Chapter 146 How Can We Speak of Human Nature

Inside the cave.

Yu Ye sat cross-legged.

The cave was exceptionally narrow, barely large enough to accommodate a single person.

The entrance was covered with branches and withered grass, allowing him to discern the shifting of daylight and dusk.

This was a cave he had dug with his own hands.

For the purpose of concealing one's tracks, a cave was the best sanctuary. Since they could not find an established cave for the moment yet urgently needed to hide, he and Dang Guiyi had each dug a hiding place in this uninhabited valley.

Why had things come to such a panicked and desperate pass?

To escape the pursuit of Qi Huan.

Qi Huan, the master of the Myriad Beasts Manor. Previously, Yu Ye and Dang Guiyi had killed his two nephews, thus forging a bitter enmity. They had thought that fleeing a thousand miles away would secure their safety, but who would have expected them to run into their nemesis once again after only a few days.

This world was vast. It was so vast that two people could brush past each other and never meet again for eternity; yet this world was also so small, so small that one could bump into an enemy anywhere and at any time.

Consequently, Yu Ye and Dang Guiyi had become like birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring. After fleeing to a minor immortal sect called the Liyuan Gate, the two of them dared not linger, deploying Wind-Escaping Talismans and sprinting madly away. Yet they did not flee far, choosing instead to hide nearby in the depths of the mountain forests. Only when the night grew deep and quiet would they resume their flight driven by the wind. Before dawn broke, they would hide once more. Traveling by night and resting by day in this manner, they had journeyed circuitously to this place...

"Hah—"

Yu Ye exhaled a breath of stale air, opened his eyes, raised his palm, and dropped a handful of spiritual stone debris.

During their flight, he snatched moments of leisure to cultivate.

His cultivation realm still progressed sluggishly, but his absorption rate of spiritual stones had quickened a fraction. Perhaps the dragon shadow was repairing its damaged soul power, as it now consumed one spiritual stone every three days. He wondered when she would be able to reshape her soul body; he hoped she could return to the mortal realm soon.

At this thought, the figure of a person in green clothes floated before Yu Ye's eyes.

He reined in his stray thoughts and raised his right hand.

On his right thumb was worn the Beast-Taming Ring. Just as his divine sense immersed into it, a series of roars reached his ears.

The two mutated salamanders were no longer sleeping soundly, but were instead engaged in a frantic, mutual tearing and biting. Even though they were covered in wounds, they did not stop, showing the fierce determination of a desperate struggle.

"Why are you slaughtering each other? Stop!"

Yu Ye was utterly stunned, then secretly shook his head.

The two mutated salamanders seemed to have their eyes blinded by blood-lust, paying no heed to his dissuasion whatsoever. Instead, they roared angrily at him in unison, the bizarre cries sending a slight jolt of pain through his sea of consciousness.

What was wrong with them? Why were they disobedient?

At a loss for what to do for a moment, Yu Ye thought of consulting relevant manuals, when a sudden thought stirred in his mind.

Although the two beasts had been refined and subdued by him, and their spiritual senses were linked, he had never driven them or subjected them to any discipline, resulting in poor communication. Now, paying closer heed, he managed to gather some meaning from their roars.

"Hungry? You want something to eat?"

Within his sea of consciousness, another piercing roar echoed.

Yu Ye finally understood.

The two mutated salamanders had gone mad due to hunger, leading them to slaughter each other in an attempt to devour their companion.

Such savage creatures truly lacked any shred of humanity!

At this reflection, a self-deprecating expression crossed Yu Ye's face.

Since they were beasts, how could one speak of humanity?

However, where was he to find food to feed these two creatures? He certainly could not release them to ravage humans and livestock, nor did he bear to kill them...

A sudden thought occurred to Yu Ye, and two storage rings materialized in his hand.

The rings contained snakes, insects, birds, and beasts, but due to the lack of spiritual Qi or perhaps constrained by restrictions, they had died long ago. He had not yet gotten around to discarding them; he might as well use them to feed the mutated salamanders.

Yu Ye prodded his divine sense, and a flash of light crossed his eyes.

In an instant, the remains of dozens of poisonous snakes were tossed by him into the Beast-Taming Ring. The two mutated salamanders lunged forward and began devouring them frantically. Before long, they swallowed the poisonous snakes clean. Immediately after, they ceased their roaring and tearing, each slithering back into the darkness to sleep soundly.

Having laid one burden to rest, several more rings appeared before Yu Ye.

