“Mr. Ji, who were those four people?”

Seeing how Ji Yuan had blown the individuals who had besieged him to ashes, Yan Fei couldn’t help but ask.

However, before Ji Yuan could answer, the bull demon beside him began to chatter nonstop.

“Those four are no longer human. They all had their essence drained dry by that stinky woman. It seems like their physical bodies are alive, but they have no feelings nor consciousness. They are left only with instinctive aggression. After a long time, when their physical bodies die, they will become living dead, and become even more difficult to deal with. By then, they will be no different from demonic corpses.”

Yan Fei frowned and looked at his longsword. It was no wonder that these four people were so weird, he reflected. Then he suddenly remembered the original reason he and Ji Yuan had been chasing the bull.

“Mr. Ji, so the perpetrator of that crime in the inn was that female monster just now?”

Ji Yuan glanced at the bull demon beside him after hearing those words.

“Ahem, haha… brother, you are correct, it was that stinky bitch!”

The bull demon shamelessly concluded. He glanced at Ji Yuan, and found that the latter did not refute him. Instead, he had taken a tuft of the newly collected hair and was calculating a divination with his fingers. The bull demon returned to speak to Yan Fei again in a warm manner.

“Dear Brother, you seem to be a mortal warrior. This Old Bull also likes to wield spears and sticks. How about we get to know each other? My name is Niu Batian.1 How about it? Majestic name, right? What’s your name?”

Although Yan Fei felt a little pressured, he still clasped his hands over his sword and bowed.

“Yan Fei.”

“Oh…”

The bull demon responded, and then nodded in the direction of the Golden-Armored Warrior and whispered.

“What about him? This guy also looks very difficult to mess with, and he is rather cold. He didn’t say a word from beginning to the end, and he didn’t even blink his eyes. Just now, he looked at that stinky woman with an arrogant attitude.”

Yan Fei also looked at the Golden Armored Warrior, and said hesitantly.

“,I don’t know either. I just heard Mr. Ji call him a ‘Warrior’…”

Ji Yuan calculated divinations for a long time, but in the end his skill was still lacking. He couldn’t divine anything, and could only put the objects away helplessly.

Glancing at Niu Yao and Yan Fei, he was a little surprised that this old bull could casually chat with Yan Fei like this.

“Let’s go back to the city. Tonight’s affairs are barely over.”

With that, Ji Yuan waved his hand, and the Golden-Armored Warrior dissipated like glowing dust, turned into a yellow piece of paper, and floated into his hands. He then tucked it into his sleeve.

This scene slightly stunned Niu Batian, as he hadn’t seen the process of the Warrior being summoned previously. However, Ji Yuan had already begun to walk away while he stood frozen.

Ji Yuan didn’t use any techniques, but still proceeded at a slightly faster pace. Yan Fei glanced at Niu Batian, bowed with cupped hands in farewell, and hurried to catch up with Ji Yuan’s pace.

The Bull Spirit hesitated for a moment, then tentatively followed for a few steps. Noticing that Ji Yuan was merely increasing his speed with no reaction, he hurriedly accelerated and followed along for a while, finally catching up and joining Yan Fei. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs novel⸺fire.net

Niu Batian was certain that Ji Yuan had the ability to undo the cursed technique that was growing at the back of his neck. Although he still hesitated to trust Ji Yuan, eh was unwilling to let go of this opportunity.

Thus, that night, the three of them returned to Nandao County.

They first went back to Yuanqi Inn, put the unconscious woman back her room, and then went to find a place to eat.

Of course, their previous meal was naturally long gone. Ji Yuan could skip it, but Yan Fei, despite his martial arts prowess, was still nonetheless a mere human. While skipping a meal or two would not be enough to take him down, he would definitely still be hungry. Having arrived in the city with plenty of money, there was no need to rely on dry biscuit rations.

However, by the time they returned, much time had passed, and many restaurants were closed. They had no choice but to go to another inn, where they could stay the night and ask to take some leftovers from the back kitchen.

