Demon Curse Power (Requesting Recommendations)

Several hours later.

Fang Xi returned to White Cloud Martial Arts School.

"Junior Brother, how did it go?"

Liu Taotao and Tang Xuan immediately gathered around him.

They had also been among the Inner Disciples who had firmly stayed behind during the earlier upheaval at the martial arts school.

Fang Xi shook his head. "Taking advantage of those monsters returning to their nests, I went to take a look at the city gates... The area outside the city has already been shrouded in a layer of Black Mist. Trying to pass through it will meet resistance from some strange force. I'm afraid Black Stone City really has been cut off from both the inside and outside."

Tang Xuan instantly fell into utter despair.

Fang Xi, meanwhile, gazed at the towering canopy at the center of the city, deep in thought. "I suggest... we first move to the outskirts of Black Stone City, close to the walls, and establish a foothold before making further plans..."

"Why?"

The one who asked was Mu Piaomiao. After sending her father into the room to rest, she had remained silent all this time. Now, she finally spoke.

"Because that Yao Mo Tree is still growing taller..."

Fang Xi explained, "Any living creature beneath the tree canopy will certainly be harassed by those dangling aerial roots. It will inevitably be extremely dangerous..."

There was another guess in his heart that he had not voiced.

That was that the Yao Mo Tree would continue growing taller.

If things continued like this, one day it would tower into the clouds, and then its canopy would replace the sky, shrouding all of Black Stone City!

That would be the end of all Black Stone City!

Of course, it can't be ruled out that this Yao Mo Tree has intelligence and is deliberately keeping a portion of the humans captive, giving itself scheduled meals...

Demon... What an interesting creature! According to what Mu Canglong said, is this sealing method the "Demon Domain"? It does have a hint of the embryonic form of a formation.

"Ahem!"

Mu Canglong had come out at some point. After coughing a few times, he said, "Fang Xi is right. Do as he says... Also, when moving the martial arts school, everything else can be abandoned. We only need food and clean water..."

"Father, your body?" Mu Piaomiao gazed at her father worriedly.

Fang Xi could also see that more tadpole-like black markings had spread across Mu Canglong's body, already crawling up to his chin.

"It's useless. This is poison, but also a 'curse'!"

Mu Canglong answered with a bitter smile.

"May I ask, Master, what exactly is a 'curse'?" Fang Xi became interested.

"As for so-called demons, monsters are merely somewhat strange in appearance, somewhat stronger, or possessed of some strange abilities..." Mu Canglong waved his hand. "But demons are completely different, especially 'curses'! This is a power unique to demons—Curse Power! Its terror far surpasses our Martial Artists' Blood Qi Power, and even True Force and True Energy... Therefore, once touched by it, it's like a festering wound attached to the bone. Death is certain..."

"I see." Fang Xi nodded and cupped his fists. "Master, I still need to return home to deal with some affairs. I'll have to come back and join you later."

At this moment, all the monsters outside had been hung from the tree canopy, making the place incomparably safe.

Most of the disciples who had remained behind had already slipped away.

Fang Xi even formally bade them farewell, because he was a man who observed proper etiquette.

"Um... Master, I want to go home too." Liu Taotao timidly chimed in.

"Very well." Mu Canglong nodded without stopping them. "Remember, we'll gather at the East City Gate afterward. Fang Xi's earlier deduction was correct: the farther we are from the body of that Yao Mo Tree, the better... Also, be careful of those Demon Servants. Although they have merely been infected by the Yao Mo Tree's Curse Power, they are still difficult to deal with."

"This was supposed to be an enjoyment-focused world. How did it suddenly turn into surviving a Demon Calamity?"

Fang Xi walked along the main street, looking at the ruined shops and the shattered corpses on the ground. From time to time, wary gazes were cast from behind windows. He could not help feeling speechless. It was even the battle-royale version, with the poison circle constantly spreading outward from the center...

Fortunately.

He could sense that, as long as he wished, he could still return to the Southern Barrens Cultivation World.

With that as his trump card, Fang Xi was not particularly anxious.

He walked and stopped along the way before arriving at his residence.

The main gate was shattered and had fallen to one side.

The corpses of several guards lay scattered in every direction, some still frozen in the posture of roaring.

"As expected..." Fang Xi had anticipated this. A sharp glint flashed through his eyes as he stepped into the inner residence.

Several maids lay in pools of blood, still clutching jadeite leaves, pearls, gold jewelry, and other valuables...

Damn it, the moment danger appeared, they thought only of stealing the master's valuables and running away...

He walked around looking here and there, basically confirming that his household had also been attacked by monsters, with the servants suffering heavy casualties.

Those who were still alive had mostly fled, taking quite a lot of valuables with them.

Forget it. I'll just treat it as severance pay.

Fang Xi was quite open-minded about it. They were all merely worldly possessions, anyway.

He arrived at his bedroom, when suddenly his eyes narrowed and he pushed open the door.

The bedroom was equally chaotic.

