Qin Lang possessed a natural warmth and approachability. His spring-breeze demeanor eased a great deal of the man's wariness.
Chapter 40: Cyan-Faced Beast Hordes
Figures like Qin Lang occasionally appeared in the Canglan Mirror, and sometimes they even lent a hand to the mortals trapped within.
Only after the man repeatedly confirmed that they harbored no malicious intent did he finally allow them into the village.
Though the mortals inside the Canglan Mirror lived wretched lives, the mighty being who had set up the barrier all those years ago had spared a thought for them.
Within the Canglan Mirror lay several minor barriers; the existence of these protective bubbles was the only thing preventing the mortals from facing total extinction.
Outside parties referred to these minor barriers as outposts.
Neither of them knew anything about the Canglan Mirror, so Qin Lang gave them a detailed explanation.
There were many vacant houses in the village. After the mortal man settled them in, he took his leave.
"There is the aura of a demonic cultivator here. It seems one has passed through this place."
Qin Lang walked a few circles around the village holding a wisp of that residual demonic aura, finally arriving at a conclusion.
"That demonic cultivator might not be at peak condition. In order to recover, he would naturally stop at an outpost to rest. I just wonder if he came in openly or sneaked past the guards."
The barrier was filled entirely with mortals; if Qin Lang had wanted to slip in undetected, it wouldn't have been impossible.
Shen Ping'an, who hadn't sensed a shred of demonic aura: "..."
*Really? Do all of you just love talking nonsense with your eyes wide open?*
Still, considering their pursuit of the demonic cultivator was a fabricated story to begin with, a few more lies from Qin Lang hardly mattered.
"Junior Sister, let's rest here for a day before we continue our pursuit of the demonic cultivator."
With those words, Qin Lang politely bid Shen Ping'an farewell.
After all, propriety dictated that unmarried men and women should not touch.
Yet before the night was even half over, a succession of fierce beast roars echoed from outside the barrier.
Shen Ping'an released a thread of Divine Sense, clearly seeing the restless beasts outside, scraping their hooves against the ground.
These beasts bore bizarre appearances, every last one sporting green faces and protruding fangs, terrifying to behold.
Lacking spiritual intelligence, Shen Ping'an guessed they were the descendants of ancient beasts trapped here long ago.
Beasts reproduced in litters, and it was entirely normal for some offspring to be born without intellect.
The interior of the barrier remained brightly lit through the night. How could any mortal in the Canglan Mirror dare to sleep soundly after dark?
The moment the beast roars rang out for the first time, the villagers snapped to attention, grabbing their weapons and preparing for battle at a moment's notice.
Combat had long since become their instinct for survival; only through battle could they endure a place like the Canglan Mirror!
Those who lacked the courage or the skill to fight had perished in this realm long ago.
Such a massive commotion naturally woke Kang Chenyang and his companion as well.
"A wave of beasts has arrived outside."
Kang Chenyang's expression turned grave. While the interior of the barrier offered safety, it was far from absolute.
Nor was this the first time such a barrier had weathered an onslaught of beasts.
The horde surged forward aggressively, roaring and flinging themselves against the barrier within mere moments.
"I beg the immortals to save us!"
Before even a few sentences could pass, Shen Ping'an heard a man's voice.
It was the first man they had met during the day.
Pushing open her door, she saw the man kneeling in the courtyard, his body caked in blood.
*They've cracked already?*
Shen Ping'an was momentarily taken aback.
"Get up first. Do you have any experience dealing with those beasts outside?"
Kang Chenyang hurried forward to help the man up. While he genuinely wanted to help, he had never laid eyes on such beasts before.
He was a prudent man who disliked acting rashly.
"Those are Cyan-Faced Beasts. They come a few times every year."
The Cyan-Faced Beasts were the most common monsters in the vicinity, and the men were accustomed to dealing with them.
Yet no one could have anticipated such a massive horde this time!
In the past, fewer than ten would appear—easily counted on two hands. A quick glance now revealed over a dozen Cyan-Faced Beasts charging forward.
They could manage fewer than ten by relying on the barrier, but facing so many at once was beyond their ability to handle!
The power sustaining the barrier was finite, too!
What was worse, the interval since the last attack was far too short; the barrier had not yet fully recovered its strength.
"Ping'an, I want to help them."
Kang Chenyang hadn't given an affirmative or a negative; he simply offered the man some brief reassurance and sent him away before turning to Shen Ping'an with a serious expression.
Aiding the man was his own decision, but Shen Ping'an possessed the ability to help as well.
He wanted her to lend a hand too.
Therefore, he had come to ask for her opinion.
"Alright, let's do it together."
