Chapter 34: Mist Demon
Chapter 34: Mist Demon
When Li Si threw his third Mind-cleansing Aura at it, a fist-sized head burst from the charred figure. It had delicate features and immediately shouted:
“Junior Brother, we’re allies!”
Seriously, who’s your junior brother?
Knowing full well what was going on, Li Si didn’t hesitate. He hit it with a Demon Slaying Thorn. Flames surged, fiery patterns emerged, and lightning danced wildly. The head was obliterated instantly, and the charred figure was reduced to seven-tenths its previous size…
No kill notification?
Trying to trick me?
Keep going!
Li Si seethed with murderous intent. Moving quickly, he melted down fortune and exchanged it for magic power while unleashing Dao Techniques. This was his greatest advantage.
Though he hadn’t even reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, he had an immense amount of Magic Power and launched nothing but high-grade techniques, stubbornly suppressing his foe the entire time.
However, when he threw his fourth Heart Cleansing Curse, a woman’s head burst from the charred figure this time. She was exceptionally beautiful and pitifully pleaded:
“Junior Brother, I am Kong Yue, thirty-second-generation true disciple of the Floating Cloud Sect…”
Women? They only slow down my sword!
“Bang!”
The figure was melted down by another tenth.
But after another Heart Cleansing Curse, the delicate-looking young man’s head reappeared, this time with a faint smile.
“Junior Brother, how is our respected Master?”
“Bang!”
“Junior Brother, Senior Brother Zhang and I have fallen to demonic ways. Our remaining thoughts brought us back. Please greet Master for us…”
“Bang!”
“Junior Brother, you must be careful. Fifty miles south of here is a town controlled by an Evil God. They’ve already sent two waves of Evil God Cultists this way…”
“Bang!”
Li Si said nothing, just fiercely attacked. Fear was starting to creep in. After all this intense output, the figure had shrunk to the size of a washbasin, like a charred black lump of flesh. Yet the figures of the two Floating Cloud Sect disciples were now life-sized, standing there, chattering incessantly, looking genuinely sincere, as if solely concerned for his welfare.
Clearly, such attacks were helping them break free from some kind of binding.
But Li Si had no other options. He’d used every skill he had. He could only barrel down this dark path.
Finally, when the charred black lump was utterly reduced to gray ashes by Li Si’s Demon Slaying Thorn, the two figures actually smiled pleasantly, nodded at him with grace and ease.
“Junior Brother, thank you for seeing it through. Disciple Zhang Zongyun of the Floating Cloud Sect takes his leave.”
“Thank you, Junior Brother. We have been freed. May heaven protect our Floating Cloud Sect. May heaven protect our Human Race.”
Their voices faded. Their ethereal figures dissolved into nothingness.
The next moment, strings of information appeared.
“Alienation Contamination Degree +50%!”
“Due to your Bloodline and Bone Evolution Progress, 20% is resolved.”
“Due to your Heart Cleansing Curse, 10% is resolved.”
“Slain a fallen Golden Core Devil. Acquired 20 White Fortune Firewoods. Acquired one Golden Core Relic.”
——
Li Si froze. He looked down. Indeed, amidst the fully refined gray ashes on the ground, lay a crystal the size of an apricot, perfectly rounded, emitting a soft white glow, looking profoundly sacred.
He quickly picked it up. Almost simultaneously, more information triggered.
“Golden Core Relic: Cause of Formation—A Cultivator of Golden Core Realm or above falls in battle. The corpse decays into a demon man. First, use the Heart Cleansing Curse to awaken its lingering thoughts. Then refine its fallen demonic body with intense flames. Finally, chance of acquisition.”
“Function: Anchor Fortune. Within the Mortal Realm, this is an exceedingly rare treasure capable of anchoring fortune. Can anchor up to 100 White Fortunes.”
“Usage Method One: Carry upon your person. Can anchor one White Fortune.”
“Usage Method Two: Use it in place of a Formation Array cornerstone. Can anchor ten White Fortunes.”
“Usage Method Three: Place within a town, mountain range, river, valley, plain, or similar location. Can anchor one hundred White Fortunes.”
——
Li Si scanned the information rapidly and immediately stowed the Golden Core Relic into his Storage Pouch. It was vital, but at this stage, it really shouldn’t be displayed.
