Chapter 291: A World of Humans and Monsters

While Li Yunxin was pondering, the wolf demon grew even more uneasy, fearing this man would suddenly cut him down. These types of people were the most annoying—they didn't know the reputation of the Sword Palace and acted without restraint. If he were killed now, wouldn't he die for nothing?

But the thing he feared didn't happen.

Li Yunxin’s smile became even friendlier—his lips curled back to reveal two rows of neat, white teeth. He reached out and rubbed the wolf's furry head again. "I'll ask you another thing: is your Palace Master very famous in this generation?"

The wolf was about to speak when Li Yunxin added: "I don't mean among small fry like you. I mean the Great Demon Kings—what is your Palace Master's reputation among them?"

The wolf demon looked at Li Yunxin cautiously and said, "...Naturally, he is, well, very prestigious. Which of the demon kings around the Kingdom of Yu doesn't respect and fear my master—"

"Then why haven't I heard of him?"

The wolf demon thought to itself, I haven't heard of you either—but it naturally didn't dare say it. It just said: "...Perhaps because you are from far away. Which Great King are you—"

"Wei River Dragon King." Li Yunxin looked at him. "Have you heard of the Wei River Dragon King?"

The wolf thought about it and widened its eyes. But soon it shook its head like a rattle: "No, no."

"Then you have heard of him." Li Yunxin hoisted it up and stared at it. "So, is the Wei River Dragon King you heard of the Ninth Dragon Son, the one with no divine powers or talent, whose temple was even seized by various demon kings?"

The wolf didn't know what to say, feeling as if this guy could read minds.

Li Yunxin laughed and set him down. "You're actually quite 'cute' in a stupid way. Fine, now take me to your Plain Temple. You can tell me everything else on the way."

The wolf stared blankly for a moment. But Li Yunxin had already waved his sleeve, sweeping the demon into the sky and heading south on a cloud of mist.

The monster had likely never flown before. Once in the sky, it screamed and yelled, wanting nothing more than to cover its eyes, nearly dropping the thin sword in its hand. Li Yunxin didn't care if it was afraid of heights; instead, he used the time to interrogate it. The wolf demon naturally stammered and only shared trivialities, but its small schemes were as transparent as clear water to Li Yunxin. In just half an hour, he had picked its brain clean.

It wasn't surprising that Li Yunxin didn't know much about the Kingdom of Yu.

Yu was a small nation, roughly the size of a single province in the Great Qing Dynasty. Bordering Yu were several other small countries, clustered together to form a region about half the size of the Kingdom of Qing.

In Li Yunxin's era of information, many people didn't know exactly how many countries were on a distant, impoverished continent—heck, they didn't even know much about the small nations on their own borders... let alone in this age.

The Kingdom of Yu was nestled in the mountains and rarely interacted with other nations. In an era where productivity was low and "international trade" wasn't a necessity for self-sufficiency, the King of Yu was happy to avoid others and stay curled up in the mountains.

Yu was poor and barren. In such a closed environment, the "strange things" that surprised Li Yunxin could be considered to have a "cause."

However, the reasons might be more complicated than that.

For instance, Yang Jianzi really seemed to be the National Teacher of Yu. But as for whether he was a human or a monster, it wasn't clear.

Information from the wolf suggested the guy had lived for "a thousand years." Such a lifespan for a Human Cultivator would mean a realm close to Supreme Indifference. Yet he clearly didn't have such profound cultivation and seemed to be in the True Realm. This meant he was either a human with a unique technique or a monster.

Actually, the latter was more likely.

Furthermore, this Yang Jianzi... seemed to be doing exactly what Li Yunxin had planned to do.

He had gathered a large number of low-level monsters within the Kingdom of Yu and established an organization called the "Sword Palace." Yang Jianzi passed down the "Sword Daoist Arts" for the monsters to cultivate. He then built temples everywhere, presided over by his disciples, who lived right in human cities.

