Chapter 35: Demon Transformation

Wu Chang carried the Four Directions Age-Fire Lamp, scanning the ancestral treasury a few times, but found nothing that could be used as lamp oil.

The ice mist had already drifted into the ancestral treasury; he could not delay any longer.

His gaze finally landed on a corner of the treasury, where a sheathed precious sword lay.

He drew the sword; the blade shone with a biting cold light. He plucked a hair and let it lightly touch the edge, and the strand slid apart into two pieces.

It could sever a hair blown against it.

This sword must be the best precious sword in Chen Family Village.

Holding the "Village Best Sword," he slowly walked to Chen Peng's side and cupped his hands in a salute.

"Brother Chen, the situation is urgent, I need to borrow your head for a moment. If you don't refuse, I'll take it as your consent."

Three breaths later, Chen Peng had not turned into a corpse; it seemed he had no objections.

"Many thanks."

Wu Chang raised his hand and brought the blade down, severing Chen Peng's head.

He found a piece of cloth, wrapped the head up, and strode out of the treasury.

Before leaving the door, he casually dismantled the incense burner used for sacrifices in the ancestral hall and moved it to the entrance.

Then he opened the cloth bundle and placed it beside the incense burner.

After finishing all this, he retreated into the ancestral hall and waited quietly.

Not long after, a wind began to blow on the mountaintop, and the thick mist swirled, once again condensing into the true form of the Mist Demon.

The human skin, supported by the mist, appeared in the clearing on the mountaintop. It shrieked and rushed to the head, the entire skin wrapping around it.

The next moment, on the silent mountaintop, came the gruesome sound of chewing, interspersed with the crisp cracking of bones.

Wu Chang watched all this with an expressionless face, not a shred of fear in his heart.

What a joke; he had even seen the true form of an Evil God and had used his own collection to trade blows back and forth with it. Could a mere minor demon gnawing on an icy skull scare him?

When he gnawed on rabbit skulls, he ate with more relish than this.

He only hoped that this dungeon plane also followed the principle of "you are what you eat," so that after the Mist Demon finished the offering he provided, it might become a bit smarter.

A few minutes later, the human skin "stood" up. It mimicked a human posture and bowed to Wu Chang.

Then the entire human skin, along with the bright red resentment upon it, dissipated and vanished.

Without the human skin, the Mist Demon's remaining mist body stood still like a puppet with its strings cut, motionless.

The transcendence was complete; Wu Chang's stamina and energy each increased by one point, and his inspiration increased by two points.

The increase in the energy attribute was different from the improvement of other attributes. When he first obtained energy, he felt his internal organs trembling violently, as if someone were doing construction inside his body to build a partition for a "new tenant."

Fortunately, the energy added was not much, and the pain in his body did not last long.

When his body returned to normal, he felt an extra strand of Qi within him.

This strand of Qi stayed quietly at his dantian, able to roam throughout his body at his will, as responsive as his own arm.

He tried to release the Qi outside his body, but it was too weak, not even as strong as the flame of a disposable lighter.

Before he could even see its shape clearly, a mountain breeze blew it away without a trace.

With his energy exhausted, the organs in his body began to squirm rhythmically, spontaneously converting physical strength into energy.

Feeling the changes within, Wu Chang took a deep breath and threw a punch.

From now on, he could also be considered a transcendent.

Beyond the attribute boost, the bright red resentment also brought him a piece of crystal-clear glaze.

The glaze was soft in texture, feeling like human skin to the touch.

"Item Name: Mist Guide"

"Item Description: The remains of a demon with special power. Items made using the Mist Guide as a raw material have a 60% chance of possessing mist-control abilities and a 10% chance of possessing hallucinogenic abilities."

Wait.

Wu Chang frowned; the Mist Demon didn't cut off a piece of its own human skin as a reward, did it?

Although he was in the Abyss Game and shouldn't be so squeamish, he was still very resistant to using human remains to craft items.

He pondered for a moment, then placed the Mist Guide into the Four Directions Age-Fire Lamp. Once inside, it quickly turned into lamp oil.

"Current lamp oil burn time: 1800 seconds."

The essence of the Mist Demon was only enough for the Four Directions Age-Fire Lamp to burn for half an hour; its appetite was truly large.

Having finally filled the lamp oil, how could he not test the effect? He lit the Four Directions Age-Fire Lamp, and a flame ignited inside the red lantern. The light it cast gave one a wonderful feeling full of vitality.

