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Pi Xiu, a mythical animal that brings luck and wards off evil. It has a head of a dragon and a lion's body, often with hoofs, wings, and tail.
The sky was covered with dark clouds, and the cold wind made the wooden door creak.
In Pixiu Town*, located in the snow forest in the east of the Northern Region, a drugstore opened its doors to sell medicine as usual.
Behind the counter sat a young man who appeared to be in his early twenties.
The young man's name was Wang Er, an apprentice accepted by the shopkeeper of this drugstore only a few months ago. His cultivation was in the initial stage of Foundation Building.
It was common sense for masters to teach their disciples, but after following his master for several months, Wang Er had not learned any skills in pill making and talisman drawing.
Instead, he learned a lot about the "worldly wisdom" from his master.
For example...
Creak---
The door of the drugstore was pushed open from the outside. Wang Er looked up and was surprised to see two slightly strange cultivators stepping over the threshold and walking in.
These two cultivators were dressed in ordinary clothes, one in black with a white bucket hat, the other in white with a black bucket hat, and both wore scarves on their faces.
But what they carried on their backs was not ordinary.
On their backs together, there was a magic weapon shaped like a zither and wrapped in thick bandages.
Because the magic weapon was too wide, the two got stuck in the doorway when they tried to enter, and they had to maneuver their bodies sideways to enter the shop.
The two cultivators walked to the counter in unison. The one in black with a white bucket hat scrutinized Wang Er and spoke, "Snow is everywhere on the Golden Mountain."
"Oh!"
Wang Er gestured to the two to wait, took out a small notebook from his waist, and flipped through it for a while before answering, "It's too cold to hunt ten thousand tigers in the north!"
In this booklet, he recorded everything he had learned from his master in the past three months.
Because the area within a hundred-mile radius was a deserted wilderness with few people, this drugstore had taken on the role of "shop" for many underground forces.
Whether it was the Seven Slayers Sect, the Seven Mysteries Sect, the Lily Club, or whatever, they all came to this place to make contact, get information, or receive assignments.
After repeatedly checking the entries in the notebook to make sure he answered correctly, Wang Er cupped his hands. "What do you two Seniors want to know?"
The cultivator in black with a white bucket hat narrowed his eyes and sized him up. "New guy?"
"Yes, I just started learning a few months ago. My master is refining pills in the back room. If you two Seniors need anything, you can just tell me."
The man in black hesitated, then raised his sword finger, and took out three portraits and a bag of spirit stones from the storage bag. "The location of these three people."
Wang Er swept a glance, his eyebrows slightly raised. "Hey, you two Seniors are the third batch of 'guests' who have come to inquire about these three people."
The man in black frowned. "...So where are they?"
"These three stayed in Pixiu Town for two days, and then headed west to Snow Dragon Town."
"When was that?"
"They left five days ago. If you move fast, you should be able to catch up. They didn't seem in a hurry."
"I see."
The black-robed cultivator nodded, put the portraits back into the storage bag, and gave a look to the white-robed cultivator. Then they synchronized, turned 190 degrees in place, and walked out of the door sideways, like a pair of crabs.
Wang Er waved goodbye. "Take care, Seniors!"
Not long after the two left, an old cultivator came out of the back room, seemingly hearing the noise, and asked, "Who just came?"
"Two cultivators from the Seven Slayers Sect. One in white with a black bucket hat, the other in black with a white bucket hat."
The old man inhaled sharply. "Hiss -- are they still carrying a zither?"
"Yes! Master, how did you know?"
"Are you stupid?" The old man rolled his eyes at him, then explained, "Those two are the 'Zither Masters' of the Seven Slayers Sect. They are called 'White Yin' and 'Black Yang' in the underworld. Although they are mid-stage Core Formation cultivators, they once teamed up to get the head of a Nascent Soul cultivator. The zither they carry is also a mysterious treasure."
"Are they powerful?"
"Nonsense! Those two never failed." The old man slapped Wang Er on the head, then hesitated for a while before asking, "Did they also inquire about the two women and one man?"
"...Yes."
"Yo, the employer who issued this bounty is really rich and generous ah, the 'Zither Masters' of the Seven Slayers Sect, the Sword Master of the Seven Mysteries Sect, and the Ghost Hunting Sect's 'Broken Sky'. To attract so many top killers, this must be a reward of at least a million spirit stones, right?"
Wang Er was stunned for a moment. Then, he said with a hint of envy, "Then, Master, do you think we should also go and get a piece of the pie?"
