Chapter 83: Chapter 83: The Iron Art Sect’s Handiwork

Hu Xin County.

It was a small county on the northernmost border of Shang’an Prefecture. Seen from the sky, half of it was covered by mountains and the other half by plains, the latter of which was irrigated by a river flowing down from Huai Fu County in Wudao Prefecture.

But now, Huai Fu County had dammed the river. As a result, with the exception of the fields near the mountains that could be irrigated by mountain streams, most of the fields on the plains were left high and dry.

However, an act that so thoroughly cut off people’s livelihoods was bound to provoke public outrage.

Throughout history, feuds over water sources have been endless. This time, with the added support of local landlords and village elders, the once honest and dependable villagers of Hu Xin County transformed into a mob in the blink of an eye!

By the time Wang Ping received the news and rushed over, they had already gathered more than two thousand able-bodied men. Armed with all sorts of crude weapons, they were advancing toward the dammed section of the river in Huai Fu County.

The two thousand men soon doubled in number, and the county magistrate and constables who arrived later could only watch from a distance.

Four hours later, this massive force crossed the border of Hu Xin County and immediately descended like bandits, pillaging the nearest village before racing excitedly upriver.

Before nightfall, they reached the dam that blocked the river. The first to suffer were the few dozen people guarding it; the mob threw them directly into the reservoir they themselves had built, drowning them alive.

What followed was a full night of plunder!

Wang Ping had remained hidden in the clouds above Hu Xin County, watching coldly from the sidelines. If he were to intervene, he would certainly alert the Entering Cultivators of the White Water Sect or the Iron Art Sect. Even a simple clash between them would turn most of the land in the two counties below into scorched earth.

「After dawn.」

The vast mob destroyed the dam, returned to Hu Xin County with the spoils of their night’s plunder, and transformed back into honest common folk. Then, taking advantage of the now abundant water, they irrigated their rice paddies and planted seedlings with the utmost speed.

Naturally, Huai Fu County, having suffered a loss, was not about to let the matter rest. However, the Shang’an Prefecture Magistrate’s Office had been prepared this time, urgently dispatching Militia from various regions to garrison the border between the two counties.

The standoff did not last long, for it was the busy farming season!

The Prefects of both prefectures had a tacit understanding not to escalate the situation, as it would benefit neither of them. And so, a massive feud that had resulted in over five hundred deaths was simply swept under the rug.

Wang Ping watched the entire affair unfold. The Cultivators from the White Water Sect never appeared, as if this whole incident was just a little game they played out of boredom.

"There is a chaotic and dark presence below!"

Yu Lian, who had been slumbering, suddenly spoke.

Through his connection to the Spirit Sea, Wang Ping immediately identified the person Yu Lian was talking about. It was a young man holding a pitch-black wood-chopping knife. Blood dripped from the blade in his hand. In a nearby paddy, an old farmer lay dead, his blood staining the murky water.

Looking further past the young man, he could see more farmers lying in pools of their own blood.

Just then, people noticed the disturbance. Some cried out in horror, while others organized to intercept the youth. But the young man showed no intention of retreating. He advanced toward the crowd step by step, brandishing the pitch-black knife. Crucially, a wisp of inky black mist was now rising from the blade.

It was evolving into a Demon Soldier!

Just as Wang Ping was about to descend and intervene, he froze. He sensed a presence in the sky above Huai Fu County lock onto him.

According to his intelligence, the Iron Art Sect and the White Water Sect each had one Entering Cultivator. This, combined with the White Water Sect’s Third Realm Cultivator who could not leave White Water Mountain, was the foundation of the White Water Sect’s confidence as they operated in the southern regions.

Judging by the aura of the person before him—that of an Entering Cultivator who had fused with a Demon Soldier—it had to be the Sect Leader of the Iron Art Sect, Gao Zishi!

Thoughts flashed through Wang Ping’s mind like lightning. With a wave of his hand, he pointed, and Puppet Zi Hong appeared beside him. Through the connection of their spiritual souls and consciousness, Zi Hong instantly knew what to do. He directly dispersed the auspicious cloud beneath his feet, letting himself glide stiffly down toward the young man on the ground.