He sorted the spiritual stones, cultivation techniques, medicinal pills, gold, and silver within them into separate categories, checking and inspecting all his worldly possessions like a meticulous accountant.

His spiritual stones now amounted to a couple of hundred, and he had also accumulated a pile of various cultivation techniques, pills, and flying swords. What he favored most, however, were talismans, because they could preserve his life at critical moments.

From a thick stack of talismans, Yu Ye withdrew two Blazing Fire Talismans and one Sword Talisman.

Although he possessed quite a few talismans, most were meant for self-preservation. The three talismans he had previously plundered, however, possessed the power to vanquish enemies and secure victory. The Sword Talisman in particular was something he had personally experienced; its exceptionally fierce offensive momentum was sufficient to slay any Qi-Refining expert.

Yu Ye put away the items before him and produced a piece of animal skin, cinnabar, a wolf-hair brush, an earthenware bowl, and a jar of wine.

Cinnabar and the wolf-hair brush came from Malin City. He had constantly harbored the thought of refining Armor-Piercing Talismans, but had consistently failed to find beast skin. Coincidentally, someone was selling them at the Treasure Pavilion, so he had seized the opportunity to gather all the necessary materials for refining talismans.

Yu Ye uncorked the wine, mixed the cinnabar, and then cut the animal skin, setting himself to work in the cramped cave...

"Fellow Daoist Yu—"

Two hours later, Dang Guiyi's shout came from outside the cave.

Yu Ye packed his things, dismissed the restriction, pushed aside the branches, and walked out of the cave stooped over, unable to resist stretching his back and letting out a breath.

The sky had already grown dark.

The mountain valley was silent.

Dang Guiyi stood amidst the grass, looking full of vigor as he declared, "Time to move on—"

"Where to?"

"Two hundred miles to the southeast, there is a Mount Feiyun, where the Zhenyuan Immortal Sect is located."

"An immortal sect? If Qi Huan..."

"The two of us hiding and dodging like this is by no means a long-term solution. Utilizing the immortal sect's teleportation array to reach the Yunchuan Immortal Sect as soon as possible is the only sound strategy."

"What do you mean by that?"

"As long as we manage to join the Yunchuan Immortal Sect, what can a mere Myriad Beasts Manor do to us?"

"I wouldn't be so sure..."

"Aish, listen to me, you won't go wrong!"

Dang Guiyi waved his hand and leaped away.

Leaving the valley, night descended.

A crescent moon rose in the sky, casting a hazy glow all around.

The two of them found a main road and headed south.

Following the old rule, Dang Guiyi took the lead in the front. When he grew tired, Yu Ye would lend him a hand. In the event of any unexpected danger along the way, they would instantly deploy their Wind-Escaping Talismans and run for their lives.

Under the cover of night, Dang Guiyi moved with extreme swiftness.

Unable to keep pace, Yu Ye could only keep his eyes fixed on that short figure to avoid falling behind. His lightness arts originated from the Great Marsh Daoist Sect, yet compared to Dang Guiyi, he was still a notch inferior.

A moment later, as the chase was in full swing, Dang Guiyi suddenly stopped.

Yu Ye arrived shortly after. Just as he was about to ask the reason, he hurriedly crouched down, following him to hide in the bushes beside the road.

Ahead lay a desolate wilderness, yet a hundred zhang away, lamplight flickered and the sound of weeping drifted over. Several li to the right, a cluster of village dwellings was vaguely visible.

"That is..." Yu Ye transmitted his voice.

"Shh!" Dang Guiyi motioned for him not to make a sound.

Peering through the bushes, more than a dozen people were gathered near a mound of earth. Among them, women and elderly folk were weeping bitterly.

Ah, they were burying the dead.

Understanding dawned on Yu Ye, though he remained somewhat confused.

Why bury the dead at night? Did the customs of this region differ?

Furthermore, encountering such an event along the way, they could simply have detoured. Yet Dang Guiyi wore an expression of grave solemnity; could it be that he had discovered something?

Suppressing his curiosity, Yu Ye silently watched.

The burial presumably concluded, the dozen or so people shouldered their hoes and escorted the weeping women and elders back toward the village. Left behind in their wake were a solitary burial mound and a pile of burning paper currency, appearing doubly desolate and bleak in the nocturnal chill.

Yu Ye was on the verge of urging him to press on when he saw Dang Guiyi wave his hand.

A moment later, the crowd had moved far away.

The firelight before the burial mound gradually extinguished as well.

