Chapter 120: The Flesh-Fed Yin Demons Arrive (Part 2)

He Mountain Sect cultivators, or rather, Qi Refining cultivators, are all in the stage of "shedding the mortal body and building the Dao foundation." Although they have grasped the wonders of Daoist methods and wield fierce Dharma Artifacts, their own bodies remain mortal flesh and blood. Even a high-level Qi Refining cultivator who is only one step away from forming Dharma Power, if they lack protective methods or protective artifacts, could still be stabbed to death if they encountered a newly forged Five Poisons White Bone Sword.

The wonder of True Qi is relative to mortals; in battles between cultivators, that stuff has some use, but when facing spells and Dharma Artifacts, it doesn't have much utility.

This is why it is said that when cultivators become brave and ruthless, their mutual slaughter is even more tragic; as long as both sides harbor killing intent and employ their means, casualties can occur within a few breaths.

Geng Laodao intercepted the two opponents, five Skull Demons flying around him out of thin air, cackling strangely.

These two, one named He Kun and the other Hao Gan, were both high-level Qi Refining cultivators just one step away from the Hundred Apertures cultivation level. Although they were considered Inner Sect Disciples, they were in a mediocre position; it was not difficult to build a Lower Grade Dao Foundation, but if they wanted to strive for a Middle Grade Dao Foundation and hope for the dream of forming a Golden Core, they would have to scheme and maneuver very carefully.

"Five Skull Demons? Could it be that you've lived all these years in vain?"

He Kun laughed grimly, but a fierce light appeared in his eyes: "Blocking the two of us, are you in such a hurry to die?"

Although the Skull Demon Method ranks second in the He Mountain Scripture and is extremely cruel and vicious, it has a drawback: it is very difficult to find skulls of high-quality people who died violent deaths. While it is not impossible to refine them using mortal bones, the level of the Prohibition is hard to make profound. This is why Chen Ci's Five Yin Evil Qi Bag ranks far below the Skull Demon Method, yet he can still put up a fight when he encounters one.

Therefore, within the He Mountain Sect, the Skull Demon Method generally does not follow the path of winning by quality. There might be a few premium Skull Demons, but most He Mountain cultivators who specialize in this method take the path of winning by quantity. A few dozen is not considered many; a hundred is normal. If one reaches the level of a Golden Core Ancestor, they could likely raise thousands or tens of thousands of Skull Demons. Setting up a Skull Soul-Devouring Array—not to mention whether it is powerful or not—would certainly be imposing enough.

He Kun raised eighteen Skull Demons. Although the Miaojiang of He Mountain is vast and sparsely populated, the total number of Miao villages is not small; there are two or three thousand villages with thousands or tens of thousands of people. By scraping together, it is still enough for He Mountain Sect cultivators to squander.

This Geng Laodao only raised five Skull Demons; if fellow practitioners from neighboring side-sects saw this, they would think the He Mountain Sect couldn't afford to raise them.

Bring another one, one for each!

However, no matter how you put it, in this battle, the number of Skull Demons is twenty against five; the advantage is with me.

"Brother Hao, I'll go first, you provide support, let's finish this quickly."

He Kun slapped his waist again, releasing another eight Skull Demons, which merged with the previous twelve, like demons dancing across the sky, killing toward Geng Laodao.

"Heh~"

Geng Laodao only glanced at the mid-air, and the next second, his left hand formed a blade, severing his right palm, and he threw it into the mouth of a Skull Demon. Next were the two segments of his forearm and the two segments of his upper arm. His right shoulder was left empty, but it fed the five Skull Demons until they were full. The ghastly skulls were instantly dyed a layer of blood color, their aura surged, and they themselves swelled by more than thirty percent, charging forward with strange, shrill shrieks, killing and scattering the more numerous Skull Demons in just one round.

"Blood Sacrifice Method? You're crazy, aren't you afraid of the Skull Demons backlashing!"

He Kun shrieked: "Brother Hao, save me!"

The Skull Demon Method is an Evil Method that requires killing countless living beings and condensing countless fierce souls and ghosts to be refined. For a Skull Demon, the most delicious and nourishing thing is naturally the flesh and soul of its own master. Just one taste can incite its ferocity, but this method makes the Skull Demons addicted. Afterward, if you don't offer your own flesh and blood daily, these Skull Demons, unable to forget the taste, will inevitably backlash against you.

