"Bone Demon... is it gone now?"

Xu Ye was stunned by this ferocious operation: "This, this is too——"

In fact, if I have to say something, Ningning's strategy is not very high-end and classy, ​​it is even too concise and clear.

Who could have thought that an evil demon with the cultivation level of Nascent Soul would be defeated on the ice?

But not only did she think of this method, she also carried it out meticulously and step by step. It is the simplest, yet most effective.

As expected of the man who once played Neon Island around, he still follows an unconventional path as always.

Xu Ye took a breath of cold air and secretly thanked God that he was not standing against her.

"The cliff below is bottomless. If it just slides down like this, it will probably be gone."

Ning Ning was extremely strong but overly cautious. Even though the Bone Demon was likely dead after the free fall, she still stared at the end of the river, as if she was worried: "I'll go to the cliff to take a look."

Xu Ye nodded blankly.

Seeing Ningning walking further and further away, he was still in a daze, when suddenly he heard the rustling sound of clothes rubbing against each other beside him. Following the sound, I found that the young man on He Zhizhou's back had opened his eyes at some point.

Eyes met.

The man's face gradually became more ferocious, his facial features twisted into a knot, and he squeezed out three hoarse words from the depths of his throat: "Xu - Ye - Er -"

Xu Ye was so frightened that he was shaking all over: "Brother Zhou, spare my life!"

"Good job! Zhou Zhao finally woke up!"

Outside the Xuanjing, not far from the Xuanxu Sword Sect’s base, an elder from the Wanjian Sect slapped his thigh hard, and his words seemed to hint at something.

"This kid has always been strong-willed. Now that he is about to break through the Golden Core Stage, his strength is extraordinary. What's the point of playing around with his cleverness? It's time to show some people what a true swordsman is!"

Tian Xianzi cracked melon seeds and chuckled, "Brother Zhuguan is awake, huh? He and Xu Ye used that tube together, so he shouldn't be too suffocated, right?"

The elder of the Wanjian Sect who was facing him from a distance had long been accustomed to the secret rivalry between the two sects. Hearing this, he hummed, "It's useless to just talk. Elder Tianxianzi might as well open his eyes——"

When he said this, his expression suddenly turned stern and he shut up. Before Tian Xianzi could glare at him, his own eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets.

Zhou Zhao in the mysterious mirror got off He Zhizhou's back without hesitation, and said to Xu Ye while suppressing his anger: "What kind of bad idea did you come up with? If I hadn't been disturbed by that bamboo tube, I might have fought the bone demon for three hundred rounds - huh? Where's the bone demon?"

Xu Ye had screwed this guy over badly enough, and now he could only feel aggrieved and say nothing. He pursed his lips, stretched out his right hand, and pointed to the end of the river.

Zhou Zhao didn't see the shadow of the Bone Demon. He looked at him in confusion and took a step forward without thinking too much.

Just stepping on the ice of the river.

Xu Ye: “Wait——!”

He Zhizhou: “No——!”

Both voices were stuck in their throats. Before they could finish, the white-clothed swordsman with an icy temperament took the first step.

Before being carried by He Zhizhou, his feet were covered with many snowflakes.

As we all know, snow melts and turns into water.

Just as Zhou Zhao heard the voice and looked back, the plum blossoms bloomed for the second time.

At this moment, Ningning finished her investigation on the edge of the cliff and turned back with a feeling of relief.

Then the smile froze instantly.

Who could tell her why the stranger she had never met before was suddenly lying in the river, spinning around like a bowling ball, repeating the same... somersault?

Zhou Zhao's hands and feet were slipping. As his hands and feet were flying around, he actually danced out the floor moves in street dance. He stretched out his legs and did a 720-degree Thomas spin.

Xu Ye was so frightened that he hurried forward to support him. Unexpectedly, as soon as he stretched out his right hand, he was grabbed by the other party and rushed forward uncontrollably.

So the two of them slid back and forth hand in hand, grinning and swaying, and danced a tap dance together.

Tian Xianzi was laughing so hard that he looked like a piglet that was about to suffocate. "Oh my god, what a dance competition. Is this a sword cultivator?"

Elder of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect: ...

The elder of the Wanjian Sect pressed his philtrum hard and patted his colleague on the shoulder: "Water... give me a glass of water."

