Chapter 221: Knowledge Changes Destiny

Chapter 221 -151: Knowledge Changes Destiny

“It’s here?”

What’s here?

The rain.

The sky, once a hazy gray, now turned utterly grim.

Fine threads of rain fell from the clouds, weaving a dense, boundless net that enveloped the whole of Chang’an City. The rain wasn’t heavy enough to obscure one’s vision, yet it draped the distant streetscape in a thin veil. Pavilions and towers flickered in and out of view amidst the rainy mist, as if part of an illusory world.

The dust collected on both sides of the street was soaked through by the rain, turning to murky sludge until not an inch of clean ground could be found.

RUMBLE.

A dull clap of thunder rolled across the horizon, followed immediately by the sound of urgent hoofbeats that broke through the rain, drawing nearer from a distance.

Su Wuxiang wiped the rain from his face and pointed toward the end of the long street. “Hear that? Galloping is forbidden within Chang’an City. Who else but that lawless Champion Scholar would dare to be so brazen?”

Before his words had faded, hooves trampled through shallow puddles, splashing up muddy water. The patter of the rain made a fleeting sound, only to be drowned out by the increasingly dense clatter of hooves.

The people of Chang’an were unprepared for the sudden downpour, and they were thrown into a panic by the arrogant sound of the hoofbeats.

The street immediately descended into chaos. Pedestrians scattered and fled, while vendors scrambled to pack up their stalls, searching for a place to take shelter.

With the sound of hoofbeats chasing them from behind, the crowd surged forward like a disturbed ant colony.

Su Wuxiang shot to his feet. His wine bowl fell to the ground with a CLANG and shattered into pieces.

“A scoundrel like that… even if he isn’t a Demon, killing him would be a service to the people!”

His voice was tight with suppressed fury. Wine trickled down his hand, dripping onto the broken shards of porcelain.

Lu Changyuan glanced at him, making no comment on Su Wuxiang’s outrage. He simply lowered Broken Thought in his hand, letting the rain wash over the still-wet bloodstains on the blade—it was his own blood.

Su Wuxiang took a step forward, the rain soaking the hem of his robe. “You or me?”

“Until we determine whether he’s a Demon or not, I’ll handle it.”

Lu Changyuan’s voice was calm and steady. He reached over to a neighboring table, picked up a cloth, and meticulously wiped the blood from Broken Thought. The blade gleamed coldly in the rain.

“Also,” Lu Changyuan added, “remember to pay the owner for the wine bowl.”

With that, he raised Broken Thought and turned to face the panicked crowd, moving against the tide.

CRASH.

A fruit stall by the roadside was knocked over by the frantic crowd. Fresh fruits and melons tumbled to the ground, instantly becoming caked in mud and worthless.

Ignoring the heavy rain, the vendor knelt on the ground, frantically gathering the fruit, his eyes full of terror and helplessness.

CRACK.

The curtain of rain seemed to tear as a whip cracked through the air. Accompanied by a derisive sneer, it struck the ground with precision right beside the vendor, splattering the juice of the not-yet-completely-soiled fruits.

The tip of the whip coiled, snatching up the most pristine piece of fruit and pulling it back into the hand of its master on horseback.

The man on the horse grinned wide, revealing a set of uneven, yellow teeth. He took a vicious bite of the fruit. “What’s wrong? Judging by your expression, you don’t look too happy about this.”

The vendor prostrated himself in the mud and water, forcing a smile. “No, no, of course not! For Your Lordship to eat this humble one’s fruit is my greatest honor.”

A mixture of rain and muddy water streamed down from his bowed head.

“You know your place, at least.” The man on the horse sneered, raising his whip again with a whistle. “Now scram… Hm?”

He suddenly burst out laughing, his voice sharp and piercing. “In all of Chang’an City, there’s actually someone witless enough to block my path?”

Lu Changyuan was now standing before the horse, having appeared there at some unknown moment. He held Broken Thought and watched the man in silence.

“Hey, kid, do you know who I am?” the man on the horse said, jutting out his chin with a face full of arrogance. “I’m a close friend of the Champion Scholar, Lord Wang!”

He wasn’t even the Champion Scholar himself, yet he was this arrogant. How much more outrageous must the real Champion Scholar be?

Su Wuxiang’s furious voice came from behind. “What are you waiting for? A beast like him who doesn’t even treat people as human deserves to die!”

Lu Changyuan spoke coolly, “He is, indeed, a beast.”

The man on the horse flew into a rage. The whip shot out like a venomous snake, aiming straight for Lu Changyuan’s face. The sharp, piercing sound of the whip’s tip cutting through the air made it clear he intended to kill.

He was already plotting to capture Lu Changyuan and flay him inch by inch with a barbed whip… and as for that loudmouth nearby, neither of them would escape.

“Hm?”

To his astonishment, Lu Changyuan’s figure suddenly blurred, reappearing behind him in the next instant.

Just one strike.

So fast, its path was impossible to follow.

The man on the horse suddenly felt an inexplicable emptiness. He found he could no longer hear his own heartbeat, nor the sound of the rain, the hooves, or anything at all.

‘Why has the rain turned red? And why is it flowing backward into the sky?’

With a THUD, his head rolled to the ground, splashing up a spray of muddy water.

Su Wuxiang sauntered over and, as if kicking a ball, sent the head flying. It rolled into the darkness of a street corner.

“How could a Demon have appeared in Chang’an City.”

The man on the horse was indeed not human, but a Demon—a Third Realm Ape Demon.

Since the Ancient Times, the territories of the Demon Race and the Human Race have been separated by thousands of miles. Ordinary Demons would never dare set foot in a city of the Human Race, let alone one like this that hadn’t even reached the Fifth Realm and had yet to achieve full Transformation.

Lu Changyuan narrowed his eyes.

‘The Desire Demon is wreaking havoc in the Mortal World. Does the Demon Race want a piece of the pie, too?’

“If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. This isn’t something you and I can handle right now. Let’s go kill that Champion Scholar first. He’s colluding with Demons, so he can’t be anything good.”