Li Qiming stood on the fighting platform.
His brows furrowed tightly.
Just as Wu Tianlong's head exploded, a scream that clearly hadn't come from him rang faintly in Li Qiming's ear.
"Chik—"
The sound was extremely strange, nothing like a human voice.
Li Qiming kicked the headless corpse aside.
[Corpse Looting Entry Trigger] [1. Soul-Devouring Rat: Demon identity/rare.] [2. Elite Disciple: Identity/rare.]
The gap in their realms had yielded only two entries.
And both entries were actually identities!
"What the hell is a Soul-Devouring Rat...?"
Li Qiming narrowed his eyes, a foreboding feeling rising within him.
He focused his gaze:
[1. Soul-Devouring Rat: Demon identity/rare] [Soul-Devouring Rat: You will disguise yourself as a Soul-Devouring Rat (Lesser Demon). Soul-Devouring Rats are adept at parasitizing human bodies. After burrowing inside, they eat away at part of the host's brain and become part of it, thereby controlling the host's body, thoughts, and actions... Eventually, they merge completely with the host and coexist as parasites, though the host can hardly think for themself anymore.]
Li Qiming's pupils contracted.
A demon!
This Soul-Devouring Rat was terrifying!
It gnawed on a person's brain, then disguised itself as part of the brain to parasitize and control them.
It was practically turning itself into a human!
Treating a person like its puppet!
The human body became nothing more than a vessel to nourish it!
This demon's methods were truly horrifying!
Just imagining a rat gnawing away inside his own brain made Li Qiming's skin crawl. He felt thoroughly disgusted.
Looking at Wu Tianlong's remains on the ground, he fell into a deep silence.
In other words, the Soul-Devouring Rat had already gnawed away at Wu Tianlong's brain.
He had become a puppet.
That was hard to wrap his head around!
Li Qiming looked at Entry 2.
[2. Elite Disciple: Identity/rare.] [Elite Disciple: Transform into Wu Tianlong, an Elite Disciple of Dragon Roar Martial Hall, the "Fake* Chief Elite Disciple" and "Fake* Number One Beneath the True Inheritors."]
"Why can I still loot Wu Tianlong's identity entry?"
Li Qiming had tried it before: if a corpse had been dead for more than seven days, he couldn't loot any entries from it.
So... though the Soul-Devouring Rat had eaten Wu Tianlong's brain, he hadn't actually died yet?
Had Wu Tianlong been conscious throughout the process of being eaten, controlled, and turned into a demon's puppet?
Watching himself sink into the abyss, being parasitized by a rat bit by bit, yet unable to do anything...
Had he become a puppet while still alive?
Just thinking about it sent a chill down Li Qiming's spine.
The demon certainly lived up to its name.
Li Qiming suddenly noticed a corpse covered in white fur lying in a corner of the platform.
It must have been blasted away when Wu Tianlong's head exploded.
He walked over and examined it carefully.
The Soul-Devouring Rat wasn't very big, only about half the size of a fist.
Soul-Devouring Rats had no combat strength of their own; they relied entirely on their hosts.
He prodded the demon's corpse with his blade.
[Corpse Looting Entry Trigger] [1. One Year of Blood Qi: Blood Qi attack power/rare] [2. Gnawing Incisors: Talent/rare]
Li Qiming hadn't expected a demon's corpse to trigger entries too.
He took a closer look. The second entry, Gnawing Incisors, would make his front teeth grow longer, letting him bite through steel.
Even if that talent were handed to him for free, he wouldn't want it.
But he could save the One Year of Blood Qi for now and add it directly once he broke through to Bone Refining.
Whoosh.
Several figures suddenly appeared beside Li Qilong.
"A young Soul-Devouring Rat?" Pavilion Master Long Wuhui stared at the white rat's corpse on the ground, his brows drawing together.
Then he glanced at Li Qiming.
"Qiming, it's a good thing you killed the Soul-Devouring Rat. Otherwise, the consequences would have been endless!"
