Chapter 23: The Five Filth Gods

The room’s transformation was already chilling enough.

More horrifying was the fact that five grotesque, malformed lifeforms stood around them.

All five were short in stature, draped in black robes; below the neck they looked no different from ordinary humans, but what rested atop their necks was not.

One had a head with no flesh or bone—only a flapping skin sack.

One skull was split in half, like a pair of lungs, continuously oozing black sludge.

One head had two openings, like a giant nose, its pitch-black nostrils facing forward, nostril hairs tangled with snot.

The Nose-Spirit clasped its hands in a seal, as if preparing a devastating technique, but Shi Ji slashed its throat.

The Lung-Head Spirit spat a jet of black oil at Wu Xian; Wu Xian overturned a table to block it, then pierced it through with his copper coin spear, flinging it clear across the room.

He discarded the Boy’s Urine Amulet, leapt up, and launched a fierce assault on the demons—not in desperate last gasps, but based on his assessment of his own abilities, choosing the path most likely to secure victory.

Hss!

Guided by an invisible force, the Copper Coin Sword suddenly lengthened—six blades became twelve!

Could this still be called a Copper Coin Sword?

Now it was nothing short of a spear, over two meters long, radiating searing heat; just three or four blades could slay a wandering spirit.

The last Skin-Head Spirit tried to flatten its body and slip out of the room, but Wu Xian and Shi Ji dragged it back, using its own skin to wipe the filth from their weapons…

Besides the Copper Coin Sword and True Fire Talisman, Wu Xian had two other talismans.

What followed was a massacre of demons by humans.

“How much longer are you going to be fooled? Wake the hell up!”

The threat they needed to guard against wasn’t just Wu Xian alone.

Now that Wu Xian had terrified the demons, the one with a pile of intestines stacked on its neck crept closer from behind—this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

These five things were the Five Filth Gods!

Human filth stinks of flesh,

Ghosts feast on bone and blood’s sweet scent.

So…

The five grotesques hummed in unison; Wu Xian listened closely and recognized their chant.

This is skin!

“He’s awake! He’s awake!”

From above, Wu Xian could see that the headless spirit wasn’t truly without a head.

Where its collarbones should have met its neck, a massive mouth had grown—lined with neat human teeth, its swollen, moss-covered tongue lapping incessantly inside.

The Copper Coin Sword glowed red; three layers of coins vanished. The headless spirit collapsed lifelessly.

Wu Xian flicked his middle finger twice—he used the Double-Fire Talisman twice!

They had been locked in this room since dusk, yet neither Wu Xian nor Shi Ji had noticed—they’d been toyed with like puppets, and had it not been for this tachi…

After the headless spirit died, the unbearable halitosis that had lingered vanished.

The Filth God’s domain,

Skin, Mouth, Lung, Nose, Intestine.

Shi Ji had lost a tooth to the Boy’s Urine Amulet and finally came to his senses, but the scene had been too perilous—he’d remained crouched on the floor, waiting for an opening to strike back.

Realizing escape was no longer possible, they banded together to counterattack, yet against Wu Xian and Shi Ji, they held no advantage.

But now two of the five were gone—they were merely ordinary wandering spirits!

What they feared wasn’t Wu Xian—it was the invincible Copper Coin Sword in his hand!

The floor, ceiling, and walls all twisted simultaneously; everything warped, and from the distortion emerged sheets of yellow-white material. These sheets gradually unified in color, their surfaces clearly showing veins and faint body hairs.

Weapons or items granted by a devotee’s worship of a god cannot be lent to others; what Wu Xian could use was merely the filth inherently embedded in the blade itself.

Yet Wu Xian’s motion froze mid-air.

The monsters spoke in unison, stepping forward together; invisible pressure surged again.

Weapons tainted with filth possess a certain ability to disrupt magic.

Too bad Wu Xian couldn’t use this knife.

But this was merely the first effect of the Long Character.

One was the Long Character, which could be attached to an object to increase its length.

The filth on the Boy’s Urine Amulet was so potent that even the demons’ powers dared not touch it—this gave Wu Xian the chance to regain his sanity.

Shi Ji’s eyes glowed red as he lunged upward from his crouch.

The last one had nothing atop its head—and yet looked even more unnatural than the others.

The other was the Double-Fire Talisman, usable twice; each use doubles the number of times the next non-self talisman activates!

These two talismans were carefully chosen by Wu Xian and preserved unused—now, at last, they would unleash their power!

Wu Xian’s eyes brimmed with murderous intent—he’d kill the remaining four, and perhaps then he’d feel truly clean.

“Next—who?”

Facing what seemed an utterly hopeless situation.

One skull curled like a snake—a coil of intestine, dripping yellow intestinal fat…

Not just the four of them—even ten wouldn’t be enough for this Copper Coin Sword to slaughter!

The four remaining Filth Gods didn’t notice as they slowly retreated.

When the Five Filth Gods stood united, they were at their strongest—capable of warping reality, blocking senses, and shattering human will through their powers.

His wrists and ankles were bound by crimson intestines; foul-smelling intestinal fluid soaked through his clothes.

Living skin!

Five pieces of skin, warped from the room, curled toward him from all directions—seen from afar, like a flower bud about to close.

The four demons recoiled in horror.

Then he flicked his index finger, activating the Long Character again on the Copper Coin Sword—after stacking two Double-Fire Talismans, the Long Character’s activation count became…

“Hah.”

But it wasn’t over yet.

The long blade pierced through the spirit’s sacrum, three inches below the tailbone, driving through its chest and severing its intestinal head.

Now only three Filth Gods remained!

The three spirits trembled.

Second time—the blades became twenty-four!

Third time—the blades became forty-eight!

Fourth time—the Copper Coin Sword’s blades became ninety-six!

The suddenly elongated Copper Coin Sword pierced straight through the headless spirit’s unguarded body; the smile on its massive mouth, which filled its entire neck, vanished instantly.

Wu Xian did not give up.

“Put him to sleep, then draw him into the realm!”

And Wu Xian himself didn’t stop mid-motion for no reason.

Four!

The Copper Coin Sword would lengthen four times!

Wu Xian spun sharply and hurled the Boy’s Urine Amulet with all his strength—it struck Shi Ji square in the face.

Wu Xian struggled to his feet; as the demons tightened their grip, his pain intensified—but he did not sink back into illusion.

Wu Xian himself drew the Copper Coin Sword, now reduced to six blades, leapt forward, and thrust it at the headless monster before him.

When this flower bud closed, Wu Xian was finished!

The five demons watched in unison, waiting for Wu Xian to be engulfed by the skin—his life essence would seep through the membranes into each demon’s body.

Yet even in this dire crisis, the Copper Coin Sword in Wu Xian’s hand still pointed at the headless spirit’s chest cavity.

The Five Filth Gods, who had wreaked havoc in the blessed land and caused countless human deaths, were annihilated by Wu and Shi.

Originally, I wanted to make the Five Filth Gods even more grotesque—snot, sweat, feces, urine, flatulence—but then I thought it was too revolting, even for me to write; so I changed it to Nose, Mouth, Lung, Skin, Intestine.

(End of Chapter)