Even from half a mile away, Yu Ci could hear the monster’s labored, bellows-like breathing, accompanied by violent coughing. Through the Divine Map, he saw that the monster’s once ash-black skin now had an unhealthy bluish tint, as if it were gravely ill.
A monster with an illness?
The combination seed absurd, but Yu Ci had noticed it a few days ago. So of the demons that had erged from the “entrance” appeared to struggle with adapting to the climate of the Sky Rift Valley. The more powerful ones managed to recover after a period of sluggishness, but those with weaker strength were affected far more severely. The monster overhead was just a particularly extre case.
Back at the Heart Prohibition Monastery, the old daoist Yu Zhou had ntioned how the environnt of the Blood Demon Restricted Realm was vastly different from that of this world. The very air that humans breathe might be deadly poison to these demons.
Yu Ci suspected that this wave of demons, despite their ferocity, was reluctant to venture further up and instead stayed in this desolate area. Besides the hostile ecosystem of the Sky Rift Valley, it was likely that the upper regions’ environnt surpassed their limits of endurance. For example, the higher this particular demon climbed, the worse its condition beca.
This turn of events, however, was to Yu Ci’s advantage. He gripped his Talisman Sword, preparing to eliminate the obstacle before him.
Just as he was about to make his move, sothing caught his attention. He pulled back, sliding a short distance down the slope. A new figure had appeared on the Divine Map.
A shadow crept along the side of the wheezing demon.
Another demon?
That was Yu Ci’s first thought.
The Divine Map revealed a grotesque and misshapen creature. Its body was roughly human in shape, with limbs and a torso much like those of a man. But its head looked as if half of it had been cleaved away, leaving only the lower jaw and chin intact. The creature resembled a mutilated corpse crawling along the cliffside.
A corpse?
A chill ran down Yu Ci’s spine. He noticed that the creature wore tattered cloth, though it was shredded beyond recognition. It wasn’t sothing a demon would normally wear—Yu Ci knew this for a fact after observing these demons for days through the Divine Map. Every one of them had been stark naked.
Although demons could possess intelligence and behave like humans by wearing clothing or following customs, Yu Ci had seen no indication of such behavior. Instead, the worn-out fabric on this creature felt strangely familiar.
It looked like… a monk’s robe?
His eyes were drawn to the creature’s half-exposed jaw. Though hideous, the sharp and narrow shape seed oddly familiar. Even the creature’s body size triggered a sense of recognition in him.
Yu Ci inspected it for a mont longer, then lifted his Talisman Sword, tracing two strokes through the air. Suddenly, a realization struck him. The answer hovered at the edge of his mind, just as the monster with the half-missing head entered the ill demon’s awareness.
The sick demon noticed the incoming threat and bared its fangs in warning.
At that mont, the disfigured creature lunged toward the demon. Its speed, however, was unimpressive. Even in its weakened state, the demon still had the upper hand and quickly turned the tables. It rallied its strength, striking with a massive claw, nearly swatting the creature off the cliff. But the strange being retaliated by grabbing the demon’s forelimb, locking them in a brutal struggle.
Their battle was crude and chaotic, the kind of fight common among lower-level demons, with neither showing any skill or strategy. Despite its labored, bellows-like breathing, the sick demon managed to gain the upper hand. Seeing an opening, it lunged forward, attempting to bite the creature’s exposed throat.
At that mont, black vapor shot out from the creature’s throat, which was fully exposed due to its missing head. The black mist engulfed the demon’s face and ignited with a loud *boom*, transforming into a black fla that consud the demon’s head.
Even from his position, Yu Ci could hear the demon’s agonized screams. On the Divine Map, the demon thrashed violently, but the headless creature clung to it like iron clamps, refusing to let go. The tattered monk’s robe was shredded to pieces in the struggle, and the creature’s skin and flesh were torn away, yet the demon’s resistance grew noticeably weaker.
Yu Ci watched without blinking.
The black fla burning on the demon’s head began to dwindle, but instead of extinguishing normally, it seeped into the demon’s head through its ears, eyes, and mouth.
The demon’s struggles ceased entirely, leaving only occasional twitches in its body. Then, from the creature’s blackened throat, a second stream of black vapor erged, this ti lighter in color. It slithered like a living black serpent, winding along the creature’s arm before slipping into the demon’s gaping mouth.
In that instant, the creature with the half-missing head fell silent, its once iron-like grip loosening. Its arms went limp, and the demon’s body began to fall. But before it could plunge too far, it let out a strange cry and caught hold of a rock, halting its fall.
There was no longer any sign of the earlier weakness in the demon.
