“You know of our Holy Realm?” A trace of alarm flashed past the scholar’s face, glancing at Wei Wuya in surprise.
Within the green mist that shrouded him, Wei Wuya icily said, “Although I don’t know much of the Elder Devil realm, I do know that you Elder Devils were incapable of coexisting with the ancient cultivators. In times of antiquity, you even attempted to rule over our mortal realm.”
The Ghost Spirit Sect Master and Wang Tiangu’s expression changed upon hearing this and black light flickered from their bodies. Yin Qi emerged and enveloped them in a sphere. When they turned their gazes towards the Confucian scholar once more, they unconsciously took two steps back.
Although the two hadn’t heard of the Elder Devil Realm or Elder Devils, Wei Wuya’s intimidated appearance and the scholar’s confident calm had caused them to be vigilant.
With a deliberate tone, the scholar calmly said, “You don’t need to know what I am. I simply wish to make an exchange with you. If you agree, your cultivation will be vastly increased and you may even ascend to the realm of Deity Transformation. Would you three be interested in listening?”
The Ghost Spirit Sect Master exchanged a glance with Wang Tiangu and calmly said, “Oh, we might as well hear this grand offer for the time being!”
“It’s quite simple. Do you see the Elder Devil corpse behind me? Assist me in removing its seals and I will use its body to open a tear into the Holy Realm. As a reward, I will use the True Devil Qi of the Divine Ancestors to turn your constitution into that of a supreme devil, becoming a member of our Holy Realm. Would you three be willing? With your talents, your cultivation will make massive leaps once the infusion of devilish Qi is finished. Entering the Deity Transformation stage would only be a matter of time.” The scholar’s voice was smooth and alluring.
“Dissolve the seal and infuse devilish Qi?” The Ghost Spirit Sect Master felt his heart stir. An instant and massive increase in cultivation and the ability to enter Deity Transformation stage were truly tempting. He turned to look at Wang Tiangu and saw that he was tempted as well.
Having lived for so long, Wei Wuya was beyond cunning and was able to see their intentions at a glance, so he called out to them, “Snap out of your foolishness! Do you truly believe you will still be yourselves after being infused with devilish Qi? You could lose your intelligence and become a puppet of that Elder Devil.”
“Brother Wei, what do you mean?” Wang Tiangu immediately sobered as if cold water was dumped on his head.
Wei Wuya spoke without the slightest restraint, “What do I mean? You dare to trust a devil from another world? Although I don’t know exactly what this devilish Qi will do to you, do you truly believe that forcefully raising your cultivation with strange Qi from another world will be good for you?”
The Ghost Spirit Sect Master and Wang Tiangu’s expressions grew unsightly when they heard him. Then their gazes turned icy as they looked at the scholar.
When the scholar heard this, he frowned and thought to say something when Wei Wuya’s expression had a strange change.
There was a sudden whistle from a rock pile three meters behind them and a black blur shot out of it, penetrating the scholar’s abdomen in an instant. Then it shot thirty meters away and spiralled in the air.
It was a small, jet-black snake. It had a small snow-white, thumb-sized horn that appeared incredibly sharp and a glossy black scaleless body.
A bowl-sized hole appeared in the scholar’s abdomen. Because he didn’t have a body of flesh, there was no blood, but the hole revealed the shattered remains of a walnut-sized crystal in his the body.
The scholar stared at the shattered gem with an expression of disbelief, “How did you know where my soul stone was?”
From the green mist, Wei Wuya emotionlessly said, “I do not cultivate the Ghost Dao so I don’t know what a soul stone is. However, my soul devouring snake is rather adept in dealing with Yin ghosts and demon souls. Killing a materialized soul remnant was an easy task for it.”
When the scholar heard this, he wryly smiled as his body burst into a cloud of grey-white Qi that roiled throughout the air.
The Ghost Spirit Sect Master and Wang Tiangu appeared surprised at this turn of events, but when they glanced at the huge demonic statue in the distance, they sighed with relief.
As Wang Tiangu looked at the devil corpse, he couldn’t help but ask, “Fellow Daoist Wei, shall we destroy the Elder Devil Corpse?”
After some silence, Wei Wuya shook his head and said, “If it could be destroyed, don’t you think the ancient cultivators would’ve done so already? It’d be best if we left this place.”