"They’re about to fight!"

Yu Lian shouted the warning, her body extending to its full length and coiling around Wang Ping, making her look just like a white dragon.

As Wang Ping saw his opponent form a hand seal, he mirrored the action with his left hand, activating an Armor Talisman. Then, with a flick of his sleeve, he manifested seven Longswords. At that moment, the sound of something tearing through the air reached his ears—two high-speed, spinning axes were cutting through the clouds.

"I’ll handle it!"

As Yu Lian yelled, a layer of watery ripples appeared on her body’s surface, assimilating the surrounding Spiritual Qi into Water Spirits. These then formed an interdependent Energy Vortex with the Wood Spirits manifested by Wang Ping.

In the next instant, a dense mist of water droplets filled the sky. When the two axes came into contact with the droplets, they seemed to be corroded from within. Their high-speed rotation abruptly ceased, and they began to rust and decay at a visible rate before falling stiffly to the ground.

At the same time, Wang Ping directed the seven Longswords to slash through the clouds and attack his opponent.

His opponent, Gao Zishi, let out a great roar as a metallic sheen appeared on his skin. This was followed by a CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! of metal on metal as the Longswords struck his body only to be deflected!

Then, Gao Zishi’s figure suddenly plunged downward, moving so fast that the Longswords couldn’t keep up. Wang Ping could only watch as he landed beside the young man, grabbed the boy who was about to bring his knife down on someone, and quickly fled.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

While fleeing, Gao Zishi was struck several more times by the Longswords, but he didn’t pause for a moment!

Seeing that his opponent had already escaped his line of sight, Wang Ping felt the urge to pursue and even took a slight step forward. But in the next moment, he forced himself to a halt.

"It’s a Metal Spirit!" Yu Lian’s massive head floated beside Wang Ping as she commented on the fleeing Gao Zishi.

"It seems the intelligence was flawed. Gao Zishi must have fused with a Metal Spirit at some point and cultivated a corresponding Cultivation Technique."

Wang Ping reached out and summoned a Wood Spirit Longsword into his hand. Looking at the speck of blood tainting the poison-coated blade, he said, "Hopefully, after this, he’ll understand how foolish it is to take an attack from a Wood Spirit Cultivator head-on."

As he spoke, he sent a withdrawal command to Zi Hong. The puppet, who was being gawked at by hundreds of villagers, received the order and immediately cast the Invisibility Technique and Cloud Soaring Technique to ascend into the sky.

...

"Rumor has it that the Iron Art Sect can artificially create certain Demon Soldiers. It seems that may be true. They must have control over some kind of Outer Realm Demon!" Yu Cheng Taoist concluded after hearing Wang Ping’s report.

"Master, what is an Outer Realm Demon?" Wang Ping was confused. He had never heard the term before, nor had he ever read about it in any books.

"It’s a relatively new concept from the last few decades..."

Yu Cheng Taoist paused for a moment. "The truth is, Cultivators like us who practice the Mystic Sect Orthodox Technique often don’t understand the unorthodox sects. They can be quite clever at times. Take the Iron Art Sect you just mentioned—they must have gained control of an Outer Realm Demon through some specific means."

"An Outer Realm Demon... it’s not what the name implies, something from outer space or another dimension. Rather, it’s an item that has been corrupted by negative energy—most likely corruption from a Star God. Research from the Daoist Scripture Hall in recent decades has proven that Demon Soldiers can be generated by them through a specific method, but these Demon Soldiers cannot be used for fusion to enter the next realm!"

Wang Ping understood. "Doesn’t the Daoist Scripture Hall do anything about it?" he asked.

"The Daoist Scripture Hall isn’t omniscient or omnipotent. It’s only responsible for maintaining basic order and ensuring the abundance of Spiritual Qi in the world. However, some demonic things must be destroyed and sealed away. You’ll learn about these matters when you reach the fourth seat. Also, don’t place too much importance on the Daoist Scripture Hall. We are merely using it to obtain the promotion methods beyond the Taiyan Talisman."

After saying all this, Yu Cheng Taoist added one final piece of instruction in a very low voice: "The Daoist Scripture Hall’s history is only about nine hundred years old!"