So You Weren't a Demonic Cultivator After All

Green smoke billowed around Ling Youdao. Veins bulged along his neck, and every breath seared his throat like fire.

The smoke had invaded and corroded his windpipe and part of his organs. His True Essence and antidote pills could only slow the damage. Worse, he had to wield the Soul Banner to control the Soul-Gathering Formation, leaving him no attention to spare. His True Essence was nearly exhausted.

I've fallen into a trap.

Only after battling the Demon Serpent for so long did Ling Youdao realize it.

They had fought for only a short while, yet the aura of blood essence in the Snake Demon's belly had already vanished. The Heavenly Demon Spirit Puppet could never be refined so easily. This was plainly another of Cao Mengde's Gu Puppet techniques. The wretch was cunning and treacherous, unworthy of being called human.

"I can't break away."

The demonic art's backlash ravaged his Heart Meridian. Ling Youdao gasped like thunder and vomited a great cloud of dark-red blood, soaking half his robe.

The wounded Snake Demon had gone berserk, and the Soul Banner was running at its limit. If he rashly withdrew his power, he would surely die.

"Where is he? Where is that thief Cao Mengde?"

Knowing he had been duped, Ling Youdao swept his gaze around him and sent out a Vengeful Ghost capable of sensing spiritual energy to search a twenty-mile radius.

Cao Mengde meant to drive one wolf against another tiger. He had to be lurking nearby, waiting to reap the spoils.

Cao Mengde was meticulous, ruthless, and sly. If Ling Youdao failed to eliminate this fiend today, Cao Mengde would take bloody revenge on Cloudmist City after his death. Its people would be plunged into misery. As the County Magistrate, Ling Youdao had to kill him, even if it cost his life.

Thoughts racing, Ling Youdao heard the Vengeful Ghost shriek. He formed a hand seal and turned, meeting Luo Fanchen's pupils, narrowed to points as fine as wheat awns.

"Found you!"

The green smoke had already eaten away Ling Youdao's lips. His mouth stretched almost to his ears as he gave Luo Fanchen a crazed smile.

Damn it.

A chill ran through Luo Fanchen. Once cut into pieces, the Breath Concealment Pill was losing its potency. An intact pill would surely have fooled the Vengeful Ghost.

He grabbed Ling Moxue and was about to retreat, but his mind seemed mired in mud. His thoughts slowed, filled with Ling Youdao's eerie smile.

No—an illusion.

It struck Luo Fanchen like lightning. When he looked again, Ling Youdao had already waved the Soul Banner and summoned three Vengeful Ghosts to attack.

"Flame Curse Art—"

Enemies surrounded him. Flustered, Luo Fanchen spent far too long forming seals and chanting before he managed to send out three wobbling fireballs. The Vengeful Ghosts dodged them with ease.

What a formidable Soul Banner.

Grim-faced, Luo Fanchen glanced at Ling Moxue. She gripped her dagger tightly, her small face deathly pale.

He had meant to take Ling Moxue hostage to make Ling Youdao hesitate, but the man looked nearly mad. He seemed to have lost all reason and might kill the girl by mistake.

After a moment's hesitation, Luo Fanchen fed Ling Moxue a fragment of the Breath Concealment Pill. He threw her more than ten meters away while forming seals with all his strength to activate Golden Cicada Escape. Then he turned, gripped his low-grade spirit sword, and lunged straight at the Vengeful Ghosts.

A cold wind struck his face, filling his nose with a bloody stench. His forearm went icy, and even the hand holding his sword trembled.

"Instead of taking Ling Moxue hostage and fleeing, you attack me? You've got nerve."

Ling Youdao snorted. He formed the seals of the Spirit Palace Art and struck the Soul Banner with several handprints. Drawing on its resentful spirits' malice, he cast Illusion Array and hit Luo Fanchen squarely.

Without a soul-protecting artifact, even someone at Late Qi Refining would fall into the illusion and be his to toy with.

"Roar—"

The Vengeful Ghosts were almost upon Luo Fanchen. Their cold wind scraped painfully across his cheeks.