=====

"This is Senior Brother Zhou Zhao, who has completed his Golden Elixir."

After finally getting off the ice, Xu Ye walked forward with his head down looking aggrieved, while introducing the identities of the people present one by one. When he met Zhou Zhao's lifeless eyes, he shrank back reflexively.

"It turns out to be Fellow Daoist Ningning."

Zhou Zhao looked like he had suffered a severe blow. His eyes were lifeless and his face was expressionless, just like the robot male protagonist with poor acting skills in youth idol dramas: "I have heard a lot about Brother Ning's deeds, and I have always wanted to compete with you. Haha."

The two dry "hehe"s without any smile made Ningning's back tingle. She felt that they shouldn't appear at this time and place. If Senior Brother Zhou attended the funeral of his mortal enemy one day, this tone would be quite appropriate.

She put on a polite smile and asked curiously, "You two came earlier than us. Did you find anything?"

Xu Yi was as wilted as a delicate flower: "Senior Brother Zhou and I have been traveling all the way, and apart from those orchids, we haven't seen anything useful."

According to Xu Ye, the two of them were fortunate enough to discover the precious spiritual plant Blood-Drinking Orchid at the foot of a mountain. They had planned to pack it up and take it away, but unexpectedly they ran into the Bone Demon at a corner. After a fight, they knew they were no match for the Bone Demon and were defeated, so they had to flee in panic.

And now, it was Xu Ye who led everyone to the location of the Blood-Drinking Orchid.

"Fellow Daoist Ning, Fellow Daoist He."

Zhou Zhao said: "I will not participate in the division of the Blood-Drinking Orchid. Please be kind and forget what happened on the ice just now. If you can keep the secret, you will be my reborn father and mother."

Ningning choked.

It's so easy for you to recognize your father and mother. You are so spineless.

"Blood-drinking orchid."

He Zhizhou touched his chin and said, "I heard that this kind of flower is very rare. It only grows in places with deep resentment and uses the blood of hundreds of people as nutrients. What on earth happened in this place to grow such an evil thing?"

"Just looking at the environment here, something doesn't seem right."

Ningning looked up for a moment and frowned because of the deathly aura condensed everywhere.

The deeper you go, the darker the sky becomes.

At first, the dark clouds were just light-colored cotton wool, pressing heavily on the sky. The faint sunlight fell silently through the gaps, like inconspicuous gold flakes, and shattered into extremely faint halos when falling to the ground.

Then the black ink seeped into the clouds little by little, and everywhere you looked was dull dark gray. The outlines of the clouds were blurred and intertwined together, just like the layers of mountains that were indistinguishable from each other, hanging heavily under the sky.

The withered old trees around are of various shapes. At first glance, they look like countless sharp claws waiting to grab souls. In the increasingly dark environment, the black fog-like deathly atmosphere makes people feel even more uncomfortable.

The foot of the mountain mentioned by Xu Ye was not far from the river, and the group quickly reached their destination.

The entire body of the Blood-Drinking Orchid is dark red, like layers of blood stains solidified on its petals and rhizomes. Ningning picked one and smelled it carefully. What lingered at her nose was not the heavy fishy smell, but the elegant and sweet orchid fragrance.

"strangeness."

Zhou Zhao frowned and said, "First, there appeared the bone demon formed by the dead energy, and then there was this cluster of orchids that feed on human blood... Logically, where they are, there must be countless corpses and many people dying, but why do we only see endless snow?"

"Since the evil demons in the Demon Refining Tower are real, it seems that monsters that can kill so many people are rare, right?"

Xu Ye shuddered: "Just one bone demon is terrible enough, how terrible must the culprit who caused all this tragedy be? Is this really only the 50th floor?"

Ning Ning put the Blood-Drinking Orchid into the storage bag: "The area we have explored is very small. If we go further, we will definitely find more. Have you noticed? The death energy and demonic energy are getting stronger and stronger."

She is right.

In addition to the increasingly dark and gloomy sky, the pitch-black fog around was also growing thicker. The air was filled with the smell of decay, and the black smoke gathered and dispersed with the cold wind, as if ghosts and monsters were floating in the air, and sometimes even seemed to have physical bodies, pressing heavily on the chest, making it difficult to breathe.

