Mortal: Fairy Song Yu has issued you a task.

Chapter 43 Cleaning up the battlefield and arriving at Tiantong City

When Lin Jingchu noticed something amiss in the scene, he secretly used the Mirror Flower Water Moon Divine Power, using a clone as bait, and successfully lured out the ambush.

Lin Jingchu then cooperated with Song Yu. Song Yu openly confronted the enemy head-on, while Lin Jingchu remained hidden in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to strike and kill.

"Senior sister, are you injured?" Lin Jingchu walked quickly towards Song Yu and asked with concern.

Song Yu breathed a long sigh of relief and shook her head: "It's nothing, just a little depletion of spiritual energy." With that, she took out a bottle of recovery pills, swallowed them, and sat cross-legged to regulate her breathing.

Seeing that Song Yu was unharmed, Lin Jingchu turned around with relief and headed towards the falcon demon that was still struggling on the ground.

The demonic bird's eyes flashed with ferocity as it saw him approach, and it even tried to open its beak to bite him, but unfortunately, it was missing one wing and could not even stand steadily.

Lin Jingchu swiftly slashed, a flash of cold light, and the leaf-splitting blade instantly beheaded him.

The demon's blood sprayed out, and the shrieking stopped abruptly.

Lin Jingchu put away the magical artifact, took out the jade bottle, and began to extract the essence and soul of the demonic bird.

Just as Lin Jingchu was busy, Song Yu had finished adjusting his breathing and got up to walk to the side of the old man with white hair and the corpses of the five bandits.

A spiritual light shone from her hands, which she then pressed onto the foreheads of several corpses in turn.

After a moment, Song Yu spoke: "This old man is normal; he should be a mortal who was murdered. The five bandits, however, show signs of having been subjected to some kind of bewitching spell."

Lin Jingchu, who was dismantling the demon corpse, responded, "This couple is truly treacherous and cunning. If an ordinary cultivator were to show kindness, they would fall right into their trap."

Song Yu sighed softly, his spiritual energy surging in his palm, creating a deep pit in the woods.

After a moment's thought, she dug a smaller pit next to it and buried the innocent old man separately. Then, she used her spiritual light to lift the bandit's body and throw it into the deep pit, covering it with soil.

On the other side, Lin Jingchu's body was already splattered with demon blood. Although low-level demon beasts do not have demon cores, there are few wild demon beasts in the Tiannan Continent. It is rare to encounter one, and its claws, long feathers, demon heart, etc. are all precious materials.

After collecting the materials from the demonic bird, he turned to deal with the remains of Xu and Ruan.

Skillfully searching out the storage bags and magical artifacts, Lin Jingchu then raised his hand and flicked out several fireballs to pray for their souls to be delivered from suffering.

"what?"

"Junior brother, what's wrong?"

Lin Jingchu picked up an inconspicuous little bead from the ashes of the woman surnamed Ruan.

The bead is only the size of a fingernail, and is dark gray in color. Upon closer inspection, a thin crack can be seen hidden in the center of the bead.

After examining the area for a while without finding anything amiss, Lin Jingchu tried injecting a wisp of spiritual energy.

The slits on the bead suddenly widened, revealing a bronze-yellow vertical pupil.

Lin Jingchu immediately felt his cultivation level plummet. In just two breaths, his aura dropped from the early Foundation Establishment stage back to the twelfth level of Qi Refining.

In a panic, he flung the gray bead away.

The moment the bead left his hand, his cultivation level rose like the tide, quietly returning to its original state.

"What a treasure!" Lin Jingchu exclaimed with delight, picking up the gray bead again. "That woman must have used this bead to conceal her cultivation and disguise herself as a mortal to launch a sneak attack."

Startled by the commotion, Song Yu rushed over and exclaimed in surprise, "This thing actually managed to deceive my secret detection technique!"

"The world is vast, and strange objects and secret techniques are constantly emerging." Lin Jingchu said, handing over a storage bag. "These are the belongings of that strong man and woman; they're yours, Senior Sister. As for the materials for that demonic falcon, I'll keep them."

"Please keep these, Junior Brother," Song Yu declined.

