Chapter 209: Strange Beast

The Huguang region was home to many peoples considered "barbarians."

But these so-called barbarians were themselves descendants of ancient peoples of the Divine Continent.

For example, the ancient lands of Jing and Chu were home to the Miao barbarians, who were said to be descendants of Chiyou's Nine Li tribes. Later, Yu had campaigned against the Three Miao, and became numbered among the Four Criminals. The Classic of Mountains and Seas also recorded: In the southwest lies the State of Ba. Taihao begot Xianniao; Xianniao begot Chengli; Chengli begot Houzhao; and Houzhao was the progenitor of the Ba people.

The "Shield-Bearing Barbarians" of the ancient Ba people had fought and distinguished themselves during King Wu's campaign against King Zhou, and later participated in the wars that overthrew Qin and established Han. Another major branch, the "Lord Lin Barbarians," had been conquered by Qin.

Subsequently, Ba County had been established, with members of the Ba clan appointed as chieftains over the barbarians. Generation after generation, they then married women of Qin.

The Shield-Bearing Barbarians and Lord Lin Barbarians later became important ancestral components of the present-day Tujia people... Ba and Chu had always been inseparable.

Coming from his previous life, Li Yan naturally did not care about any of that. What puzzled him was simply how these two groups had ended up together.

After all, the native chieftain system was still in place. Minority peoples throughout the realm had their native officials, and exercised autonomy within their territories. Hence the saying: Han do not enter the mountain settlements, and barbarians do not leave their borders.

Of course, as the times changed, the rule had long since ceased to be so strict.

Back in Shangjin City, Li Yan had bought things from a general store run by an elderly Tujia man, and there were even more Tujia people living outside the mountain settlements in Yunyang City.

However, for these two groups to be working together was definitely no simple matter.

Li Yan gave the others a look, and everyone concealed themselves even more carefully.

The barbarian with loose hair and a face covered in tattoos was clearly the leader of the group. The moment he entered the forest, he barked sharply, "Bring him forward!"

Someone was immediately shoved out from among the group. The man who staggered forward was dressed strangely. He wore black hunting clothes with a red Daoist robe embroidered with the Eight Trigrams over them.

A cultivator of the Mount Mei Faith!

The moment everyone saw him, they understood. The Mount Mei Faith cultivator had a thick beard and a powerful build. He should have been an imposing-looking man, yet he was in an exceptionally miserable state at the moment. Not only were his clothes disheveled, but his body was covered in bloodstains. When he was shoved forward, he stumbled and collapsed onto the ground.

The barbarian asked coldly, "Have you made up your mind?"

The man from the Mount Mei Faith did not answer. He merely spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

"Hmph!" The barbarian snorted coldly. "Your Mount Mei lineage can also be considered descendants of the Nine Li. Why are you so stubbornly misguided? Could it be that the Song Dynasty broke your knees when they opened up your mountain?"

"Pah!" The Mount Mei Faith cultivator cursed furiously, "You demons and monsters, stop putting on that hypocritical act! Kill me or carve me up however you like!"

At that moment, a Han man behind them who was holding a sharp weapon sighed and shook his head. "Master Tian, you're being foolish. The present court is tyrannical; corrupt officials run rampant; and the common people can barely survive. We are Han as well, yet we were forced into hiding in the mountains because we had no other choice.

“Even then, the imperial court still refuses to leave us alone. We have no path of retreat left. If you help us, once the Heavenly Saint Duke is resurrected and the god descends into the mortal world, we will surely be able to overthrow the tyranny of the imperial court."

"Pah!" Though his mouth was filled with blood, the cultivator of the Mount Mei Faith spat out, "You think I don't know what kind of people your Heavenly Saint Sect are? The mountain folk hide in the wilderness, unsure whether they'll even survive from one day to the next, yet you squeeze them even harder than the imperial court does. The Heavenly Saint Cult has long since become a cesspit where every kind of filth gathers!

"I know what you're afraid of. Anyone with eyes can see that the imperial court treated the mountain folk leniently once they established Yunyang Prefecture. You spread rumors through the mountains, constantly slander the government, and even take the lead in stirring up rebellions for no other reason than that you fear losing the very foundation that allows you to survive!

"And you lot! Don't think I don't know who you're working for. Replacing native rule with appointed officials and unifying the Divine Continent is the inevitable course of history. You're simply afraid of losing your own power!

