Yan Xiaodie

Yan Xiaodie

"Half a year had passed. The Ten Thousand Demon Cavern's mountain gates remained the same, but my state of mind had changed greatly!"

Xiao Liang and Pandora descended together onto a plain within a valley thick with demonic qi.

He then changed into the gray robes of a reserve disciple and gazed into the distance, feeling a surge of emotion in his heart.

After pondering for a moment, Xiao Liang ultimately stored Pandora in the Heaven-Earth Bracelet. He then pulled his sleeve forward to conceal his wrist.

Activating Ghost Shadow Step, he hurried toward a pass ahead.

That was one of the Ten Thousand Demon Cavern's hidden entrances.

"Who goes there?"

While he was still over a hundred zhang from the pass, a cold voice suddenly rang out.

Xiao Liang followed the voice and saw that, at some unknown moment, a black-robed, masked man had appeared out of thin air ahead. A pair of blood-red eyes gleamed beneath his hood.

The black robe identifying him as an outer sect disciple was embroidered with distinctive blood-red patterns.

A Law Enforcement disciple!

To become a Law Enforcement disciple, one needed at least Late Qi Refining cultivation, formidable combat ability, and mastery of several secret arts.

Most troublesome of all, within the Ten Thousand Demon Cavern's territory, Law Enforcement disciples had the authority to activate portions of the grand formation!

Xiao Liang slowed down and tossed over a Refined Iron Token.

"Reserve disciple Xiao Liang has returned from traveling abroad. I ask Senior Brother from Law Enforcement to grant me passage!"

The blood-eyed Law Enforcement disciple flashed forward and caught the Refined Iron Token with a raised hand. After confirming that it was genuine, he put it away.

"A reserve disciple... should not possess the strength of the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining."

He looked at Xiao Liang, his blood-red eyes blazing as though he wished to see through the martial young man before him.

Xiao Liang sighed inwardly. When I return to the sect this time, I must learn a secret art to conceal my qi. Being seen through so easily feels terrible.

"I merely encountered a few opportunities. Senior Brother's discerning eye truly earns this junior brother's admiration."

Xiao Liang stepped forward twice and quietly handed over a pouch of Spirit Stones. The other man accepted it with perfect ease and weighed it slightly. There were at least fifty Spirit Stones inside.

Even for an outer sect disciple, that was a decent amount of resources, much less for a reserve disciple.

This junior reserve disciple before him was rather extraordinary.

"Senior Brother, what is this?"

Xiao Liang suddenly looked up in confusion, only to see the blood-eyed Law Enforcement disciple push the pouch of Spirit Stones back to him.

"Do not overthink it. As a Law Enforcement disciple, I am not short on a few Spirit Stones. Xiao Liang, was it? I will remember you."

The blood-eyed Law Enforcement disciple spoke indifferently. His face was covered, so no emotion could be seen.

Xiao Liang raised an eyebrow. He was no fool; what Demon Sect disciple did not love Spirit Stones? The other man was clearly showing goodwill.

Law Enforcement disciples were among the most difficult people to provoke in the outer sect. Naturally, he would not refuse such goodwill for nothing.

"Senior Brother possesses noble character, and this junior brother is deeply impressed. May I ask Senior Brother's name? Perhaps someday I may invite Senior Brother to venture out and gain experience together!"

A trace of satisfaction appeared in the blood-eyed Law Enforcement disciple's eyes. "My name is Qiu Ling. Junior Brother Liang may come to the Law Enforcement Hall to find me in the future. All right, hurry inside!"

"Thank you, Senior Brother Qiu!"

After cupping his hands in salute, Xiao Liang flashed through the formation at the pass. Following a brief moment of disorientation, he felt space shift around him, and the world suddenly broadened.

"This sect-protecting formation truly is marvelous. Entry and exit must pass through the formation, but that was clearly a teleportation effect. Even I do not know where the sect's true location is hidden."

"If outsiders forcibly attacked that valley pass, they would likely only be teleported into some unknown dangerous place!"

Xiao Liang sighed. Even a small gathering place for independent cultivators like Storm Market possessed formations to conceal itself.