Even Long Wuhui looked somewhat shaken.
Li Qiming didn't understand. Why would a Soul-Devouring Rat warrant such concern from the Pavilion Master?
As if he could tell Li Qiming didn't understand, the Blue-Robed Elder, Chu Weiying, explained slowly from the side, "This Soul-Devouring Rat is still a Lesser Demon. If it had been given more time to mature, nourished by Blood Qi, the consequences would have been unimaginable!"
"Once an adult Soul-Devouring Rat lays eggs, it makes its host touch the people around them. That's how it parasitizes them with its young!"
"One becomes ten, ten become a hundred..."
"Throughout history, the appearance of Soul-Devouring Rats has often heralded a catastrophe so terrible that tens of millions could die."
"Having entire cities and villages slaughtered would count as a blessing!"
Li Qiming felt a chill in his heart as he listened.
Had he unknowingly prevented such a massive disaster?
In his previous life, the Black Death that broke out during medieval times in Northern Europe had also killed sixty percent of the population. It took three hundred years for the population to recover.
And these were demons!
The disaster could only be even worse!
But something still didn't feel right to him.
If humans could die so easily, if the conditions for survival were so harsh, shouldn't humanity have gone extinct in this world long ago?
As if he saw Li Qiming's confusion, the Brown-Robed Elder, Jiang Daoming, explained from the other side, "In truth, every city has its own defenses against demons. Two thousand years ago, when the Great Yan Dynasty was founded, it began training Artificers. They wield a technique called the Qi Gazing Technique, which can detect demons."
"However, the Qi Gazing Technique requires a special talent—the Eye of Insight. Ordinary people simply can't learn it."
"After years of training, the Great Yan Dynasty established a Demon Suppression Division in every city and assigned an Artificer to each one."
"Dragon Spring City has an Artificer too. The Artificer used the Qi Gazing Technique to monitor the city. If demons caused trouble, they would be detected and dealt with immediately."
"So they can't stir up a major disaster!"
"But..."
At this point, Jiang Daoming hesitated.
He seemed unsure whether he should say any more.
He glanced at the Pavilion Master, Long Wuhui.
Long Wuhui fell silent for a moment.
Then he ordered the people below the platform, "If there's nothing else, you may all leave."
The crowd naturally didn't dare disobey him.
After everyone had left,
Long Wuhui said to Li Qiming, "Two days ago, a large number of demons suddenly appeared near Dragon Tooth Mountain, fifty li away. They slaughtered a city and more than a dozen villages and towns."
"The Demon Catcher from the Demon Suppression Division invited me, the two elders, and your seven Senior Brothers who are True Inheritors to go slay the demons."
"As righteous martial artists, we naturally could not refuse!"
"Our ancestor, Long Yingtian, left us a family precept: slaying demons and rescuing the people from danger is the foundation of our martial path."
"However... among those demons was a Tiger-Headed Great Demon. Though I managed to behead it, I was injured, and the Artificer from the Demon Suppression Division was even more severely wounded."
"So, for the time being, the Artificer can't use the Qi Gazing Technique to monitor and protect Dragon Spring City."
"That was how this Lesser Demon, the Soul-Devouring Rat, slipped through the cracks!"
"I never expected demons to be causing trouble inside my Dragon Roar Martial Hall already!"
"These demons are utterly lawless!"
Long Wuhui was so furious that his beard trembled.
But when he looked at Li Qiming, the old man nodded, clearly pleased.
"Good thing Senior Brother Shen didn't misjudge you. Thankfully, you killed the demon, Qiming. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable!"
"As a reward, you may go to the Weapon Hall and choose any weapon that suits you, free of charge. You may also go to the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion and choose one second-rate martial art for free. In addition, I'll give you 1,000 contribution points!"
The old man was very pleased with Li Qiming's performance and rewarded him on the spot.
"Thank you, Master!" Li Qiming exclaimed with delight. He hadn't expected killing Wu Tianlong to bring him such a windfall.
He'd really struck it lucky!
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