I picked up skill fragments in the demon world

#258 - Killing

Chapter 257: Slaughter

Zhang Chen glanced at Zhang Xiaohua, who was drinking tea. Seeing him, she offered a fake smile.

Looking at Liu Feng, Liu Feng raised his hand to greet Zhang Chen, his voice full of joy: "Zhang Chen, come quickly, I have good news to tell you."

Zhang Chen bowed: "Greetings, Abbot."

"No need for formalities, please sit," Liu Feng said with a smile.

Zhang Chen sat down and looked at Liu Feng, thinking to himself: "Could it be that Liu Feng has persuaded Zhang Xiaohua? That shouldn't be! Zhang Xiaohua shouldn't give Liu Feng any face. Zhang Xiaohua wishes he could flay me alive and crush me to death. How could she sit here drinking tea with a smile?"

Countless doubts flashed through Zhang Chen's mind. Just as he was unable to figure out the situation, Liu Feng personally poured him a cup of tea: "I know all about the grievances between you and the Little Prince. It's just a misunderstanding between you two. Why fight to the death? The Little Prince resents you only because you ruined his appearance. However, it won't be long before my Yellow Heaven Sect holds the Grand Ritual of Luo Tian. With the blessing of the Water God, it won't be difficult to restore the Little Prince's appearance. Now that you two have entered my Yellow Dawn Temple, you are naturally family. You should love and support each other."

Liu Feng continued, "After my persuasion, the Little Prince is willing to let go of past grievances. All past grudges and karma are wiped clean. Zhang Chen, what do you think?"

Liu Feng had already said so, what else could Zhang Chen do?

So, he smiled, looked at Zhang Xiaohua's terrifying and hideous face, his eyes full of innocence, and pretended to be helpless: "Of course, I am happy to! To be honest, I only wanted to bomb that fox spirit, but who knew I would accidentally involve the Prince? Although we have hatred between us, it doesn't warrant taking lives."

Hearing Zhang Chen mention the fox spirit Nannan, Zhang Xiaohua's eyes flickered, and he asked, "What happened to that fox spirit? Is she alive or dead?"

"That's a fox spirit, how can I, a mortal, deal with her? Although I injured the fox spirit, she fled into the deep mountains and old forests. I chased her for half a day, but eventually lost track of her," Zhang Chen lied casually.

As for why he lied?

He felt that Zhang Xiaohua and Liu Feng were acting strangely. In a few days, he would arrange for the fox spirit Nannan to stage a 'Fox Spirit Returns' drama to help him grasp the dynamics of the two.

Hearing Zhang Chen's words, Zhang Xiaohua breathed a sigh of relief. It's good that the fox spirit didn't die!

"Today, with my mediation, you two will give me some face, let go of past grievances, and become friends. Since we are in the mountains, past grievances in the mortal world are not allowed to be mentioned again, otherwise, it will be disrespectful to me," Liu Feng said with a smile, raising his teacup: "Let's all drink this tea, and the previous matters will be over."

Of course, Zhang Chen had no reason to refuse. With a fake smile on his face, he raised his cup to Zhang Xiaohua: "Prince, I'm sorry for what happened before. I apologize to the Prince."

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaohua also raised his teacup, his voice slow and gentle: "Junior Nephew Zhang Chen, you are too kind. Actually, this matter is also my fault. I discovered the fox spirit stealing things, but I didn't stop it, which eventually led to a series of events. Today, with Senior Brother Liu Feng's mediation, the injuries on my face can be repaired. Let's end all the grievances between us."

Junior Nephew?

Senior Brother?

Hearing the other party's address, Zhang Chen was stunned. This guy actually called himself Junior Nephew and Liu Feng Senior Brother, which really surprised Zhang Chen.

A look of surprise appeared in Zhang Chen's eyes. Liu Feng seemed to notice the fluctuation in Zhang Chen's eyes, so he said with a smile: "Liu Feng was accepted as a disciple by Elder Gu Mingyue, and his status is equal to mine. He is temporarily residing in the Yellow Dawn Temple for the Grand Ritual of Luo Tian. After the Grand Ritual of Luo Tian ends, he will naturally return to Elder Gu Mingyue's territory."

Zhang Chen remembered that he had dreamed of Gu Mingyue, Zhang Xiaohua, and others gathering together to chisel open the protective golden light of the Emperor's Daughter, and he had an idea: It seems that the Prince of Pingbian's Mansion has indeed colluded with the Yellow Heaven Sect, and the relationship is very deep, otherwise, they would not share the creation of gods and demons.

"I toast Senior Brother Zhang," Zhang Chen said quickly, raising his teacup and lowering his posture, saying hypocritical words, wishing he could kill Zhang Xiaohua directly.

