Chapter 153 Abandoned Lake Cave

Within the boundaries of Dongzhou, there is an abandoned lake cave.

By the dark green lake where all kinds of garbage and animal carcasses are floating, a group of women gather to wash clothes and wooden buckets.

They were wrapped in black robes, revealing only a pair of dark and numb eyes. Their hands, soaked in the lake water, were frozen red, and the backs of their hands were covered with strange black spots.

Not far from the lake, there were a few men standing there, idly folding their hands and talking loudly.

"I heard that another man was killed by his wife last night. Did you see it?"

"If I had seen that, I would have beaten that woman to death. What a loser! She can't even handle a woman. It's a disgrace to us men. Hey, I'm telling you to watch your women carefully."

The black-faced man with a scar on his face roared, his voice rough and unpleasant.

The others followed suit and complained and cursed the disobedient women, venting their resentment and dissatisfaction.

The women by the lake washed their hands silently without saying a word, but the sound of water became louder and louder.

Scarface continued, "Ultimately, it's all that damn Demon Lord Fentian's fault. If he hadn't led the demons to occupy Dongzhou, how could we have encountered so much misfortune?"

"I just hope that a thunderbolt will strike all those demons to death. That would be a happy life."

Everyone burst into laughter and scolded him for his wild imagination.

A short, middle-aged man looked at Scarface and said with a smirk, "If I had a woman right now, someone I could touch and sleep with, that would be truly blissful."

Scarface continued his words, "What do you think of my sister? Twenty, no, ten spirit stones. I'll sell it to you cheaply."

As he spoke, he raised his head and shouted to the woman by the lake, "Rabbit, come here and let your future husband take a good look at you."

A thin girl turned around, looked at him awkwardly and uneasily, and stood by the lake without moving.

Scarface suddenly became angry, rushed over, grabbed her arm and pulled her in front of the men.

He pinched the girl's chin, forced her to raise her head, and said proudly as if to show off something, "So, my sister is okay, right?"

The girl called Rabbit struggled, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, "No, no!"

"No? Who taught you to say no? Or do you want to become a demon and resist us like those shrews? Huh?!" Scarface slapped the girl's face with the back of his hand and said viciously.

The girl's cheeks immediately became red and swollen. She turned away, her bright almond-shaped eyes widened and stared at him with hatred in her eyes.

"You still dare to glare at me? I think you deserve a beating!" Scarface said angrily, raised his hand and was about to slap the girl in the face.

"Let her go." A cold voice suddenly sounded from behind them.

Scarface paused his movements and turned around to see a woman in a demon-covering robe walking out of the woods.

She was wearing a hood, revealing only half of her face. Her slightly round chin was white and clean, making it clear at a glance that she was not from the Abandoned Lake Cave.

Scarface was stunned for a moment, then smiled maliciously, "You want me to let her go? Okay, as long as you let me -"

The sound stopped abruptly.

Because a spiritual power shot out from the woman's hand, wrapped in a sharp aura, and instantly hit the scarred man's lower body.

“Ahhhhhhh——!” At that moment, he let out a scream like a pig being slaughtered, then let go of the girl’s hand, and fell heavily to the ground with a bang.

The faces of the men nearby turned pale instantly. "She is... an immortal..."

The women by the lake stopped washing, stiffened their bodies, and looked at her in horror.

"Help...help...help...help me!" Scarface rolled on the ground in pain, stretched out his hand to his sister, and pleaded in a sharp voice.

The girl took several steps back in fright.

The other men, fearing that he would be angered, also stood away from him.

The woman was Qiu Qianling. She stretched out her hand to the right, and a blood-red blade burning with red light emerged.

"I heard that a man's heart blood can turn me into a demon. Is anyone willing to contribute?" The voice was gentle and polite, but when she looked up at the men, there was a bloodthirsty gleam in her eyes.

The men were so frightened that they fled in all directions, leaving Scarface behind, crying heart-wrenchingly.

He was used to threatening and intimidating women, but he never thought that his life would be destroyed by a woman.

It hurts, it hurts so much!

Scarface felt extremely desperate when he thought that he might die. He struggled to look up at the mysterious immortal and begged her to let him go.

"Don't, don't kill me... I was wrong, I know I was wrong... I won't dare to do it again... Please have mercy on me and spare me..."

Qiu Qianling looked at him coldly, "Apologize to your sister and ask for her forgiveness."

"W-what? What do I have to apologize to her for?" Scarface couldn't believe it.

Qiu Qianling looked at the girl, "Do you want to forgive him?"

The girl shook her head, then nodded in panic as if she had thought of something.

She was afraid of retaliation.

Scarface had a relieved smile on his face, and he knew that his sister would never dare to resist him.

However, when he turned to look at Qiu Qianling, he saw her raising the bloody blade in her hand. A cold light flashed, and a sharp blade wind rushed towards him.

The scarred man was terrified. No, don’t—!

But before he could even utter a final wail, he was cut in half.

Then, a drop of heart blood, wrapped in spiritual energy, floated up from his body.

The woman by the lake was completely stunned by the bloody scene.

They didn't move or scream.

