Devouring Demonic Art

Quite a few rogue cultivators had gathered around the stall.

Lin Fan went over as well, but the higher his expectations rose, the greater his disappointment became.

There were quite a few cultivation manuals at the stall. Aside from some orthodox techniques, there were even several cultivation techniques from demonic sects.

But without exception, they were all low-level techniques, completely useless to Lin Fan at his current stage.

"To obtain a higher-level cultivation technique from the Blood Demon Sect, I'll have to find another way."

Lin Fan shook his head and immediately turned to leave.

For the sake of caution, he circled around the market several more times. Only after confirming that no one was following him did he dart away.

However, Lin Fan had not gone far from the market when he suddenly furrowed his brows. He sensed a tail behind him, as if someone were watching him from the shadows.

"Have I been targeted?"

If Lin Fan's senses had not been so sharp, even another cultivator in the Meridian Condensing Realm would have found it difficult to detect anything amiss.

But he was utterly puzzled. After entering the market, he had been sufficiently cautious—he had even changed his appearance and aura twice before making his transactions. He had also left only after confirming that no one was following him.

He had been so cautious, yet someone had still targeted him. Could there have been a flaw somewhere in the process?

Lin Fan's expression shifted between gloom and uncertainty as he carefully analyzed the reason.

He soon arrived at a preliminary conclusion.

The first possibility was that he had simply been unlucky. A rogue cultivator who preyed on others in the market had targeted him, mistaking him for an easy-to-kill fat sheep.

As for the second possibility, it was very likely that his perfected Blood Gathering Art contained a slight flaw, and someone with ulterior motives had inadvertently noticed something unusual.

The above two possibilities were both matters of luck.

Of course, there was also a third possibility—one that ruled out luck entirely.

Lin Fan looked at his cloth pouch.

He had once heard that some unorthodox cultivators, in order to track down their targets, would deliberately leave a unique scent or mark on something belonging to the other party, allowing them to keep track of their movements in real time.

"It's very likely that someone tampered with those few bottles of demon blood, or with those two pieces of Spirit Jade."

Lin Fan let out a soft sigh.

Whether they were low-level disciples of the Blood Demon Sect or the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect, all of them used storage pouches. They were made through basic artifact-refining materials.

The theory behind them was to compress the capacity of a large water vat into something the size of a cloth pouch.

Not only was their storage effect mediocre, they were also incapable of isolating outside detection.

If he had a storage ring with better effects, or some other storage artifact, this situation probably would not have occurred.

As Lin Fan's thoughts raced, his speed was astonishingly fast. He moved as if walking on level ground, swiftly darting down the mountain.

"He runs pretty fast."

Several hundred meters behind Lin Fan, a masked man's eyes flashed with sharp light. He was none other than the stall owner who had operated the purchasing stall.

"To be able to take out several flying swords from the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect in one go, he must be a demonic cultivator."

"And he's proficient in disguise and aura-concealment techniques. He must have plenty of secrets—and perhaps even treasures—on him."

"The Flowing Cloud Sword Sect has issued a bounty. As long as someone kills a disciple of a demonic sect, they can receive a reward of five pieces of Spirit Jade."

"I can't kill people from my own sect, but can't I kill disciples of other demonic sects?"

"Kid, if you want someone to blame, blame your rotten luck. I'll take both your head and the treasures on you."

The masked stall owner grinned. With one hand, he formed a seal. On the surface of his palm was a tiny black insect, staring intently at the place where Lin Fan was hiding.

This insect could clearly smell the unique fragrance he had sprinkled onto the two pieces of Spirit Jade.

"Huh? Why did he stop?"

Suddenly, the masked stall owner froze. Through the black insect's senses, he discovered that the target had stopped not far ahead.

Confusion appeared in the masked stall owner's eyes. He muttered to himself, "Could he have noticed something was wrong and realized he can't escape, so he wants to struggle to the death?"

"If it were someone else, you might have been able to struggle a few times. Unfortunately, you ran into me. You're destined to die here."

He let out a "kekeke" laugh, accelerated, and charged toward the target's location.

A moment later, the masked stall owner suddenly stopped. He saw two pieces of Spirit Jade placed on a rock in the distance.

"This..."

His face darkened as he snarled, "He actually got away..."

"Hmph!"

Suddenly, a muffled, thunderous voice exploded beside his ear.

The masked stall owner's expression changed. Caught completely off guard, the black insect on his palm let out a shrill cry before suddenly exploding.

It had been directly shaken to death.

At that very moment, a flying sword shot out from the grass nearest to the masked stall owner and arrived in an instant.

"Not good, an ambush!"

