The Cool and Aloof Immortal Master Has Fallen to the Demonic Path (Transmigration) - Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Yi Hu waited until her feet found support before slowly recovering her composure.

They were currently standing outside a manor. From the outside, all they could see were tightly shut mansion gates and sturdy walls. A wordless plaque hung above the main entrance; the pure black wooden sign looked somewhat strange. Yi Hu had never seen pure black wood before. Two stone lions stood outside the gate, looking quite spirited.

Although the scene appeared perfectly normal, Yi Hu suddenly felt the sound of woeful weeping lingering in her ears. The cries were mixed with a faint buzzing sound, and it didn’t sound like a human voice. The hairs on Yi Hu’s body stood on end. She subconsciously shuffled backward, but Shen Yin held her back with one hand. When she turned around and saw Shen Yin’s calm demeanor, she felt much more at ease.

Shen Yin held her back with one hand and the translucent stone in the other. The red light emitted by the stone pointed directly into the manor. Yi Hu swallowed nervously: “Immortal Master, are we going in?”

“Naturally,” Shen Yin replied faintly, releasing her with a calm expression.

She gripped the stone tightly with her left hand and formed hand seals with her right, sending streams of golden light into the stone. The red light emitted by the stone suddenly changed color, turning from crimson to dark red. It was no longer a single beam of light but converged into a net of dark red, covering the manor house. Shen Yin shouted: “Break!”

The scene before their eyes instantly changed. The tidy walls were no longer clean, now marked with some dark, black stains. The black plaque also bore a word—Withered Dwelling. The bright red characters looked as if blood could drip from them at any moment. Just as Yi Hu worried about blood falling, a few drops of dark red blood did fall from the plaque onto the ground, causing the ground to begin cracking, revealing blood-red stones beneath.

“Wuwuwu…” The sorrowful weeping became sharper and clearer. Yi Hu covered her ears and looked towards the gate again. The two stone lions that were originally standing there had also changed their appearance. They were not stone lions at all! They were actually two women in red clothes, their hands and feet nailed to the pillars with black spikes, placed there for display.

Their faces were ghastly pale. Bright red blood was still flowing from their hands and feet. The heart-wrenching wails sounded like resentment at being subjected to such cruel treatment. Yi Hu’s eyes trembled, and tears began to roll down. This was the first time she had felt the cruelty inherent here. She took a step forward, wanting to save them, but as soon as she took half a step, her legs went weak, and she fell down.

Yi Hu reached out a trembling hand, pointing at the two women, and looked back at Shen Yin: “Immortal Master, please save them, okay?”

Compassion flickered in Shen Yin’s eyes, but her expression showed distress: “It’s not that I won’t save them, but I can’t save them right now.”

Yi Hu didn’t understand. These two lives were struggling agonizingly right before their eyes. Their lives were pinned by the four iron nails, piercing through flesh, blood, and white bone. The pain was startling to contemplate. Shen Yin was so powerful, what problem could she have with saving these two lives?

“This manor is an array. Without finding a way to break the array, rashly attempting a rescue could cost them their lives.” Shen Yin pulled Yi Hu up. She looked at the two women, her eyes filled with unbearable sorrow: “Hu-er, you also see that their bodies are constantly bleeding. This amount of blood far exceeds what their bodies could possibly hold.”

Shen Yin wanted to rescue them, but she dared not act carelessly.

The sorrowful weeping in her ears did not stop. Even Shen Yin felt pity, let alone Yi Hu, who had just arrived here and had not yet adapted to the laws of survival. The scene before her made her feel terrified and uneasy. Although she had died many times since coming here, the pain of her death was momentary. She had never experienced such endless torment.

She wanted to ask Shen Yin why such a predicament went unnoticed in this vast Urn City, but before she could speak, she recalled the setting in the book. In the book, ordinary people lived under the protection of sects, busy but secure. However, there were some places without sect protection, like Urn City.

