Demonic Cultivator: Immune To Common Side Effects - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Tonight, Don’t Open the Door for Anyone!

The girl wanted to stay overnight in his room?

Li Yan raised an eyebrow, his mind not immediately jumping to romantic conclusions. Instead, he sensed she knew something.

“Why do you want to stay in my room tonight?”

She gently pursed her pink lips, her timid gaze darting toward the window.

“With the Old Daoist gone, the Tranquil Void Temple will be… very dangerous tonight.”

Dangerous?

Her words triggered a flood of fragmented memories in Li Yan’s mind.

Hazy recollections gradually surfaced: Senior Brother Ming Zhe’s memories of how every time Old Daoist Xuanwang left the Tranquil Void Temple, a storm of bloodshed and carnage would erupt within its walls.

Or rather… a bloody feast!

With their Master away, the other senior brothers and sisters within the Tranquil Void Temple would begin to stir restlessly.

The entire temple transformed into a massive game of werewolf, where the hidden demons and monsters lurking within its walls began to emerge.

The thought sent a cold sweat trickling down Li Yan’s forehead.

Dusk was approaching, and the fading rays of the setting sun cast long shadows across the Tranquil Void Temple.

The wind had died down, and the air in the courtyard grew heavy, thick with a sense of unease.

Instantly realizing the danger, Li Yan rose, pulled open a drawer, and retrieved a stack of yellow talismans and vermilion ink.

Seizing his brush, he began to draw talismans, his strokes flowing like dragons and serpents as he swiftly inscribed scarlet Evil-Suppressing Talismans onto the yellow paper.

Li Yan owed his newfound mastery of talismans to the Nethergod Pill, which had extracted Senior Brother Ming Zhe’s memories. Now, even the most basic spells flowed from his brush with effortless ease.

“Quick! Stick these talismans on the windows and seal the door!” Li Yan instructed, his hand moving swiftly across the paper. Xin Zhi, the young girl beside him, stood on tiptoe, her face serious as she carefully affixed the yellow talismans to the windowpanes.

Their teamwork was seamless. Yellow talismans blanketed every surface, even the ceiling, where Li Yan leaped onto the rafters to secure the last few.

By the time every inch was fortified with Evil-Suppressing Talismans, the sun had just dipped below the horizon.

Li Yan immediately extinguished the oil lamp, plunging the room into darkness. A sliver of cold moonlight seeped through the window cracks, casting a faint glow across the room.

Footsteps echoed outside the door. Li Yan warily drew his Ebony Sword, his ears straining to listen.

A child’s voice, clear and innocent, floated through the wooden barrier: “Big Brother Taoist, we haven’t had dinner yet.”

“Where’s our food?”

“It’s awfully quiet outside now. Big Brother Taoist, can you open the door and let us in?”

Judging by their voices, these must be the new retainers from Stone Workshop Hall.

Li Yan was about to respond when Xin Zhi pressed a finger to her lips, silencing him. Noticing her vigilance, Li Yan remained silent until the children’s footsteps faded into the night.

“Tonight, don’t open the door for anyone, no matter who it is.”

Xin Zhi displayed a composure far beyond her years, sparking a flicker of suspicion in Li Yan’s eyes. From the moment she arrived at Stone Workshop Hall, she had exhibited extraordinary behavior. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she was no ordinary girl.

Yet when Li Yan observed her through his Mind’s Eye, he detected nothing amiss. From that perspective, she appeared utterly unremarkable—a young girl with weak Blood Qi.

Am I overthinking this? Li Yan wondered. Is Xin Zhi simply more intelligent than average?

If she truly possessed any power, wouldn’t she have avoided being captured by the Old Daoist and turned into alchemy ingredients? If she had real strength, why would she be stuck here in Stone Workshop Hall?

Though countless questions swirled in his mind, for now, he and Xin Zhi were united in facing the long night ahead.

