Forcing the Aloof Master to Madness - Chapter 49.2

Unexpectedly, due to Hua Man’s unique imagination regarding spiritual spells and formations, this set of two-person formations, constantly refined by the two of them, became so powerful that it could confine cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage, given their current cultivation levels.

This was why Senior Sister Yunsha dared to take a chance here.

But she wasn’t a novice sect cultivator like Hua Man and Shen Lezhi. If the enemy wanted to kill the three of them, why would they spare Yanyan, who came with them?

Perhaps they met the real Yanyan at the Black Crow Workshop, but after entering Fengdu Village, Senior Sister Yunsha was highly suspicious as to whether the Yanyan before them was still the same person.

Senior Sister Yunsha would not release Yanyan. Instead, she sharply took a pill from her spatial ring and threw it to Yanyan, then coldly said, “This is a Spirit Return Pill. Eat it, and I’ll let you out.”

After she spoke, she stared intently at Yanyan. Shen Lezhi heard the name of the pill and immediately understood Senior Sister Yunsha’s intention.

The emergence of transformation pills had caused many minor demons who couldn’t transform naturally to rely on pills to change shape. Since they couldn’t transform using their own power, they naturally couldn’t revert to their original form without external help.

The Spirit Return Pill was meant for demons who forcibly transformed.

And because the fox demon clan often transformed to drain human vitality, the Spirit Return Pill later also gained the function of forcibly forcing demons to revert to their original form.

If Yanyan was a demon, eating it would immediately revert her to her original form. If she was human, Senior Sister Yunsha would release her.

Yanyan looked at the white pill in her hand and began to laugh, making a “ge ge” sound.

At first, her laughter was clear, seemingly mocking Senior Sister Yunsha’s suspicion as a wild fantasy.

Then, she lowered her head, and her laughter became rougher, a sinister, cold chuckle, like the Grey-robed Elder’s earlier, emanating from her throat.

Shen Lezhi watched as she began to change before their eyes. Her originally slender limbs became thick, and her pretty face swelled up. Most horrifyingly, her flesh was slowly being stretched open, revealing a furry body underneath.

The external human skin was torn apart, a bloody scene unfolding before the three of them.

Shen Lezhi could already feel the restless turmoil of the Water Spirit energy around her. The sky and the earth, and everything around them, began to twist and distort.

Shen Lezhi remembered everything in the black rain, and her heart leaped into her throat.

Senior Sister Yunsha’s life-bound artifact, the Withered Wood Staff, also began to vibrate violently. Deafening crashing sounds echoed in the surrounding air.

It sounded as if something was madly crashing against the isolating formation.

The surging resentment, which even Senior Sister Yunsha’s and Hua Man’s formation couldn’t suppress, rushed toward them. The air was instantly filled with the scent of smoke and fire.

The Withered Wood Staff now emitted a piercing, cracking sound, as if it were splitting from the inside.

Without needing Shen Lezhi to shout, the three of them turned and fled at the same time. Senior Sister Yunsha flew up on her sword, reaching out to pull Shen Lezhi onto her spiritual sword.

They flew away rapidly, hoping to shake off the enemy that was still trapped.

But the distorted world immediately made them lose their direction. The sky turned black, and the originally bright daylight instantly darkened.

The Black Water not far away was actually flowing backward, and the houses and buildings all around were permeated with an ominous chill.

Even more terrifyingly, there were corpses everywhere in Fengdu Village. Blood flowed over the land, and blood droplets oozed from every inch of the mud.

The sky had turned black, and the earth was stained red.

And the backward-flowing Black Water had gathered. Shen Lezhi could feel the moisture in the air.

She remembered the Grey-robed Elder whose white bones were exposed after being drenched by the black rain. She took a sharp breath and pulled out the ancient yellow oil-paper umbrella from her spatial ring.

But this umbrella couldn’t cover three people. Hua Man was not far from them, but it was impossible for her to run over and hide under the oil-paper umbrella instantly.

Shen Lezhi shouted urgently to Hua Man: “Senior Sister Hua! Cover yourself!”

As soon as her words fell, the black rain poured down from the sky.

The rain hit the fragile oil-paper umbrella, the “drip, drip, drip” sound clearly audible.

Shen Lezhi liked the rain. After heavy rain, all things revived. Rain fell from the sky to the mortal world, nurturing every piece of land.

But the black rain before her was like a nightmare.

Shen Lezhi watched helplessly as the rain drenched Hua Man’s body. Her flesh began to peel off like holes opening up.

Her body instantly became riddled with holes. She turned to look at Shen Lezhi and Senior Sister Yunsha, her face, corroded by the black rain, was now less than half intact.

Only the white bone remained.

Shen Lezhi’s scalp tingled, and her entire being fell into immense pain.

She blamed herself for not reminding Hua Man sooner. She had clearly experienced it once; why didn’t she tell Hua Man earlier?!

Her breathing was ragged, and intense pain came from both her chest and meridians. She was releasing all her spiritual power, disregarding the tearing pain in her meridians caused by forcibly extracting her spiritual power.

She had to drain the Water Spirit energy from her body. She had to awaken the dormant Wood Spirit Root within her!