Urn City was the boundary line between the Immortal Spirit Sect and the Medicine Sect. The two sects had argued over the division of Urn City for a thousand years without resolution, so they simply left it alone. Urn City was the only place that, despite relying on two major sects, still had chaotic order. In such a place, if you weren’t ruthless enough, you would be preyed upon. The survival of the fittest was the law of the world, but this law was extended in Urn City, making it even more cruel.

And these two women were the prey.

If she hadn’t been lucky enough to meet Shen Yin, she would have already become food for Yun Dongyue.

She wasn’t the unlucky one. Compared to them, Yi Hu was much luckier.

Yi Hu looked toward one of the women, her gaze meeting the woman’s slightly raised eyes.

“Ah!” She was startled and hurriedly retreated backward. Shen Yin supported her to prevent her from falling.

Those could no longer be called eyes. They were hollow darkness and blood. There were no eyeballs in those eyes, only a pair of sockets. Dark blood oozed from the empty sockets, and tiny white worms writhed within. Yi Hu felt a dull pain in her heart and couldn’t utter a single word.

Shen Yin quickly formed hand seals. Streams of golden light flew out. The red net turned into faint red light and floated into the stone, disappearing without a trace. The manor returned to its original appearance. The two women also vanished, leaving only the two stone lions. Yi Hu gasped for air, covering her chest: “Immortal Master, where are they?”

“They are still inside the stone lions. I merely injected spiritual energy into the array just now, briefly breaking the cover of the illusion array.”

That’s why they were briefly able to see the bloody cruelty hidden beneath the exterior. Now that Shen Yin removed the spirit stones, they could only see the scene the illusion array wanted them to see.

Although they were no longer visible, the two women lingered in Yi Hu’s mind: “Immortal Master, is there no other way to save them?”

“Find a way to break the array…” Shen Yin paused, a cold light in her eyes: “Or kill the person who set up the array.”

She had killing intent.

Shen Yin had compassion and sympathized with the plight of the two women.

But she didn’t know what kind of person could be so ruthless. They were chasing the spider demon that had injured Si Furou. Could that spider demon have done this?

However, the book clearly stated that all things restrain each other. The cultivation methods for demons and humans are different. Demon cultivation mostly follows their innate nature, and their cultivation methods are restricted. A demon would need at least ten thousand years of cultivation to practice array techniques. And under the heavenly tribulation, the number of demons who live for ten thousand years without achieving enlightenment and linger in this world is very rare. The female lead’s official partner, the Buddhist Lotus, is one of them, but she cannot entirely be considered a demon. The Buddhist Lotus is a treasure of the Buddhist and Daoist paths; its flowers and leaves are all treasures, and even a pinch of its powder can significantly increase cultivation. The Buddhist Lotus’s bloodline is similar to that of the Holy Spirit Flower, but the Buddhist Lotus is more powerful. She cannot be considered a demon; “spiritual entity” is a more fitting term.

If that spider had ten thousand years of cultivation, even Shen Yin and Feng Lingyuan combined might not be able to stop her, and she wouldn’t need to be so timid in her actions. This should not be something that spider could achieve. There must be other cultivators behind her.

Yi Hu carefully analyzed the situation in her mind. Shen Yin had already walked to one of the stone lions. She lightly tapped it with her foot, and a golden character, ‘Yuan’, surprisingly appeared on the stone lion. As it flickered, beams of golden light floated out. Shen Yin retreated two steps. A jade token flew out of her sleeve. The golden light struck by the golden character stopped when it met the jade token, and the golden character also disappeared.

Shen Yin’s expression became more solemn. Yi Hu quickly walked to her side: “Immortal Master, what is this?”

She only saw the character ‘Yuan’ clearly and thought it must have some connection with Feng Lingyuan; otherwise, Shen Yin wouldn’t show such an expression.

Indeed, in response to her question, Shen Yin frowned and glanced into the manor. Her face became increasingly heavy: “Elder Feng left an imprint. She set up a barrier here.”

