Achieving physical sainthood starting from Hunyuan Gong

Chapter 83 Slaying the Serpent at Dongting Lake

With the opportunity to slay demons and obtain Dao fruits, along with martial arts inheritance and a generous salary, Song Shen believed that the Demon Suppression Division was the best place for him at the moment.

Xiao Pingzhe nodded and said, "Very good. I will contact your city lord directly later. I estimate that you will be an apprentice demon slayer this afternoon."

"Xiao Ziyi, may I ask how these demon-slaying envoys are classified?" Song Shen asked.

"No problem." Xiao Pingzhe's sharp and arrogant demeanor vanished. "Our Demon Suppression Division can be divided into those wearing green robes of grass and trees, purple robes of mountains and rivers, and jade seals of stars and constellations. These are all demon exorcists. Above them are the guardians who control a continent, wearing golden seals of the sun and moon. The guardian of my Dragon Continent is Lord Chu Tianshu, the Jade Sword Marquis."

"And you, my friend, will start as an apprentice demon slayer. If things go smoothly here, you can be promoted directly to the rank of Azure-Clad Envoy. Once you break through the innate shackles and have enough merit, you can walk in purple robes like me."

Song Shen nodded and asked, "Did Xiao Ziyi come to this small city of Xinyu for Feilong Mountain?"

Xiao Pingzhe chuckled and nodded: "Of course, you should be very familiar with Flying Dragon Mountain."

"No, I haven't been there many times." Song Shen shook his head.

Xiao Pingzhe said, "But you should be very familiar with demons."

"good."

"When you killed that Three Calamities Blade Demon, you should have already understood the true nature of demons extremely well, right?"

"indeed."

Song Shen, too lazy to argue, offered no objection, but instead asked, "Does this... count as merit?"

"It's a pity," Xiao Pingzhe said, "Back then, you weren't a member of the Demon Suppression Division."

"A huge loss."

Song Shen shook his head. He had been too hasty. He didn't know about the Demon Suppression Division before. It was mainly because he had only been in the imperial system for a short time and hadn't had time to learn about many things.

The tone shifted abruptly, "That snake demon wasn't very strong. When Elder Cao entered the Innate Realm, his strength was extremely high. He was definitely no match for it."

Xiao Pingzhe affirmed, "Your intuition is correct. Based on my investigation over the past few days, the one who killed Cao Lie was actually the Snake and Rat Lords who wreaked havoc in all directions 60 years ago, and the Three Calamities Blade Demon you killed was actually the offspring of this Snake Lord."

"There's this connection too!"

Song Shen was taken aback. "Why do these two snakes seem to have a grudge against the Cao family, especially this Xiang Zaishan?"

Xiao Pingzhe smiled slightly: "Every cause has its effect. If my information is correct, did the Cao family's fishing grounds ever catch a so-called dragon?"

I remembered everything.

Song Shen still remembers that night; he was alone in a corner while Cao Yu led his men to capture a large cargo.

It turns out that this huge fire was related to demons?

"Could it be... that this dragon is also a snake demon?"

Xiao Pingzhe calmly said, "Besides my Demon Suppression Division, there is another auxiliary reconnaissance agency called the Heavenly Observation Guard. In fact, they began their investigation long before the Three Calamities Blade Demons ran rampant. The result was quite dramatic, and you were one of the actors in this drama. They had already noticed your battle with that snake, but they never expected that a servant from the Cao family would actually be the Heavenly Blade Chuan Ying!"

As the saying goes, "If you don't want others to know, then don't do it in the first place." Song Shen had nothing to say about the situation at the time.

If we don't take action soon, the Cao family is truly doomed.

Apart from the eldest son, the other members of the Cao family had done him no harm and had done him no favors, so Song Shen naturally couldn't just sit idly by.

Xiao Pingzhe, eager to reveal the information, continued, "More than fifty years ago, Xiang Xuan, a swordsman from the Ziyang Sect, went down the mountain to travel. At that time, the snake and rat lords in Feilong Mountain were causing havoc everywhere. This Xuanlong Sword Sect member wanted to forge his own sword, so he took the sword into the mountain. Within a day, the rat lord was severely injured and fled, the snake lord's whole family was killed, and he escaped with his eldest son. However, the newly hatched infant was left in Feilong Pool. This demon, whose mind was not yet developed due to congenital deficiencies, later ran into Green Lake. You know what happened after that."

