Longevity Chronicles-Chapter 108 - 101 Tao Qian Slays the Demon in Jinfu County, the Great Demon Descends from the Iron Buddha Temple

Within the boundaries of Southern Yue, Jinfu County.

This is a remote county town encircled by mountains on three sides, with a population of less than one hundred thousand. Hindered by poor transportation and scarce resources, the livelihood of the inhabitants only depended on lotus cultivation, paddy farming, and some mountain goods. With close contacts between the Longevity Heavenly Dynasty and the Western Countries, and the blending of information, the local magistrate of this county had originally planned to introduce machinery and build a factory to rejuvenate the region. He had even settled trade deals with those fair-haired, blue-eyed barbarians.

Tragically, as Southern Yue descended into an era of "Great Demon Chaos", all of these plans had become nothing but a pipe dream.

A Great Demon passed through this land and, in a fit of madness, executed an evil technique. It extracted the souls of nearly all the one hundred thousand citizens, simultaneously turning them into a type of abnormality known as "Dream Corpses".

Dream Corpses were beings that had lost most of their souls and wandered in a daze around their hometown, tirelessly like Earth-bound Spirits, until their bodies ran out of Essence Blood and they died, transforming into skeletons.

After that night, Jinfu County was utterly devoid of any fresh humans.

Whenever one entered, they were met only with ruin and gloom, and tens of thousands of wandering Dream Corpses; it had become a city of the dead.

On this particular day, demon clouds and fog suddenly appeared from all directions, along with various flying vessels and massive demons capable of sky-controlling. Amidst the thunderous noise, these demons, Evil Cultivators, and heartless Magicians appeared above the deathly city.

Oddly, despite the harmless Dream Corpses below.

Not one of the demonically-auraed Evil Cultivator demons seemed eager to descend just yet.

Instead, they gathered in the sky, watching one another, each remaining on guard.

Such a scene should not have occurred within Southern Yue.

After all, among the many provinces of the Longevity Heavenly Dynasty these days, Southern Yue was somewhat special. Here, Evil Cultivators, magicians, and all sorts of Mutated Fallen beings joined forces to war against the Human Clan and Human Clan Cultivators. Except for the Human Clan Cultivators, whether you practiced some Daoist Skill or were born differently, if you belonged to the demon class, you should be seen as an ally.

Sincere cooperation was the logical course of action, not this wary vigilance.

In other places, indeed, this was the case.

But in this area, the demons and Evil Cultivators had no choice but to act this way.

The standoff didn't last long before a White Bone Demon wreathed in scarlet demonic qi stepped forward. After scanning the surroundings, it rattled and asked, "Gentlemen, let me pose the question. If anyone cannot answer or answers incorrectly, you all know what must be done, right?"

As soon as these words left the White Bone Demon's mouth, a Daoist with a huge Red Gourd on his back and surrounded by hundreds of Fire Crows, himself with red hair and beard, laughed heartily, volunteering, "If the answer is unknown, it's either someone trying to reap the benefits midway or simply that cunning, shameless Human Clan Sword Cultivator. It is better to execute one by mistake than let one escape. When the time comes, we shall strike together and settle the score."

"Indeed!"

"So, gentlemen, do you know how many princesses our Devil God has?"

As soon as the question was asked, myriad Divine Thoughts intermingled and swept across the area, and the owners of these Divine Thoughts simultaneously voiced their answer.

"One hundred and two!"

Somewhat unexpectedly, they all answered at the same time, and all of them were correct.

This outcome thrilled the group of demons, especially the Red Gourd Daoist who laughed even louder, "Correct, our Devil God has recently acquired a new princess, a fact those cunning Sword Cultivators must be unaware of. Clearly, this time he wasn't able to infiltrate our ranks. That Daoist's transformation is indeed troublesome, but now that we have a method of identification, we are completely secure. Let us enter the city together and hunt down that Daoist's hiding place. Once we surround and kill him, the rewards will be shared. What do you say?"

"Good!"

"Excellent idea!"

"Let's enter the city then; that fellow must have transformed into a Dream Corpse again, hoping to slip by unnoticed."

"Pay particular attention to those accompanied by little Dream Corpses; we lost so many of our fellows before we realized that this Sword Cultivator, not only excels in transformation but also follows two strange Alien Life Forms of unknown true nature."

"The Sword Cultivator's Cultivation Realm is quite average, but he has mastered a Sword technique from the Secret Demon Sect with terrifying power, and also controls a lethal Sword Array. Coupled with his cunning nature and mastery of transformation skills, in the past two days alone, he has killed many of our peers, building quite the notorious reputation for himself."

"Now that we have him cornered in this city, we just need to kill him to dissolve his growing fame."

"Hmph, Southern Yue is our territory now; we cannot tolerate the provocation of a Human Clan Sword Cultivator."

With these voices, the group of demons simultaneously descended from their Evasion Light vessels, entering the desolate Jinfu County.

Upon landing, they tacitly occupied different areas and began employing various Soul Searching Techniques, determined to capture the cunning Sword Cultivator hidden among the tens of thousands of Dream Corpses.

However, none of the demons noticed that the red-haired Evil Cultivator carrying the giant Red Gourd that appeared to practice the "Fire Crow Daoist Skill" had, by coincidence or accident, chosen a section of the city wall almost devoid of Dream Corpses, thus unlikely to catch anyone.

No sooner had the Evil Cultivator landed atop the city wall than he let out a sneering chuckle.

With a swift move, he produced a copper bell engraved with Tadpole Runes, lacking a clapper but still emitting an abnormal presence.