"Profound Yin Ghost-Slaying Talisman!"

The one surnamed Hao threw five black talismans from his sleeve, which instantly turned into five black blade-auras and slashed toward the five blood-red Skull Demons. But only a crisp sound was heard; one Skull Demon sacrificed itself to block these five talismans, stumbling with black energy overflowing, screaming and wailing. The remaining four became even more ferocious, opening their ghastly giant mouths and killing toward He Kun.

The cultivator surnamed He turned pale. After hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and snapped all five fingers of his left hand, throwing them to his five Skull Demons, his heart filled with hatred.

Before a practitioner attains the Dao, their physical body is extremely precious. If there is any deficiency, their cultivation will be hard to perfect. Losing the five fingers of his left hand would definitely affect his future Dao Foundation and Dharma Power achievements. He would also have to dispose of these five Skull Demons afterward. Who could endure having a quarter of the Evil Method they had practiced bitterly for years broken?

But he never expected that these five fingers would make all twenty Skull Demons scramble madly. The Skull Demons that were still protecting their master were like wolves seeing raw meat; who cared about the life or death of their master anymore?

"No!"

Although He Kun had practiced other methods, he was no match for the Skull Demons under the blood curse. In just one breath, he was wrapped in the blood-colored poisonous smoke spewed by four Skull Demons and died on the spot.

"You haven't even mastered raising Skull Demons; what's the use of raising so many?"

Geng Laodao stopped the injury on his shoulder. His own five Skull Demons flew back swaying like drunken demons, cackling and shrieking, exceptionally satisfied. It was just that the eyes they fixed on him were full of greed and malice, as if they were looking at some peerless delicacy.

"Here, take it, take it."

Geng Laodao glanced at the murderous cultivator surnamed Hao: "A remnant body in exchange for a chance at the Dao Foundation, it's worth it."

As soon as the words fell, he actually threw himself into the five Skull Demons. After a horrifying sound of chewing, the five satisfied, aura-surging, and fearless fierce demons turned their heads to stare at the cultivator surnamed Hao on the side.

In just a few rounds, all three high-level cultivators had perished.

Chen Ci's side was two against three, and he had thought they would fall into a disadvantage, but he didn't expect that this Senior Brother Dong's Yin Yang Soul-Bewitching Banner was so powerful. The Yin Yang Soul-Bewitching Qi it dripped was a bit lacking in killing enemies, but it was perfect for whipping and entangling. One person and one banner blocked the three's Dharma Artifacts, and for a short time, they were evenly matched.

But wasn't Chen Ci still here?

With someone helping him with crowd control, Chen Ci lifted his sleeve and went up with a hammer. Before long, he had another gain, sending one person to sleep head-first. It was just that the Yin Fire hidden within the hammer was exhausted, leaving only the Bone Great Strength Restriction method to rely on.

"Junior Brother Dong, Junior Brother Chen, help me!"

Seeing that the two could maintain a draw even if they couldn't win, a loud cry suddenly came from the side. Chen Ci subconsciously glanced over, only to see Guo Laodao fleeing in a panic. Behind him, that cultivator had a ferocious expression, surrounded by nine flying forks burning with blood flames, chasing him down.

Damn!

Chen Ci's eyelid twitched. Without a second thought, he didn't care about this cheap senior brother and immediately made a strategic transfer, avoiding him by several yards.

"Senior Brother, don't panic!"

Seeing his Yin Yang Soul-Bewitching Banner displaying great power, Dong Xiong let out a light whistle, pushing the Yin Yang Soul-Bewitching Qi to its maximum, splitting off nine strands to meet the nine flying forks. But that person just gave a disdainful laugh, took out a ball the size of a fist, and threw it over.

This ball grew in the wind, actually becoming a large net a zhang wide, covering them from above.

Dong Xiong was not afraid, swinging the Soul-Bewitching Banner fiercely. The Yin Yang Qi on it all dripped down, rolling toward the large net. Chen Ci had just stopped his steps when he saw a flash of fear on Guo Laodao's face, and he dodged even further away. His heart skipped a beat, and he had the five ghosts push him to dodge another few yards.

"Boom!"

On that large net, more than a dozen clusters of phosphorus fire Yin thunder were hidden. They exploded suddenly, and even the Yin Yang Soul-Bewitching Banner could not protect against it. Anyway, after the thunder, only a charred, blackened corpse remained on the ground, trapped by the large net, still tightly clutching its own natal Dharma Artifact.

