Chapter 28: Lending a Hand
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“Mercy, mercy…”
By noon, Xu Yan was already standing in the gorge, looking at the corpses scattered everywhere and this land stained red with blood. The small Taoist priest’s brow furrowed tightly.
Over a thousand corpses lay in the most gruesome states imaginable—some with their guts spilled and bellies torn open, others directly beheaded, and still others split in half from the middle, with pale bone fragments tangled with internal organs.
If it were an ordinary youth, seeing such a horrific scene would surely scare them to death. Even Zhang He, who had been here multiple times, had a deathly pale complexion when truly standing among the pile of corpses.
Yet Xu Yan merely frowned, his expression unchanged.
In the eyes of those who cultivate the Dao, mortals are nothing more than flesh and skin that will eventually return to nothingness and become a handful of yellow earth. In a pig’s eyes, there’s even less concept of life and death.
‘If one always thinks about life and death, how can a pig grow fat?’
Xu Yan wasn’t truly a pig after all. Seeing the countless corpses before him, his heart was also deeply shaken. Compassion is inherent in all people—how much more so for a Taoist priest like him?
Zhang He beside him dry-heaved once, then squinted his eyes and began searching through the corpses.
Moving slowly wouldn’t do—there were so many people from Yuan Mountain Stronghold. At least half of the Yuan Mountain bandits would come for this dead man’s meal. Fall behind others and you’d get nothing. By dusk, they had to retreat, because with nightfall came countless wild beasts drawn by the scent of blood.
“Hurry up, Xu Yan! If you don’t move now, there’ll be nothing left to eat!”
Zhang He shouted once, then began searching on his own. When he said “nothing left to eat,” he meant no more benefits to gain.
There were many dead, but Yuan Mountain Stronghold also had plenty of living people.
Xu Yan remained unmoved by Zhang He’s reminder. He sighed softly, walked slowly to the center of the battlefield, found a relatively clean patch of ground, shook out his Taoist robe, and sat cross-legged.
Xu Yan didn’t want to disturb those corpses—not because he was afraid, but because what he saw was different from what the Yuan Mountain bandits saw.
In his eyes, countless vengeful spirits were swirling and surging across the vast battlefield!
Besides the vengeful spirits, a thin layer of gray mist covered the entire gorge. That was baleful qi—drawn forth by the great battle, condensed from the fierce baleful energy of those valiant soldiers who died in combat.
Baleful qi harms the spirit. As long as one didn’t linger on the battlefield too long, this level of baleful qi couldn’t harm those Yuan Mountain bandits who killed without batting an eye, much less a little Taoist priest who cultivated his heart by raising pigs.
Xu Yan wasn’t afraid of that baleful qi. If he wished, he could even ignore the vengeful spirits dancing through the sky.
‘He simply felt some reluctance, that’s all.’
Just as he sat down cross-legged, not far from Xu Yan, a broken corpse moved slightly. A blood-covered face lifted from the mud.
The man’s armor was covered in blood—impossible to tell whether he was from Pu Nation or Qi Nation. Half his body had nearly been severed, connected only by a thread of flesh and blood. He must have fainted from his wounds and only now been awakened by excruciating pain. Clearly, he wouldn’t survive.
Even the most skilled divine physician couldn’t save someone whose body was nearly cut in half.
After the bloody face lifted up, it looked as ghastly as a demon from hell. Breathing heavily, he looked left and right, then suddenly fixed his gaze on the little Taoist priest not far away.
“Little brother… lend a hand!”
The man spoke through gritted teeth: “Send this old brother on his way!”
On the corpse-strewn battlefield, the dying border soldier was like a demon crawling out from the underworld. The violent heaving of his chest indicated his life was about to run out, and dying while conscious was the most painful way to go.
He wanted someone to give him a blade—that would be much more merciful.
“Help! Help! Me!”
With the crisp sound of teeth cracking, the bloody-faced soldier bit through his jaw. He didn’t cry out, but stared intently at the little Taoist priest across from him with hopeful eyes.
“Alright!”
Xu Yan stood up again, bent down to pick up a broken steel blade. As he bent over, Zhang He in the distance happened to look his way.
