Chapter Eighty-six: Scorpion Demon

  Under the leadership of Xie Fengzi, everyone soon saw a Qingping Gate disciple near a village in the east. The disciple told Zhang Chenglong that Qingping Gate had already left this place yesterday, led by a big-mouthed monk, and took some Qingping Gate disciples to Tianshan. Tianshan is where Shengyin Temple is located. There are more than ten ordinary people in Qingping Gate, most of whom are dual-cultivation students of the gate, children under the age of nine, as well as two women who are ordinary people. Qingping Gate sent Sword Sect disciples to escort them. And the majority of Qingping Gate will enter Qingzhou and rebuild Qingping Gate.

  When asked how they offended the imperial court and why they didn't resist, Qingpingmen disciples replied: "The Northern Continent Emperor is indulgent and excessive. A few years ago, he took in a new concubine named Yu Fengdou, also known as Concubine Yu. This woman is not an ordinary person, but a scorpion demon with 2,000 years of cultivation. The scorpion demon has a sister who has cultivated for 1,200 years, and they have been cultivating in the vast desert of the Sandy Sea. Twenty years ago, the scorpion sisters envied the prosperity of the Twelve Continents and were tired of their ascetic practices, so they entered the Twelve Continents. One of them transformed into an ordinary woman and arrived at the Northern Continent, where she fell in love with a scholar and got married."

  On the night of the wedding, the scorpion demon got drunk and, without the experience of Wu Mountain, transformed back into its true form after entwining with the scholar. The scholar woke up early in shock and hastily fled to seek help from the monk of Shengyin Temple who was residing at the Land Temple outside the city. The scorpion demon chased him to the wilderness, where the monk advised it to spare the scholar and return to its desolate lair. The scorpion demon begged the scholar, but he became even more frightened, and in a fit of rage, the scorpion demon wanted to abduct him. The monk stepped forward to stop it. Although the monk's cultivation was not bad, he was no match for the scorpion demon. At this time, the Drunken Taoist who was worshipped at Qingping Gate happened to pass by and saw the monster causing trouble. Without saying a word, he lent his assistance and eventually killed the scorpion demon.

  A scorpion demon with 2,000 years of cultivation heard the news of her sister's death and was enraged. She went to Qingping Gate but was injured by them, and the gate master let her go. However, she knew she wasn't a match for Qingping Gate and worried that her slaughter would be too severe, attracting heavenly punishment. So, she surrendered to the Emperor of Beizhou and colluded with eunuchs to fabricate charges against the scholar's family, slaughtering them all and exterminating nine clans. Later, she secretly released a pair of 18-year-old twin sisters from the scholar's family, allowing them to flee to Qingping Gate.

  The leader of the Qingping Gate knew that the Drunken Taoist was too abrupt and shouldn't have killed the scorpion demon without distinguishing between good and evil. The Qingping Gate took on this guilt, so he led the scholar's daughter and his disciples to leave the Qingping Gate, letting the army turn the Qingping Gate into a sea of fire.

  Lin frowned: "If Yu Fei knew that most of the Qingping Gate went to Qingzhou, a few disciples and book-born daughters, as well as the young children of Qingping Gate went to Tianshan, would she intercept and kill them to vent her anger?"

  Beasts are divided into spiritual beasts and demon beasts. Spiritual beasts absorb the essence of the sun and moon, have a gentle temperament, and do not harm humans. Demon beasts also have sub-divisions, especially those that can transform into human form after cultivating for 500 years. Some demon beasts are born ferocious, like hyenas, they bite to death a group of seals and only eat a few of them, not for food. These demon beasts get excited from harming people and are considered must-be-exterminated demon beasts. There is also a type of demon beast that has a strong demonic nature but possesses restraint power, does not take the initiative to harm humans, and will only take action when provoked. Some sects will kill this type of demon beast with one strike, while others will turn a blind eye.

  Yu Fengdie's scorpion demon obviously belongs to the latter, but her sister's death enraged her, and this hatred is difficult to extinguish, unless Shusheng, Qingpingmen and Shengyinsi are all destroyed. This cause and effect also explains why Shengyinsi would take the initiative to help Daomen people.