As dusk deepened, Li Yan faintly heard a noise. He closed his eyes and used his Mind’s Eye to survey Stone Workshop Hall. Through this inner vision, he saw several cultivators from the Blood Condensation Realm, levels five through seven, scaling the courtyard walls and entering the hall. Such strength typically belonged to senior brothers and sisters within the Tranquil Void Temple.

The intruders whispered among themselves:

“Master’s finally gone.”

“I haven’t fed in days. The worms inside me are itching like hell.”

“Heh heh heh, Senior Brothers! Doesn’t this remind you of when we were kids, sneaking into Patriarch Liu’s courtyard to steal his chickens?”

The trio slipped into Stone Workshop Hall like a pack of chicken thieves. But their target wasn’t poultry; it was a group of Retainers, carefully cultivated as living alchemy ingredients.

The three Senior Brothers swaggered into the hall and seized the slumbering Retainers. Then came the raw feast. Like untamed savages, they tore into the flesh with their bare hands and teeth, laughing as they ate, transported back to their childhood chicken-stealing days.

Even as they reminisced about herding cows, blood smeared their mouths as they chatted and savored their gruesome meal. To them, killing a person was no different than butchering a chicken. Devouring a Retainer for nourishment was utterly commonplace.

Observing this scene with his Mind’s Eye, Li Yan secretly raised his hand and began siphoning off their Blood Qi. Three thin crimson threads surged forth invisibly, reaching across the wooden door to steal the vitality from the three Senior Brothers dozens of paces away.

Strike first to gain the advantage. Drain their Blood Qi before they get any ideas about targeting me.

Li Yan’s foresight had proven correct.

After draining several retainers, the three Senior Brothers remained utterly unsatisfied.

“Damn it, why am I getting even thirstier?”

“Senior Brothers, are you feeling this too?”

“It’s bizarre. We’re supposed to be replenishing ourselves, but the Insect Gu inside us are going haywire, making my skin crawl.”

The three scratched their heads, the eggs of the parasitic insects in their flesh beginning to stir restlessly.

Beneath their skin, countless worm-like larvae writhed visibly.

The sight made Li Yan’s own skin itch.

If the side effects hadn’t been reversed, I’d be infested with these Insect Gu myself, he thought, a chill running down his spine.

Having had their Blood Qi stolen by Li Yan, the three Senior Brothers felt their mouths and throats parched.

“Senior Brothers, maybe we should…”

One of them cast a sinister glance toward Li Yan’s private chamber.

“…eat the new Junior Brother?”

“What do we tell Master when he returns?”

The other two hesitated, but the schemer countered, “What’s there to fear? The Tranquil Void Temple is so vast—who’s going to trace it back to us?”

“Besides, draining these useless retainers isn’t quenching our thirst at all.”

The Senior Brother who had proposed the wicked scheme began scratching his chest incessantly, the Insect Gu within him writhing and itching unbearably.

The other two exchanged glances and grinned widely. “Right! Let’s have some fun first!”

Unbeknownst to them, Li Yan, hidden inside the room, had already formed the hand seals, ready to unleash the Bloodline Burning Lamp Technique at a moment’s notice.

His right hand was locked in the seals, while his left palm continued to drain Blood Qi from the three Senior Brothers.

If they dared to enter the room, Li Yan would happily turn them into living lanterns!

Just as the blood-soaked Senior Brothers, their humanity long gone and their features twisted into monstrous parodies, were approaching Li Yan’s door, they noticed a group of new Retainers huddled in a corner outside.

“Look, Senior Brother, some fresh little brats over there.”

“They look nice and tender. Shall we grab them for a snack?”

The three Senior Brothers leered maliciously. “Hey kids, come over here!”

Watching them advance on the children in the corner, Li Yan frowned.

Should I intervene?

As he hesitated, Xin Zhi’s warning flashed through his mind:

Tonight, do not open the door for anyone!

In that instant, he abandoned the thought of going outside.

That single decision saved Li Yan’s life.