After Faking Her Death and Escaping, the Junior Sister Fell to the Demonic Path - Chapter 83

Venerable Wen Qing stopped, her gaze calmly fixed on the object before her.

It was a piece of rotting flesh.

To be precise, it was a piece of rotting flesh that looked thoroughly decayed but seemed to possess life, constantly wriggling.

The surrounding tentacles were parasitic around this rotting mass, emanating dense Demonic Qi. Sensing her presence, they gradually awakened, flailing wildly, testing the waters to attack her.

However, as soon as they touched the spiritual energy surrounding her, the tendrils and tentacles recoiled.

But in the next second, Venerable Wen Qing retracted all her protective spiritual energy, allowing the tentacles to envelop her.

The mass of rotting flesh, surrounded by the tentacles, gradually approached Venerable Wen Qing, ultimately merging with her.

The moment her figure disappeared, Venerable Wen Qing’s ethereal voice drifted out from the layers of intertwined tentacles.

“The method of ascension is right here.”

The first half of the sentence was still Venerable Wen Qing’s original voice, but by the latter half, her voice had morphed and become demonic.

Half an hour later, the tentacles gradually withdrew, revealing Venerable Wen Qing within.

Except—

Venerable Wen Qing no longer looked as she did before. Although her features remained unchanged, the towering Demonic Qi, like smoke and clouds, rising in layers around her, signified that she was now semi-demonized.

The massive, profusely bleeding wound on her abdomen had healed as if new. If not for the torn fabric in that area, no one would know she had been injured there.

Venerable Wen Qing stretched out a hand to grasp the recording stone. Her originally slender, pale fingers now bore long black claws.

The image was suddenly magnified. The beautiful, jade-like face was thrust close, but now her demonized eyes had turned into vertical pupils, looking at the recording stone with interest.

After a moment, a voice emerged.

“This is the final method of ascension left for you.”

The demonized voice carried a hint of mockery and smugness. She laughed heartily and casually tossed the recording stone aside.

The scene in the recording stone ended here.

“No!”

Seeing her Master’s body being devoured and occupied by the Demonic Seed, Qin Qingyi’s eyes were bloodshot, and she was on the verge of lunging forward.

If not for Zhou Zhixue holding her firmly in her embrace, she would have already rushed out.

“Senior Sister, calm down.”

Zhou Zhixue’s voice sounded in Qin Qingyi’s ear. Her hands, clasped around the other’s waist, were rigid with strain, firmly confining her to the spot.

“This is just a recording!”

“Senior Sister, snap out of it!”

The clear, cold tone, like ice shards hitting the ground, brought back her reason. Qin Qingyi panted, and after a long while, finally raised her head again.

She lifted her face, revealing tear-filled eyes, and murmured:

“Master sacrificed herself to the demon.”

So the Master she saw outside, unconscious beneath the rolling heavenly thunder when she arrived, had actually been possessed by the Demonic Seed.

Seeing her in a daze, Zhou Zhixue could only hold her tighter, and after a long silence, she replied with a strained whisper:

“Master is still alive, perfectly well.”

But even she didn’t believe those words.

The commotion between the two was merely a minor interlude. Having watched the contents of the recording stone, everyone present fell into an eerie silence.

Ascension.

No one didn’t want to ascend.

But the current method of ascension actually required introducing a Demonic Seed into the body to have a chance at ascension.

Sacrificing one’s body in exchange for the opportunity to ascend—the price was too great.

Moreover…

It wasn’t even certain if one could ascend.

If one died in the Thunder Tribulation, wouldn’t it all be for naught?

The people present exchanged glances, afraid to be the first to break the silence.

“This is only the first thing I had to say.” Shangguan Yu put away the recording stone and looked at the crowd with a solemn expression.

“Before this, besides my Junior Sister, Elder Wei was also guarding Qidong Mountain.”

She gathered everyone’s attention and then pointed towards the sky.

Everyone looked up, and it was at this moment that they realized the thunderclouds in the sky were unusually dense.

Too many, so many that…

It didn’t look like the Ascension Thunder Tribulation for just one person.

This speculation had just formed in everyone’s mind when it was confirmed by Shangguan Yu.

“Elder Wei is also about to ascend.”

“It’s just that she has not yet reached the point where she must face the Thunder Tribulation, so currently, there is only my Junior Sister in the sky.”

Shangguan Yu took a step forward and took out another recording stone from her sleeve.

“When I arrived, Elder Wei was still somewhat lucid and informed me of exactly what happened at Qidong Mountain.”

As she spoke, Shangguan Yu infused spiritual energy into the recording stone.

——————

Venerable Wen Qing had been fighting the Demon King Tivena for five days. Although there were brief moments of rest, the duration was too long.

It was so long that Elder Wei felt deep down that something was wrong.

“Are you still going to fight?”

When Venerable Wen Qing was about to engage in battle again, Elder Wei frowned and asked.

For some reason, she was worried.

But the only response she received was Venerable Wen Qing’s back.

“This fiend injured my disciple. I will make sure they pay their blood debt!”

With that, she plunged into a new round of battle.

Elder Wei knew she couldn’t convince her, so she merely sighed and then commanded the other disciples to provide support from the side, to prevent sneak attacks from minor demon soldiers.

Guarding Qidong Mountain was her mission.

Truth be told, Elder Wei found this place extremely eerie.

Compared to other demon dens, Qidong Mountain was much larger in scale. Other places were only guarded by one Demon King, but here there were three, plus one who had fled from Black Water Cliff, making a total of four.

