105 What really happened

Peng Zhugen walked, faithfully following the trail left behind by Tu Caihe.

It took him away from the encampment and soon he was walking along a small path that led into nearby woods. He couldn't even imagine why the rogue cultivator went this way. Surely there was some kind of insidious item or trap that was waiting for him…

But he only kept on walking, eager to uncover whatever secrets Tu Caihe had veiled so well.

The shadows cast by the trees seemed to grow taller and taller as he walked. The path narrowed as the bushes became denser. Peng Zhugen had come across the same path not long ago himself, but it was to go to an old slab of stone that he conveniently used as an anchor for the concealment spell that surrounded their camp.

"..."

But realization suddenly dawned on him and he quickened his steps. Perhaps it was the foundations of his barrier that Tu Caihe was after!

His fears became a reality as he continued down the path and happened upon the small clearing where a giant rock was anchored into the ground, littered with talismans that tied the base of his spell there.

Tu Caihe stood ominously before the stone, quiet and calm even as Peng Zhugen approached.

"Hello, Sect Leader Peng." His voice was both low and smooth with an obvious sinister tilt that sent shivers down Peng Zhugen's spine.

He sneered, "So you are the true villain that has fanned dissent into our ranks. Do not think your crimes will go unpunished."

Peng Zhugen's sword unsheathed itself and floated around him like a hovering hummingbird with a sharp edge for a beak, then he pulled out a fan from his sleeves. His movements were slow and measured, refusing to give any hints of anxiety.

Tu Caihe turned around slowly.

Frost beaded up on the fern at his feet, crackling beneath his steps.

He smiled a smile that was too wide to be comfortable, "If you believe that I'm the only spy among your precious little troops, then you are wrong."

From the aura that seeped out of him, Peng Zhugen could tell that this was the real Tu Caihe and not some sort of illusion cast by the Hui demon. However, there was a very thin layer of demon energy that enveloped him and upon closer observation, Peng Zhugen noted that he was holding a black arrow in his hand.

Peng Zhugen narrowed his gaze, his voice was venomous and accusing, "So what really happened within the walls of Xinlie?"

Tu Caihe flashed his teeth, "How about I give you a demonstration?"

He threw the arrow, and it only took a split second for the space between them to warp. If Peng Zhugen hadn't seen the way light fluttered and fluctuated in that brief moment he would also have been shocked when a giant Venus flytrap burst out of the dirt below his feet.

But it was only a diversion.

Peng Zhugen summoned his whirling winds and lifted himself off the ground before the ice that crept underneath the illusion of the venus fly trap could capture him.

He shot his flying sword at his enemy as he leaped up, wasting not a breath. "This kind of cheap trick won't work on me."

But Tu Caihe easily dodged the sword that flew at him and laughed with a sinister tone.

"Then it's a pity that you didn't come into the city with me, huh? If you had come, think of all the lives you could have saved."

A cutting emotion flared in Peng Zhugen's stomach before he snarled and forced it down. He wasn't going to let this fucker get under his skin so easily. Not one, nor two, but three roaring tornadoes were summoned around him.

They ripped up grass, leaves, and twigs, uprooting small trees and bushes that they came upon and created an ugly swirl of debris that closed in on Tu Caihe.

Tu Caihe took in a deep breath and created a thick shield of ice, but his calculations of the sword's speed and maneuverability were off. Peng Zhugen's flying sword had flown behind the shield and lunged at Tu Caihe with a speed he could not parry nor block. It pierced the man's abdomen but he had moved in the last moment to prevent it from being fatal.

Before Peng Zhugen had the chance of taking advantage of this and slicing up his foe's internal organs even more, Tu Caihe had wound his hand around the sword and pulled it out of his body, expelling some of his own spiritual energy into it to disrupt Peng Zhugen's control. He did not panic from the gaping hole now in his body and calmly froze the wound over with ice to prevent any excess bleeding.

The sect leader of the Hidden Mist was not pleased by the development and couldn't puppeteer his sword with the same dexterity as before. But there were still the three tornadoes that hovered around the woodland. In this time, he circled one behind Tu Caihe and then tore through the ice shield with the other two.

Despite being corned, Tu Caihe only smirked.

For he did not care about life nor death. His goal was not to kill or even maim the Hidden Mist Sect Leader. In fact, he didn't care about Peng Zhugen's presence there at all. He only had one goal in mind.

He backed away from the tornadoes and went towards the giant rock.

Peng Zhugen cursed, if this fucker thought he was going to tear apart his own spell, forget about it! But he was forced to weaken the tornado that inched the closest to the stone and this gave Tu Caihe himself the opportunity to cover the rock with a thick sheet of ice.

