Blade - Unbound

The Great Luo Dharma Body could absorb the fortune of Heaven and Earth. Having absorbed several heavenly treasures over the course of his cultivation, Li Yan had found that their energy generally fell into two categories.

One repaired damage to the Great Luo Dharma Body, while the other increased its strength. However, the energy within the object was completely different!

The Great Luo Dharma Body had always simply floated silently within his dantian. After absorbing fortune several times, it had become much more refined. Not only were its facial features now perfectly distinct, identical to Li Yan's own, but its surface had taken on the texture of porcelain, radiating a lustrous, glazed brilliance.

Having attained enlightenment through drumming earlier that day and repeatedly used it to repair his internal injuries, its surface was covered with fine cracks, like fractured porcelain.

This new energy was pale gold in color. After being absorbed by the Great Luo Dharma Body, it neither repaired the cracks nor strengthened the body itself. Instead, it gathered rapidly within the statue's left palm.

That palm contained the mark of the Summoning Writ, from which a chain extended and wrapped itself around the arm, symbolizing the Underworld Soul-Hooking Chain divine ability.

The golden energy flowed directly into the Summoning Writ before spreading outward, dyeing the Soul-Hooking Chain a faint golden hue. Li Yan could clearly sense that both the chain's strength and its length had increased. It now extended to a full three chi.

This thing can actually strengthen an underworld divine ability!

Li Yan was both astonished and delighted. Divine abilities were tied directly to one's cultivation. When he had first inherited the Soul-Hooking Chain, it could only extend a single chi from his palm.

After constructing his inner temple and cultivating day and night, it had only grown to slightly over two chi. Now that it had reached three chi, its effectiveness in battle was on an entirely different level. Even against true experts, he now possessed a genuine trump card capable of deciding victory.

Unfortunately, the amount of golden energy had been very small. In the blink of an eye, it vanished completely.

Suppressing his disappointment, Li Yan carefully examined the object in his hand.

The people of Chu had always revered the phoenix. Especially during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, countless unearthed artifacts featured phoenix totems, such as the Double Phoenix Ring Ornament, the Phoenix-on-Tiger Drum Stand, and the Phoenix-and-Dragon Embroidered Gauze Robe. Each had displayed countless variations of the mythical creature.

The golden ornament in his hand, however, appeared to be a piece of folk craftsmanship. One could even say that its workmanship was even somewhat crude. Held in the hand, it resembled a command token, not unlike the Divine Tiger Token. Perhaps because of its immense age, many of its engraved patterns had become blurred. Half of the ornament had become twisted, and even the gold itself was no longer pure.

Perhaps, it had once been forged by some forgotten folk Daoist lineage.

Seeing Li Yan examining it so intently, Yuan Ba began feeling uneasy. He had always been mischievous by nature and spoke without restraint. His claims about it being an ancient divine artifact were complete exaggerations. He had merely stumbled across it while overturning an abandoned altar and ruined temple.

Although it possessed a slight ability to suppress evil, it had already been damaged. Its greatest value was simply that it was made of solid gold. Compared to a qualification slot for the Mount Hua Wine Unsealing ceremony, it wasn't even worth mentioning.

Some things could no longer be measured in money.

I wonder if I can bluff my way through this...

After studying it for a while, Li Yan turned to look behind him. Shopkeeper Wan gave a slight nod, indicating that Li Yan could decide for himself.

Li Yan smiled as he tucked the golden phoenix ornament into his robes. "You're too courteous, Brother Yuan."

Yuan Ba immediately relaxed. After cupping his fists, he turned to leave, but Li Yan quickly stopped him. "Brother Yuan, I'm quite interested in this item. Could you tell me where you found it?"

Naturally, what interested him was the mysterious energy contained within it. Seeing how straightforward Li Yan had been, Yuan Ba held nothing back.

Shaking his head, he replied, "I found it in the mountains near the ancient Yunmeng Marsh."

Li Yan frowned slightly, deep in thought. "Yunmeng Marsh?"

The ancient Yunmeng Marsh had once lain in the Jingchu region, forming a vast expanse of interconnected lakes that was said to have once been the hunting grounds of the Chu kings. Most of that region had already become dry land by the time of the Tang and Song dynasties. People of the present age could only gaze upon Dongting Lake and imagine the magnificent, dreamlike Yunmeng Marsh of antiquity.

