Chapter 437: Crisis

!!

The Hundred Flowers Restaurant.

The Hundred Flowers Restaurant was located on the western side of Hanshui City, an establishment grand enough to rank among the top twenty in the entire city. The restaurant's greatest claim to fame was its Hundred Flowers Wine, brewed from over a hundred and fifty varieties of seasonal fresh flowers; because the seasons changed, the flavor of the wine differed with each passing season.

Qiu Jin'an stepped into the Hundred Flowers Restaurant, only to find the place packed to the brim with a bustling crowd. The clamor was so immense it felt as though it might lift the roof right off the building, and the waiters were spinning around like little spinning tops, constantly darting back and forth between the main hall and the kitchen.

It took no small amount of effort for Qiu Jin'an to finally spot an empty seat in a secluded corner.

"Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?"

Seated across from him was a diner with a belly as round as a barrel, eating with absolute relish, his forehead drenched in sweat.

The diner looked up, glancing at Qiu Jin'an's unfamiliar face: "No one, take a seat."

"Who would have thought, it's not even peak dining hours yet, and there are already so many people here to eat." Qiu Jin'an chatted with the diner while waiting for a waiter to come over.

The diner was not one for conversation, focusing solely on his food and responding to Qiu Jin'an only half-heartedly.

A waiter brought the menu over, and Qiu Jin'an flipped through it casually before handing it back: "A bowl of rice, five plates of your signature dishes, five plates of your most expensive dishes, and a pot of your century-old Hundred Flowers Wine."

"Right away, guest, please wait just a moment."

Qiu Jin'an did not have to wait long. A bowl of rice and ten delicious dishes, perfect in color, aroma, and taste, were laid out on the table, along with a pot of mellow, century-old Hundred Flowers Wine, making the diner opposite him green with envy.

"Guest, if there is nothing else, this little one shall take his leave."

Just as the waiter turned to tend to other customers, Qiu Jin'an called him to a halt: "Waiter, I am a living person, so how can I eat the food of the dead?"

The waiter looked completely bewildered, utterly clueless as to what Qiu Jin'an was talking about.

Qiu Jin'an snapped his fingers, and a series of faint cracking sounds echoed in succession, sounding like someone stepping onto a newly frozen lake, the ice shattering to reveal the true face of the waters beneath.

Looking back at the main hall, where was the bustling restaurant or the crowded guests?

The guests all sat with their heads lowered, each with a one-meter-tall miniature figure riding upon their neck, gesticulating wildly.

The fat diner sitting across from Qiu Jin'an had a belly bloated to an absurd degree, making his entire form resemble a giant ball.

The waiter was as gaunt as a withered branch, so frail that a single gust of wind could have blown him away.

What lay before Qiu Jin'an was no delicious feast either, but rather maggots and raw flesh, still writhing within the dishes.

Only the white rice remained unchanged, save for the fact that three chopsticks were planted upright inside it.

Qiu Jin'an's smile grew even wider: "Two Ghost Kings—a Bloated Ghost and a Starvation Ghost—along with a handful of minor grunts. You actually thought an assembly like this could deal with me?"

The fat diner and the waiter shed their disguises, twisted smiles breaking across their faces.

Silently, a miniature figure slithered up and perched itself upon Qiu Jin'an's neck...

The Corpse Driving Sect.

Four cultivators dressed in archaic attire appeared together before the gates of the Corpse Driving Sect. Ignoring the alert disciples, they wasted no time and split up, heading toward four distinct locations within the Yin Corpse Mountain Range.

Boom—

Boom—

Boom—

Boom—

Intense battles erupted simultaneously in all four locations.

"Damn it, that bastard Huang Ming must have secretly scouted our locations!" Elder Gai was furious; before they could even launch their search of the Corpse Driving Sect, the enemy had brought the fight right to their doorstep.

The four elders of the Corpse Driving Sect were caught completely off guard, but fortunately, their reflexes were sharp, and they quickly summoned their living corpses to their side.

One of the archaically dressed cultivators sneered: "Heh, merely a sect that happened to stumble upon our legacy by chance, yet you dare presume to oppose us?"

"You are from the Shaman Corpse Faction!" Elder Gai's pupils contracted slightly upon seeing the cultivators' attire and hearing their words.

