Chapter 352: The Blood Demon Holy Sect

"A terrifying nightmare began. One by one, the pioneers were struck, and pools of blood appeared. From within them, Blood Demons rose up. They began to slaughter wantonly. In a short span of time, only a few hundred remained out of several thousand. In the end, it was the team's priest who summoned the light of the Spirit Mother, and only then were they barely able to defeat and repel them."

"The Blood Demon Holy Sect—that is a filthy, degenerate evil path! They settled in those lands further south long ago, but ultimately chose to discard the radiance of the Spirit Mother and turned to embrace the Blood Demon Path, which is what bred such terrifying evil things!"

"It is retribution! It is the retribution for the apostates' rebellion!"

The Elder spoke with increasing agitation.

The young hunter, having long been accustomed to these words, could not help but retort: "If that is the case, why does the Holy Sect keep us here instead of recalling us?"

"You..."

The Elder suddenly stalled, his face flushing red, gasping for air as if he were about to collapse on the spot. Fortunately, the steady hunter raised a hand to pat his back and help him catch his breath.

"Right, you are right. I also do not know why it is like this, even though we are clearly victims too."

Once he caught his breath, the Elder appeared dejected. Now, nearing the end of his life, his past piety was being consumed bit by bit. With the Holy Sect Army now withdrawing, it was essentially equivalent to pulling out their last backbone, leaving behind only a few sparks of embers.

The younger people in the camp were astonished by the old man's current candor, followed by confusion and unease.

Although there had been complaints and murmurs in the past, the Elder's tough attitude and rhetoric were actually their support, their backbone. Now that he had become dejected, it left everyone feeling at a loss.

The steady hunter scanned the surrounding darkness, then looked at the cave pigs being set out for roasting before him, and suddenly spoke: "Friend, why not come out and be seen?"

This abrupt remark made the others in the camp freeze.

What did he mean? They had not reacted in time.

Before the steady hunter could say anything more, he heard footsteps—very close—causing him to snap his eyes toward the sound.

Du En was no longer hiding; he appeared under the firelight, accompanied by the trailing small stone statue.

"Ah? This, this..."

The Elder was stunned, forgetting his dejection, and turned to stare blankly at the steady hunter with an expression of "what is wrong with you?"

The other man answered: "I was just thinking that with the Holy Sect Army withdrawing, the Blood Demons might move north. The demonic beasts that were previously hiding in the cracks between the two sides would likely take action. Although we disguised the cave pigs, resources are scarce, our methods are simple, and we lack experience, so it is nine times out of ten that they would be found."

His spear never left his side, his bow and arrows were slung on his back, and he held a few cave pig tusks in his hand, sharpening them as if they were daggers. Clearly, he was in a state of combat readiness, having weighed the risks and prepared for a desperate fight.

No cave pigs meant the camp would perish; with cave pigs, it was not certain! But after waiting for so long, and with the Elder having already finished a round of recounting the past without any movement, he realized the situation had changed. It did not look like a Blood Demon attack, so after careful thought, he boldly spoke to test the waters.

Du En actually knew of his preparations and calculations, but he had killed the wolves anyway—it was a casual act. Since the man dared to speak up, he might as well reveal himself.

He went straight to the point: "Regarding the Blood Demons and the Blood Demon Holy Sect, I hope you can tell me more detailed inside information."

As payment, he raised a hand and gestured; the carcasses of those cave wolves flew over from a distance and landed with a thud in the firelight.

Unsurprisingly, the old, weak, women, and children huddled together. The Elder straightened his spine, blocking them, while two younger hunters sprang up, grabbed their bows and arrows, and took up positions on the flanks.

Only the steady hunter did not move.

"I, I will tell you! Heretic of a foreign sect! The radiance of the Spirit Mother still shines upon us..."

"Elder, this person has no hostility."

"Cough, cough, are you sure... well, it seems that way, haha."

After the tension subsided, looking at the pile of cave wolf carcasses—any one of which could have posed a life-or-death crisis for this peripheral camp, yet had been killed by Du En with a casual wave—the situation was obvious.

If he truly had hostility, they, who were essentially abandoned, would have no power to resist and would likely be killed in the blink of an eye.

Therefore, the people here moved back slightly. Many children stared at Du En with curious eyes, then looked at the small stone statue behind him, their eyes sparkling.