Yu Ci gripped the Pure Yang Talisman Sword tightly and silently took a few steps back. What lood above him was incredibly strange, leaving him no choice but to remain cautious.
He focused again on the Divine Map and saw that the creature with half a head had truly beco a pile of dead flesh, hanging lifelessly from a protruding rock on the cliff wall, devoid of any signs of life. anwhile, the demons, who had been infiltrated by black fire and black serpents earlier, now had bright, glowing eyes. They took a few steps along the cliff wall, stretched their arms and legs, and shook their heads, sighing between heavy breaths as if displeased with sothing.
Such nuanced, human-like expressions were sothing Yu Ci had never seen on lower-level demons before.
The demon then oriented itself slightly, tracing a downward path in a slanted line toward the north.
Through the Divine Map, Yu Ci observed it retreat for seven or eight miles before he flipped himself over and approached the half-headed monster.
Monk robes, a slender figure, and a sharp chin—beyond these observations, Yu Ci deliberately used his sword to lift the flesh on the monster’s chest, revealing its left ribcage. There were clearly old fractures on the ribs. The heavy stench of decay in the air also carried a faintly familiar scent. All these signs confird Yu Ci’s suspicions:
The Snake-like Monk… No, it should be called Zheng De!
To be more precise, it was the corpse of Zheng De, the monk whose head Yu Ci had sliced in half several months ago.
Yu Ci thought he should have felt more surprised by this.
Logically, Zheng De’s body should have decomposed entirely by now. In the peculiar environnt of Sky Rift Valley, a more likely fate would have been for bloodthirsty predators to devour the remains, leaving nothing behind—not even bones.
Yet here he was, in this form, appearing before Yu Ci and even engaging in a lee battle with demons. Fortunately, after many days of training in Sky Rift Valley, Yu Ci's resilience had grown. Faced with this bizarre scene, his mind only beca sharper.
Had this happened a few days earlier, Yu Ci might have assud this was a type of parasitic demon unique to the valley, one that could switch hosts at will to obtain new bodies. In fact, Yu Ci had seen sothing similar a long ti ago during his ti with the Twin Immortal Sect. Back then, Immortal Zi Lei had raised such parasitic creatures, even using an attendant as a test subject twice to research a path to immortality—though nothing ca of it in the end.
Creatures like these weren’t uncommon in the cultivation world, and it wouldn’t have been out of place here either.
However, after a certain incident, Yu Ci found a more plausible explanation.
A few days earlier, Yu Ci had climbed to the top of the valley and stumbled upon a conflict involving Tu Du, the old monster, along with the Thousand Spirit Gate, Mysterious Moon Sect, and the Clear Water Altar. Through the Divine Map, he had witnessed the strange interaction. Under the guidance of Ming Lan, the preaching immortal of the Mysterious Moon Sect, the head monk of the Clear Water Altar, Yixin, had suddenly projected his soul into his disciple’s body from afar, delivering commands and playing out an elaborate scene.
Compared to the odd relationships among the factions, it was Yixin’s eerie soul-possession technique that left a deeper impression on Yu Ci.
At the very least, Yu Ci had co to understand one thing: the thods of the Clear Water Altar were sinister and strange…
After seeing that display, Yu Ci was prepared to accept any trick Zheng De might pull next.
One more thing caught Yu Ci’s attention—when black Qi seeped from Zheng De’s throat for the second ti, it manifested as a serpent. In Cliff City, Yu Ci had heard rumors that the monks who had mastered the Clear Water Altar’s techniques all shared traits resembling venomous snakes.
Perhaps what just occurred was a soul-possession?
Yu Ci gave Zheng De’s corpse one final glance, then turned his gaze back to the Divine Map. He needed to tread carefully. If Zheng De was still alive, the murders of Lu Quan and Old Xu would undoubtedly co to light, bringing him endless trouble.
He wanted to pursue the demon, but as soon as he took a step, his body protested. Every muscle and bone groaned in pain. In his current state, attempting a pursuit might lead to him falling into the abyss before getting close, becoming nothing more than a joke to others.
In that brief mont of hesitation, the demon—now potentially possessed—had disappeared into a hazy part of the map. That area was the territory of a Core Refinent demon. Without the One Breath, Three Calls Technique to bolster him, Yu Ci was helpless. His current state left him no strength to even attempt the technique.
As Yu Ci frowned, the hazy area on the Divine Map began to shift, moving toward the direction of Tu Du, the old monster. It seed that the powerful demon couldn’t resist the allure of a Core Refinent cultivator’s soul and was preparing to hunt.
As the foggy zone shifted, the previously obscured area beca clear, and Yu Ci quickly locked onto his target. He saw the creature curled up inside a hidden crevice in the rocks, lying down as if…
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