After Infusing Love Poison to the Cold Sword Sovereign - Chapter 55

As Wu Ruo looked around, she found herself in a small, enclosed courtyard that was unexpectedly fresh and elegant. In the corner of the yard stood a few apricot trees, and a lush bamboo grove curved around the outer edge, a stark contrast to what she had imagined the Demon Sect would be like.

Was this really the Demon Sect?

Wu Ruo pursed her lips. The side effects of the teleportation array still left her slightly dizzy, and before she could fully regain her composure, a hostile gaze fixed firmly on her, brimming with malice.

Without even turning around, she knew it was the Blood Drenched Sect Leader. Though she couldn’t discern his cultivation level, the oppressive aura he exuded was undeniable his strength was clearly not to be underestimated.

Had her disguise been exposed?

She subtly withdrew her spiritual energy, gathering it at her fingertips, ready to unleash it at a moment’s notice. But in a flash of insight, she realized that if there had been any flaw in her disguise, he would have already struck her down and torn out her heart.

She hadn’t been exposed. The sect leader had singled her out for some other reason. Given his formidable strength, it was unwise to confront him head-on.

“Sect Leader,” Wu Ruo hesitated for a moment before taking a step back, putting on an obsequious expression. “Is there anything this humble one can do for you? I would spare no effort to serve you and resolve your troubles, even at the cost of my life!”

The demonic cultivator sect leader, whose build resembled a cube, took a step forward. His face was covered in thick, brutish flesh, making him look like a solid wall. He snorted abruptly, and a foul, turbid breath shot straight toward her, so repulsive it was as if a latrine had been moved right in front of her.

“Zhu Liu, you damned bastard, are you playing dumb? I’ve told you before, I’ve got my eye on that Eastern Guardian, that seductive woman! What the hell were you trying to do?”

Ah, so he was jealous that she had just spoken with Lan Ting.

“I’m wronged, Boss!” Wu Ruo pretended to be pitiful. “I was just sneaking off to grab a bite because I was so hungry and she caught me red-handed! She was scolding me, that’s all! Nothing else happened!”

In his extreme fury, the demonic sect leader’s eyes seemed to shrink even further. He kicked Wu Ruo’s leg, forcing her to kneel with a thud. “Damn you, you worthless piece of!”

He continued cursing for over ten minutes, cycling through the same crude, foul language until he finally grew hoarse and paused for a moment. The surrounding demonic cultivators had already returned to their posts, and the area fell into an eerie silence.

Wu Ruo continued playing the part of the diligent subordinate (after all, the curses weren’t directed at her), occasionally stealing glances until she saw his anger had subsided.

With a final furious curse and a shout of “Get lost!”, Wu Ruo spun around and crouched, preparing to slip away through a side door. But the moment she turned, her Qiankun pouch suddenly erupted with an intense heat!

Bang!

The next second, the wooden puppet of Spring Grass stood in a striking pose, firmly blocking the demonic sect leader’s sneak attack!

“You!”

The Blood Drenched Sect Leader’s face flushed crimson with humiliation at being caught in his underhanded move. His already brutish features twisted into an even more ferocious expression as he stared at the wooden puppet, unable to immediately identify what it was. Suddenly, he let out a furious roar, “Damn you! You actually used my woman as a puppet!”

Wu Ruo took a closer look and saw that the Spring Grass puppet seemed to have been activated. The crisscrossing meridian and acupoint lines on its face had faded away without a trace, and the inked facial features had now taken on color, making it look astonishingly lifelike.

And those features they were the likeness of Lan Ting.

The demonic cultivator had already been driven mad by rage. His enormous demonic claw shot forward violently, nearly tearing the wooden puppet before him to shreds!

Whoosh!

In the blink of an eye, a dark brown serpent materialized out of thin air, coiling around the demonic cultivator’s outstretched arm. Its sharp fangs aimed straight for his veins and sank in deep!