Shen Ping'an smiled faintly.
Kang Chenyang instantly let out a breath. Though he had figured Shen Ping'an would most likely not refuse, hearing her definitive answer finally allowed the stone in his chest to settle.
Upon hearing that the two of them intended to join the fight against the Cyan-Faced Beasts, Qin Lang fell silent for a long while.
*They must die.*
As he looked at the pair before him, that thought burned with increasing intensity.
*Those not of our kind will harbor different hearts.*
The two of them were unlike any other cultivators in this world, which meant they had to die.
Shen Ping'an and Kang Chenyang were unaware that Qin Lang's desire to kill them had grown even heavier, though even if they knew, they likely wouldn't have cared.
When soldiers come, use a general to block; when water comes, build an earth embankment—that was all.
"In that case, I shall accompany the two of you."
In Qin Lang's eyes, these mortals could die whenever they pleased.
If they were wiped out entirely, it would save them any further concerns.
The only drawback was that he wouldn't be able to rely on his status as an immortal to harvest the Power of Faith from mortals.
Still, the world held countless mortals; did they really need to rely on the few inside the Canglan Mirror?
If worst came to worst, they could simply import some mortals from the outside!
A mortal's lifespan barely exceeded a century. Even if the first generation harbored grievances, by the second and third generations, everything would be forgotten. Once the cultivators stepped in to drive away beasts a few times, the mortals would naturally be filled with boundless gratitude.
Earlier, Shen Ping'an had only used her Divine Sense to sense the movement of the beasts, but seeing them with her own eyes now made the Cyan-Faced Beasts seem all the more terrifying.
The mortals' description of the creatures had been entirely accurate!
A Cyan-Faced Beast's entire face was a wash of blue-green, and as Shen Ping'an cast her gaze over them now, she saw nothing less than an ocean of azure.
There were definitely far more than a dozen of these beasts!
There had to be at least a hundred!
*Why would so many Cyan-Faced Beasts suddenly appear?*
Qin Lang was similarly startled by the sheer number of beasts; such a sudden, massive emergence was entirely abnormal.
Could there be some sort of treasure hidden here?
Aside from a hidden treasure within this outpost attracting the beasts, Qin Lang could think of no other explanation.
After all, while the Cyan-Faced Beasts lacked intelligence, they weren't complete idiots. For so many beasts to target such a tiny outpost...
It simply wasn't worth the effort.
The humans here wouldn't even be enough for them to carve up!
Regardless, dealing with the beasts took precedence right now. A Cyan-Faced Beast horde of this scale was enough for even Qin Lang to stumble in.
Chapter 41: A Thread of Survival
The villagers relied on the power of the barrier while striking out with bone knives in their hands.
Yet the Cyan-Faced Beasts were monsters!
Even cultivators of lower cultivation found the creatures difficult to handle; how could mere mortal bone knives hope to harm them?
Within moments, numerous mortal corpses littered the edge of the barrier.
With a flick of her wrist, spiritual qi finer than a strand of hair condensed into a vast net that swept toward the Cyan-Faced Beasts.
Though the net looked tattered, as if it would shatter the next second, the moment it touched the beasts, it instantly locked every movement in place.
"Go."
Shen Ping'an uttered a soft command.
The Teng Snake transformed into a streak of light, charging straight into the midst of the beast horde.
Whatever else he might be, he possessed the bloodline of an ancient beast.
More importantly, the Teng Snake possessed spiritual intelligence!
Upon sensing the aura emanating from the Cyan-Faced Beasts, the Teng Snake couldn't help narrowing his eyes in pure bliss.
These were all for him to eat!
Unlike humans, the baseline law among beasts was the survival of the fittest—the strong devouring the weak was an instinct carved into the bones of every creature.
To the Teng Snake, the Cyan-Faced Beasts before him were nothing less than a feast!
Entering the horde was like a mouse falling into a rice bin; he had never felt more at ease.
Neither Kang Chenyang nor Qin Lang dared to lower their guard, for the beasts made no distinction between mortals and cultivators.
In the eyes of the Cyan-Faced Beasts, they were all prey!
The battle dragged on until the break of dawn, the grey skies of the Canglan Mirror revealing faint threads of light through the approaching daybreak. Kang Chenyang wiped the sweat from his brow and exhaled a turbid breath.
"They're finally all driven off."
His meridians felt thoroughly exhausted. If Shen Ping'an hadn't previously taught him how to better control his spiritual qi, he likely would have collapsed from exhaustion by now.
The sheer number of beasts made it difficult even for the combined strength of himself and Qin Lang to slaughter them all; they could only drive them away.
