Chapter 55: First Encounter with Heart Demon

  Xiao Ziyang and the two horses in front of him collided heavily, the two strong horses let out a sad whinny, and were knocked backwards. The two retreating horses then collided with the two horses behind them. Xiao Ziyang had actually single-handedly blocked the four strong horses in the middle of the road.

  Xiao Ziyang burst into maniacal laughter, suddenly leaping onto the ground and flying backward in retreat. His eerie, maniacal laughter echoed far away through the quiet night sky, accompanied by the sound of Wu Ti Long Lin's horse hooves, making this quiet night seem unspeakably terrifying and bizarre.

  Xiao Ziyang drew his long knife from its sheath and flew towards the four knights, leaping over their heads. As he passed over the four knights' heads, a dark light seemed to flash several times.

  Xiao Ziyang sheathed his long sword after landing, turned around and chased after the Wutui Longlin horse that had already run more than 50 zhang away, without giving another glance at the four riders who were still standing stupidly in the middle of the road.

  After he ran seven or eight zhang away, the heads of the four knights fell to the ground one after another, with blood shooting up into the sky and scattering down to dye the four fine horses red.

  The second master of the Iron Riders saw this scene with his own eyes. The Taoist priest was even more terrifying than a devil in his eyes. Suddenly, he felt a warmth in his crotch. He had actually urinated in his pants.

  After dozens of breaths, Xiao Ziyang laughed maniacally and jumped over the black hoof dragon scale horse to block its path. With a clear ring, his long knife was in hand, staring intently at the second master. At this time, his violent self could no longer care about cherishing his precious horse, he had only one thought in mind - he wanted to split that person and the horse into two halves!

  He wet his pants as Xiao Ziyang's ferocious gaze scared him to death, he desperately held onto the reins, the black dragon scale horse let out a mournful whinny and stood up on its hind legs, he rolled off the saddle and knelt under the horse's hooves, frantically knocking his head against the ground, even he didn't know what he was praying for, he had been completely consumed by fear, only instinctively kowtowing to the person he feared the most.

  Xiao Ziyang slowly walked towards the person, his cold and handsome face twisted, his bright red eyes radiating a fierce and sinister glow.

  He suddenly stopped, and a struggling expression appeared on his face. He slowly closed his eyes, and after a while, he opened them again, and the bright red eyes had returned to clarity; however, in just an instant, Xiao Ziyang's back was already soaked with cold sweat.

  Xiao Ziyang had just been to a very dangerous edge, because he gained power too quickly, his mind couldn't adapt to this powerful strength, leading to the growth of heart demons. What made him wake up with a start and feel terrified tonight was not those knights who were no match for him, but his own heart demon.

  Tonight, Xiao Ziyang's latent demon was stirred up while he slaughtered these knights, causing him to suddenly fall into a state of frenzy where he seemed to be able to control the world and do as he pleased; if he fell into it and was controlled by the demon, unable to extricate himself, then from now on, he would probably become a walking corpse who only knew how to take pleasure in killing people.

  But just now, when he was about to be completely controlled by the heart demon, the humble and desperate prayer of his inner self awakened the kind-hearted him in his heart, which allowed him to escape; and also thanks to these knights who triggered his heart demon tonight. Because if the heart demon had been accumulating for a period of time and burst out naturally, its power would have been ten times stronger than today, and Xiao Ziyang would have been unable to survive.

  The heart demon, the greatest enemy of cultivators, suddenly revealed its terrifying face in front of Xiao Ziyang. And he somehow managed to get through the crisis with great luck, which can only be said that his life was not destined to end.

  Xiao Ziyang thought back to his earlier experience and had a feeling that if he hadn't managed to wake up from that state, the consequences would have been terrible.

  He looked at the second master who was kneeling on the ground and kowtowing non-stop, his eyes filled with gratitude. He asked in a hoarse voice that startled himself: "What brings you to Laojun Temple?"

  The stupid second master just kept knocking his head. Xiao Ziyang cleared his throat and repeated the question from earlier again.

  This time, the second master finally heard Xiao Ziyang's words clearly. He shrank his head between his knees and trembled as he replied: "We are people from Cangshan Village. Our scouts heard that you spent tens of thousands of taels of silver at the pharmacy in town, so tonight we came to rob you. Master, spare our lives! We deserve to die, we will never dare again... Master, spare our lives..."

  Xiao Ziyang smiled lightly, "Alright, I can spare your life, but first give me a reason." His tone was extremely gentle, yet it sent an unspeakable terror into Er Dangjia's ears.

  "I, I... I can take you to the lair of Cangshan Village, I can take you to our leader's secret treasure trove. We brought a lot of gold and silver treasures when we escaped from Xibei Jinzhou; right, our leader recently got a thousand-year-old blood ginseng. I, I... spare my life, Master Dao..." The knight knocked his head on the ground with a loud thud.

  "Stop kowtowing, you'll knock yourself dead. Who's going to lead the way for me if you die?" Xiao Ziyang couldn't help but laugh and feel a little horrified as he looked at him with his head and face covered in blood. Was he really that scary?

  Xiao Ziyang now looked very different from six months ago, no wonder the second master didn't recognize him. He pretended not to know either and asked: "What's your name? What's your position in the camp? Hmm, go bring those four horses over."

  "Master Dao, my name is... Chen Yu, I'm the second master of the village. I'll go get the horses." The second master hastily rolled and crawled towards the four horses that had lost their owners, ran for two steps, seemed to be afraid that Xiao Ziyang would misunderstand him as trying to escape, so he quickly stopped again, turned his head to look at Xiao Ziyang who didn't pay attention to him, then slowly walked forward.

  Xiao Ziyang gently stroked the black scale horse of Er Dangjia, pondering the information in his words. The Cangshan bandits were notorious in Nanba County, with a small number of thieves but each one exceptionally fierce. When they went out to do business, there were only twenty or thirty people, yet they dared to attack large estates with hundreds of people and repeatedly succeeded.

  Since last year, this gang of foreign bandits entered Nanba County and in a short period of time, three villages have been slaughtered by them, leaving no chicken or dog alive.

  The government was enraged and sent a large team of officers and soldiers to surround them, but these people were all skilled in riding, coming and going like the wind, and easily escaped from the siege traps set by the officers and soldiers several times.

  The Cangshan bandits never recruit outsiders, so no one has ever known where their lair is. Over time, the government soldiers have been unable to do anything about these people and can only turn a blind eye.

  Xiao Ziyang had just arrived in Nanba County when he heard about the notorious bandits, but he never thought that these people were the remnants of the Iron Rider Society with whom he had clashed in Shuoan City.

  The Iron Riders chose to hide in Nanba County, which was unexpected yet reasonable. Nanba County is one of the poorest and most remote places in Western Liang, but it's not too far from the bustling city. It's secluded and overlooked, but gathering information isn't difficult, making it an ideal hiding place.

  This Cao Tianhao and Xiao Ziyang's views are somewhat similar.