Such a cool black-armored stone statue! Du En sat on a stone stool that had been vacated for him, casually scooped up some gray soil from the edge of the campfire, kneaded it, and several miniature giant stone-statue clay figurines were freshly made and placed by the fire to bake.

The children's eyes were immediately glued to them.

Seeing the appropriate goodwill shown here, the Elder rubbed his sleeves nervously, trying hard to recall the etiquette he had learned at the central camp, but in the end, he just smiled awkwardly.

"That, if you were listening just now, then everything the old man knows has already been said. There really, really is nothing else."

Du En did not mind, only looking at the steady hunter.

The man hesitated slightly, then nodded: "I know some things the Elder does not."

Hm? The Elder was stunned.

Although I have been grooming you as my successor, is it not a bit inappropriate to hide such important matters from me so quickly? Unfilial son! Feeling this gaze, the steady hunter did not feel embarrassed or distressed; instead, he appeared very solemn: "It was about twenty years ago. I was young and reckless, and I snuck over to the Blood Demon cave tunnels to peek. I originally wanted to run inside, but in the end, I didn't do it. Then, as I turned to go home, I saw a priest of the Holy Sect."

"It was she who told me some other circumstances."

Speaking of this, he could not help but recall that time.

Before the deep cave tunnel, looking back, he saw her holding a torch. The flames flickered, reflecting and licking at that beautiful face. Because she had taken off her tall crown—very much against the decorum of a priest—it was completely imprinted in his eyes at the time.

He did not fall into that kind of beauty; instead, it was like seeing a beautiful poisonous snake or frog. There was only a sense of chilling fear, a fear that came from the bottom of his heart.

Even thinking about it now, he could not help but show that same look.

For him, this was an experience he did not want to recall, yet it was an inevitable part of what shaped his current character, so he could not forget it, nor could he stop thinking about it.

Meeting those calm eyes, he calmed down faster than ever before. Looking again at the flickering flames, his heart suddenly jumped, feeling that this might be another moment that would change his destiny.

Thus, while others fell into silence, and in Du En's patient listening, he slowly continued: "She told me that the Holy Sect Master had long known about the existence of the Blood Camp. They even had quite a bit of communication with each other. It was with the support of the Holy Sect Master that the Blood Demon Holy Sect successfully transformed and was established."

"She also told me that they were actually just a group of people who had gone south to pioneer early on, and like everyone under the radiance of the Holy Sect now, they had the same ancestors and the same origins."

Nonsense!

The Elder wanted to shout and interrupt.

Because even though they had lost the backbone of their piety toward the Light-Rejecting Sect and the central camp, they still retained a worldview that had long permeated their flesh and blood, like these tiny sparks.

What's more, it was those Blood Demons, those people of the Demon Sect, who had destroyed the pioneer camp and led to their current downfall. They were unforgivable enemies... In the end, he did not speak out to rebuke him.

Recalling in hindsight, his son, who had once been daring and willful, had begun to change rapidly from that time on, becoming steady and mature, eventually becoming the actual pillar of the camp.

Over these decades, if he had not always been able to hunt for various foods in the cracks, such a dilapidated peripheral camp would have long since been destroyed and swallowed by the darkness!

And the Holy Sect Army, so close at hand, would not care in the slightest...

The Elder sighed in his heart.

His son was still telling Du En what he knew.

"Those people in the south were just demonic cultivators who had different philosophies from us, so they did not want to join the Light-Rejecting Sect, but they were not overly resistant either." "The establishment of this camp was indeed for pioneering, but not for pioneering the edge; it was for pioneering routes for communication and even trade, which is why even children like the Elder at the time were among them."

"However, in the end, that Blood Demon Holy Sect completely fell into the demonic path, turning from top to bottom into pure, out-of-control Blood Demons. That was what overturned everything, caused the pioneer camp to be abandoned and ignored, and forced the Holy Sect Army to come over to suppress and isolate them."

"Ever since I was a child, I often wondered why we had to suffer such misery, so I wanted to find an answer; perhaps the answer I seek lies in that place in the south where the Blood Demon dwells."

"She seemed to be able to see my thoughts, and so she told me..."

Speaking of this, he could not help but pause and swallow his saliva; the fear from back then, the fear at that moment reaching its peak, in his memory there was only a pair of red lips that looked like they were stained with blood, spitting out evil words that tempted one to fall.

