Chapter 520: The Resentment-Demon Bird, Easily Defeated

Is it that an internal incident occurred, which then led to external involvement?

Why exactly would it be like this? One can only go and investigate.

Facing the highly unfavorable situation of the Shura Secret Land, Du En and the others immediately took action, carefully using Earth Escape to enter through a gap, choosing not to destroy the protective barrier.

In this way, upon stepping onto the Bone Wilderness, the dense resentment and demonic Qi accumulated within, along with other intangible things, naturally exerted a clear negative influence on them.

It was as if their bodies and minds were shackled with heavy chains; the longer they stayed here and the deeper they walked, the greater the influence would be!

However, the situation was currently unclear, and it was not suitable to rashly break the protective barrier, lest some uncontrollable change occur or the situation worsen.

As for the negative influence, both of them had actually experienced an increase compared to when they first started moving; moreover, having rested and built up their strength along the way, their condition was full and intact, so there were no substantial problems for the time being.

Except for the fact that Earth Escape was becoming difficult to maintain.

It was not that it was completely impossible, but the resistance had become very great, the consumption of magic power had increased significantly, and this was even more true the further they went inside; I fear that once they truly reached the interior of the Shura Secret Land, it would fail completely.

This was a situation Du En had anticipated; it is difficult to rely on a single trick to get by everywhere, and there are always various strange and bizarre things that act as obstacles or even counters.

Wu Rui could not help but look around, because after entering, it was as if they had arrived in another world; compared to the embryonic Dharma Domain of the old warrior and the space within the formation of the Research Association, it felt completely different, with a sense of difference that was more thorough and profound.

A dim yellow curtain, a wilderness of bones, mounds of skulls, endless resentment... faintly, there even seemed to be the sound of crying?

She paused for a moment, then looked toward that direction with some vigilance, not becoming muddled or careless enough to run over directly just because she heard the crying.

"Wuwuwu..."

Listening carefully, it was indeed the sound of someone crying, lingering and incessant, somewhat sharp and hoarse, as if the crying had gone on for too long, causing the condition to become like this.

And listening further, this voice even seemed somewhat familiar, as if heard somewhere before? When things are abnormal, there must be demons; Du En immediately manifested back into human form, released his magical artifacts while raising his hands, and simultaneously brewed and accumulated various spells and attacks.

Only then did he signal with his eyes, the two of them carefully guarding front and back, stepping lightly on the bones as they approached the place where the crying came from.

The boundary of the bone hills was receding, more like it was coming alive as a whole, swallowing these two living people into its own body; Wu Rui could not help but feel a chill in her heart, and that crying sound lingered incessantly, neither growing louder nor quieter, as if the distance between them could never be closed, yet could not be widened either! Du En felt no ripples at all regarding this situation, treating it only as a trick of mystification, so seeing him like this, she also steadied her heart.

"Wuwuwu!"

The crying sound seemed dissatisfied with the performance here, suddenly becoming loud, as if something was fiercely approaching, a violent force like an approaching storm rushing toward them, causing Wu Rui to subconsciously manifest her Strange Feathers.

Colorful and bright, they possessed an unusual, vibrant color in this dim, dead, and silent bone wilderness, as if startling the source of the crying, causing it to suddenly retreat again.

"What exactly is going on!"

Wu Rui suddenly became angry, then realized her state was wrong, and subsequently realized that the influence on her emotions had disappeared, or rather, had been grown out.

This magical transformation obtained from that post-station village chief, these so-called Strange Feathers, were essentially an expression of "heretical pollution," accepting the various punishments and tortures of the True Gods! In other words, their resistance and protection could be called all-encompassing; as long as it was various external, alien things, they could be excluded and transformed into a feather or a cluster of feathers on the surface of the body.

That was why she had become normal again; as they continued to move carefully, she also realized that the crying sound was not actually failing to approach; on the contrary, it had been approaching all along.

It was just that the path had a slight deviation...

Just as she was thinking this, Du En, who was clearing the path ahead, corrected this deviation again.

Huh? He knew it all along and didn't remind me... No, he didn't know about this, hmm? Then how did he find the correct direction again?

Du En was indeed being influenced by the invisible effects of this bone wilderness at this moment; although on the whole, he was stronger and more reliable, Wu Rui possessed special qualities he could not compare to now, so she could rely on the Strange Feathers to resist and exclude the influence of this place, while he was merely hard-resisting the various external infections.

