Burial Furnace

"Old man!" The burly man at the head of the group strode forward, his voice rough and filled with a fierce aura. "Did anyone come here to cremate a body just now? What did they look like? Explain clearly!"

Zhang Yuan's heart sank slightly.

He instantly understood—the monk who had just killed their companions and rushed over to cremate the bodies was doing so to completely cut off the enemy's pursuit.

These people came here following the clues.

If he honestly confesses, and the news gets out, who will dare to come to him for cremation in the future?

Zhang Yuan cupped his hands in greeting and said solemnly, "Fellow Daoists, I only cremate corpses here and have no say in other people's grudges. All customer information and details are kept confidential. This is the rule of my shop, and I hope you will understand."

The burly man's face darkened, and a fierce glint flashed in his eyes.

"Old man, I think you're tired of living!" He slammed his large hand on the doorframe with a dull thud, making the doorframe tremble. "If you don't talk, I'll raze your crematorium to the ground today, kill you right now, and cremate you!"

The cultivators behind him also took a step forward, their hands on the hilts of their swords, their gazes unfriendly.

"This small shop really does have rules—"

Zhang Yuan insisted.

"Rules my ass!" the burly man roared, reaching out to grab Zhang Yuan's collar.

Just then, a terrifying pressure descended from the sky.

As if it were a physical entity, heavy as a mountain, it instantly enveloped the entire crematorium.

The Foundation Establishment cultivators, including the arrogant and domineering man, all stiffened at the same time, as if an invisible hand had gripped their throats.

Their faces turned deathly pale instantly.

Hua Nongying slowly walked out of the small building.

The white armor, made of a thin material, clung to the curves of the body, outlining her exquisite figure.

The armor gleamed faintly silver in the moonlight, as if it were formed from the moonlight itself.

Her face was covered by a white veil, revealing a pair of clear, watery eyes.

Those eyes, however, were now as cold as frost.

With each step she took, the oppressive aura intensified, and the legs of the Foundation Establishment cultivators began to tremble slightly.

Mid-stage Golden Core.

He is definitely in the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm.

The burly man's pupils suddenly contracted, and the arrogance on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a deathly pallor.

His lips trembled, as if he wanted to say something, but he found that he couldn't even make a sound.

Hua Nongying walked up to Zhang Yuan and stopped.

His gaze swept over the group of cultivators, and he spoke coldly, "Who are you, daring to cause trouble here?"

The sound wasn't loud, but it carried a chilling coldness, like the north wind in the dead of winter.

The big man's knees buckled, and he fell to his knees with a thud.

"Senior...Senior..." His voice trembled uncontrollably, "This junior...This junior was blind and did not recognize your greatness. I have offended you, please forgive me..."

The cultivators behind him also knelt down one after another, kowtowing repeatedly, their foreheads hitting the bluestone slabs with dull thuds.

"This junior deserves to die! This junior deserves to die!"

"Please spare my life, senior!"

"Remember this."

Hua Nongying looked at them coldly, her eyes devoid of any emotion.

The voice was slow and clear, each word like a cold knife piercing the hearts of the cultivators: "We only cremate corpses here and do not disclose any information about our guests. Considering this is your first offense, we will spare you this time."

She paused, her gaze sharpening further: "Get out."

Those cultivators felt as if they had been granted a pardon. They scrambled to their feet, forgetting even to fly on their swords, and ran away.

After running a dozen or so steps, he remembered that he could fly. He hurriedly summoned his flying sword, staggered onto it, and fled without looking back.

In the night sky, several crooked figures quickly disappeared into the darkness.

The area in front of the crematorium has returned to tranquility.

The moonlight shone on the bluestone pavement, giving it a silvery sheen.

The branches and leaves of the osmanthus tree swayed gently in the night breeze, emitting a faint fragrance.

It was as if nothing had happened.

Zhang Yuan looked in the direction where the group of people disappeared and let out a long breath.

His back was already soaked with cold sweat.

Fortunately, Hua Nongying was there, otherwise tonight would have been a huge mess.

Although he had the experience of living two lives, he, an old man at the third level of Qi Refining, was completely powerless to resist a group of desperate people in the Foundation Establishment stage.

It was indeed the right decision for me to cultivate with Hua Nongying.

In the backyard of the Spirit Talisman Pavilion, Zhou Lie slowly withdrew his divine sense.

His expression was somewhat unpredictable.

"Mid-stage Golden Core? This bastard actually has a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator backing him up? And it seems he lives in a crematorium?"

"Could she be an elder of the Saintess Sect? Hmm, she does look very holy, she does seem somewhat like one."

He pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

"However, so what if she is in the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm? I have the Spirit Talisman Pavilion Merchant Guild behind me, so I have nothing to fear from her."

Despite saying that, a sense of apprehension still arose in his heart.

If he really angered that mid-stage Golden Core female cultivator, it was possible that she would secretly make him disappear without a trace.

Boss Li is a cautionary tale—he's still missing, neither alive nor dead.

"Could it be that Boss Li was killed by this woman? Was it because he bullied Zhang Yuan, forcing Zhang Yuan to buy ten intermediate-level talismans every month?"

"Should I report this and have someone investigate her and Zhang Yuan? But the case is already closed..."

He fell into deep thought and inner turmoil.

Zhang Yuan walked into the courtyard.

The moonlight spilled into the flowerbeds, gilding the flowers with a silvery white hue.

The fragrance of flowers wafted in the night breeze, refreshing and delightful.

Hua Nongying walked ahead, her white armor gleaming faintly in the moonlight. Her steps were light, her skirt brushing against the flower branches, stirring up a few petals that twirled in the air.

"Senior Hua, thank you for getting me out of that predicament," Zhang Yuan said sincerely. "Otherwise, I would have been in big trouble tonight."

"It might be troublesome, but not necessarily." Hua Nongying turned around, her voice soft and languid. "As long as you say you're related to Liu Ruxue, they won't dare do anything to you. Because they're afraid of Liu Ruxue's retaliation."

Zhang Yuan gave a bitter smile to himself.

He wanted to use Liu Ruxue's name to his advantage, but the problem was that he couldn't contact her at all. Liu Ruxue had no idea that he was still alive and had opened a crematorium in Qingmu Town.

"From now on, don't call me senior anymore, just call me junior sister. You're older than me, and you're the one who guided me in cultivating the Yin-Yang Rejuvenation Technique, so you are indeed my senior brother."

Hua Nongying said softly.

Junior sister?

A strange expression appeared on Zhang Yuan's face.

If word got out that a cultivator at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm was calling an old man at the third stage of the Qi Refining realm "Senior Brother," it would probably shock everyone.

But she nodded anyway: "Okay, then I'll call you junior sister from now on."

He paused, then said, "Junior sister, you stood up for me just now, so no one will come knocking on my door to cause trouble like before. You saved me a huge amount of trouble. I still want to thank you."

"Since you're my senior brother, don't be so polite."

Hua Nongying gave him a reproachful look.