Wang Tiangu grew hesitant as the Ghost Spirit Sect Master broke the silence and said, “Brother Wei’s words are reasonable. This place is quite strange, and it’d be best for us to leave sooner rather than later.”
When Wang Tiangu heard this, he raised no further objections and took to the air as a voice suddenly spoke out from behind them, “Who said you can leave? Since you’ve arrived at the place where my devil body was sealed, do you believe that you’ll be able to leave alive? Forfeit your lives while you still have the choice!”
When they heard this familiar voice, the cultivators quickly turned around in disbelief and saw that the white Yin Qi that had previously scattered from the scholar had condensed into a ball.
In the blink of an eye, it took the form of a grey, single-horned ghost head that malevolently stared at the three cultivators.
Upon seeing this, the Ghost Spirit Sect Master was the first amongst them to attack. He quickly raised his hand and released a black flying dagger. The dagger sliced through the center of the ghost head, but the split halves condensed back into one as if nothing had happened.
When the three saw this, they felt their blood turn cold and their expressions revealed shock. The Ghost Spirit Sect Master in particular felt his heart drop.
The Ghost Spirit Sect was specialized in secret techniques that controlled and destroyed ghosts and the sect master’s own flying dagger was refined with this in mind. But when it had no effect on the ghost head, a faint feeling of dread blossomed in his heart.
When Wei Wuya saw this, he sharply whistled and the horned snake spiralling in the air swept down in a black streak. At that same time, his green mist roiled and a large, dark-green arm appeared from within it. With a faint tremble, it charged towards the ghost head in a fierce streak.
The other two had no intention of letting Wei Wuya deal with it on his own. One of them spun around and released a cloud of Yin Qi towards the ghost head while the other took a deep breath and spat out a sparkling gold skull that howled forth.
In an instant, the three had joined hands against the grey ghost head.
But by that time, the ghost head had soared from the grey mist and shrieks began to erupt from around it. These strange shrieks were sharp and soon the huge sealed devil corpse began to shine with black light. It suddenly opened its eyes and two streaks of crimson light shot out from its eyes, enveloping the ghost head in a layer of light as a dense, bloody scent filled the air.
At that same moment, the cultivator’s various attacks landed and unceasing rumbles shook the air as black Qi and green light enveloped the crimson barrier. But soon, the three cultivators ceased their attacks in alarm, as the crimson barrier was visible once more.
Regardless of the black devilish Qi or the giant hand formed from poison mist, when their attacks made contact with the barrier, they were immediately absorbed and caused the barrier to grow thicker. As for the black snake and the golden skull, their attacks had little to no effect.
The three looked at each other in dismay. During this delay, an astonishing change appeared on the sealed devil corpse. The black light disappeared from it before it instead pulsed with crimson light. Threads of crimson light began to extend from its body, thoroughly enveloping the huge devil corpse in a blinding red radiance.
The horned ghost head’s barrier also began to surge with crimson radiance and it closed its eyes. Then it began to grow countless slim tentacles of dark-red light from underneath it which eventually condensed together to form a body.
With the light continuing to shine, the body began to grow flesh and bones with layers upon layers of light threads. This monstrous sight caused the cultivators to feel their backs turn numb.
Not only the horned ghost, but the Elder Devil Corpse also began to glow with light as flesh grew on him.
When Wang Tiangu saw the body take form within the crimson barrier, he also noticed that the light from the sealed devil corpse quickly dimmed as it passed through the light that emitted from its eyes. In that moment, he suddenly recalled the name of a secret technique from legend. He couldn’t help but shout, “Decay Transformation! This is the supreme devilish technique, Decay Transformation!”
He then raised his arms and shot out streaks of black light from his hands, striking the beams of light that connected the ghost head and the devil corpse with two palm-sized copper disks. These disks had black talisman characters roaming across their surfaces.
When the other two heard Wang Tiangu name the technique, they felt their hearts jump in fright and unconsciously focused their sights on his attack.
When the two copper disks pierced into the crimson beams of light, they brightly shined with black light and severed the connection.
At that moment, the ghost head already had a mostly complete devil body in its possession. It opened its eyes, one purple and one black, and wore a savage grin.