Wandering Evil

Su Qing's face went deathly pale, cold sweat pouring down his back.

He did not believe that any demon beast or cultivator would be bored enough to kill someone and then hang lanterns outside their door.

Only Evil Entities would do such a thing!

"Damn it, they never should have been allowed to hunt demon beasts in the Living Area. There's no formation here like in the Central District to ward off blood fiend qi and resentful souls, nor is there a Foundation Establishment Grand Cultivator's divine sense protecting the place. Of course Evil Entities would be drawn here!"

Su Qing secretly cursed, thinking that the cultivators in the Living Area had recently been so blinded by spirit crystal-bearing demon beasts that they had failed to notice how inappropriate it was for the Gao Family Butcher Shop to open there.

Yet he had forgotten that he himself was one of them. When Gao Erqiang's shop had first opened, he had only envied Gao Erqiang for raking in money by the day, never once considering that this would attract Evil Entities.

Nor could he or the other Rogue Cultivators in the Living Area really be blamed.

As far as he knew, Evil Entities came in two kinds: Earthbound Evils and Wandering Evils.

Earthbound Evils arose from certain special terrains and environments, transforming those places into Evil Spirit Domains. An Evil Spirit Domain seemed to exist in this world, yet not quite within it; it appeared and vanished unpredictably, real and false alike. Only by killing the Evil Entity could one break it.

Weak Earthbound Evils could arise anywhere, at any time. If Rogue Cultivators were unlucky enough to wander into an Evil Spirit Domain they had formed, they could only rely on Exorcism Talismans to preserve their lives.

Su Qing had heard that after reaching Foundation Establishment, cultivators could use divine sense to erase Evil Entities, though he did not know whether that was true.

Fortunately, most Evil Spirit Domains were not very large. A flower, a tree, a brick, a stone—at most, an old house or a shallow pond—could be the home of an Earthbound Evil.

As long as cultivators avoided traveling at night, once the great sun rose, most of these Evil Entities would be scattered by the yang energy of heaven and earth.

But those Earthbound Evils that had endured for years and grown monstrously powerful could wreak havoc not only at night, but were equally vicious during the day. Forget Qi Refinement or Foundation Establishment cultivators—even a Golden Core Grand Cultivator who stumbled into one would have to flee with his tail between his legs.

White Cloud Market Town held hundreds of thousands of cultivators. In every district, people traveled day and night. Even if there were one or two troublesome Earthbound Evils, cultivators had long marked them out with their lives. One only needed to take care to avoid them.

Thus, for the Rogue Cultivators of White Cloud Market Town, Earthbound Evils were not much of a threat when moving about the Market at night.

What truly sent chills down their spines were Wandering Evils.

These evil spirits were not bound by any territory, meaning they could appear anywhere!

Even hiding at home was useless!

And Wandering Evils loved blood fiend qi most of all. Places where two kingdoms had fought bloody wars were often abandoned for over a century, precisely because such battlefields were the likeliest to draw Wandering Evils. With Evil Entities lingering there, naturally no one dared go and throw away their life.

White Cloud Market Town lay deep within the Cloud Mountain Immortal Kingdom. To the west, Cloud Net City held back External Enemies; beyond Hundred Beasts Mountain stood Yunshan City, where the Cloud Mountain Sect's mountain gate was located. The region had known peace for many years, and with mortals and Rogue Cultivators gathered here, its vitality was flourishing.

That was why the Rogue Cultivators had never realized there was anything wrong with the Gao Family shop setting up in the Living Area to buy meat and carve up demon beasts.

But thinking back on it now, Su Qing realized that the Gao Family shop had operated day and night these past few days. Whenever he refined puppets at night, he could faintly hear the sounds of meat being chopped.

With such intense work, one could imagine how many demon beasts they had dismembered in that tiny shop over the past few days.

Under normal circumstances, the Market's Enforcement Team would have long since made them conduct regular exorcisms and dispel the fiendish aura every day.