The masked stall owner was greatly alarmed, but his reaction was extremely swift. A mass of black Killing Intent surged forth, forming an indestructible wall of defense before him.

At the same time, he suddenly clenched his large hand. It transformed into a gigantic blood-colored hand that viciously slapped toward the flying sword.

In the next second, the black Killing Intent collapsed and disintegrated, while the flying sword and blood hand collided violently.

Lin Fan furrowed his brows. The instant the Azure Gavel Sword touched the blood hand, it was as if it had crashed into a black hole. The power within the sword was continuously sucked away.

What kind of technique is this?!

He quickly reacted and crushed two Blood Demon Talismans.

Two Snow Demon Wolves roared as they pounced toward the masked stall owner from the left and right.

"Blood Demon Talismans..."

The masked stall owner's eyes widened.

He drew a treasured saber and ferociously slashed at the two Snow Demon Wolves with overwhelming force.

But at that moment, the masked stall owner's pupils suddenly contracted. A figure as ghostly as a specter had appeared behind him at some unknown point.

"Devour the Four Directions!"

He let out a furious roar. Terrifying suction, centered on his body, spread out in all directions.

The figure's movements paused, but in the next instant, its palm, sharp as a blade, pierced straight into the masked stall owner's back.

Pfft!

The hand blade sank into flesh and directly dug out his heart.

Blood splattered everywhere. The masked stall owner's body went limp, and his treasured saber fell to the ground, only to be viciously bitten down upon by the two Snow Demon Wolves.

A moment later, a mangled corpse appeared before Lin Fan.

The two Snow Demon Wolves flashed with blood-colored light and transformed back into two Blood Demon Talismans. Perhaps because they had devoured flesh and blood, the talismans' energy fluctuations were several times stronger than before.

This was precisely what was so terrifying about the Blood Demon Talismans. As long as the talisman's energy had not been exhausted, they could be used repeatedly. Moreover, after the Snow Demon Wolves devoured flesh and blood, they could make the talismans' might even stronger.

"So it was him."

Lin Fan wiped the blood from his hands and recognized the man as the masked stall owner who had operated the purchasing stall.

He crouched down and began searching the corpse, but the other man had only a single storage pouch on him.

He had probably hurried out to surround and kill Lin Fan, so he had not brought along the things from his stall.

"The technique this man used just now was rather strange. It carried a trace of demonic aura."

Lin Fan opened the pouch and examined its contents.

He first took out two medicine bottles. Small labels were pasted onto both bottles.

Blood Replenishing Pill, enhances one's Blood Qi; Bone Dissolving Powder, corrodes the flesh and blood of corpses.

After reading the descriptions on the bottles, Lin Fan pondered briefly before putting both medicine bottles away.

Next, Lin Fan rummaged through the pouch and found five pieces of Spirit Jade, which he pocketed without hesitation.

Adding the two pieces of Spirit Jade from before, he had obtained seven pieces of Spirit Jade on this trip to the market. Even if he could not return to the Blood Demon Sect several months later, this would temporarily resolve his problem of scarce spiritual energy.

At that moment, Lin Fan's eyes suddenly focused. He found another cultivation manual: the Devouring Demonic Art.

"If I remember correctly, the name of this cultivation technique differs by only one character from the Blood Swallowing Demonic Art I obtained from Wu Hai back then."

"Could this masked stall owner also be from the Thousand Hand Demonic Sect?"

Lin Fan froze.

Driven by a trace of curiosity, Lin Fan roughly flipped through the Devouring Demonic Art.

His guess was quickly confirmed. This Devouring Demonic Art was an enhanced version of the Blood Swallowing Demonic Art.

However, unlike the flaw in cultivating the Blood Swallowing Demonic Art, cultivating this technique would not cause his body to mutate into a terrifying monster covered in tentacles.

Lin Fan happened to be lacking a suitable cultivation technique, and now he had one ready-made before him.

But this was, after all, a cultivation technique of the Thousand Hand Demonic Sect. If he cultivated it, would it leave behind hidden problems in the future?

He began to hesitate and could only put the cultivation technique away for the time being.

Afterward, he took out some Bone Dissolving Powder and dripped it onto the corpse. At a speed visible to the naked eye, the corpse turned into a pool of blood.

Half an hour later, a figure suddenly swept over and appeared at the place where Lin Fan had just fought.

The man was dressed entirely in black robes. Even his cheeks were concealed by the robes, leaving only a pair of vicious eyes exposed.

He inhaled forcefully through his nose and muttered, "That's the smell of Bone Dissolving Powder. Could something have happened to Xuan Xie..."

"Damn it. The sect had him lie low here and plot for an important matter, yet he was so reckless!"

The black-robed man let out an angry snort, then immediately turned and left.