Lifting the bell slowly to his lips,

He stomped his foot violently, and a layer of imperceptible earth-yellow brilliance erupted, instantly forming a gigantic dome that enveloped the entire Jinfu County.

Then, Tao Qian's voice echoed throughout the county, "Gentlemen, this place is called Jinfu County. This Array is the Earth Prohibition Array, precisely the burial ground I've chosen for you."

"Don't be shy, meet your end with composure."

As these words pierced the ears of the throng of demons and Evil Cultivators who were intent on unearthing Tao Qian from amongst the tens of thousands of Dream Corpses,

They all turned their heads in collective horror to gaze at the red-haired Evil Cultivator on top of the city wall.

And before they could even turn, Tao Qian had already made his move.

It was still the Nine True Spirit Sound, only this time, the sound was amplified by a copper bell.

The truly grand and resonant sound, like the ringing of a great bell, filled every corner of the county town the next moment.

For tens of thousands of dream corpses, as well as for this group of evil demons, the most destructive invisible storm surged in.

"Boom!"

In an instant, a visibly shocking scene unfolded.

Those tens of thousands of civilians, turned dream corpses who had been relentlessly moving for quite some time, found liberation in the grand Daoist sound, their tortured bodies disintegrating into powder and lightly falling to the ground.

The weaker demons scattered around, such as a few that had just advanced to the Qi Refining Realm, were directly shaken to death.

The rest, likewise, lost control of their divine souls and bodies.

Yet Tao Qian did not cease his efforts, holding the magic artifact known as the "Small Leiyin Bell," he bellowed several more times.

Not until he had liberated all the dream corpses in the county and also killed a few more demons.

Tao Qian spat out his sword Elixir without revealing his true form, leaping up to merge with it, and in an instant, transformed into a terrifying sword light as he slashed towards the demons and evil cultivators in the city.

The hundreds of fire crows behind him suddenly vanished, leaving only two small ones that simply puffed and turned into two quick-moving little ape demons, skillfully crying out as they closely followed the sword light Tao Qian had become.

Tao Qian slayed demons, and they collected the spoils of war.

Their routine was practiced to perfection, without any waste.

...

With a "thump", a "White Bone Demon" who had reached the peak of the Qi Refining Realm and was just one step away from entering the Foundation Establishment Realm, fell apart into a pile of broken bones under the unstoppable sword light and rattled to the ground.

One of the little ape demons that Lian Jing'er had turned into, apparently very fond of the White Bone Demon's corpse, excitedly rushed over.

Upon touching the bone as smooth as jade, it made a satisfied mechanical noise and then began devouring the remains.

The death of the White Bone Demon also meant that this long-abandoned county had finally attained complete peace.

Tao Qian surveyed his surroundings, first with a sigh, then with a satisfied smile.

It had been nearly two days since he had been marked by demons and hunted by all manner of demons.

Throughout these dozens of hours, to avoid the demons predicting his path and setting traps, Tao Qian had led Little Age and Lian Jing'er in continuous detours, setting up traps in turn and killing wave after wave of demons that ventured too close.

Due to the large number of demon casualties, the evil demons had also come to know through various means that Tao Qian was adept at transformation and that he was accompanied by two uniquely gifted alien species.

To kill him, the bounty-seeking demons even came up with a system of "passwords."

If Tao Qian truly were a cultivator preoccupied with evading capture and without the luxury of attention to spare, he might have really fallen.

Unfortunately for them, Tao Qian had insiders on Iron Buddha Mountain.

Moreover, to deal with these issues, he had specifically learned the Soul Capturing and Soul Searching techniques.

At the same time, many of the spoils he had collected were put to good use by Tao Qian.

Like a set of Array Flags that could be used to set up the "Earth Prohibition Array," effective only against Qi Refining Realm demons and evil cultivators, which Tao Qian had obtained after killing a demon.

There was also the "Small Leiyin Bell" that could be used to amplify the Nine True Spirit Sound, coming from a devil monk who had defected from a major temple under Vajra Temple. That copper bell was actually a replica of the Vajra Temple's treasured Thunder Sound Bell.

Although it was more suitable for amplifying Buddhist chants, its effect on amplifying spirit sounds was also quite extraordinary.

With a series of actions, he successfully trapped and killed these dozens of demons.

Incidentally, he also helped liberate tens of thousands of pitiful civilians within Jinfu County.

"As the two days are coming to an end, just holding out for a few more hours, I should be completely exempt from those prediction and soul-searching evil techniques."

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

"Then, the sky's the limit, and I'll just leave Southern Yue behind."

"My mastery of divine powers has improved quite a bit, and I should be able to safely make it through this first calamity."

With this thought in mind, Tao Qian couldn't help but smile, then planned to take Little Age and Lian Jing'er, who had collected their spoils, and escape elsewhere.

But suddenly, a change occurred.

Just as Tao Qian was about to activate his Nascent Soul Escaping Skill, his body abruptly froze as an urgent message from the puppet body deep within the Iron Buddha Temple entered his mind.

"This Human Clan Sword Cultivator has repeatedly evaded capture and has even retaliated by killing many fellow evil demons."

"The Devil God Army, occupied with confronting the Demon Suppression Army, has been unable to spare attention, but eventually, the Beautiful Corpse Bodhisattva from within Iron Buddha Temple was alerted."

"The Bodhisattva dispatched a Transcend Mortality Demon from the mountain to capture or kill the sword cultivator, and to prevent his escape, specially granted a trapping magic artifact."

"Within one hour, the Great Demon will arrive."

"Boom"

Like a bolt from the blue, this news appeared in Tao Qian's mind.

ps: Fat Fish writes slowly, but there's a guarantee of two chapters a day. If I can't write, I'll take a leave of absence. Please believe in me.