Chapter 114: Killing A Panther in the Street
"Raaaaar!"
The growl of a beast reverberated through the long street as a gust of dark wind blew over suddenly.
The beast was a large panther that was six chi tall and almost one zhang long, covered in a glossy black coat of fur. A dark wind whirled around the panther, giving it a menacing aura.
If Chu Liang hadn't dodged in time, the black panther might have hit him head-on.
This beast was a fourth-realm Dark Wind Panther, and it had just been transported to the Hall of Ten Thousand Beasts. The panther had been sedated, so it should have remained asleep when a worker took it out of the cage. However, the panther suddenly opened its eyes, killed its carrier with one bite, and charged out of there.
The Dark Wind Panther's forte was speed. In the blink of an eye, the panther reached the main street before the powerful figures in the Hall of Ten Thousand Beasts could even react.
"A demonic beast has escaped! Take caution, and go hide!" shouted the people who were chasing after the panther.
The bustling crowd in the lengthy street immediately scattered in all directions to avoid the approaching panther. Most of the residents of Taotie City were cultivators, but many of them were at a cultivation level below the fourth realm. An encounter with a fourth-realm demonic beast could be fatal for them.
"Raaaaaar!" the Dark Wind Panther snarled as it leaped, intending to ride the wind and soar into the sky.
"Evil creature, you're not escaping!" a commanding yell burst out from the Hall of Ten Thousand Beasts right then.
Someone powerful had finally emerged to take action. The tinkling chimes of little bells rang out as that person opened their fist and threw out a red string strung with small golden bells.
The string of bells flew through the air and instantly transformed into a huge hexagonal net with a golden bell in each corner. The huge net spread open, covering the sky and obscuring the sun!
With its escape route blocked, the Dark Wind Panther twisted and turned, descending back down to the street and sending the people below scattering.
Several people failed to evade in time. The Dark Wind Panther merely grazed them, but that graze ripped their chests and bellies open and broke their arms and legs...
Seven or eight figures swiftly emerged from the Hall of Ten Thousand Beasts. A second later, they reappeared on the rooftops of the pavilions on both sides of the street. They held enchanted tools like long hooks and golden nets as they eyed the panther, glaring like a tiger watching its prey.
Nevertheless, the Dark Wind Panther was too fast, giving them no opportunity to act. It charged forward along the lengthy street, transforming into a gust of dark wind!
"Move aside," a woman said.
The path ahead of the dark wind had been cleared of pedestrians since the panther's arrival earlier. Yet, those who looked over there would find that there was now a woman standing there, completely still.
In the empty street was a woman wrapped in a vivid red. She wore a flexible form-fitting flame-red outfit that accentuated her high waist and long legs. The sleeves of her robe fluttered in the wind as she fastened her black cloak, which was billowing behind her. She had her hair tied up at the back of her head, giving a full view of her snow-white skin and delicate and charming face. Her eyes, however, were fierce.
The woman was, as the saying went, as beautiful as peach and plum blossoms but as cold as ice and frost.
As the dark wind continued to whizz forth, the woman flipped over her right hand and suddenly pulled out a qimei staff that featured a relief [1] sculpture made of golden clay. The staff shimmered with a golden light, radiating the aura of something extraordinary. In addition to the golden relief sculpture, there was a line colored with a red like that of raging flames.
The woman took a step forward, and the dust spraying into the air suddenly slowed.
Then she raised the long staff with both hands, and the red line on the staff suddenly lit up. The red line spiraled upward and formed a three-chi-long scarlet saber blade at the top of the head of the staff!
The woman bent backward at the waist and raised the long staff high. While doing so, she seemed to be muttering something.
As the woman gradually finished making those movements, the Dark Wind Panther leaped. Its head was now right above her, with a dazzling red reflected in its ferocious eyes.
Swoosh—
The long saber rose and descended.
