Chapter 25 Jiuyi City - Misty Forest (Part 9) What makes you think...?
The moment the words left her lips, Shi Xianxue was enveloped in a cocoon of countless Gu worms, completely obscuring any glimpse of her springtime beauty.
The man's face took on an eerie look in the night. A moment later, he leaped down, watching the body first struggle violently in agony, and then, as the Gu worms swarmed and gradually engulfed his body, he raised his hand. Black energy floated up from his palm like ink blots. The man smiled with satisfaction: "What pure power of fear. No wonder I love childhood trauma the most."
He thought he was about to have a feast, but the Gu worms suddenly scattered and fled, and the black ball of fear in his hand all flowed towards the skeleton.
No, it should have been bones.
He looked at the small glutinous rice ball with surprise. Unlike the skinny boy from before, this glutinous rice ball was exquisitely beautiful, with two pretty braids. Not only were there no traces of insect bites on its body, but its skin was also smooth and fair, like a peach growing freely in the mountains.
He couldn't resist leaning forward, wanting to see what this glutinous rice ball was all about. Unexpectedly, the previously sleeping ball suddenly opened its eyes. Startled, before he could react, a sharp pain shot through his chest—
The man lowered his head in disbelief.
A human bone pierced through his entire chest, the bone imbued with a black, terrifying power, cutting him right through to the core.
He clutched his chest and backed away, making an exaggerated expression of pain, as if he were about to die.
Shi Xianxue pouted: "Uncle, has anyone ever told you that your acting is really bad?"
Seeing that Shi Xianxue wasn't falling for his trick, he listlessly dusted off the corner of his clothes. The wound, along with the bone, disappeared from Shi Xianxue's sight. The miasma demon was curious about Shi Xianxue's appearance. "How strange, why are you in his nightmare?"
This is something that has never happened in thousands of years.
He is a miasma demon in this miasma forest, born from the lingering miasma in this forest, and has cultivated himself by devouring the fear of intruders for thousands of years.
Lord Fengyun said that humans are born of desires, and with desires come fears. Being carefree and fearless is something even the gods cannot do. Therefore, he was given the ability to uncover the fears of intruders, silently luring them into nightmares, and then devouring them within those nightmares to increase his cultivation.
For thousands of years, he had regarded this as the golden rule, without ever making a mistake. Today, when he realized that the demonic seal had sent this group of people deep into the Misty Forest, he became vigilant and crouched in the shadows to investigate their cultivation levels. He discovered that the highest cultivation level among them was only the late Golden Core stage. His gaze shifted and he noticed the boy enveloped in divine power. He possessed the power of the gods, yet his whole body exuded a murderous aura. His cultivation level was sometimes strong and sometimes weak, mysterious and contradictory, which intrigued him. That was why he came to harvest him first. Who would have thought that the boy's nightmare was actually a little girl?
Shi Xianxue didn't know how she had turned into her childhood self. She looked young and her voice was as clear as a silver bell swaying in the wind. She held a bright yellow talisman between two fingers. "Mind your own business, you stinky monster. You better let me go right now, or I'll use this Soul-Destroying Talisman to destroy you!"
She felt guilty saying this. The Soul Extinction Talisman was a high-level talisman. Not only did she not have one at all, but even if Song Qingshu kindly gave her one, her difficult cultivation constitution would not be able to withstand the backlash brought by such a high-level talisman.
What he has now is the simplest low-level talisman, the Fireball Talisman, which can't possibly harm a great demon like him, right?
As expected, the miasma demon saw through her trick, and the white bones on her chest were digested into his body without any pain or discomfort.
He revealed that same eerie smile again and walked towards Shi Xianxue: "You ruined my dinner, so let me eat you. I see you are delicate and tender, and you are from Wushan. I wonder if you have awakened the power of repair? It doesn't matter, I'll find out after I eat you."
Shi Xianxue hurled the fireball talisman at him, but it only sparked a few tiny sparks when it hit his body. She quickly ran out of talismans and screamed as she threw whatever was at hand haphazardly.
The miasma demon let out a contemptuous laugh, its mouth opening wider and wider, like a man-eating plant from Plants vs. Zombies, revealing a mouthful of fangs to her.
Shi Xianxue didn't want to sit and wait for her death. She held her breath and raised her foot to kick the foul-smelling mouth, but this played right into the demon's hands. His eyes narrowed into slits, and he bit down on Shi Xianxue's calf. He was quite satisfied with the food being served to him and was about to enjoy it when he closed his teeth and bit down hard. Suddenly, a piercing sound of a copper bell rang out. Startled, before he could react, there was a loud bang—
Someone penetrated the barrier he had set up and his body.
Before the miasma demon could even utter a sound, its body was torn apart to the sides by an external force, turning into wisps of smoke and scattering away. Shi Xianxue's legs missed their target, and the stone wall on her back was incredibly slippery. Her body also lost its strength and slid down as the miasma demon disappeared.
Her delicate, soft feet landed and pressed against the boy's strong chest as he leaned in.