  Upon hearing Lin Fan's reminder, the Qingping Gate disciples were shocked: "Let's take our leave first."

  The four of them looked at Zhang Chenglong, and Zhang Chenglong said, "Follow him and take a look."

  "Hmph, a two-thousand-year-old scorpion demon." Xie Fengzi said indifferently: "Just the five of us?"

  "A gentleman has things he will do and things he won't do."

  Lin Fan was a bit afraid, he had seen the thousand-year-old Jiaolong in Donghai, although Jiaolong belonged to the same vein as dragons, scorpions couldn't compare. However, two thousand years was indeed a lot more. But Lin Fan strongly supported Lei Zhenzi's saying that there should be things one is willing to do and things one is not willing to do. At the same time, he opposed the idea of being a gentleman, even if it meant being a petty person, one should still have things they are willing to do and things they are not willing to do.

  ……

  The disciples of Qingpingmen followed Qingpingmen's main force and left, while Lin Fan and the five others headed in the direction of Tiānshān.

  The vast grassland stretched out endlessly, and after chasing for a while, several horse-drawn carriages could be seen moving in the distance on the grassland. On the horizon, there were four or five disciples of Qingpingmen Sword Sect, guarding left and right. And that monk, who else could it be if not the one with an extraordinary appearance?

  Suddenly reversing his usual demeanor, he was extremely tense. Seeing that it was a fellow practitioner, he finally relaxed and upon seeing Lin Fan, he cracked a smile: "I knew you wouldn't die."

  "Master Dao is going to die, and you don't need to say this sentence." Lin Fan replied.

  The color is great, and then the color is correct: "Several people helped, and the poor monk was grateful. However, this Yu Fanlong's magical powers are vast, and the poor monk always felt that he was around us, but couldn't detect where he was. Several of you have nothing to do with this matter, don't muddy the waters."

  Zhang Chenglong, with his extensive knowledge and experience, said: "I think the evil spirit has not caught up yet, but it has already discovered that we are heading to Mount Tian, and will eventually catch up. The reinforcements from Qingping Gate will probably arrive tomorrow evening."

  Jue Se nodded: "The strong men of Shengyin Temple will need at least fourteen hours to arrive. This is a vendetta between Shengyin Temple and Qingping Gate, so it's best for you all to leave early."

  Zhang Chenglong burst out laughing: "My demonic sect asks about the way with our lives, who is afraid of death? I may have low cultivation, but I still have two taels of backbone." Zhang Chenglong was already over fifty years old and had completed his golden elixir; this life would probably be difficult to enter the yuan ying realm.

  Lei Zhenzi said: "Lei Mountain also has guts."

  Xie Fengzi smiled wryly, can't you not drag the sect into this? You mention the sect and think of leaving, but wouldn't that make Lihuo Sect infamous for being greedy and afraid of death? People are unlucky, even drinking cold water can get stuck in their teeth. Originally came to Beizhou to investigate whether Qingpingmen had a person named Baibuyi, didn't expect to be pulled into this muddy water. Fine, I'll see how much courage these hypocritical righteous sects have.

  Meng Wan responded: "Whatever." It didn't matter whether she went or not, it didn't matter about the sect's reputation. Since everyone else was going, she would go too.

  Everyone saw Lin Fan, and the slanted wind child's eyes were certain to revenge. Last time in the Great Snow Mountain, they suffered a loss, and also had some understanding of Lin Fan. This guy was somewhat clever, but unfortunately, people with small cleverness are afraid of death. Lin Fan said very refreshingly: "We will definitely use our full strength, however, if everyone in the horse carriage dies, we don't need to send ourselves to death either."

  Although these words are a bit harsh, they make sense. They were just protecting the people in the horse carriage, and if those people died, running away would be the best choice under the circumstances where they knew they couldn't win. Upon hearing this, Zhang Chenglong smiled: "I'm the patrol envoy of Xun Long Palace, I can run really fast... Ah... Xiao Fengzi, what about you..."

  "Go, why not go? It's just a mere 2,000-year-old scorpion demon." Xie Fengzi replied calmly.