"Senior Sister contributed the most to the battle, so she should rightfully take the lion's share of the spoils. All you need to do is copy down the secret techniques and cultivation methods in the bag and give them to me. Besides, I quite like this rare pearl, so I'll accept it for now."

Lin Jingchu tossed the storage bag into her arms, then summoned the Azure Wing Boat and leaped aboard.

Upon seeing this, Song Yu put away his storage bag and gracefully boarded the flying boat.

The blue-winged boat, carrying the two, cut through the twilight and sped away into the distance.

……

Two days later, at dusk.

The Tongjiang River, hundreds of feet wide and shimmering with golden light, comes into view, and where the river bends, a bustling city sits.

Tian Tong City.

As one of the few places in Tiannan where cultivators and mortals live together, it is naturally different.

As Lin Jingchu and his companion approached the city, two figures rode flying swords to meet them.

Two Qi Refining stage cultivators, dressed in matching gray outfits, hovered in mid-air. Unable to discern their cultivation levels, they quickly bowed and paid their respects.

"Seniors, we are guards of Tiantong City. The city is full of people, and in order to maintain order, we need to register names and backgrounds. We hope you will understand."

Lin Jingchu raised his hand, and two identity jade tokens flew out: "My senior sister and I are disciples of the Luoyun Sect. These are our identity jade tokens."

Upon hearing "Luoyun Sect," the guards became even more respectful. One of them carefully accepted the jade token, verified the aura with his divine sense, and bowed, saying, "So it is the esteemed immortals of the sect who have graced us with their presence. We are so sorry for not welcoming you properly! May we ask what brings you here? If you have any requests, please feel free to give them."

Lin Jingchu: "Where is the Shen family's residence? We need to pay our respects to their patriarch."

"The Shen residence is located in the north of the city, at the end of the main street of the inner city." The guarding monk quickly pointed out the location and explained the city's rules.

The most important rule is that private fights are strictly prohibited. If there is any grudge, it can be settled a hundred miles outside the city, or the two sides can settle their differences on the arena inside the city.

After learning the location, Lin Jingchu bowed to the two guards, then urged the Azure Wing Boat to carry Song Yu towards Tiantong City.

Tian Tong City did not allow flying. As soon as Lin Jingchu entered the city at a low altitude, a group of cultivators came right in front of him.

The leader was a female cultivator with a seductive figure, dressed in a bright red silk dress, who glanced at Lin Jingchu and Song Yu with a charming gaze.

Lin Jingchu stood tall at the bow of the boat, his eyes fixed straight ahead.

The woman in the red dress, on the contrary, had a bolder gaze. Seeing that Song Yu was wearing a veil, she looked Lin Jingchu up and down.

She only slowly withdrew her gaze after flying several meters away.

After the group of cultivators had gone far away, Song Yu sneered, "Could this Tian Tong City be a stronghold of the Demonic Path's Joyful Union Sect? Their cultivation levels seem to be at least mid-Foundation Establishment, yet they are so shameless."

Lin Jingchu didn't dare to reply and quietly increased the speed of the flying boat.

Soon, the Azure Winged Boat passed through a towering covered bridge and entered the inner city.

Shops selling elixirs and magical artifacts lined both sides of the inner city streets, and cultivators could be seen everywhere riding their magical artifacts.

Song Yu suddenly spoke up: "Tian Tong City is quite lively. Although the number of cultivators is not as large as that of the sects, there are still several thousand at a rough glance."

"This city is located on the border and has spirit stone mines, so it's naturally very popular. However, most of the cultivators in the city are only at the Qi Refining Realm." Lin Jingchu casually glanced around.

Without needing to project one's divine sense, one can discern a person's cultivation level simply by observing the low- to mid-level magical artifacts they use.

As the two chatted, the Azure Winged Boat finally landed in front of a mansion.

The vermilion gate and the gold-embroidered plaque exude the air of a distinguished family.

Two late-stage Qi Refining cultivators stood guard at the entrance, swords in hand.

After Lin Jingchu introduced himself, the two of them were welcomed into the main hall of the mansion, where maids served them tea and snacks.

The two waited in the hall for a while before a portly middle-aged monk hurriedly entered.