The world was already a mix of humans and monsters, but the "mixing" Li Yunxin knew was on a macro level. In the Kingdom of Yu... monsters appeared in the marketplaces, living and breathing alongside humans. According to the wolf's description, they seemed to get along well—at least, that's what the "Wolf Daoist" thought.

The monsters of Yu were originally like monsters elsewhere—some showed their powers to gain Vow Power, while others ate people and caused chaos.

But since they were brought into the Sword Palace a thousand years ago, such incidents had decreased significantly. By now, in the words of the Wolf Daoist—he was a respected cultivator in Rong City.

Hearing this, Li Yunxin realized things were definitely not simple.

Humans and monsters living in the same city, getting along while the monsters held great power...

Only a fool would believe it.

His original plan was to get some Spiritual Power—"some" meaning relative to what he needed for the Spirit Painting on his Folding Fan.

Back at Lake Dongting, he had gained many advantages because of this Spirit Painting, so he knew it was a powerful tool for strategy. He wanted to paint not just the surroundings of Weicheng, but the entire Wei River basin into the Spirit Painting.

If he were even bolder—what if he incorporated the entire world into it?

But that was a distant goal; things had to be done step by step.

To paint Weicheng, he had used the Vow Power of a Million Yin Spirits to form a formation—and he was only at the Manifestation Realm then.

Now that he was a Master said to be immortal, the Spiritual Power required to force a Spirit Painting might be less, but it was still far beyond what he could achieve alone.

Spiritual energy was everywhere in the world but was thin. If he wanted to take a shortcut, there was a brutal method—

Either use a massive number of souls for a formation, or steal the Spiritual Power of others.

And with so many demon kings occupying his rightful territory along the Wei River, and his "mission from the True Dragon to reclaim the Wei River," wasn't this the perfect chance to kill and plunder? The True Dragon wouldn't restrict him at this juncture, and the Daoist Orthodoxy and Sword Sect would probably be happy to see monsters fighting among themselves. He was temporarily a "free man."

So, hearing that the Sword Palace Master Yang Jianzi was "powerful," he really wanted to meet him. Of course, the main purpose of this "meeting" was to kill him and refine his soul into Spiritual Power to expand his fan's painting. But now that he knew Yang Jianzi had created this "utopia for humans and monsters" in Yu, his interest went beyond just "killing."

He had mentioned a few days ago wanting to start a "Little Demon Protection Association" to gather small fry for his goals. Who knew he'd find someone who had already stolen his business idea and been running it for a thousand years...

How could he stand for that?

The Wolf Daoist was being carried by Li Yunxin toward Plain Temple in Rong City. He spoke in the air, hoping to scare Li Yunxin off and get rid of this disaster.

He didn't expect that after learning more about the Sword Palace, the other wouldn't be afraid but instead grow more interested. The Wolf Daoist felt miserable, thinking...

He had heard of the "Wei River Dragon King," but only in passing—supposedly a Dragon Son of the Manifestation Realm who wasn't favored by the True Dragon. By rights, the whole Wei River should be his, but it had been carved up by others.

Based on that alone, he shouldn't be anyone important—so who would care about him? Especially since Trapped Sky Mountain was in between.

But looking at this guy calling himself the "Wei River Dragon King" now, where was there even a shadow of that rumored weakling?

The Wolf Daoist thought this guy seemed unpredictable; maybe he was some Great Demon using the Dragon Son's name to stir trouble. But why did it have to be him who ran into him?

Fifteen minutes later, the outline of Rong City appeared in the distance.

Rong City was built along a river and had the nickname "Greater and Lesser City." The river was the Rong River. When the city was built, a large city was first constructed on the east bank, then expanded with a smaller city on the west bank. But as time passed and the population grew, both the old large and small cities were absorbed into a much larger urban area, and many of the walls were torn down.

The Wolf Daoist’s Plain Temple was in the smaller city—he could already vaguely see the wide plaza in front of the temple from the sky.

