Evil Fire
Song Wen looked at the lovely girl who had fallen from the sky and felt a surge of excitement in his heart.
The girl had fallen into a coma and had some abrasions, but was otherwise unharmed.
The friction from the fall tore the girl's clothes in several places, revealing her skin with bloodstains.
In Song Wen's heart, it felt as if a delicate hand was teasing him, and a touch of desire quietly crept into his heart, making him restless and his Qi and Blood rushing.
Ever since he devoured the Blood Serpent at the Su Clan, Song Wen felt that his vital energy was excessively abundant, which was probably due to the powerful life force contained within the Blood Serpent.
Often during meditation, due to an excess of vital energy, Qi and Blood surge upwards, causing the penis to stand erect, forcing me to interrupt my practice.
Song Wen originally didn't take this matter too seriously. Emotions and desires are human nature, and those who cultivate immortality don't need to suppress their desires.
He thought that as time went by, his body would gradually absorb and refine the life force, and his lust would naturally subside.
In the past, he would spend time alone in the cave, practicing secret techniques or crafting Death-Substitute Puppet to distract himself and temporarily quell his lust.
But today, when his Qi and Blood were at their peak, the appearance of a disheveled, delicate young girl before him made it difficult for him to control himself, and his lustful desires surged.
The middle-aged male cultivator descended along the cave, falling for more than twenty feet, and finally arrived at a spacious cavern. He saw his daughter on the ground and was relieved to find that she was only unconscious.
He then noticed an invisible barrier beside his daughter's unconscious body.
When the daughter fell from above, she must have hit the barrier before landing on the ground, which is why she wasn't seriously injured.
A sense of unease immediately rose in the middle-aged male cultivator's heart. This barrier was clearly a defensive barrier of an array. He and his daughter must have unintentionally stumbled into the secluded cultivation place of some senior expert.
However, this place is lacking in Spiritual Qi and is remote and desolate. What kind of master would choose to cultivate in seclusion here?
It's likely that only those Heretical Demons and Outer Dao and unscrupulous individuals would choose to retreat to this desolate place for seclusion.
The middle-aged male cultivator immediately felt as if he were facing a formidable enemy.
If he were alone here, he would die, and that would be no big deal.
But my young daughter is also here; I can't let her fall into the hands of demons and monsters. Otherwise, I don't know what kind of inhuman treatment she will suffer.
He could only pray that the appearance of the father and daughter had not disturbed the secluded sorcerer, and that he would still have a chance to escape quietly.
Without a moment's hesitation, he leaped up, grabbed his unconscious daughter, and fled towards the exit above.
Suddenly, the array barrier opened, and a figure, indistinct and seemingly shrouded in black mist, slowly emerged.
The sudden appearance of the eerie figure froze the middle-aged cultivator in place, his body stiff with fear. A chill ran through him, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back.
With a wave of his hand, the array barrier vanished, turning into several streams of light that fell into his hand before he disappeared without a trace.
Throughout the entire ordeal, the man never once glanced at the father and daughter.
The middle-aged cultivator suddenly went limp and collapsed to the ground.
Although the man did not utter a word or show any hostility, he felt inexplicably oppressed and terrified.
A moment later, the middle-aged cultivator, having recovered his strength, picked up his daughter and rushed towards the cave entrance above.
He dared not linger in that cave for even a moment longer.
After leaving the cave, Song Wen flew towards East Birch Market.
Since he could not suppress his desires, he decided to follow his heart.
When he was in seclusion in the cave, he placed six Sacred Beetle Gu around him as a guard. Perhaps because the cultivation level of the herb-gathering father and daughter was too low, the Sacred Beetle Gu assumed that they could not pose any threat to Song Wen, so they did not drive them away or warn Song Wen.
Half a day later, Song Wen, disguised as a robust male cultivator in his thirties, appeared in the alley where he had previously lived.
He went straight to Zhao Dapeng's yard and knocked on the gate.
Song Wen plans to rent a courtyard.
On the way to Zhao Dapeng's courtyard, we passed by the courtyard where Song Wen used to live. That courtyard had been rented out because the lease had expired.
Even though the courtyard was still empty, Song Wen didn't plan to continue living there.
A moment later, Zhao Dapeng opened the courtyard gate.
"Who are you looking for?" Zhao Dapeng's voice sounded somewhat impatient.
"Hello, Manager Zhao, I'm a new Rogue Cultivator, and I'd like to rent a courtyard in this alley."
As they spoke, Song Wen glanced into the courtyard, slightly disappointed, but did not see Zhao Dapeng's younger brother, the rat-eyed man.
Where did the rat-eyed man go?
Did the attempt to raise the corpse fail, and they disposed of the body to cover their tracks?
With these questions in mind, Song Wen used his Divine Sense to scan Zhao Dapeng's courtyard thoroughly.
In Zhao Dapeng's courtyard, there is a secret underground room where the rat-eyed man is imprisoned.
To Song Wen's surprise, the rat-eyed man was still alive.
However, the rat-eyed man had been tormented by the corpse energy to the point of being unrecognizable, and his appearance was extremely terrifying.
His body was emaciated, his skin clung to his bones like a transparent film, his limbs were twisted and stretched out like a spider, barely supporting his body, and he occasionally made incomprehensible whimpering sounds.
It's unclear what method Zhao Dapeng used, but although the rat-eyed man's physical body had been completely corroded by the corpse energy, a trace of life remained within him, preventing it from dissipating.
This turned the rat-eyed man into a ghostly creature, neither human nor corpse.
Song Wen gave Zhao Dapeng a deep look, his eyes filled with surprise.
How exactly did Zhao Dapeng manage to allow someone with no cultivation to simultaneously possess both corpse energy and life force for an extended period, while maintaining the physical body from collapsing?
Even as a Foundation Establishment Realm Path, he admitted that it would be difficult for him to achieve this.
Zhao Dapeng glanced at Song Wen and said.
"Recently, a large number of Rogue Cultivator have arrived in the market, including many of unknown Bandit Cultivator who are seriously disrupting the market's order. Without someone you know to vouch for you, this alley isn't for just anyone. What's your name? What's your cultivation level? Do you have anyone who can vouch for you?"
Song Wen put on a smile. "Manager Zhao, please don't be offended. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Yan Feng, Qi Refinement the eighth level of Qi Refining, and I'm an Alchemist."
As they spoke, Song Wen placed a jade bottle into Zhao Dapeng's hand, containing five Profound Qi Pills, worth approximately fifty Spirit Stone.
Zhao Dapeng understood immediately and put the jade bottle away, a knowing smile appearing on his face.
"Since you are an Alchemist, you're probably not a criminal Bandit Cultivator others, so you don't need to find someone to vouch for you. There's only one empty courtyard left in this alley, the one across the street, the rent is ten Spirit Stone a month."
Song Wen flipped his hand, took out thirty Spirit Stone, and handed them to Zhao Dapeng.
"We'll be neighbors from now on, so please take good care of me, Manager Zhao."
Having received a bribe from Song Wen, Zhao Dapeng was in a good mood.
"No problem."
(Spoiler alert: there's a rather explosive plot in the next two chapters, some of which might be hard for you to handle.)