It was no normal ice because Peng Zhugen felt it eat away at his spell!

He was about to abandon his focus on his damned tornadoes to focus on repairing the spell that Tu Caihe was about to undo until he felt the embers of demonic energy simmering under the ground.

It was far below his feet, not coming from Tu Caihe.

Peng Zhugen felt himself go cold, and the evil fucker Tu Caihe howled in laughter.

"Did you only realize now?" He snickered, "How do you like my tweaks to your concealment spell?"

Peng Zhugen was cold and horrified with the realization that Tu Caihe had basically flipped his concealment spell inside out!

Instead of hiding the location of their camp, the spell was making them ignorant of everything that was happening outside!

How the fuck--!?

Tu Caihe continued to laugh like a maniac, "Oh Sect Leader Peng, you should see your face right now! How does it feel to be outsmarted? I'm sure you were having so much fun looking down on me until this very critical moment!"

And the spell continued to undo itself, the demonic energy felt more and more oppressive. It was thick, heavy, and had them completely surrounded. Tu Caihe continued to laugh. And Peng Zhugen flicked his wrist.

His sword shot forward and struck the laughing Tu Caihe straight in the skull.

"Shut up, you noisy fool." Peng Zhugen scowled, even when he was the one who had been a fool. How did he not even realize someone had tempered with HIS spell?

But he hadn't the time to mull over his past mistakes. He rushed back to the camp as fast as he could, but by now he was sure that everyone was already alerted to the force that was coming their way.

…

Xu Hexian was having a casual argument with Liu Suye over the bitterness of medicine and the necessity of resting.

It was all fun, quaint, and mundane and easy and not as annoying as slaving around and hulling materials for those catapults they were supposed to be building.

"Ah…Alcohol isn't medicine, it's really not medicine. How come you still want to drink after you got poisoned from wine? This makes no sense to me!"

But before Liu Suye could answer, his carefree smile switched off and instead was overtaken by a worried, serious countenance, "Do you feel that?"

Xu Hexian's gut sank.

He felt it.

Everyone else did too. What was peace and orderly outside of Liu Suye's tent suddenly erupted into chaos, people yelling and shouting and feet stomping around back and forth. Huamian-jun jumped out of his bed and reached for his whip sword while Xu Hexian got a hold of his weapon as well.

They shared a look before rushing outside.

Just what was going on!?

What was this large surge of demonic energy that was suddenly assaulting them from all directions? And he couldn't help but feel like it was seeping out of the ground itself!

Outside, everyone was looking around, cautious, and alarmed. Many questions were flying about as well like:

"What in the world is going on?"

"I thought we had a concealment barrier up, what happened to that!"

"Why are they here?!"

But no matter the outrage and the questions asked, there were no answers to be provided.

Soon the ground began to rumble and shake.

Xu Hexian fell backward on his ass and the ground between his feet cracked open.

He'd never admit to screaming when a large black serpent pushed its head through the crack. Its head was faceless and when it opened its jaws, it had acid for venom that dribbled down elongated fangs.

Liu Suye did not waste time to cleave off the demon's head but it was still wiggling. The crack extended and then three more serpent heads pushed out! All around the campsite, demon snakes crept out of the ground and lunged at them with acid-filled fangs.

Xu Hexian cursed and instantly hopped onto his sword, cowardly flying up thinking that the skies were safer than the ground that was now filled with long slithering serpents.

It was an oversight on his part because the snakes only lifted their terrible ugly faces with their gaping mouths and shot streams of venom at him.

Xu Hexian squeaked and dodged clumsily. The tent behind him was not so lucky and he watched in horror as the fabric disintegrated under the acid.

Why did it have to be snakes!? Xu Hexian wanted to cry. He hated snakes!

But he swallowed down his fears, remembering that there were still people like Ye-xiong who were recovering from the poison in their bodies and now had to fight this swarm of acid-spitting snakes.

…

"Reinforcements sure are taking their time," the wolf demon padded back and forth in the empty plaza. The She-Wolf General had already spent a lot of time and effort to clean up the gore left behind by Tu Caihe.

Hui Siran pushed back a loose strand of hair and shrugged, "There's no need to worry so much."

"Aren't you putting too much trust in that man? Our troops here are thin." The wolf demon tilted its large head at her and flinched a little when Hui Siran reached down to scratch him behind the ear.

She chuckled, "I don't trust him, but I trust his ability to buy us the time we need." She smiled as she scented the air. Even this far away she could pick up the slightest hint of blood and chaos, carried to her by auspicious winds.

While she had no hopes of outright winning against the cultivators, she was confident in her ability to hold them off until her brother was done with his fun little schemes and plots in the south.

For now, Hui Siran would bide her time and play around for as long as she could.