Li Yao's heart skipped a beat again. He did not know that Master Bitter Cicada's physiognomy was so delicate that he could analyze a person's deep personality by the subtle expression on their face.
One's appearance could be disguised, and part of one's personality could be simulated, too. Li Yao himself was a ruthless man who would kill anyone who deserved to be killed. Since he began his career, he had killed at least eight hundred people, if not a thousand, but none of them were innocent.
If the real Master Spiritual Vulture was an insane maniac, it would indeed be difficult for him to simulate him perfectly.
Recalling that he had almost lost his composure in front of Dan Fengzi just now, it seemed that there were still a lot of loopholes in the identity of 'Master Spiritual Vulture' that he had to find a way to fix.
Ba Xiaoyu's face was slightly softer after hearing Master Bitter Cicada's words, but he was still staring at Li Yao coldly. "Master Spiritual Vulture, tell me yourself. Have you ever slaughtered several tribes without sparing even the three-year-old children?"
Li Yao thought quickly and replied, one word after another, "Yes, so what? What if I haven't?"
"If you haven't, and there is more to the story than meets the eye, then we are lucky enough to meet each other. You can sit down and have a drink with this beggar," Ba Xiaoyu said.
Ba Xiaoyu said. "If you are one of those scumbags who would not let go of a three-year-old child, it will be fine too. There is so much fine wine here. Together with your filthy heart, it will be a perfect sacrifice for the deceased souls that you have slaughtered."
"You are going to kill me for something that happened almost a hundred years ago?"
Li Yao's pupils constricted violently. He cackled like a crow. "Can you kill me?"
"A hundred years ago or a thousand years ago, now that this beggar has heard of it and run into you, you are truly unlucky." Ba Xiaoyu chuckled.
Ba Xiaoyu chuckled. "As for whether or not I can kill them, I won't know until I try. If I can't kill them, I can always run to three thousand kilometers away to treat my wounds. I'll come back and kill you when I'm fully recovered. I'll kill you when you take a bath, when you poop, when you eat, and when you sleep. I'll poison your wine, pee in your food, put snakes, rats, and ants in your bed. I'll disgust you if I don't scare you to death."
"As long as you don't die, this beggar will kill you for a day. As long as you don't die for a year, this beggar will kill you for a year. We will kill each other until either one of us is dead!"
Li Yao felt warmth in his heart, but coldness beamed out of his eyes. His facial muscles twitched for a long time, before he gnashed his teeth and said, "Bring it on if you want to kill me. After all, in the eyes of the hypocritical Cultivators from central plateaus, the barbarian Cultivators such as myself are barbarians who have done all kinds of appalling things. Even if I say that I haven't done anything, will you believe me?"
Ba Xiaoyu stared at Li Yao's face for a long time.
Li Yao glared back at him aggressively, too.
Seeing that the air between the two of them was about to burn up, Ba Xiaoyu suddenly grabbed half a ladle from the boat and threw it at Li Yao.
"Since the monk says that you are not a bloodthirsty man, and you are unwilling to admit it yourself, and I don't have any proof, I will just listen to you for now. If I find proof tomorrow, I will kill you tomorrow. Let's have a drink tonight."
Li Yao coldly snorted. Grabbing the water ladle, he leapt into the air and landed on the small sampan as light as a feather.
Ba Xiaoyu clapped his hands and curled his fingers. The steaming pot was opened and did not fall to the ground until it spun three times in midair.
Inside the cauldron were the dragon livers, phoenix marrow, and the flesh of spiritual beasts that were treasured by the Roaring Tiger Hall. Ten jars of wine had been added to the cauldron to cook them. They had long been cooked to a crisp, and the aroma of fat was spreading everywhere. Vaguely, colorful light was drifting out of the cauldron.
Ba Xiaoyu laughed. He touched the edge of the boat and took out a fishing rod. He tossed the rod into the pot as if he were fishing. After a hook and a lift, he picked up a red, greasy, and most fragrant dog leg.
"Master Spiritual Vulture, you must've never seen such a dog leg in your life in the Southland of Sorcerers. This is not a regular dog leg.
"When the people in the southeast salted hams, they often put such a dog leg in a vat of hams to enhance the fragrance and flavor of the hams.
"After the vat of hams was salted, the fragrance and essence of the dog leg would've been infiltrated into other hams. It was made of wood in the first place and did not have much flavor or chewiness. It tasted like wax and was often abandoned.
"However, haha. I discovered that when the dog leg, which had lost all its essence and looked like a beehive, was boiled together with the livers of the dragons, the marrow of the phoenixes, the meat of the spiritual beasts, and other rare herbs, the essence of the meat of the spiritual beasts would be absorbed into the pot. It would be full again, as if it had been pumped.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Such a dog leg has become an unparalleled delicacy that cannot be bought with money."
While introducing the dog leg, Ba Xiaoyu was already drooling. He waved his fishing hook nonstop and picked up three dog legs from the bottomless pot. Then, he stuffed two of them into the arms of Li Yao and Master Bitter Cicada. Looking at Li Yao, he said, "Different kinds of people can be raised by the same rice. Some of the Cultivators in the central plateaus are hypocrites who pretend to be righteous and immoral, but some of them are extravagant guests such as this beggar who are willing to share such a precious dog leg. Come on. Yuanying can barely stand. Have a taste."
