Mountain Market Part 2

"Xueli?" Yi Wusheng suddenly spoke up. "Xueli..."

His body had been invaded by an Evil Demon, and he had lived in a daze for over twenty years. Before regaining his senses, he didn't know who the new City Lord of Zhaoye City was. Hearing the name now, he repeated it a few times and said, "This name is the same as the son of an old acquaintance of mine."

Fang Chu: "Is your old acquaintance from the Feng Clan?"

Yi Wusheng nodded. "Indeed. The Feng Clan and my Hua Family have been on good terms for generations. The previous Family Head had two sons and one daughter: the eldest son, Feng Feishi; his beloved daughter, Feng Juyan; and the youngest son, Feng Xueli."

Fang Chu: "Then that's right, it's him."

Yi Wusheng's face turned pale with shock. "What do you mean by that?!"

Fang Chu: "It's that Feng Xueli. For some reason, he had a falling out with his family, entered the path of evil demons, and came to Zhaoye City. He dropped his family name and started calling himself Xueli. Our Zhaoye City hasn't produced any Great Demon Lords in the past twenty-five years, so he took advantage of that and became the new City Lord."

"Not only that!" Ning Huaishan said, full of anger, his face longer than a donkey's. "When he came to Zhaoye City, he didn't build his own residence. He was dead set on occupying the City Lord's Quebuluo. If Quebuluo hadn't sealed itself after the City Lord left, he probably would have moved all his belongings in long ago!"

For this very reason, he found that Xueli extremely disagreeable.

Previously, he and Fang Chu couldn't wait for Wu Xingxue to return to the city and put that bastard in his place. With their City Lord's abilities, once he returned, how could that Xueli still have the gall to act so tyrannically?

But now, he had changed his mind. Their City Lord didn't remember anything and was also in his Tribulation Period. It would be best to wait until he recovered his memories and passed the Tribulation Period before catching that Xueli off guard.

Therefore, now was not a good time to reveal his identity.

Thinking this, Ning Huaishan and Fang Chu called out to Wu Xingxue, wanting him to slightly alter his appearance before passing the post station.

But before they could speak, they heard a gust of wind from behind.

It was a sinister wind carrying the stench of corpses. When Wu Xingxue smelled it, he was suddenly reminded of Sang Yu's manor in his dream—people of the Corpse Refining Path always had this scent on them.

Wu Xingxue wrinkled his nose. When he looked up again, the shadowy figures by the city wall were gone. In their place, dozens of black-robed figures had instantly appeared before them.

Their skin was pale, and around their necks was a very conspicuous black line. At first glance, it looked as if their heads and bodies had been separated and then forcibly stitched back together.

Only on closer inspection did one realize that the circle wasn't an unevenly stitched black thread, but coffin nails, driven into their necks in a full circle.

"So these are the guards the new City Lord set up?" Wu Xingxue sized up the figures, tilted his head slightly to the side, and said softly, "What a bunch of ugly things."

After he spoke, he was met with a rare lack of immediate agreement. He thought to himself that Ning Huaishan could actually be this reserved.

Then he heard Ning Huaishan's voice from the other side, "We've only been out of the city for a few days, how come the post station has so many more people?"

Wu Xingxue: "..."

Ning Huaishan, who had been right next to him before, was now several steps away. Who was the person standing beside him, listening to his nonsense?

Wu Xingxue turned his head and saw Xiao Fuxuan, who was holding a sword.

Wu Xingxue was taken aback. "...Weren't you standing by the carriage? What are you doing here?"

Xiao Fuxuan: "Weren't you not looking back? How did you know I was standing by the carriage?"

Wu Xingxue's lips moved, but he said nothing. That subtle, indescribable feeling surfaced again.

He vaguely sensed that High Immortal Tianxiu seemed a little displeased, which wasn't the case when he first woke up. Thinking back, it seemed to have started after he told Yi Wusheng he didn't remember the Tribulation Period and hastily left the carriage.

Wu Xingxue: "..."

Mmm...

As a demon lord, he probably never cared whether others were happy or not. Besides, he truly didn't know what he should say in this situation if he were to speak.

It was better to pretend he hadn't noticed.

The Great Demon Lord thought this to himself and pursed his lips.

A moment later, he moved again. "Then why did you come over?"

Xiao Fuxuan lifted his eyelids slightly. "To help someone change their face."