It was the first time Li Yan had encountered a spiritual artifact that had transformed into a heavenly treasure.

What secret did it conceal?

Just then, a burst of shouting and commotion erupted in the distance.

"What are you doing?!"

"What am I doing? Can't you see you've burned holes in my clothes?"

"Pay up!"

"That's right! Pay us!"

Looking up, Li Yan saw that Yuan Ba's procession had run into trouble.

Several men had deliberately shoved and jostled one another while laughing as they passed beneath the Incense Dragon. They were dressed in luxurious silk garments, which were immediately peppered with tiny burn holes from the falling incense ash.

They had seized one of the dragon dancers, refusing to let him go while hurling vulgar abuse and demanding compensation.

The dragon dancer had a fiery temper as well. "You're looking for trouble, aren't you?!"

He immediately threw aside the bamboo pole in his hand, grabbed one of the troublemakers, and slapped him across the face several times.

"Hey, he's killing me!"

"They're beating people!"

These ruffians were clearly seasoned troublemakers. Some rushed forward to grab and pull at the performers while others rolled around dramatically on the ground. There were also others who screamed at the tops of their lungs.

Someone was deliberately stirring up trouble.

Li Yan saw through it at a glance. Those men had obviously come specifically to cause a disturbance. The only question left was who gave them the courage to do something like that!

As expected, their actions infuriated Yuan Ba and his fellow disciples. The cultivators from Xiangchu were courteous by nature, but beneath that courtesy lay fiery tempers.

They immediately charged forward without holding anything back. Employing hidden force, they landed several heavy kicks with dull thuds, sending every one of the troublemakers flying three zhang through the air.

Of course, they had not intended to kill. The men suffered only pain and no internal injuries. However, their action seemed to have struck a hornet's nest.

"Murder!"

"Murder!"

"These people are tyrants!"

At once, several people hidden among the spectators began fanning the flames.

The expressions of Yuan Ba and his master immediately changed. After all, they were outsiders. Moreover, the imperial court had been tightening its oversight of the mystic path with every passing year. If the matter escalated, the consequences would be difficult to contain.

Yuan Ba's master glanced toward the north, his face immediately darkening. "Retreat!"

He instructed everyone to halt the performance and begin moving aside.

An enormous procession was approaching, with their Divine Tower the largest of them all. However, their grandeur came through trickery. Many parts of it were hollow. Even the temple pillars were nothing more than wooden boards painted red. Though visually magnificent, the structure had a somewhat flimsy appearance. Even so, its sheer scale was undeniably imposing!

The team carrying it numbered a full hundred men. Every one of them was powerfully built, dressed in dark red jackets with their forearms exposed. Their expressions were fierce, and they all had clubs tucked into their waists. They looked less like men carrying a Divine Tower and more like a gang on its way to start a fight.

Behind them marched an even larger shamanic drum ensemble. Bare-chested, wearing ferocious exorcism masks, the men beat their drums as they advanced. It looked like a procession of a hundred ghosts wandering through the night. Though they did not have a particularly remarkable performance, their sheer numbers and intimidating appearance gave them tremendous presence.

Along the entire avenue, they were impossible to ignore. This was none other than the Fire Bear Gang's procession.

Yuan Ba cursed under his breath before saying, "Master, this has to be those bastards behind it. Let's teach them a lesson!"

"A lesson?" The old man snorted. "Today's the Lantern Festival. There are this many common folk watching, and you still want to invoke the Ferocious Spirit Soldiers? Have you got a death wish?

"And besides... Look who's over there."

Yuan Ba looked where his master indicated. There were several strange-looking cultivators among the men carrying the Divine Tower. One of them was a broad-shouldered monk.

He carried a crescent moon spade in one hand, and wore a string of white bone prayer beads around his neck. His exceedingly fierce face was exacerbated by the hideous scar that ran across his right eye. The monk's right eyeball was an unsettling, ghostly white.

There was also an elderly Daoist dressed in a patchy robe. A large gourd was strapped to his back, while a short sword hung from his waist, giving him an oddly mismatched appearance.

The one who caught Yuan Ba's attention, however, was an old woman. She appeared to be well advanced in years, dressed in a black robe with snow-white hair and a face covered in wrinkles. Hanging from her waist were pouches and leather satchels of every size.

