Chapter Seventy-Nine: Seize

Pine trees cloaked the wild hills, as a gentle breeze caressed the landscape.

From afar, a leisurely figure approached—a scholar riding a black-furred donkey.

He wore a conical hat, a blue robe, and cloth boots, with a bulging book bag slung across his back. The donkey’s coat gleamed darkly, its ears stood tall, and its steps were steady, moving through a mosaic of light and shadow cast by sunlight filtering through the trees.

The scholar held a scroll in his hand, his head bowed in thought as the donkey plodded along. The beast walked at its own unhurried pace, occasionally pausing to nibble at young grass by the roadside, giving a low, pleasant bray.

“Easy there, greedy one. If you delay us with your snacking, I might just roast you for dinner,” the scholar, Qi Xiu, said, noticing their progress had slowed. He set aside his scroll and tapped the donkey lightly.

The donkey gave a startled bray and tucked its head, as if understanding the warning, then quickened its steps.

“We must be close now,” Qi Xiu mused, pulling a map from his bag and calculating his position. He had set out from Baohe County the previous day, traveling day and night; Tiger Roar Pass should not be far ahead.

As he turned the map and surveyed his surroundings to confirm his location, a sudden commotion erupted up ahead.

Qi Xiu’s eyes narrowed. He formed a quick hand seal, chanting an arcane incantation. The Dragon Pool ring on his finger glimmered faintly.

A chill mist surged forth, twisting into an eerie fog that shrouded both man and donkey from view.

Secret Art of the Jade Pool: Shadow Veil.

“Can’t you stop eating? The king told us already—eat less. If you devour everyone, how will we lure anyone else here?” a guttural voice grumbled along a mountain path.

Two grotesque figures appeared, their heads as large as buckets, bodies bloated and green-skinned, half-human, half-toad.

“Oh, it’s only three people in the past few days. It’s nothing,” one replied carelessly, gnawing on a human arm, blood splattering as bones cracked.

“The king should just let us eat them all. Why keep any humans around? Wouldn’t it be more satisfying?”

“You fool. If we eat them all, how will we attract others? These ordinary humans are bland. The martial artists and sorcerers taste so much better—tough, flavorful. I’ve heard that the flesh of those who have entered the Dao is worth years of hard cultivation. Tsk, tsk. Maybe we’ll get a taste at the king’s birthday feast,” the other toad-man mused, wiping drool from his mouth.

“Keep dreaming. With so many under the king’s command, what chance do we have?” the first retorted.

“If you ask me, we should take this chance to eat our fill now,” he said, spitting out a white bone and licking his lips with a red tongue. After a few steps, he realized his companion had fallen silent.

“What’s wrong…” he began, turning in confusion.

His bulbous eyes contracted in shock. A man in scholar’s robes stood before him, smiling gently. At the man’s feet, his companion had been cleaved in two, blood and flesh strewn across the ground.

“Yo—” he tried to shout, but a crimson bamboo staff tapped his brow.

“If you want to live, stay quiet,” said Qi Xiu, his killing intent like needles. The toad-man clamped his mouth shut.

“I’ll ask, you answer. Lie, and you’ll end up like him.” Qi Xiu gestured to the writhing remains nearby.

The toad-man nodded frantically.

“Where are the rebel followers of the Golden Mother Cult?” Qi Xiu asked. According to Song Tingye’s intelligence, the supply convoy had been ambushed at Tiger Roar Pass by a group of rebel cultists. But from the toad-men's conversation, the truth seemed otherwise.

“Some were eaten. The king took others away to be kept for the birthday feast,” the toad-man replied, swallowing nervously.

“Who is your king, and what is his rank?”

“Our king is called Lord Jin Cai, a Daoist demon. He commands three hundred half-demons, eight hundred heretics, and leads a vanguard of sixteen hundred. You’d better let me go now, or our king will—ow!” the toad-man howled as Qi Xiu struck him with the staff, rolling his eyes in disbelief.

Three hundred half-demons and eight hundred heretics? Why not say you command an army of ten thousand?

“Where is your king now?” Qi Xiu pressed.

If a true Daoist demon held Tiger Roar Pass, he would have to abandon the mission. Even with his Primordial Power, he had the means to slay such a beast, but risking his life for no reason was not something he would do.

“At Tiger Roar Pass,” the toad-man said, his eyes flickering.

Sensing the subtle deceit, Qi Xiu smiled coldly. “Still not honest? Must I use harsher measures?”

He drew a writing brush from his bag and swiftly penned a talisman upon the toad-man’s face.

Confusion and Madness Charm.

The medicinal power spread, merging into the toad-man’s body. His rolling eyes grew vacant and clouded.

A dose that would muddle the mind, making the victim obey any command. But its side effects were severe and unstable, often leaving the user a gibbering idiot.

“Where is your king? How many of you guard Tiger Roar Pass?” Qi Xiu questioned.

“My king returned to Dongli County five days ago to prepare for the feast. Three captains and fifty half-demons remain here to ambush rescue teams,” the toad-man replied drowsily.

“Dongli County? Isn’t that where the refugees outside the city came from?” Qi Xiu pondered.

He interrogated the toad-man for half an hour, using charm after charm. By the end, the creature’s eyes were bloodshot, veins bulging, his body curled tight as a shrimp—dead in convulsions.

“This Lord Jin Cai is truly formidable. Fleeing all the way from the great province of Xiangchu, not only surviving but thriving with the help of a treasured artifact, he has risen to become a Daoist demon.”

Qi Xiu gently stroked his autumn bamboo staff, his eyes alight with speculation.

From the toad-man’s revelations, he had learned that Lord Jin Cai possessed a magical artifact: the Treasure-Gathering Pouch.

It had little power for attack or defense, but could refine a wondrous elixir called the Essence-Gathering Pellet.

For those below the Daoist realm, the pill greatly accelerated cultivation. It was thanks to this artifact that Jin Cai had advanced so quickly—and why so many half-demons rallied to him, allowing him to dominate Dongli County.

“If I could seize that Treasure-Gathering Pouch, with those Essence-Gathering Pellets to aid my cultivation, I could swiftly complete the True Skill Heart Sutra and forge the Secret Principle of the Primordial Dragon-Tiger Scripture.”

With his current realm and the general outline of the Primordial Dragon-Tiger Scripture, he could reach the Qi Condensation stage in any true skill heart method. But beyond Qi Condensation, progress slowed; accumulating inner energy was a painstaking process. Without a supply of rare, potent elixirs, there could be no shortcut.

At his present pace, Qi Xiu estimated it would take at least five years to complete the Secret Principle of the Primordial Dragon-Tiger Scripture—at best.

But if he could seize that Treasure-Gathering Pouch…