At the same time, a jade-green toad leaped out, rapidly spewing a thick, sticky green fluid. The substance was incredibly adhesive, like stubborn taffy, binding the serpent and the demonic cultivator’s arm together.

“Damn it!! You filthy beasts! Get off!!”

The demonic cultivator roared furiously, delivering a vicious kick to the toad. The force was swift and brutal, infused with overwhelming baleful energy, almost shattering the creature into broken pieces of flesh.

Yet the toad seemed rooted to the spot. Despite the tremendous impact, it merely swayed slightly, a thick stream of green fluid trickling from the corner of its mouth. The fluid immediately began corroding the demonic cultivator’s arm.

“Ahhh!!”

The demonic cultivator let out a piercing howl of agony. Seeing that he couldn’t shake off the two creatures, he swiftly reached out with his other hand, intent on gouging a bloody hole in the serpent’s flesh.

But it was already too late.

Unbeknownst to him, Wu Ruo had already circled behind him, drawing the lifebound sword she had recently acquired.

She lowered her wrist, channeling highly concentrated spiritual energy into the hilt. As she raised her hand, she paused abruptly!

The silver serpent decoration on the hilt gleamed brilliantly, as if coming to life. The serpent’s eyes suddenly emitted an intense, chilling light. In that single moment, the small courtyard was filled with drifting snowflakes.

“You! Ahhh!”

Before the demonic cultivator could react, a massive sword aura pierced straight through his body. Murky black blood gushed endlessly from within him. A wall crumbled and collapsed, landing on the toad’s sticky fluid with a dull, muffled thud.

His eyes rolled back and did not return. The coarse flesh on his face gradually turned purple, and finally, he ceased breathing.

Wu Ruo let out a sigh of relief.

Falling Snow Three Forms, Silver-Clad Frost. It could slay enemies up to two major realms above her provided their movements were restricted.

And with the help of the wooden puppet and her serpent and gu pets, she had unexpectedly seized the perfect opportunity.

The brown serpent shrank back to the thickness of a finger and retreated into Wu Ruo’s sleeve. The toad, severely injured, croaked but did not follow the serpent back. Instead, it began secreting a dark brown fluid onto the demonic cultivator’s corpse, corroding it bit by bit until not a single trace remained.

This Golden Cloud Toad could actually erase all traces.

That must be how the other party had lured the demonic cultivator here without leaving any evidence.

But then she heard the toad croak once more, its voice dripping with sorrow, mournful and desolate.

The jade-green toad then extended its tongue, carefully licking the spilled black blood on the ground. Its swollen eyes tightly shut, a single tear of despair trickled down.

A wisp of demonic energy and a strand of spiritual power enveloped the two, dispersing into an exploding cloud in the air. The toad’s tear fell onto the blood, and the pitch-black, foul blood transformed into the red of an ordinary person before slowly vanishing into nothingness.

“Karma?”

An inexplicable concept surfaced in Wu Ruo’s mind. It was as if she had glimpsed a fragment of the past, a memory that belonged to someone else.

The arrogant and self-important gu-wielding young maiden was deceived into joining the Blood-Drenched Sect, all while dreaming of stepping into the immortal path. But the good times didn’t last long. While she was “returning home to visit family” with several sect elders, she was suddenly met with an overwhelming surge of sword intent.

In an instant, the kindly-faced “elders” fell in disarray, transforming one by one into ugly, fierce-looking demonic cultivators. Among them, the “sect master” she trusted the most suddenly swelled several times in size, becoming a grotesque demonic cultivator as wide as he was tall. He seized her by the throat, unleashed his cultivation technique, and drained every drop of blood from her body before tossing her aside like trash.

The scene shifted. A white-haired gu-wielding woman cradled the withered corpse of her daughter, flanked by the former Witch Envoy and Wu Ruo, dressed in the attire of a holy maiden. They stood upon an altar, playing a soul-soothing melody to guide the departed.

