Chapter 27
"The aura of your soul... doesn't seem to belong to someone from this world."
The soft voice brushed past her ear, and Lin Yibai's blood froze instantly. She tensed her spine, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Xiao Mi beside her turn her head at the sound, her face still shrouded in confusion.
Fortunately, he didn't understand.
A drop of cold sweat slid down Lin Yibai's forehead and slowly sank into her hair. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest, almost breaking her ribs.
What on earth was this thing? How could it have seen through her origins?
Countless thoughts surged through her mind. She suppressed her panic and tried to keep her voice steady. "I don't know what you're talking about... Who are you, you little rat? You're hiding your head and showing your tail. What kind of ability do you have?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a burst of strange laughter exploded in the void. The laughter was like rusty iron sheets scraping against each other, hurting people's eardrums.
The next second, the invisible force that was strangling her neck suddenly disappeared—
A thick, living black mist emerged from behind her, stagnating about ten feet away. Within the mist, a pair of eyes slowly opened—no pupils, only a dead, gloomy white light, like moonlight reflected off a tombstone, locking onto her and Xiao Mi.
"Your heart is insincere." Black Mist's voice remained cold, now tinged with a knowing sneer. "Since you're a soul from the outside world, you don't belong in this world. Why don't you return? Do you find it amusing to struggle in this mire?"
Lin Yibai was horrified and almost burst out with complaints: "Who doesn't want to go back? It was clearly that perverted system that brought me to this hellish place to complete a mission. If I don't follow the plot, I will die. What can I do?"
But she didn't dare to say it, so she could only bite her lips tightly and swallow the words back into her stomach. She looked at the black fog in front of her, and frantically flipped through the description of Yunshan's journey in the original book in her mind, trying to piece together its identity.
——Thanks to "Lin Yibai", the original novel's description of this volume was so bloody that she didn't dare to read it carefully when she was catching up that night, so she just skimmed through it, and that's why she couldn't recall it until now!
Seeing her silence, the black fog let out a sinister laugh and began to surge violently, as if brewing something: "Since you are unwilling to return on your own initiative, then I will lend you a helping hand and keep your soul in this world forever!"
Just as it finished speaking, a strange and cold voice suddenly exploded in Lin Yibai's ears -
"The second level of the Yunshan Mountain Exam, Chi Anlan, begins."
Lin Yibai's pupils shrank upon hearing the sound, and he lost his voice and said, "Chi Anlan?! Then what the hell is this thing..."
She never expected that this time she would fall directly into the second layer of mist!
In the original novel, this level of murderous intent is even worse than the first level where the evil-eating demon is located, the Shiwanglan. The place where it is located is an illusion that can distort the mind. Even monks with high cultivation can easily fall here, let alone her, a weakling who can't even tie a chicken!
But her scream was still stuck in her throat when she saw the black fog in front of her rushing towards her like a black lightning!
In a panic, she wanted to dodge sideways, but the black fog was like an icy snake, instantly wrapping around her limbs and then coiling up her torso. The next moment, she felt a biting chill between her eyebrows, as if an ice needle had suddenly pierced her. She felt a black screen in front of her eyes, and just as she heard Xiao Mi's frightened cry, her vision quickly fell into complete darkness.
“…Nightmare of the Darkness!”
Her remaining sanity finally allowed her to recognize it at the last moment—the original novel mentioned that the core murderous intent within Chi An Lan was this monster called "Wu Ming Yan"! Its formless body, seemingly a cloud of black mist, could invade a person's sea of consciousness, evoking their deepest fears, trapping them in a fantasy world until their mind collapsed, and then feeding on the world's most extreme fears to strengthen itself.
In the original novel, this creature slew countless cultivators who strayed into the mist, making it a formidable foe and exceedingly powerful. If Yan Bujian hadn't possessed a natural sword bone, capable of unsheathing his sword even while trapped in a phantasmagorical state, he might have perished here too.
Facing the crisis, Lin Yibai tried desperately to mobilize her spiritual power to resist, but she discovered in despair that perhaps it was because the chains that locked her in the coffin just now had the effect of "forbidding the soul", now the remaining spiritual power in this body was empty, and she could not even mobilize a trace of spiritual energy. She could only watch the black mist penetrate into her sea of consciousness along her eyebrows!
*
Lin Yibai's consciousness was dragged into a scarlet mist.
The pungent smell of blood hit her face, and the sticky mist clung to her skin, carrying a sickening warmth. Her heart felt like it was sinking into a cold abyss, and she realized almost instantly where she was.
The place where the original body was tortured to death by the evil-eating demon, Shiwanglan!
She suddenly looked down, only to find that her cloud shirt had disappeared, replaced by a dirty prison uniform. Her heart suddenly sank, and a terrible guess exploded in her mind -
Wumingyan's most effective killer move is to evoke the deepest fear in people. If you were to ask her what she fears most right now...
Could it be that Wuming Yan wanted her to relive her original body's death? !
"Where's my red hairpin? It must have fallen around here..."
really!
The moment her eyes flashed with fear, unfamiliar lines tumbled out of her mouth uncontrollably. Lin Yibai's hairs stood on end, and then she realized her feet were moving forward uncontrollably! She wanted to stop, but her legs seemed to be pulled by invisible strings, step by step, towards the thicker fog.
