Rong Jiaojiao said, "Could it be a feint?"
Team Leader Zhang shook his head: "We can't be sure. We thought so too. We searched the whole city but didn't find any trace of the demon spirit."
Elder Li said, "It seems they are hiding something very well again. We should not delay. If possible, let's go to the south of the city now."
Team Leader Zhang stood up, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "In that case, Elder Li and young friend Rong, please come with me. I will show you around the terrain of the south of the city."
The three of them left the room and sped off on their swords towards the south of the city.
As night fell, the lights of Jiangcheng gradually thinned out, while the darkness in the south of the city seemed to be silently telling people that endless dangers were lurking there.
Before long, they arrived at the southern edge of the city.
"This is the south of the city," Team Leader Zhang said, pointing to an area below. "We've searched every place, but we still haven't found any trace of the demon spirit."
Elder Li asked in a deep voice, "Have you detected any unusual fluctuations in spiritual energy or any areas where demonic energy is emanating?"
Team Leader Zhang shook his head: "Not for now. The demon spirit seems to be hiding very well, and its aura seems to be covered by some kind of power, making it difficult to detect."
“We have already set up a spirit array in the south of the city. It will be detected immediately if any demonic aura appears, but so far we have not found anything.”
Elder Li said, "Alright, let's first thoroughly search the south of the city to see if we can find any clues. If we really can't find anything, then we'll consider other places."
The three of them descended slowly on their swords, reaching a height of several dozen meters above the ground, and began to explore the streets and alleys in the south of the city.
They carefully observed their surroundings, looking for any possible anomalies.
However, everything in the south of the city seemed peaceful, without the slightest trace of demonic energy.
As midnight passed, they searched every street in the south of the city, as well as abandoned houses and factories, but found no clues.
Even Zi Ling, the living demon spirit detector, only found a few more people with demon spirit marks in addition to the thirty-seven people that Team Leader Zhang and his team found.
Elder Li said, "Team Leader Zhang, you stay in the south of the city to erase all the demonic spirit marks and see if the demonic spirits react. Rong and I will continue to investigate other areas."
"Alright, those two, please be careful. If you notice anything unusual, please send a message immediately," Team Leader Zhang said solemnly, clasping his hands in a fist salute.
Elder Li nodded, and on his sword, he carried Rong Jiaojiao towards the east of the city.
However, after two days of searching the east, west, and north of the city, and even the entire Jiangcheng, they still couldn't find any trace of the demon spirit.
Fortunately, for some unknown reason, no demons have appeared in the past two days, and no one has died.
The Xuanmen sect cleared the marks of all those in Jiangcheng who bore the mark of the demonic spirit, yet the demonic spirit itself remained nowhere to be found.
Helpless, Elder Li could only rest for a day before taking Rong Jiaojiao and Ziling to continue searching the surrounding areas, with Jiangcheng as the center.
The morning mist enveloped the countryside. Elder Li flew on his sword, while Rong Jiaojiao stood on the sword, holding Zi Ling, looking down at the gradually thinning city walls below.
After searching for two hours, and already dozens of miles away from Jiangcheng, there was still no trace of the demon spirit. Rong Jiaojiao was getting impatient and couldn't help but ask, "Elder Li, can we really find the demon spirit by searching aimlessly like this?"
Elder Li gazed into the distance and said in a deep voice, "Since the demonic spirit has planted so many demonic seeds in Jiangcheng, it must not be too far away. It is either lurking somewhere in the city or hiding somewhere in the surrounding area, secretly committing evil deeds."
As they were talking, Zi Ling suddenly pricked up her ears and let out a low whimper.
"A discovery?" Rong Jiaojiao immediately became alert.
"Over there." Zi Ling pointed her little paw to a forest in the southeast, where a faint aura of malevolence emanated.
Elder Li turned his sword around, "Let's go take a look."
As they drew closer, a faint, chilling aura gradually became clearer.
A few seconds later, they finally witnessed a horrifying scene—in the ravine, hundreds of corpses were neatly arranged in a bizarre formation, with a huge black heart floating in the center.
A bloodline extended from the chest of each corpse, connecting it to the heart. And below the heart, there was...
"The earth veins of Jiangcheng?" Even though Elder Li had lived for over a hundred years and considered himself to have witnessed many life-and-death and terrifying events, he was still shocked by this scene and gasped in astonishment.
It turns out that the demon spirit was not in the city at all, but rather used the earth's veins in Jiangcheng as the core of the formation to help the demon spirit remotely absorb the souls and essence of those who had been marked by the demon spirit.
Elder Li was furious, and Rong Jiaojiao was equally enraged. These demonic spirits were truly insane, daring to kill so many people and even pollute the earth's veins!
Zi Ling's fur stood on end instantly, and a low roar came from her throat, clearly enraged by the evil formation before her.
Elder Li quickly calmed down and said in a deep voice, "Jiaojiao, immediately send a message to Team Leader Zhang, and have him lead people to seal off all the demonic parasites in Jiangcheng. We must not allow the demonic spirits to absorb even a single drop of essence blood!"
Rong Jiaojiao nodded, quickly took out a communication jade talisman, and informed Team Leader Zhang of the situation.
The moment she finished sending the message, the floating black heart suddenly began to beat violently!
"Not good, it has noticed!" Elder Li suddenly summoned a bronze mirror, its surface shining brightly with golden light, transforming into a barrier in front of the two.
"boom--"
The black heart suddenly erupted with a terrifying aura of bloodlust, and hundreds of corpses simultaneously opened their blood-red eyes and stood up stiffly!
Rong Jiaojiao gasped: "These corpses... have all been turned into puppets!"
Even more terrifying, the blood threads connecting the corpse did not break; instead, they began to writhe like living things, enveloping the black heart in a giant blood cocoon.
"It's merging!" Elder Li's expression changed drastically. "This formation must be destroyed immediately!"
He formed hand seals, and a blazing golden light shot out from the bronze mirror, striking directly at the blood cocoon. However, the golden light was swallowed up by the black mist surrounding the blood cocoon as soon as it got close.
"roar--"
The corpse puppets let out mournful howls and pounced wildly!
Rong Jiaojiao quickly formed a hand seal, and a cyan light barrier appeared in front of her: "Zi Ling, be careful!"
Zi Ling had already transformed into a bolt of purple lightning, weaving through the horde of corpses, each claw tearing a body apart. But there were simply too many corpses; she couldn't possibly kill them all!
Seeing this, Elder Li bit his fingertip and drew a blood talisman on the bronze mirror: "Mysterious Heaven Orthodox Law, vanquish evil!"
The bronze mirror trembled violently, and a golden light several times stronger than before shot out!
"Bang!"
The blood cocoon was struck by the golden light, and a crack appeared on its surface, from which black blood gushed out.
"It works!" Rong Jiaojiao's eyes lit up.
However, the next second, a pitch-black claw suddenly emerged from the blood cocoon, grabbed the golden light, and crushed it to pieces!
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