Heavenly Demon Spirit Puppet

"Mm... it hurts."

When Ling Moxue woke the next day, the sun was already sinking toward the horizon.

Her little face was blank. She moved her numb arms mechanically, and when she accidentally touched one of the red marks, the piercing pain she expected never came.

The girl blinked, looking rather adorably dazed. The mattress beneath her was soft and fragrant, as though it could swallow her whole.

The bedding was as soft as goose down. When she tucked it around herself, even the blisters on her feet seemed to sting a little less. She was reluctant to leave it.

"Am I dead?"

Ling Moxue murmured, pursing her lips. Only when she saw the golden ropes around her wrists and knees did she come fully awake. Her hazy almond eyes immediately dimmed.

"You're awake? Eat something first. I have questions for you."

Candlelight cast a warm glow. After spending the whole night regulating his breathing, Luo Fanchen slowly opened his eyes. Porridge and other food were already laid out on the jade table before him.

The Spirit Porridge smelled delicious. It contained Spirit Grain that even he could hardly bear to eat, meant to restore Ling Moxue's depleted vitality and blood. If the coming conversation went poorly, it would also serve as the little Demoness's last meal.

"Hmph—"

Ling Moxue pouted. Her pupils contracted slightly as she glared at him, but her heart was full of grief and bitterness. She had barely escaped the wolves' den only to enter the tiger's jaws.

The girl curled up and buried her face in her knees. After the lesson she had learned earlier, she did not even dare show hostility toward Luo Fanchen.

"My name is Luo Fanchen. Your father, Ling Leng, entrusted me with teaching you cultivation."

Ling Moxue did not answer. Luo Fanchen did not mind. He served himself a bowl of Spirit Porridge and ate, confirming that the spiritual energy in it was at a level Ling Moxue could withstand.

After a long while, Ling Moxue clenched her sharp little teeth, her shoulders trembling without pause. At last, she raised her head.

She lifted her pointed chin high. If she had not been afraid, she would have pounced on Luo Fanchen and bitten him savagely.

"Kill me or carve me up, whatever you like. Is it fun to toy with a helpless woman?"

"I accepted a charge, so I'll see it through."

Luo Fanchen's tone was calm. He tugged the golden rope in his hand, dragging Ling Moxue before him by force.

"Eat the porridge first."

Luo Fanchen pushed the bowl and chopsticks toward her. White steam rose from the Spirit Porridge, carrying the scent of rice to her face.

Stubborn as Ling Moxue was, she could not help swallowing quietly.

Her throat bobbed. She pursed her lips and forced herself to look out the window, but her stomach rumbled like a drum and kept churning.

Including today, she had gone three days without food or water. Her belly was empty, and her mouth tasted sour.

After hesitating, Ling Moxue's ears reddened slightly. Even if I die, I'll die with a full stomach. She snatched up the Spirit Porridge and wolfed it down.

The hot porridge entered her stomach. The fragrance of rice and the sweetness of honey became a gentle stream of warmth that danced over her tongue.

A burning sensation gradually spread down her throat, and her insides slowly warmed. A hint of color returned to her hands and feet, even the soles of her feet.

Her brows relaxed. She almost swallowed her tongue. After drinking more than half, she licked her lips and began taking small, careful sips.

Even when the jade bowl was empty, Ling Moxue kept licking its surface, unwilling to stop. Only when not a trace of flavor remained did she blush, lower her eyes, and hand back the empty bowl.

The corner of Luo Fanchen's eye twitched. He poured the remaining Spirit Porridge from his own small bowl into hers.

Ling Moxue froze. Her almond eyes timidly studied Luo Fanchen, as though she wondered whether she deserved something so delicious.

She pressed her lips together, seemingly trying to be reserved, but saliva nearly spilled from the corner of her mouth. After a long struggle, she finally dared snatch the jade bowl from the table. She savored every grain of rice, her eyes narrowing in pleasure.

This Demonic Cultivator seems kinder than the previous two.

One Spirit Dust for a pound of Spirit Grain...

Luo Fanchen's expression did not change, but his heart ached. Ten Spirit Dust equaled one Spirit Stone.

Cultivation was hard for Rogue Cultivators. One Spirit Stone was enough to cover his daily needs for more than half a year.

Once the girl had licked up the last grain of rice, Luo Fanchen wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, distaste in his eyes, and spoke unhurriedly.

"Your father entrusted you to me. I'll ask, and you'll answer. If we get along, I'll take you as my disciple today."

"Then kill me."

Ling Moxue covered her mouth in embarrassment as a small burp escaped. Under the table, she secretly rubbed her swollen belly.

Her little face still showed no weakness, and her voice was cold, but at least she could be spoken to now. Luo Fanchen also noticed that her Admiration Points seemed to have risen slightly. The value was still too far below -5, however, for him to tell exactly how much it had changed.

"My father entrusted you with me, so you must be his friend. You're a Demonic Cultivator too, aren't you?"

Her voice lacked strength, but Luo Fanchen could hear the hatred in it clearly.

He tapped his knuckles lightly on the table and slowly shook his head. "I'm not your father's friend, and I'm not a Demonic Cultivator."

"Hah. Of course you won't admit it. I know you came for the treasures my father left behind."

"You don't seem to understand your situation. I ask. You answer."

Luo Fanchen's face was as still as a lake. He tugged the golden rope, sending a trace of True Essence through Ling Moxue's wrist and into her Meridians.

The girl's face instantly turned deathly pale. Her thin arms shook like sieves.

"Why did you kill your mother?"

"That wretch... wasn't my mother."

Ling Moxue's lips trembled. Her eyes reddened, yet she still met Luo Fanchen's gaze timidly.