Outside the barrier now, the corpses of the beasts and the mortals were piled together, and the villagers were laboriously dragging the bodies of their own back inside.
People always desired for fallen leaves to return to their roots.
*He managed to hold out for so long?*
Qin Lang secretly appraised Kang Chenyang, mentally raising his evaluation of the young man's strength by another notch.
He had originally assumed Kang Chenyang was all show and no substance, but seeing him now, his combat power was truly formidable.
*That makes him all the more deserving of death.*
Among all busybodies, the stronger they were, the faster they died.
Had not that darling of the Heavenly Dao back then ended up succumbing to a cultivation deviation, forever severed from the path of the Great Dao?
"You've worked hard." Shen Ping'an supported Kang Chenyang with one hand, channeling a measure of spiritual qi into him.
The spiritual qi within Kang Chenyang's body had dwindled to a sliver, hovering constantly on the verge of depletion.
With that infusion of spiritual qi, Kang Chenyang immediately felt his knotted, aching meridians gradually uncoil.
"Thank you."
He spoke in a low voice, steadying himself with Shen Ping'an's support.
"What is there to thank me for? Thank yourself."
She let out a soft laugh.
Kang Chenyang really was different from other cultivators.
She just wondered: among the cultivators of this mortal world, were there more men like Kang Chenyang, or more like True Monarch Mengzhuo?
Or perhaps...
The eastern wind had already overwhelmed the western wind.
Despite the assistance of Shen Ping'an and her companions, the villagers had suffered heavy casualties. The man who had sought their help was dead.
His neck had been chewed through by a Cyan-Faced Beast, and his limbs were mangled and incomplete; it was only through his clothing that his wife had recognized him.
"Many thanks to the three immortals for your aid."
With her husband dead, his wife picked up his burdens.
She was a dark-skinned, robust young woman. Survival demanded strength; frail individuals simply could not live long within the Canglan Mirror.
Watching the young woman, Qin Lang furrowed his brow in disgust.
What kind of ideals did women in the Cultivation Realm pursue nowadays?
They desired willow-slim waists, lotus steps, and a delicate grace that seemed as though a breeze could topple them, alongside a gentle and submissive temperament.
Summarized in Shen Ping'an's words: three simple words—easy to control.
Physical frailty meant difficulty in mounting physical resistance, while gentleness and compliance meant a greater tendency to lean mentally on others.
Such women were destined to remain forever suppressed.
Women of that sort were only tolerated by the men trapped inside the Canglan Mirror.
Placed in the wider Cultivation Realm, not a single man would look twice at them.
"We cultivators take the protection of all living beings as our bounden duty. Encountering such a crisis, how could we stand idly by?"
Qin Lang smiled, offering the woman a superficial gesture of support. Catching sight of her thick, muscular arms, he felt an even deeper revulsion.
The woman held genuine gratitude toward the three of them.
Over ten thousand years had passed since the formation of the Canglan Mirror, and the mortals here had long since had all their spirit worn away; they had accepted their fate.
Or to put it another way, having never witnessed the outside world, they assumed all mortals endured the same hardships.
Suffering had become second nature to them, so when someone occasionally extended a helping hand, their gratitude knew no bounds.
Yet they remained blissfully unaware that the very cultivators before them were the architects of their misery.
Unaware of Qin Lang's aversion, the woman expressed her thanks before hurriedly rushing off to join the others in clearing the aftermath.
The corpses of the beasts would spare them from hunting for food in the short term, but they had lost many companions in the process.
The bloodstains outside also needed to be cleaned up as soon as possible, lest they attract even more beasts.
She still had a mountain of tasks to attend to.
"Junior Sister, the sudden surge in the number of Cyan-Faced Beasts this time is thoroughly bizarre. I intend to investigate the matter. Will Junior Sister accompany me?"
Once only the three of them remained, Qin Lang looked toward Shen Ping'an.
The arrival of the beasts was too strange; his intuition told him there must be some hidden trick behind it.
Perhaps some supreme treasure was about to manifest.
After all, while the Canglan Mirror was perilous, opportunities were equally abundant.
"I find it quite strange as well. Since Senior Brother says so, I will accompany you."
Shen Ping'an's eyes curved into crescent moons as her fingers absentmindedly stroked the bracelet on her wrist, which now appeared a size thicker.
That was the Teng Snake, stuffed to the point of gluttony.
The snake had grown plump enough to weigh heavily on Shen Ping'an's wrist, causing a dull ache.
*Fat snake.*
She couldn't help muttering inwardly.
The three had only been resting at the outpost temporarily. Having decided to investigate the cause of the beast attack, they naturally wouldn't linger in the village. After bidding farewell to the robust woman, they departed.
