Chapter 38 Zhuque and Xuanwu Lou Yan thought he was talking nonsense. ...
Lou Yan then left without saying goodbye.
This "different" refers specifically to Heng Qichun.
He and Wei Xiuzhu, each relying on their meager cultivation, trekked for several days, finally arriving at the foot of Mount Sixiang half a month later.
Accompanying them was the arrogant and aloof ancient mythical beast, the Chongming Bird.
Nanyu Mountain is said to possess divine power that extends to all directions, and perhaps it can lend them a helping hand.
Lou Yan thought he was talking nonsense.
Lou Yan stood at the foot of Mount Sixiang and looked around. His first reaction was to sniff.
The demonic aura on the mountain was even stronger than he had imagined.
Wei Xiuzhu was flipping through "The Chronicles of the Nine Provinces" next to him.
The incessant chatter continued in my ears: "The Four Symbols Mountain is situated at the intersection of the human and ghost realms, guarded by four divine beast peaks: Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise. At the center of these four mountains lies the Mausoleum of Emperor Yi, the tomb of the Underworld Emperor Yi, suppressing his physical body and the 100,000 Yin soldiers buried with him when he transformed into a ghost. Legend has it that Emperor Yi's Mausoleum is filled with ghostly energy, attracting countless demons eager for quick success to fight over it for millennia, causing the mountain to teem with demonic energy..."
Lou Yan didn't listen to a word he said.
He kept staring at the barren mountain before him, his nostrils twitching faster and faster. He turned to the incessantly chattering Wei Xiuzhu and asked, "Was the mountain like this when you and Fu Yusheng came here before?"
Wei Xiuzhu blinked innocently, "It's different."
He scrutinized Lou Yan's face and said, "Back then it was still summer, and the people were often sweltering in the heat. The mountains were lush and green, unlike now... where not a blade of grass grows."
Lou Yan rolled her eyes at him in her heart.
He was too lazy to explain that the summer heat was because Xi Niang had reversed time with the Night Watchman's Curse, so he could only try his best to patiently coax her, "I mean demonic energy. Was there such a strong demonic energy on the mountain back then?"
Now Wei Xiuzhu finally understood what Lou Yan was asking. He even moved closer to Lou Yan and imitated Lou Yan's posture, sniffing intently for a long time before turning to Lou Yan and saying, "Senior Brother Lou, I can't smell anything—"
Lou Yan: "..."
He almost forgot that Wei Xiuzhu was someone who couldn't even recognize Fu Yusheng's original form, so how could he be expected to be able to identify demonic energy from among thousands of auras?
Indeed, only wolves possess such a keen sense of smell.
Lou Yan looked at Wei Xiuzhu in front of him and finally understood why Fu Yusheng could always put on such a calm and collected demeanor—it was probably because he had spent so much time with his foolish junior brother that he had lost all his temper.
While they were speaking, the Chongming Bird had already circled the Four Symbols Mountain once, then landed back in front of them with a soft cry, arrogantly raising its neck, "There is a group of butterfly spirits on Vermilion Bird Peak who are in the process of transforming, and there is a rhinoceros in Xuanwu Lake that is absorbing the demonic energy from the mountain, trying to lure ghosts into its body."
here we go again.
Lou Yan felt uneasy upon hearing the words "inviting a ghost into one's body," and unconsciously recalled some unpleasant things, such as the mermaid that almost caused him to be thrown into the rooftop pond.
If it hadn't wanted to lure the ghost into its body, none of what happened afterward would have occurred.
Even though he wasn't implicated in this life, he still found it hateful—that indiscriminate stinking fish was being well-fed by Heng Qichun with a drop of divine blood every day.
He had already conjured up a whole scene of righteous indignation in his mind, while Wei Xiuzhu was still blinking stupidly and asking Lou Yan, "Senior Brother Lou, what is the Chongming bird saying?"
Lou Yan sighed softly and earnestly advised, "You are really not suited to cultivate the Gu Dao. I suggest you go back to being a medical cultivator as soon as possible."
Wei Xiuzhu refused righteously and firmly, "That won't do. I'll stay wherever my senior brother is."
Lou Yan wanted to laugh out loud. She made a hand seal and prepared to try to fly up the mountain on her sword. The moment she turned around, she felt even more sorry for Fu Yusheng. "Fu Yusheng might be quite annoyed by you."
And who knows what kind of outrageous thing you might do to him in the future?
When disciples from the Eighteen Realms become disciples, each one presents a gift to their master. Naturally, the master will also prepare a gift for each disciple, which is usually a magical artifact.
Heng Qichun gave him a sword, which was said to have been passed down from Heng Qichun's ancestor. However, Lou Yan's cultivation was still shallow, and he had never used it.
As for his apprenticeship ceremony?
Lou Yan felt a chill run down her spine when she thought of the wild rabbit she had finally managed to hunt back, only to have Heng Qichun bury it with a sorrowful expression.
By the time he combined his experience of wielding the demonic sword from his previous life to learn the sword control technique, and flew erratically to Vermilion Bird Peak on his sword, the Chongming Bird had been waiting there for a long time with a disdainful expression.
As the chief of the ancient divine beasts, it found it hard to understand why the deity would take such a stupid and self-aware demon wolf as a disciple.
However, the sect leader entrusted the important task of exploring the Four Symbols Mountain to this wolf, and it had no choice but to reluctantly accept this fact.
“All the butterfly spirits are dead,” said the Double-Eyed Bird.
Lou Yan was stunned for a moment, his face turning pale as he was about to vomit from the shock of the sword. He supported Wei Xiuzhu beside him, and then first made a hand seal to retrieve his sword.
