Accepting the Mission: Corpse Demon

At this moment, the task board had undergone significant changes. All tasks in the first column were displayed in red light. Xu Yang took a rough look and discovered that these tasks were mostly located near Border City Prefecture, clearly inseparable from the influence of the demonic path.

Looking further down, the second row was displayed in yellow light. The tasks here were somewhat difficult and carried considerable danger; some even included notes suggesting that it was best to form a team to complete them.

The third row was displayed in green light. The difficulty of the tasks here was very low, and there was no significant danger. The Ice Soul Root task that Xu Yang had completed previously was of this type. Naturally, as the task difficulty varied, the rewards offered were also vastly different.

Take the red tasks in the first row, for instance; the rewards upon completion were extremely generous, making Xu Yang feel a pang of envy. Through comparison, Xu Yang discovered that these three grades of tasks—red, yellow, and green—corresponded to the three major stages of the Qi Refining realm: the first, fourth, and seventh layers.

For example, for a red task, if a cultivator wanted to complete it independently, they needed at least the cultivation of the seventh layer of Qi Refining. Having discovered this, Xu Yang pondered for a moment while looking at the task board, selected a yellow task, recorded it on his identity token, and turned to leave.

After exiting the sect, Xu Yang immediately took flight on his sword, heading toward Wu Prefecture in the center of the Wu Kingdom. The location of this task was precisely within the borders of Wu Prefecture, and the task required Xu Yang to investigate a cave within Mangchang Mountain. This cave had appeared suddenly a month ago, and according to local residents, ghosts and monsters had been active in its vicinity.

Two people had already accepted this task before, but both had gone and never returned, clearly meeting a grim fate. The task had previously been green-level, and the two who accepted it were both third-layer Qi Refining cultivators. After they failed to return, the task was promoted to yellow-level.

Xu Yang accepted it partly out of curiosity and partly because he did not believe the task was that difficult. Even if an accident occurred, his formidable physical strength would be enough to handle it; after all, it was merely a yellow-level task.

After his cultivation had greatly advanced, flying on his sword again felt much easier. Although the consumption of his internal energy was still massive, he was no longer as embarrassed as he had been before. After flying for more than a quarter of an hour, Xu Yang put away his flying sword, running his cultivation technique to recover his internal energy while continuing to walk forward. Once his energy was fully restored, he took to his sword again.

After repeating this three or five times, Xu Yang had already arrived within the borders of Wu Prefecture. Thinking back to when Huo Lian had taken him from Mountain City to Haicheng Prefecture, which had only taken a little over an hour—that speed was truly incomparable. Now, he had been flying for half a day himself, yet he had only just entered the territory of Wu Prefecture.

It was said that Yue Province had the smallest area among the Nine Provinces of Tianyuan. Lan Province, which ranked above Yue Province, was three times its size, and as for the other great provinces, they were vast beyond measure, far exceeding Yue Province and Lan Province. Thinking of this, Xu Yang felt a sense of longing, hoping to have the chance to visit other great provinces in the future to see them for himself.

Coming back to his senses, Xu Yang continued toward Mangchang Mountain. At his current speed, he would be able to reach his destination before sunset. Xu Yang's estimation was correct; by the time the sun set, he had already arrived at the foot of Mangchang Mountain.

Out of caution, Xu Yang did not immediately go up the mountain to investigate but instead went to stay temporarily at a farmhouse. Only two elderly people lived in this farmhouse, and they received Xu Yang very warmly. During the meal, Xu Yang took the opportunity to ask about the situation on Mangchang Mountain.

Both elders wore expressions of terror and urged Xu Yang not to go up the mountain, claiming there were demons eating people there and that most of the nearby villagers had already fled. If it weren't for the fact that they lacked the travel expenses, they would have left this place long ago as well.

Seeing their fearful expressions, Xu Yang quickly comforted them. Once the two elders had calmed down slightly, Xu Yang continued to probe for information indirectly. In the end, he realized with resignation that the two elders were only repeating hearsay and that their information was completely useless.

With no other choice, Xu Yang had to return to his room to meditate and practice. Early the next morning, Xu Yang left the farmhouse. Before leaving, he left behind some silver that was already useless to him, which served as his lodging fee.

Following the mountain path cleared by the villagers, Xu Yang slowly walked up Mangchang Mountain. A short while later, he arrived at a remote spot. This place was beneath a cliff, and on the cliff face was a pitch-black cave entrance. Looking at the entrance, Xu Yang felt a mix of amusement and frustration, thinking to himself, I really have a fate with caves; why do I encounter one every time?

While thinking these things, Xu Yang's movements were not slow. He leaped and jumped into the cave entrance. As he walked inside, he thought, My perception hasn't detected any danger. Logically, the task should be easy to complete. How could the previous two people have gone and never returned?

Although he felt strange, Xu Yang did not stop. As he ventured deeper, the cave became increasingly vast, transforming into a stone grotto. Furthermore, he was shocked to discover that the heaven and earth spiritual energy in the air had undergone a strange mutation. This energy had turned pitch black, and the surrounding space had become extremely eerie.

Seeing this, Xu Yang's expression changed drastically, and he blurted out, "Devilish Qi! This is Devilish Qi! How could Devilish Qi appear here?" He immediately became extremely tense, pushing his focus to the limit, and thought rapidly.

Devilish Qi was one of the negative energies between heaven and earth, formed by the compression and transformation of negative emotions such as love, hate, greed, and anger from living beings. Once formed, it would rapidly assimilate the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, converting it into Devilish Qi. As long as there were living beings in the world, Devilish Qi would never cease.

