Heavenly Devil Sect Arrives

"Senior Sister Leng!" Zhang Zhiruo suddenly cried out.

Leng Rushuang's face had turned livid, her lips purple. The blood flowing from the sword wound had actually turned black.

"Poison! The sword was poisoned!" Zhang Zhiruo frantically examined the wound. "Seven Insects Seven Flowers Paste! Without an antidote, the poison will flare up and kill her within two hours!"

Li Chenzhou strode over and crouched down to inspect Leng Rushuang's condition. "Move."

"What are you doing?" Zhang Zhiruo asked warily.

"Saving her." Li Chenzhou's voice was cold as his right hand pressed above Leng Rushuang's wound.

"Soul Absorption Art!"

A black vortex formed in his palm. Strands of black qi were slowly drawn from the wound. Leng Rushuang furrowed her brows in pain, cold sweat streaming down her face, but the bluish-purple color gradually faded from her complexion.

"This..." Zhang Zhiruo stared in shock. "You can actually use the Soul Absorption Art to draw out poison?"

Li Chenzhou focused on controlling his inner energy and did not answer. As the poison was extracted, Leng Rushuang's breathing gradually steadied, though her face remained pale.

At last, Li Chenzhou withdrew his hand. A lump of ink-black poison had gathered in his palm. With a casual flick, he sent it onto the ground, where it instantly corroded a deep pit.

"The poison has been removed, but she lost too much blood and needs rest." Li Chenzhou rose to his feet and instructed the arriving Earthly Fiends Four, "Escort them back to the inn."

The night deepened. Mass Burial Mound returned to deathly silence, broken only by the piercing cries of a few crows perched on withered trees.

About an hour later, a group of black-clad men appeared soundlessly at the edge of the graveyard. Their leader was Yin Wujiu, an outer elder of the Heavenly Devil Sect. With a dark expression, he swept his gaze over the corpses strewn across the ground. When he saw Song Qingfeng's shriveled body, the corner of his eye twitched violently.

"Trash!" Yin Wujiu kicked Song Qingfeng's corpse over. "You couldn't even handle such a trivial matter!"

One disciple inspected the other bodies, trembling. "Elder, these brothers all died after their inner energy was drained dry... What a tyrannical demonic art!"

Yin Wujiu crouched down and used a dagger to lift the collar of one dried corpse. A pitch-black palm print was stamped clearly on its chest, while the surrounding skin was covered in bizarre spiderweb-like cracks.

"The Soul Absorption Art..." Yin Wujiu's pupils contracted sharply. "It's the demonic art the Blood Demon Ancestor mentioned!"

"Elder, look at this!" Another disciple picked up a bloodstained Wudang token from the grass. "It belongs to Bai Lusong of the Wudang Seven!"

Yin Wujiu took the token. A savage smile suddenly surfaced on his sinister face. "Interesting... The Wudang Sect is actually associating with a devil who cultivates the Soul Absorption Art."

He turned toward the northwest, in the direction of the inn. "Pass on my orders. Send a carrier pigeon to the main altar immediately. Tell them... we have found a clue to the fragment of the 'Star Absorbing Art' that the Blood Demon Ancestor lost thirty years ago. Ask the Sect Master to dispatch the Five Venoms Venerable at once."

"What about the inn...?"

He gave a chilling smile and drew a black porcelain bottle from his robes. "Pass down the order. Have Poison Maiden bring her little treasures over. Since a hard fight will not do, we'll use some special methods..."

He cast one last glance over the corpses, then suddenly struck the ground with his palm. A wave of black qi seeped into the earth, and the dried corpses slowly sank underground, as if some invisible force were dragging them down.

"Clean this up. Leave no traces behind." Yin Wujiu smiled grimly. "When the Five Venoms Venerable arrives... I'll show that brat what true demonic arts are!"

A sudden night wind rose, scattering the last trace of blood stench. When dark clouds covered the moon, the black-clad group had already vanished into the darkness like ghosts, leaving only a few wild grasses stained black by poisonous blood to sway soundlessly in the wind.