At that very instant, two figures suddenly swept across the wilderness. Glancing left and right, they cautiously approached the burial mound with stealthy movements.

Yu Ye blinked slightly in surprise.

Those were two males.

One was an elderly man with a long beard, whose features were indistinct; the other was a youth of about fifteen or sixteen, possessing an exceptionally thin build. Both of them carried themselves with an air of sinister eccentricity.

As soon as the two drew near the burial mound, the old man raised his hands, seemingly murmuring incantations, and then reached out to grab—

Suddenly, Dang Guiyi's voice echoed in his mind: "Just as I expected. Those buried at night are mostly those who died prematurely. Because they were interred in haste, their Yin energy has not yet dissipated, making them easy prey for opportunistic villains—no, perhaps it was even intentional. Since I've run into this, how can I stand idly by and watch!"

"What are you talking about?"

Yu Ye was baffled by what he saw, and equally baffled by what he heard.

Already, Dang Guiyi had leaped out of the bushes, shouting loudly, "What kind of demonic entity is making mischief here, hand over your lives—"

Yu Ye was startled.

Dang Guiyi had actually charged toward the burial mound, drawing the peach-wood sword from his back.

Simultaneously, the two figures before the burial mound were also startled, turning in unison to flee. Their movements were flickering and elusive, akin to phantoms. Unwilling to show weakness, Dang Guiyi violently accelerated his pace.

Yu Ye sprang out of the bushes after them, the three figures having already vanished into the distance. He slapped on a Wind-Escaping Talisman and pursued them with all his might.

Crossing the wilderness brought them to a region of rolling hills. Past the hills lay a forest. Cutting through the forest, a stretch of rocky wasteland appeared before them.

Yu Ye chased into the midst of the rocky wasteland, only to see a short figure standing in a daze, still gripping his peach-wood sword—it was none other than Dang Guiyi.

"What happened?"

Yu Ye descended to the ground.

Dang Guiyi actually ignored him.

"Fellow Daoist Dang, Dang Guiyi..."

Yu Ye stepped closer.

Dang Guiyi remained rooted to the spot. Though his small eyes were open, they lacked any luster and his expression was dull, presenting an exceedingly bizarre appearance.

A chill struck Yu Ye's heart, causing him to instantly focus his gaze and scan his surroundings.

A piercing, chilling wind suddenly began to swirl, accompanied by rising banks of mist. The old man and the youth from earlier, however, had vanished completely without a trace.

Secretly sensing that something was amiss, Yu Ye turned, grabbed Dang Guiyi's arm, and soared off the ground. Yet after running breathlessly for several li and touching down, he could not help but stare in dumbfounded shock. The place he stood upon was still cluttered with jagged rocks, still swept by biting winds, and still shrouded in swirling mists—it was as though he had run in a full circle only to return to the exact same spot.

He remembered this rocky wasteland was no more than a few hundred zhang in radius, an area one could cross in a flash. How could it have turned out like this...

Yu Ye glanced beside him.

Dang Guiyi was actually looking up at him as well. Though his eyes were dim, his expression seemed distinctly ill-intentioned.

"What's wrong with you, snap out of it..."

Before Yu Ye's words could fade, a peach-wood sword came slashing toward him.

Dang Guiyi had actually attacked him.

"Hah, have you gone mad?"

Yu Ye grabbed Dang Guiyi's arm, but the other party opened his mouth to bite him instead. Hurriedly channeling his protective mana, he shook Dang Guiyi back with a muffled *bang*. Dang Guiyi retreated a few steps, his eyes glazed, and once more raised the peach-wood sword, uttering incoherent mumblings as he lunged toward him recklessly.

"You're courting death!"

A sudden wave of distraction washed over Yu Ye, stirring a surge of annoyance within him. Raising his hand to form a sword incantation, he prepared to unleash the Seven-Kill Sword Qi. Yet he abruptly spun around to dodge instead, his mind gripped by lingering terror and lingering dread.

Though he had slain countless men, he never took advantage of others in their peril. Why then had a murderous intent suddenly flared so intensely within him that he could scarcely control himself?

A chill crept into Yu Ye's heart as he raised his voice and shouted, "What kind of demonic spawn you are, get out here—"

No one answered. In response, the desolate wind grew colder and the thick fog denser.

Avoiding Dang Guiyi once more, Yu Ye raised the Beast-Taming Ring and swept it forward fiercely.

Two massive black shadows landed with loud *thuds* in the rocky wasteland, roaring as they soared into the fray...