When checking in at the inn, the shopkeeper kept muttering about the “thunder” that had sounded just now.

More than a quarter of an hour later, Ji Yuan had eaten a little and gone back to rest, leaving only Yan Fei and Niu Batian still sitting at the square table in the lobby of the inn.

On the way back, Yan Fei reluctantly grew acquainted with Niu Batian. Ji Yuan, too, got the sense that, although this old bull was a demon, he was one with a good character. As long as he didn’t annoy Ji Yuan, he would be fine.2

More importantly, most people ultimately judged based on appearances, and this old bull’s simple appearance truly did not give off a sense of threat, so Yan Fei was not afraid of him.

Besides, Yan Fei and Lao Niu had their own reasons for staying in the lobby of the inn. The former wanted to learn more about the mysteries of immortals and monsters, while the latter wanted to know about Ji Yuan himself.

Just now, when Ji Yuan was still there, sitting at the same table, the Old Bull didn’t dare to ask too much, while Yan Fei was eating and drinking quietly. As soon as Ji Yuan left, the Old Bull’s eye slit up, and he scooched closer along the bench towards Yan Fei.

“Brother Yan, you don’t seem to be in a good mood?”

Yan Fei sighed, drank the wine in his glass, and looked at the Old Bull seriously.

“Senior Niu, with my martial arts skills, do I pose any threat to you at all?”

“Hey, hey, don’t be so formal, just call me Brother Niu, just Brother Niu…”

Old Niu corrected Yan Fei’s statement as he poured him another glass of wine with a smile. He would never act so close with an ordinary mortal, but today this relationship needed to be cultivated.

“Actually, Brother Yan, it is very useful to be skilled in martial arts. Take monsters, for example: it is important to have some fighting and attacking skills, but ordinary people’s thin arms and legs would not be very useful in that case.”

Having said this, the Old Bull hurriedly continued.

“But you are different. With Mr. Ji here, you can beg to learn immortal arts!”

Yan Fei smiled and shook his head.

“Mr. Ji won’t teach me, though I am not sure where this certainty comes from. Anyway, I just know that even if I ask, Mr. Ji will not teach me immortal arts. On the contrary, he might look down on me…”

The Old Bull poured Yan Fei some more wine.

“Ah, Brother Yan is indeed a dragon among men. Your instincts are truly sharp. Then, if I might ask, when did Brother Yan and Mr. Ji meet? How much do you know about Mr. Ji? Oh, oh, come on, come, drink, drink! Let’s toast!”

The Old Bull picked up the wine glass and clinked it to Yan Fei’s and they both drank one after another. The bull demon’s expression did not change, but Yan Fei was a little drunk.

“Now that I think back on it, I can hardly remember some of the details from back then…”

“Hey, tell me whatever, just speak casually. I can tell we get along quite well, and I also admire Mr. Ji very much, I really want to know more!”

Yan Fei looked at the simple and somewhat honest face in front of him. It was hard to imagine that this was a powerful monster.

“Well, speaking of which, there was also a monster back then, too… It was early spring twelve years ago, in Ji Province, Dazhen. The owner of the Luoxia Mountain Villa was renowned in the martial arts world. I went there with my elders to pay my respects, and met eight other like-minded friends…”

Ning’an County had been plagued by a tiger, and the nine young warriors visiting Ji Province hit it off immediately. They directly accepted the official notice for subjugation and set out to eliminate the threat.

In the end, they encountered a ferocious tiger in the mountains that had become a Tiger Spirit, and nearly perished, but were rescued by Ji Yuan.

Niu Batian listened intently, rarely interrupting, and never forgot to keep pouring Yan Fei more wine. Only after Yan Fei finished recounting the events in Ning’an County did he grow lost in thought.

“Then today, I ran into Mr. JI again in the Five Li Pavilion outside the city. Haha, a few ungrateful thieves wanted to rob Mr. Ji of his money and kill him…”

Yan Fei didn’t mention their subsequent pursuit of the criminals tonight. He sighed, picked up a piece of stewed mutton, which had already congealed, and chewed on it.

