Chapter 53: Demonic Shadow

Half a day after Song Qingming and the other two 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-clad old man suddenly stopped and said to several other black-clad cultivators beside him.

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

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

The black-clad old man shook his head and said: "The migration of demon beasts in this vicinity generally chooses the spring and autumn seasons. Now it is still midsummer, so there must have been other changes. Yuantai, you go up the mountain and see if anyone has been here."

The green-clad cultivator still wanted to say something, but seeing that the black-clad old man’s face was already a bit bad, he hurriedly swallowed the words that came to his mouth, nodded, and soon disappeared into the night.

After a quarter of an hour, the green-clad cultivator returned here in a bit of a hurry and respectfully said to the black-clad 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 acted should be a few mid-Qi Refining stage cultivators, and the spirit herbs in the cave were also searched clean. It seems that a demon-hunting team from Guiyun Market has come to this vicinity."

As soon as the black-clad old man heard this news, his brows instantly furrowed. Now that it was the critical moment for his master to refine that magic treasure, he didn't want these changes to occur.

This black-clad old man was named Gu Liangshan, originally a loose cultivator in Gulong County, Donglin Prefecture, in the south of Song Guo. Decades ago, Gu Liangshan, whose path to the Dao was hopeless, accidentally encountered a demonic Foundation Establishment cultivator passing through Song Guo.

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

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

The several junior and senior brothers beside Gu Liangshan also had restrictions planted in their bodies by their master. Once they couldn't complete the tasks assigned by their master on time, or dared to have thoughts of betrayal, that master with a strange temper could trigger the restrictions in their bodies at any time. At that time, these people would all suffer the pain of heart-piercing and bone-corroding, and even wanting to die would be a difficult thing.

These demonic cultivators were secretly controlled by their master and almost had no freedom for the rest of their lives. They had to listen to their master’s instructions at any time and place. Only when the person who planted the restriction died, or they could break through to Foundation Establishment and have success in their cultivation, would they have the ability to break the restrictions in their bodies and gain their own freedom.

After pondering for a moment, Gu Liangshan immediately said: "This place is not far from the altar. Everyone must be careful and must not alarm others. Once the Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Carefree Sect are alarmed and ruin the master’s major event, people like us will definitely suffer along with it."

"Second Senior Brother, you are too careful, aren't you? It’s just a few mid-Qi Refining stage loose cultivators; what waves can they make? If we really bump into them, we can just catch them and send them to the master to make up the numbers. For the past few years, in order to help the master collect the essence souls of cultivators, we junior and senior brothers have run our legs off, and we don't even have time to cultivate."

Another middle-aged demonic cultivator beside him said with some disapproval toward Gu Liangshan’s cautious appearance.

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

At the same time, on a desolate hill about a thousand li 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 middle of the altar.

Not far below the altar, several black-clad disciples, tying up several Qi Refining stage cultivators whose dantian had been restrained, slowly walked onto the altar.

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

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

After killing these cultivators, a few faint essence souls floated up from the corpses of these people. They were the essence souls of these 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 demonic cultivator’s hand.

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

Just 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 several li away.

After a loud bang, a giant rock of about a zhang in size was slashed into two halves by the blood knife, and a cultivator dressed in black jumped out in a panic.

"Hmm, where did this little bug come from? How dare you disturb the ancestor’s blood-sacrificing knife."

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

The black-clad cultivator saw that the visitors were not kind and hurriedly explained: "Hehe, several Daoist friends, don't misunderstand, don't misunderstand. I am a Flying Cloud Guard of Guiyun Market, ordered to come here to investigate demon beast information. I was just resting here and didn't mean to disturb everyone."

This Flying Cloud Guard was also a loose cultivator who had been roaming Guiyun Market for many years. Naturally, he knew that encountering these demonic cultivators today would definitely be bad luck. Now that he was alone and weak and difficult to escape, if he wanted to save his life, he could only hope that these demonic cultivators would fear his status as a Flying Cloud Guard and let him go.

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

The Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator holding the blood knife heard this person say his status as a Flying Cloud Guard, but didn't care much, gave a strange laugh, and the blood light on the magic knife in his hand flashed again, slashing toward this cultivator.

Seeing the blood knife coming, this Flying Cloud Guard hurriedly ran backward, and while running, he released the distress signal talisman unique to the Flying Cloud Guard. A white spirit talisman soon rushed into the sky and quickly flew 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 split from the middle by that blood knife, and his physical body was also slashed into two halves along with it.

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 =====