She truly was exceptionally gifted. Bolstered by her fierce hatred, she had withstood the interference of his True Essence.

"I'd like to hear more."

Luo Fanchen poured himself half a cup of fragrant tea and released the golden rope. Ling Moxue looked as though she had been pardoned from death. Cold sweat had soaked her forehead.

Hesitation filled her eyes. Only after a long while did her breathing steady. Luo Fanchen was content to wait her out. Half an hour later, the girl finally began her halting account.

"I hadn't seen my father in years. All I knew came from my mother. She said he was a Demonic Cultivator who spent his days hiding from place to place. In the end, he still found us. That beast killed my birth mother and dragged me here. He called it care, but he was really keeping watch over me..."

Ling Moxue spoke slowly, her little face crumpled with misery. Remembering the past was clearly painful for her.

Her mother had been a woman Ling Leng took on a whim while plundering cultivators in the mortal world. He had not expected that one encounter to leave her pregnant.

When Ling Leng returned years later, he discovered that Ling Moxue had a Spirit Root. By then, he also despised her mother for growing old and losing her looks.

He killed the mother and kept the daughter, taking Ling Moxue to his clan's residence and leaving her in the care of several of his mortal wives.

Then he ignored her for years. Born to a concubine, and branded a bastard whelp of a servant, Ling Moxue remained cautious at every step, yet still suffered endless harsh treatment.

Only her younger half-sister took extra care of her during that time.

"Did your mother argue with your father before she died?"

Thinking like a Demonic Cultivator, Luo Fanchen felt there was more to the matter.

Ling Moxue frowned and pondered for a long time before nodding slightly. Luo Fanchen took her wrist at once and examined her with furrowed brows.

As his spiritual power entered her Meridians, Luo Fanchen's face darkened.

A Demonic Cultivator was a Demonic Cultivator indeed. Across the girl's Conception Vessel, Governing Vessel, and Thoroughfare Vessel—the three main channels through which energy flowed—lay blood-red formations inscribed with spiritual power. Even among Demonic Cultivators, this was considered a vicious method: Heavenly Demon Spirit Puppet.

Demonic sect cultivators killed people and refined treasures as easily as turning a hand, so they made many enemies. Death and the possession of another body were everyday affairs for them.

This was one of the Possession Secret Arts. It required the blood of a close relative whose Spirit Root surpassed the caster's. From childhood, that relative had to live steeped in intense negative emotions. Once the sacrifice turned eighteen, a ritual could seize her mind and claim her body.

After the possession, the original owner's Spirit Root would fall by one grade, and the possessor could never possess another body.

The method violated every bond of kinship and was cruel to the extreme. It was the kind of practice that made every cultivator cry out for its user's blood.

After possession, a Dual-Element Spirit Root would directly come into contact with the turbid spiritual energy drifting through heaven and earth and absorb it, degrading into a Three-Element Spirit Root.

Even so, it would remain much stronger than Ling Leng's Four-Element Spirit Root.

"If your father hadn't died, I'm afraid you wouldn't have lived to see today."

Luo Fanchen sighed softly. When he looked at the girl again, some of the killing intent in his eyes had faded.

Ling Leng had likely found clues to a Foundation Establishment Treasure by some means. He had intended to obtain it, return home, and possess Ling Moxue. With his Spirit Root elevated, he could have crossed the chasm of Foundation Establishment in a single leap.

But fate was fickle. Ling Leng's greed had swallowed more than it could hold, and he had died with his path extinguished.

At death's door, Ling Leng had instead begun to care about his clan. He wanted Ling Moxue to enter the path of immortality and restore the Ling Household's line of cultivators.

He had never expected this little killing star to turn around and wipe out the entire Ling Household. He had brought it on himself.

"Did you kill the twenty-odd people of the Ling Household?"

"Ridiculous. I'm too weak to truss a chicken. Even if they were twenty pigs, could I have held them down?"

Ling Moxue sneered, her almond eyes full of contempt. "A Demonic Cultivator is a Demonic Cultivator. You did it yourself, yet you ask me as though you don't know."

Luo Fanchen did not get angry. He curled his forefinger and flicked Ling Moxue hard on the forehead.

The girl winced and lowered her eyes pitifully. She no longer dared challenge him.

Under Luo Fanchen's intimidating gaze, Ling Moxue finally spoke, repeating a story she had already told at least three times.

"You're not the first Demonic Cultivator to come looking for me."

Luo Fanchen was the fourth person to approach Ling Moxue claiming that Ling Leng had entrusted her to him.

The first three had all been Ling Leng's close friends in life. Coveting the treasures he had left behind, they had traced his bloodline through special means and found her here. One of them was the County Magistrate of Cloudmist City.

The County Magistrate was also a member of the Ling Household. He had long been having an affair with Ling Leng's first wife and was the first to learn of Ling Leng's death.

After examining Ling Moxue's Spirit Root and physique, his greed swelled. He falsely reported that all twenty-odd members of the Ling Household had been slaughtered. In truth, he had captured them, refined their blood essence, and purified his own bloodline in preparation for possessing Ling Moxue.

At the time, Ling Moxue was still a few days short of eighteen. Two other Demonic Cultivators had also followed her trail here through secret arts.

Wary of the two joining forces, the County Magistrate pretended to agree to divide Ling Moxue among them and lured them into the County Office. There had been no word of them since.

Meanwhile, the girl had been imprisoned deep in the jail, where the resentment lingering there continued to feed her negative emotions.

"Three Demonic Cultivators?"

Luo Fanchen's pupils widened slightly. A bead of cold sweat slid down his forehead.

Is it too late to run?