Tears of blood streamed down the woman’s face. A small, emerald-green toad, not yet bound to a master, hopped beside her. Its slender tongue licked away the falling blood-tears, and its aura surged violently. In that moment, it comprehended the method of ascension, evolving on its own to produce a mucus capable of dissolving all things.

And so, the events of that day reached their conclusion.

Once a gu insect bonds with a master, it rarely changes allegiance, often perishing alongside its master. Yet Jin Ruyun’s toad followed Wu Ruo without hesitation, descending the mountain.

So this was the reason the toad had changed masters.

With mixed emotions, Wu Ruo fed the toad a drop of blood. Satisfied, it croaked twice, lay down, and dissolved into its own spreading mucus, vanishing completely.

Its mission was complete.

Once the toad and the demonic sect master had completely disappeared, the wooden puppet resembling Lan Ting returned to its dormant state. The intricate network of lines on its face slowly reappeared, dense and indistinguishable, obscuring its true features.

This was Chun Cao’s wooden puppet. Which meant?

“Lan Ting,” Wu Ruo murmured softly, a sudden suspicion forming in her heart. As expected, she received a response.

“I’m here.” Though the wooden puppet had clearly ended its active state, hearing those words seemed to flip a switch. Its eyes regained their spark.

Its voice didn’t sound like Lan Ting’s, it was mechanical, yet the tone seemed deliberately imitative. “Chun Cao, this time, no slacking off during training.”

After saying this, it fully reverted to its dormant state. Wu Ruo stood there with a heavy heart, unable to resist reaching out to pat the puppet’s head.

The journey from the Blood-Drenched Sect to the demonic cult’s headquarters was not short. Using a voice-transmitting gu and following Lan Ting’s instructions, Wu Ruo took an appearance-altering pill to mimic the Blood-Drenched Sect’s master, then activated a teleportation array, arriving swiftly near the headquarters.

Lan Ting, wrapped tightly in black robes, waited for her beneath a secluded section of the wall. Seeing Wu Ruo approach, she frowned in disdain. “The identity you’ve taken this time is truly hideous. Disgusting.”

“He even pursued you once. Even more disgusting,” Wu Ruo retorted bluntly. “Let’s go quickly. The sooner we finish, the sooner you won’t have to look at this ugly thing hurting your eyes.”

Lan Ting shot her a cold glare, then plucked a leaf and blew a low, soft whistle. Soon, several thick pythons emerged from the ground, writhing and coiling around a specific spot.

“Tunnel,” Lan Ting explained. “According to the information I gathered, after arresting Spring Grass, the Right Envoy didn’t torture her for long. She was imprisoned in the lower five levels of the First Purgatory. This purgatory isn’t the same place where I was held before. It’s said to be quite peculiar, so we need to be prepared.”

“Good, I’ve also obtained some information,” Wu Ruo said with a smile. “The demonic cultivators from the Blood Drenched Sect happened to be the laborers who were responsible for constructing the First Purgatory back then. So, well this sect leader happens to have the blueprints.”

“?” Lan Ting glared at Wu Ruo again. “Saintess, have you become addicted to being a demonic cultivator?”

Wu Ruo didn’t respond. Her serpent gu had absorbed some of the Blood Drenched Sect leader’s blood, granting it access to parts of his consciousness. The blueprint of the First Purgatory condensed into a cluster within her mind, then expanded into a gaseous form. Holding her breath and focusing, she shared the information with Lan Ting before letting out a heavy sigh.

Lan Ting glanced at it and nodded, but her expression suddenly turned grave.

She had seen the blueprint of the First Purgatory, and it wasn’t complicated. The tunnel her serpent gu had dug led directly to the lower three levels. They only needed to pass through the fourth level to reach the floor where Spring Grass was held and successfully reunite with her.

It didn’t seem difficult on the surface. The hard part was…

“Wu Ruo…” Lan Ting’s voice softened, as if she had resolved herself, and she whispered, “When we see Spring Grass later, don’t tell her that I am Lan Ting.”

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