The Soul Banner's techniques were hard to guard against. Fortunately, what they struck was only the Smoke Cloud Escape double he had prepared in advance. Its body dissolved into a thin, pale-gold mist.

When Luo Fanchen appeared again, he was more than ten meters away.

"What exquisite Golden Cicada Escape. It even fooled the Vengeful Ghosts under my command."

Ling Youdao paused. Golden Cicada Escape was an insignificant, unranked movement technique. This was the first time he had seen anyone practice it to such a miraculous degree.

The backlash grew worse each time he used a Soul Banner technique. His organs throbbed and his Meridians tore, yet he acted as though he felt nothing.

He split off another third of the Soul Banner's resentful spirits to seize Cao Mengde by force. They had fought for barely the time it took to drink a cup of tea when he realized, to his astonishment, that this Demonic Cultivator's attacks were absurdly weak.

Not weak. He had practically no attacks at all.

Apart from a few empty flourishes with his spirit sword, this man at the Fourth Level of Qi Refining could not even handle unranked Vengeful Ghosts.

Ling Youdao almost laughed from sheer fury. This weakling, unable to truss a chicken, dared call himself a Demonic Cultivator? If Ling Youdao had killed him outright that day, would he have ended up like this?

With no means of attack, how had Cao Mengde survived long enough to reach the Fourth Level of Qi Refining? On the strength of that Flame Curse Art, which could not even graze its target?

He soon understood how Cao Mengde had survived until now.

"This fiend... His movement technique is exquisite. His mastery rivals a cultivator at Late Qi Refining."

Ling Youdao muttered under his breath. Though more than ten resentful spirits besieged Luo Fanchen and danger sprang up on every side, he kept darting about with Smoke Cloud Escape, dodging Ling Youdao's killing blows at almost uncanny angles.

For the moment, Ling Youdao could do nothing to him.

"Ugh—"

Ling Youdao's skin began to rot, and fragments of his organs sprayed from his seven orifices. The backlash worsened, forcing him to slow his assault.

Cao Mengde looked wretched, but his instincts in battle and his ability to sense danger were remarkably keen.

Such talent was exceedingly rare among cultivators. If he mastered a single offensive technique, even Ling Youdao would have to be wary of him.

"For the peace of Cloudmist City, I will kill this wretch here!"

Ling Youdao roared and squeezed more life from his body. His black hair visibly turned dry and ashen.

Just as he was about to call another third of the spirits to surround and kill Luo Fanchen, he heard a few faint breaths beside him.

They were so quiet he could barely make them out. Ling Youdao faltered. A human figure had appeared in the bloody mist before him. Eyes blazing, Ling Moxue sprang up from a crouch, her dagger flashing cold as she drove it toward his brow.

Rage twisted the girl's small face into a murderous snarl. Her little hands gripped the dagger until they turned white. There was not a trace of fear in her eyes.

"Die!"

The blade flashed like a startled swan. Ling Youdao's expression changed. Had a mortal girl actually gotten this close to him?

But Ling Moxue's cultivation was too low. Before the dagger's point reached his nose, several Vengeful Ghosts tangled around her and pinned her firmly in place.

Ling Youdao coughed without pause, his ruined lips pulling into a blood-red, wicked smile. "Dear niece, it's been so long. You've made your uncle search everywhere."

"You fiend! I'll skin you alive!"

"With what? Your mortal body?"

Ling Youdao licked his lips cruelly and clamped a hand around Ling Moxue's neck. Then his brows drew together, and the taunt he had been about to deliver caught in his throat.

"Qi Refinement First Layer? You've looked inward and found your true self?"

Trembling, Ling Youdao poured True Essence into Ling Moxue and examined her Meridians. The Heavenly Demon Spirit Puppet's incantation marks had grown somewhat fainter.

Cao Mengde had not only taught Ling Moxue to cultivate, but had also let her use True Essence to dispel the marks.

A Heavenly Demon Spirit Puppet without those marks was worth far less. That ran completely counter to a Demonic Cultivator's interests.

