Chapter 268: Falling into the Demonic Path

In a pitch-black cave hundreds of li away from Black Stone Valley, a middle-aged man wearing the Xiaoyao Sect's uniform was sitting in meditation with his eyes closed.

Unlike other cultivators, the magic power occasionally emitted from his body was actually a piece of pitch-black color, accompanied by a trace of gloomy chill.

"Good disciple, I didn't expect you to have some talent in cultivating my technique. You have already mastered the technique and raised it to the second layer so quickly. I really didn't misjudge you." A somewhat desolate voice suddenly appeared in this empty cave.

It was just that the middle-aged man didn't open his mouth, but this sound came from his body, which made people feel somewhat strange.

Hearing these words, the middle-aged man also immediately opened his eyes, knelt toward the empty space in front, and said respectfully, "Being able to have a way to let me successfully establish a Foundation in such a short time is all thanks to the profoundness of the technique passed down by Master. From now on, the disciple will definitely serve Master wholeheartedly."

"Haha... Since the disciple has already entered the demonic path, you are a demonic cultivator of ours. Once we completely rescue Master from the seal in the future, this Donghuang Continent might have to become our territory. By then, we won't have to live such hiding days anymore."

"Hehe! Master, don't worry. Once the disciple's cultivation base is higher, I will definitely find a way to rescue you first."

"Sigh! I have just sensed that the seal on the main body has been strengthened again. It seems that someone has already found that place. With your current cultivation base, it is impossible to break the seal in a short time, so don't waste that effort.

The top priority is to go and handle another matter for Master first. As long as this matter is handled properly, I will naturally have a way to restore my cultivation base in the future."

After feeling a piece of information suddenly enter his spiritual sense, the middle-aged man hurriedly nodded, stood up, and quickly left this cave.

If Song Qingming were here, he would definitely be able to recognize the middle-aged man kneeling on the ground just now as Du Yucheng, the Xiaoyao Sect disciple who almost killed him back then. It was just that he certainly wouldn't have thought that the Xiaoyao Sect disciple who was somewhat insidious back then had now completely fallen into the demonic path and become a demonic cultivator who was talked about with fear in the cultivation world.

A few years ago, after Du Yucheng's Foundation Establishment failed, he also had a long period of losing the motivation to cultivate, spending his days drowning his sorrows in wine and playing with others.

He abandoned his family back then and also betrayed the Liu family to exchange for an opportunity to join the Xiaoyao Sect, and obtained a Foundation Establishment Pill.

As a result, after joining the Xiaoyao Sect, in order to prevent him from successfully obtaining the Foundation Establishment Pill promised to him by Guangling Zhenren, his cheap master not only ignored his cultivation but also secretly let other martial brothers make things difficult for him everywhere, wanting to make him know the difficulties and retreat, and drive him out of the Xiaoyao Sect.

In the end, he still relied on his own perseverance, endured humiliation to survive, and persisted. After years of risking his life to execute tasks to exchange for resources, he finally successfully cultivated to the ninth layer of Qi Condensation before the age of sixty and received the Foundation Establishment Pill that belonged to him at the General Affairs Hall.

He originally thought that he could successfully establish his Foundation and soar into the sky, washing away the bullying of these years. He didn't expect that the only opportunity he had exchanged for after working hard for half his life would still fail in the end.

Just when Du Yucheng was self-abandoning and frustrated, a martial brother who had executed tasks with him before suddenly came to the door, inviting him to visit an ancient cultivation cave dwelling in Black Stone Valley.

In an ancient cultivation cave dwelling, one could often get some unexpected benefits. Although Du Yucheng was very frustrated after his Foundation Establishment failed, he hadn't completely given up the hope of Foundation Establishment

It was just that he did not expect that after the few of them had traveled for a month with great difficulty to reach Black Stone Valley and had exerted all their strength to open the seal outside the cave and enter, they discovered that there were no spiritual items at all in the cave this senior brother had found, only a strange stone tower that looked somewhat chilling.

Upon seeing the dense seals on the stone tower, although they did not recognize the Demon-Suppressing Tower, they already felt that something was wrong. Just as they were hesitating about whether to leave this place immediately, they did not notice that one of them had already had their mind bewitched by the demon inside the Demon-Suppressing Tower and had triggered the seal.

This release of a portion of the demon's primordial spirit immediately made everyone feel that things were looking bad. When they wanted to flee, they found it was already too late, and they were instantly drained of their essence and blood by the demon that had just escaped; only Du Yucheng, whose personality was relatively cautious and who was standing further away, did not immediately suffer the same fate.

Just when he thought he too would be unable to escape his doom, he did not expect that this demon would not kill him immediately, but instead spoke directly to take him as a disciple. In order to save his life, Du Yucheng could not care about anything else and could only agree. Just like that, Du Yucheng voluntarily allowed this demon to plant a restriction on him and became his disciple.

The demon sealed inside this Demon-Suppressing Tower was named Facing Xiao Huang. This demon had already cultivated to the ninth layer of the Jin Dan realm several hundred years ago. Just as he was about to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, he did not expect his luck to run out and encountered a Nascent Soul cultivator who came to hunt him down. Knowing he was no match, he had originally wanted to abandon his physical body and possess another to cultivate again, but he did not expect this Nascent Soul expert to have such vast supernatural powers, still trapping his primordial spirit and ultimately causing him to be sealed in Black Stone Valley for several hundred years.

Several hundred years of being sealed not only caused the reincarnation substitutes he had prepared in his early years to lose their effect, but now his lifespan was insufficient to possess another body and cultivate again; he could only find a way to break the seal on his original body to have hope of breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm.

After Facing Xiao Huang placed a restriction on Du Yucheng, he had wanted him to step forward and open the Demon-Suppressing Tower to release his original body. It was just a pity that although this Demon-Suppressing Tower had loosened somewhat after several hundred years, Du Yucheng was only a small Qi Refining stage cultivator, and his cultivation was truly too low; he tried for a long time but still had no way to completely break the seal.

Du Yucheng and the others were cultivators from a large sect, and if they did not return after a long time, it would certainly attract an investigation from the Xiaoyao Sect. With no other choice, Facing Xiao Huang could only let him take a portion of his primordial spirit and leave Black Stone Valley, hoping to wait for Du Yucheng to first improve his cultivation before returning to break the seal for him.

After everyone walked out of the underground cave, Bai Yuxian reset a seal at the entrance of the cave, hiding the entrance. Once these matters were all handled, everyone left Black Stone Valley along with the two Jin Dan True Persons.

After returning to Mount Guyang, Wang Mengxiao and the others checked the identities of the disciples who died near the Demon-Suppressing Tower once again, and very quickly determined that the third brother, Song Qingze, was the corpse that Song Qingming had discovered earlier.

While coordinating with the Law Enforcement Hall to investigate the identities of the disciples who had met with misfortune, Song Qingming unexpectedly discovered that among all the Xiaoyao Sect disciples who had gone to Black Stone Valley, the corpse of one person had never been found; this person was Du Yucheng, with whom he had dealt several times.

(End of this chapter)