Chapter 86: Whose Man-Eating Toad Is This?

　　In this world, there was not a single clan that enjoyed endless prosperity. However, the Flying Celestials Island was famed as the holy land of martial arts and they enjoyed good times being an isolated island.

　　Besides the fighters who tried to attain immortality, the rest of the people on the Flying Celestials Island did not have much longing for Qing Xuan as many of their ancestors who were in Qing Xuan did not attain immortality. Moreover, the simple and lonely life in the mountains was hard to bear with for those who were used to living a comfortable life.

　　However, there was no pure land of eternal happiness in this world. Besides the cultivators, there were plenty of demon clans too.

　　A tragic bloodshed took place even in the quiet and pure land of Qing Xuan.

　　Under the broad daylight, there was no sign of human habitation on the Flying Celestials Island.

　　Many generations lived on the island and there was no shortage of clothes or food. There will always be a market town at the heavily-populated location. A new settlement needed one year to become a town, two to become a city, and three to become a metropolis. There was nothing new in this vein of thought.

　　However, all of the doors were shut and the street was in a bad state, with fresh blood and human limbs scattered everywhere. The biggest family here would be the residence of the island owner; there were people inside and the atmosphere was heavy.

　　Under that heavy atmosphere, even a spoilt child would not make noise.

　　Regardless of age, everyone was hiding inside.

　　They were akin to the mountain goats that were held in captivity, waiting to be butchered – utterly helpless. There had been prior efforts to break out of there. However, they were all killed by the demon.

　　They were all looking at a pile of joss stick ashes because that was their last hope.

　　According to the eldest elder, Qing Xuan would be notified after they have lighted the joss stick. Even the strongest demon would not be able to rival the powerful cultivators from Qing Xuan.

　　It was a special demon, as he would only consume the blood and flesh of a child. To the demon, the adults tasted terrible as their blood and flesh were rough and had a bad texture.

　　In the demon’s words, he wanted to hold them in captivity so that they can breed more children for him to feast on.

　　The demon saw humans holding pigs and goats in captivity, which led to the birth of more baby pigs and baby goats. He thought that the same would apply if he were to hold humans in captivity.

　　Little did he know that livestock rearing was in itself a skill and not a simple one at that.

　　The adults tasted horrible but the demon saw them as tools to create more children, which was why he would not let them escape.

　　They have spent around three days in captivity. Besides the first day, not many people died or got injured in the following days. Due to the tremendous difference in power, the brave ones who tried to launch attacks would usually die first.

　　A red bolt of silk penetrated in with the speed of lightning.

　　“Xiao Qi !” A woman yelled in devastation.

　　Xiao Qi was the nickname of her child. Her devastating and heart-wrenching cries did not attract much attention because it had been repeating occurrences in the past few days.

　　In fact, others who had children with them were relieved. They were only silently praying for the arrival of the Qing Xuan cultivators.

　　A few teenagers even formed fists with their hands, they swore to learn about celestial arts and supernatural powers after the crisis passed.

　　A young person who had crutches with him was silently observing his surroundings. He had the chance to join Qing Xuan and yet he lost any hope of joining due to a spur at that moment.

　　He was the descendant of the Xiao family who lost his martial art abilities to Shen Lian and was one of the more impressive young people of his generation.

　　He hated Shen Lian. He also hated himself.

　　The red bolt of silk wrapped itself around the child. There were disgusting sticky fluids on it, and it gave off an unpleasant tangy smell. The child named Xiao Qi wailed loudly.

　　The child’s cries were drowned out by another sound. It was the sound of thunder. It did not sound like it was from the Nine Heavens. It seemed to have come from a spot near the child.

　　It was louder than the firecrackers lit during the Lunar New Year, even the people inside could hear it.

　　The sound of thunder was accompanied by flashes of white light.

　　“That was the Thunder Technique, the celestial teachers from Qing Xuan have come!” One of the elderlies with white hair exclaimed.

　　He was one of the better fighters during his younger days and unblocked his Governor and Conception Vessel. Yet, he did not go far.

　　The elder with the highest attainment in terms of cultivation on the Flying Celestials Island had unblocked his Dead or Alive Point, had both mana and cultivation Dao techniques. Needless to say, with that attainment, he still died in the demon’s hands.

　　The elder once told him that not all Dao techniques were the same, they were of varying strength. The most difficult of them all would be the Thunder Technique. A cultivator who mastered the Thunder Technique would be someone powerful.

　　The child named Xiao Qi was carried by a gust of wind and was slowly lowered onto the ground. She was still bounded by the red silk. “Don’t move.” A gentle voice whispered into her ears.

　　She raised her head and saw a man in a light blue robe. The robe had the color of the sea and the wind blew gently at his sleeves, it was as though she was looking at the rising and falling of tides. His long black hair casually danced with the wind and the side of his face was revealed to her. It was an elegant and clear face, one that could be akin to the mountain spring.

　　There were a lot of broken limbs and organs in here, there were even bones and blood stains. The scent was nauseating.

　　This person was young. He looked about sixteen or seventeen of age.

　　However, she found it hard to describe him as he was completely different from her clan brothers. Her shallow knowledge did not do much in helping her to describe the feeling that she felt from him.

　　His voice was soothing and calming and it took her fear away.

　　There was a toad not far away. It looked scary as it was twelve feet long. Even in its crouching position, it was taller than most big-sized men.

　　The red silk was actually its tongue. It was struck by Shen Lian’s Thunder Technique earlier and a part of it had broken off, but it did not take long for it to regrow itself.

　　Its skin was purplish brown and was covered with scabies-looking thorns. In broad daylight, it was a nauseating sight.

　　The toad stared fiercely at Shen Lian with its protruding eyeballs. “I’m Hali Zi and I serve the Nine-Headed King, know your place and scram,” the toad spoke as he stared at the human cultivator who appeared out of nowhere.

　　The toad was not a brainless demon. It knew that any cultivator who could use the Thunder Technique had considerable powers.

　　The Nine-Headed King that Hali Zi spoke of was the demon king who lived in the sea about five thousand miles away from here. He had impressive supernatural powers and was even feared by some of the celestial sects.

　　On his birthday, some human cultivators even respectfully visited.

　　This was why the toad was not afraid of Shen Lian despite that the fact that Shen Lian knew the Thunder Technique and was quite powerful. Moreover, the Nine-Headed King had told his children to always announce their background, so that they would not be harmed by Daoists who did not know better. However, the Nine-Headed King said that under the influence of alcohol when he was drinking with other demon kings.

　　Hali Zi had ingrained it in its memory regardless. Whenever he sneaked out and ran into powerful Daoists, he would announce his background, and that had always worked in favor of him.

　　The cultivators had all heard of the Nine-Headed King and they did not dare to do anything to Hali Zi due to the Nine-Headed King’s reputation.

　　However, when Hali Zi sneaked out this time around, he was met with a stream of undercurrent. Before he knew it, he was caught in the undercurrent and was brought to the Flying Celestials Island that was five thousand miles away.

　　

1. 净土 – directly translated to ‘pure land’. A Chinese expression to describe a piece of land where it is peaceful and unpolluted.