But lately, Rogue Cultivators had been running all over the place for demon beasts, while most members of the Market's Enforcement Team were maintaining order in the Central District. They had no time to look after the Living Area, and that was what had caused this disaster!

Once he had pieced together the chain of events.

Though he was extremely curious about what was happening at the Gao Family Butcher Shop, he no longer dared link to the Wood Spirit Servant.

He rummaged through his Storage Bag and took out a stack of bright yellow Talisman Paper from the very bottom. Only after pasting one onto every door and window did he relax slightly.

These were Exorcism Talismans. In this world where Evil Entities ran rampant, such Talismans might not be needed in ordinary times, but one absolutely could not go without them. Even when his life had been difficult, he had gritted his teeth and bought one. Afterward, whenever he had a little spare money, he would pick up a few from the Old Daoist.

Since he usually stayed holed up at home, he had never encountered anything evil and had not used a single Exorcism Talisman. Adding them up bit by bit, he now had around seventy or eighty Talismans in hand.

"It's fine. The Gao Family Butcher Shop is still three to five li away from here. That Evil Entity shouldn't come after me!"

Just as Su Qing believed himself completely safe.

Suddenly, wisps of chilling wind slipped through the cracks in the doors and windows with shrill whistling sounds.

At the same time, the several Exorcism Talismans pasted onto the doors and windows ignited without flame, while dull thuds rang out from the doors and windows.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As though someone were knocking at the door.

Su Qing's lips trembled. He guessed that the Wood Spirit Servant had been discovered by the Evil Entity, which had followed the fluctuations of his divine sense to find him.

Not daring to approach the doors or windows himself, he had the Wood Spirit Servants inside the room plaster every Exorcism Talisman they held onto them in one go.

Once all the Talismans had been used up, the doors and windows were completely covered in them.

As for him, he rode atop the Lizard Warrior, ready to smash through the wall and run at any moment.

Fortunately, the Evil Entity seemed to be limited in strength, while seventy or eighty Exorcism Talismans were simply too many.

After more than twenty Exorcism Talismans on the door turned to smoke and scattered away.

Both the knocking and the cold wind gradually receded.

"Twenty-eight Talismans' worth of power?"

Not knowing how else to judge an Evil Entity's strength, Su Qing could only estimate its abilities by the number of Exorcism Talismans it had consumed.

At that moment, he leaned against the bed, his heart still pounding as he gasped for breath.

He had never expected that the first life-and-death crisis he had encountered since transmigrating would be because of an Evil Entity!

"Don't be so damn curious in the future. The Gao Family shop was glowing red, and you still went over to take a look? Look at what, a ghost's head?!"

Su Qing cursed angrily. This lesson made him realize that even Wood Spirit Servants controlled by divine sense from afar could not look at just anything.

An Evil Entity could follow divine sense back to find him, and so could a Foundation Establishment Grand Cultivator.

Peeping Toms never came to a good end!

He spent the entire night sleepless, unable to settle his mind enough to continue Refining Puppets.

When dawn broke, he still did not push open the door. Only when the noon sun was blazing did he cautiously open it. The spent Talisman Paper on the door shed flakes of black ash, which stung his fingers with a cool, prickling sensation when he pinched them.

After stepping out of the courtyard, he had expected the Gao Family shop's abnormality to alarm the entire Market. Yet he saw nothing amiss.

Rogue Cultivators came in twos and threes, still delivering their hunted demon beasts to the Gao Family shop for convenience.

Gao Erqiang still stood smiling at the entrance, greeting and seeing off the passing customers.

Inside the shop, the harsh sounds of slicing meat and chopping bones still rang out.

Other than the two Red Lanterns that had always hung outside and the absence of the two burly Body Cultivators who usually followed Gao Erqiang around.

Everything seemed perfectly normal.

Su Qing gripped the beheaded, ruined Wood Spirit Servant in his hand, confused.

Then he glanced at the Formation Masters setting up an Exorcism Formation around the Gao Family shop.

Only then did he spit viciously in Gao Erqiang's direction.

"Money-grubbing bastard! Damn scourge who harms people!"

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