"If we go further, the danger level is likely to be far beyond our imagination."

He Zhizhou gently brushed away a piece of snow from the tip of his nose and said seriously: "I suggest that we go and take a look first. If we find it really unbearable, it won't be too late to leave this level of the tower."

When Zhou Zhao heard that there was going to be a fight, his eyes, which were as dull as a rag doll, immediately lit up. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and responded, "I agree! You can't run away. How dare a little evil demon act so presumptuously here? You must beat it to a pulp!"

——His chance to save face has finally come!

As soon as Zhou Zhao finished speaking, he heard Xu Ye beside him shouting, "Look, what is that!"

Ningning also noticed something strange and subconsciously took a defensive stance.

They were in a vast sea of ​​snow, the sunlight was hidden, the mountains were invisible, and the towering peaks cast shadows. In the chaos of snowflakes, black fog and shadows, where visibility was extremely low, several figures appeared silently.

Those "people" walked with hunched bodies, as if they had no strength left in their bodies. As they dragged their legs slowly forward, they looked a bit like the zombies in horror movies.

As they gradually came closer, she could finally see clearly what they were.

They were several soldiers wearing rotten armor, their clothes were stained with shocking blood and covered with knife wounds and burn marks.

However, their bodies were completely devoid of flesh and blood, leaving only a pile of white bones. They suddenly raised their heads when they sensed the breath of living people.

Murderous intent suddenly appeared.

Ningning clenched the sword in her hand.

"It's a bone puppet!"

He Zhizhou did not waste the room full of books he bought. He immediately exclaimed: "I heard that when a human corpse is infected by strong demonic energy, it will degenerate into a monster that is neither human nor ghost... But a demon that can achieve this must have the cultivation level of the Spiritualization Stage!"

Transformation into spirit.

The level is equal to or even higher than that of the elders of each major sect.

The bone puppet sensed the breath of a living person and its slow movements suddenly stopped. After an extremely brief moment of stunned silence, a thin black mist appeared in its eye sockets.

Then, like a puppet on strings, the joints moved suddenly.

Xu Ye drew his sword and said, "They are coming!"

The bone puppet is much faster than the bone demon. In a flash, it rushes forward at an astonishing speed.

Ningning dodged in time, but He Zhizhou beside her was not so lucky. The end of his hair just brushed lightly against the white sharp claws and was instantly cut off in the wind.

Their strength is beyond imagination, but no matter what, the predecessor of the Bone Puppet is just a mortal with meager spiritual energy. Even if it is infected with demonic energy, it is impossible for it to reach the level of the Bone Demon and possess the power to suppress the Jindan cultivator.

Ningning drew his sword quickly, and when the long sword hit the pale skeleton, the surging sword energy spread like thunder, bursting out with a loud bang. The bones shattered and turned into powder in an instant, melting into the snow.

The battle ended very quickly. He Zhizhou touched the severed hair with lingering fear: "It was a close call. How could this thing bite people randomly like a mad dog?"

“It’s not good.”

Xu Ye had a bitter face, squatting on the ground and staring at the skeleton: "What kind of monster is imprisoned in this floor of the tower? Just relying on the demonic energy it emits, it can cultivate such a powerful bone puppet... Is this really the 50th floor?"

He paused, then asked curiously, "Ningning, what are you doing?"

"The evil demons imprisoned here have all been suppressed by various sects. This one must have been severely injured and his cultivation was greatly damaged, so he is on the 50th floor."

Ningning leaned forward with her head down, carefully searching through the clothes of each bone puppet, but she didn't seem to find anything useful. She showed a look of distress: "I want to see if they have anything that can prove their identity and time, so as to confirm the identity of the monster."

As soon as she finished speaking, her arms suddenly stiffened slightly, and a little light appeared in her eyes: "Ah."

Xu Ye was more curious: "What did you find?"

As he spoke, he looked down and saw a token in the little girl's white jade hand.

The token was stained with blood, and it was difficult to make out the words carved on it. Xu Ye frowned and looked at it intently, then slowly read out the two blurry small words: "Sword - Sha?"

This time He Zhizhou couldn't sit still: "Sword Kill?!"