Which meant Cao Mengde had never intended to possess Ling Moxue or use her as an ingredient.

"He isn't a Demonic Cultivator?"

Uncertainty threw Ling Youdao off balance.

Luo Fanchen seized the chance and copied what he had just seen Ling Youdao do, pouring a vast amount of True Essence into his low-grade spirit sword.

The sword hummed with spiritual light, its power surging. In a sudden burst, it swept aside the encircling Vengeful Ghosts. Luo Fanchen slashed diagonally and severed Ling Youdao's right hand from Ling Moxue's throat.

Luo Fanchen's swordsmanship was clumsy, and Ling Youdao had seen the strike coming. He could have dodged it easily, but the violent backlash in his organs left him unable to move his feet.

Blood and flesh sprayed. The withered hand hit the ground. The battle was decided.

He had lost utterly to Cao Mengde. The marks inside Ling Moxue had faded, so she could no longer be used for possession. Even if he reclaimed her, he had neither the strength nor the time to restore them.

"So you weren't a Demonic Cultivator after all."

Ling Youdao murmured. He calmly dispersed the sword beams Luo Fanchen sent at him while turning back, then watched him pull Ling Moxue away. Something stirred in his heart.

Qiu Yun had him to protect her. It seemed Mo Xue was not without someone to rely on, either.

"Roar—"

At that same moment, the Demon Serpent took advantage of Ling Youdao's weakened vitality. Its enormous body thrashed through the cave as it tried to destroy the Soul Banner.

It roared incessantly. As its tongue flicked, the surrounding green smoke gathered in its gaping maw, forming a moss-green ring of light like a net.

"This serpent's poisonous miasma is fierce. Take these two antidote pills and get behind me, quickly."

The bloodshot color faded from Ling Youdao's eyes. His mind cleared.

He tossed over two pills. After confirming they were antidotes, Luo Fanchen fed them both to Ling Moxue, whose small face had turned blue-purple.

Back in the poisonous miasma, Luo Fanchen could now be certain the snake venom had no effect on him.

"County Magistrate... What are you trying to do?"

Luo Fanchen stepped back warily. He was no fool. Why would he really go near that Soul Banner?

A moment ago, they had been mortal enemies. Now they could become allies in the blink of an eye? What a joke.

"I am the County Magistrate of Cloudmist City. It is my duty to rid it of the Snake Demon plaguing it. Since you are no Demonic Cultivator, I will not harm you again."

Ling Youdao kept gasping. His face was white as paper; he was a spent arrow at the end of its flight.

"Today, we will have rid the world of one scourge. There is no use saying more. Sorry for the trouble, but please see to my remains."

Ling Youdao's breaths came fast and shallow. He had no strength left to speak.

He ordered two Vengeful Ghosts to force Luo Fanchen and Ling Moxue behind the Soul Banner, where they stood guard. Only then did a fierce light enter his eyes. As he formed seals and chanted, he gouged out one of his own eyeballs and sacrificed it to the Soul Banner along with his severed hand and fragments of his organs.

A fierce, cold wind rose. The Five Phases blood patterns glowed red, and dozens of ghosts tangled together, forming a dark-red cradle of dry bones. Ghostly faces writhed across its surface, struggling in vain to escape.

"Purple River Chariot: Soul Fiend!"

"Roar!"

The moment the bone cradle formed, the Demon Serpent finished gathering its green-smoke baleful ring and spat it toward the Soul Banner as blue-green miasma fire.

Moss spread wherever the fire passed, and the plants withered.

Ling Youdao formed seals and unleashed the Purple River Chariot soul technique at the same time, meeting the attack head-on.

The technique held roughly the power of an upper-tier Mystic Method. Luo Fanchen watched with envy. Unfortunately, Ling Youdao's vitality was depleted and his True Essence exhausted. He could bring out, at most, half its power.

"I will capture you today, Demon Serpent, and defend the righteous path!"

Death was written on Ling Youdao's face, madness in his eyes. Hearing those words from a Demonic Cultivator, Luo Fanchen found them rather absurd.