"If you want to get the answer, then come find me again; we are the same kind of people, and I can let you know the answer..."

The past ended there.

The recollection returned once more to the depths of his mind.

He let out a long breath.

After hearing the end of this past, Du En pondered, feeling concerned about a certain point; although he felt it was unlikely, he still asked, "What did she, the one you speak of, look like?"

"This, well, she was very beautiful, very dangerous... oh right, she seemed to have a mole on her chin."

"Alright, I understand. Also, why are you no longer obsessed?"

"... I don't know, it's strange. At that time, I was indeed tempted; after all, I actually didn't have any skills, and the other party was a wanton Holy Sect Priestess."

He himself found this very strange as well.

"It was the Holy Sect Leader!"

The old man interrupted at this moment.

"Why do you think so?"

Du En inquired.

This old man seemed to have little faith left; logically speaking, he should not be so categorical.

"No, this, how should I put it? When I was young, I seem to have seen the Holy Sect Leader; vaguely, I just had a feeling that if it were that person, they would likely do such a thing..."

Such words seemed to have no persuasive power, appearing like mere wishful thinking.

But Du En did not feel that way; instead, he calmly scrutinized and analyzed to determine various possibilities, and then, he discovered that he could not actually negate this situation.

However, conversely, he could not definitively confirm this situation either.

Then, since the information that could be collected had been collected, there was no need to hesitate or delay any longer.

Thus, Du En stood up.

"Sir, where are you going?"

"South."

Answering, the calm figure in the grey robe slowly moved away from the illumination of the fire.

The people in the camp watched him, unexpectedly feeling no worry, as if they were gazing at a vast, tranquil night; no, not the night, for the moment he completely left the radiance of the fire and plunged into the darkness, in a trance, they saw something else, a more concrete and clear image.

There is no need for his light to shine upon me; if there is no longer any torch in the darkness, then I shall be the only light within it!

The radiance tore through the darkness; Du En walked to a certain place, and the darkness in that place vanished completely... He paused slightly, glanced back sideways, his eyes narrowed slightly.

He himself could not possibly be so ostentatious right now, but the people in this fringe camp seemed to be able to see the majesty that his cultivation method could project.

Strange! His gaze retracted, sweeping over the small stone statue guarding the Immaculate Infant.

Once is a coincidence, twice is unlikely.

First, the birth of an Immaculate and pure infant near the edge, and then, the existence of people with anomalies here at the actual edge...

If it were someone like that old God of Aging hanging on the tree, they would probably have skinned and deboned them, refined their soul and searched their spirit by now, attempting to find the reason behind it all.

But Du En would not.

He simply withdrew his gaze and continued to step forward, deep into the darkness.

He passed the cave with remnants of encampment traces, and then arrived at the tunnel from which one could peer into the movements of the Blood Demon.

This was also a path carved out by human hands, only narrow, enough for only one person to walk.

And in the depths of the tunnel, there was a faint, surging blood color, like a rising tide, moving closer to the tunnel entrance as time passed.

Continuing to walk forward, he soon saw the inscriptions on the wall.

"Ahead is the territory of the Blood Demon Sect, do not casually..."

The latter half of the inscription had been erased, and in its place were mottled, incomplete, dense, and terrifying characters everywhere.

Retreat!

Retreat! Retreat! Retreat...

Escape! Escape! Escape! Escape...

Die! Die! Die! Die...

The further Du En walked inside, the more twisted, ferocious, and sloppy the characters became; by the section where the word "Die" was everywhere, he could already see the blood color with the naked eye.

When he gazed at the blood, the blood was also gazing at him! Thus, suddenly, a tide-like magic power surged over first, sticky and viscous, causing the "Die" characters on the four walls of the tunnel to immediately bleed, gurgling incessantly.

"Ah!!!"

A shrill scream came from within, and one hand after another reached out from the blood.

The Blood Demon had come! "It really is the Blood Demon..."

Du En uttered his words, which were calm and sounded like a sigh.

Because he also had not expected that in a place where such evil things were gestating and changing, he would be able to see such pure demonic magic power and demonic evil objects.

In this way, the situation was very simple.

He continued to walk, and as his footsteps fell, subtle, invisible things had already spread and covered the area; he did not know exactly how many there were, but in the blink of an eye, they filled the air and were still increasing.

(End of this chapter)