Chapter 177 - 132: Young Master Lu, Don’t Pounce on Me

Chapter 177: Chapter 132: Young Master Lu, Don’t Pounce on Me

"Where is this?"

Lu Changyuan frowned. "I don’t know either."

Looking around, he saw wooden tables, wooden stools, and a bed. It seemed they were in an inn room.

Lu Changyuan found the room’s layout strangely familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

"Why is there a painting here?"

They had just emerged from a painting, and that very scroll was now lying on a nearby wooden table.

Qiu Yuehan blinked, rolled up the scroll, and put it away. "This is the painting from the palace’s Scripture Pavilion. How did it end up here? I’d better keep it safe and give it to my junior sister later."

Lu Changyuan, however, didn’t dwell on why the painting was there.

He had thought that entering the painting would lead them into another ink-wash dimension, but it turned out the scroll was merely a passageway.

[The Painting Demon is dead]

"Aren’t you going to keep chasing it? Looking at these ink stains, it must have fled that way."

Seeing Lu Changyuan come to a halt, Qiu Yuehan also stopped moving.

Lu Changyuan shook his head. "No need to chase. It’s already dead."

It was just an empty husk to begin with. Even if Lu Changyuan had caught it, there would have been nothing for him to devour; he could only have killed it. It seemed someone had helped him out by finishing off the Painting Demon.

It saved him the effort.

Qiu Yuehan was slightly surprised. "How do you know that?"

Lu Changyuan didn’t answer her question. A brilliant golden glint suddenly appeared in his eyes.

[The Blood Dragon is about to appear]

He suddenly caught the scent of a Blood Demon.

Back on Long Mountain, Lu Changyuan had only devoured half of the Blood Demon. The Little Fairy later told him that the other half had escaped three thousand years ago, only to be captured and imprisoned by the Blood Demon Lord.

The Blood Demon Lord then used it as a renewable resource, draining its power like a pond for fish, and through this, he comprehended the Yao Guang Blood Path.

But now, Lu Changyuan could smell the other half of the Blood Demon. This meant that the painting had transported them somewhere near the Blood Demon Palace, since the Blood Demon was imprisoned beneath the Blood Demon Palace.

Not only that, but Lu Changyuan could also feel his Heart Method revolving frantically.

The Five Desires and Six Dust Heart Transformation Technique was on the verge of advancing.

It felt like something was about to be unveiled, but it was still missing a final piece.

Lu Changyuan narrowed his eyes slightly. He had to find the other half of the Blood Demon.

’I just wonder what the ’Blood Dragon’ from that vision has to do with the Blood Demon?’

Seeing Lu Changyuan fall silent, Qiu Yuehan assumed he had his secrets. She had heard the female disciples in the palace say that men all have their secrets, and it was best not to pry, or it could affect their relationship.

So, she decided not to press the issue and simply followed Lu Changyuan as he opened the door and went downstairs.

It was indeed an inn.

The innkeeper saw them come down from upstairs, his abacus never ceasing its clatter. "If you two plan to stay, you’ll have to pay."

Lu Changyuan paused for a moment, then walked to the entrance to take a look.

Yingfeng Inn.

He glanced back at the innkeeper.

He really did look familiar. Back when he and Su Youwan were rushing to Celestial Mountain, they had stopped to rest in a small town and had also chosen a Yingfeng Inn.

And this innkeeper before him bore a slight resemblance to the one from back then.

Lu Changyuan’s eye twitched.

’This innkeeper couldn’t also be some old monster in the middle of his Cultivation, could he? Practicing some kind of ’Abacus Dao’ or something.’

Lu Changyuan had actually seen a Dharma like that before—achieving the Dao by settling accounts for others.

The person had been a money-grubber, clacking away on his abacus and counting his coins all day long. Later, he was nearly corrupted by a Desire Demon, which forced him to change his ways. He went from counting his own money to settling accounts for others.

Qiu Yuehan stepped forward, her immortal bearing exceptional. She asked softly, "Who is staying in Heavenly Suite Two?"

Heavenly Suite Two was the room from which Lu Changyuan and Qiu Yuehan had just emerged.

The innkeeper didn’t look up, still flicking the beads of his ever-moving abacus. "I can’t disclose guest information."

Qiu Yuehan placed a token on the counter.

"It’s Zi Hua Master of the Qingluo Painting Palace." The innkeeper glanced at the token and sat up straight as he spoke.

’What kind of token was that?’

Lu Changyuan turned his head to get a look.

It was a token from the Daoist Sect.

Qiu Yuehan put the token away and turned back to Lu Changyuan. "The Vice Sect Leader gave it to me. He said I could use it if I ran into trouble outside."

’She is the junior sister, after all.’

Lu Changyuan was silent for a moment before asking, "What about your token as the Miao Yu Palace Chief?"

"I have that too, but I probably won’t get a chance to use it," Qiu Yuehan said. "So, are we going back to Celestial Mountain?"

’I haven’t spent enough time alone with Lu Changyuan yet.’

BANG!

Broken Thought appeared in Lu Changyuan’s hand, blocking the space in front of Qiu Yuehan. Something had slammed into the blade. A closer look revealed it was just a snowball.

Someone had packed a snowball and thrown it at them.

Qiu Yuehan looked toward where the snowball had come from and saw a figure cloaked entirely in black robes leaning against a side wall. Half of a masked head poked out, furtively watching them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

「In a stilt house on the Outer Island.」

"Can’t you learn to be grateful, you Yin Yang Person? I did save your life, you know."

Mei Zhaozhao glared irritably at the half-dead Xue Yanluo.

"It took a great deal of effort for me to save you from that Leg-Eating Monk."

Xue Yanluo clutched his chest, coughing. "It’s not like I asked you to save me."

"You!" Mei Zhaozhao gritted her teeth. "I’m not asking you to go back to the Blood Demon Palace! Just figure out a way to get me onto the Inner Island, and we’ll be even!"

The Blood Demon Palace’s Inner Island was protected by an Array that ordinary people couldn’t bypass. Mei Zhaozhao had accepted a mission that brought her here, so she naturally had to find a way to sneak onto the Inner Island.

By chance, on her way here, Mei Zhaozhao had seen the Leg-Eating Monk trying to kill Xue Yanluo and had decisively intervened to save him. She had been secretly delighted, thinking that with a local like Xue Yanluo to guide her, her success was practically guaranteed.