“Little Crybaby,” Shen Lezhi called out hoarsely, agonizingly.

Watching Hua Man become almost nothing but white bones, and seeing Senior Sister Yunsha nearly lose her mind, trying to pull Hua Man to safety under the umbrella with her bare hands.

Shen Lezhi tightly hugged Senior Sister Yunsha. The Crying Soul Thread’s vines also firmly fixed Senior Sister Yunsha in place.

But even so, her finger still stretched outside the umbrella, getting soaked by the black rain in a single breath.

Senior Sister Yunsha cried out in pain. Her lost rationality finally returned. She watched helplessly as Hua Man’s body swayed, her spiritual sword no longer able to support her, causing Hua Man’s skeleton to plummet downward.

Shen Lezhi clenched her teeth, her entire body aching terribly. She pulled out the pills given to her by the Immortal Doctor and blindly stuffed them into her mouth, trying to alleviate the pain in her meridians.

But forcibly depleting her spiritual power was too painful for her current physical condition, yet she couldn’t care about anything else.

Finally, the Water Spirit Root was completely exhausted. The spiritual power of the Wood Spirit Root began to surge. Shen Lezhi felt the gentle warmth of the Wood Spirit in her body, and the pain in her meridians immediately eased considerably.

“Little Crybaby.” She trembled, her voice unable to maintain a steady tone.

This was her gamble. She was betting that everything before her was the same as the Crying Soul Thread’s wails.

It was a special illusion, an attack on the spiritual consciousness level.

The Crying Soul Thread’s own power was insufficient to break such an illusion, but her Wood Spirit Root greatly enhanced the Crying Soul Thread’s ability.

She had to gamble on tearing through this illusion before Hua Man truly died.

The Crying Soul Thread’s deafening cries echoed sharply in everyone’s ears. The shock to the soul from the wails was stronger than any previous time.

A faint green light swirled around Shen Lezhi. Due to the Linglong Heart, her rate of absorbing spiritual power was many times faster than a normal person’s.

But precisely because of the Linglong Heart, her meridians could no longer support such rapid circulation. The more she forcibly circulated her meridians, the more frantically the Linglong Heart would absorb spiritual power.

The bloated and tearing pain in her meridians flared up again, but she dared not stop.

The Crying Soul Thread’s wails became increasingly piercing. Shen Lezhi endured the shock to her soul while also enduring the tearing pain in her body.

She gripped Senior Sister Yunsha’s clothes tightly, forcing herself not to pass out.

And with the Crying Soul Thread’s cries, which sounded like sharp instruments, a small crack appeared in the black sky.

Shen Lezhi saw the obvious crack and knew her gamble had paid off.

But Hua Man’s plummeting skeleton had not yet recovered. She tightly clenched her jaw, already barely able to sustain herself.

And at the same time, a huge tremor clearly came from behind them.

Shen Lezhi and Senior Sister Yunsha didn’t even need to investigate. They could see with their naked eyes the figure of a ten-foot-tall, fierce three-tailed, four-eyed sable demon.

It had broken through the magic circle and was approaching them.

Shen Lezhi released the Wood Spirit energy to support the Crying Soul Thread in tearing open the crack, but the effect was minimal. She was left only with despair.

She had no choice but to desperately maintain her spiritual power and endure the severe pain in her body.

But at that very moment, the small white sword at her waist emitted bursts of white mist. The white mist gradually spread around her. Shen Lezhi felt a chill within the white mist.

It was a clear, icy coldness, like snow and ice.

There was also a wisp of the scent of snow.

Shen Lezhi’s heart pounded violently again at this moment. She knew who it was.

She was so familiar with that aura.

She looked into the white mist, and a snow-white figure appeared, standing straight before her.

As Wang Xi appeared, the crack in the sky was completely torn open, and all the darkness instantly receded.

Shen Lezhi immediately turned to look at Hua Man, only to see that the person who had turned into a white skeleton had now recovered to her original appearance.

Shen Lezhi finally let out a sigh of relief, then turned back to look at Wang Xi.

She saw that person’s brow was tinged with snow, and her eyes held a profound light.

She was the purest white color in this dark chaos. She stood before Shen Lezhi, holding her sword, her slightly lowered gaze seeming to be wrapped in frost.

The crystalline frost and snow concealed her emotions. Shen Lezhi looked up at her but couldn’t see clearly.

But she suddenly lowered her head and crouched down.

It was as if a deity had condescended to pity mortals, actively parting the mist in their eyes to allow mortals to clearly see the mercy being bestowed.

But Wang Xi was not a deity.

There was no pity in her eyes.

Her frost-wrapped gaze was merely the manifestation of her spiritual power. In her eyes was a tenderness for Shen Lezhi having put herself in this state again.

She even sighed sadly, the short sound carrying her pain.

She was in pain because of Shen Lezhi. She reached out a finger, seeming to want to stroke Shen Lezhi’s cheek, but paused just before making contact.

She hesitated to even touch Shen Lezhi, moving cautiously.

“Silly girl.” In the end, she didn’t touch Shen Lezhi’s cheek with her finger, only allowing the words to fall softly.