Chapter 34 Son! You are my son! ...
Xu Cangyu took out a dagger and pointed it at his wrist, but Xue Wenxiang stopped him: "Are you crazy? You're feeding this white-haired beast with your own flesh and blood."
Xu Zangyu: "A demonic insect that can even devour spiritual energy, do you know what that means?"
“If this thing gets out, it will be a disaster. If it's just one, it'll be fine, but if there's more than one…”
Xue Wenxiang naturally knew the gravity of the situation; even cultivators could not escape it, and this would be a disaster.
He snatched the dagger and swiftly slashed his own wrist: "I'll do it."
Bright red blood dripped from between his fingers and down his palm. The demonic insect became more active than before, darting out half of its body, its head and antennae trembling. Clearly, this blood was more attractive than before.
But this thing was too clever; it refused to pull itself out of the body it had embedded in.
After extending its exploratory tentacles towards Xue Wenxiang, it suddenly reached out towards Xu Zangyu, its body, which had been deeply embedded, emerged a little more.
"That little devil is picky about food."
Xue Wenxiang gritted her teeth, channeling her spiritual power into her palm, intending to kill the insect and the fox together.
Xu Zangyu stopped him: "Don't rush, let me try."
He also painfully cut his wrist, and before he could even show any reaction, Xue Wenxiang looked pained and asked, "Why did you cut so deep?"
The moment the blood gushed out, the demonic insect hissed, pulled out its long, needle-like antennae, and plucked out another half of its body.
Xu Cangyu slowly reached out his hand, and the thing quickly jumped onto the wound and burrowed inside. Xue Wenxiang threw a flying knife, but missed.
Such speed! It's even faster than the hidden weapons from the Dark Fragrance Pavilion.
Fortunately, Xu Cangyu had prepared spiritual power to seal his arm, fearing that the thing might burrow into his body, which would truly be like finding a needle in a haystack.
But this thing consumes spiritual energy, so the seal obviously won't last long.
The situation was worse than expected. The Golden Core cultivator's defenses were as strong as steel, but they were completely ineffective against the demonic insects.
The demonic insect became unusually agitated, frantically devouring flesh and blood, and within moments a dent appeared in his wrist.
As if being sliced piece by piece, Xu Zangyu's face instantly lost its color, and Xue Wenxiang's eyes turned red with anxiety.
"How could it possibly bite through the flesh and blood of a Golden Core cultivator!"
Xue Wenxiang tried to force it out with her spiritual power, but the demonic insect sensed the threat and became even more agitated.
"No, he's biting my meridians."
Xu Zangyu took a bottle of pain-relieving pills, then decisively cut open his skin and ripped off the flesh from his wrist.
At the joint, only a skin remained, clinging to the stark white bones.
"quick!"
The Dark Fragrance Blade slashed at the demonic insects immersed in the feast.
I'll chop you to death!
The bloody flesh was still. When the knife tip was used to pick it up, the thing was curled up into a ball, becoming a round, smooth bean, which looked like a seed no matter how you looked at it.
"Damn it, it's going to smash the signboard of my Anxianglou."
Xue Wenxiang swung her swords several more times, but still couldn't split it open.
The ghost that appeared out of nowhere is almost invincible. Is the legend of the ancestors of Yu'an Village dying in battle against the demon really true?
Fearing that the thing would escape, Xue Wenxiang had no choice but to cover it with a spirit net: "Is there really no way to deal with this scourge?"
The fox, lying on the ground, tremblingly brought over a twig and placed it on the spirit net. Xu Cangyu squatted down and guessed, "You mean... we can burn it?"
The little fox nodded.
"What a clever little thing, it can even understand human speech."
Xu Zangyu instinctively reached out to touch it, but forgot that his hand was still bleeding. He stopped to avoid soiling the little fox's clean fur.
But the little fox was very intelligent; it sniffed the air, licked the blood off his fingertip, and whimpered anxiously.
"fine."
He channeled spiritual fire from his fingertips, igniting the tree branch. The insects in the spiritual net suddenly sprang up, no longer feigning death, and emitted piercing cries.
It seems that fire really is the nemesis of this thing.
The demonic insect's body was indestructible, but when it came into contact with a flame, it was as easily ignited as dry tinder, burning to ashes in the blink of an eye.