The old man kicked him in the ass and scolded him. "A piece of the pie? Are you looking for death? Bastard, go chop wood in the backyard!"
After kicking Wang Er to the backyard, the old man walked to the gate with his hands behind his back, looked up at the June snow falling on the street, and murmured to himself.
"How big of a grudge must this be to offer such a bounty? It must have alarmed most of the black market in the Northern Region, right? No... I'm afraid it's not just the black market. The Cold Country's court will definitely not stand idly by when it learns that someone has offered such a huge reward on the black market, and will most likely send someone to investigate.
I wonder who those three Core Formation stage cultivators have offended. Not only do they have such connections that they can offer bounties to so many underworld forces, but they are also very wealthy. This is really... I have really opened my eyes today..."
...
The moon was dark and the wind was high as snowflakes fluttered from the sky.
Under the eaves of the Snow Dragon Town's inn, hanging lanterns swayed in the cold wind.
In front of the inn's door, a woman dressed in white held a bottle of liquor and drank under the falling snowflakes.
"Gulu~Gulu--"
The strong wine entered her throat, dispelling the cold air that had entered her body, and a crisp bell sound followed.
Jing-ling---
Hearing the sound, Gu Mingxin lowered her head to look at the strange bell on her waist. This was given to her by a strange little girl in the forest outside Heavenly Gate City.
She was going to throw it away after returning to the Eastern Region.
However, the bell seemed to be bound to her soul. Whether it was buried, thrown into lava, smashed with a hammer, or bombarded with magic, it would return to her intact the next moment.
She did show it to the weapon masters of the Heavenly Demon Sect, but no one could explain what it was.
Anyway, there was no harm in carrying it with her, except that it would ring from time to time.
Gu Mingxin simply treated it like a tassel on a string and tied it to her belt as a permanent bitter reminder to not forget the lesson she learned in Heavenly Gate City three years ago.
After returning to the Heavenly Demon Sect, she immediately ran to tell her master what happened to her in the Central Region.
Her master was furious after hearing that. Within three years, at least four thousand Heavenly Demon Sect disciples had been sent to the Spirit Fields or the Alchemy Furnace to be used as fertilizer and alchemy materials.
Gu Mingxin recuperated for more than a year before she fully recovered from her injuries, and after that, she rested in the Eastern Region and followed Xue's advice to make a few good friends.
Floating above, Xue'e, with a small wine gourd in her hand, looked at Gu Mingxin with a frown on her face. "Mingxin, are you thinking about Heavenly Gate City again?"
"Hmph, how could I forget?" Gu Mingxin sneered coldly and raised her head, taking another sip of wine. "This is the first time I've suffered such a big setback since I was born... Liang Xiaoliu, I won't forget this name even if I become a ghost."
Xue'e sighed helplessly. "What do you mean by turning into a ghost? It's so unlucky. And this name sounds like a fake name, why do you remember it so clearly?"
"Then, why don't you tell me his name?" Gu Mingxin frowned, complaining. "Useless thing, you still say you are the spirit of the Heavenly Demonic Scroll that knows everything. You can't even find a person's name..."
With a gloomy look, Xue'e said, "The Heavenly Demonic Scroll only contains things from the past, and that person is a dual-spiritual cultivator. Who would bother to record him in the book? Maybe he even died in the Core Formation thunder tribulation last year or the year before."
"..."
"Oh, Mingxin, what I mean is that you should stop thinking about him. Beware of your inner demons tribulation."
"Hmph."
Gu Mingxin snorted coldly, and she drank another mouthful of strong liquor, ignoring her.
Xue'e thought for a bit, then added, "The spirit sword used by Liang Xiaoliu back then was the original spirit sword of the Immortal Yun Jian, so he is probably from the Yun family, right? Last name Yun?"
"There were dozens of direct descendants of the Yun family in the Moon Shadow Sword Sect, and only three girls are left now. How could he be from the Yun family? He's not even blonde."
"Maybe he dyed his hair? And what if the Yun family is hiding him?"
Gu Mingxin tuned out Xue'e's chattering and looked at the dim streets under the flying snow.
Perhaps because "Liang Xiaoliu" left such a deep impression on her, every time she went to a new city, she felt a little uneasy, fearing that the city was full of ambushes.
That was why she did not stay in the house at night but stood at the door of the inn, drinking in the wind-blown snow.
For a moment, Gu Mingxin felt a little ridiculous.
