Chapter 35: Demon Transformation

Wu Chang held the Four Directions Year Fire Lantern, his gaze sweeping the clan treasury several times, yet he found nothing that could serve as lamp oil.

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

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

He drew the sword; its blade gleamed with a chilling light. He plucked a single hair and laid it lightly across the edge—the hair slid apart cleanly into two segments.

Sharp enough to sever a hair with a breath.

This sword had to be the finest blade in Chen Family Village.

Holding the "Village's Finest Sword," he slowly made his way to Chen Peng's side and cupped his fists in greeting.

"Brother Chen, the situation is urgent now—I need to borrow your head. If you don't refuse, I'll take that as your consent."

Three breaths later, Chen Peng did not undergo corpse transformation; it seemed he had no objections.

"Many thanks."

Wu Chang's hand rose and the blade fell, severing Chen Peng's head in one stroke.

He found a length of cloth, wrapped the head neatly, and strode out of the treasury.

Before stepping out, he casually dismantled the incense burner used for offerings in the ancestral hall and carried it to the ancestral hall's entrance.

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

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

Before long, wind rose on the mountaintop; the thick fog coalesced into a vortex, once again condensing into the fog demon's true form.

The human skin buoyed by the fog appeared on the mountaintop clearing. It shrieked as it lunged to the head, and the entire skin wrapped around the head.

The next instant, across the silent mountaintop came a ghastly sound of chewing, interspersed with the crisp crack of shattering bone.

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

What a joke—he had even seen a true evil god, and had traded treasured blows with it blow for blow. How could a mere little demon gnawing on an icy skull frighten him?

When he gnawed on rabbit skulls, he ate even more enthusiastically than this.

He only hoped that in this instance's plane, the rule of "you become what you eat" applied too, so that after the fog demon finished his offered tribute, it might grow a little smarter.

A few minutes later, the human skin "stood" up. Mimicking a human posture, it bowed with cupped fists toward Wu Chang.

Then the entire human skin, along with the crimson resentment upon it, dissolved and vanished together.

Without the human skin, the fog demon's remaining fog-body stood motionless in place like a puppet with cut strings, devoid of any movement.

Exorcism 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 differed from other attribute gains. Upon acquiring Energy for the first time, he felt his five viscera and six bowels trembling violently, as if someone were doing construction inside his body, building a partition for a "new resident."

Fortunately, the Energy gained was not much, and the pain within his body did not last long.

Once his insides returned to normal, he sensed a new current of Qi within his body.

This Qi rested quietly at his dantian, able to travel anywhere within his body at his will, as responsive as an extension of his arm.

He tried to release the Qi outside his body, but it was far too faint—not even a match for the flame of a disposable lighter.

Before he could make out its shape, a mountain breeze blew and it scattered without a trace.

With his Energy exhausted, the organs within his body began to蠕动 rhythmically, spontaneously converting stamina into Energy.

Sensing the changes within his body, Wu Chang drew a deep breath and suddenly threw a punch.

From this moment on, he too could be counted as a Transcendent.

Beyond the attribute increase, the crimson resentment also brought him a piece of crystal-clear glazed crystal.

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

"Item Name: Fog Tether"

"Item Description: A remnant corpse of a demon bearing special power. Items crafted using the Fog Tether as material have a 60% chance of possessing fog-control ability, and a 10% chance of possessing illusion-inducing ability."

Wait a moment.

Wu Chang furrowed his brow—surely the fog demon hadn't cut off a piece of its own human skin as payment?

Although being in the Abyss Game meant one shouldn't be so squeamish, he was still deeply averse to crafting items from human bodies.

He thought for a moment, then placed the Fog Tether into the Four Directions Year Fire Lantern. Once inside, the Fog Tether quickly transformed into lamp oil.

"Current lamp oil burn time: 1800 seconds."

The essence from the fog demon was only enough to fuel the Four Directions Year Fire Lantern for half an hour—what an appetite it had.

After finally filling the lamp oil, how could he not test its effect? He lit the Four Directions Year Fire Lantern, and within the red lantern a flame sprang up. Wherever the light shone, it gave one a wonderful feeling brimming with vitality.

He shone the lantern's light on the fog demon. Under the serene lantern-light, the fog demon's fog-body melted away at great speed, vanishing just like the exorcised human skin and resentment.

"In your next life, be reborn into a good family."

