Jiaoyu Town was a small village adjacent to He County. The combined population of He County and Jiaoyu Town probably didn’t exceed five hundred. The villagers farmed and wove cloth, living in harmony with the world. This place was originally like a paradise on earth. The locals raised many yellow cattle, and the herds grew particularly robust here. Their tripe had an especially wonderful flavor, so Jiaoyu Town’s tripe became famous far and wide. Though the population wasn’t large, its reputation was considerable. Sixteen years ago, someone came from Luoyang to build the restaurant “Beautiful Lady Residence,” serving guests with beauties from south of the Yangtze River, paired with snow mountain ice wine, farm-style dishes, and a hundred preparations of yellow beef. The taste was truly exquisite, especially the spicy tripe that was famous near and far. Ten years ago, Fang Pingzhai loved the spicy tripe, which was why he invited the Seven Flowers Cloud Wanderers to drink at Beautiful Lady Residence. After ten years, Beautiful Lady Residence had been renovated several times, and its scale was incomparable to what it had been back then.
With two days remaining until the one-month deadline set by the black-clothed man from Shaolin Temple, several hundred martial world heroes had already gathered around Beautiful Lady Residence. They belonged to different sects, each group clustering together without interfering with others. Everyone knew that each had sect members harmed by the Crimson Ghost Nine Hearts Pills. Though they shared the same misfortune, it wasn’t a glorious matter, so meetings were awkward—better to keep quiet and pretend not to see each other.
The Central Plains Sword Association sent over twenty people, led by Dong Hubi and Cheng Yunpao. Originally, for such a major martial world event, Xifang Tao shouldn’t have been absent, but they heard that Tang Lici, who had been missing for over twenty days, had suddenly appeared and was currently discussing the martial world situation in detail with Xifang Tao, so neither had come. Shaolin Temple was represented by Master Dacheng leading over thirty monks to observe developments. Other sects like Wudang, Kunlun, Emei, and others each occupied separate areas, not mixing with each other, surrounding Beautiful Lady Residence completely.
Beautiful Lady Residence also housed many martial world heroes. Some simply feasted and drank heavily in the restaurant, staying drunk for days. After all, with deadly poison in their bodies that was difficult to cure, they would suffer toxic attacks within a year or two. Rather than bow in submission to the Romantic Shop, they might as well drink themselves to death. The restaurant’s manager had been terrified these past few days but had also made considerable unexpected profits.
A’Shui held the baby while Yu Tuan’er concealed her sword. The two disguised themselves as passing women, circled around two hills, and slowly walked toward Jiaoyu Town. There were many travelers along the way—clearly all coming for Liu Yan. Yu Tuan’er kept careful watch but didn’t see anyone resembling Liu Yan appear.
Behind them, clouds of black smoke rose from the distant tent formation, accompanied by cries of anguish and alarm. No one knew what Fang Pingzhai had done to those Demon Soul Death Warriors, but black smoke continued rising, reaching straight to the clouds. A’Shui looked at the sky—it was now clear and boundless. Those gathered at Beautiful Lady Residence should be able to see it, shouldn’t they?