novelraw Chapter 137
Chapter 137
Lan Boting looked confused, but still put down his Sword and asked doubtfully:
“Senior Sister Moonlight, this person is full of demonic qi, he cannot be trusted.”
“I said, he is still useful.”
The scene immediately fell silent. Facing the puzzled gazes of the many Qi Refining disciples who had rushed over, Chang Xi did not explain much. She only glanced at Wang Yu.
“Follow me.”
Wang Yu looked around and did not find any chance to break out. His heart sank. This was like stepping into a wolf’s den.
He could not help but regret even more that he had chosen Black Mountain’s Demonic Land for seclusion.
Next time… next time he must find some place where even people hate to tread, a land forsaken by all, to go into seclusion.
The cultivation world was truly dangerous. He thought that Foundation Establishment would be the start of his rise, yet it turned out he had only just stepped into the gates of cultivation. Before taking even a single step forward, reality had already struck him back.
After following Chang Xi to withdraw from the encirclement, Wang Yu remained silent, waiting for her to speak first. Man was the knife, he was the fish. Better to see what she intended before making any plan.“Wang Yu, is it? When I spoke with you just now, I still felt some sympathy for you, yet you maliciously deceived me. What exactly are your intentions?”
Wang Yu froze. Seeing that Chang Xi’s attitude was no longer what it was before, he immediately began thinking about where he had slipped up.
His background with the Blood Reversal Sect was not top secret, but neither could Chang Xi have verified it so quickly. At most, she could only confirm the part about his experiences in the Taihu Spiritual Domain.
That part was all true, there could be no issue there.
Before long, Wang Yu suddenly understood where the problem lay. He steadied his mind and said:
“When traveling abroad, caution is the path to survival for a rogue cultivator. I cultivated for many years in the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain. The harshness of that place, I am sure Fairy has heard of.
“If upon meeting a powerful cultivator I were to reveal all of myself, would I not have died long ago?”
The reasoning was sound, but once suspicion had taken root in Chang Xi’s heart, she would not easily let go. The secrets of Black Demonic Mountain were not so simple.
“I am an envoy of the Sword Sect. I walk upright and sit upright. I have judged and executed no less than a hundred demonic cultivators, never once making a wrongful case.
“Even if you practice the side paths, I did not fabricate charges against you. Why then deceive me with malice?”
Wang Yu smiled.
“Deception, I admit. But malice? Where is that? The lie I told was merely not wishing to reveal to you my whereabouts after visiting my kin. Is that wrong? If so, then must the whole world lay bare themselves with nothing hidden?”
Chang Xi was at a loss for words. Just now she had only thought of being deceived, and that Wang Yu might hold some secret connected to the case at hand, so her mood had turned foul.
After some debate, the atmosphere suddenly grew silent.
A moment later.
Perhaps she had thought it through, for Chang Xi changed to a calm tone and fulfilled her earlier promise.
“Did you not wish to know why we are here? I will tell you now.”
Wang Yu simply sat down on a nearby rock. For now, he could not leave. At the very least he must wait until the Sword Sect’s matter was concluded, and his suspicion was cleared, before he would have a chance to go.
Better to listen to her explain clearly, and have some certainty in his heart.
“In recent years, near Black Mountain Pass, many young maidens have gone missing from the cities. At first it only happened to those Immortal seedlings with wasted spiritual roots. Later, it gradually spread to mortal women.
“Stone Lake City, Qianqiu City, Lingxi City… one after another. The number of disappearances increased every year. By this year’s Spirit Root Testing Day, the total has exceeded ten thousand.”
At this point, Chang Xi gave a cold snort.
“These years I have been eradicating evil. From the cities surrounding Dingshan City, their masters have all been slain by my hand, their nine clans exterminated. In the end, the trail led to Black Demonic Mountain. The young maidens who disappeared over the past decade have all been sent here.”
As he listened, Wang Yu understood the truth. His doubts were resolved, yet at the same time, anger arose in his heart.
Years ago, after a slave-hunting squad left Black Mountain Pass, six of them went north on a secret mission. Later he learned it was related to the matter of abducted maidens.
When he was searching for a place to go into seclusion, aside from the Withered Leaf Marsh being unsuitable for long-term residence, part of his intention was also to avoid encountering those people. After all, his plan of waiting idly by the Stone Lake had already failed.
Thinking back now, their heading north could only mean two things.
First, they deceived their own people and treated it as a top-secret mission.
Second, there were spies at Black Mountain Pass watching them, and they deliberately misled those spies.
Between the two guesses, it was obvious the latter was more likely. He had been misled. How infuriating.
At the side, Chang Xi was carefully observing Wang Yu’s facial expression. She suddenly asked, “Do you know about this matter?”
Wang Yu decisively shook his head.
“No, I do not. But I can roughly guess it must be the work of the Joyous Union Sect of the Demonic Path. Only they would have such a great demand for women. However… I do not understand why they need mortal women.”
“Sigh.”
Chang Xi repeatedly used her Sword Enlightenment Heart to sense the truth of Wang Yu’s words, yet in the end she still found nothing.
After thinking for a moment, she said, “This matter is not top secret. There is no harm in telling you.”
“Oh?” Wang Yu grew very curious. What other secrets could the Black Mountain Demonic Land possibly hold?
“In the Black Mountain Demonic Land, a ‘demon’ is imprisoned. It is said that in an untraceably distant ancient era, it was sealed here. Its name is ‘Desire’.
“It is said that the earliest origins of the Dual Cultivation Demonic Path began when a group of people at the sealing site in the Black Mountain Demonic Land held an unrestrained assembly, indulging in lewd acts.
“They drew upon the power of the Desire Demon. Its demonic thoughts penetrated into their hearts, passing down the Dual Cultivation Demonic Path, and all demonic cultivators who follow this path regard it as their progenitor, the founding ancestor of their Dao.”
Wang Yu was astonished. He had not expected such a story to lie behind it. As for the concept of a ‘demon,’ he was not unfamiliar. After all, the Blood Reversal Sect itself had been founded relying on the remnants of an ancient Blood Demon.
“So the Joyous Union Sect wants to rescue their ancestor?”
“Rescue?”
Chang Xi sneered.
“They would not dare.”
“Why not?”
“Before a demonic cultivator reaches the Nascent Soul stage, they are all nothing more than outsiders lingering at the threshold. Without cultivating true Demonic Qi, they are not true demonic cultivators. And Demonic Qi is a power higher than the spiritual qi of heaven and earth.
“The demons imprisoned and sealed here are said to be immortal True Demons. Even a Spirit Transformation cultivator cannot kill them. After endless ages, they have already gone mad. Once released, the first thing they would do is slaughter the ones who freed them.”
Wang Yu fell silent. So they were merely a group of insane lunatics.
“If that is the case, then the reason why the Joyous Union Sect abducts women is already very clear. But could you not simply go directly to the sealing site? Why waste time searching everywhere?”
Hearing this, Chang Xi gave him a surprised look.
“So you truly do not know.
“The Black Demonic Mountains are vast beyond measure. The cave that seals the Desire Demon constantly shifts its location within these mountains. Only the secret methods of the Joyous Union Sect can pinpoint it.
“All we know is that the sealed cave lies on a black mountain a thousand meters high, barren and bare, yet growing with blood red Joyous Demonic Gold, a supreme treasure of the demonic path’s desire path.”
At this point, everything had been explained clearly.