Anyway, at the current level of intensity, it was not comparable to the various things from when his Primordial Spirit was weak and exposed before.

So it was not taken to heart at all.

The reason he could correct the direction was also very simple.

Intuitive response, and small probing actions for correction.

Situations such as a sudden hunch or a sudden feeling are, at the level of a Great Cultivator and above, a new sense; the Buddhist school even has detailed classifications of the six, seven, and eight consciousnesses, so it is very normal, a basic characteristic of the strong that is so common it is unremarkable.

The small actions were even simpler.

Wu Rui watched carefully and soon noticed something sneaky, looking finer than cow hair, but actually tiny skewers, like maggots on bones, scattered in all directions, secretly crawling through various rotten human bones, thus covering the surroundings and moving as he moved.

Skewer-Piercing Technique.

Originally, relying only on his own activation, this was a highly magic-consuming and unsuitable method at present, but at this time it had a special use, which was to utilize the characteristics of this spell to extract external magic power, or rather, to receive the corruption.

Having observed the process of that substitute-spirit corruption before, and with the addition of talent-upgrading and new learning of Daoist methods, in short, by timely discarding the peripheral skewers, he could use the corruption to provide part of the spell's consumption, saving several tenths of the magic cost while also being able to distinguish the enemy's specific position based on the speed difference of the corruption.

Come to think of it, resentment-demons, as a collection source of resentment and demonic Qi, are actually quite brainless and do not restrain their own existence at all, so this move was very effective now, which could be called prescribing the right medicine for the illness.

Wu Rui watched in sudden realization.

It seems that after finishing those books of Fan Zheng, he has indeed gained a lot of knowledge in terms of spells.

Du En thought this to himself while glancing back during his vigilance.

Then, very quickly, they approached the source of the crying.

At the same time, the bones piled up here were also significantly different.

The smell of blood was pungent, so thick that there was a faint blood mist in the air, and faintly, wails of pain were echoing, while the specific scene appeared, making Wu Rui's face turn pale.

Fresh human bones! There were still bloodstains and flesh sticking to the bones, as if they had just been gnawed on.

Eaten alive! And such bones were scattered and piled up, and at a glance, there seemed to be no end to them!

It was simply a scene from hell!

Du En stepped forward, crossed this mound, and finally saw the source of the crying.

It was lying in a hollow valley surrounded by a mound of human bones, its whole body trembling, emitting a whimpering, crying sound that lasted for a long time and kept drilling into people's minds.

"A... carving eagle?"

Wu Rui could not help but speak; the main reason was that this place gave her quite a shock. After all, the resentment-demons she had encountered before had basically already undergone corruption, growing dark-toned, appearing as rotten, gray-black flesh, and were inconspicuous in the continuous overcast rain. But here, it was a straightforward, blood-dripping reality; the human bones and flesh were all bright-toned and normal, which naturally highlighted a shocking terror.

"Woo!"

The carving eagle heard human speech and immediately stopped crying; Du En did not intend to answer her, because...

Whoosh! Bang! The carving eagle violently flapped its wings and slammed heavily onto the ground, allowing itself to take flight, bringing a gust of fishy, evil wind as it raided toward them.

Resentment and demonic Qi surged!

It was clearly a resentment-demon!

And Wu Rui's gaze clearly captured the place where it had just been lying.

It was its feeding trough! Naturally, it was piled with food that hadn't been finished yet—dismembered, fresh human bodies! Both men and women, with incomplete clothing, could generally be identified as coming from both the Divine Tree Sect and the imperial soldiers; their intact faces revealed vivid fear and bewildered despair.

"Woooooo!!!"

The Carving Eagle shrieked, its every opening cry sounding like weeping, with bits of shredded flesh and bone scattering along its path; the eyes staring at Wurei held nothing but an intense, extreme greed and appetite.

A Grudge Demon that had fallen and mutated to such a deep degree, it was practically identical to those primitive Grudge Demons.

Checking the error-free version one by one!

Du En's eyes flickered slightly, and he raised his hand to slash out with his sword.

The Three Truths Divine Fire was even more powerful now, not only because his strength was recovering, but also because the Azure Sky Burning Sword, acting as its vessel, had been reinforced, elevating its overall level by a tier.

The Carving Eagle seemed exasperated at being disturbed, but it knew the lethality of this flame and hurriedly flapped its wings to gain altitude; however, this was clearly no ordinary attack, and it naturally pursued them.

The two sides chased each other through the air, ending only when the divine fire suddenly extinguished a moment later.