As it turned out, when the apocalypse arrived, the master's prohibitions were about as useful as a fart.

Fang Xi did not care about this. He came before an ornately carved Rosewood cabinet decorated with dragons and phoenixes and knocked on the cabinet door.

"Ahhh!"

Amid a scream, a petite figure charged out, a pair of scissors in hand, stabbing swiftly.

Smack!

Fang Xi was speechless. He casually slapped the scissors away, then gave her a slap as well. "Bai He, wake up. It's me!"

The person hiding inside the cabinet was none other than the maid Bai He.

A vivid red handprint quickly appeared on her cheek, standing out sharply against her fair, delicate skin. But she finally seemed to come to her senses and began crying miserably, sobbing so hard she could barely speak. "There... there were monsters... Sister Shui Xian, Sister Yu Lan... they're... they're both dead..."

"What about Yue Gui?"

Fang Xi asked.

Bai He shook her head. "I didn't see her..."

Fang Xi recalled the journey there. He had not seen Yue Gui's corpse, which meant that was good news.

He stroked Bai He's hair, feeling as though he were petting a cat. "Black Stone City is finished now. I'll give you two choices. The first is to leave with me. The second is for me to give you a hundred taels of gold and return your contract of servitude, after which you can leave on your own. Choose one!"

Fang Xi looked around the bedroom. There was nothing he needed to take.

In Black Stone City as it was now, gold and silver were probably no different from bricks and rubble. They were less useful than going to the kitchen and carrying out a few sacks of rice!

Wait, I can buy mortal rice in the Cultivation World. I don't even need to carry it...

"I..." A trace of life barely returned to Bai He's eyes. "I'll leave with Young Master..."

"Excellent!"

Fang Xi nodded. She was a clever little girl. "Since that's settled, hurry up and get ready. Go to the kitchen, carry a sack of rice, and come with me..."

East City Gate.

A residential house built along the city wall.

White Cloud Martial Arts School had chosen this place as its temporary foothold because it was already the most remote area of Black Stone City.

The small courtyard was already packed with martial arts apprentices and their relatives.

Apart from Fang Xi bringing a maid, Liu Taotao and Tang Xuan had also brought their parents over.

Even Second Senior Brother Wu Ji had somehow brought a beautiful married woman with him. She was supposedly his wife, and he had brazenly occupied a room.

Near the courtyard, there were also quite a few city factions, most of them Martial Hall Masters who had brought their apprentices, driven away the original homeowners, and occupied the best land in the area.

Now that order in the city had collapsed, fists were the best authority!

That was precisely why Mu Canglong had been forced to drag his broken body around and exchange empty pleasantries with those Martial Hall Masters.

Late at night.

Mu Canglong summoned several direct disciples to discuss what they had seen that day.

"Ahem... According to the information I've gathered, that Yao Mo Tree can parasitize human and beast bodies. It chose the Prefectural Yamen as its place of descent from the very beginning. The prefect of this city and all the high officials throughout the city have basically died without even leaving corpses..."

A lamp flickered like a bean, illuminating the astonished and terrified faces of the crowd. Mu Canglong's voice was filled with helplessness. "At present... quite a few martial arts factions have gathered near the East City Gate. The South City Gate has been occupied by Yuan He Mountain. We don't know the situation at the North City Gate, but I'm afraid it's a dead zone. There are occasionally scattered reports from the West City Gate, where a large number of refugees have gathered..."

"And the monsters driven by the Yao Mo Tree are active by night and dormant by day. Their numbers aren't particularly large. As long as we act carefully, we should be able to hold out for some time..."

Mu Piaomiao looked worried. "Father... The food and water we've stored here can only barely last us a month."

"A month?" Mu Canglong's mood suddenly turned inexplicably depressed.

In reality, too many people had died inside Black Stone City. As long as one was not afraid of danger and avoided the core areas covered by the canopy and the monsters, it would not be difficult to search the residential houses and grain shops for supplies.

The truly difficult thing was confidence!

In fact, all the higher-ups should understand clearly that they will definitely be abandoned by the Daliang court...

Clustering together for warmth now is nothing more than eking out a miserable existence.

Fang Xi crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against a pillar, already understanding everything. The persistence now is merely a faint hope—the hope that after this demon has eaten and drunk its fill, it will leave on its own...

But at the beginning, no one would have thought that this demon was actually a tree! It might not leave at all. Even if it does, it might wait until its canopy has spread across the entire sky and its aerial roots have killed everyone...

Of course, judging from the extent of its expansion, this process will still take anywhere from several months to a year... So the initial danger, instead, is... other people!

Just as Fang Xi was thinking, Mu Canglong's expression changed. He suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood and collapsed unconscious.

"Father!"

Mu Piaomiao cried out in alarm and hurried over to support him.

Ignoring the flustered crowd, Fang Xi walked out of the room and gazed at the gloomy sky.

With White Cloud Martial Arts School's strongest combatant now weakened, there was no way this could be hidden from those with ulterior motives. Danger was already hanging by a thread!