Chapter 031

Chapter 31: Shen Nan Zhou

They called him a dead man because the aura around him was nothing but death. It felt the same as the deathly qi they sensed when they entered the city. This black-robed figure was much stronger than the others though; one glance told you that in life he must have been a high level cultivator.

Fang He An’s fingers tightened around his teacup. Others realized it too. Faces changed as they stared at the door, but everyone here was a heaven’s chosen. There was a moment of chaos, then calm returned. The two Dark Nether Sect disciples were right there in the hall, but no one rushed to help. Minds spun fast as they took in the scene. No one acted rashly.

The Dark Nether Sect disciples, pale with fear, shouted: “What are you doing? That person is a devil cultivator, help us!”

Qi Ming Lu sneered: “You say so, but how do we know this isn’t a trap you set for us?”

Zhao Jian Ming of the Dark Nether Sect flushed scarlet. He yelled: “That thing crippled three of our Elders and injured all our disciples. Now it has chased us into Dreammarsh City and wants to steal our secret realm spots. We fought for our lives just to warn everyone. If you don’t deal with them, once this dangerous thing slips into the secret realm, the ones hurt won’t only be our Dark Nether Sect!”

Qi Ming Lu hesitated but still didn’t step forward.

Zhao Jian Ming shouted: “He is an evil cultivator!”

A low laugh sounded in the wind and rain: “So you ran all this way to find a place to slander me. How funny.” A flash of white light danced, and a figure appeared by the door. He wore a white robe patterned with bamboo and plum. His face was clean and elegant, too beautiful to tell boy or girl at first glance.

A woman whispered: “So handsome.”

The youth crooked his finger, and the black-robed dead man stepped forward two paces. Zhao Jian Ming shrieked: “You dare? Elites from every sect are here! You practice puppet constructs, you evil cultivator, how dare you act up here! They won’t let you go!”

The youth lifted his eyes and let out a scornful laugh: “Then let them come.”

Ye Wan Wan’s eyelid twitched harder and harder. She tried to calm it, but when she saw his face, she couldn’t hold back: [Crap.] It was him.

If anyone left the strongest mark on Ye Wan Wan in her last life besides Yan Ding, it was the Devil Lord Heavenly Abyss, who unified the Devil Realm as a devil cultivator. He was even more twisted than the usual evil cultivator, like a madman. But the youth before her was still far from that memory. This Shen Nan Zhou was a bit young and lacked the killing chill and cruelty of those years. What he had was the raw anger and hatred of a teenager toward the world. He was a full-on angry youth.

Compared with the black-robed corpse, Shen Nan Zhou looked normal. At least the vigorous energy of life flowed in him. He flicked his hand, and the black-robed dead man lunged at the last two Dark Nether Sect disciples.

They were about to die when an anxious, clear voice called: “Fellow Daoist, stay your hand.”

Ye Wan Wan lowered her gaze: [As if he would stop.] As expected, the dead man’s palm struck toward Zhao Jian Ming. Zhao, in a blind panic, dodged and yanked his junior brother into the fatal blow as a shield. He rolled into the crowd around Qi Ming Lu, trying to use numbers to cover his escape.

People were furious: “You used your own junior brother as a shield, what are you!”

Zhao tried to run. No one helped him. Even so, the dead man closed in. At the brink of death, a figure burst through the doors and windows. A Core Formation Stage Great Perfection aura exploded out, the kind that was about to break through to Nascent Soul. Many turned their heads. The newcomer’s strike knocked the dead man back. He blocked the corpse’s blow, then slammed out a heavy palm. Under the force, robe and body flew. The black robe flipped aside, revealing the face and uniform underneath.

Dark Nether Sect robes.

“He’s a Dark Nether Sect disciple too!”

With the robe torn, the corpse scattered to dust in the wind. Only a hall of stunned cultivators remained along with the panting Zhao Jian Ming. Qi Ming Lu and the others couldn’t keep up with how fast things had flipped. They had been chased by a puppet construct, yet the puppet was a Dark Nether Sect disciple.