That dim, yellow sky seemed to swallow the magnificent divine fire, which appeared so incongruous here; in any case, no matter how abundant one's magic power might be, it was impossible to maintain such a distance for long with any spell.

"Woooooo!!!"

The Carving Eagle was overjoyed, emitting a triumphant cry, then circled in the air, locked onto its target once more, and swooped down, still charging toward Wurei, completely ignoring Du En, the greater threat.

Pick the soft persimmon to squeeze, or perhaps...

Du En narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Wurei, whose small face was slightly flushed—flushed with anger—her eyes filled with hatred as she prepared to give this man-eating Carving Eagle a taste of its own medicine; the implication was self-evident.

Bait.

Good!

She only wanted to defeat this hateful Carving Eagle now, thinking of nothing else, and took the initiative to step forward.

The Carving Eagle had actually been somewhat wary of Du En during its charge, holding back a fraction of its strength; now, seeing its best prey run out on its own, it was inexplicably excited, squeezing out every ounce of its power without the slightest reservation.

"Woooooo!"

"You, mine, greatest, glory!"

"Eat, eat, eat!"

*Puchi! *

Accompanied by the garbled words and murmuring human voice, two strange bull horns suddenly burst through the flesh on its head, black as ink—the crystallization of grudge energy and demonic energy; its overall strength had also increased by a tier compared to just a moment ago, and its entire body was wrapped in a foul, fishy wind, rushing forward like a tornado, unstoppable.

"Come!"

Facing such a creature, Wurei felt no fear at all; she simply raised her hand, the Strange Feathers vanished in an instant, and light danced at her fingertips.

What is the most basic spell? The answer is simple: magic power discharge.

Charge, condense, strike, release, and finally the end state—or rather, the discharge form that most cultivators prefer: Light! Magic light bombardment, one of the techniques that Hui is proficient in; there is nothing flashy about it, focusing purely on raw, fierce strength!

Points of starlight gathered from her graying hands, appearing somewhat dim but gaining a sense of weight, condensing rapidly; as the Carving Eagle approached at high speed and opened its mouth to swallow her whole, she lifted her head slightly, her gaze firm, and unleashed the final activation!

*Hum—shoo! Boom! * At such close range, there was no way to dodge; the Carving Eagle opened its maw and took the magic light head-on, its stomach and intestines fiercely scoured on the spot, its body swelling and expanding from the internal explosion, its feathers standing stiffly on end.

If it had been the creature from a moment ago, it would have been blown to pieces by now.

But it was different now! "Woo! Eat, eat you, I will..."

The Carving Eagle's voice was still being squeezed out, the crazed appetite in its eyes undiminished, but it couldn't finish its sentence because a chain blade shot over with precision, chiseling through its skull to break the base of its horn and binding it tight.

At the same time, over a dozen magic artifacts pierced its recently shriveled body with a uniform *puchi* sound, creating an equal number of holes and physically severing its bodily functions.

Du En had quietly appeared before its beak, his raised hand preventing it from closing its mouth, and he aimed the Burning Sword in his other hand at its head, calmly delivering a Divine Fire Piercing strike.

"No, no, you cannot..."

The Carving Eagle instantly became much clearer-headed, but as it clamored, its brain had already been pierced and incinerated.

A creature that should have been quite troublesome to deal with, given the local terrain, was finished off just like that.

"Hateful creature, if I could, I really wouldn't want to purify it!"

Wurei was still feeling indignant.

Because after Grudge Demons fall and mutate, they basically continue to act according to their previous obsessions; that was the root cause of their fall from spiritual energy, so this monster that loved to eat people certainly wasn't a good person before! An unforgivable criminal? Du En speculated normally, as there were traces to follow; the Asura Secret Land had previously been adjacent to that underground prison, researching solutions to reverse the mutation for those who had fallen to a lesser degree.

At first, they naturally took in comrades who had unfortunately mutated to find a solution, but as time passed and the degree of mutation deepened, it became inevitable to take more radical actions.

At that point, targeting comrades was certainly out of the question, so finding some criminals who deserved to die and letting them put their remaining heat to use became a very timely approach.

In this way, the logical chain was clear: it had mutated early on, went through a series of events, became so inhuman and completely unrecognizable, and then retaliatorily attacked the personnel stationed at the Secret Land, tearing them apart and eating them alive.

But, was that really the case?

The actual answer, as the obsessive memories unfolded, was quickly revealed to the two of them.

(End of chapter)