Devilish Qi possessed powerful infectious properties; once eroded by it, one would fall into the demonic path. At the same time, Devilish Qi was the root of cultivation for demonic path cultivators, just as spiritual energy was for immortal cultivators.

Generally, Devilish Qi would have a source. As long as one could remove the source, the Devilish Qi would lose the power to spread. Thinking of this, Xu Yang felt a surge of spirit and immediately proceeded deeper with extreme caution.

The depth of this grotto was unknown, and Xu Yang felt he was descending deeper. As he went further in, the surrounding Devilish Qi gradually grew denser. At this moment, a "squeaking" sound suddenly came from above Xu Yang's head. Xu Yang was startled, a sense of crisis washing over him, and he hurriedly looked up.

More than a dozen bat-like demon beasts, half a meter in size, pitch-black all over, with eyes as red as fire, were screeching at him from above. Xu Yang immediately retreated two steps, and the Indeterminate Ring and his red flying sword flew out from his Qiankun Bag, circling around him.

Those bats spread their black wings and flew toward Xu Yang while screeching. Blades of wind appeared out of thin air and struck at Xu Yang. Xu Yang urged his internal energy, and the Indeterminate Ring quickly flew above his head, casting down a curtain of light that blocked the wind blades, while the red flying sword let out a hum and pierced toward the demon bats.

The demon bats immediately screeched and dodged the flying sword's attack, but their speed was too slow, and they were unable to evade the sword's strikes at all. In a short moment, they were all killed by Xu Yang one by one.

After killing all the demon bats, Xu Yang stepped forward to examine them carefully and immediately recognized them as Blood-Sucking Bats. They lived year-round in shaded places like caves and grottoes and were third-layer Qi Refining demon beasts capable of casting spells like wind blades and blood-sucking fangs.

These Blood-Sucking Bats had little value; only their two fangs were of any use. Xu Yang, who was currently so poor he couldn't even afford a meal, naturally wouldn't let this slide. He nimbly collected the fangs of the demon bats into his Qiankun Bag, intending to exchange them for items after returning to the sect.

After finishing, Xu Yang continued to move forward. With the previous lesson, he began to pay close attention to the space above his head. Sure enough, a short while later, Xu Yang discovered more demon bats above him, and after a battle, Xu Yang killed them once again.

In the time that followed, Xu Yang encountered consecutive attacks from demon bats. Fortunately, his cultivation was decent, and he killed all the demon bats without any real danger. As he ventured deeper, the Devilish Qi became even denser, reaching a point visible to the naked eye.

Xu Yang felt waves of Devilish Qi crashing toward him, and his whole body slowly began to turn cold. The internal energy within his body seemed about to be eroded by it. Xu Yang's expression changed drastically, and he immediately activated the Indeterminate Ring, blocking the Devilish Qi outside the light curtain, only then slowly recovering.

Even so, the Devilish Qi was still slowly eroding the light curtain outside his body. Seeing this, Xu Yang had no choice but to continuously channel his internal energy into the Indeterminate Ring to stabilize the curtain. As a result, the internal energy within Xu Yang's body was draining rapidly.

Helpless, Xu Yang could only quicken his pace. After moving forward for a while, Xu Yang suddenly stopped and looked ahead. Ten meters in front of him, two figures were standing. Judging by the attire they wore, they were clearly disciples of the Bailian Pavilion.

Xu Yang's heart stirred, knowing that these two must be the fellow disciples who had accepted the task before him. Feeling a sense of relief, Xu Yang walked forward and said to the two, "Two junior brothers, why are you standing here? The sect thought you had already been harmed!"

The two figures in front heard Xu Yang's words and immediately raised their heads to look at him. Upon seeing their eyes, Xu Yang's heart suddenly skipped a beat, alarm bells rang, and he quickly retreated backward.

Seeing Xu Yang's movement, the two let out a hiss and lunged toward him, simultaneously raising their hands to strike fiercely at Xu Yang.

Xu Yang flashed aside, dodging their attack, and examined them closely. At this moment, their fingernails had become long and black, their originally fair faces had also turned pitch-black and were extremely hideous, and their eyes were devoid of any spirit, appearing completely chaotic. Clearly, the two had been dead for a long time and had now been eroded by the Devilish Qi, turning into Corpse Demons.

Seeing Xu Yang dodge their attack, the two Corpse Demons roared and lunged at him again. Xu Yang flew backward while waving his hand, sending his red flying sword to strike the Corpse Demons. Two crisp clangs rang out, and the two Corpse Demons were knocked back by the flying sword.

Xu Yang's expression changed, and he was greatly shocked. With the sharpness of his flying sword, it was actually unable to pierce the bodies of the Corpse Demons, and their strength had also increased to the early stage of the fifth layer of Qi Refining, which was truly astonishing.

The two Corpse Demons were knocked back by the flying sword, feeling a sharp pain in their chests, and black blood flowed from their wounds. They looked at Xu Yang with hideous expressions, hissing as they lunged at him once more.

Halfway there, the two Corpse Demons opened their mouths wide, and two streams of black Devilish Qi spewed out, transforming into two arrows that shot straight at Xu Yang. This time, Xu Yang did not retreat. His right hand controlled the flying sword to pierce one Corpse Demon, while his left hand lifted, and a small black seal flew out, expanding to three meters in height and size, smashing toward the other Corpse Demon.

First came two muffled thuds, followed by a crisp metallic clang and a loud boom, causing the entire grotto to tremble.