The ferocity in the Dark Wind Panther's eyes turned into terror. It was as if the panther had not expected that this seemingly delicate human to possess such terrifying power. The panther's head was split in two as it passed over the top of the woman's head. When the rest of the panther's body passed over, it was split in two right up to its tail in the same fashion.
The leaping panther was sliced apart with one strike!
This fourth-realm Dark Wind Panther had a body that didn't seem to be made of flesh and blood but of something even more solid than metal and stone. If someone were to pluck a strand of its fur, they would find that it was akin to a thorn made of iron. Yet, under the prowess of the woman's saber, the panther was cut as easily as a mere sheet of paper.
Blood rained down from the corpse, splashing onto the woman's red clothes and cloak. Nevertheless, she didn't even bat an eye. Her gaze remained as fiery as before.
Thud.
Carried by the momentum of its leap, the split corpse of the Dark Wind Panther continued to fly out for dozens of zhang before finally hitting the ground, leaving behind a long trail of blood.
Concerned voices called out to the woman, "Miss!"
In the blink of an eye, a group of people had crowded around her to check if she was all right.
"I'm fine. Just take care of this," the woman said.
Without waiting a moment more, she walked forward with wide strides, giving off an air of arrogance. She walked into the Hall of Ten Thousand Beasts majestically, with the group of people and horses accompanying her.
A voice rang out faintly from inside the hall, "Send everyone out of the hall! Close the door! The Young Lady wants to bathe and change clothes."
...
"How domineering."
Chu Liang had witnessed the whole incident and felt that the woman was very imposing, terrifyingly so.
He had been with Di Nufeng for many years, but Di Nufeng was rarely that domineering, perhaps because she was getting on in age. Most of the time, she had a lazy demeanor and didn't give others much pressure.
That red-clad woman, however... The air around her seemed to turn frigid with every step she took.
Moreover, her cultivation level was very high. The Dark Wind Panther that she'd killed had undoubtedly been one of the more powerful fourth-realm demonic beasts, with a speed that surpassed that of lightning and claws on par with divine weapons. The reason it had died so quickly was, of course, because it had encountered a harbinger of death.
When that woman made her move earlier...
Chu Liang recalled that she and the Dark Wind Panther had been tens of zhang apart—a distance that the panther had taken merely an instant to cover. Yet, in that short amount of time, the woman had taken out her weapon, activated the saber blade, raised her weapon, and gathered her power...
She had seemed to complete this series of movements slowly, without the slightest sense of urgency. Yet, the timing had been so precise that she had completed them just as the Dark Wind Panther arrived before her.
It seemed that the two of them had experienced a different flow of time.
No... the key to that seemed to be that one step she'd taken after taking out her weapon.
Something mystical had occurred in her surroundings right when she took that step. This reminded Chu Liang of something—formation techniques.
Intricate enchanted formations usually required the collective efforts of many people to carry out. However, in the cultivation world, there were techniques exclusive to a sect that could simplify the process. They allowed a cultivator to use their foundational qi as a guide to complete the formation on their own.
This specialized cultivation legacy focused on enchanted formations had been named The Formation Techniques.
If Chu Liang’s conjecture were right, then that meant the woman had used a formation technique earlier. Moreover, it had been a formation technique that allowed her to execute an instant-cast enchanted formation, which indicated she had a very high level of proficiency in formation techniques.
Chu Liang had been lost in thought for a moment, and when he looked back up, he saw that the Hall of Ten Thousand Beasts was just about to shut its doors.
He immediately became rather anxious.
Once those doors close, who knows when they'll open again? What if the Human-Faced Xiao gets taken by someone else before my next visit?
Chu Liang hurried over and said, "Hold on. Could you let me in for a moment?"
Before the bandit shutting the doors could respond, a long-bearded old man emerged and replied coldly, "The doors are closing; no customers are allowed inside."
Chu Liang said earnestly, "There's something inside that I really want. Could you let me take a look?"