“Not even scared half to death by this scene—what a ruthless heart! Talking about being a Daoist, an otherworldly person—more like heartless and soulless. Better grab more benefits while you can. Half of whatever you find is mine… Wah!”
Puff!
Zhang He’s strange cry caused nearby Yuan Mountain bandits to straighten up and see what was happening. Following Zhang He’s terrified gaze, many Yuan Mountain bandits witnessed a bizarre scene.
The little Taoist priest at the center of the battlefield had thrust a broken blade into the heart of a soldier who wasn’t quite dead yet, and that soldier was giving him a thumbs up.
“Thank… you…”
The bloody-faced soldier only managed these last words before completely breathing his last. Between Xu Yan’s tightly furrowed brows was a trace of helpless bitterness.
‘He had killed another person, but out of compassion in his heart.’
The principles of the mortal world were just this strange—sometimes those who save become those who harm, while those who kill become compassionate.
Dozens of Yuan Mountain bandits all witnessed the scene of the little Taoist priest stabbing that soldier to death. A chill suddenly swept through people’s hearts.
Yuan Mountain bandits who killed without mercy only truly became killing demons when they saw treasure or women. Even when there were half-dead soldiers on the battlefield, Yuan Mountain bandits usually just walked around them. Finishing them off like the little Taoist priest did, and doing it so cleanly and efficiently, was truly rare.
Discarding the broken blade, Xu Yan sat cross-legged again, bowed his head and straightened his robes, then began chanting softly.
“Heaven clear and earth level, sun bright and moon luminous, ten thousand spirits paying homage, universal transformation in all directions. Brewing yang and fermenting yin, commanding the nine rays, riding phoenixes to transcendence, eternally riding the light…”
While the Yuan Mountain bandits busied themselves profiting from the dead, the little Taoist priest actually began performing salvation rites on this brutal battlefield. Xu Yan’s voice wasn’t loud, but it sounded very peaceful. The vengeful spirits hovering in the sky seemed to quiet down as well.
“Just killed someone and now he’s performing salvation rites. Why didn’t he save them while they were alive…” Zhang He, startled by the little Taoist priest’s actions, muttered in the distance: “Is he a pig or a wolf? Can anyone be this ruthless? Killing people without even blinking. Good thing I haven’t offended him recently. If he came at me with a blade at night…”
Shrinking his neck, Zhang He felt a chill down his back.
Two months ago, he had also seen Xu Yan kill that servant, but back then the little Taoist priest was trembling and shaking. After killing someone, he nearly scared himself crazy—that was a normal person’s reaction. This time was different—after killing someone, he even performed salvation rites for them. This was too eerie.
‘Fortunately, it was almost three months. Zhang He thought that once his surveillance mission ended, he would definitely stay far away from that little Taoist priest.’
The time for searching corpses was only half a day. As the bodies were disturbed, the battlefield’s bloody stench grew even heavier.
The light gradually dimmed, and wolf howls appeared in the distance.
Groups of three to five Yuan Mountain bandits began retreating from the battlefield, climbing back up the high mountains along the original path. Soon, only a few living people remained on the battlefield.
Zhang He’s harvest this time was quite good—he had scraped together several taels of silver fragments and obtained a decent steel blade. He looked at the sky and shouted toward the distance: “Xu Yan, let’s go! The wolf pack is coming!”
After calling out once, Zhang He turned and left. Having spent half a day among the pile of corpses, he was already sick to his stomach. Without even looking at Xu Yan, he ran toward the mountain base first.
Half a day of salvation rites—Xu Yan’s chanted scriptures had finally ended. His delicate brow moved slightly as he opened his eyes.
At the end of the gorge, the setting sun hung low in the west, with fiery red clouds on the horizon. On the ground, dim baleful qi still pervaded everywhere.
Taking a deep breath, Xu Yan stood up.
‘He should leave too. Half a day of chanting salvation rites could be considered consoling the souls of those who died in battle.’
Just as the small figure was about to take a step, he suddenly staggered. Xu Yan’s brow shot up sharply—he felt a stabbing pain in his left eye, as if someone were piercing his eye with a blade.
With a low growl, Xu Yan instinctively moved to cover his eye, but at that moment, what seemed like a bottomless whirlpool appeared in his left eye, and all the dim baleful qi throughout the gorge surged toward him like rivers flowing into the sea!
