The night has fallen, the moonlight obscured by dark clouds, and the wilderness is shrouded in a veil of night mist. The wild grass rustles as the night wind blows through.
At some point, the once lively sound of insects suddenly stopped, and black mist spread like flowing water. Along the way, vegetation turned black and withered rapidly as if doused with sulfuric acid, sizzling as it went.
A few hundred meters ahead of the surging black mist lay Black Water City...
On the city wall, Zhang Kui sneered and took a sip from his wine gourd.
"Tao...Taoist, what exactly are you going to do?"
The soldier beside him stammered as he asked with a lantern in hand.
This Taoist suddenly appeared on the city wall, startling the soldiers. They initially intended to apprehend him, but the officer instructed them to ignore him, only assigning one person to follow him.
Zhang Kui chuckled, revealing his gleaming white teeth,
"I'm here to slay demons."
"Demons?"
The soldier was taken aback and lifted the lantern to look, but the outside was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything.
"There's no demon there..."
Zhang Kui smiled, put away the wine gourd, and said, "Bring me a strong bow and fire arrows."
The soldier hesitated for a moment, then quickly signaled to someone beside him to fetch the bow and arrows.
Zhang Kui took it in one swift motion, attached an Evil-breaking Talisman to the arrow, lit the arrowhead, and bent the bow into a full moon, launching it with a swoosh.
The arrow blazed with trailing fire, tracing a beautiful arc into the darkness.
A few soldiers craned their necks to look.
Bang!
Amidst a massive burst of flames, a sudden roar of giant beast erupted, and a huge centipede leapt out from the black mist.
This centipede rose tall, reaching two stories high, with densely packed limbs flailing wildly, and two rows of six lantern-like eyes atop its head.
"De...Demon!"
The soldiers were scared, scrambling to draw their bows, but their hands shook uncontrollably.
Zhang Kui drew his Lu Li sword with a backward slash and laughed heartily, "Finally, a big one has come!"
With that said, he leaped from the city wall into the night sky.
"Hold your fire, do not harm the Taoist!"
The soldier quickly stopped the others from shooting, looking out nervously.
Below the city, nothing could be seen in the pitch dark, only the mighty roars and the sound of earth shattering could be heard.
Below, Zhang Kui swung a Sword Qi with his hand, propelling himself with a bang, dodging the giant poisonous fangs coming straight at him.
Gang Qi left a deep gash on the centipede's head, causing the demon pain as it shook its head wildly, with green juices splattering, sizzling upon hitting the ground.
"What a powerful poison!"
Zhang Kui's expression changed, and he quickly drew back. A small mistake caused his robe to be splashed with a drop, immediately corroding into a black hole.
The centipede demon roared, and the pores on its sides began to spout venom, spreading over hundreds of meters in an instant.
Zhang Kui snorted coldly, tilted his body at high speed as he retreated, tapping his toes and flying up the city wall.
"The demon is releasing poison, stay away, bring the bow and arrows!"
Before the words fell, he snatched a strong bow and a quiver of arrows and leaped off the city wall.
A curious soldier peeked outside and suddenly felt dizzy, covering his neck with a greenish face, collapsing to the ground.
The other soldiers retreated quickly in fear.
On the other side, Zhang Kui, in mid-air, continuously drew and shot arrows, intertwined with black Yin Evil, shooting into the poisonous mist with whooshes.
The chilling air spread out, the poison gas condensed and settled, revealing the centipede demon's figure, its body full of arrows, turning into a massive ice sculpture.
With a crash, it shattered, the ground littered with frozen chunks of flesh, sizzling under the corrosive toxin.
In his mind's interface, a skill point was full, with a small fraction in excess.
Laughing heartily, Zhang Kui turned to leave, but furrowed his brows and turned back.
Saw the centipede demon's head shattered, and a thumb-sized demon pill glowed faintly red, floating up and down.
"It should be something good..."
Zhang Kui wrapped it in cloth and jumped onto the city wall.
On returning, the treatment was entirely different.
The soldiers were all smiles, serving hot wine and roast meat attentively.
Zhang Kui chuckled and continued to wait.
Perhaps due to the lingering death aura of the centipede demon's corpse, no demon ghost dared to approach that night. As dawn broke, Zhang Kui vanished under everyone's gaze.
The city's situation was complicated, with that treacherous scholar spying from the side. He didn't want to expose his inn base.