"Once war breaks out, how many common people will be driven from their homes? Han and barbarians may be divided by ethnicity, but righteousness and evil are not!"

What a man!

Li Yan could not help but praise the man.

After hearing all of that, how could he still fail to understand the cause behind everything? It was still connected to the current turmoil in Yunyang! Huguang was not merely a central region of the Divine Continent, but also one of its major grain-producing areas. Yet its political situation was exceptionally complicated.

Replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials and bringing the mountain folk under government administration were both imperial policies. Only if the region remained stable could the Divine Continent remain stable.

But these two policies were now unquestionably infringing upon the interests of many people, and all manner of chaos had arisen as a result. The Heavenly Saint Cult and the native clans had clearly joined forces. And from what they were saying, they even intended to resurrect the Heavenly Saint Duke?

Were they trying to bring him back to life?

Yet somehow, it did not sound quite that simple...

At that moment, Lin Yu tugged at Li Yan's clothes from behind.

Li Yan turned and saw that the fatty's eyes were already brimming with tears, his expression resolute. Cupping his hands, he pleaded softly, "Save him!"

Looking at the others, he saw that they too were nodding solemnly.

Wang Daoxuan, Sha Lifei, and Lu San were all people of the jianghu who did not wish to become too deeply entangled with the imperial court, but they had all been moved by the cultivator of the Mount Mei Faith's sense of righteousness.

Li Yan wasted no words. He nodded slightly and whispered, "Wait for an opening!"

Across from them, the others had clearly been enraged by the Mount Mei Faith cultivator's words. One of them kicked him viciously, knocking him over.

A barbarian pulled out a curved saber and snarled, "This bastard doesn't know what's good for him. We might as well kill him!"

The leading barbarian cultivator hesitated briefly before nodding.

Li Yan knew they could wait no longer. Using a trap to kill them would undoubtedly have been the easiest option, but if they wanted to save the prisoner, they had no choice but to reveal themselves early.

"I'll draw them in. You harass them from the flanks!"

After giving the others a brief instruction, Li Yan leaped out.

"Who goes there?!"

The rush of wind instantly put the group on alert.

A black-clad youth wielding a long blade emerged from the gloomy forest. The moonlight falling across his face revealed his fair features as he strode directly toward them.

Li Yan used his movement art, seeming to almost shrink the ground beneath his feet. With a metallic ring, he drew his blade and spoke in a cold voice, "Be smart and let the man go. Save me the trouble of getting your blood all over myself!"

One of the Heavenly Saint Cult's men cursed, "Where did this little bastard come from?!"

He immediately sprang forward, charging toward Li Yan. The others merely watched coldly, clearly having great confidence in him.

The man's martial arts really were quite good. Wind gathered beneath his feet, and his body moved like a thunderbolt. Before he had even closed the distance, his right shoulder jerked and his spear came whistling forward.

Li Yan's expression remained unchanged and his footsteps never stopped even as he spoke, "Yang Family Pear-Blossom Spear?"

The Yang Family Pear-Blossom Spear had nothing to do with the famous Yang Family generals. It had been created by Yang Miaozhen, wife of Li Quan, leader of the Red Army toward the end of the Southern Song dynasty.

This spear art was extremely famous. Its advance was sharp, its retreat swift, its momentum dangerous, and its rhythm compact. At rest, it was as immovable as a mountain. It was widely practiced throughout the lands of Qi and Lu.

The man held the very butt of his spear, maximizing its reach. When he thrust, it moved like a thunderclap. This sudden strike, one of the Pear-Blossom Spear's signature techniques, aimed to catch Li Yan off guard.

Once the opponent attempted to block it, a storm of successive spear thrusts would follow like a rain of pear blossoms. He had clearly noticed that Li Yan wielded a long blade, and intended to use the superior reach of the spear to settle the fight within a few moves.

Indeed, the man did have some ability, since he had already stepped into the Dark Jin Realm. But against Li Yan, that was nowhere near enough!

Faced with that terrifying thrust, Li Yan sidestepped as hidden force erupted beneath his feet. At the same time, he turned sideways and shifted his shoulder.

The razor-sharp spearhead passed three cun in front of his chest, but Li Yan had already closed the distance with a single step.

Not good!

The man's scalp went numb. He twisted his body, trying to pull back his spear and retreat. Unfortunately for him, it was already too late.

Li Yan swept his blade upward in a horizontal arc.

