Chapter 127

Chapter 127: Cultivated Demonic Arts?

Lin Qing Ling sneered and said: “Ling Xu old man, do you have no shame? Li Shuang is my disciple now. She has nothing to do with you. Everyone from Ling Xu Peak needs to stay away, understand?”

Immortal Ling Xu sighed and said: “I wronged Li Shuang. However I repay her in the future, it is only right. Today, let me first collect a little interest for her.”

He looked at Ye Zhao Zhao, and his eyes turned sharp. Now he truly hated her. If not for this woman, Ling Xu Peak would still be fine, and with a disciple like Li Shuang, even the Sect Master would have had to show him more respect. But now everything was ruined. Li Shuang had risen again, yet as her former Master he got no benefit, only trouble. All thanks to Ye Zhao Zhao.

Immortal Ling Xu stepped forward and struck Ye Zhao Zhao with a single palm. He struck with hate. One slap shattered her meridians, and her cultivation poured away like water. After two lightning tribulations and then this blow, Ye Zhao Zhao could not even scream. She spat blood, collapsed, and lay on the ground unable to move.

Sheng Yuan and the others froze. Ye Zhao Zhao had many problems, but for ten years she had tiptoed around the Master and smiled at every turn. Immortal Ling Xu’s palm was aimed to kill. They also hated Ye Zhao Zhao, yet that blow still made them feel a chill. [In his eyes, what do we disciples count for?]

At the same time, Li Shuang’s brow twitched.

Ye Zhao Zhao’s cultivation was gone, but Li Shuang did not gain fresh realm on the spot. Instead, a small light sphere appeared in her dantian. The sphere spun and slowly released spiritual power. [There is too much of my stolen strength returning at once. My current Foundation Establishment Stage body cannot bear it. So it will come back little by little.]

She guessed the sphere would let her realm shoot up until the Nascent Soul Stage. After she reached Nascent Soul Stage, there would be no more extra boost. To be clear, what she had cultivated in ten bitter years was much more than this. What just returned was not even a tenth of what was stolen.

So where did the rest go?

Li Shuang knew the answer.

The Devil Seed.

It had already taken the rest in advance. Now it would carry that power to find a new Host. Since Li Shuang’s value had not been fully squeezed dry, once it found a Host, the next target for parasitizing would most likely still be her. Yet before it turned into a True Devil, the Parasitic Devilspawn could not be fully expelled. [How do I break this?]

Ye Zhao Zhao hovered near death.

The System watched coldly, not sad at all, even a bit pleased. It had thought it would need to leave the sect to set up Ye Zhao Zhao’s death. Instead, Ling Xu was cruel. One palm left Ye Zhao Zhao with no path to live. There was no need for extra tricks now. Her life force was already faint, and the System could leave her at once.

It looked greedily at the Sword Sect crowd. It had already picked the next Host. It would not choose anyone from Ling Xu Peak. They no longer stirred Li Shuang’s negative emotions. [She is already dead to them in her heart.] Li Shuang now cared about Lin Qing Ling and the others. But the next Host could not be too strong. Its limit was a cultivator at the Nascent Soul Stage. So it would pick among Emotionless Peak.

No one could resist the lure of gain without work. The disciples of Emotionless Peak would not be special.

When Ye Zhao Zhao’s life force weakened again, her eyes filled with fear. She used the last of her strength to roar in her mind: “System, do not you dare dump me like this. You live by stealing others’ fate. You are not something that can show its face. If I tell everyone about you, what do you think will happen?”

She could feel death coming, but she was not willing. She had crossed into this world to stand above others. She still had many tricks unused. She should not die without a sound.

The System sneered and said: “Make it public? Try it.”

It could leave her at any time now, so it had no fear. Ye Zhao Zhao’s face turned hard. She opened her mouth to speak, but a strange power stopped her. She could not say the System existed.

The System had long known this. [True Devils cannot be spoken of. Calling myself a System is just a shape I took from your memories so you would accept me.] Unless someone was one of The Strongest, they could not speak of it. A mere Ye Zhao Zhao wanted to use this to threaten him? [She has no idea how high the sky is.]

Ye Zhao Zhao tried several times and got nothing out. Despair flooded her face.

“Useless things should die,” the System said, and it left her body.

It looked over the Emotionless Peak disciples and chose Luo Ming Yue as its target. Luo Ming Yue had been the First Senior Sister. After Li Shuang came, Lin Qing Ling doted on Li Shuang, and the Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters favored Li Shuang too. [Do you really have no jealousy?] If it could stir her evil thought, it would succeed for sure.

The formless Devil Seed slipped into Luo Ming Yue’s body. She blinked, then a buzzing voice rose in her mind: “Luo Ming Yue, you were the First Senior Sister, but Li Shuang stole everything.”

“Your Master favors her. Your Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters dote on her.”

“The Sect Master even paid a huge price to open the Heart-Inquiry Platform for her.”

“Is that fair? Do you not want talent like hers?”

Luo Ming Yue stared and thought, what nonsense is this? Why is there a voice in my head? She swore in her heart: [Scram.]

The Devil Seed froze. It was born with great power to tempt, yet after all that whispering, Luo Ming Yue did not budge at all. Impossible. She must be pretending.

It decided to force a binding. As long as her mind showed the slightest flaw, binding would work. It tried without a second thought.

The answer was blazing soul fire.

The Devil Seed was stunned. What was with this woman? She truly had no jealousy at all.

A heartbeat later, its face changed. The binding had failed. Not good.

It was too late to regret. After a failed second binding, it was expelled from Luo Ming Yue’s body. The cost of failure made it reel. Its survival instinct pushed it toward the disciple with the highest chance of success.

When it came to its senses again, it was back inside Ye Zhao Zhao. It tried to leave, but before it could act, Ye Zhao Zhao bound it in an instant.

The Devil Seed fell silent.

One target with no flaws. One target full of flaws. In her own way, Ye Zhao Zhao was also quite something.

But now there was a new problem. The first binding had been to Ye Zhao Zhao. The second, to Luo Ming Yue, had failed. The third, to Ye Zhao Zhao again, had succeeded. All three binding chances were used up. And Ye Zhao Zhao was at death’s door. If she died, the seed would immediately transform into a True Devil.

Transforming while this weak was suicide. The Devil Seed almost went mad. [No. Ye Zhao Zhao must not die.]

It stopped caring about anything else and poured out its source power. Layers of black mist wrapped Ye Zhao Zhao’s body. The aura was obvious.

Faces around the Sword Sect changed.

“What is that aura?” someone whispered.

“Devil,” another said. “Demonic energy.”

People stared at the black mist and said in shock: “Ye Zhao Zhao cultivated demonic arts?”