Chapter 490 : The Undying Demon
490: The Undying Demon
The Xuanqing Sect, and even Xuanqing City below it, were completely enveloped within the range of the demonic miasma.
Jiang Mo and her companions stared at the vast, all-encompassing demonic miasma in the distance, finally understanding why they had suddenly lost contact with the Xuanqing Sect. After calculating, they realized that contact had been lost for over half a month, which meant the Xuanqing Sect had been surrounded by demonic miasma for at least that long!
"This... what should we do?" Jiang Mo looked at the situation, feeling momentarily at a loss.
Though Qingyu and the others appeared grave, none showed signs of confusion or wavering. They hadn't even considered what condition the Xuanqing Sect might be in after being surrounded by demonic miasma for over half a month. Finally, Qingyu resolutely continued forward, saying, "Let's go see what's inside this demonic miasma first." After a pause, she added, "If possible, we'll find that demon."
As for what they would do upon finding the demon, Qingyu didn't need to explain—everyone understood. They would kill it if possible. If not, they would find a way to bring others to kill it. Under no circumstances could they leave the main culprit alive.
No one objected. After making slight adjustments to their conditions, they all followed Qingyu into the demonic miasma.
The moment Jiang Mo stepped into the miasma's range, she felt the entire world darken. She instinctively looked up at the sky and saw that the sun still hung high in the gloomy heavens. However, this sun was no longer the dazzling golden light Jiang Mo had seen outside, but rather a dim, dreary color that caused depression in the hearts of those who gazed upon it.
Jiang Mo didn't look for long, quickly averting her gaze, only to see swirling black mist floating through the air like ghosts... Being afraid of ghosts, the sudden sight made the hair on her back stand on end.
Fortunately, Jiang Mo's experiences in the cultivation world over the years were not few. Though startled at first, she quickly regained her composure. But when she turned to look around, true panic set in—they had all entered the miasma together, her Senior Sister had been walking right beside her, their sleeves had even brushed against her hand as they entered, yet now everyone had vanished!
Indeed, Yun Qingyue was gone, as were Qingyu and Zhu Baiyi, including the usually low-profile Buddha Sect Elder who had traveled with them. Glancing around, Jiang Mo felt only emptiness, as if in this vast world, she alone remained.
The sudden isolation made Jiang Mo's heart race with panic, and she hurriedly called out, "Ah Yue, Ah Yue, Senior Sister..."
Her voice echoed around her, but after a long while, no one responded.
Jiang Mo pressed her lips together, her nerves gradually tightening, but having already entered the miasma, there was no turning back. After several fruitless calls, she gave up and proceeded cautiously through the miasma.
The area covered by the demonic miasma seemed draped in a layer of black smoke, making the surroundings appear hazy. At first, Jiang Mo encountered nothing, and her familiarity with the Xuanqing Sect's surrounding terrain made her journey relatively smooth. Apart from not finding her scattered companions, her tense nerves had almost relaxed.
Fortunately, she remembered her Senior Sister's earlier warning and remained careful and vigilant. Thanks to her vigilance, when the hidden black shadow suddenly burst forth to ambush her, she reacted immediately.
A loud "bang" rang out—the sound of Jiang Mo's fist striking the attacker.
The attacker's cultivation level was clearly lower than hers, and being hit by Jiang Mo's heavy punch, he immediately flew backward like a kite with cut strings. But before Jiang Mo could catch her breath, another figure darted out from the side, followed by a second, third, fourth... In the span of a single breath, Jiang Mo found herself surrounded by a group of demon-possessed people.
Jiang Mo immediately recognized the problem with these people, as it was impossible to miss—dense demonic patterns covered their faces, and even the whites of their eyes had turned completely black, looking much like Huiqian had back then.
Upon this discovery, Jiang Mo abandoned any intention of holding back. Without waiting for the demon-possessed to attack, she took the initiative and struck with full force.
The faintly visible protective golden light around her body suddenly intensified, and as Jiang Mo threw a punch, a golden tiger image burst forth with her strike. The tiger image appeared almost tangible and intelligent, first pouncing toward the enemy directly in front of her. Its claws and fangs were sharp and keen, and after pinning its prey down, several bloody holes appeared beneath its paws before it bit through the enemy's throat.
The first demon-possessed person died easily, a sight that would have intimidated any normal person. However, the remaining demon-possessed showed no fear. Even as the golden tiger killed one and pounced toward the next, they showed no fear or hesitation, instead charging toward it in a coordinated attack.
In an instant, golden light flashed brilliantly, tiger roars echoed, and the golden tiger fought fiercely with the demon-possessed. However, this left Jiang Mo, the actual master, neglected, causing her both surprise and realization—these demon-possessed retained some semblance of reason, capable of attacking and even coordinating, but they were essentially no different from puppets, unable to distinguish between living beings and constructs.
Of course, this had its advantages. Jiang Mo secretly threw out a puppet heart, and moments later, a puppet tainted by the demonic miasma materialized out of thin air.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Yun Qingyue's experience surpassed Jiang Mo's, and her nature was more cautious and careful. Thus, the moment she stepped into the demonic miasma, she noticed that everyone around her had vanished. Unlike Jiang Mo's panic, however, having traversed many secret realms and encountered similar situations, she remained calm and didn't even try to call out for her companions.