This was the first time that Li Yao had heard a man in ragged clothes who looked like a beggar call himself a 'extravagant guest' without changing his expression.
Ba Xiaoyu's glowing face made him look like an emperor who was entertaining the honorable guests from afar with hundreds of delicacies in his splendid palace.
Li Yao glanced at the wine in front of Master Bitter Cicada and smiled. "Do you drink meat wine and eat dog meat, Master?"
"Amitabha," Master Bitter Cicada said.
Master Bitter Cicada said, "A monk depends on your charity. If you give us water, we will drink water, we will drink wine, and we will be grateful if you give us a dog's leg."
"Haha. Not only does the monk drink wine and eat meat, he drinks even more than a beggar does. Be careful later in case he steals too much wine."
Ba Xiaoyu clapped his hands and smiled. Then, he suddenly turned gloomy and glared at Li Yao. "Why aren't you eating? Do you think that a beggar is filthy and disgusting?"
Ba Xiaoyu's body was indeed full of scabies and pustules. Not only was it filthy, the smell was not pleasant when one approached it.
There was also a deep bite wound on his left leg, which had rotted because it had not been treated in time. At this moment, it was already rotten to the point that the bones were visible.
But he was still laughing as if nothing had happened. There was no telling what kind of materials were used to make his nerves.
Li Yao frowned and shook his head. "I was born in the barbarians of the Sorcerers Barbarians. Why would I complain about your filthy and disgusting appearance, Fellow Cultivator Ba? However, I am rather curious. With your Cultivation, you must be immune to both heat and cold. How can you be covered in scabies all over your body? The wound on your left leg does not seem to contain any powerful venom, either. As long as the rotten flesh is cut off and the best medicine is applied, and you are nourished with spiritual energy, you will be able to recover very soon. Why did you wait until now?"
"If I were to be treated, I would've been able to recover very soon."
Looking at the hole on his leg, Ba Xiaoyu said, "However, the scabies and the rotten flesh are my best cover. It was with them that I was able to sneak into Roaring Tiger City. Nobody suspected that this beggar was a Yuanying Cultivator."
Li Yao was greatly shocked. He exclaimed, "So, Fellow Cultivator Ba, in order to collect evidence of the Black Devil Cult's crimes and figure out the relationship between the Black Devil Cult and Roaring Tiger Hall, you intentionally infected yourself with such diseases?"
Ba Xiaoyu nodded. He picked up his leg and bit it hard, before he mumbled, "Why are you talking so much? Come on. Let's drink and eat."
Li Yao had a lot of mixed feelings. In the world of ancient Cultivators, there were no rules. Everything grew in savagery, and the polarization was particularly severe.
The elders, leaders, and leaders who appeared to be sage-like on the surface but were actually extremely selfish in their bones and read "Immortal Cultivators" as "Immortal Cultivators".
But there were also Cultivators like Master Bitter Cicada and Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar, who truly carried out the spirit of 'slaying the evils and executing justice for the heavens'.
From them, Li Yao seemed to be able to see the origin of the belief of protecting the ordinary people in the modern Cultivation civilization.
He also understood why the civilization of mankind could rise again and blossom brilliantly in the dark universe after thirty thousand years of oblivion.
His blood was boiling, and his heart was pounding. Mimicking Ba Xiaoyu and Master Bitter Cicada, he gobbled up the meat and drank the wine.
It was the best wine he had ever tasted.
It was also the most delicious meat he had ever tasted.
Right then, Master Bitter Cicada suddenly shouted to the clouds, "Since Fellow Cultivator Qi is here, why don't you come down and have some wine and meat with us?"
His voice condensed into a soundwave that pierced into the sky like a pillar of light and darted to somewhere high in the sky.
After a while, the clouds churned and slowly rotated. A hole appeared, and a translucent grey shadow crawled out of the hole. Like a withered leaf, it gently landed on the crooked tree beside the sampan.
It was exactly Iron Saint Qi Zhongdao, the leader of the Cultivators of the Great Qian Dynasty.
His face was ashen, and a thin layer of ice had formed on his body. His hair and eyebrows were covered with frost, and he really lived up to his nickname. He was like a cold and hard block of ice that no one was willing to touch.
"Leader Qi, nice to meet you."
Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar greeted Qi Zhongdao with a smile.
There was no permanent alliance among the Cultivators of the Great Qian Dynasty. However, whenever there was an emergency, such as when the Cultivators had to fight the Heaven Battering Army, the White Lotus Cult, or the Dark Cloud Ghost Qin, or when they had to suppress the Purple Pole Sword Sect like last time, or when natural disasters were coming and the Cultivators had to provide disaster relief, a temporary alliance would be formed for the convenience of coordination.
Qi Zhongdao was most likely the leader of such temporary alliances. Otherwise, why would he be known as the leader of the Cultivators of the Great Qian Dynasty?
This time, it was no exception.
'Leader Qi', however, made Qi Zhongdao's face even more gloomy. He almost gritted his teeth and turned to leave.
"Old Ba, don't do that."
Master Bitter Cicada sighed and said, "It's not easy for Fellow Cultivator Qi. He has to unite the major sects that have always been scheming against each other and forge them into a single piece of iron so that they can at least look decent. The effort he has put in is much more than you did when you snuck into Roaring Tiger City to investigate the details of the Black Devil Cult. It is easy to be a monk and a beggar, but it is not easy to be the leader of the Cultivators."
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