Back in the room, the old weasel was already waiting there, leisurely puffing on a large opium pipe.
"You old demon, your smoking addiction is terrible, aren't you afraid of choking to death!"
Zhang Kui laughed as he opened the window,
"Why not stay in your old den?"
The old weasel sighed, "More and more experts from the Astronomical Bureau are coming over, and there are always a few who don't like us. It's better to leave early."
Zhang Kui chuckled, "Then stay by my side."
This old weasel had an agreement with Wu Siyuan to gather intelligence, and once Qingzhou was peaceful, he would get a secluded hill to settle his apprentices and descendants.
"By the way, take a look at this."
Zhang Kui slapped his forehead and took out the demon pill from his bosom.
The old weasel's eyes lit up, and he swallowed, "Good stuff, this is the inner core of a hundred-year-old demon. If refined by a suitable demon, it can greatly enhance one's cultivation."
"Is it useless to humans?"
"If an ordinary person consumed it, they might be tainted by demon energy and turn into a monster. If someone like you took it, it might only increase poison resistance."
"That's still worthwhile, just right for making wine."
Zhang Kui nodded and was about to throw it into the wine gourd.
"Master, Master Kui, stop!"
The old weasel panicked and quickly stopped him, "What a waste of good materials. Old Huang still has some top-quality spirit medicine, which we can trade for everyone's benefit."
Zhang Kui raised an eyebrow, "You're not lying to me?"
The old weasel snatched the demon pill, "I wouldn't dare. I won't let you suffer any loss, and besides, this thing is really useless to humans."
Zhang Kui laughed heartily and didn't mind,
"By the way, I've always been curious about how you demons cultivate. It seems so chaotic. That centipede demon last night had good cultivation but hadn't transformed."
"Master Kui, you don't know..."
The old weasel happily put away the demon pill, "Besides other things, our demon race cultivation, though complicated and diverse, generally has three paths."
"The first is to refine the body and continuously evolve the bloodline without transforming, resulting in a large body with innate divine techniques. Such demons enjoy devouring flesh and blood, cultivating quickly but lacking spiritual wisdom."
Zhang Kui nodded, "Yes, the centipede demon last night was like this. Its poison skills were formidable."
"That's right..."
The old weasel took a puff of his cigarette,
"The second path involves the mythology of the demon race."
"It's said that above Taiyin, ancient demon immortals established the Immortal Court. They traveled across the Star Sea, chasing stars and the moon, living freely."
"They benefited all living creatures. By sincerely worshiping during the full moon, one can awaken spiritual wisdom and embark on the path of cultivation, each race having its own magic techniques."
Zhang Kui chuckled,
"Really? So if humans worship, they can become human demons?"
"Useless for humans!"
The old weasel rolled his eyes,
"How do you think Old Huang got this cultivation?"
Saying this, the old demon suddenly sighed,
"Speaking of the human race, they are indeed blessed by heaven and earth. Although their lives are short, their meridians and spiritual acupoints align with the cosmos. It's almost impossible to survive the Celestial Tribulation for both of the first two methods, so many demons scramble to transform, hoping for a chance to survive."
"This is the third method, transforming and learning human cultivation skills."
Zhang Kui was thoughtful,
"All beings compete in boats, the dangers are limitless. What kind of world unfolds after becoming immortal?"
The old weasel sneered,
"Wake up, not even the human race or the Four Great Demon Caves ever produced an immortal."
"In this world, there are neither immortals nor gods. What people seek is merely longevity..."
...
Meanwhile, outside the city was a mess.
At daybreak, the chaotic battlefield became visible. Massive shattered shells and chunks of flesh were scattered everywhere, while the vegetation for hundreds of meters around withered and the insects died.
Luckily, the place was off the main road, but quite a few townspeople stood watching from afar, exchanging gossip from the soldiers.
Soldiers from the Black Water City's Astronomical Bureau held their noses as they cleaned up the site, and Captain Zhou didn't look pleased.
"Before dawn, that Daoist was yelling outside to have us clean up, treating us like what!"
The scholar Qin Yi shook his paper fan, smiling,
"Let him be pleased for a few days. Does he really think he can control a city without reaching the Grain Avoidance Realm?"
Saying this, he inadvertently glanced back into the crowd.
Behind the onlookers, someone pressed down their hat and turned to leave. Reaching a secluded, empty spot, they immediately transformed into a crow and flew towards the sky...