Her footsteps paused briefly before she continued deeper into the demonic miasma.
Yun Qingyue's encounter was similar to Jiang Mo's, also facing attacks from demon-possessed people after entering deeper into the miasma. Perhaps due to Jiang Mo's better luck, the demon-possessed that Yun Qingyue encountered were more numerous and stronger.
Azure flames appeared out of nowhere, sweeping toward the attacking demon-possessed with a wave of her hand, igniting a large area in an instant.
Screams of agony immediately filled the surroundings, but the fire-starter seemed unsatisfied... As Yun Qingyue opened her palm, a dazzling sword suddenly formed in her hand. Having not wielded a sword for a long time, she swung it once, sending white spiritual energy entwined with frost-like sword intent slashing toward the enemy, its majestic might unrivaled.
Ice and fire typically oppose each other, but this principle didn't apply to Yun Qingyue. Her Phoenix True Fire had transformed into ice flames, combining both ice and fire attributes. Thus, when she delivered a frost-sealing strike, rather than weakening the ice flames, it had the effect of adding fuel to the fire.
As Yun Qingyue delivered sword strike after sword strike, more and more demon-possessed fell to her blade, and the surrounding ice flames grew increasingly intense.
After about a quarter of an hour, the group of demon-possessed attacking Yun Qingyue, numbering over two hundred, had been completely annihilated by her hand. Among them, the lowest cultivation was at the Golden Core stage, while the highest had nearly reached the Fusion stage, yet all met the same fate at Yun Qingyue's hands. As she sheathed her sword, only corpses and ashes remained on the ground.
Yun Qingyue didn't spare these defeated enemies a single extra glance. After sheathing her sword, she prepared to continue forward. However, as she took a step, a collapsed corpse beside her suddenly reanimated, raising its hand to release a black mist that rushed toward her.
Fortunately, Yun Qingyue's vigilance remained constant from beginning to end. Even after eliminating a large number of enemies, she wouldn't feel the slightest bit complacent or lower her guard.
Almost at the moment the reanimation occurred, Yun Qingyue pointed her finger, and a strand of ice flame surged toward the opponent.
The black mist of the ambush was engulfed by the ice flames, and the azure fire seemed to have been nourished, suddenly expanding in size. Its momentum undiminished, it continued toward the "corpse" that had launched the sneak attack, instantly enveloping and burning it.
At the same time, Yun Qingyue didn't believe this "reanimation" was a coincidence. Her thoughtful gaze swept across the scene, and then, adhering to the principle of "better to kill wrongly than let one escape," she split a strand of ice flame into dozens of fire lines, sending them toward the "corpses" on the ground... Sure enough, instances of "reanimation" occurred one after another—nine out of ten "corpses" at the scene came back to life.
With Yun Qingyue's experience from years of travel, she could naturally tell whether she had killed someone. Yet the current situation was truly unexpected. Despite her surprise, Yun Qingyue didn't lose her composure and quickly gave these demon-possessed a fiery cremation package.
After a while, when those who should have died were finally dead, Yun Qingyue was in no hurry to leave.
Her gaze fell on the few genuinely dead bodies, her divine sense quickly sweeping over them, easily discovering their common trait—their spirit platforms had been crushed, meaning only by crushing the spirit platform could these demon-possessed truly be killed. Conversely, those whose dantians were pierced, hearts stabbed, or throats cut all eventually reanimated!
Having confirmed this point, Yun Qingyue's fight hadn't been for nothing. Additionally, with her control over ice flames, destroying bodies and eliminating traces was much more convenient for her than for other cultivators. She then proceeded forward without hesitation.
The figure in cyan quickly disappeared into the demonic miasma, with no number of enemies able to hinder her steps in the slightest.
......
While her Senior Sister easily dispatched her enemies and remained composed even when faced with "reanimations," the little tiger wasn't so fortunate—she was being chased up and down by a group of demon-possessed that couldn't be killed no matter how she fought them.
Jiang Mo had lived in the cultivation world for over eighty years. Though she feared insects and ghosts, she wasn't soft-hearted. Especially in her view, those demon-possessed could hardly be called human anymore; describing them as monsters would be more appropriate—treating everything as a game, facing monsters, she just had to fight them, and she did so without burden and quite skillfully.
At the same time, as a cautious tiger, Jiang Mo didn't forget to deliver finishing blows after defeating the monsters. However, she never imagined that her fighting method was wrong, her finishing method was wrong, and so it became the current situation of seemingly endless combat.
Jiang Mo had been chased for nearly half an hour and was feeling somewhat desperate. With no one to talk to, she cried out to the system in her heart: "System, what kind of monsters are these? Why, after cutting off their heads, do those heads still continue to chase and bite me? Have these guys been infected with a zombie virus?!" Most terrifying was that zombie heads couldn't fly, but the demon-possessed heads could, and she couldn't shake them off.
The system remained silent for a long while before giving her a suggestion: "Host, host, over here, it's suggested that you, um, try a headshot."