Zhang Xiaohua on the other side gave Zhang Chen face and also raised his teacup in return.

The two chatted for a while with useless nonsense, and Zhang Chen bid farewell and left. Seeing Zhang Chen's back disappear, Zhang Xiaohua's smile immediately disappeared, his face gloomy as he sat there, a hint of murderous intent flowing in his eyes.

"Damn it! I really wish I could flay this guy alive and light the sky lantern now," Zhang Xiaohua's voice was full of ice.

"Impatience spoils great plans. This kid has big secrets. Not to mention Xie Lingyun's favor, his explosion methods are also worth our painstaking efforts to seek. If we can seize that method, then the great cause can be expected," Liu Feng sighed softly.

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaohua's eyes moved, revealing a hint of greed and excitement.

It is said that Zhang Chen returned to his small courtyard, and Xiao Douding rushed forward: "Junior Brother, you're finally back. Did things go smoothly?"

"It was very smooth, but I always feel that something is wrong," Zhang Chen didn't want to directly tell Xiao Douding the key points, and said vaguely.

"What's wrong? It's all because of that ugly monster! Let's find a chance to kill that ugly monster, and it will be fine," Xiao Douding's voice was very soft and cute, but the bone-chilling murderous intent made people shudder.

"Senior Sister," Zhang Chen called softly beside him.

"What?" Cheng Yu said.

"I'll test you with a question," Zhang Chen said with a smile, as if he was joking:

"If one day the Taoist temple wants to kill me, and the Abbot also wants to kill me, who will you help?"

Hearing this, Xiao Douding didn't even think about it and said directly: "I'll help you."

Hearing this, Zhang Chen's face was surprised: "Why?"

"Because they all have people to help, but you only have one person."

Xiao Douding said with a smile: "So, of course, I choose to help you. Besides, you are the best person to me, who should I help if I don't help you?"

"The Abbot is your master, and you still help me deal with your master?" Zhang Chen said with a smile.

Hearing this, Xiao Douding was silent, lowered his head to look at his toes, and then raised his head again after a while, his voice clear and firm: "I still want to help you."

"Why?" Zhang Chen asked curiously.

"You can't deal with Master at all. With Master's methods, killing you is just a matter of three punches and two kicks. If I don't help you, you're dead. If I help you, you can't kill Master either, so shouldn't I help you even more?" Xiao Douding said with a smile.

Hearing this, Zhang Chen was touched and reached out to pick up Xiao Douding: "Let's go, let's go eat meat."

The two went into the house to eat meat, and then read books and practiced the True Dragon Stance as usual every day.

While Zhang Chen, preoccupied with his thoughts, didn't practice diligently, Guan Master Liu Feng arrived in the evening.

The Guan Master was still dressed as an old farmer, walking into the courtyard with a kind expression, watching Zhang Chen and Little Bean Ding. Seeing them practicing martial arts, a smile appeared on his face as he said, "The two of you get along quite harmoniously."

Zhang Chen replied with a smile, "This disciple is good at哄 children."

Upon hearing this, Little Bean Ding immediately became displeased, kicking Zhang Chen's heel hard to express his dissatisfaction.

"Guan Master, please come inside." Zhang Chen invited Liu Feng into the house, then poured tea for him: "I am very grateful to Guan Master for mediating today's matter on behalf of this disciple. Thank you very much, Guan Master."

"After all, the incident occurred within the Taoist temple, and I am the Guan Master, so of course I must strive to maintain the harmony of the temple. This is merely my duty," Liu Feng said modestly.

Hearing Liu Feng's words, Zhang Chen smiled, refilled Liu Feng's teacup, and then spoke about other topics for a while before Liu Feng got straight to the point, tentatively asking:

"I heard that you previously caused a commotion at the Confucian debate, using a strange object to cause a large explosion, resulting in the death of many guards in the Pingbian Prince's mansion. I wonder what means you employed?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen's eyes flickered. Meeting Liu Feng's burning gaze, he thought to himself, "So, he's set his sights on my explosive packs."

"That object is called an explosive pack. As for how it was manufactured, I don't know. I picked it up by chance. Unfortunately, they were all used up in the last battle," Zhang Chen replied unhurriedly, his words unwavering, showing no sign of lying.

He originally wanted to push the matter of the explosive packs onto Xie Lingyun, but he thought that if the news spread and the court asked Xie Lingyun for the explosive packs, wouldn't Xie Lingyun be placed in danger?

If he himself took responsibility, the only drawback would be that he couldn't use the explosive packs casually anymore, unless he and Huang Li Guan and Huang Tiandao broke off all pretense of cordiality one day; otherwise, he must never use the explosive packs again.

Of course, Zhang Chen had another method, which was to find another excuse, saying that he had found more explosive packs and discovered that they were not actually used up. However, this was a last resort. Once used, it would definitely arouse Huang Tiandao's suspicion, leading to a series of troubles.

