Chapter 53: Demonic Shadows

Half a day after Song Qingming and the other three left, the sky gradually darkened, and a dozen black shadows happened to pass by this small mountain.

This group of cultivators all exuded a strange aura, and the leader was an old man wrapped in black clothes.

After passing the small mountain, the black-clothed old man suddenly stopped his steps and said to the few cultivators beside him who were also dressed in black.

"It's really strange. A few months ago, when passing by here, there was a Flame Rat on this mountain. Why didn't I feel the aura of this demonic beast when I arrived here today?"

Not far away, a young cultivator with a somewhat pale face hurriedly stepped forward and replied: "Second Senior Brother, this place is quite desolate, and the spirit vein level is not high. Perhaps this demonic beast has left here and found a new place to cultivate."

The black-clothed old man shook his head and said: "The migration of demonic beasts in this area generally chooses the spring and autumn seasons. Now it is still midsummer. It must be that other changes have occurred. Yuantai, you go up the mountain and see if anyone has been here."

The cyan-clothed cultivator still wanted to say something, but seeing that the black-clothed old man's face was already somewhat bad, he hurriedly swallowed the words that reached his mouth, nodded, and soon disappeared into the night.

After half a quarter of an hour, the cyan-clothed cultivator returned here somewhat anxiously and said respectfully to the black-clothed old man.

"Second Senior Brother, you were really right. That Flame Rat was really hunted and killed by someone. Looking at the scene, it happened in the last day or two. The ones who took action should be a few mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators, and the spirit herbs in the cave were also searched clean. It seems that a hunting team from Guiyunfang has come to this area."

As soon as the black-clothed old man heard this news, his brows instantly wrinkled. Now it was the critical moment for Master to refine that magic treasure, but he didn't expect these changes to occur.

This black-clothed old man, named Gu Liangshan, was originally an itinerant cultivator in Gulong County, Donglin Prefecture, in the south of Song Kingdom. Decades ago, Gu Liangshan, whose path to the Dao was hopeless, accidentally met a demonic Foundation Establishment cultivator who was passing through Song Kingdom.

Under the coercion of that demonic cultivator, Gu Liangshan worshipped under his sect, was planted with a prohibition, and began to practice demonic techniques, becoming a demonic cultivator who had no freedom.

Demonic cultivators are mostly sinister and cunning people who rarely truly trust others, even their own relatives, disciples, and disciples.

The few fellow apprentices beside Gu Liangshan were also all planted with prohibitions by their master in their bodies. Once they could not complete the tasks entrusted by their master on time, or dared to have a heart of betrayal, that master with a strange temper could trigger the prohibitions in their bodies at any time. At that time, these people would all suffer from heart-drilling and bone-eroding pain, and even if they wanted to die, it would be a difficult thing.

These demonic cultivators were secretly controlled by their master, almost never free for the rest of their lives, and had to listen to their master's instructions at any time. Only when the person who planted the prohibition died, or they could break through to Foundation Establishment and achieve success in their cultivation, would they have the ability to break the prohibitions in their bodies and gain freedom for themselves.

After pondering for a moment, Gu Liangshan immediately said: "It's not far from the altar here. Everyone must be careful and must not disturb others. Once the Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Xiaoyao Sect are disturbed and Master's major event is ruined, these people of ours will definitely have to suffer."

"Second Senior Brother, you are too careful, aren't you? It's just a few itinerant cultivators at the mid-stage of Qi Refining. What kind of waves can they make? If we really run into them, we can just catch them and send them to Master to make up the numbers. In these few years, to help Master collect cultivators' essence souls, our fellow apprentices have really run their legs off, and we don't even have time to cultivate."

Another middle-aged demonic cultivator beside Gu Liangshan said somewhat disapprovingly of Gu Liangshan's cautious appearance.

"Junior Brother Qin, let's not cause more trouble. Let's hurry on our way. Master is still waiting for our news." Gu Liangshan waved his hand and led the few people to quickly leave this small mountain.

At the same time, on a desolate hill about a thousand miles away from the small mountain, a demonic cultivator exuding the aura of Foundation Establishment was sitting on an octagonal altar, with a blood-colored long knife floating above his head in the center of the altar.

Not far below the altar, a few black-clothed disciples walked slowly onto the altar, binding a few Qi Refining cultivators whose dantian had been restrained.

After those few people were pushed to the top of the altar, the blood-colored long knife above the demonic cultivator's head suddenly made a buzzing sound and flew over quickly.

After a few screams, these cultivators whose magic power was restrained soon died under this blood knife.

After killing these few cultivators, a few faint essence souls floated up from the corpses of these few people, which were exactly the essence souls of these few cultivators. After the essence souls left the body, they were preparing to escape into the ground and enter the netherworld.

At this time, a burst of blood light lit up on the blood knife, firmly covering these essence souls, and soon sucked them all into the blood knife.

The blood knife slowly emitted bursts of wailing sounds of souls, and there seemed to be many figures struggling on the blood light.

The demonic cultivator on the altar waved his hand, and the blood light on the blood knife flashed and soon flew back into the hands of this demonic cultivator.

Touching the blood knife in his hand, Yang Wuqi emitted a burst of excited laughter. The disciples below the altar saw their master so happy and also let go of some of the worries in their hearts.

At this moment, the blood knife in Yang Wuqi's hand suddenly flew into the air, and a blood light slashed toward a giant rock a few miles away.

After a loud bang, a giant rock a foot in size was slashed into two halves by the blood knife, and a cultivator wearing black clothes jumped out in a panic.

"Hmm, where did the little bug come from? How dare you come to disturb the ancestor's knife sacrifice."

The seven or eight demonic cultivator disciples below the altar saw that someone was actually peeping at them from afar, and soon surrounded them, firmly surrounding the Flying Cloud Guard cultivator who wanted to escape.

The black-clothed cultivator saw that the visitors were not good, and hurriedly explained: "Hehe, a few fellow Daoists, do not misunderstand, do not misunderstand. I am a Flying Cloud Guard of Guiyunfang, ordered to come here to investigate demonic beast information. I was just resting here and did not intend to disturb everyone."

This Flying Cloud Guard was also an itinerant cultivator who had been mixing in Guiyunfang for many years. Naturally, he knew that encountering these demonic cultivators today would definitely be more ominous than auspicious. Now that he was alone and weak, it was difficult to escape. If he wanted to survive, he could only hope that these demonic cultivators would be afraid of his identity as a Flying Cloud Guard and let him go.

"Oh, Flying Cloud Guard? Seeing that your cultivation is not low, today I happen to ask you for a small favor, to borrow your essence soul to refine my precious knife."

The Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator holding the blood knife heard this person say his identity as a Flying Cloud Guard, but didn't care much, laughed strangely, the magic knife in his hand flashed with blood light again, and slashed toward this cultivator again.

This Flying Cloud Guard saw the blood knife coming, hurriedly ran backward, and while running, released the unique rescue signal talisman of the Flying Cloud Guards. A white spirit talisman soon shot into the sky and flew rapidly toward the distance.

At the same time, the demonic cultivator's blood knife also slashed before his eyes. Seeing that he couldn't hide, this person also hardened his heart and released a shield magic treasure, wanting to block this blood knife.

It was just a pity that he underestimated the power of this blood knife. The defensive magic treasure he released was like thin tofu, which was cut from the middle by the blood knife, and his flesh was also slashed into two halves.

After a scream, soon there was another faint divine soul in the blood light on the demonic cultivator's blood knife.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 54 =====