Chapter 181: Phantom Demon Worms

A few minutes later, Zhao Qingxie ceased her examination.

“You and I both entered the Daydream. Emerging from it inevitably produces a powerful Inner Demon. I have already severed mine. Why has your Inner Demon shown not the slightest sign? Truly like a courteous, modest gentleman, gentle and upright.”

Listening to Zhao Qingxie’s description, Li Si was also confused. Earlier, he had discovered he’d formed an Inner Demon. Even the Fate Forge specifically warned him once. But since then, that thing hadn’t appeared again. Even when he was nearly provoked into a simpering fool just moments ago, this Inner Demon hadn’t stirred to cause trouble. It perpetually remained indifferent, watching flowers bloom and wither before the courtyard, uncaring of comings and goings, observing clouds roll and unroll in the sky – like a lazy bird.

Was Inner Demons lazing around a trend nowadays?

Ugh, that simply won’t do. You have to be ambitious. You need that wolfish spirit.

Ultimately, though, this matter wasn’t terribly important. Even though Zhao Qingxie was concerned for him, that earlier provocation still left a question lingering in his heart.

“You… will you really leave?”

“Are you really willing to give me this hundred portions of Fortune of Heaven and Earth?”

Dammit, again!

Li Si covered his face, “Just give up already. My Inner Demon is different. Super bland. Super lacking in desires. Its greatest wish in life is to lie flat. You can’t provoke him. You only provoke me. Don’t end up with me becoming the Inner Demon, and the Inner Demon becoming me.”

“Yet judging by your current attitude, I find it rather effective. Unless… you are the Inner Demon!” Zhao Qingxie spoke with a laugh, clearly deliberate.

Li Si was speechless. He could only say, “Time is pressing. You should focus on your breakthrough. Don’t let us get caught together, becoming a tragic, star-crossed pair.”

“So, are you willing to give me that hundred portions of Fortune of Heaven and Earth? Even if I am fated to leave?”

“Yes, yes, I am utterly willing! Your Ladyship, please be magnanimous, spare this humble one!”

Zhao Qingxie stared fixedly at him for a long time. Finally, she nodded slowly. “You are not the Inner Demon. But I have never encountered an Inner Demon that is so detached and free from desire, like an enlightened master.”

“That’s because its survival instinct is maxed out,” Li Si mumbled.

Zhao Qingxie smiled. “With this hundred portions of Fortune of Heaven and Earth, I only need three days. I can reforge my Dao Foundation Immortal Body, perfect my seven kinds of Dao Heart. The Mortal Tribulation will no longer bind me. Then, I will take control of this unowned Immortal Artifact.”

“So, will you go?” Li Si couldn’t resist asking softly in the end.

“People are not grass and trees; who can be without feelings?”

“Guard me. I only need three days.”

Zhao Qingxie spoke calmly, causing Li Si’s heart to quieten as well. Indeed, this one sentence was worth a thousand words.

—-

In the Mortal Realm, Kaoshan City was no longer the Kaoshan City of before. The addition of eight hundred thousand people had made the place incredibly prosperous. Centered around the shipping on the Blackwater River and the teleportation arrays, it had clearly become the core city within Li Si’s domain.

At this very moment, on the bustling, crowded pier, a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator was directing a team of laborers unloading goods.

“Ugh!”

A very robust-looking man suddenly coughed up blood, staggered, and crumpled to the ground.

This instantly caused cries of alarm.

“Quiet! Back up, EVERYONE BACK UP!”

The Foundation Establishment cultivator roared while simultaneously flinging out dozens of talismans. Some among them shot skyward, emitting shrill alarms.

Some transformed into Battle Construct Talisman Soldiers that immediately rushed forward to isolate the man.

Others formed large Demon Sealing Auras, sealing off the hundred meters around him.

But most were hurled directly onto the vomiting man.

These included Heart-Calming Talismans, Misfortune-Warding Talismans, Mind Stabilizing Talismans, Dispersing Talismans, and Demon Sealing Talismans – all kinds of protective charms.

For a moment, multi-colored lights flared brightly, then dimmed one after another. The man by now roared furiously, his body beginning to twist. Then, with a bang!, he exploded. Hundreds of gray shadows burst out from within, forcefully breaking through the blockade of ten Battle Construct Talisman Soldiers.

They began unleashing bloody slaughter on the pier area.

From the bodies of those they killed, hundreds more gray shadows would immediately emerge mere moments later, wreaking havoc across a wider area.

Simultaneously, throughout Kaoshan City, at least several hundred similar scenes erupted. Alarms and screams mixed chaotically.

Without a doubt, this was a massacre targeting ordinary people and low-level cultivators.

However, in less than three seconds, over three thousand Golden Core cultivators surged out from Kaoshan City and the Floating Cloud Sect’s headquarters. Some were also panicked, but sheer numbers and higher combat power prevailed. Even though the gray shadows multiplied rapidly, they could be swiftly dispatched.

Most crucially, fifty Nascent Soul cultivators and four Divine Transformation Realm cultivators took action.

Within ten seconds, the light of teleportation arrays flashed brightly. Led by Ji Yuan, the leader of the Heaven-Mending Sect, nine Divine Transformation cultivators, one hundred and fifty Nascent Soul cultivators, and five hundred Golden Core cultivators rushed to the scene.

After another five seconds, the rampaging gray shadows, both inside and outside Kaoshan City, were completely annihilated.

“ALARM! Bai Chu, Governor of Southern Crossing City, requests aid!”

“ALARM! Mi Zhou’er, Leader of the Jiuxuan Spirit Sword Sect in Greyrock City, requests aid!”

Ji Yuan and Xu Shen exchanged a glance. They then wordlessly led their forces into the teleportation arrays. Correct, currently at the Floating Cloud Sect, there were three medium-sized teleportation arrays. As long as an aid call arrived, forces could go anywhere.