"Little one, do you recognize this insect?"
The little fox nodded and licked his wounds like a small animal healing itself, but Xue Wenxiang pressed its head down and pushed it away.
The slender wrist was covered with skin and bone. Xue Wenxiang dared not touch it, her voice hoarse: "Do you still want your hand? Don't move it."
After applying the ointment and wrapping the wound with gauze, Xue Wenxiang broke out in a sweat—a simple procedure.
"It's not that serious. I'm not an ordinary person. I can recover with some magic pills over time. Besides, I took painkillers and I really don't feel anything."
Xue Wenxiang didn't look up for a long time, her eyes were very calm, and her voice was low: "It's good that you're alright."
Xu Zangyu also bandaged the little fox's wounds. The little fox stretched out its paws, quiet and well-behaved, and the fluffy feel made Xu Zangyu love it.
Seeing that Xu Cangyu was about to hug it, Xue Wenxiang immediately snatched it away: "Don't touch it, we don't know if this little beast still has dirt on it."
Once in Xue Wenxiang's arms, the little fox whimpered, its fur stood on end, kicked him, and jumped away.
"You little bastard, you even dare to kick people."
Xu Zangyu smiled and comforted him, "Why bother arguing with it?"
He asked the little fox, "How did you run into that bug?"
The little fox just kept rubbing against his leg, as if it couldn't understand what he was saying. Xue Wenxiang sneered, "Now you're pretending you can't understand human language? I'd like to see what's hidden in this."
The Dark Fragrance Pavilion excels at tracking traces. Following the broken branches and leaves, and a hint of blood, they tracked down to a cliff.
Pushing aside the vines, the hidden cave entrance is revealed; the further you go in, the more unexpected and wonderful the cave becomes.
The cave is natural, but there are also traces of human activity. It seems to have been burned, as the stone walls are blackened.
Upon reaching the deepest point, a stone gate blocked the way.
The stone door was sealed, and the complex patterns on it were clearly an array.
Xu Zangyu observed the difference: "The formation is different in appearance, and it seems to have been loosened and then reinforced."
Xu Zangyu didn't have much curiosity, but felt a lingering fear: "Could there be something sealed inside...?"
Logically, there must be treasures where monsters roam, but he's not the main character, so he might just be sending himself to his death.
Therefore, Xu Zangyu retreated again and again, unable to avoid it.
The cave was dark, and he didn't know what he stepped on, but his foot slipped and he fell to the ground, where it hurt.
Something smooth fell into my arms, and I picked it up to take a look.
Goodness, that's a head.
All that remained were human heads and skeletons.
Xu Zangyu numbly comforted himself, at least it wasn't the bloody kind, otherwise he would really go crazy.
After returning the severed head, Xu Zangyu apologized profusely, saying, "Senior, please don't take offense."
"Is there someone else here?"
Xue Wenxiang noticed that the man was surrounded by a circle of charcoal, and that this person must have started the fire.
"There were no external injuries on the remains, and there were no signs of a struggle. He must have died from self-immolation."
“The traces of these charcoal pieces are ancient and don’t match the time of that new seal, so someone must have been here before.” Xu Zangyu put down the charcoal and focused his gaze on the bones.
"Any corpse that cannot be burned by fire must have been a person of considerable cultivation who was forced to commit suicide by self-immolation... and may have also encountered demonic insects."
The little fox discovered that burning the demon worms was effective; perhaps it was seeing this situation.
"There's also a sword here."
Xue Wenxiang took out the sword pressed down by the white bone. The sword was long and slender, with an ordinary appearance and the material was like ordinary iron. However, when held in the hand, it had a cold aura that repelled outsiders who could easily touch it.
"This sword is extraordinary."
He was very interested in this magical weapon. He gripped the hilt, but instead of drawing the sword, a strange thing suddenly jumped out and startled him.
A masked phantom emerged from the sword. If it weren't for Dao Cannian, his saliva would have almost sprayed onto his face, and his roar was deafening.
"You little bastard, do you think you can get something for nothing? You're just daydreaming! Only my son can pull out this sword!!!"
Xue Wenxiang had a tense and unpleasant expression, her words carrying a heavy weight.