Sigh.

This cheap Senior Brother Dong was actually not a bad person.

Chen Ci looked up, feeling a bit sentimental. It was just that he had suffered too few setbacks, thinking everyone was like him, the He Mountain Light, and could share hardships with him.

"Heh heh!"

Guo Laodao, who had been fleeing in a panic, laughed. Taking advantage of the momentum of the phosphorus fire Yin thunder net, only two screams were heard. He didn't know when his Six Paths Black Cable had sneaked behind the two people who had just been fighting. With just a light entanglement, he took their lives. He had truly used his own "lower-grade horse" to face the enemy's "upper-grade horse," while he himself took the enemy's "lower-grade horse."

Although it was a one-for-two trade and his side didn't lose out, Chen Ci couldn't be happy at all. His hand holding the White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer tightened slightly. Looking around, in such a short time, besides Yao Daosheng and Lin Qinhu, only the three of them remained alive on the field.

"Junior Brother Chen, come quickly to help me, kill this person!"

Guo Laodao's eyes flickered. He didn't make any move to attack, but just spoke of their deep fellow-apprentice bond, wanting to protect Chen Ci in front of him: "Why don't you come over quickly!"

"Wait, what is this?!"

Chen Ci suddenly felt that his five ghosts seemed to have encountered a great enemy, jumping back from the void and hiding in the Ancient Bronze Lamp.

On the field, at some point, several strange ghost creatures that looked like humans and tigers appeared, devouring the corpses of the cultivators on the ground. Even though they were not far away, the three of them seemed completely unaware, as if they couldn't see them, subconsciously ignoring them.

If it weren't for the five ghosts raised by Chen Ci having a reaction, I'm afraid that by the time they had finished eating all the corpses on the field, others wouldn't have noticed anything wrong.

Two corpses of cultivators near the Hundred Apertures level and eight corpses of cultivators at the sixty-aperture level had all their flesh, blood, and bones swallowed into the bellies of those few ghosts. By the time they were full and raised their heads to scan, seemingly having ideas about the three of them, it was discovered that these were five human-faced, tiger-bodied ghosts, their eyes full of cruel bestiality.

Are these the five ghosts raised by Lin Qinhu?

Swept by these five yin spirits, Chen Ci, Guo Laodao, and that hostile Daoist all felt a chill throughout their bodies, their limbs growing numb, but in the next second, these five yin spirits leaped into the void and vanished.

The Five Ghosts Transportation Method—could it actually transport Essence Yuan?

Chen Ci's eyes narrowed slightly, thinking of a possibility.

In truth, Lin Qinhu was no match for Yao Daosheng at all, at least not when he had just entered the Dao Foundation stage.

But the power of that one strike was real; however, the fresh flesh and Essence Yuan of everyone on the field, including Chen Ci, was his true trump card of secret arts, and only by feeding the five ghosts could Lin Qinhu possess the power of the one strike he spoke of.

Chen Ci felt a lingering fear in his heart; although he knew this trip was a matter of nine deaths and one life, it was still different from ten deaths and no life.

Lin Qinhu's appearance of having everything under control had deceived his own people and bluffed the other side as well.

Otherwise, had Yao Daosheng attacked the moment they met, they likely would have had no path but total annihilation.

"I am gambling my life for the path of the Dao."

Chen Ci muttered to himself: "The one surnamed Lin is also gambling his life for the path of the Dao; it's just that the price to pay doesn't feel very good, but fortunately, we've made it through now. Very good, very good."

It's just that he didn't know what the final outcome would be; he could deceive others, but that Lin Laohu must not deceive himself, otherwise, it would truly be over.

"You are actually still afraid."

Pity flowed in Lin Qinhu's eyes: "Someone like you from the Yao Clan can bully the weak, but once you face a true opponent, you hesitate and look back. If you encountered an Apprentice of a major sect, I fear you wouldn't even have the courage to strike. But then again, it's like if a mortal suddenly jumped out to kill me; I would also think for a moment whether there were some hidden tricks involved. Being overly cautious and suspicious is only natural."

"You—"

Yao Daosheng squinted and smiled: "Bluffing!"