He shone the light toward the Mist Demon. Under the peaceful glow, the Mist Demon's mist body melted rapidly, dissipating just like the transcended human skin and resentment.

"May you be reborn into a good family in your next life."

As if responding to Wu Chang's well-wishes, a clanging sound came from where the Mist Demon had disappeared, and something fell to the ground.

It was a brass dagger that had lost its luster. Multiple strands of resentment were attached to the dagger, and these resentments dissipated rapidly as the dagger fell.

"Item Name: Demon Transformation."

"Item Status: Damaged."

"Item Description: An object refined using a special technique, with a demon core residing within. Using it allows one to transform into a demon. However, due to immature craftsmanship, the effect is extremely unstable."

Demon Transformation.

Wu Chang toyed with the dagger, his expression thoughtful.

He had found it strange before that nearly half of the people in Chen Family Village had died at the hands of the Mist Demon, so why did the Mist Demon only carry its own resentment?

It turned out that those resentments had all been absorbed into this Demon Transformation.

With the Mist Demon gone, the thick fog shrouding Chen Family Village also slowly dispersed, revealing the slowly rising moon.

During the time he spent exploring Chen Family Village, it had become completely dark.

Traveling after dark was dangerous, but staying in Chen Family Village was not safe either.

Not to mention the frozen goods in the cold storage in the town at the foot of the mountain—this was a dungeon plane with demons, and staying the night with them, there was no guarantee he wouldn't be entangled by some filthy thing.

Even if he relied on the Four Directions Age-Fire Lamp and the Soul-Cleansing Command Flag and wasn't afraid of those frozen goods, he still had to fear the Mist Demon's teammates.

Judging from the layout of the cold storage, the demons that conquered Chen Family Village intended to use this place as a long-term nest.

Upon sensing the death of the Mist Demon, it was very likely that other demons would come to investigate the situation.

The risk of staying in the village was quite high; it would be better to leave overnight.

Before leaving, Wu Chang made a trip to both the ancestral treasury and the cold storage.

Everyone else brings back souvenirs when they go on business trips; it wouldn't be excessive for him to take some local specialties after helping Chen Family Village get rid of such a powerful demon, right?

As soon as he left Chen Family Village, he mounted his horse and returned at full speed, without a moment's delay on the road.

There wasn't much information in the resentment regarding night road conditions. To be safe, he took a detour around overly dangerous areas, which doubled his travel time, and he didn't return to Huaigu Village until the afternoon of the next day.

On the way, he kept thinking: if Chen Family Village were the bandits that had been rampant in recent years, then what was the identity of Liu Wei, who advocated lending the palace lanterns to Chen Family Village and often targeted players? Recalling their previous meetings, although Liu Wei called Liu Shan "Uncle," there was a lack of respect in his words.

He even mentioned many times that Liu Shan was old and afraid to take risks, and should hand over the position of village chief to him.

As the leader of the hunters in Huaigu Village, Liu Wei had many supporters, all of whom were young and strong men in the village. His voice was loud, and every time he made a proposal, many people echoed it.

When he previously asked about the origin of the evil spirits, Liu Shan had also told him to ask Liu Wei, stating bluntly that Liu Wei knew the most about matters in the mountains.

Major events happened in the mountains, yet Liu Wei did not consult Liu Shan at all, which showed that the two had been at odds for a long time.

Looking at that posture, it wouldn't be strange if a "coronation" happened one day.

Could it be that Liu Wei wanted to learn from Chen Family Village and turn the whole village into bandits after obtaining the position of village chief? Or was it that Liu Wei had always been a bandit, wanting to drag Huaigu Village into the water to expand the bandit organization and increase his own influence?

Looking at the silhouette of Huaigu Village in the distance, a flash of inspiration struck Wu Chang.

According to the villagers' understanding, it would take at least six days to go to and from Chen Family Village; no one would expect him to have returned already.

Then, wouldn't this period be the best time for him to investigate Liu Wei? He had to find someone who was familiar with the situation in the village and would not betray him.

Who should he choose?

Many good brothers were dissatisfied with the plot of spending experience and decayed silver coins to unlock the Poison of the Transcendent, so the settlement content of the first dungeon has been modified, the unlocking of the Poison of the Transcendent has been postponed, the deduction of experience and decayed silver coins has been cancelled, the protagonist's current level and attributes have been changed, and the "Peaceful Years" dungeon has been changed to a C-rank dungeon. Only the values have been changed; the specific plot remains unchanged. Good brothers who have already read it can see the revised content by re-downloading the chapters.

(End of chapter)