The old man shot a glance at Chu Liang.
Before the old man could respond, a woman's voice rang out from upstairs, "Let him in."
"Eh?" the long-bearded old man uttered and turned to look upstairs. He seemed quite surprised. Nevertheless, he stepped aside while warning Chu Liang, "You are not to go upstairs."
"Sure," Chu Liang promised with a nod.
The Hall of Ten Thousand Beasts was extremely spacious. Displayed on the first floor were all sorts of spirit beasts enclosed in numerous iron cages. As for the ghostly entities filled with yin qi, they were placed together in a small corner.
After searching for a while, Chu Liang finally found a counter that had a sign with the words "Human-Faced Xiao."
The shop assistant behind the counter seemed a bit surprised. He had no idea how Chu Liang had gotten into the store.
Nonetheless, when he saw Chu Liang walk over, the shop assistant displayed his habitual smile and asked, "Young hero, what are you looking to buy?"
"I want to take a look at the Human-Faced Xiao," Chu Liang said.
Ghosts were different from demonic beasts. The demonic beasts could be kept in cages, while ghosts had to be sealed in small porcelain bottles, on which talismans had been stuck, and further confined within cages.
Upon seeing Chu Liang point out his object of interest, the shop assistant responded, "Sure thing."
As he spoke, he made a quick hand seal, and the talisman on the chosen porcelain bottle instantly fell off.
Whoosh—
A ghastly aura of death filled the air as a white light swiftly shot out from the bottle. The entity that made a sudden appearance was an ash-gray ghost with a small child-like stature and an oddly enormous head.
"Ahhh!!"
The moment the Human-Faced Xiao leaped out from the bottle, it exuded an intense murderous aura. Its two hands grabbed at the bars of the iron cage frantically, trying to tear them apart. The Human-Faced Xiao was clearly eager to break free.
Upon seeing Chu Liang watch it from the outside, the Human-Faced Xiao even bared its fangs at him. If it wasn't for the bars of the iron cage, the Human-Faced Xiao would have surely already pounced on Chu Liang.
How malicious!
"This creature doesn't have a high level of cultivation, but it's quite a rare creature. Moreover, it's vicious and cunning. We exhausted quite a lot of effort and resources to capture it," the shop assistant explained.
Chu Liang gave a slight nod, well aware of how difficult it was to deal with Human-Faced Xiaos. The shop assistant likely mentioned this as a lead-up to the price.
So, Chu Liang asked directly, "What's the price?"
"Eight hundred Vermilion-Bird coins," the shop assistant answered.
Chu Liang considered it briefly. Eight hundred Vermilion-Bird coins were equivalent to eight hundred sword coins in the Mount Shu Sect, which was quite substantial. The Human-Faced Xiao had an unimpressive level of cultivation, but it was indeed a rare creature and had been difficult to capture. Moreover, the market prices for goods in Taotie City were generally quite high to begin with, so that's why the Hall of Ten Thousand Beasts could sell the Human-Faced Xiao at such a high price.
Nevertheless, to Chu Liang, the Human-Faced Xiao had a far greater value than that.
After considering the purchase for a moment, Chu Liang said, "I'll go make an exchange for more Vermilion-Bird coins right now. Can you reserve it for me? Please don't sell it to someone else."
This creature was something Chu Liang absolutely needed, so instead of trying to haggle down the price, he requested to reserve it.
"Sure," the shop assistant replied with a nod. "But you'll need to pay a deposit. Additionally, we'll only reserve the creature for you for a maximum of three days."
"That's fine," Chu Liang readily agreed.
He then walked out of the Hall of Ten Thousand Beasts, unable to stop a grin from forming his face.
Chu Liang would soon be able to see a wonderful scene of the Large-Headed Dolls sitting in a row while cultivating for him!
1. It's a sculpting method that refers to a sculpture done on a background plane, i.e. a wall. Please check https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relief for more info. ☜
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