The two, one bright and one dark, seemed to be separated into different worlds, yet they were entangled together in an ambiguous manner.
Thick clouds floated, and the boy's hair seemed to glow as each strand was distinct. He was dressed neatly and smartly, and his peach blossom eyes were full of aloofness and lingering murderous intent. When his bright, glass-like pupils met hers, he quickly concealed all his fierce emotions, leaving only a clear look of disdain.
Just as he was about to say something, Shi Xianxue pressed her foot hard against the bone in his chest. She feigned fierceness, her rather fleshy face trembling slightly: "Don't think that you can lure me into surrendering just because you've turned into this!"
“…”
"Although he looks really handsome, I, Shi Xianxue, am not someone who is blinded by lust!" She suddenly emphasized her words and retorted, "If you want to kill me, then kill me. Why are you using human seduction techniques? How disgusting!"
Wu Xiutang was speechless. This woman was not only cowardly, but also stupid and useless. Now she couldn't even tell him apart from that ugly thing called the miasma demon.
That good-for-nothing demon, Wu Xiutang thought of that bizarre and absurd place. When he first stepped into Shi Xianxue's illusion, everything around him was shrouded in mist and he couldn't see clearly. Scenes from the past flashed around him, so fast that he couldn't catch them at all.
Realizing that a force was preventing him from seeing clearly, Wu Xiutang bit his fingertip, and the blood droplet, carrying a golden light, sprinkled onto the energy shield in mid-air, like thousands of sharp swords. Spiderweb-like tiny cracks appeared on the transparent shield, and as the shield cracked, a little girl with pigtails ran past him.
He stood there indifferently, watching the little girl run past him again and again without moving. Finally, the little girl stopped in front of him, panting, and looked at him unhappily: "Why didn't you chase after me?"
Looking at the features that resembled someone else's, Wu Xiutang asked, "Why should I pursue them?"
This little guy, not even as tall as a scallion, is trying to outsmart me.
The little girl opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say. She sat down with her head down, embarrassed: "Then how are we going to get out of here? It stinks in here, and there are disgusting miasma demons."
Wu Xiutang was not fooled, and his silence made the little girl frequently look up at him.
The little girl, unable to contain herself, said, "Brother, if you don't help me break the illusion, you'll die here too."
"oh."
The little girl grew anxious and pleaded, "It's very simple, brother, all I want is you..."
“Since it’s so simple—” Wu Xiutang looked down at her, “why don’t you go yourself?”
The little girl hugged herself and said, "I'm scared of those things. They tricked me into eating bugs. Those bugs bite people. I really didn't lie to your brother."
"Shi Xianxue." Wu Xiutang interrupted impatiently, reaching out to ruffle her round head. The little girl felt his touch was like pressure, like urging a disobedient pet dog. "This is your own business, no one can help you."
The little girl looked like she was about to cry, but she still tried to bargain: "But that bug has eight legs and a sharp mouth that can bite, so brother, you..."
Wu Xiutang completely lost his patience, drew a shiny rusty knife and said coldly and ruthlessly, "Either you break the illusion, or I'll kill you with one blow."
He gave him an understanding smile. "How about I let you choose for yourself?"
The little girl shivered. She had no doubt that if she said no, the boy would draw his sword and kill her the next moment. Staring at the cold light, she stood up tremblingly, "I'll go, brother, please don't kill me."
Wu Xiutang handed her the knife, his gaze looking down at her with a sense of disdain: "Although I can't help you break the illusion, I can lend you a knife, Shi Xianxue. I don't have much patience, so let's finish this quickly."
"Mmm!" The little girl walked away, carrying the knife and looking back every few steps.
Wu Ying floated around on his shoulder, saying, "She looks so pitiful."
“Poor thing, then you go and take her place.”
Wu Ying fell silent.
A moment later, the knife was thrown out of the frame, and the little girl was cornered against the wall, screaming for help in a panic.
The black smoke slowly enveloped her, waiting for the fear to reach its peak and devour her completely.
Wu Ying was heartbroken: "Master, if we don't save her soon, she'll really be eaten."
Wu Xiutang watched expressionlessly, seemingly having anticipated this outcome but not expecting Shi Xianxue to be so useless, surrendering without even daring to use her weapon. Seeing the darkness about to engulf her, Wu Xiutang flew into the scene.
With just a flick of his finger, those people vanished into thin air. He bent down, and just as his skin touched Shi Xianxue's face, the scene before him suddenly changed.
What followed was an endless series of terrifying hallucinations.
Wu Xiutang never knew that someone could be afraid of so many things. The illusions came one after another, and Shi Xianxue kept switching between darkness and truth, goodness and beauty. Wu Xiutang almost crushed the weapon in his hand.
Until he saw the woman bedridden with illness.
They were trapped in a house stacked like a thousand-piece box. The walls were white, the beds were white, and even their clothes were white. They had strange hairstyles and spoke strange words. Wu Xiutang looked at the square box that kept flashing until it made a sharp beeping sound. The slightly older Shi Xianxue lay on the bed and cried hysterically.
