Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 90 - 88 The Wind is Rising

Chapter 90: Chapter 88 The Wind is Rising

Bang!

A beautifully crafted Chengni dragon and chi coiling pattern ink slab viciously smashed onto the head of Dao General Wei Anning, shattering into pieces.

Wet ink splattered all over him, leaving him in an extremely miserable and disheveled state, covered in black.

Yet, the Dao General still knelt earnestly on the ground, not daring to move an inch.

Suddenly, an enraged roar from Luoyang King Zhou Wenye resounded above his head:

"Are you saying that the top grade ’Elixir’ from ’Vermilion Bird Riding the Wind’ has completely disappeared?

Didn’t I order you to watch the Construction Director at the Royal Mausoleum thoroughly, ready to trace the leads? Are you, a third realm Dao General, just made of paper?" (Chapter 62)

Feeling his tongue starting to scald, the Dao General got frightened and began kowtowing repeatedly, nearly shattering the patterned stone floor.

He hurriedly explained:

"Prince, please hear me! Since receiving the orders, I have been personally guarding the mausoleum.

I saw with my own eyes that group of Tomb Guardians accompanied by bandits and mages entering the tomb; eventually, the mausoleum collapsed, and strangers carrying the ’Elixir’ corpse escaped, with another pursuing them.

We had already thoroughly investigated those people, but who would have expected that both of them possessed extraordinary skills? They disappeared in an instant.

Also, not long after losing track, even the ’Soul-Locking Bracelet’ also..."

Wei Anning helplessly looked toward another person kneeling beside him.

It was an old woman dressed as a palace maid, with a head full of gray hair.

Though she had aged considerably compared to fifteen years ago, she was undoubtedly the same ’Ghost Matchmaker’ and Female Official Lady Gao, who had previously tormented Huang Wu to death!

"Yes, what General Wei said is correct. The ’Soul-Locking Bracelet’ I left on that corpse lost its effect in a blink and couldn’t be traced by Daoist Skill anymore.

There must have been a master who intervened, ruining our plan!

However, Prince, there is actually some good news still."

"This time, we used the Wang Family Tomb Guardians to completely break the ’Owl God Snatching Food Array’; the backlash was borne by those dog-like beings.

The inherent nature of the ’Food Stealing’ at the Owl God Tomb has been forcibly changed from external to self-feeding.

Famine, disasters, diseases, prisons, self-restraint...all sorts of calamities have now befallen himself. The longer this goes on, the more severe the self-feeding phenomenon becomes.

By the day of the great ritual, when the interior and exterior of the Royal Mausoleum communicate, I fear that the remaining power of that ’Weird’ will be, at most, equivalent to a powerful Red Seal, no longer an invincible opponent."

When this old hag spoke, one could vaguely see the imprint of a blood-red ’Life Trading Coin’ on her tongue.

Thus, in front of Prince Luoyang King, this malicious old thing was trembling, as if truly just a frail old woman nearing the end of her days.

Just when the two who messed up were shrinking their heads, preparing for a storm to break out.

Luoyang King, sitting high behind the desk, unexpectedly reined in his anger and instead asked another question:

"There are only twelve days left before the great ritual, and a ’Corpse’ is needed for the sacrifice. Whom do you think is the most suitable to act as ’Corpse’?"

The two, well aware of their prince’s brutal nature, exchanged a surprised glance, wondering:

"Does the prince have another reserve ’Elixir’ on hand? Truly far-sighted!"

Having escaped one disaster, they dared not neglect this second question even more.

Ordinary rituals were one thing, but this year coincided with the two-hundredth anniversary. The Owl God Tomb would definitely awaken, and the ’Corpse’ to be played represented our old ancestor!

To say it was a matter of life and death was no exaggeration.

Moreover, only direct descendants were qualified for this significant role. The current Luoyang King Zhou Wenye’s legitimate sons were left with only two.

Logically speaking, since Princely Heir Zhou Jingyuan was undeniably next in line for the throne, the most suitable choice was clearly the second prince, Prince Dechang Zhou Jingxiang.

Therefore, Wei Anning pondered and said:

"In my opinion, the side branches do not qualify. Prince Dechang’s status is revered, making him the most suitable to act as ’Corpse’ during the great ritual."

Luoyang King nodded. With longevity in sight, what was his loss of a son?

After all, he had already sacrificed one.

"Then..."

"Prince~"

At this moment, quietly sitting in Zhou Wenye’s arms, draped in a thin, semi-transparent silk robe, was Princess Consort Dechang.

She pinched a crystal-clear grape and fed it into Luoyang King’s mouth, softly calling out.

Unable to withstand the lovely pleading look in her eyes, Zhou Wenye immediately changed his words:

"My second son Jingxiang is kind and filial, I cannot do without his service by my side.

