Chapter 904: Nether Capital

Chapter 904: Youdu

Li Sui sat dejectedly atop the belly of a dead horse, her head bowed and her lips pursed, lost in some unknown melancholy. Scattered around her lay the corpses of bandits, their ends having been gruesome indeed.

Chen Bin and his troupe of performing disciples stood nearby, trembling like cicadas in late autumn. At this moment, they didn't dare to move, let alone attempt an escape.

He had miscalculated. The bandits were no match for this creature! They hadn't even been able to touch a single hair on her head. The thing was a monster!

Having finished her sulking, Li Sui turned around and bent down to scavenge for coin from the bandits' belts.

"Great Immortal! We'll help you, we'll help you!" Having witnessed the creature's supernatural prowess, Chen Bin had abandoned all thoughts of resistance; he was utterly broken.

"Thank you."

"Not at all, not at all." Chen Bin waved his hands frantically, terrified. He could only hope that he and his disciples might prove useful enough to avoid being swallowed whole.

"Master, is this girl really a malevolent spirit? Since when do malevolent spirits need silver?"

At these words, everyone instinctively looked at Li Sui again. Just then, she lifted her skirt, and several black tentacles wrapped in fur slithered out from within.

Seeing this, everyone turned pale. They immediately buried their heads back into the pile of corpses, not daring to think another thought.

Yet, before she could reach the Imperial City, she was intercepted by a group of people. They wore various attires, but they all shared one thing: the waist plaques of the Imperial Observatory. Li Sui had played with her father’s own plaque many times.

But that was merely the beginning. Two men in short tunics whipped a black ink-line dripping with white fluid through the air, weaving it into a giant net that descended upon Li Sui.

Gazing at the familiar city gates before her, Li Sui’s heavy heart finally lifted. "Wonderful! I can finally see my father!"

Li Sui turned, only to find another group surging up behind her. She was surrounded.

The Imperial Observatory agents, sharp-eyed, sensed her predicament. The perimeter tightened rapidly, determined to eradicate her once and for all.

A blind nun charged forward, her horsetail whisk sweeping out like steel hooks. Three of Li Sui’s tentacles were severed instantly, blood spraying from the stumps.

"No!" The order was given, and the agents from all sides closed in on Li Sui.

Li Sui looked at them, explaining anxiously, "Don't stop me! I really have an urgent matter. Is Xuanpin here? I need to see Xuanpin."

But this time, they had no intention of listening. Their artifacts and weapons rained down upon her.

Slash, slash, slash. The tentacles on Li Sui’s body were hacked away, the severed limbs writhing on the ground.

Clearly, Li Sui had been marked the moment she entered Youdu.

The next moment, something unexpected occurred. The military’s "Flying Dragon Formation" seemed to collide with an invisible force; the entire formation shattered, and the men were sent flying.

"What Xuanpin? I don't know any such person!"

These soldiers were the Imperial Guard of the capital; for their formation to be so easily repelled was unheard of.

"Watch out, this demon has tricks up her sleeve! Do not be careless!"

Li Sui, unwilling to sit and wait for death, used eight or nine tentacles to pull out yellow paper charms, but a painted-faced Taoist performed a single hand seal, and the charms in her hand spontaneously combusted, leaving not even ash behind.

Seeing she had no more tentacles, the soldiers advanced, reforming their Flying Dragon Formation to charge at her.

Li Sui realized then that Xuanpin was the Observatory official of Liang, while this was Qi; it was only natural they wouldn't know him.

"What are you doing! I don't want to fight you! I'm on your side!" Li Sui dodged frantically, but she was outnumbered. A silver vajra pestle flew with lightning speed, piercing her right arm.

Without her charms, Li Sui was powerless. Forced to rely on her flesh and blood, she was no match for the soldiers. The situation turned dire.

"Don't kill her! Keep her alive! Find out whose side this spy is on!"

Half a incense stick ago, Chen Bin had tremblingly offered her a handful of silver and copper, his wrinkled face twisted into a sycophantic smile. "Great Immortal, this is truly all there is. We wouldn't dare hold back a single coin. You know how it is—bandits come to rob, they don't carry much on them."

Li Sui pushed the silver into Chen Bin’s arms and frowned. "Take me to Youdu! I must go to Youdu!"

Chen Bin dared not refuse. "Yes! To Youdu, we go! Right away!"

She had suffered so much on this journey. Once she saw her parents, she would pour it all out.

"Great Immortal, look, we've reached Youdu." Chen Bin, his lips white, pointed a trembling finger at the bustling city gates.

Youdu was vast and prosperous, filled with shops of every kind, but Li Sui ignored it all, charging straight toward the Imperial City at the center.

"You are all bullying me!" As Li Sui burst into tears, her human skin split open. A bloody, mangled dog’s head emerged from beneath her skirt, and tentacles burst from her clothes, dancing wildly in the air.

The long sabers, wrapped in malevolent energy, made her heart ache even from yards away.

As the blades descended like a wall of steel, Li Sui screamed in despair: "Get out of my way! I want to go home!"

"Right! I need to find the Emperor of Qi! Father needs the dragon's breath!" Li Sui shouted, and ran inside.