He didn't care who the woman was, nor how heartbroken Shi Xianxue was; all he wanted now was to get out of there quickly.
However, the moment he raised his knife, the woman who had been dead suddenly opened her eyes, and in that instant, the illusion shattered.
Danger lurks everywhere in the Misty Forest. Wu Xiutang activates his memory tracing, but still cannot recall the woman's appearance in the picture.
Interesting. He twirled his fingertips, seemingly trying to hide her face. However, the illusion had been broken, and he couldn't trace the source, so he went to find the Heartbreak Grass, which could cure the Love Poison.
He just didn't expect that Shi Xianxue would fall into her own illusion.
So who is that little girl who can communicate with herself and has an independent mind?
Without time to think too much, his face gradually darkened as he gazed at the all-too-familiar scene.
As if someone had discovered his secret and unspeakable thoughts, his first reaction was to kill Shi Xianxue to silence her.
And that voyeuristic demon, kill them too.
Fortunately, he arrived in time; the illusion hadn't yet shown the most unbearable scenes. If she had actually seen them, he would have killed her without hesitation.
After weighing his options, he grabbed the ungrateful Shi Xianxue, who was punching and kicking him, and slipped out of the illusion to settle accounts with that damned miasma demon.
When Wu Xiutang found the Miasma Demon, the Miasma Demon was still trying to break in and fight Wu Xiutang, refusing to believe it. Seeing that the two of them had come out of the illusion unharmed, he was stunned for a moment, and then quickly entered battle mode. His nails and hair grew wildly in the air, turning into snake-shaped tree branches with blackish-purple demonic energy. His body swelled up like a ball, covered with disgusting and terrifying lumps of flesh. Wet mucus dripped down his belly, and more than a dozen ghostly faces with a pale white aura emerged from his belly.
They all appeared to be cultivators killed by the miasma demons.
His sinister gaze swept over the young man before him, making him look him up and down. "No wonder you were able to kill the Lantern Woman. You seem to have some skill. Let me have a go at you!"
The restrictions on Shi Xianxue were lifted after she was released.
The towering forest before them was like a python unleashed from its cage, blocking out the sun. It was surrounded by a thick, poisonous fog, and the swampy areas were full of muddy pools. It seemed that some monsters were lurking in the shadows, and danger permeated the air everywhere.
Shi Xianxue never expected that the seemingly ordinary man in the illusion was actually a disgusting creature resembling a toad.
Although she really wanted to stay close to Wu Xiutang, this stuff was just too disgusting. Shi Xianxue gagged and ran away quickly.
This miasma demon looks very powerful. Compared to the lantern girl, who is fierce on the outside but gentle on the inside and eats human flesh simply because it tastes good, and has survived until now purely by the protection of the lantern tree and the demon seal, the miasma demon is a power-type demon that strengthens itself by luring people into illusions and absorbing their fear and spiritual flesh. It can even mobilize all the demons in the entire Miasma Forest.
No matter how powerful Wu Xiutang is, it would be very difficult for him to escape unscathed, right?
She should stay away from him to avoid being implicated later.
So he ran to a tree that looked normal and secretly watched the two fight.
She gets hungry whenever she has free time. Although this place isn't really suitable for eating, watching them fight is like watching a movie. The more Shi Xianxue watched, the hungrier she got, so she secretly took a piece of pastry from the storage ring that Song Qingshu had given her and ate it.
This storage ring doesn't require a designated owner; anyone with spiritual power can open it. It can hold approximately three hundred items, making it perfect for a novice cultivator like her.
After exchanging two blows with him, the miasma demon transformed into the man's appearance in mid-air, and its fist, carrying a heavy aura of ferocity, stopped in front of him.
The boy's sharp features froze for a moment, and the demon felt smug. Mimicking the expression of the man in the illusion, it said, "You little beast, look carefully, I am your master!"
If this man weren't his nightmare, the miasma demon wouldn't have been able to lure him into the illusion. It was precisely because he feared this man that the miasma demon's confidence soared. He straightened his back, but unexpectedly, the next second, he was struck in the face by a powerful force and sent flying.
He fell to the ground in disbelief, and before he could get up, the boy stomped on his face.
"If I can kill him once, I can kill him twice. If he were alive, he should be living in constant fear of being found by me."
Wu Xiutang laughed wildly. His facial muscles always twitched a lot when he laughed, but he was young and his skin was tight. His features were clear and distinct. When he laughed, especially when he laughed with a contemptuous look as if he were looking at a dog, he was more energetic than when he had a cold and stern face.
A beautiful face always makes people's hearts flutter.
The force of his foot increased, crushing the face on the belly of the miasma demon to pieces. His wicked smile turned into a devilish whisper, his eyes sinister, and the dimples on his cheeks seemed to be coated with poison: "What makes you think I would be afraid of a defeated opponent?"
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Author's Note: Mom, I've finally written 100,000 words! Waaaaaah!
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