Zhou Zhao's eyes twitched as well: "No way, Jiansha? Then the one in this tower isn't——"

Ning Ning knew very little about the past of the cultivation world, and was confused when she heard this: "What is the sword brake?"

"Jiansha was an army that fought during the great war between immortals and demons."

He Zhizhou knew her identity and immediately explained patiently. He could not hide the complex emotions in his eyes when he spoke: "The reason why it was formed is to deal with Shadow Demon, one of the Demon Lords."

Ning Ning nodded and listened to him continue: "The Shadow Demon has a high level of cultivation and loves to kill. It has many demon soldiers under its command. The most difficult thing is that it has no entity itself, but only a demonic breath with deep resentment. Ordinary means cannot defeat it at all."

He Zhizhou scratched his head and sighed in annoyance. "The war was almost over at that time. Both the immortal sect and the demon world suffered heavy casualties. Due to the scarcity of cultivators, in order to resist the demon soldiers, mortals formed an army called 'Sword Killing'."

Xu Ye added quietly: "It's almost like committing suicide."

"Fortunately, Jiansha held back the demon tide, which bought time for the elders to set up the Thousand Lights Returning to Origin Formation on the top of Qiongshan Mountain. The Shadow Demon is afraid of light, and it is said that only strong light can slightly reduce its strength."

He Zhizhou did not refute Xu Ye's muttering, and continued in a deep voice: "The power of mortals is so small. After the battle, Jiansha was indeed... annihilated."

Therefore, these demonized bone puppets were actually the soldiers who fought against the demons back then.

"The Shadow Demon is imprisoned on the 50th floor. This is too, too—"

Zhou Zhao was a hot-tempered man who spoke his mind. He kicked a pile of snow on the ground and said, "Isn't this cheating?"

"Don't worry, its strength has greatly decreased. It is definitely not as good as it used to be."

Ningning put the token into the storage bag and looked at the vast snowfield in the distance.

It turns out that this place is called Qiongshan.

The snowflakes from the sky were getting bigger and bigger, as if they would never stop, and the road in the distance was swallowed up by black air, like the gaping mouth of a giant beast, just waiting for its prey to fall into its trap.

...But whether he walked into a trap or not, no one could tell until the last moment.

Ning Ning said softly: "Shall we go a little further?"

=====

This long road is a gradual transition from day to night.

With every step forward, the surrounding scenery becomes darker and the smell of blood becomes stronger.

Ningning kept moving forward in the snow and fog, and unexpectedly saw several translucent figures on the side of the road. They seemed to be the surviving soldiers from that year. They were talking to each other or walking slowly in the snow, as if the war had not yet happened.

"That's 'Nian Ling'."

He Zhizhou explained carefully: "When a deceased person has a strong desire for something, he or she will leave behind such an illusion, which is equivalent to the memory reappearing at that time."

Ningning suddenly said "Oh", this thing is equivalent to the brain waves in the world of cultivation.

Passing through the phantoms that appeared from time to time, when the smell of decay and death became stronger and stronger, Ningning could not help but take the Turtle Breathing Pill, and they finally arrived at the end of Qiongshan Mountain.

On their side, everything is covered in silvery white with piled up snow.

And wherever the eyes could be seen, there was fog and darkness.

Countless bone puppets were hovering above the snow, so densely packed that they looked like a group of black ants.

Surrounded by layers of bone puppets, in the narrow shadow between two adjacent mountains, an irregular black shadow was suspended.

Compared to the spreading death energy, the dark color around the Shadow Demon appears much richer.

It was much bigger than Ningning had imagined, almost as tall as an entire building. It was wrapped in invisible and visible dark gold chains. It roared from nowhere, causing snowflakes on the mountaintop to fall suddenly.

The wriggling huge black shadow was like a black hole that could swallow all light, exuding the breath of death and ominousness. Even if others just watch from a distance, they can feel suffocated by the strong pressure and demonic energy.

Suddenly the shadow moved slightly.

After the four of them retreated back into the boulder together, they retreated rapidly in tacit understanding.

"No, no, no! Oh my God, do you feel that pressure?"

Zhou Zhao's legs were trembling as he patted his chest, "And the group of bone puppets surrounding it - with that number, if they all scatter and attack us, we won't be able to return to the sect alive!"

