novelapdf Chapter 551 Good riddance! People from Yunzhou have arrived!
Chapter 551 Good riddance! People from Yunzhou have arrived!
As I stepped out of Zhou Dehai's residence, the night breeze of the imperial city, carrying with it the glow of the streetlights, swept over me.
Han Yueshan walked at the front, his pace quickening slightly from when he arrived. His face, beneath his iron crown, flickered in and out of focus amidst the interplay of light and shadow.
Qin Dao followed closely behind, wanting to speak several times along the way, but swallowing his words each time.
Chen Fan walked at the back, his expression calm, as if he had only done a trivial thing in the side hall.
After turning two corners, Han Yueshan suddenly stopped.
He turned around, looked at Chen Fan, and a rare smile appeared on his face.
"Well done."
Qin Dao was stunned for a moment, then grinned, his tiger-like eyes filled with satisfaction. He had been holding back his anger for a long time, but dared not vent it due to the city lord's orders.
Chen Fan's sword strike not only severed the Yunzhou cultivator, but also quelled the pent-up anger in the hearts of everyone in the desolate state.
Han Yueshan continued walking forward with his hands behind his back, his tone unusually cheerful: "That brat from Yunzhou, a mere late-stage Core Formation cultivator, dared to spout nonsense in front of the ruler of a prefecture. He deserved to die. You killed him in front of Zhou Dehai, which actually saved me a lot of trouble. These officials in the capital are the most opportunistic. The more you tolerate them, the more they think you are weak and easy to bully. Kill one and show them, and they will treat you differently. Zhou Dehai's last words, 'Let's discuss this in detail another day,' carried more weight than all the promises made before combined."
Qin Dao nodded in agreement, saying, "Fellow Daoist Chen's sword strike was indeed satisfying! I saw Zhou Yuanhua's face turn pale, but he didn't dare to utter a single word."
Han Yueshan's smile vanished, his tone turning serious: "While it may feel satisfying, it's also causing considerable trouble. Zhou Yuanhua is narrow-minded and vindictive. You publicly beheaded his man, and he will not let it go. There are four or five Nascent Soul cultivators from Yunzhou who have come to the capital this time, including Dugu Jian, a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator at the Great Perfection. If Zhou Yuanhua secretly instigates people from Yunzhou to seek revenge on you, things will become very difficult to handle."
"For the next few days, do not go out; stay in the post station. The national competition is approaching, and the imperial guards in the capital are not to be trifled with. As long as you do not leave the post station voluntarily, they will have to consider the rules of the court before they can make a move. Once we enter the Valley of Ten Thousand Demons, we'll see who has the last man standing if they dare to make a move there."
Chen Fan nodded: "Rest assured, City Lord, I know what I'm doing."
Han Yueshan gave him a deep look, but said nothing more.
He suddenly realized that the taciturn middle-aged cultivator before him seemed to have never known what fear was. It wasn't the youthful impetuosity of a young man, but a composure that had settled after experiencing countless life-and-death situations.
The three returned to the inn and rested.
For the next two days, Chen Fan indeed stayed at home.
He simply sat cross-legged on the wooden bed in the side room every day, closing his eyes and regulating his breathing!
As day and night alternated, and the bamboo forest outside the window changed from golden yellow to dark green, and then from dark green to pitch black, he remained motionless.
In the shadows, Chen Fan's divine sense continued to spread around the courtyard.
Late on the third night, the moon was hidden and the stars were sparse, and the wind in the bamboo forest suddenly stopped.
Chen Fan opened his eyes.
A faint aura appeared outside the courtyard wall. The aura was extremely subtle; if he hadn't cultivated the Fixed Word Technique, which granted him a far superior perception of all power fluctuations in the world compared to others of the same level, he probably wouldn't have been able to detect it at all.
The newcomer's concealment technique was extremely skillful, and his cultivation level was at least at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm. His aura was so tightly contained that he resembled a lifeless stone, not even disturbing insects or ants.
The people from Yunzhou did indeed arrive.
Chen Fan's expression remained unchanged. He closed his eyes again, his breathing still even and deep, as if he hadn't noticed anything.
The aura crept over the courtyard wall, landing silently, passing through the bamboo grove, and approaching the side room.
The newcomer's movements were extremely skillful, each step landing precisely between the wind and shadow, without even triggering the restrictions outside the room!
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The window of the side room creaked slightly, and a dark figure silently appeared inside.
The newcomer was thin and dressed in all black, with a black mask covering his face, revealing only a pair of cold, sharp eyes.
He stood three feet in front of Chen Fan's bed, looking down at Chen Fan who was sitting cross-legged, a cruel smile flashing in his eyes.
"She's sleeping quite soundly."
He stretched out his hand, his five fingers forming a claw, the tips of his fingers gleaming with an eerie dark light, and silently reached out to grab Chen Fan's crown.
If this claw strikes firmly, an ordinary Core Formation cultivator would have their soul pulled out on the spot, without even having time to scream.
Just as his fingertips were about to touch the strands of hair, Chen Fan opened his eyes.
Those were eyes as still as a deep well, showing no panic, no fear, not even a hint of surprise.
His gaze was so calm, as if he were watching an ending that had already been destined to happen.
The man in black felt a sudden chill run down his spine.
His intuition was screaming wildly!
No, this person is definitely not in the early stage of Core Formation!
He wanted to back down, but it was too late.
Four white lights simultaneously illuminated the four corners of the room.
The light wasn't dazzling, but it carried a strange power, as if freezing time in the entire room for a moment. The four beams of light converged from all directions like a cage, trapping the man in black inside.
The man in black's expression changed drastically. His spiritual power surged, and he unleashed his early Nascent Soul cultivation without reservation, attempting to forcefully break through the restraints.
However, the gray-white pillar of light remained motionless. His spiritual power struck it like a mud ox entering the sea, without even causing a ripple.
The trap set up by the Fixed Word Technique is not something that a Nascent Soul cultivator in the early stages can break free from.
Chen Fan slowly stood up and reached out to grab at the air.
A jet-black banner appeared in his hand. The banner moved without wind, and countless twisted ghostly figures howled silently on the banner, filling the entire room with a chilling aura.
The man in black's pupils constricted upon seeing the banner, and he exclaimed, "Black Soul Banner! You're a Soul Path cultivator! You... who exactly are you?"
Chen Fan did not answer.
With a casual wave of his hand, a thick black mist surged from the Black Soul Banner, transforming into countless pitch-black arms that tightly bound the man in black.
Those arms weren't physical, yet they were far more terrifying than any physical object!
The man in black let out a piercing scream, desperately channeling his spiritual power to resist. However, the Black Soul Banner, having been refined by Chen Fan in the golden bowl, had been upgraded to a late-stage Nascent Soul magic weapon. The tearing power of the millions of souls within the banner was far beyond what a mere early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator like himself could withstand.
In a short while, the protective aura of the man in black shattered inch by inch, and a dim nascent soul was forcibly ripped from his body and sucked into the black soul banner with a scream.
The body that had lost its nascent soul collapsed to the ground with a thud, its eyes still filled with the terror and disbelief of its death.
Chen Fan put away the Black Soul Banner, walked to the corpse, squatted down, placed his hand on the corpse's crown, and closed his eyes.
Soul-searching technique.
Fragmented images flooded into his mind.