The moment Yuan Ba recognized her, his expression darkened and shifted uncertainly. "It's that old hag, Silver Snake! How did she end up in Chang'an too?"

"It’s not just her." Yuan Ba's master spoke coldly. "The others are no decent people either. They've secretly harmed plenty of people over the years. They walk around only because the Enforcement Hall has never managed to catch them with solid evidence.

"The procession before us belongs to a Chang'an gang. These fellows have obviously joined forces to secure qualification slots by borrowing their strength. The people they sent to stir up trouble were probably trying to avoid a direct clash with us. Since they're willing to let us pass, we'll step aside. Don't bother with them."

Though Yuan Ba was seething inside, he did not object. His master was right.

Chang'an had been thrown into turmoil not long ago. No one had expected that the greatest beneficiary of the chaos would turn out to be the Fire Bear Gang.

After Bai Ruoxu's identity as a Maitreya Sect disciple had been exposed, the city's Broker Guilds were completely purged. Officials at every level seized the opportunity to line their own pockets, swallowing up all of the guilds' businesses.

Tie Feng, Tie Shigu's son, had been implicated simply because he had been Bai Ruoxu's close friend. The fortune he had accumulated over many years vanished overnight, and he quietly disappeared from public view.

Even Feng Feiyan's Phoenix Descent Inn had failed to escape the purge. But whenever people suffered misfortune, others inevitably feasted on their remains. Those officials who had once called one another brothers had transformed into ravenous beasts, grabbing everything they could and enjoying an exceptionally prosperous New Year.

The guilds of the Five Trades had been gravely weakened, leaving them no match for the Fire Bear Gang. The very next day after Tie Shigu's departure, the newly appointed Guildmaster of the Porters Guild had gone straight to the Fire Bear Gang's headquarters and begun addressing Xiong Baodong as a sworn brother.

Many of the broker guilds' businesses had become too troublesome for government officials to keep. As they hurried to sell them off, Xiong Baodong bought them all at bargain prices.

It could be said that throughout the entire upheaval, the Fire Bear Gang had hidden in the shadows, stuffing themselves until they were dripping with grease while their strength expanded dramatically. Meanwhile, their longtime rivals had completely fallen apart.

To Xiong Baodong, it was no different from having pies fall from the heavens. He had been so delighted that he could hardly stop smiling. Not long ago, he had even hosted an endless banquet that lasted over ten days in celebration.

Moreover, that wasn't the only stroke of good fortune.

The Mount Hua Wine Unsealing ceremony had also attracted many practitioners of the unorthodox paths. Their reputations were poor, and they had originally planned to form their own team to compete for qualification slots. However, because of the Maitreya Sect incident, both the Military Surveillance Department and the Enforcement Hall had been arresting people everywhere.

Feeling uneasy, those unorthodox practitioners had sought out Xiong Baodong, and the two sides had immediately hit it off, forming a single procession together. With the support of so many powerful practitioners of the unorthodox paths, Xiong Baodong's ambitions had only grown greater.

That was why, before the assembly even began, he had gathered compromising information on numerous teams and used it to blackmail them. Now, ten ritual banners already flew atop his Divine Tower. There were only twenty four processions in the entire competition!

Standing behind those unorthodox cultivators was none other than Xiong Baodong himself.

At the moment, Xiong Baodong could hardly have been more pleased with himself. Already massive in stature, he wore a black fur coat that made him resemble a walking black bear, radiating overbearing dominance.

"Hahaha..." Seeing the Xiangchu procession step aside, he burst into hearty laughter before turning to the assembled cultivators. "There are only so many qualification slots, and they're worth a fortune. Fellow friends, how about we grab a few more?"

His own strength had already grown considerably. He had recruited numerous experts from the unorthodox schools, and through this opportunity had even established ties with the Li Family.

He no longer needed to care what the Shang Mountain lineage thought. As for the independent cultivators scattered throughout Shanzhou, he simply didn't take them seriously.

"No need." The white-haired old woman in black replied coldly, "That master and disciple pair come from Xiangchu. They have close ties with the Mount Mei Faith. It's only one qualification slot. It's not worth provoking the Meishan Sect."

Xiong Baodong laughed. "Fair enough. We've already got enough qualification slots today. Let's hand them over to those Daoists at the City God Temple as soon as possible, then I'll take everyone to the Calyx Pavilion for a good time!"

