Nine Infant's Investigation

# Chapter 49: Nine Infant's Investigation

The gale winds cut like blades, tearing through the drifting clouds.

Nine Infant's form flickered, streaking like a crimson bolt of lightning, skimming low along the towering foothills of Buzhou Mountain.

The fierce winds whipped up the baleful Sha swirling around its body. Nine grotesque heads of varying shapes swayed wantonly in the howling gale, some hissing, others growling low.

Those eighteen blood-red pupils, like ghostly flames from the underworld, flickered with cruelty and vigilance, sweeping again and again over the ancient, mist-shrouded forests below, not letting the slightest movement escape their notice.

Kunpeng's icy, bone-piercing command, utterly devoid of emotion, still seemed to coil tightly around its ears, every word crystal clear: "Observe its aura from afar, examine its form up close. If you detect even a hint of falsehood... Ji Meng shall be slain!"

A thousand zhang above, the ancient ferocious beast Nine Infant's massive form slowly circled, churning the surrounding currents of air.

Thick, ink-black Demonic Qi roiled violently, like a seething black ocean, concealing its mountain-like torso and long neck covered in dark, scaled armor. Only occasionally did a glimpse of its spine-chilling silhouette appear through gaps in the clouds.

Yet the nine enormous necks hanging down from the Demonic Cloud were perfectly visible. The nine heads at their ends bore identical expressions of indifference and cruelty, their gazes piercing through the clouds, all locking onto the tiny, model-like silent courtyard below.

—

"Heh, nothing more than a mortal courtyard!" The central serpentine head let out a hissing, contemptuous laugh first, its voice dripping with condescending disdain. The other eight heads turned as well, all eighteen blood-red pupils filled with mockery.

The stone house bore the marks of wind and rain, its walls mottled and worn, covered in the traces of age. The vegetable plots before it were laid out crookedly, the crops within a messy mix of yellow and green, growing haphazardly—a neglected, dilapidated sight. A few Clay Jars piled in the corner were crude in craftsmanship and simple in shape, no different from wild mountain rocks. Even the low stone wall marking the boundary was thickly coated with moss, exuding a damp, rotting air.

At this, the left dragon head suddenly reared up, its savage horns glinting faintly in the gloom. It swung its neck irritably, spewing a stream of foul, poisonous mist from between its fangs, corroding the air around it. "Ji Meng must be faking his injury to scheme for power!" it growled, its voice like muffled thunder. "Why waste time watching here? Let me tear down this eyesore of a courtyard right now and force him to show himself. Then we'll see how he spins his lies!"

"Silence!" The right human-faced head twisted sharply, barking to halt the left dragon head's agitation. Its pupils contracted abruptly in that instant, as if stimulated by something unseen, and even its voice carried a faint, barely perceptible tension. "Look at that barrier... something's wrong!"

The invisible wall of the Safe Zone took shape in Nine Infant's divine sense: a faint silver halo flowing like a ring of stars, wrapping the small courtyard in an impenetrable seal. When its divine sense touched it, it vanished like a clay ox sinking into the sea! Even more terrifying was the Dao resonance within the barrier—warm as spring water, yet carrying a suppressive force of rules that made even an ancient demon saint tremble!

"Hmph, playing tricks, putting on a show!" Nine Infant forcibly suppressed the inexplicable tremor rising in its heart. Enraged and humiliated, its nine heads held nothing back, simultaneously unleashing their innate divine abilities, vowing to crush this eyesore of a courtyard in one blow:

Blood Pupils Pierce the Void: The nine pairs of blood-red pupils suddenly blazed with intense light, like eighteen boiling fountains of blood, erupting with destructive beams that pierced through all falsehood. They shot toward the stone house in the courtyard with a sharp, tearing sound! Yet when the blood light touched that seemingly thin barrier, it was like snowflakes thrown into a blazing sun—in an instant, it dissolved and vanished, leaving not a trace.

Poisonous Miasma Corrodes Spirits: The left dragon head opened its massive maw wide, spewing forth a torrent of pitch-black poisonous miasma, containing a venom that corroded spiritual essence. Like a living thing, it spread and seeped down toward the small courtyard. But this foul, toxic cloud, enough to fell a Golden Immortal, met the flowing silver radiance of the barrier and dissolved like hot water on snow, emitting a faint "sizzling" sound before utterly annihilating, failing to erode even a fraction.

Demonic Sound Captures Souls: The heads on the right all opened their fanged jaws at once, letting out piercing shrieks that struck directly at the soul! Invisible sound waves twisted the air, tore through the clouds in the sky, and pressed down on the small courtyard with overwhelming force. Yet this terrifying demonic sound, enough to shatter the souls of Living beings, hit an invisible, heaven-spanning wall three zhang above the courtyard. All its power came to an abrupt halt, fading into silence.

A dense, grating clatter rang out—it was Nine Infant's hard scales, covering its entire body, rubbing together and trembling from sheer shock!

Its boundless Demonic Qi even faltered for an instant. This conclusion struck like thunder, exploding simultaneously across all nine of its consciousnesses, shaking this ancient ferocious beast for the first time: the power of the light barrier before it completely surpassed the supreme Great Zhou Heavenly Stars Formation in its understanding!

Just as it was frozen in shock and doubt, the courtyard door creaked open. Chen An walked out, carrying a clay pot, his bare feet stepping on the muddy ground, his pant legs rolled up to his knees. Utterly unaware of the ominous star above his head, he headed straight for the vegetable patch.

"A mortal?" Nine Infant's nine heads all stiffened at once.