Seeing that he couldn't get any information, Liu Feng could only continue drinking tea. Before long, he took his leave.

Zhang Chen watched Liu Feng leave, thinking to himself, "Huang Tiandao's ambitions are great. If they obtain the means to make explosive packs, they could probably take off directly, so explosive packs are crucial to Huang Tiandao. I wonder how much of what I said earlier they believed."

That night, Zhang Chen lay in bed, silently calculating the time. After Little Bean Ding fell asleep, he transformed into a wisp of mist, merging into the darkness. He traveled along the shadows, arriving outside the Taoist temple, where he saw Fox Immortal Nannan sitting in a mountain depression, guarding the explosive packs.

"You've come." Fox Immortal Nannan's eyes lit up when she saw Zhang Chen, and she said excitedly, "When are we going to make our move?"

"The plan is temporarily suspended. Dig another cave in the deepest part of the cave, and be sure to send all the explosive packs into it, hiding them all away," Zhang Chen carefully instructed.

"Has something changed again?" Fox Immortal Nannan was very clever and immediately asked.

Zhang Chen remained noncommittal. Seeing this, Fox Immortal Nannan stopped asking and turned to leave.

"Wait, I have another question to ask you. If I asked you to kill Zhang Xiaohua, would you do it?" Zhang Chen scrutinized Fox Immortal Nannan.

"Of course I would, but if I 'accidentally' fail at a crucial moment, you wouldn't blame me, would you?" Fox Immortal Nannan blinked her big eyes at Zhang Chen.

Hearing this, Zhang Chen smiled wryly. He knew that he couldn't have too much hope for Fox Immortal Nannan. Although this fox spirit was frivolous and unreliable, she had a conscience.

At least she had more of a conscience than some people, and she knew how to repay kindness, while some people weren't even as good as animals.

"That Zhang Xiaohua saved my life. I would rather die myself than harm him in the slightest," Fox Immortal Nannan looked at Zhang Chen very seriously: "So, you must never blame me."

Seeing this, Zhang Chen was afraid to talk about Zhang Xiaohua's matter, in case it caused an overreaction from this fox spirit.

Zhang Chen waved his hand, signaling Fox Immortal Nannan to go and do it. He himself stood in the mountain depression, looking at the bright moon in the sky. All the moonlight that approached was absorbed by Zhang Chen, turning the area within ten meters of him into a pitch-black domain.

"Zhang Xiaohua is a scholar from the Pingbian Prince's mansion. There must be guards arranged by the Pingbian Prince's mansion to protect him near this Taoist temple. To prevent Zhang Xiaohua from focusing all his attention on me, I need to find something for Zhang Xiaohua to do, to buy me time to obtain a higher level Qi refining technique," Zhang Chen muttered.

The most crucial thing was that Zhang Xiaohua had a guard team that could attack him at any time. He was no match for Zhang Xiaohua in broad daylight.

The next moment, Zhang Chen's body transformed into thirty-six vampire bats, scattering among the mountains, constantly flying and shuttling through the mountains. Sure enough, he noticed a large camp at the foot of the mountain.

Zhang Chen, transformed into a vampire bat, landed on a tree branch not far away, carefully observing the camp, watching the constantly patrolling figures. After half an hour, he made a deduction in his mind: "This camp has about a thousand people. Zhang Xiaohua is indeed the only core嫡系 of the Pingbian Prince's mansion, traveling with a large army. The qi and blood of a thousand people gathered together would probably deter even Yin Spirit cultivators from leaving their bodies. As for cultivators above the Yang Spirit, the collapse of the sky and the cracking of the earth is just a thought away, and there is no difference between an army of ten thousand and an army of one thousand."

"Moreover, there must be experts stationed in this camp, but I don't know the proportion of experts," Zhang Chen muttered to himself. The next moment, he directly transformed into a vampire bat, scattering and flying across the night sky, landing on the tents, carefully listening to the movements inside.

Zhang Chen lurked on the tents for a long time. Until the second half of the night, except for the two hundred patrolling soldiers, everyone else fell asleep. Then, Zhang Chen transformed into mist and quietly slipped into a tent.

There were thirty people in a tent, like a communal sleeping area, everyone sleeping soundly together.

At this time, Zhang Chen's heartbeat stopped, his breathing also stopped. He stood in the darkness, scanning the sleeping soldiers, not rushing to act. Instead, he closed his eyes and silently sensed the water vapor in the world. Before long, a large water ball gathered around him.

Then, Zhang Chen manipulated the water ball to the leftmost side of the communal sleeping area. As he thought, one of the people was directly frozen to half of their body, with only the scalp exposed, and their mouth, nose, and arms were frozen.