The Blade-Wielding Legend
Chapter 228 - 161: Wind and Snow at Chaotic Burial Mound

Chapter 228: Chapter 161: Wind and Snow at Chaotic Burial Mound

"Why the rush to leave?"

Zhang Shitong frowned and said, "There is a banquet later, and I was about to introduce you to some people..."

"Thank you for the kind offer, Brother Zhang." Li Yan shook his head and said, "I have to leave the city tonight for something and must get back to prepare quickly."

The end-of-year meeting lasted for two hours.

At first, Li Yan was interested, mainly because of the Dan Strength experts. When he used his Divine Skills to investigate, it was just as he had speculated.

Those with Dan Strength had an internal energy that was contained. If these people changed their clothes, and perhaps took a bath, their body odor would probably become quite faint.

Moreover, masters of this level were definitely deeply involved with the Mystical Sect. If they had Protective Magical Artifacts like those Xiong Baodong had, ordinary magicians would probably have to run upon seeing them.

Of course, these people were just making an appearance.

After the president of the Divine Fist Association expressed his gratitude and exchanged some pleasantries, these people left one after another, clearly having other engagements.

The remaining time was spent on reports from various places.

The more Li Yan listened, the more bored he became, growing restless in his seat.

He couldn’t wait to leave as soon as it ended.

Zhang Shitong tried to convince him for a while but, seeing that Li Yan was unmoved, also got a bit angry, "The old man said that you’ve just arrived in Chang’an and have already caused so much trouble. You’re probably fated to die young, so he wanted me to find a way to help you settle down."

"Do you really not understand, or are you pretending to be dumb?"

Li Yan raised an eyebrow, "Must be pretending to be dumb, right?"

"You?!"

Zhang Shitong was immediately furious.

"Brother Zhang, don’t be angry."

Li Yan gave a wry smile, bowed solemnly and said, "Please thank the elder for me, but I’m just not someone who settles down easily."

"I really like my current life."

He could naturally see what Zhang Shitong meant.

But to be honest, he had never considered the path that the other was arranging for him.

"That’s enough." Zhang Shitong waved his hand and said, "The pugilistic world is full of risks; you can lose your life at any turn. You’re just mixing in the pugilistic world for a living, and you will regret it sooner or later."

"Haha, I’ll worry about that when I do regret it."

Li Yan laughed heartily, waved his fist in farewell, and turned to leave.

As Zhang Shitong watched his rapidly departing figure, he shook his head, sighed, and turned to walk towards the main hall.

"Elder Liu, make sure to drink plenty later."

"Brother Wu, I heard you’ve taken another concubine..."

...

Before they knew it, large snowflakes began to drift down from the sky again.

"A timely snow promises a good harvest; what a good omen!"

Wang Daoxuan stood in the courtyard, his mood uplifted as he watched the snowflakes fluttering down and laughed, "The high Daoist from Doumu Palace said there would be a drought next year, but this doesn’t look like it at all."

"Exactly."

Sha Lifei also said joyfully, "With so much snow this year, the wheat next year will be good. The old sayings are never wrong; maybe the Daoists miscalculated."

Creak—the door opened.

Li Yan was already packed, with bags slung over his shoulder, and he frowned at the heavy snowfall, "With the snow so heavy, the night will surely be tough. I can go by myself; why should you guys suffer along with me?"

Since returning from the Divine Fist Association, he had begun preparations to head to Chaotic Burial Mound in South City that evening for practice.

Unexpectedly, Wang Daoxuan and Sha Lifei also expressed their wishes to go.

Hearing this, Wang Daoxuan caressed his beard and smiled, "These past days, dealing with those nobles has left me feeling stifled. A snowy night journey has a charm of its own."

Sha Lifei, on the other hand, pursed his lips and said, "With such heavy snow, if you ran off to Chaotic Burial Mound by yourself, we wouldn’t be able to sleep peacefully at home either."

Hearing this, a warm current surged in Li Yan’s heart.