Afterwards, Li Si didn’t even have time to assess his other gains. He quickly cast a Mind-cleansing Aura on himself and rushed straight towards the Stone House. Such loud commotion meant the Floating Cloud Sect members inside couldn’t have missed it. Yet, no one came out to check.
Had they grown too timid, or were they supremely confident in him?
Just as Li Si neared the Stone House, about three or four steps away, a sudden wave of terror washed over him. The Calamity-Dispelling Aura on him shattered. Even his Steadfast Mountain Seal activated.
Li Si scrambled back three steps, a cold sweat breaking out. He realized the problem.
It wasn’t that Ji Chang, Xu Shen, and Jiang Ying chose not to rescue him. No one could be that selfish, that cold-blooded. The truth was, they too were facing trouble.
After all, with the Three Talents Demon-Purging Array broken, endless Bizarre Dark Mist had completely enveloped the Deserted Village.
God only knew what terrifying thing had been drawn here?
Thinking this, Li Si acted decisively. While releasing Calamity-Dispelling Curses, Heart Cleansing Curses, and Evil-Warding Curses, he swiftly retreated to his previous location. There lay a Demon Sealing Domain; this thing suppressed the Dark Mist frighteningly well! Contact with it made the mist vanish like seawater crashing on rocks before retreating.
Thankfully, he made it back to the Demon Sealing Domain unscathed. Standing safely inside, he looked towards the Stone House. Wrapped in endless Dark Mist, the house now resembled a gigantic human head sprouting yards-long hair that whipped wildly in a fierce wind, screaming with unearthly shrieks.
No doubt about it, something was very wrong over there.
But Li Si felt no real panic. With the Old Madam present, no problem was truly overwhelming.
After using his Calamity-Dispelling Aura to ensure no possessing spirits clung to him, he sat down cross-legged and first examined his earlier gains.
Besides that Golden Core Devil, he’d also killed thirty-two demon corpses using the Five Tribulations Thunderlight Array, including those he’d trapped with Iron Prison Discipline.
This was substantial wealth, profit gained without real cost, as the array’s kill avoided adding Alienation Contamination Degree.
The only downside? These demon corpses weren’t very valuable. Slaying one yielded only one Black Fortune Firewood.
Li Si turned his full attention back to the Stone House. As for cultivation? Forget it. The situation demanded waiting for dawn when the Dark Mist would retreat.
Unaware to him, total chaos reigned within the Stone House.
Shanwazi, the Little Girl, Little Douding, and Little Vegetable Root – the four with no combat strength – huddled trembling near the center, pressed close to the Old Madam. Unfortunately, she seemed deep in meditation, oblivious to the outside world.
Ji Chang, Xu Shen, and Jiang Ying stood in a triangular formation facing outward.
Jiang Ying held an unusual oil lamp burning with a green flame. Its eerie light spilled out, illuminating the walls with horrific clarity. Countless black bugs squirmed out from cracks in the stones, densely packed, twisting, writhing, winding together like a churning pot of black oil.
Only the green lamp’s radiance kept them from approaching, but this clearly wasn’t sustainable.
“Junior Sister Jiang, how long can the Soul Lamp last?” Xu Shen asked. He held a small shield etched with sigils in his left hand and clutched a sheaf of Talisman Papers in his right, highly alert. None of them had been in such desperate straits for nearly fifty years.
“It can last another three hours,” Jiang Ying replied, her face pale but voice steady. She had to bolster her seniors. As the current Floating Cloud Sect leader, the Soul Lamp was her only artifact against the Mist Demon. They’d never imagined encountering one while stationed here for fifty years. Usually, activating the Three Talents Demon-Purging Array at night blocked the Dark Mist and prevented Mist Demon attacks completely. Yet… now this.
Added to her anxiety was the unknown. What had happened outside? Was their promising Li Si – newly favored by the Master and brimming with potential to break through Foundation Establishment – still alive?
But with the Mist Demon appearing… he surely was dead. Such was the cruelty of this world. No matter the talent or genius, ten thousand deaths lay in wait.
Over the past three hundred years, Jiang Ying had seen far too much like this; she’d grown numb to it.
Ah, my poor Junior Brother Li…