The girl looked at Scarface's body and the corners of her mouth twitched. She didn't know whether she wanted to cry or laugh.

She didn't scream in panic, but just moved to the side when the blood was about to spread to her feet.

Corpses, blood... She had seen too much in this chaotic Abandoned Lake Cave, but she had never thought that the person who died in front of her would be her brother - the man who had always bullied and beaten her and was more evil than the demons.

She felt a secret sense of pleasure in her heart, and her originally numb and confused eyes suddenly lit up.

Qiu Qianling retracted the blood blade, then took out the box and placed the heart blood in it.

This is the task that Shadow Phoenix ordered them to complete.

In order to prevent these one hundred cultivators from being killed by Fentian and sacrificed to the demon god, Yinghuang decided to let them collect the heart blood that would be transformed into the demon clan in advance.

After arriving at the Abandoned Lake Cave, Shadow Phoenix divided the cultivators into groups of two and sent a demon to monitor them. The three of them acted together to choose their targets.

The cultivators were eroded by demonic energy in the Demon Realm, their spiritual power was damaged, and they were no match for the demons, so there was no need to worry about them escaping.

What made Qiu Qianling unhappy was that the person in her group was Ge Fuling.

She still remembered how this person had harshly accused her of being a traitor to the immortal race and told her to die.

Perhaps Ge Fuling also found it difficult to face her, and she kept her head down on the way there without saying a word.

Just now, they were hiding in the woods with Ying Huang, looking for a target to attack. Qiu Qianling observed her expression and saw that she was obviously hesitant.

She really didn't understand why she couldn't bring herself to do anything to a group of men who were obviously scum.

Qiu Qianling was too lazy to think about it, since she had already obtained the heart blood.

She turned around and walked into the woods. After a while, she saw Ying Huang and Ge Fuling waiting there.

Qiu Qianling glanced at her hands, empty.

As if noticing her gaze, Ge Fuling's face turned awkward. She bit her lip and said coldly, "I won't kill anyone. Even if you force me to, I won't become a demon!"

Ge Fuling still held onto a glimmer of hope. She felt her Taoist companion would come and save her. Perhaps after she left, that person would remember her kindness, feel remorse, and come to rescue her from her suffering.

If she chooses to degenerate into a demon, won't she never be able to return to the immortal clan, and her life will be completely over?

She doesn't want to stay in this devil's land and live a dark life!

Ying Huang glanced at her with an indifferent expression, "Okay, then go back."

Qiu Qianling nodded and was about to leave when he suddenly heard a burst of messy footsteps behind him.

Turning around, they saw the girl and the women standing not far away, watching them quietly.

Qiu Qianling raised his eyebrows in surprise. Why did they follow him?

The girl clenched her fists nervously, then walked up to her and whispered, "Sister, can we...can we go with you?"

Qiu Qianling did not answer, but looked at Ying Huang first.

Shadow Phoenix raised the corner of his lips slightly, "You should know that we are the demon clan."

The girl nodded.

Behind her, the women nodded in agreement.

They witnessed the death of the scarred man, and if they didn't take this opportunity to leave, they would definitely fall into a tragic situation.

Therefore, they looked at Shadow Phoenix with full expectation, praying that she would not refuse their request.

Shadow Phoenix smiled and said, "Okay, the demon tribe welcomes you to join us."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and smiled happily on their faces.

The sunlight penetrated the evil aura in the air and the mist in the forest, and sprinkled on everyone's face like a layer of soft gauze, making the smiles on their faces seem even more genuine and moving.

Qiu Qianling took the girl's hand and slowly walked out of the woods. Everyone followed closely behind. They no longer remained silent and talked to each other in light voices.

"Did you see the man who was killed last night?"

"I know him. He's a beast. He beats and scolds the women in the house every day. Sometimes, you can hear screams in the middle of the night."

"I heard the man was dismembered and his head was still boiling in the pot when they found him."

Ge Fuling walked in the crowd and was very displeased when she heard them talking about a man's death with almost excitement. These people were simply crazy!

Sure enough, this is a place that causes people to degenerate. Those who are contaminated by evil spirits will sooner or later degenerate into demons.

Even she...

Ge Fuling carefully glanced at Ying Chou and the other person walking in front of her. Seeing that they were not paying attention to her, she lowered her head to look at her hands hidden in her sleeves.

The dark spots on the back of her hands increased again and even began to spread up her arms.

I heard that this is demonic erosion disease. People who are contaminated by demonic energy will suffer from this disease, just like the humans in the Abandoned Lake Cave. No matter how tightly they wrap themselves up, they cannot resist the erosion of demonic energy.

When the black spots cover the entire body, the person is not far from death.

Ge Fuling frowned worriedly. Was there no other way for her to go except becoming a demon?

No, Song Binbin will definitely come to save her.

————

On the other side, in Zhongzhou City.

Liu Dazhong was busy collecting spirit stones. He invited the immortal cultivation families to the state lord's mansion and asked them to take the lead in handing over the spirit stones.

Everyone's faces immediately darkened and they were very unhappy.

Liu Dazhong said hurriedly, "This is just a show for the people. Once the spirit stones are successfully collected, I will return all of your spirit stones and give you a generous gift!"