Naturally, Jiang Ying, now at the Divine Transformation Realm, remained in Kaoshan City with ten Nascent Souls and three hundred Golden Core cultivators for defense.

The rest: Xu Shen (Void Refinement Realm), Ji Chang (Divine Transformation), Cheng Tianhao, Wang Wu (both Divine Transformation), led teams in different directions.

Subsequently, teleportation arrays activated repeatedly. Alarms rose and fell one after another, as if the world was descending into chaos. Yet, in reality, whenever an alarm sounded, within five seconds at most, a Divine Transformation cultivator would arrive leading a squad.

Within barely one minute of the event starting, nearly fifty cities, large and small, were assaulted by these terrifying gray shadows. And then, almost within that same minute, all threats were extinguished.

Casualties, however, were inevitable. Even in the fastest-reacting cities, casualties numbered in the thousands. In cities where deployment was bungled, deaths even reached tens of thousands.

The speed of the outbreak was terrifying. But with four Void Refinement experts arriving simultaneously within ten seconds of the first alarms, any rampant spread became meaningless.

“Notice anything? This resembles the Phantom Demon Worms pulled out by a Wishing Stone. And they seem to have undergone several mutations.”

In a restaurant within Kaoshan City, a Middle-Aged Scholar and a Boorish Big Man sat opposite each other, boredly sipping wine. They completely ignored the few corpses nearby.

Others seemed oblivious to their presence.

“It looks like Jiuxuanzi’s handiwork. But if he really did this, he’s not far from turning to demonic cultivation.”

“This Mortal Realm is doomed!”

“A pity for that generous kid. He’s quite clever. All that Divine Grace Baptism he recklessly deployed earlier? Its effect was excellent. From five million people, he forcibly cultivated four Void Refinement cultivators, twenty-two Divine Transformation cultivators, thirty-two hundred Nascent Soul cultivators, two hundred thousand Golden Core cultivators, and eight hundred thousand in Foundation Establishment.”

“This scale, while perhaps still not much to look at, the per capita ratio is truly frightening. So even if the command had been worse, the deployment messier, it wouldn’t have changed the final outcome.”

“Hah, exactly! More than one in every five people being a cultivator at Foundation Establishment or higher? What a concept. Jiuxuanzi has made a fool of himself this time.”

“It might not be Jiuxuanzi. And don’t you think this Phantom Demon Worm tactic seemed too clumsy? Too blatant, and too low-grade. Normally, that kid just needed to activate his Land Deed Seal, and these worms wouldn’t even get started; they’d die before they hatched.”

“It’s odd indeed. The attack was brazen, yet the wealthy kid didn’t react at all. Could something be wrong?”

The men exchanged a look.

“The kid should be deep within the vortex of calamity qi from the great tribulation right now. He shouldn’t be unaware. There might be an issue.”

“I have a feeling Jiuxuanzi knows more than we do about some things. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be this audacious.”

“Then why didn’t he unleash Abyssal Demon Flies?”

“Ha! Are you joking? Would he dare? The four of us are counting on that ‘small change’ for our livelihoods right now.”

“A pity we can’t divine further. The rising calamity qi causes heavenly disruptions. Dig deeper, and we’ll get dragged into the tribulation.”

“Who cares? Once that Void Demon Corpse arrives, we’ll consume it all and leave. Hmm, truly not looking forward to drifting through the Mist.”

“You could always return to the Land of Infinite Vastness.”

“Hmph!”

“Hmph…”

The two lost interest in conversing, each leaving with an indifferent glance.

Meanwhile, the group led by the four Void Refining experts – Ji Yuan, Xu Shen, Bai Chu, and Mi Zhou’er – was urgently conferring.

This emergency revealed major flaws. Had their forces not been numerous, a city-wide massacre might have occurred. The Phantom Demon Worms could evolve and strengthen continuously by consuming victims and splitting.

“Fifteen thousand are dead. Mostly concentrated in smaller towns. Therefore, the population consolidation plan must be fully implemented. Previously, we forcibly relocated everyone from small towns into cities. Without that measure, what would the death toll have been?”

Ji Yuan spoke gravely. Before this, various factions harbored their own motives, so the plan hadn’t been fully pushed through. Now it was different.

“Should we seek instructions from the Eternal Life Real Person regarding this?” Bai Chu voiced his thoughts. Reaching Void Refinement was entirely due to the divine position granted by Li Si. Of course, the same applied to everyone present. However, lacking the backing of a major sect himself, he spoke with less certainty.

“No need. The Eternal Life Real Person might be secluded in cultivation, or perhaps he wants to see our capabilities. With such a massive scale of Divine Grace Baptism before, if we cannot resolve even this minor matter, how could we face anyone?”

“I propose we use the existing ten major cities as bases, absorbing the others. The principle should be consolidation by proximity.”

“Additionally, considering the command and dispatch chaos this time, I propose that we, the four Void Refiners, form a council. We must strengthen the authority and independence of the four-faction alliance. We cannot have another chaotic mess like this one.”

“I concur. It’s best to establish a central coordination hub. Use a powerful treasure for detection and suppression, and have a reliable person issue dispatch orders. I nominate Jiang Ying.” Xu Shen said. Jiang Ying, the Floating Cloud Sect’s chief steward, had always handled logistics with flawless organization.

“I agree,” Bai Chu quickly concurred.

Ji Yuan and Mi Zhou’er looked at each other, then also nodded. Though they had candidates in mind, Jiang Ying was indeed the most capable choice, especially given her Divine Transformation Realm strength to hold the position firmly.

“I have a premonition the attacks will happen again. Perhaps even more insidious and unpredictable. I propose we enter a state of combat readiness.”

“Agree!”