Since Princely Heir Zhou Jingyuan is the eldest among my sons, he should set an example. Let him be the ’Corpse’ for this ritual."

It seemed that in the eyes of Luoyang King, even his own children were merely items to be chosen at will, negotiable and disposable without any burden.

...

On Beimang Mountain, around the desolate Bird Beak Slope.

In an inconspicuous small mountain hollow.

Panting! Panting!...

A large herd of wild boars was busily clearing twigs and rotten roots from the ground, gradually revealing a patch of broken relics.

— In the middle was a collapsed Dharma Altar, surrounded by many decaying wooden stakes, half-buried in the soil.

This was the mark left by an elder’s simplified version of "Tomb Raiding" fifteen years ago.

Because they could not break the "Owl God Snatching Food Array" composed of nine accompanying mausoleums, they could only cast a "fence" outside Bird Beak Slope to temporarily restrict the power of the Owl God Tomb.

Soon after, several bison carried dark locust wood stakes and unloaded them onto the ground.

And a group of large wild rabbits frantically dug holes in the ground to unearth the old wooden stakes, preparing for replacement.

A big black dog with a fawning face roamed around, clawing at any animal that slacked off.

On the hillside, a majestic White Tiger was commanding its "subjects," organizing labor skillfully to craft its own array.

It indeed had some of Mountain Lord Wang’s formidable aura.

Of course.

It would have been even more imposing without that little ghost girl riding on its back.

"Giddy up, Wang Xiaoyuan, it’s your turn."

Today, Huang Wu wore a water-green tube-top dress and had a dinner-plate sized white orchid pinned in her hair, adorned with fragrant herbs around her waist.

Barefooted, riding on the "Big Tiger," she resembled a beautiful "Mountain Ghost" from legends.

Wang Yuan let her be.

In such a chaotic, bizarre, and bloody world of Divine Deceit, he preferred Huang Wu to remain like a pure white land of purity, forever innocent and carefree.

Roar!

A tiger pounced into the field, extending its enormous paws, and forcefully drove stake after stake of locust wood deep into the ground.

All these stakes came from the highest quality thousand-year-old locust trees in Beimang Mountain, in the very forest of Dragon Claw Locust trees where their grandma lived...

Nourished by the rich Yin energy from Wangren Town, these millennium-old locust trees were truly the "Ghosts among Woods."

After being carved with scriptures left by their grandfather, they became top-grade materials for arranging arrays.

Surrounding the entire Royal Mausoleum at Bird Beak Slope were over a dozen nodes.

Each array node was re-fortified with many locust wood stakes — some with three, some with five, and some with a dozen or more.

Those continuously busy weren’t only the siblings and the beasts of the mountains but also Lady Peach Fairy, who had managed to escape a great disaster.

Without her assistance, the adept Red Seal Mage — specialized in communicating with various plants — Wang Yuan and Huang Wu could not have completed this immense project so effortlessly.

During this process, they also rapidly absorbed profound cultivation knowledge from a Sect Mage.

Now, they had no more doubts about the earlier steps of the cultivation they practiced before receiving the Talisman.

After surviving a great disaster, Lady Peach Fairy, who changed her flirtatious nature, became more reticent.

Only when she occasionally looked at Wang Yuan did her clear and bright eyes burst with a bit of light.

Amidst this bustling activity, twelve days flew by in an instant.

July 15th, Ghost Festival, Yin day.

The grand ceremony marking two hundred years of the Yili King officially commenced.

The trio, constantly working, had just completed the final inspection of the newly reinforced array before the grand celebration.

They stood together on a hill directly opposite Bird Beak Slope.

Quietly watching as thousands of males, with Yili King Zhou Yi, the twenty-fifth son of the Great Yan Ancestor, as their bloodline source, grandly marched up Beimang Mountain.

Incense swirled, suonas and drums blared, yellow banners fluttered, and a crowd thronged.

The atmosphere was exactly like the "Corpse Sacrifice" Wang Yuan experienced a month ago.

With his keen eyesight, Wang Yuan easily spotted the Mystic Armor Guards from the Prince Mansion, the Dao General Wei Anning, and the increasingly aged "Ghost Matchmaker" Lady Gao...

The indispensable members of the Wang Family, both old and young, as Tomb Guardians...

At this moment, an intrigued Lady Peach Fairy couldn’t contain her curiosity any longer and asked Wang Yuan:

"The ’Owl God Snatching Food Array,’ which enhanced the power of the Owl God Tomb, has been broken. What is this array for that we repaired?"

Wang Yuan merely smiled mysterly and offered no explanation.

After a long while, when he saw the Luoyang King Zhou Wenye appear, then he finally raised his hand to stir the mountain mist, sighing softly:

"The wind rises!

May this favorable wind lend its strength, and carry you to the skies!"