Inside the inn, candlelight flickered.

Zhang Zhiruo sat beside the bed, carefully wiping the cold sweat from her forehead. "Senior Sister, do you feel any better?"

Leng Rushuang nodded weakly, but her gaze drifted uncontrollably toward Li Chenzhou by the window. That ruthless little devil spoken of in the rumors was now resting with his eyes closed, his handsome profile looking particularly tranquil beneath the candlelight.

"Junior Sister, we owe Senior Li our thanks this time..." Leng Rushuang said softly.

Zhang Zhiruo pressed her lips together, a complicated glint flashing through her eyes. "But the art he used was still a demonic one..."

"Cough, cough..." Bai Lusong coughed lightly at the side. "Junior Sister Zhiruo, Grandmaster has long taught us that the martial world is perilous. The distinction between righteousness and evil is sometimes not as simple as it appears on the surface."

Li Chenzhou suddenly opened his eyes, a cold smile curling his lips. "Oh? You dislike my art? Then pour that poison back into your senior sister. I guarantee I won't meddle."

Zhang Zhiruo's beautiful eyes narrowed. "You..."

Li Chenzhou snorted. "You know nothing."

The atmosphere in the room instantly froze.

Qian Shisan hurriedly tried to smooth things over. "Well... we're all in the same boat now. We should pull together through thick and thin! Oh, right, I asked the kitchen for some porridge earlier. Would any of you like—"

Before she could finish, Li Chenzhou's expression changed sharply. He sprang to his feet. "Poison!"

Almost at the same moment, a strange flute melody drifted in from outside the window. The notes rose and fell unpredictably, like countless tiny insects crawling beside their ears, making their hair stand on end.

"It's a Gu flute! Everyone, hold your breath!" Bai Lusong's face changed drastically.

But it was already too late. From the cracks in the floorboards and the corners of the window lattice, countless tiny black insects surged forth like a tide. In the blink of an eye, they covered half the room!

"Ah!" A Wudang disciple screamed. Black bugs instantly crawled all over his arm, and his skin began to fester at a visible rate.

Li Chenzhou snorted. The Blood Demon Blade left its sheath, and a bloody blade light swept across the room, cutting down swathes of poisonous insects. But there were simply too many. The moment one patch was cleared, more swarmed in to fill it.

"It's the Heavenly Devil Sect's Myriad Poison Heart-Devouring Gu!" Zhang Zhiruo swung her longsword, its light white as snow, yet she could barely protect herself and Leng Rushuang. "These insects are difficult to harm with blades or swords. We must find the one controlling them!"

A cold glint flashed through Li Chenzhou's eyes. "Thirteen!"

"Here!" Qian Shisan immediately understood. She pulled a fire striker from her robes and swiftly set the room's curtains ablaze.

Flames surged up, and the poisonous insects indeed recoiled for a moment. But the flute melody suddenly became urgent. The bugs no longer feared the fire and charged through the wall of flames one after another!

"Damn it!" Li Chenzhou cursed, then suddenly leaped out the window.

In the courtyard, a bewitchingly beautiful woman in purple was playing a bone flute. More than a dozen black-clad men stood beside her, led by the Heavenly Devil Sect elder.

"Brat, you finally decided to come out?" the elder sneered.

Without another word, Li Chenzhou sent the Blood Demon Blade straight at the woman playing the flute. Her figure flickered strangely as she dodged, her melody never stopping. More poisonous insects flew from her sleeves!

"Careful! That's Poison Maiden! Her Gu insects kill the instant they touch you!" Bai Lusong, who had rushed out after him, shouted in warning.

A ruthless glint flashed through Li Chenzhou's eyes. "Soul Absorption Art!"

His hands curled into claws, and a black vortex erupted abruptly, drawing every flying poisonous insect into his palms! The moment those incomparably venomous Gu insects touched the black qi, they crumbled into powder.

"What?!" Poison Maiden's face went pale with shock, and even her flute melody fell out of rhythm.

The elder's expression changed. "Not good! His Soul Absorption Art can even absorb Gu insects! Retreat, quickly!"