High-grade goods!

Having encountered and fought Yue Rong once, Qi Yun was quite familiar with the scent of Yao Qi.

Moreover, compared to the aura emanating from Yue Rong's transformation from a human to a demonic form.

This demonic Yao Qi was clearly purer, though its flavor was much weaker.

Is there a demon lurking in this town?

In this prosperous era, the human race is incredibly powerful.

Although they did not completely exterminate the demons and monsters.

But the righteous path has always dealt with demons and monsters on sight, killing them one by one.

For the demonic path, these non-human beings, born of nature and nurtured by the essence of the sun and moon, are even more excellent materials.

Peel off the skin and dismember the bones, extract the soul and seize the spirit.

For demons, it would be better to be caught by righteous people and killed with a single sword strike.

Therefore, demons and monsters rarely appear within the human realm.

Once they show their true colors, whether they encounter the righteous path or the demonic path, they almost never have a good ending.

"Never mind, those who can become demons have already refined the transverse bone at the back of their heads."

Although this demon's aura was faint and it appeared and disappeared intermittently... it was clearly seriously injured.

But my cultivation hasn't recovered yet, and if he launches a counterattack before he dies... it's best not to provoke that bad luck."

Shaking his head, Qi Yun turned to find another place to rest, thinking it better to avoid trouble.

Why should a disciple of the Holy Sect with a promising future fight to the death with a mere demon?

But the moment they turned around, the Yao Qi intensified.

A familiar feeling of excitement welled up in Qi Yun's heart.

The step I was about to take suddenly stopped.

Um?

Does this little demon possess a spiritual entity?

Tsk, no, this aura is mixed with the Yao Qi, blending together as one.

This little demon must have extraordinary bloodline, with the Dao intent contained within its very bloodline!

This is high-end stuff!

"Well..."

After a moment of silence, he suddenly slammed his right fist into his left palm.

Having said that, he turned and walked towards the town that was filled with Yao Qi.

As night deepened, a light drizzle pattered on the bluestone-paved streets of Great Pond Town.

Qi Yun sat quietly in a room on the second floor of an inn called "Zi Study Hall" in this town, adjusting his breathing and slowly restoring the excessively depleted True Qi in his body.

The gentle patter of rain outside the window made the town's nighttime atmosphere even more tranquil.

However, this tranquility did not last long.

A faint but continuous sob, mixed with suppressed, tearful pleas, pierced through the rain and reached Qi Yun's ears.

"Please... please have mercy... open the door..."

"Save my child... Just one look, please..."

With a slight frown, Qi Yun got up and walked to the window, gently pushing open a crack to look down.

On the wet street, a thin, frail woman was seen staggering along.

She was soaked to the bone, her disheveled hair clinging to her pale, haggard face, making her look even more pathetic.

She held a small body wrapped in tattered cotton cloth tightly in her arms; the child appeared to be about three to five years old.

As the woman approached each house, she frantically pounded on the door with her red, frozen hands, repeating her pleading words in a pitiful voice.

However, she was mostly met with deathly silence.

Occasionally, one or two households would open their doors a crack, revealing half a wary and impatient face.

But when their eyes fell on the unusually quiet child in the woman's arms, everyone's expression changed drastically, as if they had seen something extremely unlucky or ominous. They hurriedly waved their hands to drive the child away, and then slammed the door shut with a loud "bang," completely shutting out that faint hope.

"Hurry up and get out of here! Don't get involved with bad luck!"

"We can't help with your child's illness, you should look for someone else!"

The cold rebukes and the sound of the door slamming shut pierced the already desperate woman time and again.

She stood before the tightly closed door, her figure appearing even smaller and more helpless in the cold wind and rain, yet she still held the child in her arms even tighter.

The rain was getting heavier.

Large raindrops pounded down, splashing water everywhere on the ground.

The woman seemed to have finally exhausted her last bit of strength and knew that no one would open the door for her anymore.

She lowered her head and gently rubbed her cheek against the lifeless child in her arms, letting out a whimper like that of a wounded cub.

In the end, she could only turn around, stumbling along with her child, and move unsteadily towards a more remote and darker corner of the town.

Qi Yun's gaze remained fixed on the child in the woman's arms the entire time.

"Yao Qi..."

He had wandered around the town all day but hadn't found any trace of Yao Qi, yet now it had appeared on a child with a weak aura.

After a moment's hesitation, Qi Yun's figure vanished silently from the window, like a ghost blending into the night, and he quietly followed.

The woman lived in the northwest corner of the town. Although the house was dilapidated, the area in front of the door was kept quite clean, showing the owner's diligence.

But this cleanliness only served to highlight the desolation and poverty of the bare walls of the house.

As the woman arrived, Qi Yun stood Qi Yun in the shadows outside the window, peering through the hole in the window paper.

The room was lit by only a small oil lamp, its light dim and yellowish.

The woman carefully placed the child on the bed board covered with a clean but patched thin mattress, then found an old but faded soft cloth and carefully wiped the rainwater off the child's face, hair, and body.

Her fingers trembled slightly from the cold and exhaustion, but her eyes were filled with endless sorrow and a tenderness bordering on despair.

The child's eyes were tightly closed, his face was an unnatural bluish-gray, his breathing was so weak it was almost imperceptible, and his small chest rose and fell only very slightly, as if he might stop breathing at any moment.

After wiping away the rainwater, she sat on the edge of the bed, reached out, and gently stroked the child's cold little face again and again.

Tears streamed down her face like beads from a broken string, falling silently onto the child's bloodless lips, only to be quickly wiped away with her sleeve.

Time passed slowly, and the child's breath grew weaker and weaker, that last bit of life flickering like a candle in the wind.

Finally, her last shred of strength was completely shattered.

With a thud.

The woman suddenly slid off the edge of the bed and knelt heavily on the cold floor.

She looked up, tears streaming down her face, at the leaky roof, at the empty world that seemed to have never cared for her, and with all her might, she pleaded:

"Oh God! Oh all the gods and bodhisattvas!"

I beg you! Have mercy!

"Take my life if you must, don't take my son's!"

The cries were heart-wrenching.

She kowtowed repeatedly, her forehead pressed against the cold ground, her thin shoulders convulsing violently.

Outside the window, Qi Yun stood quietly in the rain, expressionless.

But those deep eyes flickered slightly when they heard the woman's tearful pleas.