"Ancestors, has the thread of survival you spoke of truly arrived?"
Watching the figures of the three disappear, the dark-skinned woman wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, dropped a shattered piece of jade to the ground, and ground it thoroughly into powder.
The Great Dao was heartless, leading them down a dead end.
Yet the Great Dao had compassion, leaving them a single thread of survival.
And now, she had seen that thread.
Chapter 42: Power of Faith
The lair of the Cyan-Faced Beasts lay not far from the outpost, and the beasts driven away had fled back to their nest.
It was a valley.
From afar, Shen Ping'an spotted roaming Cyan-Faced Beasts, as well as those injured in the recent battle lying on the ground to lick their wounds.
Beasts did not consume their own kind—with that definition strictly limited to creatures identical to themselves.
For instance, a Cyan-Faced Beast would never eat another Cyan-Faced Beast, though whether they would eat a Red-Faced or White-Faced Beast was another matter entirely.
The beasts were completely quiet now, bearing no resemblance to the frenzied horde that had assaulted the outpost moments ago.
"This is..."
Qin Lang squatted down, pinching a handful of dirt between his fingers.
"Something capable of driving the Cyan-Faced Beasts into a frenzy. No wonder so many of them were lured away."
The mortals in the Canglan Mirror would never do anything so suicidal. Since something capable of drawing the beasts had appeared here, and it hadn't been done by the three of them...
That meant there was someone else here—perhaps even another faction entirely.
Qin Lang's heart sank.
If it were someone whose philosophy aligned with True Monarch Mengzhuo's, that would be one thing; but if it were members of the Conservative Faction, trouble was bound to follow.
Qin Lang wasn't afraid of the Conservatives—those people were stubborn old fossils. What era was it, and they were still clinging to those ancient ascetic ways, showing pity toward mortals?
Weren't mortals merely renewable commodities?
Dead crops could simply be replanted; what did it matter if an entire realm of mortals had to be buried alongside them?
Disregard all karma; as cultivators, they stood a tier above mortals.
Humanity was naturally divided into rigid hierarchies; as for those mortals, they could only blame their bad luck for being born ordinary in this lifetime.
Though he wasn't afraid of the Conservatives, it didn't mean Qin Lang enjoyed trouble.
The Conservatives were stubborn to a fault; crossing paths with them guaranteed a basketful of headaches.
Still, since they were already here...
Qin Lang estimated the distance to the Xiechai and quickly formulated a plan in his mind.
"Does Senior Brother mean someone intentionally used this item to lure the Cyan-Faced Beasts into attacking the village?"
Shen Ping'an displayed an appropriate level of astonishment.
"Indeed. I just wonder what that person's objective could be."
Putting himself in their shoes, Qin Lang figured that if he were to pull such a stunt, it would most likely be for the Power of Faith.
First lure the beasts to the outpost, then—just as the mortals suffered heavy casualties and fell into utter despair—appear in the guise of an immortal to rescue them from the fires of suffering. Naturally, the mortals would offer boundless gratitude, and the Power of Faith would pour in like a torrent.
Instead, the three of them had swooped in and reaped the benefits.
"Regardless of what they wanted, they likely won't return here."
Qin Lang shook his head. "We've already driven the Cyan-Faced Beasts back. Even beasts won't continue falling for that kind of trick repeatedly."
After all, the effectiveness of such items had a limited duration.
Anyone wanting to use it again would have to wait a while.
"Then are we just going to leave it alone?"
Kang Chenyang bit his lip.
To lure Cyan-Faced Beasts to a mortal village—where did that leave the lives of those people?
How innocent the mortals were!
"Chenyang, it's beyond our control."
Qin Lang sighed. "Putting aside the fact that we don't know their strength, can you even track their movements now?"
Aside from the item used to lure the beasts, not a trace of any other aura remained here.
Clearly, the culprit had already masked all traces and vanished.
Searching for someone now would be like finding a needle in a haystack; how could they possibly find them?
"In Senior Brother's view, why would that person lure the Cyan-Faced Beasts here?"
Shen Ping'an didn't understand. Could someone really be so bored as to summon so many beasts simply to slaughter mortals?
Did watching mortals die in wave after wave bring them joy?
Yet in the eyes of cultivators, mortals differed not a whit from ants—was watching a colony of ants devoured by larger ants truly an entertaining spectacle?
"Most likely to appear as a savior when those mortals are at their most helpless."
In Qin Lang's eyes, Shen Ping'an and Kang Chenyang were already doomed corpses, so he didn't mind explaining just how cruel the world truly was.
Mortal lives were worth less than blades of grass.
*So that was it.*