Chapter 153 Exorcising Demons A kiss landed unexpectedly on her lips. ...

The demonic chaos occurred in the area of ​​Qingwu Mountain outside Yanling City.

Even though it's quite far from the city, there are still many ordinary people and cultivators living in Qingwu Mountain, a place with beautiful mountains and clear waters.

When Jiang Yuhuo reached a village at the foot of the mountain, there were hardly any living people left, and many houses had collapsed. The Li family's retainers stood guard in front of a relatively intact house, forming a protective array to shield the remaining inhabitants. Meanwhile, not far outside the array, several demonic beasts were indiscriminately devouring people and drinking their blood.

Upon seeing Li Mengbai arrive, several of Li family retainers guarding the formation immediately stepped forward, and one of them, a handsome young man, briefly explained the situation.

Around the night before last, a group of unidentified demonic beasts suddenly appeared at the foot of Qingwu Mountain. Unlike ordinary demons, these beasts, despite their high cultivation levels, lacked the intelligence expected of such high-level beings. They could not speak or communicate, possessing only animalistic instincts. They would pounce on and tear apart any living creature they saw. They ate people, as well as poultry and livestock.

Because it appeared at night, many villagers perished before they could escape. By the time the Li family discovered it, the first village at the foot of Qingwu Mountain to be attacked by the monster had been completely slaughtered. Now, there aren't many survivors left in this village.

After these monsters appeared, they didn't stick to group actions; after attacking one place, they scattered to different locations, each searching for its own target. Therefore, the Li family could only send people to various nearby villages to protect the remaining survivors.

There are other formations of varying sizes in the village, protecting not only the Li family but also cultivators who originally practiced nearby or lived in Yanling City.

As he listened to his story, Jiang Yuhuo released his spiritual sense to explore the surroundings. In this village alone, there were at least a dozen magical beasts roaming around.

According to the boy, this was the situation after they were scattered; the actual number of monsters was unimaginable.

Monsters have a strong sense of territory and cannot live together in one place. The fact that so many monsters appeared in one place at the same time can only be due to someone's deliberate actions.

But who would bring them together, and what would they be after?

Jiang Yuhuo picked up the Dingchun Sword, preparing to investigate the strangeness of this group of magical beasts.

But then Li Mengbai asked, "Before the incident, had any members of the clan come to Qingwu Mountain?"

One of the older young men from the subordinates stepped forward and replied, "The patriarch came by a few days ago."

He glanced at Jiang Yuhuo, his expression hesitant.

Li Mengbai said, "It's alright, she's my future wife, Guyu, just say it."

The young man named Gu Yu immediately replied, "Yes. About ten days ago, the patriarch and Steward Feng went to Mianyun Xiaozhu. A day later, Steward Feng went there again, bringing several servants with him, and they renovated the old house. As far as I know, no one else from the clan has come to Qingwu Mountain."

Li Mengbai sneered, "After the demonic chaos appeared, did the patriarch come here to see it?"

Gu Yu shook her head. "No. After the incident, when the clan learned of it, the patriarch did not appoint any elders to come forward. He only said that the matter of exorcising demons in the Li family had been handed over to the young master, and that the young master should handle it. Since the young master has not returned, we came here first."

The mockery in Li Mengbai's eyes deepened, and he simply replied, "I know."

Jiang Yuhuo heard it clearly.

At such a critical juncture, the Li family still had to distinguish who should be in charge of the affairs, and before Li Mengbai arrived, no member of the Li family came to take charge; only Li Mengbai's subordinates came to control the situation.

Are the things that happen here completely insignificant to them?

I knew there was serious infighting within the Li family, but I never imagined they would treat human life so lightly.

Jiang Yuhuo felt disgusted, but since it was someone else's family matter, she went to kill the demon without saying a word.

Outside the collapsed mud wall, two enormous, blue-faced, fanged monsters were kneeling on the ground, devouring a fresh corpse. The corpse had been torn into a mangled mass of flesh, making it impossible to tell whether it was male or female.

