The righteous path punishes Heaven

Chapter 37 Strange Events

The contest between Ming Shan and Li Hongbin lasted for a day and a night. In the end, Ming Shan defeated Li Hongbin's Three Yangs Opening Tai killing move by using the True Yang Finger, which was at the sixth level. Both of them were at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage. Li Hongbin had been defeated by Ming Shan many times before, and this time was no exception.

Meanwhile, the Vajra Bracelet in Li Hongbin's hands was snatched away by Ming Shan with the Star-Picking Hand technique. This treasure, which he obtained halfway, did not help him and instead returned to the hands of the Quanzhen Sect.

Zhu Yi, who was watching the battle from afar, was also shocked. He had originally thought of joining in and secretly helping Elder Li to ambush Ming Shan, but even with his cultivation at the Great Perfection of the Golden Core stage, he was instantly killed in front of these two old monsters. The pressure emanating from this battle alone made it impossible for him to move an inch.

Seeing Li Hongbin's defeat, Ming Shan stopped the spell attack he was about to unleash, sighed softly, and turned around to say, "Go, I won't kill you. If you are ever dissatisfied in the future, I will accept your challenge at any time."

Li Hongbin, now enraged, his face, already splattered with blood, became even more ferocious. His eyes bloodshot, he roared at Ming Shan, "Shut up, you old bastard! Who cares about your mercy! Kill me or torture me, do as you please!"

Upon hearing this, Ming Shan remained silent for a moment, then looked up at the sky and sighed, "It was my fault back then for taking Ying'er away from you, but ultimately it was her own choice... So many years have passed, why can't you be more understanding..."

Upon hearing Ying'er's name, Li Hongbin's expression became even more frenzied, as if his most vulnerable bottom line had been touched. His initial roar was gradually replaced by sobs. Ming Shan, knowing better, also fell silent. His old rival behind him was someone with whom he had a complex relationship of both enmity and friendship. But because they both fell in love with the same woman, things had escalated to this point, a life-or-death rift, a deep-seated hatred.

Ming Shan took a step forward and vanished into the void, leaving Li Hongbin standing there with tears streaming down his face. Zhu Yi, standing in the distance, hesitated to approach and could only watch helplessly.

......

"We've arrived." Zhang Yunling and Ren Jixing landed together, stepping onto the dark red rocks. The scorching air hit them in the face, making them sweat profusely.

"This is the Flaming Mountain. The surrounding area maintains a high temperature of tens of degrees Celsius all year round because of it."

Zhang Yunling nodded, looking at the mountain's structure. There wasn't a single cave; all the flowers, trees, and vegetation had vanished, leaving the entire mountain barren. To live in this godforsaken place for even a year was practically impossible.

"Senior Brother Ren, you said before that we need to survive here for a year. Why is that? Can't we seize the opportunity here and leave quickly, or find another place to survive?" Zhang Yunling asked, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

Ren Jixing shook his head and replied helplessly, "The Xuanxu Ancient Realm opens once every three thousand years. Each time it opens, it is only the size of a small world. The Flaming Mountain located in this small world is one of the many ancient realms that may appear in the Xuanxu Ancient Realm. Our Quanzhen Sect has been passed down for ten thousand years. It was only through divination based on astrological signs that we determined that the realm that appeared this time was the Flaming Mountain. Apart from that, there is probably no other place where we can find such an opportunity."

"It seems there's no other way. Let's go in and see what's going on." Zhang Yunling clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as he walked up the mountain. Ever since Li Hongbin took his Vajra Bracelet, Zhang Yunling had been on high alert, fearing that he would encounter another powerful cultivator like Zhu Yi who would come after him.

Without his trump card, if he were to face a life-or-death crisis and be unable to escape unscathed, his only option would be to contact Sun Jie for rescue via the jade slip. This was a last resort, because Sun Jie's arrival would mean that Sun Jie would find out about Zhang Yunling losing the Vajra Bracelet, and he would certainly be scolded and punished.

Looking down the mountain, he saw the villagers who wanted to worship the Flaming Mountain Immortal still heading up the mountain in groups. Even a cultivator like Zhang Yunling felt the intense heat, let alone these mortals who had no cultivation at all.

Ignoring him further, Zhang Yunling followed Ren Jixing toward the mountaintop. As they walked, they finally saw the only cave on the entire mountain.

The cave entrance wasn't large, but strangely, dark green vines grew all around the rock walls, and blood-red river water flowed beneath them, looking like blood from a distance—it was incredibly eerie.

Zhang and Ren glanced at the vines and the river, feeling a sense of unease, which, combined with the late hour, made it even more terrifying.

Just then, a faint groan came from inside the cave, and upon closer listening, there were also sounds like slapping or striking sounds, which were very eerie. Ren Jixing frowned and stepped forward, sticking out his ears to listen even more carefully, and then couldn't help but chuckle softly.

Seeing his expression, Zhang Yunling hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Senior Brother Ren, what's wrong? Is it... like they're eating people inside?"

Ren Jixing didn't answer much. He reached out to interrupt Zhang Yunling, who wanted to continue asking questions, made a shushing gesture, and pulled him to walk quietly into the depths of the cave.

The cave didn't have a maze of routes; there was only a wide, long path leading directly to the inner cave dwelling. As the two quietly stepped to the outer edge of the cave dwelling, they finally saw the source of the eerie sound.

Zhang Yunling was completely dumbfounded. What he saw in front of him was a tall figure with bull horns pressing down on another naked woman on a stone chair in the cave, and they were having sex.

Zhang Yunling, who was already somewhat clueless about this kind of thing, was now completely amazed, staring intently at the sight. Seeing this, Ren Jixing, standing beside him, pinched him and whispered, "Hey, stop looking! Finding opportunities is more important right now. Your senior brother will take you to do something similar later!"

Zhang Yunling's eyes lit up as she nodded vigorously. The two then continued to move forward quietly, but Zhang Yunling suddenly tripped and fell, the noise of which immediately attracted the attention of the horned man.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Ren Jixing cursed his teammate under his breath, but then he noticed a corner of clothing sticking out where Zhang Yunling had fallen. "There's someone else here, huh!" Since he'd already been discovered, Ren Jixing grabbed the person's clothes and pulled them out.

The horned man had stopped what he was doing and was walking towards Zhang Yunling. As he was pulled out from under the stone table, the culprit who had tripped Zhang Yunling was revealed to be a female cultivator.

"So you're really something! You actually spied on a couple having sex here! Watching that is one thing, but you also had to expose us so you could watch us get beaten up?"

Ren Jixing pointed at the blushing, embarrassed female cultivator and launched into a tirade of abuse. Zhang Yunling, having finally seen the female cultivator's face clearly, exclaimed in surprise:

"You...you are...Shen Xiaonan?"