The last time she was ambushed, it was a spy from the Heavenly Demon Sect who tipped off Liang Xiaoliu.
Now that the sect had been cleansed, it was absolutely impossible for Liang Xiaoliu to get information again.
Furthermore, Liang Xiaoliu looked like a cultivator from the Southern or Western Regions, he had no business appearing in the Northern Region.
"Hoo--"
She opened her cherry lips slightly and exhaled a breath of hot air, only to condense into ice mist three feet away from her nose and fall to the ground.
Gu Mingxin shook her head, finished her drink, and prepared to go back to her room to rest.
During this trip to the Northern Region, her mission was to find out the location of the Heavenly Snow Formation knot in the Cold Country, so that the various demonic sects could infiltrate the border of the Cold Country, kill the Empress, and bring the Northern Region under their rule.
For this purpose, six of the demonic sects secretly appointed thirty-seven Core Formation stage cultivators and several hundred Foundation Building cultivators to sneak in. They split into several teams and spread in the four directions of the Northern Region, namely the south, east, north, and west.
She and the other two Core Formation stage cultivators who were traveling with her were one of those teams. They were responsible for searching the southwest of the Northern Region and secretly spying on the movements of the Cold Country.
Gu Mingxin was thinking about how she should complete the task, and just as she was about to enter the inn, the door was opened from the inside.
The man who opened the door was named Wu Tianci, a high-ranking inner disciple of the Heaven Demonic Sect, and his cultivation was at the early stage of Core Formation.
Seeing him, Gu Mingxin raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Brother Wu, why don't you rest properly? What are you doing out in the middle of the night?"
"You're not sleeping either, are you?"
Wu Tianci glanced at Gu Mingxin. He walked out of the house, looked up at the snow in the sky, and suddenly sighed. "Hoo--"
"What's wrong? Why are you sighing?"
"Seeing the snow flying all over the sky makes me think of my useless father." Wu Tianci narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "I still can't figure out how he could, with his means, fall to that insignificant Dragon House."
Gu Mingxin raised her eyebrows. "I didn't expect that you would care about this family relationship, Brother Wu? Didn't I hear that you were at odds with Elder Wu?"
"I'm not thinking about the family relationship." Wu Tianci responded coldly. "I'm thinking about the Thousand Executions Formation Map in his storage bag. I don't know where his storage bag is now."
Gu Mingxin raised an eyebrow and glanced at Xue'e floating above.
Xue'e rolled her eyes, took out a large black book from under her skirt, and flipped through it for a while before saying, "Yes."
Gu Mingxin nodded. "If I bring you that map, how will you repay me?"
Wu Tianci narrowed his eyes, replying, "That depends on what you want from me."
"Just take it as making a friend."
"Heh... the word 'friend' is not popular among demonic cultivators." Wu Tianci sneered. "But if you really get me the map, then I will naturally help you get what you want as well."
"All I want is one person."
"Who?"
"Liang Xiaoliu. If you help me kill him, I will find you the Thousand Execution Formation Map, how about that?"
Wu Tianci smiled, then said, "Consider it done. I..."
Swish-swish--
Just as the two were chatting, suddenly, at the end of the street, which was originally deserted, there was a sound of footsteps on the snow.
Gu Mingxin and Wu Tianci immediately went on alert and looked toward the source of the sound.
What they saw were two strange cultivators, jointly carrying something that looked like a zither, walking toward them.
One was dressed in white with a black bucket hat, while the other was dressed in black with a white bucket hat.
"..."
Gu Mingxin frowned slightly as she stared at the two of them walking toward her, wondering why there were cultivators walking outside in the northern snow in the middle of the night.
Xue'e floating above, glanced at the two and warned. "Mingxin, both of them are mid-stage Core Formation cultivators. The thing on their backs should be a mysterious treasure. They are not to be messed with."
Gu Mingxin frowned slightly and answered with her mind. "Why would I mess with them? They look like thugs for hire from the black market."
Then, she looked back at Wu Tianci and said, "Brother, let's go inside and avoid them."
"Hmm..."
Just as the two were about to open the door and go inside... Suddenly, a strong wind blew up.
Boom---
A flame blew up the roof of the inn, and a burning red figure on the second floor broke through the wall and fell on the thick snow on the street.
Gu Mingxin was startled to see that the person who fell was another demonic cultivator who was traveling with her and Wu Tianci.
---Lu Meimei, a high-level inner disciple of the Hedonistic Sect, at the middle stage of Core Formation.
