Fang Qingyun yawned, feeling quite bored. There was less than half an hour until the grand event for the Spring Festival. Thankfully, they had prepared in advance, and all emergency plans were in place. So far, there hadn’t been any accidents during the festival.
Earlier in the day, Fang Qingyun heard about an elephant that had fallen into the water but managed to fly out again. He sent someone to warn that flying in the county was not allowed without permission because it was too dangerous. Also, any beast entering the city needed to be registered, so the owner of the elephant had to take it to register properly.
Fang Qingyun spent the whole day dealing with such minor issues.
“I hope nothing goes wrong tonight. No one starts a bonfire and causes a forest fire, no stampedes from watching the show, and no fights in the streets over jealousy…”
Fang Qingyun muttered to himself, recalling past incidents that had happened during the festival.
“Qingyun, I’m leaving now,” said the county governor, Li, as he prepared to go.
“Take care,” Fang Qingyun replied, showing more respect than usual. He had heard that this time there wouldn’t be any higher-ups parachuting in, and it was thanks to Li’s good words that he could take over Li’s position.
He couldn’t forget this favor.
Normally, the county governor wouldn’t need to come during the Spring Festival, but it showed his hard work, which would sound good when shared.
Li valued his reputation. He realized that saying nice things helped him get promoted more than just doing the work.
Promotion also had requirements regarding one’s level, which was an unspoken rule in the official circle.
“Soon, once I reach the Nascent Soul stage today, both my identity as the county governor and as the guild leader will change,” Li thought, feeling lighter on his feet.
He walked into an alley, changed his face, and put on a mask. This way, even if someone removed the mask, they would think it was his true face and wouldn’t suspect his identity as the county governor.
Being cautious was essential when walking between the righteous and demonic paths.
With his talent, he shouldn’t have reached the late Golden Core stage, but thanks to mixing in both paths, he had access to resources beyond what ordinary people could imagine. This had shaped who he was today. However, in the last ten years, he had hit a bottleneck and realized that he couldn’t reach the Nascent Soul stage through normal means. To advance in both status and level, he thought of the Reverse Longevity Array.
“It’s strange. The inspector should have arrived in Yanjing County by noon today. Why hasn’t he come yet?”
Li, or rather, after putting on the mask, he was now Guild Leader Chu, felt displeased with the inspector’s tardiness. He had specifically told the inspector to arrive before noon because he had a surprise for him.
The so-called surprise was to activate the Reverse Longevity Array together, allowing both their levels to rise.
“Could something have happened? I waited until the busiest time to activate the array. Well, since he’s not coming, I’ll just advance my level alone.”
Song Mountain was remote, with trees growing wildly, and the paths were worn down by travelers’ footsteps. People who came to the Spring Festival wouldn’t bother with such a place.
Guild Leader Chu concealed his presence and headed toward Song Mountain. The further he walked, the fewer tourists there were, and by the time he reached the foot of Song Mountain, there wasn’t a soul in sight.
Finally, he stopped in a flat area where branches hung with slightly different talismans from the usual Reverse Longevity symbols, used as the array’s core.
He sat cross-legged, adjusting his state, waiting for the moment the array would activate. He had already sent six stewards to carry out the blood sacrifice task, and the timing was just right!
“Reverse Longevity Array, activate!” Guild Leader Chu raised his hands to the sky, starting the array.
Centered around him, the silent power of the array spread outwards, stopping suddenly at a certain point.
“Someone has pulled the flag!” Guild Leader Chu was momentarily stunned but quickly realized what had happened.
This wasn’t just a random pull; the other party definitely knew about the Reverse Longevity Array, or they wouldn’t have pulled it so precisely!
“Who is it? Someone from the government? No, the government’s affairs couldn’t escape my eyes.”
“Is it a tourist I don’t know? Or perhaps… it’s Lu Yang, who has seen the Reverse Longevity Array!”
Lu Yang was someone who acted differently from others, so he could very well do something like this!