Although sword cultivators are belligerent, they are not stupid. When facing an opponent with a clear disparity in strength, it is impossible to act rashly and force your way in.

Xu Ye's face was also pale: "Why do I feel that it is still very strong? What is the current strength of Shadow Demon, Golden Core or Nascent Soul?"

He Zhizhou glanced at him and said, "Judging from the pressure, he is in the middle stage of Yuanying."

What a painful realization.

The three of them had an indescribable look on their faces.

"Hey, Ningning."

He Zhizhou didn't hear Ning Ning's voice. He glanced to the side and saw her lowering her head, looking carefully at a damaged piece of paper. "What are you looking at? A martial arts secret book?"

Ningning shook her head and handed him the paper.

He Zhizhou took it and read it aloud.

“You are the moon in the sky, the fragrance of the flowers in front of the house, and the first swallow that lands on my window in spring.

If you ask me how much I love you, just like birds love the blue sky, fish in the pond are attached to the clear water, and butterflies cannot live without the fragrance of flowers, I would like to perch beside your branches - ah! What a disgusting thing! ”

He got goosebumps all over his body and returned it to Ningning without finishing reading it. His face was wrinkled like a bitter gourd: "Which little boy wrote this love letter to you? How come only half of it is left?"

Ning Ning still shook her head and said in a very soft voice: "It's a letter I found on a soldier. It should be written to the girl he likes."

Ever since she learned the truth, she stopped calling the dead monsters "bone puppets" and started calling them "soldiers."

He Zhizhou was stunned and stopped talking.

Ningning carefully put the letter into her storage bag, and a thought flashed through her mind.

Too bad he didn't finish reading it.

After those love words that gave me goosebumps, that person wrote carefully, stroke by stroke:

[You always say that I am timid and cowardly, and that is indeed the case. I have never dared to tell you these true words, and I even blush after writing them.

Please forgive me for leaving without saying goodbye.

Evil is coming to the world and all people are in danger. We have no choice but to step forward and save the world from danger.

The world is so vast that ordinary people are just a mayfly in the vast ocean. Although our abilities are limited, it is always better than escaping and hiding.

I never tell lies, you are the moon in my heart.

The moon should hang in the windless and waveless sky. ］

He Zhizhou said that the power of mortals is so small, so the destruction of Jiansha is inevitable.

But Ningning doesn't think so.

The soldiers of that time knew that they had a chance of death ahead of them, but they still gathered on the battlefield, determined to serve the people, using their flesh and blood to pave the way for the monks and turn the tide of the war.

Although they are mortals, they possess unparalleled determination and strength.

But now, those people who had faith and vowed to defeat the demonic tide have themselves become monsters despised by everyone, wandering in the endless abyss of the snowy sea, never to see the light of day.

It’s really unfair when you think about it. What is this?

Heavy snow fell, and in the silence, Ning Ning suddenly spoke: "Are you interested in trying to fight the Shadow Demon with me?"

This sentence was like a thunderclap. Zhou Zhao's eyes widened instantly. "Are you crazy? That was the great demon that the entire cultivation world was terrified of!"

Ning Ning remained calm: "But it is only at the middle stage of Yuanying now."

Zhou Zhao took a breath and said, "That's also the middle stage of the Nascent Soul!"

He really didn't understand where she got the courage to say such words in such a calm tone.

The demon was in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul, and it was accompanied by a group of densely packed bone puppets. With their current cultivation level, it would be difficult for them to even get close to it, let alone defeat it!

"Think about it, the 50th floor is right between the Golden Core and the Nascent Soul, and the shadow demons on this floor should be the strongest evil spirits that we can kill within our capabilities. To put it another way, it is also the highest score we can get."

Ning Ning said in a leisurely voice: "It would be a waste if you don't try. Don't you want to win a good place in the Ten Dharma Conference? What's more, even if we fail, it is locked in place by the chain, and we can still take the opportunity to escape."

These words were well-reasoned and a little tempting. Xu Ye swallowed his saliva after hearing them: "But can the four of us really defeat it?"

Ningning smiled.

There was little light in the silent snowfield, and just then a snowflake fell from the tip of her nose, casting a faint white cast on the girl's face.

She raised her hand and pointed at her head, her eyes brightening: "I have an idea."