"How did they die?" he asked, looking at the colorful corpses scattered on the ground.
The Chongming Bird disliked all spirits equally. It stepped back, indicating that Lou Yan could look if she wanted, "After all, I didn't die here for no reason."
Lou Yan frowned, then suppressed her slight disgust and squatted down to take a look.
Hundreds and thousands of colorful wings were torn to shreds, covering the valley. The dead butterflies were piled up like frost, and the golden powder on their wings was still there, but it had already dimmed and lost its luster.
Some remained in the posture of flapping their wings, while others withered and curled up, turning into dust in an instant before one could even reach out and touch them.
The strangest thing is that there is not a trace of decay here.
These butterflies seem to have had their souls ripped away the moment they died, leaving only empty shells, silently displayed in this nameless butterfly graveyard.
Wei Xiuzhu also clearly saw the dead state of these butterflies. Her almond-shaped eyes trembled, and she couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "They were still transforming before we went up the mountain, at most half an hour. What could make them turn into dust in such a short time?"
It is indeed terrifying.
Lou Yan squatted on the ground and gently rubbed a piece of butterfly wing in his hand. He sniffed the powdered fragments several times until he coughed from the smell.
His sense of smell was always very keen, yet there was no other scent mixed in with these butterfly fragments.
strangeness.
Lou Yan couldn't help but look at the Chongming bird again, and saw that it didn't seem to care much about the butterfly's death. It was calmly looking around as if it was looking for something.
"Ahem." Lou Yan interrupted it, "Are there any other living creatures here?"
The Chongming bird withdrew its gaze and immediately let out a soft cry, "That's all."
Lou Yan stood up and brushed the dust off his palms with his hands. "Then why don't we go to Xuanwu Pool first?"
"Didn't they say there was another ungrateful rhinoceros there?"
Lou Yan boasted of his extraordinary talent.
What others take three to five years to learn, he can master in just a short time.
Of course, we won't mention the fact that he lived more than two hundred years longer than others.
Therefore, it only took a quarter of an hour to get from Zhuque Peak to Xuanwu Lake.
Lou Yan sheathed his sword again. This time he didn't feel dizzy. He immediately saw the ghostly energy gathering in the lake and the huge rhinoceros demon surrounded by the ghostly energy.
Unlike what was described in the book, the creature resembled a colossal beast forged from black iron, its body resembling an ox but even more imposing, its entire body bluish-black, its fur rough and calloused. A single horn rose from its forehead, and its eyes were tainted by ghostly energy, gleaming with a blood-red light.
Wei Xiuzhu had never seen anything like it before, and for a moment he felt terrified. He touched the baby Pixiu in his arms, his expression one of fear, "It looks like it's in a lot of pain..."
Lou Yan, who once commanded countless demons in the Nine Netherworld Realm in his previous life, naturally had a clear understanding of the situation of this rhinoceros.
He stood by the lake and pondered for a moment, then said, "The ghostly energy here is too strong, and this rhinoceros is too eager for quick success. It tried to absorb the excessively strong ghostly energy into its body, but its body is far from being able to absorb it, so it has the tendency to go into qi deviation."
Wei Xiuzhu was about to say that Senior Brother Lou was really amazing when he looked up and saw the rhinoceros twitch violently. A black crack quickly appeared on the edge of its horn, and dark red flesh could be faintly seen under the skin.
"It...it...it..." Wei Xiuzhu almost jumped back in fright. "What's wrong with it?!"
Lou Yan was also watching this scene with an air of mystery, his eyes seemingly being corrupted by the ghostly aura in the lake, gleaming with a deep, eerie light.
He watched helplessly as the rhinoceros's forehead split open along the crack, and a huge blood sac grew out of it.
Like a cicada struggling to survive in its molted shell during the summer.
"It's taking shape!" Lou Yan said.
Wei Xiuzhu's pupils contracted, and he blurted out, "What?!"
If what Lou Yan said is true, this rhinoceros's body can no longer bear too much ghostly energy. If it insists on transforming into human form... can it still be human form?
Looking at the blood bag that was growing bigger and bigger, Wei Xiuzhu was certain that it could not possibly turn into a person.
The lake surface was turbulent, with waves constantly surging up. The entire lake was corroded by ghostly energy, and it shimmered with a dark, bloody light that was a mixture of black and red.
And the fishy stench that was particularly nauseating to smell from the building.
Lou Yantong's eyes were deep and dark, with undercurrents surging within them, and his hands, hanging at his sides, were clenched into fists.
He stared at the horrifying scene, feeling an overwhelming sense of familiarity.
In his previous life, he was the ruler of the Nine Netherworld Realm. His demons claimed that they would conquer the Immortal and Demon Realms for the Demon Lord. The entire Demon Realm went to the Four Symbols Mountain to absorb ghost energy to enhance their cultivation.
Lou Yan had personally witnessed his greedy demons, who, due to their insufficient cultivation, were corrupted by ghostly energy and transformed into all sorts of monsters.
Not only are they terrifying in appearance, but they are also out of control of their minds. Louyan uses them to truly realize his vision of "causing havoc on the world".
The entire clan of Hezizhou was slaughtered, and countless immortals and divine beasts perished afterward.
The situation was as dire as that of the rhinoceros demon struggling for its last breath in the lake.
"We can't let him take human form." Lou Yan said this, then made a magic hand gesture with his fingertips. A golden spiritual energy burst out and rushed straight towards the rhinoceros that was roaring softly.
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Author's note: See you tomorrow!
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