Their Corpse Driving Sect had built its foundation on a stroke of fortune. The founding patriarch of the Corpse Driving Sect had accidentally stumbled into a secret realm, survived three fatal perils, and obtained a legacy—a complete set of corpse-driving techniques.

And that legacy originated from a sect of the Great Yu Dynasty known as the Shaman Corpse Faction. According to the Great Xia's classification of the Shaman Corpse Faction, it belonged to the transcendent tier of sects, backed by a cultivator of the Tribulation Transmutation Stage.

The Shaman Corpse Faction had been destroyed during the military campaigns at the beginning of the Great Xia's founding, leaving behind only a single legacy, which was later obtained by the patriarch of the Corpse Driving Sect.

The archaically dressed cultivator rubbed his ring, and one by one, long-sealed living corpses broke through their restrictions. Carrying the stench of decay and death, spanning over a hundred thousand years of history, they went to war with their successors.

Four, eight, sixteen, twenty... a total of twenty living corpses appeared, swarming to attack Elder Gai and the others!

"Then let us, your predecessors, see just how much skill you juniors have actually managed to learn."

A majestic figure stood high in the sky above Hanshui City, directly above the Governor's estate.

This man walked with a dragon's stride and a tiger's pace, looking like a born emperor, every movement exuding dominance and overwhelming power.

His presence was far too immense; everyone in Hanshui City could not help but raise their heads to look at the sky. Seeing that majestic man who could rival the sun, an inexplicable sense of panic rose in their hearts.

"After preparing for so long, the plan was leaked after all. Huang Ming and Meng Tian, those two incompetent fools who ruin everything they touch!"

An emperor-like murderous intent flickered in the figure's eyes. If he hadn't lost contact with the two of any them, he wouldn't have emerged ahead of schedule.

A little later, just a little later, once the activation conditions for the grand formation were fulfilled, the plan would have been seamless.

"Ah well, there are no perfect plans in this world."

"Venerable Heavenly Calamity failed and fell in Qingzhou. It is said a sudden expert appeared and captured him."

"Over these past few days, I have already investigated Hanshui City, and there is no one within who poses a threat to me."

"To be safe, I shall decree a rule here: within one day, no information shall leave Hanshui City."

Adding a time constraint would make the enforcement of the rule even stronger.

Lu Yang looked up, watching the emperor-like figure flying in the sky, his head throbbing with a sudden ache.

The moment the Immortal Fairy had warned him, he had immediately tried to call upon his Senior Sister, but unfortunately, he was still a step too late. The emperor-like figure had already established a rule over this domain, meaning the Pictogram Fist could not borrow power from his Senior Sister, and she would have no way of knowing the situation here.

"Logically speaking, aren't Tribulation Transmutation Stage characters supposed to be rare? How do I run into them everywhere? The Governor even said this place was the safest, so why do I feel like it's the most dangerous?"

"Perhaps it is because my status as the Young Sect Master is too high, so they are all rushing to meet me."

"Hey, since you're already the Young Sect Master, shouldn't I mingle around and get a position in the Heavenly Court Cult too?"

"How about you become the Young Sect Master's lackey?"

"Get lost."

Old Ma, feeling the Tribulation aura permeating the air, wondered if it was time to consider retirement.

Meng Jingzhou's father had entrusted it to be Meng Jingzhou's Dao Protector, and it had thought the task would be quite simple, agreeing without a second thought.

Thinking back to the beginning when it brought Yun Zhi to the Seeking Dao Sect, then to the Yanjiang Branch to resurrect the Immortal Fairy, encountering an ancient Tribulation cultivator in Qingzhou, and now encountering another ancient Tribulation cultivator in Huangzhou.

It felt that it had grossly overestimated its own capabilities.

Man Gu had always possessed immense confidence in Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou. With his two senior brothers around, nothing could possibly go wrong, so he appeared exceptionally calm.

Zhao Po was the most panicked among the four. Just this morning he had encountered True Monarch Meng Tian, a Great Yu Soul Conjunction Stage cultivator, and by the afternoon he was facing a Great Yu Tribulation Transmutation Stage cultivator.

What kind of luck was this?

He felt like his luck had been consistently terrible lately. Just when exactly did it start going downhill?