The barrier was centered on the two stone lions. Firstly, it could prevent whatever was inside from escaping. Secondly, if anything inside were to rashly harm the two women, it would act as protection. Feng Lingyuan must have also known that she couldn’t rashly drag them out of the array. However, given Feng Lingyuan’s strength, once she entered the array, why was there no activity at all? There was no sign that the array was about to break. Could it be that… whatever was inside was so powerful?

Also, Feng Lingyuan came out following Bai Ruxue’s essential spirit source. How could she have found this place too? Could Bai Ruxue’s essential spirit source also be inside?

Before Shen Yin could clearly analyze the situation, the manor suddenly let out two loud noises.

“Boom! Rumble!”

The wall of the manor instantly collapsed on one side. Amidst the flying dust, a thin mist emerged. The mist was a faint green color. The green mist floated out more and more, some drifting into the distance, and some also floating near, surrounding her and Shen Yin. Yi Hu reached out her finger and gently touched the mist, and an endless stream of spiritual energy surprisingly drilled into her body. She was momentarily stunned: “Immortal Master, this is spiritual energy!”

Yi Hu had just learned how to draw spiritual energy into her body. All the spiritual energy in her body combined was less than what she received from this light touch. She completely forgot what Shen Yin had said about not being able to retain spiritual energy. Greedily, she wanted to grab more spiritual energy, but Shen Yin’s long sleeve struck the back of her hand: “Don’t touch it.”

“Immortal Master,” Yi Hu said with some grievance, rubbing her reddened hand.

Even if she couldn’t retain the spiritual energy, it felt good to touch it! The sensation of spiritual energy entering the body was simply too wonderful. No cultivator, no demon, could refuse the endlessly surging spiritual energy.

She was just one of all living beings.

Shen Yin ignored her grievance. She turned her head, her expression becoming more solemn as she looked at the increasingly dense green mist. She suddenly turned back and lightly tapped Yi Hu’s earlobe. Yi Hu felt a slight sting in her ear tip. Waiting for the stinging sensation to disappear, she heard a piercing, grating sound coming from the drifting mist, like the sound of sharp claws scraping against a metallic object, making one’s heart clench bit by bit. It was very uncomfortable, and she instinctively covered her ears.

Yi Hu covered her ears, her eyes fixed on the increasingly thick green mist. Finally, she saw a smiling beautiful face hidden within the green mist. Though beautiful, the face was blurry and indistinct, and had an indescribable eeriness.

“Immortal Master, what are these?”

“Feng Lingyuan must have pushed whatever is inside to the limit. This is invoking spirits into the array. Once touched, one will be forcefully dragged into the array. If this continues, the entire Urn City will be pulled into this unknown place.”

Shen Yin didn’t even call her Elder Feng anymore, perhaps she was annoyed by Feng Lingyuan’s recklessness.

The green mist was getting thicker and thicker. Shen Yin let out a bitter laugh: “Let’s go.”

She reached out and grabbed Yi Hu’s collar again. She rushed towards the manor. Although she was dissatisfied with Feng Lingyuan’s action, at this moment, besides entering the array to find a way to break it, there was no other option.

Yi Hu, being dragged along and stumbling, was still contemplating. Didn’t they agree to hide their identities? This kind of commotion was practically dragging the entire Urn City into the array. Both the Medicine Sect and the Immortal Spirit Sect must be alarmed.

The book once wrote that the person setting up an array harms themselves first. Anyone setting up an array must first sacrifice all of their spiritual power. The most powerful array in the book was the Spirit Confinement Array set up by the Buddhist Lotus to save his wife. Any other large-scale arrays and barriers were set up by multiple people. The spiritual cost required to drag an entire city into the array… Either there were multiple people inside, or the person setting up the array was using their life to trap Feng Lingyuan.

What exactly did Feng Lingyuan do inside?