The Ten Thousand Demon Cavern's sect-protecting formation was naturally even more profound and unfathomable.

Xiao Liang proceeded in the direction he remembered. Now that his cultivation had reached the sixth layer, the spiritual power within him was incomparable to before.

The Ghost Shadow Step he activated had also transformed due to the altered nature of the cultivation technique he practiced, becoming streams of mysterious golden qi.

Though it had lost some of its strange unpredictability, its speed had become increasingly terrifying, carrying an exceptionally sharp aura.

With a single step, the airflow whipped the grass and trees along his path into a frenzy.

The outer sect grounds of the Ten Thousand Demon Cavern were not as thick with demonic qi as the mountain gates. Instead, they appeared elegant and beautiful, brimming with spiritual energy.

Amid the rolling mountains, Xiao Liang was preparing to return to Little Ghost Hall to report to the outer sect elder and learn the specific details of the three-year grand competition.

On an enormous outer sect training ground, dozens of black-robed disciples were testing spells and magic artifacts.

Among them, a beautiful gray-robed woman with a voluptuous figure was nestled against a man's chest.

The man wore black robes, clearly marking him as an outer sect disciple. He had a burly build, but his face was incomparably ugly, like the skin on a toad's back, making him difficult to look at.

As Xiao Liang passed by, the gray-robed woman was feeding a piece of fruit into the man's mouth with a coquettish expression.

The man burst into laughter, his large hands kneading the woman's body without restraint, drawing soft moans from her.

"Yan Xiaodie? I never expected that after half a year, she would become like this."

Xiao Liang's gaze flickered as he recognized the gray-robed woman. She was a reserve disciple from Little Ghost Hall who had entered at the same time as him.

In the past, she had relied on her beauty to attract many admirers in Little Ghost Hall, but she had always treated them coldly, keeping them all at arm's length.

She neither accepted nor rejected them, and had never shown any affection for any disciple.

She had once declared that unless a Demon Sect talent possessed outstanding aptitude, cultivation, and looks, it would be impossible for him to become Yan Xiaodie's Dao companion.

Yet now, he saw that she had chosen a burly man with a toad's face.

Could this be true love?

Xiao Liang shook his head with an odd expression. He did not greet her and was about to leave.

However, Yan Xiaodie noticed his appearance. The strange expression on Xiao Liang's face made her feel utterly humiliated.

But then her eyes shifted slightly. Suppressing her revulsion, she pressed herself against the toad-faced man and said:

"Senior Brother Hua, didn't I hear that you recently acquired a new magic artifact? Why not show off a little and let me broaden my horizons?"

"My magic artifact cannot display its power against wooden stakes!"

The toad-faced burly man, Hua Song, raised his head in surprise. Then he noticed the woman in his arms glancing vaguely in a certain direction.

A dull-looking male reserve disciple in gray robes stood there.

Hua Song immediately broke into a vicious grin.

"You there, kid! Stop. Come over and serve as Senior Brother's sparring partner!"

Upon hearing the voice, Xiao Liang pointed at his own nose. After receiving an impatient nod from the other man, he sighed.

After considering it, Xiao Liang calmly walked over and stared directly into Yan Xiaodie's eyes, making her feel a wave of unease.

She had not expected that in such a short time, this male disciple who had once kept such a low profile would now possess an intimidating presence.

"Good kid, you dare stare at my woman like that? Do you have no respect for your outer sect senior brother?"

Hua Song's cheeks twitched twice. With a flick of his hand, he threw a small, pitch-black net from his storage pouch.

The net was initially only palm-sized, but it expanded in the wind and flew straight toward Xiao Liang. As he sniffed lightly, he immediately caught a nauseating stench of corpses.

The pitch-black net was slick with oil, as though it had just been pulled from a pool of corpse oil.

"Corpse-Binding Net? If that thing catches someone, corpse poison will likely enter the body at once, making their entire body stiff as a corpse. He went straight for the kill the moment we met. Sure enough, the Ten Thousand Demon Cavern still had that familiar formula, that familiar taste. How nostalgic..."

(End of Chapter)