"Hahaha!" The one-eyed monk immediately roared with laughter. Rubbing his bald head, his eyes gleamed with unmistakable lust. "Then this poor monk won't stand on ceremony, Guildmaster Xiong."

Xiong Baodong smiled faintly. "Venerable Xiaoyue, enjoy yourself all you like. But let me make one thing clear. The Calyx Pavilion is backed by an important noble from the capital. Don't go killing anyone in there, or we'll end up with endless trouble."

The monk clearly understood exactly what Xiong Baodong meant. "Don't worry. This poor monk knows how to restrain himself."

Judging from the eager look on his face, he could hardly wait.

As the two processions crossed paths, the members of the Fire Bear Gang barreled straight through. One of them even shoved aside a bearer from the Xiangchu procession, leaving Yuan Ba and his master so furious that their eyes practically blazed with fire.

However, they had more important matters to attend to, and were unwilling to create further complications. In the end, they could only swallow their anger.

Shopkeeper Wan also had no desire to stir up trouble. Seeing the Fire Bear Gang charging straight toward them, he sighed before hurriedly ordering his procession to move aside.

Li Yan silently glanced at everyone around him. Personally, he didn't care, but everyone else had their own concerns.

Shopkeeper Wan still had to make a living in Xianyang and Chang'an. His many disciples were hardworking artisans who depended on him. The Huayin Zuo Opera Troupe and the Xianyang Drum Troupe were no different.

Even Guo Luquan lowered his head, while some of the Divine Tower bearers couldn't conceal the fear in their eyes. There was a time and place for standing up for one's pride. If they went to provoke the Fire Bear Gang, losing their qualification slot would be the least of their worries.

From that day on, they would certainly face the Fire Bear Gang's retaliation. Even if they knew mystic arts, how could they possibly contend against so many opponents? Especially when the Fire Bear Gang had hired unorthodox cultivators who specialized in combat.

Yet even though they wished to avoid trouble, the other side had no intention of letting them go. The moment Xiong Baodong spotted Li Yan among the crowd, the unpleasant memories of their duel that night came flooding back.

His expression immediately darkened. "Go. Bring me that old man's banner."

At his command, several members of the Fire Bear Gang immediately stepped out from the crowd and swaggered toward Shopkeeper Wan.

Success had made them arrogant. Lifting their chins disdainfully, they sneered, "Old bastard, if you've got any sense, hand over the banner!"

Shopkeeper Wan's face flushed crimson with anger. In a deep voice, he said, "Go tell Xiong Baodong that this old man is an elder of the Artisan Sect. I ask only that he show me a little respect..."

"You old bastard still think we need to care about you?" The leader of the thugs laughed mockingly, his face full of contempt. "Don't refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit. We've still got drinking to do after this. Keep talking, and tonight we'll make sure you lose every shred of dignity you've got, you old geezer!"

"Old bastard."

"Old geezer."

Even a clay figurine possessed a measure of temper. Shopkeeper Wan was a man of the jianghu. His eyes immediately turned icy.

"You're asking for a beating!"

The two disciples behind him immediately stepped forward.

Grabbing the Fire Bear Gang members by the collars, they slapped them repeatedly before knocking them to the ground and kicking them mercilessly.

Those Fire Bear Gang thugs could bully ordinary townsfolk and unfortunate wanderers of the jianghu. But when faced with genuine martial artists, they weren't opponents at all.

Of course, Shopkeeper Wan had no wish to escalate matters. His disciples merely beat the gang members unconscious and stopped there.

Xiong Baodong had always possessed an overbearing temperament. Seeing the scene before him, he grew amused rather than angry.

"Oh ho!"

With a wave of his hand, his procession immediately came to a halt, surrounding Li Yan's entire group.

"They're fighting!"

"A fight's broken out!"

Although Zhuque Avenue was broad, such a commotion naturally attracted attention. A large crowd of spectators quickly gathered to watch.

Patrols from the Military Surveillance Department were already riding along Zhuque Avenue.

Immediately spurring their horses forward, they barked a stern command, positioning themselves between the two groups.

"What are you all doing?!"

The conflict, which had been on the verge of erupting, was forcibly halted.

Unfortunately, the instant Li Yan saw the officer leading the Military Surveillance Department's cavalry, his heart sank.

Their captain was Feng Han, the very man who had barged into his home that day.

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