up and glare furiously at these people as they pointed this way and that, finding fault with everything.

Just then, one of the underlings found a sheet of paper from who knew where and said excitedly, “Boss, there’s a drawing here!”

When the boss of the Dragon-Tiger Gang saw that it was a house layout drawing, with every area of the house carefully labeled in tiny words, he immediately burst out laughing. “The person who drew this must be an idiot!”

Previously, everyone in the valley had been gritting their teeth and enduring them. When they heard these words, unbearable ferocity appeared on many people’s faces. Shi Dahai clenched his fists so tightly they were rigid. In truth, he was terrified of these bandits. He still had a younger brother and sister to care for, and he understood that he should not stick his head out. But now that these people were insulting the owner of this drawing, he could no longer endure it.

“You… you’re not allowed to curse our master!”

The boss of the Dragon-Tiger Gang said, “Your master isn’t the one from just now? So it turns out he’s been hiding all this time and hasn’t come out. Then he must be a piece of trash!”

The boss of the Dragon-Tiger Gang had never imagined that these words would provoke public outrage. Therefore, when the dark mass of people in the valley surged toward him all at once, he was still dazed. By the time he reacted and wanted to draw his saber, he was suddenly knocked by a child. Then his saber stuck to its sheath, and no matter how much force he used, he could not pull it out. Immediately after, his vision went black. His other eye had been punched.

The boss of the Dragon-Tiger Gang was furious. He raised his hand and circulated spiritual power, wanting to slap away the people surging toward him. Suddenly, a gust from a broom swept straight at his face. His palm strike went crooked and actually hit one of his underlings. With this one opening, he lost the initiative!

Countless people surged over and drowned him. With all his strength, he had nowhere to use it. He was pinned down by innumerable hands, stepped on by innumerable feet, and pressed to the ground.

The other members of the Dragon-Tiger Gang were the same.

Although cultivators below Foundation Establishment had spiritual power and cultivation, there was a reason the immortal gate classified them as mortals. That was because the gap between them and mortals was not that great. When there were enough people, and the crowd was roused enough, even the strongest cultivator would be done for.

“We worked so hard to build these houses. Fine, you went in and out and picked them apart, but you cannot insult the immortal master!”

“This old woman has been a slave all her life, but even I know to repay kindness. You can torment me however you want, but you cannot trample on the immortal master’s painstaking work!”

“This is the home the immortal master helped us build. You dare occupy our home? I’ll beat you to death!”

“Pah! You damned bandits!”

“Beat them to death! Defend our home!”

“Move aside, move aside, let me!”

“Move over, let me squeeze in!”

“It’s my turn. I’m kicking them a few times too!”

…

The servants had never expected that these slaves, who usually swallowed humiliation and submitted meekly, would actually have such a fierce side.

At first, every person had been forcing themselves to endure. But when the first person shouted and the first person charged forward, the string the others had been desperately suppressing abruptly snapped as well.

Perhaps some of them had considered that going up against cultivators might cost them their lives. But amid the collective rage, the bloodiness they had suppressed from being slaves for so many years was ignited. The flames of fury drove them to quickly eliminate these bandits who had invaded their home and insulted their benefactor.

The Dragon-Tiger Gang members, who had been arrogant and despotic just moments ago, could not withstand the rage of over a thousand people at all. One by one, they were beaten black and blue, crying and begging for mercy. However, the crowd’s curses swallowed them like a tide, and the sounds they made were as faint as mosquitoes in comparison.

…

Inside the residence, Chi Yixuan watched the footage replayed by the life-bound artifact and felt incomparably gratified. He even shouted encouragement from the side. “This is the power of the masses! Charge!”

The life-bound artifact: …

…

The content on the screen continued.

The members of the Dragon-Tiger Gang finally realized this was a valley full of ruthless people, not the pushovers they had first imagined. They grew afraid. Relying on cultivators’ physiques and cultivation, the boss of the Dragon-Tiger Gang and a few underlings broke out of the crowd’s encirclement.

They wanted to flee!

The servants immediately realized this and rushed up to stop them. However, for some reason, just as they ran forward, a sudden pain stabbed their feet, as though they had stepped on needles. Each person was inevitably stalled for a moment by this obstruction. And in that short moment, those thieves rushed to the valley entrance!

Damn it!

Just as Qiu Ping’an and the others were cursing inwardly, a flash of barrier light suddenly appeared at the valley entrance. The boss of the Dragon-Tiger Gang, who was charging the fastest, slammed headfirst into the barrier. He immediately let out a scream, and a huge bump rose on his head. The other underlings were the same.

This was the origin of the screams Chi Yixuan heard after opening the barrier.

…

At this very moment outside the valley, Luo Yanxing was leading a group of people and silently watching.

Not long ago, they had brought gifts and goods and followed the road in their memory to look for Zhaoge. However, the farther they walked, the stranger Uncle Qi’s expression became. Luo Yanxing asked him what was wrong. Uncle Qi said this seemed to be the road toward Nameless Valley.

Luo Yanxing was astonished. “How is that possible? Last time, we clearly returned from this direction.”

At this point, Uncle Qi also began doubting his own wilderness experience. They tried walking in another direction, but the farther they went, the more wrong it felt, so they had no choice but to head toward Nameless Valley again.

After all, there were only a few valleys in the Nameless Desert.

Then their ominous premonition was confirmed. The Zhaoge they had visited last time was actually inside Nameless Valley! This fact shocked them so much that they were unable to recover for quite a while.

Although they had long known that the master of Zhaoge was extremely capable, they had never imagined that the other party could actually build a village inside Nameless Valley! The Sea of Suffering Path was right beside it!

“Are we still going?” Uncle Qi asked Luo Yanxing.

Luo Yanxing gritted her teeth. “We’re going!”

These past few days, they had joined hands with Mr. Yuan and privately sold a batch of armor, already snatching part of Strange Treasure Hall’s business. They had to attach themselves to that great mountain before Strange Treasure Hall reacted. Otherwise, everything she had done before would be for nothing!

They finally summoned their courage and slowly approached Nameless Valley, but they never expected that what they would see was precisely the scene of the valley residents violently beating up cultivators.

Watching helplessly as those cultivators screamed and were dragged away by the valley residents, Luo Yanxing and the others all stared blankly, dumb as wooden chickens.

Was this valley like this last time? Back then, weren’t the people in the valley rather timid and docile? Or had the moonlight been so good last time that it smeared over all their eyes?

Although the members of the Dragon-Tiger Gang were not beaten to death, they were close enough. One by one, they lost the strength to resist. Even so, Qiu Ping’an still was not at ease. He temporarily converted a house that only had a frame into a prison and locked them all inside.

Only after all that bustle did they discover Luo Yanxing and the others. The two sides looked at one another. Luo Yanxing let out a dry laugh. “So the people of Zhaoge are this brave and fierce. This has truly opened my eyes.”

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