Although the pugilistic world had many storms, to have a friend you would trust with your life, a cup of old wine, and laughter along the journey was also a form of happiness.

"Then it’s settled. Let’s go, have you packed enough wine?"

"Just relax. We have plenty of wine and meat for the long cold night!"

Having made their decision, the three of them didn’t delay any further. They locked the door, left, and trudged into the snow wearing straw raincoats and bamboo hats.

Just as they left the street, they encountered a group masquerading as "immortals and ghosts."

A bunch of people were banging gongs and making a racket, wandering down the streets.

At the front was someone wearing a ghost mask, draped in a body of hemp cloth, holding a mourning stick, hopping and skipping in the snow.

Following were people wearing Nuomian masks and banging drums and gongs, as if they were performing exorcisms, chasing the "ghosts" around.

This group was loud and unruly, shouting chaotically. Whenever they reached a shopfront, the shopkeeper would throw out copper coins with a look of disdain.

The performers didn’t mind, picking up the copper coins and pocketing them, then herding the "ghosts" to another house.

"I almost forgot, today is the day for ’hitting the nocturnal fox’."

Sha Lifei touched his beard, laughed, and said, "This thing is known as exorcism. Whichever door it comes to, you have to send it away to avoid attracting bad luck."

"This whole trip seems to be going to be lively."

True to Sha Lifei’s words, that journey was indeed noisy.

Everywhere they went, any place that had businesses, there were "hitting the nocturnal fox" groups, dressed up as various ghosts and immortals wandering around.

Many of them were beggars, impoverished gentry, or all sorts of riffraff from the streets, each with their own methods.

Some were reasonable; they would perform and make it lively, making the merchants happy, who would not only give money but also offer food.

Some fellows, though, used rather nasty methods.

For example, there were those who dressed up as the God of Wealth, holding a crude-looking statue of the god, its origin unknown, likely some trinket they scavenged up. They’d beat drums and gongs, and then offer it to shopkeepers.

This was called "sending the God of Wealth."

Alright, if you didn’t accept it, you were seen as driving away the God of Wealth.

But if you did accept it, a few copper coins wouldn’t be enough to send them on their way.

Some tough characters would shout, "Get lost," only to have the "God of Wealth" smash the god’s statue in front of the store without another word.

What bad luck that was!

The same tactic was used with the "sending of the God of Plague," the "sending of the God of Fortune," and the "sending of the Prosperous Offspring Picture." It all depended on whether you accepted them or not.

After all, it was the festival season. Most people, wanting a good omen, would hold their noses and accept them, then fork over some money to get rid of them.

But there were also those who could no longer contain their anger.

Some merchants, after being visited several times in a row, would prepare several basins of foul-smelling dirty water, dumping it unceremoniously on anyone who dared to show up...

Then there were merchants with explosive tempers who would end up brawling with the "God of Wealth," "God of Fortune," and "Old Man of Longevity," tumbling around in the snow, drawing cheers from onlookers...

In any case, Chang’an City was especially lively today.

The streets were frequently blocked, and by the time Li Yan and his two comrades arrived at South City Gate, the sky had already darkened.

The city gate was about to close, and they didn’t delay. Once outside, they headed into the wilderness of the snowy plain...

......

Whooosh!

The wind howled and snow swirled, as the flaps of their clothes flapped wildly.

They were surrounded by darkness, with the northern wind blowing fiercely. Even with torches lit, visibility was extremely low and nearly useless.

After several hours of trekking, they had reached the Chaotic Burial Mound. The evening wind and snow were even stronger, numbing their minds.

Sha Lifei was feeling rather confused when suddenly he looked to his left and muttered, "Brother Yan, why do I see a woman in white under that tree? Could it be that I too have developed the Eye Divine Power..."

He had followed Li Yan and Wang Daoxuan and had seen much of the world, no longer fearing any ghosts, and only wondered if he had developed divine powers.

"Don’t talk nonsense. You’re just confused from the cold..."