The demon priest grew even more anxious, no longer caring about covering his eyes. He said to Li Yunxin, "Are you really going to my place?! Everything I said is true—even if you want to cause trouble, you won't get any advantage in Rong City. Be careful you don't lose your life—"

But Li Yunxin just grinned at him. "I love danger and excitement, and I love seeing people in a bind."

He said this and stopped his cloud in mid-air. "But looking at you—are you afraid I'll kill you on a whim and take your place to cause trouble?"

The Wolf Daoist blinked and was about to speak—

Li Yunxin raised a hand and tossed a sword into his arms. "Then I'll give you a treasure to set your mind at ease."

Li Yunxin never did things by the book. The Wolf Daoist felt a weight in his hands and suddenly had a sword. One look at it, and he gasped—

It was truly a treasure!

It was a short sword. Including the hilt, it was only as long as a grown man's forearm. But the blade was wider than the thin sword he used, and it was thicker. The bright blade was covered in feather patterns that seemed to flow in the sunlight—and they actually were flowing.

But the "feather patterns" weren't from folded steel; they were entirely composed of the True Script Talismans of the Daoist Orthodoxy!

This was something Li Yunxin had collected in Weicheng.

During his battle with Yue Yunzi, the True Realm priest had used thirty-six spirits with swords to form a Grand Yin Spirit Formation to protect his body. After Li Yunxin killed Yue Yunzi, he took all his treasures. Besides the Profound Light Precious Mirror, this formation talisman—this small sword—was the other thing.

If triggered by Daoist secret arts, this sword could manifest thirty-six spirits for a formation. But even for someone who didn't know formations and just used it as a weapon, it was indestructible and incredibly sharp.

This was a magic tool of a True Realm Daoist—for a monster, it was an incredible treasure, let alone for this wolf who hadn't even reached the Manifestation Realm.

The Wolf Daoist held the treasure in shock, looking from it to Li Yunxin, not knowing what the other was up to. But Li Yunxin smiled and rubbed his head again. "Since you've taken my treasure, let me stay in your temple for a while. Come, let me teach you—inject your Spiritual Power into the blade... carefully, just follow these talismans—yes, do you feel anything?"

As he spoke, he grabbed the wolf's wrist, forced out its Spiritual Power, and pushed it into the sword without question.

The Wolf Daoist wasn't willing, but how could he resist a Great Demon of the True Realm? His arm went numb, and he was neutralized. He could only watch as Li Yunxin, acting like a teacher, funneled his Spiritual Power into the sword—he soon felt drained, as if his energy were being sucked away by the talismans on the blade.

Li Yunxin didn't stop, saying to himself, "See? Now the formation on this sword has your mark. You can't drive the formation yet, but consider yourself 'registered' on this sword—later, if someone powerful gets this sword and investigates, guess what?"

The wolf naturally didn't know; it could only stare, feeling like it was about to become an empty Human Skin Bag.

Li Yunxin finally let go and tossed the sword back to him. "First, they'll find the mark of a Daoist Orthodoxy Master—so they'll know it's a Daoist treasure. And it's a rare one; no one would give it away easily—even your Palace Master would praise it."

"Then they'll find your mark—whoa, that's big! Who would give you such a thing? You must have a 'secret deal' with the person who gave it to you." Li Yunxin spread his hands. "So, tell me, are you secretly colluding with the Daoist Orthodoxy to do something shady?"

The wolf froze for a moment, then understood. It immediately clutched the sword and shouted, "The Palace Master would never believe such a thing!! Never!!"

Li Yunxin chuckled. "Right. He probably won't. But it'll make him uncomfortable. And for a small fry like you, when a big figure feels uncomfortable... your career is over. Who would trust you with anything important?"

The wolf felt something was wrong with his logic, but its brain couldn't figure out where the hole was, so it just stared blankly.

Li Yunxin patted his shoulder. "So be a good boy. I'm going to Rong City to do some business; I won't cause you trouble—I'll leave when I'm done, and the treasure stays with you. Isn't that nice?"

After a long time, the Wolf Daoist asked suspiciously, "Are... are you telling the truth?"

Li Yunxin blinked. "Me? I never lie."