Lu Meimei fell heavily on her back in the snow. Her clothes, which were already skimpy, became even more exposed under the burning flames. When she touched the snow, she made a series of "sizzling" sounds of roasting meat.
She took a moment to recover, then hastily stood up, spitting out the remaining blood in her mouth. "Pfft-- what bad luck!!"
A little puzzled, Gu Mingxin stepped forward to help her up and looked at the hole on the second floor of the inn where thick smoke was billowing, "Sister Lu, what happened?"
"I got into trouble." Lu Meimei raised her head and pouted. "That man was so good-looking, but he suddenly stabbed me with a sword when I was halfway through the business."
?
Gu Mingxin frowned, subconsciously thinking that maybe her charm had failed, causing the human furnace she had grabbed casually in the town today to break free.
After all, she was a cultivator of the Hedonistic Sect and couldn't live without a man. For more than half a month, every time they passed a town, Lu Meimei had to catch a man for the night and get information about the town by the way.
However, before she could voice her doubts, a black shadow suddenly jumped out from the hole on the second floor.
Gu Mingxin glared at him and immediately raised her sword.
Ding---
Sparks flew everywhere.
An incoming sword was blocked directly in front of her chest. Gu Mingxin narrowed her eyes and looked at the person who attacked, but saw that it was a cultivator in green robes, whose cultivation level was also around the middle stage of Core Formation.
Wu Tianci, who was staying under the eaves of the inn, flashed behind the green-robed cultivator and punched him in the back.
Boom---
The wind that came with the fist gusted, but it was dodged by that green-robed cultivator using a skillful stance, and then he jumped back, ten feet away.
At this time, the two cultivators carrying the zither also arrived in front of the inn.
When the two men saw the green-robed cultivator, their eyes revealed some hostility, but when the green-robed man saw them, he smiled crookedly. "Black Yang, White Yin, are you here too?"
"Yeah." Black Yang nodded slightly, glancing at Gu Mingxin and the others. "Not easy to deal with these."
"Indeed. Shall we split it later?"
"Fine!"
Swoosh---
With a wave of their hands, Black Yang and White Yin threw the long zither on their backs into the air by the bandages, and then simultaneously sat down and floated above the ground.
A dark green light appeared on the strings of the long zither, and it landed accurately on the lap of the two people.
Gu Mingxin looked at this situation and frowned tightly.
What's going on?
On their trip, apart from Lu Meimei capturing a few men, they didn't do anything to attract attention, so why were they targeted?
Moreover, these three people did not look like decent cultivators. A dandy green-clothed Sword cultivator, two strange Magic cultivators holding a mysterious treasure...
They looked like cultivators who were used to killing people and stealing treasures.
There was nothing to be done when meeting such a cultivator, but the key was, why did they meet three people at the same time, and those three even formed an alliance?
If Gu Mingxin was confused, the big-breasted and brainless Lu Meimei was even more so. "You two in white and black, is there a grudge between us? Let's say I tied up the one in green, I can understand that he wants to kill me, but where did you two come from?"
The green-robed cultivator smiled widely. "Miss Lu, these two are my reinforcements."
"Reinforcements?"
Lu Meimei still didn't understand.
However, Gu Mingxin and Wu Tianci both caught that detail.
This green-robed man knew Lu Meimei's last name.
In other words, these people were targeting them.
Wu Tianci felt that the situation was not good, and he whispered, "Sister Gu, the situation is not right, let's retreat..."
However, Gu Mingxin didn't react at all. She stared blankly at the three people in front of her as if she had lost her soul.
"Sister Gu?"
"Hehe... Hehehe..."
"..."
Wu Tianci narrowed his eyes slightly, not knowing what happened to her, but in the next moment...
Gu Mingxin laughed louder and louder, holding her forehead with her left hand and raising her chin. "Hahahahahaha---"
Wild laughter spread throughout the town.
Then, a red light shot straight into the sky, breaking through the thick dark clouds above.
Gu Mingxin's whole body was filled with a strong bloody aura, dyeing the snow red.
"Liang Xiaoliu!!!!"
The sound waves shook the doors on both sides of the street.
Lu Meimei was frightened by her roar, and her plump chest trembled. She took a step back and asked, "Sister Gu, who is Liang Xiaoliu?"
The next moment, there was a loud "bang".
Gu Mingxin stepped on the snow, dispersing it, and rushed like a ghost, straight in the face of the green-robed cultivator.