"Is the so-called dragon captured by the Cao family the young son of the Snake King?"

Xiao Pingzhe nodded slowly: "That's right. This Snake Lord is a descendant of the Bashe, which is a branch of the Primordial True Dragon. In ancient times, it roamed the land of the Nine Provinces and was shot down in the wilderness of Dongting by Da Yi, a human powerhouse of the Holy Yu Divine Dynasty. Since then, this race has scattered in all directions. Cao Lie obtained this beast and refined it into a pill, which enabled him to break through to the Innate Realm, but he also became the Snake Lord's enemy."

Upon learning the whole story, Song Shen couldn't help but sigh.

The world is truly unpredictable. Old Cao rose to prominence because of the dragon elixir, and died because of it. This cycle of cause and effect is truly lamentable.

Xiao Pingzhe said in a deep voice, "This old patriarch of the Cao family is truly an unparalleled sword genius in this small place of Xinyu. His own cultivation is also very strong. Unfortunately, Xinyu City is too small, and those powerful forces will not give him the Innate True Pill. So he can only break through in this way, and as a result, he suffered this misfortune."

Considering the marriage alliance between the Cao family and the Cui family of the prefecture, Song Shen secretly thought that Cao Cao probably wanted to obtain this innate precious medicine from the Cui family, but it seems that he did not get his wish. The specific reason is unknown.

These powerful forces control the vital resources for the advancement of martial arts, acting arbitrarily.

No wonder they dare to look down on everyone, just like the Cangyun Sect and others who dared to storm the government office.

However, Song Shen frowned and said, "Judging from Xiao Ziyi's statement, could there be other demons in these mountains?"

Xiao Pingzhe said calmly, "Back then, Xiang Xuan was not even twenty years old when he rose to prominence like a comet, a truly universally recognized swordsmanship prodigy. Yet, he didn't pursue those two demons to their deaths. What do you think?"

"An even more powerful demon? This filled him with apprehension, preventing him from delving deeper?"

Xiao Pingzhe became somewhat excited. "Smart. You come from a humble background, but you understand things very quickly. I conservatively estimate that this demon has lived for two hundred years and should be a demon general-level demon."

"Let me explain to you by the way. Demons can be divided into monsters, demon generals, demon commanders, demon lords, and demon kings. The snake demon you killed should be a monster that has undergone three transformations and can take human form."

"As for the so-called Snake and Rat Lords, they should also be at the level of newly entered Demon General, having condensed their demon cores, which is the innate level of human martial arts cultivators. But the demon deep in Flying Dragon Mountain is an old demon who has refined his demon core into a demon heart for two hundred years. His strength is already at the Qi Sea Realm of humans who have condensed their acupoints, just like me. I have been flipping through the records, and this demon should be the Centipede Old Demon who wreaked havoc on Dragon State back then."

Flying Dragon Mountain is truly terrifying.

Before the appearance of the Three Calamities Blade Demon, Flying Dragon Mountain was a place where hunting was possible. Many hunters would go into the mountains to collect herbs in the winter. Although strange things occasionally happened, there was no such thing as a demon.

Faced with Song Shen's question, Xiao Pingzhe said with a somber expression, "The way of Heaven has changed. Since our great ancestor sealed the mountains and quelled the demons, the demonic energy of the Nine Provinces has been gradually suppressed. But in recent years, the demons that were dormant in the past have begun to resume their activities. For example, the Flying Dragon Mountain this time, the Snake and Rat Lords from 60 years ago, and even the Centipede Old Monster in the deeper depths."

"A chaotic era."

Song Shen said softly.

"It was also an era for making achievements and establishing a career."

Xiao Pingzhe's gaze drifted far away towards the Flying Dragon Plains.

Thick, dense dark clouds slowly drew closer from the depths of the sky, like a black tide.