As if in answer to Wu Chang's blessing, a clatter rang out from where the fog demon had vanished—something had fallen to the ground.

It was a tarnished brass short knife, with multiple strands of resentment clinging to it. These resentments dissipated rapidly as the knife fell.

"Item Name: Demon Transformation."

"Item Status: Damaged."

"Item Description: An object refined through a special method, with a demon's core residing within. Using it allows one to transform into a demon. However, due to insufficiently mature craftsmanship, the effect is extremely unstable."

Demon Transformation.

Wu Chang toyed with the dagger, his expression thoughtful.

He had found it strange before—nearly half the people in Chen Family Village had died at the fog demon's hands, so why did the fog demon bear only its own resentment?

So all those resentments had been drawn onto this Demon Transformation blade.

With the fog demon gone, the dense fog shrouding Chen Family Village slowly dispersed, revealing the moon as it rose.

During the time spent exploring Chen Family Village, the sky had already turned completely dark.

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

Setting aside the fact that the small town at the foot of the mountain has a cold storage full of frozen goods, this is a replica plane where monsters exist. Spending a single night here, there's no telling what kind of filthy thing might latch onto you.

Even if he relied on the Four Directions Year Fire Lamp and the Soul-Cleansing Command Banner and wasn't afraid of those frozen goods, he still had to fear the Fog Monster's teammates.

Judging from the layout of the cold storage, the monsters that had overrun Chen Family Village were preparing to use this place as a long-term lair.

Having detected the Fog Monster's death, other monsters were very likely to come and check on the situation.

Staying in the village carried considerable risk; better to leave overnight.

Before departing, Wu Chang made a trip to both the clan treasure vault and the cold storage.

Other people bring souvenirs when they travel for work; he had rid Chen Family Village of such fearsome monsters — taking some local specialties wasn't excessive, was it?

The moment he left Chen Family Village, he mounted his horse and rode back at full speed, without the slightest delay on the road.

The grudge-residue didn't contain much intelligence about nighttime road conditions, so to be safe, he detoured around the more dangerous stretches, which doubled his travel time. It wasn't until the afternoon of the second day that he returned to Locust Valley Village.

On the road he kept thinking — if Chen Family Village was the mountain bandits who had been running rampant in recent years, then just what was Liu Wei's identity, the one who had advocated lending the Palace Lantern to Chen Family Village and who often targeted players? Recalling their previous meetings, although Liu Wei addressed Liu Shan as "uncle," there was a lack of respect in his words.

He had even repeatedly mentioned that Liu Shan was already old, didn't dare shoulder risk, and should hand over the position of village head to him.

As the head of the hunters in Locust Valley Village, Liu Wei had no small number of supporters, all of them young and able-bodied men in the village. His voice was loud, and every time he raised a proposal, quite a few people chimed in agreement.

When he had previously asked about the original cause of the evil spirits, Liu Shan had told him to go ask Liu Wei, saying outright that Liu Wei knew the mountain affairs best.

Whenever something major happened in the mountains, Liu Wei never discussed it with Liu Shan at all — clearly the two had been at odds for a long time.

At this rate, it wouldn't be strange if one day he got himself a "Yellow Robe Bestowed" moment.

Could it be that Liu Wei wanted to seize the village head's seat and then, like Chen Family Village, turn the whole village into mountain bandits? Or rather, Liu Wei had always been a mountain bandit, and wanted to drag Locust Valley Village down with him, expanding the bandit organization and increasing his own say.

Gazing at the outline of Locust Valley Village in the distance, an idea flashed through Wu Chang's mind.

By the Locust Valley villagers' reckoning, a round trip to Chen Family Village took at least six days; no one would expect him to be back already.

Then wasn't this stretch of time the perfect window for him to investigate Liu Wei? He had to find someone who knew the village situation well and wouldn't betray him.

Who to pick.

Many good brothers were dissatisfied with the previous plot of spending experience and Decayed Silver Coins to unlock the Mortal Poison, so the settlement content of the first dungeon has been revised: the unlocking of the Mortal Poison has been postponed, the deduction of experience and Decayed Silver Coins has been canceled, the protagonist's current level and attributes have been changed, and the Everlasting Peace dungeon has been changed to a C-rank dungeon. Only the numerical values have been changed; the specific plot remains the same. Good brothers who have already read it can re-download the chapters to see the revised content.

(End of chapter)