Guild Leader Chu’s gaze turned cold, feeling as if his path forward had been cut off, which was more painful than being killed!
“Hey, is that how you see me in your heart, Guild Leader Chu?” Lu Yang’s lazy voice rang out nearby.
“Lu Yang!” Guild Leader Chu’s anger flared up upon seeing Lu Yang. “Don’t think that just because the leader has high hopes for you, I can’t kill you. It’s too common for a demonic cultivator to die by accident. You’ve given me a reason to do it!”
Lu Yang thought for a moment and said seriously, “Didn’t you say to cause some trouble during the Spring Festival? I thought the biggest trouble would be taking out the county governor. Look, isn’t it a coincidence? We’ve been tracking the county governor for several days and found out you are the county governor.”
“I thought it’s best to finish what I started, so why not take you out too? Isn’t that also a tradition of our demonic sect?” Lu Yang said with a smile.
“You’re asking for death!” Guild Leader Chu was furious.
“How could I? I still want to live forever.”
“A mere Foundation Establishment cultivator dares to brag here? Die!” Guild Leader Chu, filled with rage, struck out with a palm. The wind from his palm was terrifying, crushing every tree it touched into dust!
Lu Yang quickly dodged, escaping the blow. Guild Leader Chu stomped his foot hard, causing the ground to shake as if a dragon had turned over, and Lu Yang was thrown out.
Lu Yang was startled; this was the power of a late Golden Core cultivator, kicking him out with one foot.
“Wow, really hard to deal with.”
Guild Leader Chu moved like lightning, quickly closing in on Lu Yang, his fist forming a seal, ready to smash Lu Yang to pieces.
The Qingfeng Sword was held in front of Lu Yang, its blade upright. If Guild Leader Chu dared to strike down, the sword would slice through his fist!
Guild Leader Chu immediately withdrew his fist and kicked out instead. Lu Yang had anticipated this and kicked out in return. Their feet collided, and Lu Yang was sent flying!
Guild Leader Chu attacked again but found that all his spiritual energy felt like it was trapped and couldn’t be summoned at all.
“A restriction array similar to a prison! You really understand formations!” Guild Leader Chu stared hard at Lu Yang. Even though he couldn’t use his spiritual energy, his physical defense made it hard for Lu Yang to hurt him at all!
The restriction array had been set up temporarily by Lan Ting, and Lu Yang’s goal was to lure Guild Leader Chu here.
Lu Yang smiled and waved goodbye to Guild Leader Chu.
Guild Leader Chu looked around but didn’t notice anything unusual. Suddenly, he looked up and saw a flying boat hovering above him.
It was the flying boat Meng Jingzhou had just bought from the merchant guild.
Now it was nighttime, and Song Mountain was so dark that even shadows were hard to see. Otherwise, Guild Leader Chu would have noticed he was in the shadows.
The restriction array also prevented the use of spiritual energy. The flying boat lost power and quickly descended. Meng Jingzhou jumped down with a parachute.
The flying boat was too large for Guild Leader Chu to use his spiritual energy, and with his speed limited, he couldn’t dodge it. Lu Yang calculated the distance and hid far away.
The flying boat fell like a meteor from low altitude, crashing toward Guild Leader Chu!
Boom!
The flying boat hit the ground, kicking up endless dust and making a thunderous sound that shook the entire Song Mountain.
It seemed the flying boat was loaded with explosives, which detonated at the moment of impact, sending flames soaring and creating a deafening roar!
Lu Yang gave Meng Jingzhou a thumbs up. “Having money is great; you can just buy a flying boat!”
Meng Jingzhou returned the thumbs up. “If there were more than one flying boat available, I would have bought several!”
No treasure from the merchant guild could compare to a flying boat crashing down.
Fang Qingyun, who was enjoying the peaceful evening, nearly had a heart attack when he saw the flying boat descend.
“What’s going on?!”
(End of Chapter)