NOVEL WEB Ch. 34
Boom!
Horse-Face of Death raised the white bone banner in his hand, surging Demonic Qi into the skies, forming a terrifying ghostly face that rammed into the grand defensive array of Market District.
“Horse-Face of Death, with just your strength, you still can’t break through our Market District's defenses. Get lost—”
Yu Xiong spoke coldly as he channeled the array, not letting a single drop leak through.
Horse-Face of Death was notorious and had even killed several Foundation Establishment experts. When he first appeared, Yu Xiong had felt some anxious.
But after a few exchanges, he realized Horse-Face of Death couldn’t break the grand array.
So he relaxed.
“Heh... Do you really think I can’t break through your trash array?”
“Yu, today you’re dead for sure—jie jie jie jie!”
Horse-Face of Death laughed arrogantly and suddenly took out a jade talisman, crushing it instantly.
As the jade talisman shattered, black Demonic Qi abruptly erupted from the four foundation points of the grand array around Market District.
“What?!”
Yu Xiong’s expression changed drastically. Those four corners were the core structure of the entire defensive array. If anything went wrong there, the array might collapse completely.
Those four nodes were top secret—how did the enemy know about them?
And even worse, they had already tampered with them beforehand, and he hadn’t noticed at all?
“Jie jie… Today, I’m taking this Market District for sure!”
Horse-Face of Death grinned sinisterly and crushed another black jade talisman.
Boom!
From the lower left node of the array, within the swirl of Demonic Qi, dozens of Breaking Seal Talismans suddenly detonated under the influence of the magic energy.
That corner of the array was instantly destroyed, and the entire Market District shook violently.
“No!”
“It’s over, the array’s gone!”
“Damn it! If we’d activated the array earlier, we might’ve survived! Now we’ve angered Horse-Face of Death—everyone's going to die!”
All throughout the Market District, wails rang out, cultivators scattered in panic.
Even Yu Xiong looked visibly afraid, his face grim and pale.
Breaking Seal Talismans!
Ordinarily, if used to attack from outside, they were no more effective than scratching an itch on the array—virtually useless.
But now, the enemy had infiltrated inside and struck at the most fragile and essential parts of the array.
Activated and detonated by Demonic Qi, the Breaking Seal Talismans had become far more powerful.
With one corner collapsing, the glow of the grand array dimmed significantly.
“I’ve already informed the Clear Sun Sect. Reinforcements are on the way… Horse-Face of Death, are you really so eager to die?!”
Yu Xiong couldn’t help but shout. He was afraid now and hoped the threat would force the enemy to retreat.
“You think you have the right to speak while I’m acting?”
Horse-Face of Death sneered and pulled out another jade talisman.
“No—!”
Yu Xiong was terrified. With one corner already down, the array was teetering. Another blast, and it would collapse entirely!
But Horse-Face of Death just grinned and crushed it!
Boom—
A second cloud of black mist exploded.
But this time, although the sound rang out, the Breaking Seal Talismans inside the mist suddenly ignited on their own—burning to ash without producing any effect.
There was no further damage to the array.
“Huh?!”
Horse-Face of Death froze. What just happened?
The Breaking Seal Talismans in the second node… were defective?
“No, something’s wrong…”
He quickly took out the third and fourth jade talismans, crushing them together.
Boom! Boom!
Two more explosions erupted. The last two black mists burst apart, but just like before, the Breaking Seal Talismans spontaneously combusted, turning to ash—completely useless.
“F*ck...”
Horse-Face of Death was dumbfounded on the spot. He shouted:
“The Clear Sun Sect’s Talisman Shop sold me fake goods?!”
He looked like he’d just seen a ghost.
For this day, he’d meticulously crafted a scheme—starting with the fake Secret Realm at Liyang Valley to lure away forces, then sending in his own disciples to infiltrate Market District and purchase Talismans to set up Demonic Bombs.
And now?
He never imagined that the Talismans bought from the Clear Sun Sect’s Talisman Shop would turn out to be faulty!?
Impossible!
Market District hadn’t even discovered their plan—how could they have prepared such a perfect countermeasure?
Then, a sudden thought flashed in his mind...