——No! Can't go any further! If you go any further you'll run into...
She clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging deep into her palms, but the excruciating pain couldn't stop her body even a little bit - this body was still acting according to the memories of the original body, and she was just a bystander trapped in the sea of consciousness, unable to play any role... But she had to endure every bit of pain this body felt!
Suddenly, a familiar figure slowly appeared in the corner of her eye.
The moment he saw the person behind him clearly, Lin Yibai's gaze suddenly froze——
It’s Yan who is missing!
He quietly stood behind the original body, his face indifferent, his black hair disheveled by the scarlet mist, still looking cold and unapproachable - and in his hand, he was quietly grasping something...
It was exactly the red hairpin that the original body was looking for!
But "Lin Yibai" was unaware of it and just kept walking forward.
The next moment, Yan Bujian's mouth slowly raised a cold arc -
"No!" Lin Yibai reacted instantly upon seeing this and wanted to beg out loud, but no matter how frantically she screamed in her heart, her throat seemed to be blocked and she couldn't make any sound.
Then, Yan Bujian raised his wrist slightly, and the red hairpin drew a dazzling arc and flew straight into the deepest part of the blood mist where it was the thickest.
"My hairpin!" "Lin Yibai" was overjoyed when he saw this and chased forward immediately.
The fog under his feet became thicker and thicker, and the smell of blood in his nose became stronger and stronger. Lin Yibai could even hear the faint gnawing sounds coming from the fog.
Reason was screaming at her to retreat, but her body was like being attracted by a magnet, moving closer and closer to the death trap.
Finally, a red light appeared in the thick fog, it was the red hairpin.
Lin Yibai was overjoyed upon seeing this. She rushed over to him, bending down to pick him up—but at that moment, a fishy, foul smell suddenly penetrated her nostrils! Her heart nearly leaped out of her throat. Before she could react, a giant hand covered in black scales, its nails gleaming coldly, reached out from the mist and gripped her shoulder tightly.
The nails penetrated the fabric, digging deep into the flesh, and the pain instantly swept through the body. The original body raised its head suddenly, but was met with a pair of turbid and greedy eyes——
"Hey, I found... fresh food."
The low roar of the evil-eating demon exploded in her ears. The demon's huge and ugly head slowly lowered, its fang-filled mouth opened and closed, and saliva dripped onto her robe, corroding black holes.
Lin Yibai screamed and struggled desperately, but her shoulder was held tightly, preventing her from even moving. She could only watch as the Evil Eater raised its other sharp claw, its icy tip gleaming with cold light, and slashed towards her arm.
"No! Don't!"
She screamed miserably, but could only watch as sharp claws ripped through her robes, splashing with hot blood! Lin Yibai felt the excruciating pain of her right arm being torn off. She blacked out, but remained conscious despite the excruciating pain. She saw her arm fall to the ground, and was instantly surrounded by the small monsters that emerged from the fog, gnawing at it until it was bloody and mangled.
"Don't worry, the Mysterious Yin Body is the best ingredient, I will treat it with extreme caution..." The rough and terrifying voice of the Evil-Eating Demon sounded again, with great greed - Lin Yibai only felt a cold light flash in the corner of his eyes, and then saw a deathly gray slicing knife, which was held in the palm of the Evil-Eating Demon's backhand!
The blade was covered with notches of varying depths, and a layer of black blood scabs formed on the back of the blade. It was the resentment of the dead souls that had been accumulated for who knows how many years. Just looking at it made one's scalp tingle.
"No... don't..." Lin Yibai's voice was hoarse as a broken gong. Tears mixed with cold sweat and fell on the back of the demon's hand, which was covered with black scales. But to the demon's ears, this plea for mercy was nothing more than the futile struggle of its prey before death. It opened its fang-filled mouth and let out a dull, sinister laugh. The hand holding the slicing knife slowly raised, and the blade was aimed at Lin Yibai's left shoulder.
"Let's start from here..."
The demon's voice was almost morbidly delicate. The tip of the knife gently pressed against Lin Yibai's flesh. The cold touch made her tremble all over. She subconsciously wanted to curl up her body, but the giant hand held her tighter - the next moment, the blade suddenly chopped in!
The pain didn't erupt instantly as expected. The knife had cut deep enough to expose the bone, and the first thing that surged up from the ruptured flesh was a sharp, numbing sensation like an ice spike scraping across bone. Then, the excruciating pain that could drive a person insane came next!
"ah--!"
"Lin Yibai" let out a heart-wrenching scream. She could even clearly feel the trajectory of the blade cutting through the flesh and scratching the fascia. Every inch of it was precisely controlled by the Evil-Eating Demon. The slicing knife seemed to have life in its hands. With a slight flick of the blade, a piece of flesh as thin as a cicada's wing was completely cut off, and with warm blood, it fell into the group of small monsters that had been waiting for a long time below.
“Sizzle—”
The little monsters immediately swarmed over, gnawing away at the piece of flesh in an instant, whimpering with satisfaction. Seeing this, the evil-eating demon's eyes flashed with satisfaction, and then his greed intensified, and his hand holding the slicing knife fell again -
This time, it was aimed at her remaining right shoulder.
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