Wu Xingxue: "?"

He was stunned for a moment, then heard Xiao Fuxuan say in a low voice, "Don't move yet."

In the next instant, he understood what Xiao Fuxuan meant—he heard the leader of the Zhaoye City guards explaining to Ning Huaishan as he took a few steps this way, "There's been some unusual activity at Fallen Flower Terrace, and we're worried it might attract people, so the City Lord ordered the city's defenses to be strengthened. There's no problem with you two entering the city, but these three are..."

Flames floated in the palms of that group of guards as they shone them over. Ning Huaishan and Fang Chu were Wu Xingxue's trusted aides, so almost everyone in Zhaoye City recognized them. But the remaining three, they still had to inspect.

They were very close. Under these circumstances, it would be too obvious if Xiao Fuxuan were to raise a hand to alter someone's face.

Wu Xingxue thought to himself, 'Well, we're screwed.'

They had originally planned to sneak into Fallen Flower Terrace to get some Jade Essence to repair the Dream Bell. Everything else was best left until after he solved the dream and recovered his memories.

But now, this would likely attract attention—

The people of Zhaoye City would definitely recognize his face.

Xiao Fuxuan was also in a tight spot, being High Immortal Tianxiu after all. Judging from the fragments he had seen in his dreams, more than half the people in Zhaoye City probably knew what Xiao Fuxuan looked like.

Even Yi Wusheng was in great danger. He was both an elder of a prominent Immortal Sect clan and famous in his own right, so there was no guarantee that someone wouldn't recognize him at a glance.

Thinking about it this way, they really didn't seem like they were trying to be low-key, but more like they were here to provoke the entire Zhaoye City.

As the guard approached, holding the fire in his palm, Wu Xingxue heard two words emerge softly from between Xiao Fuxuan's lips: "It's done."

Done?

Wu Xingxue looked at Xiao Fuxuan's hand, which hadn't moved at all, and was extremely puzzled. 'He didn't move, so how is it done?'

When he turned his head back, he saw that Yi Wusheng's clothes and attire hadn't changed at all; the thick cloth still covered his mouth and nose, but the visible brows and eyes had already been altered.

At first glance, he looked like a frail scholar whose spirit had been controlled by an Evil Demon.

The fire in the guard's palm swept past, and Wu Xingxue squinted from the light.

In that instant, the guard hissed and muttered to the guard next to him, "These eyes... why do I feel like I've seen them somewhere before."

In his peripheral vision, Wu Xingxue saw that Ning Huaishan and Fang Chu already had their hands on their sword hilts, as if ready to act at any moment. Then he heard another guard say, "It's been two days. Every day, there are always a few you feel you've seen somewhere before."

They looked carefully for a little longer, then turned the fire in their palms toward Xiao Fuxuan.

From this, Wu Xingxue could be certain that his own face, like Yi Wusheng's, had been changed beyond recognition.

"Are you done checking? You're so slow. I already said, we just got hungry on the way and nabbed a few people." Ning Huaishan seemed a little impatient. "Could we have brought anything else?"

It was clear that he and Fang Chu held some status in Zhaoye City. Seeing his impatience, the guards didn't waste any more time and immediately cleared a path.

"Right, when you enter the city, don't take the road through Fallen Flower Terrace. The City Lord has opened another one on the right," a guard called out from behind.

"What unusual activity is there at Fallen Flower Terrace?" Ning Huaishan asked.

"Nothing much, just that firelight has appeared in the mountains again."

"Firelight?"

"Mhm."

Wu Xingxue remembered what Yi Wusheng had said in the carriage earlier: after the Fallen Flower Mountain Market was burned down by a mountain fire back then, every year on the third day of the third month, lights would still stretch for twelve miles at Fallen Flower Terrace. This attracted many disciples from the Immortal Sects to go with their swords, only to find the mountain empty, a stretch of scorched earth with nothing in it.

It wasn't until Fallen Flower Terrace was incorporated into the territory of Zhaoye City and became its entrance that the lights on the third day of the third month slowly disappeared.

Did these guards mean that the firelight, after several hundred years, had appeared again?

Ning Huaishan said, "It was fine when we left the city a few days ago."

The guard said, "It just started two days ago."

Two days ago?

Wu Xingxue calculated in his mind.

Wasn't that when they came out of Great Sorrow Valley?

Was it a coincidence? Or was there some connection?