Was someone selling fake Talismans just to make money—and he just happened to be the unlucky buyer?!
“Clear Sun Sect, where is your shame?!”
Horse-Face of Death trembled with fury, raising the white bone banner and pointing into the Market District, cursing:
“You bastards sold me fake Talismans, you son of a... %$#@…!”
He stood outside Market District, launching into a tirade of curses.
Inside, everyone was completely dumbfounded.
What was going on? The Demonic Cultivators’ plan… had it just fallen apart?
“Is the grand array… holding?”
“Looks like it! The Demonic Cultivators couldn’t break it—we’re saved!”
“This is great, really great!”
Cheers broke out throughout Market District. Relief and joy swept the area.
“The Talismans failed—the array is safe!”
Inside the array, Yu Xiong was overjoyed.
Though the array had lost one corner and was weaker, with him now fully focused on maintaining it, it could hold until the sect’s reinforcements arrived.
“You damn Clear Sun Sect, running a crooked business, scamming me out of a mountain of Spirit Stones, and selling me fake goods... aaaaaargh!”
Outside, Horse-Face of Death was now madly attacking the array with his bone banner. But by now, his fury was nothing more than a tantrum.
There was no longer any hope of breaking the array.
Time was slipping away, and his eyes were full of rage and regret.
If he didn’t leave now, the Clear Sun Sect’s reinforcements would arrive.
“Listen up, all of you! Whoever kills the black-hearted Talisman Master from the Clear Sun Sect’s Talisman Shop, I will reward them with one Foundation Establishment Pill!”
He declared loudly:
“Horse-Face of Death never goes back on his word! Should I break my vow, may I die by inner fire and go mad!”
After speaking, he turned and left without hesitation!
The Demonic Cultivator departed.
In the sky, Yu Xiong, the Foundation Establishment master, was full of excitement.
The Market District was saved.
He breathed a huge sigh of relief but did not dare relax. He continued to maintain the array for a long time, confirming the enemy had truly left.
Inside the Market District, all the merchants and cultivators who had just escaped death were cheering with joy.
“We’re alive!”
“We’ve avoided disaster!”
Everyone spoke up.
At the same time, they began to discuss what had caused the Demonic Cultivator’s plan to fail.
“It was the Talisman Shop—the Talisman Shop was key!”
“Yeah, the Breaking Seal Talismans were faulty. Otherwise, the array would’ve been breached!”
“That black-hearted Talisman Master saved the entire Market District!”
“A genius! What a genius! Daring to scam a Demonic Foundation Cultivator, treating him like a fat sheep to be butchered… Can’t believe the Clear Sun Sect has such a wild figure!”
In an instant, a crowd surged toward the Clear Sun Sect’s Talisman Shop, buzzing with excitement.
Inside the shop.
Li An had an extremely complicated expression.
He wanted to shout—
Was all this really necessary?!
That Demonic Cultivator was too vicious!
All he did was sell a few fake Talismans, and now there’s a Foundation Establishment Pill bounty on his head?!
To top it off, the Demonic Cultivator even made a demonic vow to die by inner fire if he lied.
Truly… vicious.
From this point on, Li An’s risk had skyrocketed.
After all, a Foundation Establishment Pill was too tempting. There was no shortage of people willing to work with Demonic Cultivators.
“Fine then… From this day forward, I, Li An, will never take a single step outside the Market District!”
Li An gritted his teeth and ran into his room—straight under the covers.
But soon after, a loud knocking echoed from the Talisman Shop’s front door.
Many voices were calling from outside.
“Black-hearted—cough, I mean, Talisman Master Li! Please open the door!”
“We owe our lives to your fake Talismans! You saved the whole Market District—come out and meet us!”
Many people were shouting.
Hearing how they called him, Li An felt even more suffocated.
Black-Hearted Talisman Master—
With a title like that, how was he supposed to do business in the future?
When he’d sold those Talismans, he never imagined they’d become so widely known, so widely seen…
He was socially dead now.
His reputation—ruined!
“Yu Xiong has arrived—requesting an audience with Talisman Master Li—”
At that moment, a deep and resonant voice rang out clearly.
…
(End of Chapter)