"They're almost done for, and they're still so arrogant."
Xu Zangyu couldn't hold back and laughed, his face regaining some color, which made him look better than his pale, paper-like appearance.
For some time now, Xue Wenxiang found it hard to look away from the smile on his face. Being able to make the beauty smile, even if it meant playing the clown for a while, wasn't a bad deal.
Xue Wenxiang tossed the sword to him: "Give it a try. If it's to your liking, I'll see if I can break the seal."
The phantom stood to the side, arms crossed, watching coldly: "Heh, dream on."
It's not very honorable to snatch a sword from its owner in front of him, but Xu Cangyu really liked this sword. It felt comfortable no matter how he held it. Even a custom-made sword probably wouldn't be as good as this one.
He tried to draw the sword, then exclaimed, "Is there a restriction on it?"
The sword was drawn, and the words "Fearless" were engraved on it. The calligraphy was unrestrained and had a chivalrous spirit.
"The swordsman is fearless, a fine sword, a fine name."
He looked up and saw two stunned figures.
Xue Wenxiang: "You...pulled it out?"
Regretfully, his fingers trembled slightly. "How could this be..."
"Huh? This... I don't know either." Before Xu Zangyu could figure it out, he was embraced tightly.
The father sobbed and cried, “Son, you’ve grown so big! Son! Your father is useless; I can’t even handle a few bugs.”
He cried very loudly.
Xu Zangyu was stunned for a long time: "Senior, you must be mistaken. I have no father or mother, I am an orphan."
Can Nian seemed to have been dealt a blow, pounding his chest and stamping his feet: "It's my fault for being useless. You might as well pretend I'm not your father."
How did you end up dead here?
"Eighteen years ago, the villagers discovered this place, thinking it contained treasure, and broke the seal. I received an urgent message and rushed back to repair it, but a few demonic insects still escaped."
"My unfortunate demise is due to my incompetence. I can only leave a trace of my lingering thoughts here. I have no regrets about being able to see you one more time."
His lingering regrets stemmed from his unwavering attachments; once those attachments were resolved, his figure gradually faded away.
"Never come back here, never return. This place is where the devil is sealed."
Xu Zangyu remembered the book he hadn't finished reading. It seemed that his ending was that he was rejected by everyone and expelled from his sect.
During the protagonist's demon-slaying process, he attempted to seize a treasure but perished in a wormhole.
It's just a typical plot where the protagonist is used as a stepping stone or cannon fodder on their path to advancement.
However, due to the gruesome death, Xu Zangyu couldn't continue watching and only skimmed over the entire plot.
Let's go.
He collected the bones on the ground and left only after confirming that there was no trace of the demonic insects.
The task of exorcising demons can be left to the protagonist; he, as cannon fodder, shouldn't cause trouble.
After leaving the cave, they hid the place, and Xue Wenxiang buried the bones with him.
"Is he really your father?"
"Maybe," Xu Zangyu said.
As they left Black Mountain, Xue Wenxiang deliberately stopped the white fox that had followed them. She spoke to Xu Zangyu to distract him.
Several hours had passed, and Uncle Zheng and Zheng Ruo were waiting outside.
“Brother Xu, why did you go to Black Mountain? My father told me that there are man-eating monsters there, and even a chivalrous man from more than ten years ago was eaten.”
"Aruo, don't talk nonsense." Uncle Zheng looked him up and down. "It's good that nothing's wrong. Let's go back. Don't run around like that again."
Xu Zangyu received a telepathic message from Xue Wenxiang: "I don't think they're completely clueless?"
"If you had known your mother would suddenly die, wouldn't you have thought of seeking revenge?"
Xue Wenxiang didn't say anything more; he knew perfectly well that Xu Zangyu understood perfectly well.
The reason others kept his true identity a secret was perhaps because they were afraid he would die in a fit of pique.
The things inside are really troublesome.
Xu Zangyu had already figured it out; no wonder he couldn't persuade this group of people—there were still plot points that the protagonist hadn't triggered yet.
Whatever it is, he just won't compete with the protagonist.
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Author's note: My kitten hasn't been feeling well lately, and I've been anxious every day. Turns out, I've gotten sick myself too! [Chin resting on hand]
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