Li Yan teased him, but even so, he was holding the Divine Tiger Token, performing the Step Gang, and chanted, "Nuogao, act by the order of your descendants, Wang Jia, Azure Dragon of the Six Jia, and stars of the Six Yi... Hurry, as if following a decree!"

"Howl!"

The sound of a tiger’s roar echoed in their ears as the Mountain Climbing Skill of the Northern Emperor was employed.

With the more authentic Mountain Climbing Skill of the Northern Emperor, along with his increasingly profound Dao, the power of the Divine Tiger Token naturally improved.

Sha Lifei distinctly felt the surrounding chilling wind weaken a little.

"What’s this..."

"The mound is heavy with Yin Qi, which has gathered a lot of those things. They want to freeze us to death. Let’s move, there’s a place up ahead to take shelter from the wind!"

Li Yan, with his bamboo hat secured, called out, and the three of them turned and headed along the mountain path sheltered from the blowing wind and snow.

Creak~

The decayed doorway was pushed open, and a gust of wind and snow rushed in.

Sha Lifei quickly turned and shut the door, propping it with a wooden stake to keep the raging wind and snow outside.

This was an abandoned Mountain God Temple hidden in a depression on the left side of the mountain road. If it weren’t for Li Yan’s divine power, it would’ve been impossible to find this place as the road was blocked by snow and visibility was dim.

Sha Lifei re-lit the torches, revealing rows of decaying coffins within the dilapidated temple.

"How unlucky!"

His face turned sullen as he glanced at Li Yan.

"It’s fine; they’re all empty coffins," Wang Daoxuan spoke up, shaking the snow off his straw cloak as he smiled. "These are just ordinary unclaimed corpses, not worth much. Probably dumped here by beggars from the city for convenience when they were working."

"Unclaimed corpses" referred to those who died suddenly on the road.

Some were from poor families, grievously ill with no one to rely on, others were drunkards frozen to death in the streets, and yet others were those that died in brawls...

Ordinarily, these "unclaimed corpses" were dealt with by the Beggar Gang in the city. Once the government issued a notice, if no one claimed them, they were taken to the Chaotic Burial Mound for burial.

Upon hearing that the coffins were empty, Sha Lifei instantly grew bold, opened each one to find they were all unoccupied, and burst into laughter, "Well, you gave me quite a scare."

Though they were worthless coffins, they could eventually become the resting place for some unfortunate soul. To destroy them would be inauspicious, so the three went outside the temple, gathered some dry branches, and lit a bonfire.

They heated two pots of wine, toasted dried flatbread and braised meat, and after gorging hungrily, they finally felt spirited again.

"Brother Yan, what’s the plan for tonight?"

Sha Lifei asked with a mouthful of food.

Li Yan looked outside and shook his head, "No rush, let’s wait for the snowstorm to die down a bit. We’ll find a place heavy with Yin Evil Qi, Daoist will help me set up the altar, and once the Yin Evil Qi starts flowing, you guys should stay back to avoid being struck by ghosts."

"If tonight’s ritual succeeds, my Dao practice will surely advance more quickly."

"Great!"

Hearing that it would advance his Dao practice, Sha Lifei was overjoyed.

They waited a while longer, and finally, the snowstorm lessened. Wang Daoxuan immediately took out his compass and led Li Yan and the other out.

Finding a place heavy with Yin Evil Qi wasn’t difficult. Soon enough, they discovered a cave, likely an abandoned grave hole half-dug before realizing the mistake and immediately deserted.

Now, the cave was covered with thick frost.

Sha Qi converged, making it ideal for Li Yan’s cultivation.

The three of them got to work setting up the site. Sha Lifei hauled in several large logs to block the wind and snow from extinguishing their candle flames, while Wang Daoxuan assisted Li Yan in arranging the magic platform.

They finished their preparations and nodded to each other, quickly leaving the site.

Soon the place would be choked with Sha Qi, and they could be afflicted if they weren’t careful.

Li Yan then opened his bundle and took out Soul Summoning Incense, his face stern as he lit it.

This item had cost quite a bit of Silver Coin, all because it was made from rhinoceros horn...