“Did Mr. Ji really let the tiger spirit go? And then the tiger spirit even paid its respects as a disciple of Mr. Ji?”

“Yeah, that scene is so deeply etched in my memory, I can’t forget it.”

Niu Batian’s eyes flickered. He took a sip from his wine bowl, muttering to himself.

“An immortal guiding the way…”

“Niu, hiccup… Brother Niu, what did you say?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, it’s nothing. Brother Yan, let’s keep drinking. Shopkeeper, bring more wine, bring more wine, we ran out again. Did you water this down?”

The shopkeeper, who was dozing off at the counter, was startled awake by Niu Batian’s loud voice. He glanced at the only occupied table in the lobby. There were two small wine jars on the square table, and two more lying on their side, having fallen over under the table. All were empty.

“You won’t be able to hold your pee after drinking so much…”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing, nothing, please wait a moment, sir. I’ll bring you more wine right away!”

The shopkeeper responded quickly, calling for the waiter to fetch more wine. He didn’t care how much they drank. It didn’t matter whether they drank themselves to death. If they had money, then the customers were always right.3

. . .

At midnight, Niu Batian directly carried Yan Fei to his room. He had been drunk under the table by the Old Bull, and the conversation at the table was so thorough that he nearly revealed everything up to his childhood habit of wetting his pants.

When he arrived at Yan Fei’s room, Niu Batian laid him on the bed. Although he didn’t undress him, he did pull the quilt over him.

Of course, Niu Batian understood Yan Fei’s troubles tonight: his confidence was crumbling. However, seeing Yan Fei still clutching his sword as he lay in bed, he felt a pang of emotion.

‘No wonder Mr. Ji thinks highly of you.’

Yan Fei was naturally drunk and deeply asleep, but Niu Batian still stood by his bedside and spoke.

“Brother Yan, the pact you made with the tiger wasn’t as simple as you think. Mr. Ji was testing both you and the tiger. In your current state, it is difficult to say whether you will be eaten…”

The Old Bull was about to turn around when Yan Fei, lying on the bed, began to groan in a drunken sleep.

“Drink…Brother Niu, keep drinking…”

Niu Batian glanced back.

“Hehehe… But you truly in call me Brother Niu in your heart, so this Old Bull will naturally protect you. If that tiger transforms and comes looking for you, this Old Bull will help you beat him up in the future!”

The three of them were not in the same room in the inn; Ji Yuan’s room was seven or eight doors down.

At this moment, Ji Yuan lay on his side in the bed in a meditation posture, while the Green Vine Sword leaned quietly against the bedframe. He was neither meditating nor sleeping, but rather relying on his extraordinary hearing to listen to the two individuals chatting long into the night.

Ji Yuan heard everything that had been said in the conversation between Niu Batian and Yan Fei in the hall downstairs, as well as what Lao Niu said after sending Yan Fei back to his room. He couldn’t help but smile.

“Interesting!”

1. 牛 (niú): bull, 霸 (bà): tyrant/lord, 天 (tiān): sky/heaven – his name is literally “Heavenly Tyrant Bull,” which is a bit on the nose for a bull demon LOL

2. Reminder that I’m using a very fluid definition of “demon” and “monster” here, as in the original text both are the exact same word, with only contextual differences. “Monster” is anything that is not human (I count ghosts as human, technically). “Demon” is a subset of monsters that specifically cultivate using “evil” or “demonic” techniques, often causing harm. That doesn’t mean that their character is bad, just that their cultivation tends towards evil. I’m not sure if NB falls under this category, to be honest, but given that he’s introduced having kidnapped a woman out of lust, and JY was never this immediately hostile with regular monsters, I think it’s fair to translate his category as “demon.”

3. Lit. “if you have money, you don’t make money,” which I think means something along the lines of “those who have money can spend it however they want”