He did not even look back as he continued walking forward. Behind him, half the man's neck had been severed. His head hung limply to one side as blood sprayed everywhere, and he collapsed face-first onto the ground.

"This bastard's tough! Get him!"

The others roared the moment they saw what happened to their comrade. Five or six immediately sprang forward. Some wielded blades and others swords as they spread out to surround Li Yan.

Since they had been chosen to carry out a secret mission, they were naturally all carefully selected experts. Nearly all of them had reached the Dark Jin Realm.

When many fought one, surrounding the enemy was only natural.

Bzzzzzz!

But before they could make their move, the sound of wings filled the surrounding forest as a dense swarm of venomous hornets surged toward them.

"Ahhh!"

Several of them immediately began screaming as they were repeatedly stung.

These hornets had been bred by the Demon Gourd. Although they could not yet be considered spirit insects and possessed no cultivation of their own, they had nevertheless been tainted by demonic qi, making their venom exceptionally potent.

Once stung, normal brutes would fall all the same.

The encirclement instantly became a joke.

Naturally, Li Yan did not let the opportunity slip away. Moving like the wind, his blade flashed repeatedly. Leftward chop, horizontal sweep, rightward slash... Just like that, three men were killed.

Seeing this, the remaining men finally panicked.

"They have others with them!"

"We'll hold them off! Hurry and summon the zombie!"

One of the barbarian cultivators removed a bell-drum from his waist. He started to chant, shaking his head as he struck it furiously. The rhythm of the drumbeats was strange, carrying a certain ancient cadence. The swarm was immediately disturbed and began flying chaotically in every direction.

At the same time, two men escorted the leading barbarian cultivator toward the hiding place of the corpse. Once they arrived, the barbarian cultivator scattered a handful of yellow talismans, shook a soul-suppressing bell, stepped through the formation of the Big Dipper, and started to recite incantations.

So he's from the Xiangxi lineage?

Li Yan frowned slightly; he could not help regretting his arrangements. Perhaps because he had encountered too many experts on Mount Hua, he had become overly cautious with this group. After all, he had even bothered setting up a gunpowder trap.

He had not expected the group to be so damn weak. Had he known, he would simply bull-dozed through them from the beginning. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that their own strength had improved too quickly.

How could ordinary jianghu conflicts possibly involve so many genuine experts?

Sure enough, although the cultivator on the other side screamed fiercely, his mind was already in complete disarray. He shook the bell repeatedly, but when nothing happened, panic immediately filled his face.

"How is that possible!?"

He hurried forward and frantically clawed away the dead leaves. The moment he saw that the zombie's neck had already been severed, his eyes filled with distress. He grabbed the head and lifted it to inspect the damage.

The old zombie was a treasured inheritance passed down through his lineage. But the instant he picked up the head, he sensed that something was wrong. A flash of fire erupted, followed by a tremendous explosion through the forest.

Earth and stones sprayed everywhere. The cultivator and the two guards beside him were blasted through the air, their faces embedded with shards of iron. They hit the ground and stopped moving.

Sha Lifei's heart surged with excitement at the sight. "Hell yea!"

Adding the coal essence had indeed increased the gunpowder's power by a considerable amount. Although it still could not compare with the imperial court's newer explosives, it was more than enough to deal with people of the jianghu.

"They're imperial troops!"

The moment the gunpowder appeared, the remaining men grew even more terrified. They no longer cared about their companions and turned to flee.

Li Yan showed no mercy. He immediately pulled a throwing knife from his waist and flicked it out, burying it in the back of one man's skull.

Only three enemies remained.

One of them, panicking, pressed his blade against the throat of the cultivator from the Mount Mei Faith and screamed, "Don't come any closer, or I'll kill him!"

The other two were already fleeing into the forest. Li Yan was just about to pursue them when his heart suddenly jolted. He stopped in his tracks, his expression shifting as he stared ahead.

He had caught a scent rising from beneath the ground. It was savage, bloody, and overwhelmingly domineering.

Along the path where the two men were fleeing, earth suddenly exploded upward as a massive, scale-covered head burst from the ground, its jaws opening to reveal rows of fangs.

Crunch!

One of the men was instantly bitten in half. The other had not even had time to react when an enormous scaled tail came whistling out of the earth and smashed directly into his chest.

The crisp crack of breaking bones rang out as the man was sent flying nearly three zhang away. He slammed into a tree, crashed heavily to the ground, and stopped moving.