Chapter Fifty-Three: Schemes

Splash!
The corpse of the black mountain goat was cleaved cleanly in half, the wound smooth and scorched, not a trace of blood to be seen.
In less than a blink, the Seven Slaughtering Yin Talisman Sword had sliced the goat straight down the middle.
The sword carried a total of twenty-eight talisman seals, all reinforced sevenfold, making its power multiply exponentially.
Its speed, agility, and the lethality of its ghostly fire far surpassed any other Seven Slaughtering Yin Talisman Sword.
After slaying the black mountain goat, Lu Qian did not move, but watched the corpse with wary eyes.
Suddenly, a wisp of black smoke shot out from the goat’s forehead, as if controlled by some unseen force, darting swiftly up the mountain.
“Trying to escape?”
Lu Qian slapped the pouch at his waist, a flash of light bursting forth.
A jet-black crossbow appeared in his hand, and with a whistling sound, an arrow adorned with blood-red patterns flew out.
Thud!
The blood-patterned steel arrow pierced through the black smoke.
“Ah! Spare me!”
A man’s deep voice howled in agony from within the smoke.
The black smoke fell to the ground, gradually coalescing into the figure of a man.
His skin was deathly pale, his eye sockets and lips pitch-black as if poisoned, and he wore a thick black cotton coat.
Most striking of all was his nose: it was that of a goat.
Out of sheer terror, trails of green, sulfurous smoke puffed from his nostrils.
“Mercy, my lord, have mercy!” The goat-demon trembled uncontrollably.
“Well, this is interesting.”
Lu Qian put away the crossbow, stepping forward with intrigue to scrutinize the goat-demon.
“Are you human or monster?”
The black goat before him was a strange sight indeed—clearly a goat’s body, yet its soul was unmistakably human.
Seeing that Lu Qian had made no move to harm him, the goat-demon relaxed and gave a sycophantic smile.
“Sir, I am no monster, but a human.”
“Oh? Speak the truth, or else…”
A burst of flame conjured itself in Lu Qian’s palm, pure white and searing—netherworld ghostfire, as if capable of burning even souls to ash.
The goat-demon shuddered in terror and quickly stammered,
“Sir, I am not of the underworld, but from the living world. I was unwittingly caught in a Daoist’s spell and transformed into a goat.”
At this, Lu Qian recalled an old legend—
In ancient times, there was a wicked Daoist who used sorcery to turn people into goats and sold them off.

Could this goat-demon be a victim of such a spell?
“What happened to that Daoist? And why are you here?” Lu Qian pressed.
Eyeing the scorching flames in Lu Qian’s hand, the goat-demon swallowed nervously and recounted his tale.
After being transformed into a goat, the wicked Daoist had brought him to the underworld and set him to guard a cave dwelling.
Later, the Daoist was gravely wounded and died in the cave, leaving no one to take him back to the living world.
“I have lingered here for a full cycle of sixty years, and without realizing it, became what you see now.”
“How fascinating…” Lu Qian chuckled.
A human turned beast, and the beast cultivating into a monster—
Is he still human? Or is he now a demon? Or something in between?
“What was the Daoist’s name? Take me to his cave.”
Lu Qian spoke as he leveled the crossbow at the goat-demon’s head—any refusal, and the bolt would lodge in his skull.
“I’ll go, I’ll go! I’ll take you there! The Daoist was named Pan Yang, and he’s been dead over sixty years now,” the goat-demon quickly replied, waving his hands, green smoke pouring from his nose in his anxiety.
In a flash, the goat-demon transformed back into a black mountain goat and nimbly scaled the rocky hill.
“Please, follow me!” called the black goat.
Lu Qian leapt lightly, easily matching the goat’s pace.
The goat was inwardly shocked—he had not expected this Daoist to be so agile.
Goats are natural climbers, and in all his sixty years here, he had never seen a creature move faster than himself on these slopes.
Man and beast reached the mountain’s summit.
There was no vegetation atop the peak, only barren ground littered with rocks.
The black goat picked its way across the stones, treading a series of scattered rocks in a peculiar sequence.
Rumble!
The ground trembled.
The stones atop the mountain seemed to come alive, shifting slowly to form a strange pattern.
Sunlight and moonbeams gathered, casting a faint green glow.
A pitch-dark hole appeared in the ground, with steps winding down into the earth.
“Sir, the cave is here,” the black goat bowed his head to Lu Qian.
Lu Qian stood at the entrance, peering inside.
Within, all was darkness, but the walls seemed adorned with vivid murals.
A great, shady tree spread its branches like the claws of a demon.
Beneath the tree sat a group of people in assorted garb.
To earn Lu Qian’s trust, the black goat entered first.
Lu Qian followed close behind.
Once out of sight, the goat’s timid expression twisted into sly cunning, a glint of triumph in his eyes.

The Daoist was drawing ever closer to the entrance—once he stepped inside…
A venomous thought flashed through the goat’s mind.

“What are you plotting?” Lu Qian’s calm voice sounded by his ear.
The moment he crossed the threshold, the goat’s neck was seized in an iron grip.
No matter how he struggled, he could not break free.
“Sir, what’s wrong? There must be some misunderstanding…” the goat pleaded pitifully, wondering how this Daoist possessed such strength—comparable to body-tempering cultivators.
“Still trying to talk your way out? I’ll give you one last chance,” Lu Qian said, his brow furrowing as true fire flared from his hand, sending black smoke streaming from the goat’s body.
“No… Impossible! How could you know?”
The goat’s face contorted with malice, revealing his true nature.
Boom!
The goat’s body dissolved into mist.

“Die!”
A shrill cry echoed from all sides.
From the mural, the great tree shuddered, and countless branches extended from the painting, lashing toward Lu Qian with immense force.
Before the branches could fully emerge, a piercing shriek rang out—
The Seven Slaughtering Yin Talisman Sword flashed like lightning, severing the branches in an instant!
Five or six jade-green fireballs exploded forth!
“Ah!”
Ghostly fire pierced the black mist; the goat-demon screamed, revealing his true form as he crashed to the ground.
Dozens of pillars of ghostly flame formed a cage around him, trapping him within.
At the same time, a dozen or more ghostly blue-scaled serpents coiled outside the cage, their eerie green eyes fixed unblinkingly on the goat.
The nether flames burned the goat’s body relentlessly.
No matter how he struggled or begged for mercy, Lu Qian remained unmoved.
At last, when the goat was on the brink of death, his soul about to scatter, the flames finally subsided.

“Have you learned your lesson?” Lu Qian asked with a gentle smile.
To the black goat, that smile was more terrifying than a demon’s.
This Daoist before him was even more dreadful than the sorcerer who had turned him into a goat.
He felt as if he stood naked before him, unable to keep a single secret.

“How did you know?” the goat’s ghostly form flickered, but he still could not help but ask.
“I guessed.”
“What?” The goat was thunderstruck.
“I truly just guessed.”
The truth was, the goat had been entirely too obedient, not at all like a monster who had cultivated for sixty years.
So Lu Qian had decided to bluff him—and to his surprise, there really had been a hidden plot.