Pointing at Shen Nan Zhou, Zhao Jian Ming shouted: “He refined Junior Brother Li into a puppet! Him!”

A cruel light flashed in Shen Nan Zhou’s eyes: “Tired of living, are you?”

Ye Wan Wan had seen Shen Nan Zhou before and knew he had a bad temper when pushed. But she didn’t plan to step out. She was more interested in the Core Formation Stage Great Perfection cultivator who had struck. Another familiar face.

Ji Chang Huai.

Ji Chang Huai hadn’t noticed Ye Wan Wan. He kicked Zhao Jian Ming and barked: “Shut up!” Zhao Jian Ming spat blood.

“Eldest senior brother, nice work!” A man and a woman strode in with the storm at their backs. People gasped: “Disciples of the Supreme Sect.”

Ye Wan Wan’s eyes went cold. More of them. They were like lingering ghosts.

Dou Ming shielded Ye Qian at his side. Ye Qian looked at Shen Nan Zhou and scolded sweetly: “Why didn’t you listen to me and stop? See, now everyone is misunderstanding you.”

Ye Wan Wan: [These two know each other?]

Shen Nan Zhou cast her a cool glance and said: “Who are you?”

Ye Wan Wan: [That felt good.] She let out a silent breath. If her only “war buddy” from her past life had ties to Ye Qian, she would have felt like the whole world betrayed her. Good thing he hadn’t changed.

Ye Qian’s face tightened for a moment, but she quickly smoothed it over and introduced herself to the crowd: “I am Ye Qian of Azure Cloud Peak, disciple of Immortal Yan Ding, eighth in rank. The one who struck just now is my eldest senior brother, Ji Chang Huai, and this is my third senior brother, Dou Ming.”

People cupped their hands to her one by one: “Liu Han of Azure Cloud Sect.” “Lin You of Abundant Spring Valley.” “Qi Ming Lu of Star Mirage Pavilion.”

Only Shen Nan Zhou stayed as he was, too lazy to look at her. Instead his gaze swept the crowd and paused on Ye Wan Wan’s group. Fang He An whispered to Li Wan Zhi: “Is he looking at us?” Ye Wan Wan murmured: “It seems so.”

Shen Nan Zhou drew back his gaze as if he had only looked around randomly.

Seeing Ye Qian’s looks, Qi Ming Lu softened his tone and asked: “Junior Sister Ye, what’s going on?”

Ye Qian sighed: “It’s a long story. My eldest senior brother, third senior brother, and I entered Dreammarsh City early. We noticed the townsfolk were off. Deathly qi clung to them. Some streets had no living people at all.”

“We started investigating in secret. Today we saw the three Elders traveling with Senior Brother Zhao using puppet constructs to drain the life of people in the city.”

The crowd sucked in breath.

“Now more than half the townsfolk are sick, and many are already dead. That is all their doing.” Zhao Jian Ming went pale and stammered: “You… you’re lying.”

Ye Qian said righteously: “All three of us saw it with our own eyes. That senior brother acted only because he saw what you were doing. Your three Elders were killed by backlash from their own puppet constructs, and you were chased by the puppets. You reaped what you sowed, so how dare you slander others!”

Zhao Jian Ming’s face turned chalk white. “I… I’m being framed.”

No one listened. Everyone fixated on the Dark Nether Sect refining puppet constructs and draining life from the townsfolk. They ignored that the three Elders had tried to use puppet control to kill Shen Nan Zhou, failed, and were killed by him instead. They also missed that Shen Nan Zhou could use puppet control too.

“This senior brother is innocent,” Ye Qian declared, trying to clear Shen Nan Zhou’s name. She glanced at him with friendly intent. Shen Nan Zhou didn’t care at all. He stepped farther into the hall, heading straight toward Ye Wan Wan’s group.

Ye Wan Wan stared: [What are you doing!]