The two demonic beasts were fighting over the freshest internal organs from the corpse. They should have been too busy to pay attention to each other, but as soon as Jiang Yuhuo landed behind them, the two demons immediately turned their heads, as if they had eyes in the back of their heads.

Jiang Yuhu frowned. Although these two demons did not have human thoughts or consciousness, their instincts as beasts were very strong.

Upon discovering a more alive human, the two magical beasts immediately abandoned the half-eaten corpse and rushed to attack Jiang Yuhuo.

Jiang Yuhuo didn't dodge; he drew his sword and charged forward.

The Dingchun Sword blazed with light, a white rainbow-like blade of light slashing straight down, striking the two demonic beasts, but not killing them instantly. The beasts raised their hands to shield themselves, blocking the fatal blow, but all four of their arms were severed and fell to the ground.

The pain of losing an arm made the two demons even more ferocious. Ignoring their wounds, they roared and charged forward like madmen.

The ground trembled as its massive body moved, and Jiang Yuhuo took a slight step back. But before she could go far, one demon spewed flames from its mouth, while another demon shot out a blade of light from its forehead, clearly not intending to leave even her corpse to eat.

Jiang Yuhuo formed a spiritual energy barrier in front of him, preventing the demon's attack from getting close.

As the boy said, these demons were all highly skilled and could freely manipulate the power of nature. But since they had drawn power from heaven and earth and cultivated to this level, why had their minds degenerated into those of the most primitive beasts?

Taking advantage of the fire-breathing monster's pause in breathing, Jiang Yuhuo thrust his sword into its chest without hesitation. The sword, imbued with immense spiritual power, shattered all of its meridians.

The beast's body crashed to the ground, and Jiang Yuhuo, using the momentum of its fall, plunged her sword even deeper until the entire blade was embedded in the beast's body. The other beast, thinking she couldn't pull out her sword, immediately pounced, trying to bite off her head.

The gaping maw spewed out a foul stench, but before it could even touch her hair, a sword, swift as lightning, slashed through the body of the monster lying on the ground, severing the head of the monster that had descended upon her.

Blood splattered as the massive beast head flew off, leaving the headless body slumped to the ground, blood gushing from the severed wound.

Jiang Yuhu jumped off the monster, and a lot of blood from the decapitation blow splattered on her.

The blood had the stench of a beast, but also a sweet scent that she recognized.

She sniffed carefully; both beasts' blood carried that strange fragrance.

Jiang Yuhu frowned, immediately becoming alert. She pried open the monster's forehead, trying to find anything that might be hidden inside its body. That time at the foot of the Moyu River, Bai Hui had thrown that shard of glass into her forehead in the same way.

But it wasn't inside the beast head.

"What are you looking for?"

Jiang Yuhuo looked up and saw Li Mengbai standing not far away, his bright purple robe spotless, looking at her cleanly.

Jiang Yuhuo didn't answer, only glanced at it before continuing to cut open the beast's body, groping and searching through the flesh.

She found nothing and only stopped when the monster's corpse completely dissipated.

Blood was dripping from his hands and sword, but he didn't care at all and turned to kill the next monster.

None of these things were a match for her, and Li Mengbai stood quietly to the side without interfering.

Jiang Yuhuo continued until he had killed all the dozen or so magical beasts in the village and searched their corpses thoroughly.

As dusk fell, seeing the person's face, now even paler after being splattered with blood, Li Mengbai knelt down beside her, her clean robes hanging on the ground.

"Has it been found?"

Jiang Yuhuo lifted her face from the corpse, shook her head, and looked somewhat disappointed.

Li Mengbai took out a handkerchief and wiped her face.

Jiang Yuhuo pulled the sword from the demonic beast and watched as its body vanished without a trace.

She asked, "Can you smell it?"

What do you smell?

"A scent, very sweet and fragrant."

Jiang Yu held up her blood-stained hand in front of him, "Can't you smell the blood emanating from these demonic beasts?"

Li Mengbai brought his nose close and sniffed lightly. "Perhaps the blood of magical beasts is sweeter and more pungent than human blood, which is normal."

Jiang Yuhuo suddenly stared intently at him, "But we smelled this scent before, even under the Spirit-Sealing Array, have you forgotten?"

