Chapter 284: Disgusting Behavior

On the way to Xuanji Kingdom, Yu Feng narrowly escaped death several times.

Ma Pingfan “accidentally” forgot he was still carrying Yu Feng, scratched the back of his head, and let Yu Feng fall out of the sky.

Unfazed, Yu Feng pulled out a pair of fake wings he had long prepared from his storage ring and glided through the air. Seeing that Yu Feng wouldn’t die, Ma Pingfan had no choice but to keep carrying him.

Whenever Ma Pingfan saw other Soul Formation Stage cultivators, he’d deliberately pick a fight, trying to use the collateral damage to kill Yu Feng.

Yu Feng calmly handed over spirit stones he had gotten from Daoist Tongchen and asked the senior cultivator not to accidentally hit him during the fight. The cultivator, tempted by the money, just stopped fighting altogether.

Ma Pingfan even tried flying high into the sky to make Yu Feng suffocate.

Yu Feng, still composed, used the Turtle Breathing Technique to stop breathing entirely.

Ma Pingfan was speechless. How does this kid have so many tricks up his sleeve?

Why can’t you just cultivate properly? What use is all this nonsense? Can it even save your life… oh, turns out it actually can.

Jiang Li sneered. “You think you can kill Yu Feng with some weak ‘heaven-fallen meteor’ trial? Dream on.”

Yu Feng thought to himself, Thank goodness Ma Pingfan can’t hear your old-man muttering, otherwise if you push him too far, he really might drop a meteor on me.

…

The King of Xuanji Kingdom rushed back on a flying boat and asked his subordinate as soon as he returned, “How many death row inmates are still in the Celestial Prison?”

As soon as he asked, he regretted it. What good would that do? There were only about a hundred—like a drop in the ocean.

Though confused, the subordinate carefully reminded, “Your Majesty, last month during the princess’s wedding, you issued a general pardon and released all the death row prisoners.”

Great. Now not even a hundred are left.

The king was anxious. Where could he find people? He couldn’t just select a hundred thousand citizens from the capital to die. The entire capital only had 800,000 people—losing an eighth all at once would stir panic and chaos.

“What has His Majesty so flustered?” a hearty voice called from outside the hall. When the king looked up, the speaker was already standing before him.

Xuanji Kingdom’s pillar—Sect Leader Fu Ye of the Corpse Dog Sect, a Soul Formation Stage cultivator.

“Fu Ye, save me,” the king pleaded, explaining the Blood River Ancestor’s demand.

“Sounds like the Blood River Ancestor is targeting you deliberately,” Fu Ye said. He had heard of the feud between Blood River Ancestor and Old Master Poison.

It seemed the Blood River Ancestor was venting his anger on Xuanji Kingdom.

“I came here originally to say farewell. I was going to inform you that the Corpse Dog Sect is relocating entirely to the Celestial Dynasty. Didn’t expect to run into this mess.”

Fu Ye shook his head. Over the years, he had gained quite a lot from Xuanji Kingdom—he figured he could lend a hand before leaving.

“Once this gets out, people will definitely resent you. You want to preserve a good reputation, don’t you?”

“A hundred thousand mortals is the population of a small city. I suggest you choose one city and offer all its people to the Blood River Ancestor.”

“If it doesn’t reach 100,000, include a few nearby villages to round it out. If it exceeds 100,000, don’t bother separating them—sacrifice them all!”

“Submit the city, town, and villages as a whole. Don’t let even one survivor escape to spread the word!”

“Afterward, just say that demonic cultivators attacked and blood-sacrificed the entire city.”

“I can help you destroy the evidence.”

The king hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded. It did sound like a good plan.

“I don’t recommend doing that.” Ma Pingfan entered the palace with Yu Feng and Senior Sister Wu Lian.

“Daoist Fu Ye.”

“Well, if it isn’t Daoist Ma Pingfan.” Fu Ye greeted him with a smile.

In truth, he and Ma Pingfan didn’t get along. There was some old grudge. But in the Tongu World, who shows their true face?

Fu Ye was Xuanji Kingdom’s protector and considered part of the righteous path, which naturally made him an enemy of a demonic cultivator like Ma Pingfan.

Tongu World had very low standards for “righteousness.” Take the Arhat of Great Freedom—he believed in killing or saving as he pleased. That still counted as righteous.

As long as you didn’t advocate pure killing, you were “righteous.”

Even the assassin group Death Bell Tower qualified. They killed for money, not for pleasure—so they too were “righteous.”

Jiang Li genuinely admired this standard.

“A flexible definition of righteousness.”

Ma Pingfan also couldn’t stand Fu Ye. He saw himself as an honest villain, and Fu Ye as a hypocrite.

“What do you mean by that, Daoist Ma?” Fu Ye knew Ma Pingfan was Blood River Ancestor’s registered disciple—his appearance here was clearly no coincidence.

“City folk are pampered, fat-headed, and spineless. Put a knife to their necks and they’ll only beg. What kind of thrill would that give the Blood River Ancestor?”

“Then what’s your suggestion?”

Ma Pingfan gave a cruel smile. “Pick 100,000 rugged, defiant peasants. The Ancestor loves it when people dare to resist with weapons in hand—just so he can crush them like ants, one by one.”

Senior Sister Wu Lian glared at Ma Pingfan. So it was true—these 100,000 were just sacrifices.

So much for calling it an opportunity for her. This was clearly meant to disgust her.

Not to mention, he’d tried to kill her junior brother the entire way here. Why hasn’t this b*****d gotten his karma yet?!

Wu Lian even considered killing him herself, but Yu Feng stopped her.

Given Ma Pingfan’s personality, if she attacked, he’d kill her without hesitation.

Seeing Wu Lian’s expression, Ma Pingfan was smug. That look of hatred mixed with helplessness was his favorite.

Ma Pingfan casually took the dragon throne, with Yu Feng and Wu Lian standing to the sides like servants.

“I think this area looks good. Barren mountains and turbulent rivers—perfect place for raising unruly folk.” Ma Pingfan pulled out a map and circled a region.

Yu Feng’s eyes nearly burst from his skull.

His home was inside that circle.

The villages were spread out. To gather 100,000 people, dozens of them would have to be wiped out. For Xuanji Kingdom, that was trouble—it’d be much easier to move one entire city.

Blood River Ancestor was pressing hard. If the kingdom was too slow, it might displease him further, leading to more problems.

“Is this the Ancestor’s command, or…” the king asked tentatively.

“Take a guess.” Ma Pingfan smiled ambiguously, making it impossible to read him.

The king gritted his teeth and chose to believe Ma Pingfan.

To survive on the Tongu Continent, he had to find a backer in the Celestial Dynasty. This might be his chance to win the Ancestor’s favor.

“This matter has nothing to do with me. The Corpse Dog Sect is no longer Xuanji’s state religion. We’ve got tons of supplies to account for—I’ll take my leave.”

Fu Ye wasn’t sure if Ma Pingfan had ulterior motives, but he didn’t want to get involved.

Better to stay out of trouble.

“Fu Ye… you…” the king was stunned. Without his help, relocating the villages would take much longer.

“Immortal, would you…” the king turned to Ma Pingfan for help. In his view, since Ma Pingfan was the one giving the idea, he should help carry it out.

Ma Pingfan smiled and declined, “The Ancestor told you to prepare a tribute. I wouldn’t dare interfere.”

He was here to make things harder for Xuanji Kingdom—why would he lift a finger to help?

Yu Feng’s face was blank, but inside he wanted nothing more than to hack Ma Pingfan into pieces.

“Senior Jiang, is there a way to kill Ma Pingfan and save the village?”

“There is.”