"Apprentices in the sect who practice the Five Ghosts Possession Great Method, even if they train to a profound level, only double their physical strength and increase their combat power, appearing like demons or ghosts. However, because they lose their sanity, they cannot simultaneously use other Dharma Artifacts, making them inferior to other wondrous arts when fighting."

Lin Qinhu sneered: "You simply don't understand the meaning of 'doubling.' If one can lay a solid foundation, this method is the supreme method of the He Mountain Scripture, not losing to any orthodox divine ability!"

As soon as he finished speaking, five demon tiger yin spirits emerged from the void and suddenly leaped into Lin Qinhu's body.

Lin Qinhu instantly transformed into a ten-foot-tall humanoid tiger demon, his muscles bulging and swelling throughout his body, even taking on a grey-blue hue through his skin, as if some strange entity were roaming within. It was hideous and terrifying, and five horrific small tumors grew on his forehead, vaguely forming the character 'King,' appearing part human, part demon, and part ghost.

"Essence Yuan Blood-Burning Curse!"

"White Bone Great Strength Method!"

"Five Ghosts Possession Method!"

"Five Spirits: Soul-Disrupting Curse!"

"White Bone Yin-Slaying Blade!"

"Slash!"

Suddenly, the sounds of countless ghosts wailing and wolves howling erupted on the field. Lin Qinhu, with red eyes and a blue demon body, appeared like a ghost. A formless force seemed to surround him, carrying him across dozens of feet in a single breath. A white jade curved blade, seemingly as tall as a person and carrying rolling baleful energy, was slashed down by his hand with a boom.

Yao Daosheng was dazed for a moment, only managing to shake his sleeve to release dozens of Skull Demons to kill forward, while simultaneously spitting out a small white bone arrow, aiming straight for Lin Qinhu's forehead.

"Roar!"

Lin Qinhu's eyes were filled with the desire for destruction and slaughter, ignoring the Skull Demons biting at his body. As the blade light fell, that small white bone arrow was actually split down the middle and fell to the ground.

Yao Daosheng revealed an expression of disbelief.

"My... Thousand-Year Dragon Bone Heart-Piercing Arrow..."

Before he could finish his sentence, his entire body split into left and right halves, perfectly asymmetrical.

In the next second, the five yin spirits leaped off Lin Qinhu's body and pounced on the remains on the ground to feast, while the tiger demon body leaked air like a deflating object, returning to human form. The man was so deathly pale he didn't look like a living person and could barely stand; the burly man who had been eight feet tall now inexplicably looked somewhat gaunt.

It was actually the first time Chen Ci had seen Lin Qinhu in such a weakened state.

"Brother Guo, you've been a bit slippery."

Watching the remains on the ground being eaten clean by the five yin spirits, with even the seeping blood licked away, Lin Qinhu finally regained a bit of color and said calmly: "Not a single outsider is allowed to escape. If you can't do it, you know the consequences."

Run!

The only surviving Qi-refining cultivator among Yao Daosheng's group, seeing Yao Daosheng defeated and killed, opened his eyes wide in disbelief. He let out a strange cry, sent his nine Mother-Child Blood Flame Forks toward Guo Laodao, and immediately turned to flee into the dense forest.

Guo Laodao's face also became uncharacteristically serious. He nodded, his body suddenly appearing ten years younger, his back straightening significantly, and he chased after the man in an instant.

After only the time it takes to burn an incense stick, he returned. Although his aura was also withered and he looked even older than before, the head he held in his hand could not be faked.

Chen Ci grinned; there were actually experts hidden here, he was still too young.

"Clean up all the loose ends; it's time to hit the road."

Lin Qinhu tapped his fingers lightly, and the five tiger-shaped yin spirits reluctantly dove back into his body, finally filling out his Daoist robe with his previously shriveled frame.

"Brother Daoist Lin, that... look here..."

Although Guo Laodao was withered to the point of exhaustion and his demeanor was somewhat timid, his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the ground, preventing others from seeing the change in his expression.

"Since I have achieved an Upper Grade Dao Foundation, I naturally must go to the Red Dragon Temple to claim the position of True Inheritor, and it is also a good time to leave Xishan Prefecture to avoid the limelight. Why, does Brother Guo not wish to come along and take a look?"

Lin Qinhu suddenly smiled, scanning the two people on the field, and asked leisurely.

I have failed you all, my masters, ying ying ying~

(End of chapter)