Chapter 36
The Lower Realm-
After enduring days of wind, sun, and rain without its owner’s care, the thatched cottage finally collapsed, its purpose fulfilled.
It seemed to have rained recently, leaving a stench of decay in the air.
The harshness of the Lower Realm went far beyond its barren soil. Even the rain was rust-colored and foul-smelling. Once it touched the body, the odor was nearly impossible to remove.
Yet rainy days were often the most peaceful for Shu Li.
The Qingshan Sword Sect disciples would never make a special trip to torment him in such weather.
Stepping around the old fence scattered everywhere by the wind, Shu Li followed the path to another thatched cottage nearby.
Yu Tai had seen this cottage in his memories. It belonged to Shu Li’s neighbor, an elderly woman who never showed her face.
Shu Li walked familiarly into the weed-choked courtyard and tapped gently on the fragile-looking door.
“Granny,” he called mildly.
When no answer came, Shu Li did not knock again. He simply opened the door.
He stepped into the darkness.
The door swung shut behind him despite the absence of wind.
Though he could see nothing, Shu Li seized the person inside precisely by the throat.
His grip was strong enough to crush their neck, forcing harsh, strangled breaths from his captive.
Every candle in the room ignited at once, allowing Shu Li to see the enormous, bloodshot eyes glaring at him with hatred.
After savoring the sight of his captive’s loathing, Shu Li slowly said, “You have remarkable courage.”
“I spared your life and kindly gave you a role to play. Why have you been so disobedient?” His lashes lowered halfway, his voice faintly regretful, but his grip never loosened. The captive’s neck looked ready to snap at any moment.
“Never mind. If you don’t want to play your role, then you have no need to live.” His voice was soft and mild.
He released his hand, letting the figure collapse to the floor. As his words fell, their body began to dissolve, the lower half gradually turning to dust.
Feeling their body disappear, the captive looked up at Shu Li. Their hoarse, grating voice dripped with venom. “You were the one who hated that female demonic cultivator, My Lord… I merely followed your wishes and gave Mo Zhen a Bloodbone Whip. Hahahaha!”
They did not fear death. They could have continued eking out an existence in this false world, but resentment had consumed them.
They no longer hoped to kill this man, who was ten thousand times more terrifying than any devil.
If they could cause him even the slightest displeasure, dying would be worthwhile.
“I’ll go on ahead, My Lord. I’ll be waiting for you in the netherworld. Hahahaha…” As the voice faded, the captive vanished into the air as though they had never existed in this world.
Shu Li’s expression did not change at the curse.
“The netherworld? If it is willing to accept me…” A brief smile curved his lips.
At the same time-
Within the Chengtian Sect, Mo Zhen stroked the Bloodbone Whip stained with Yu Tai’s blood. Remembering what the person who gave it to him had said, he revealed an uncanny smile.
With a weapon like this, killing not only his daughter’s murderer but even Jiang Wenyi would be effortless.
When that happened, the Qingshan Sword Sect would mean nothing. The Chengtian Sect would become the leading sect of the Middle Realm.
Mo Zhen rose, smiling as he imagined the scene. “Liu’er, come in!”
Mo Zhen had preserved an image from when Weiwei was alive. Once he released it, anyone with eyes would recognize the person responsible.
No one answered. Mo Zhen called again, “Liu’er?!”
Realizing something was wrong, Mo Zhen rose from his meditation cushion and walked outside.
“Do my orders mean nothing now? Are you deaf-” His voice died abruptly in his throat.
Black Mist filled the space outside the once-ethereal great hall. Countless blood-soaked corpses in Chengtian Sect disciple robes lay scattered across the ground.
They screamed in agony and despair. Half of one person’s body had been corroded by Black Mist until only white bone remained, with strands of bloody flesh hanging from it. Strangely, despite such horrific wounds, the disciple was still alive and able to scream clearly.
“Wh-What is happening?” Mo Zhen’s lips trembled.
An invincible enemy was not necessarily frightening. At least they stood before you as a living target.
But apart from the uncanny, life-stealing Black Mist, Mo Zhen could not even identify his enemy.
He circulated spiritual qi throughout his body for protection, tightened his grip on the Bloodbone Whip, and prepared to flee.
Then something strange happened-
The Bloodbone Whip, which should have been his lifeline, moved without his command. It wrapped tightly around his entire body and immobilized him.
“How can this be?!” Had the person who gave him the Bloodbone Whip lied?
He had clearly bound it to himself with blood. Why could he not control it?
“Stop! What are you doing? I am your master! Whose orders are you obeying?”
An unfamiliar fear filled the heart of this Nascent Soul cultivator and sect leader.
But this was only the beginning.
Bound tightly by the Bloodbone Whip, Mo Zhen was fixed in place. He was forced to listen to the agonized screams of his familiar disciples and watch helplessly as their flesh was devoured little by little.
Then the scattered Black Mist suddenly moved without wind and gathered into a line of words that burned itself into Mo Zhen’s eyes.
*You are last.*
“Aaaah-!”
…
When Yu Tai heard that the Chengtian Sect had been annihilated, she was lying facedown on a bed, listening indifferently to Jiang Yibai’s unhurried voice through a communication talisman.
She wore only a backless dudou. The straps that normally held the thin fabric in place lay loose on either side of her waist.
Pale ointment coated the tips of slender fingers as they traveled across her back. The person applying it kept accidentally brushing sensitive places, always stopping at the very edge and leaving Yu Tai itching.
“Be gentler. It hurts.” Yu Tai frowned in displeasure.
“Mm,” Shu Li answered meekly, lowering his eyes as his movements grew even gentler.
The communication talisman continued rambling. Only when Jiang Yibai mentioned that a demonic cultivator might be responsible did Yu Tai summon a little interest.
Honestly, she was furious.
What damned colleague had stolen her job?
She should have been the one to take that old bastard Mo Zhen’s life. Someone else had beaten her to it.
But since Jiang Yibai mentioned a demonic cultivator, she would need to be more cautious in the near future.
These self-proclaimed righteous cultivators were absurdly sensitive to demonic cultivators. At the slightest disturbance, they would rather kill a thousand innocent people than let one suspect escape.
“By the way, didn’t you ask me to help you find something?” Yu Tai suddenly remembered and nudged Shu Li’s leg at the side of the bed with her foot.