Li Mengbai paused almost imperceptibly while wiping her face, then laughed, "I've smelled so many scents, how can I remember them all?"

Jiang Yuhuo turned her head and stared intently at a point in the void. "I remember it. I will never forget this aura."

Li Mengbai asked, "Why do I need to remember?"

He carefully wiped the blood off Jiang Yuhuo's face, as if asking a casual question.

"The person I'm looking for has this scent."

"Who are you?"

“An enemy.”

"...And then what?"

"Kill him."

The handkerchief on her face was removed.

Jiang Yuhuo looked up at Li Mengbai. He had been watching her the whole time, and when he saw her looking over, his peach blossom eyes curved into a smile.

A kiss landed unexpectedly on her lips.

Li Mengbai tilted his head and smiled smugly, "The little kitten is clean now. There's a river outside the village, shall we go wash it?"

Jiang Yuhuo, who had been thinking about the strange fragrance, suddenly felt uneasy. She got up and walked forward, feeling that she needed to get away from him.

Li Mengbai caught up from behind and made a move to take her hand, but Jiang Yuhuo's first reaction was to pull it back.

"Your hands are dirty."

Li Mengbai chuckled and pointed behind him, "I just wanted to tell you that the river is in this direction."

Jiang Yuhuo looked up and saw the clear, flowing water not far away. She was so focused on getting away from him that she completely forgot she should first find out where the river was.

Suddenly, her hand was grabbed by another hand. Sticky bloodstains were smeared on both hands, and the other hand easily slipped between her fingers. The bond between the two people shone slightly as they got close.

Li Mengbai held her hand and led her towards the river. "I don't think it's dirty."

Jiang Yuhuo was being led by him when, for no apparent reason, she recalled the scene from before.

In the camp outside Shannan County, she was covered in blood the first time she killed Qin Yuqi. At that time, Li Mengbai said he was disgusted by her dirtiness, but he used a handkerchief to wipe the blood off her hands.

Looking at the person in front of her, Jiang Yuhuo suddenly felt that she had never really understood him either.

As winter approaches, the nights fall very quickly.

Although the demonic beasts in this village have been cleared out, it's uncertain whether any roaming beasts will return. Everyone remains hidden in the houses where the cultivators have set up arrays, afraid to come out. Even the houses in the village with arrays are kept dark, for fear that the demonic beasts will see them and come looking for them.

Jiang Yuhuo and Li Mengbai then went to check on the surrounding villages. Many people had died, but the situation was barely under control, and the survivors had all taken refuge in the protective formations. The remaining task was to eliminate the demonic beasts that had appeared one by one.

Jiang Yuhuo rested in a house that hadn't collapsed yet at the village entrance, so that she could detect any magical beasts that entered in the middle of the night immediately.

Li Mengbai went to inspect several city gates of Yanling City again. When he returned, he saw Jiang Yuhuo sitting by the window, wiping her sword by the moonlight.

Previously, the sword was covered in blood, and Li Mengbai was so busy wiping Jiang Yuhuo's face that he didn't look closely. But now he could see it clearly.

It wasn't the merman's sword.

Li Mengbai's eyes lit up. "You changed your sword?"

"Yes, I'll keep the sword of a senior Kunlun master for now." Seeing that he had returned late, Jiang Yuhuo blurted out, "Is there any situation at the city gate?"

"No, no trace of monsters has been found over there yet."

Li Mengbai's gaze remained fixed on the sword in her hand. After a while, he couldn't help but ask, "You... what happened to your original one?"

"I returned it."

Li Mengbai immediately broke into a smile, "Yes, we don't want his things. Whatever sword you want in the future, I'll find it for you."

Li Mengbai embraced his fiancée with joy, closed his eyes in her arms, and completely forgot that it was he who insisted that Jiang Yuhuo take that sword, and that it was he who used that sword to lure the merman into blocking the attack of the spirit-suppressing array for Jiang Yuhuo.

Jiang Yuhuo has not forgotten.

She looked up at the moon outside the window and remembered that tomorrow was three days from now, the day she had agreed to meet Jia Yue.