With such strong combat power, if all four Demon Kings had joined the battle, the war should have been one-sided. But on the contrary—

The war had been going on for several months, and the three Demon Kings of Qidong Mountain had never once appeared on the main battlefield.

They mostly watched from the rear, never interfering with the direct battle, like ghosts observing the periphery of the conflict.

It was as if—

What they were plotting was not to win this war between the Immortals and Demons.

“Elder Wei, what are you thinking?”

Seeing her stand motionless for a long time, the little disciple beside her couldn’t help but ask curiously.

This question brought her wandering thoughts back.

Elder Wei regained her composure and shook her head at the young disciple.

“Nothing.”

“I was just wondering if your Venerable Wen Qing could win this time.”

She chuckled, smoothly changing the subject.

Fortunately, the disciple didn’t overthink things and, seeing her say so, followed suit and continued the topic.

“Maybe she can win. After all, Venerable Wen Qing already had the upper hand last time, just one strike away from taking that Demon General’s life.”

The little disciple gestured to Elder Wei, her words filled with excitement and admiration.

She was also one of the disciples who greatly admired Venerable Wen Qing.

Elder Wei smiled, instructed her to stand guard properly, and went to the front line to observe.

The little disciple nodded repeatedly, standing up straight to show that she was diligently on duty.

When she reached the front line, it was no different from usual. Cultivators and demons were in a standoff, probing and attacking each other.

Nothing was out of the ordinary.

Perhaps the sudden palpitations today were simply too much, making her mistakenly believe something bad would happen.

Perhaps she had overthought things.

Elder Wei sighed with relief, comforting herself.

But half an hour later, bad news still arrived—

“Elder Wei, something terrible has happened!!!”

“Venerable Wen Qing is deep in the heart of the demon den! Contact has been lost, and we can’t reach her anymore!”

Something had happened!

Elder Wei gritted her teeth, looking at the disciple retreating from the front line to report, her heart constricting.

She had repeatedly warned Wen Qing not to go too deep, not to go too deep!

But now!

Elder Wei could hardly suppress her anger, but when her gaze fell upon the reporting disciple, who was covered in injuries, she felt compassion:

“You go and tend to your wounds first. I will handle everything.”

The disciple bowed and rose, limping towards the medical cultivator at the rear.

Elder Wei, meanwhile, rushed non-stop to the front line.

But as soon as she arrived at the front line, she was ambushed.

The three Demon Kings, who had never interfered with the battle before, suddenly appeared in front of her, restraining her with a speed she couldn’t possibly react to.

One of them held Elder Wei down, complimenting the other Demon King, who was clearly more powerful, with a beaming face:

“Sister, you truly are divinely resourceful. These foolish lackeys of the Immortal Sect will never guard against us.”

However, the one who was complimented was not overly smug. She merely commanded calmly: “Stop the nonsense. Take her away quickly before anything else happens.”

The Demon King restraining Elder Wei acknowledged the command and stopped talking, focusing only on strengthening the restriction placed on Elder Wei.

The clearly higher-ranked Demon King then turned to the third one and said: “You go and help Tivena. Don’t let that useless creature ruin my plan.”

It was a trap!

They found a way to lure Wen Qing away and then immediately targeted her!

Realizing this, Elder Wei gritted her teeth, but no matter what, she couldn’t break free from the restraints.

“Stop struggling. Your strength is probably not enough to break the restriction we’ve placed on you.”

“We prepared this specifically for you. We’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”

The Demon King restraining her spoke lazily.

With that, she produced a vial radiating Demonic Qi, forcibly pinching Elder Wei’s mouth open and pouring it in.

Although Elder Wei tried to resist, the restriction on her body left her immobile.

“It’s a waste to give this good stuff to you.”

As the unknown liquid went down, Elder Wei felt a burning sensation rise from her lower abdomen. The pain was nearly tearing her apart.

Elder Wei was drenched in cold sweat from the pain, but even so, she refused to show weakness in front of the Demon Kings.

As she was on the verge of fainting from the pain, Elder Wei thought of only one thing.

Currently, only she and Wen Qing, two Elders, were garrisoned at Qidong Mountain. Now that both of them were in dire straits, how could they send out a message for reinforcements?

What would happen to the other disciples guarding Qidong Mountain?!

But before she could think of a solution, a powerful spiritual energy fluctuation erupted in the depths of the Qidong Mountain demon den in the distance.

Elder Wei saw the leading Demon King’s face change. She cursed under her breath “Useless,” and then, no longer able to spare any thought for herself, she turned and flew toward the depths of the demon den.

She only left one Demon King behind, whose strength was not particularly formidable.

Once that Demon King had thoroughly departed, Elder Wei felt the restraint on her body lighten considerably.

In a flash of insight, she considered a possibility—

The restriction’s effect could only be maximized when the Demon Kings were present. Once they left, the effect would be significantly weakened.

Understanding this, Elder Wei no longer hesitated. She endured the pain, rummaged through her spatial pouch for a bottle of pills, and without reservation, poured them all into her mouth.

Her spiritual energy rapidly surged, her strength steadily increasing, reaching the Half-Step Ascension stage in no time. At this point, breaking through the restriction became an extremely simple matter.

Although this method would damage her meridians, the situation was urgent, and she could no longer afford to worry about anything else.

She dared not delay. After breaking through the restriction, she quickly fled in one direction.

However, there were no pursuers behind her. She turned to look back, only to see the Demon King standing still, not chasing her.

She didn’t understand why at that moment.

It wasn’t until half an hour later that Demonic Qi began to emerge from her Dantian.