After being hit in the face, Butler Zhang spun around to deflect the attack, but he still couldn't understand why the poison he had used on Tao Yao Ye, which had caused countless cultivators to die in hatred, had failed this time.
Tao Yao Ye didn't answer him. Once she confirmed that the parrot truly belonged to Miss Shang, she became more alert.
Everyone in the village knew about the talking demon bird flying around. If the Shang family sent someone to look for it, they would easily find the parrot. There wouldn’t have been any of the later events.
The actions of the Shang family were illogical, which meant something was wrong!
Moreover, Miss Shang's attitude, which kept others at a distance, didn’t seem like she was trying to drive them away; instead, it felt like she was warning them that the Shang family was in danger and urging them to leave quickly.
A lazy voice came from behind, answering for Tao Yao Ye: “Have you heard of the mandatory course at the Dao Seeking Sect called ‘Eighteen Hundred Common Poisons and Their Antidotes’? Do you want to take a look?”
The poisons that Butler Zhang was proud of were just a joke to the Dao Seeking Sect. No matter how skilled he was at making poison, could it compare to the poisons refined at my Pill Peak?
Butler Zhang suddenly turned around and found Lu Yang leaning against the door frame with an ancient sword in his arms, smiling at him.
Butler Zhang realized that Tao Yao Ye wasn’t the prey; he was.
He asked in a deep voice, “How did you find out about me?”
He didn’t think he had revealed any clues. The Shang family members were all under his control; no one would leak any secrets.
When Shang Yuan and Lu Yang were talking in the room, he was worried that his spiritual sense would be detected, so he chose to eavesdrop and learned that they were disciples of the Dao Seeking Sect.
But at that time, Shang Yuan hadn’t revealed his identity.
Butler Zhang had good hearing; even the sound of writing and drawing couldn’t escape his ears.
Lu Yang smiled and said, “Do you know what the parrot has been saying in the village?”
“What did it say?”
“It said, ‘Who are you, where is Zhang Guanjia?’”
“At first, we thought the parrot was looking for Zhang Guanjia, but later we realized it was just repeating what it heard. I was wondering, Zhang Guanjia doesn’t wander the world, so where did the parrot hear that?”
“Don’t you think it’s possible that the parrot was asking, ‘Who are you, where is Butler Zhang?’ instead?”
Lu Yang imagined a scene: Twenty days ago, Miss Shang accidentally discovered that Butler Zhang had been replaced, and she panicked, asking, “Who are you, where is Butler Zhang?” Then she knocked over the birdcage, startling the parrot into flying away. That was the last thing the parrot heard, and so in the tailor shop, facing Huang Xiangzheng, the parrot repeated that line.
Perhaps the parrot didn’t pronounce it clearly, or maybe Huang Xiangzheng’s first reaction was to think of Zhang Guanjia, but anyway, the parrot’s words turned into “Who are you, where is Zhang Guanjia?”
Butler Zhang was furious; he never expected that a silly bird that only repeated words would ruin his plans.
If he had known, he should have killed it back then!
Butler Zhang wasn’t new to this world. Facing the two of them surrounding him, he laughed heartily: “As a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, do you really think you can stop me if I want to escape?”
Tao Yao Ye felt anxious. If Butler Zhang escaped, they would have to report to their sect and let the senior brothers and sisters handle it. Whether they could track him down was uncertain.
This made Tao Yao Ye feel embarrassed. She had successfully completed two missions, but she didn’t expect the third one to go wrong.
Lu Yang remained calm, making Butler Zhang feel uneasy: “Have you never thought that if you can poison us, we can’t poison you?”
Butler Zhang relaxed at those words, sneering, “What? Poison? What use is that to me?”
As he spoke, his skin began to sag, as if a snake was shedding its skin. The skin peeled off, revealing a complete human shape standing in the middle of the room, with hollow eyes staring straight at Tao Yao Ye, sending chills down her spine. The skinless body fell to the ground with a thud.
A skin demon.
Tao Yao Ye’s expression turned serious; she understood why Butler Zhang said poison was useless against him.
Poison usually targeted the flesh, specifically the organs, muscles, and meridians. Butler Zhang was a skin demon; his true body was just skin. Who would poison skin?
And how could there be poison specifically for skin? At least, Butler Zhang hadn’t heard of any.
Lu Yang would.
Just as Butler Zhang was about to boast about his body, he suddenly noticed that his feet had developed blisters the size of mung beans, peeling layer by layer. The blisters were swollen and itchy; just scratching them caused them to burst, and after just a few brushes against the ground, yellow liquid began to ooze out.
“What… what is this?!” Butler Zhang’s tone was filled with fear.
Butler Zhang had never encountered anything like this. When had he been poisoned?
“Foot fungus.”
“What?” Butler Zhang thought he must have misheard.
“Did you think I was just chatting with you for fun? No, I was waiting for you to show symptoms.”
“I knew you would come looking for Tao Yao Ye, so I prepared the foot fungus poison in this room ahead of time!”
Butler Zhang’s face turned pale.
Tao Yao Ye’s face darkened.
Lu Yang grinned wickedly, stepping closer to Butler Zhang, who was so startled that he kept retreating until he fell to the ground.
“You… how did you know I was a skin demon?!” If he hadn’t known he was a skin demon in advance, how could he have targeted him with poison so precisely!
The most critical thing was, Butler Zhang had never heard of a skin demon getting foot fungus!
Now his feet were itching, driving him nearly insane, and he even thought about cutting off his own feet, forcing him to divert most of his energy and spiritual power to suppress the poison, making it impossible for him to escape.
Suddenly, Butler Zhang saw a flash before his eyes; Lu Yang had vanished into thin air.
“How is that possible?!” Butler Zhang's eyes widened in disbelief. Lu Yang had just reached Foundation Establishment; even if his movement technique was exquisite, he shouldn’t be able to evade his gaze.
“It’s an illusion!” Butler Zhang suddenly realized and quickly tried to roll away from his spot.
But it was too late. A cold light flashed like lightning, and a fine line shot from Butler Zhang's forehead to his waist. Lu Yang sheathed his sword, and Butler Zhang was split in two, the cut smooth as a mirror.
“Good job.” Lu Yang gave Tao Yao Ye a thumbs up.
Just now, Tao Yao Ye had used the Thousand Illusion Umbrella to trap Butler Zhang in an illusion. The illusion wasn’t perfect; Butler Zhang had been in the world for many years and could recognize it in a moment of distraction.
What Lu Yang wanted was that brief moment of distraction—drawing the sword, slicing down, and sheathing it, all in one smooth motion.
Skin demons were known for their strangeness and didn’t excel in defense. When facing a sword cultivator with the strongest offensive skills, combined with the moment of distraction, without any energy to defend, it was naturally a one-hit victory, with no doubt about it!
The strangeness of the skin demon vanished the moment Lu Yang saw through its identity.
The skin demon couldn’t believe it, staring at Lu Yang with wide eyes, its mouth opening and closing, as if it was trying to ask: How did you recognize my true form?
Tao Yao Ye looked at Lu Yang; she wanted to know the answer too.
Lu Yang didn’t say anything. He swung his sword again, cutting the skin demon into four pieces, poured spirit wine over it, lit it on fire, and the skin demon screamed in pain as it burned to a crisp.
Who knows if this demon had any tricks up its sleeve? Better to kill it first and explain later.
(End of Chapter)