Demonic Cultivator: Immune To Common Side Effects - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Daoist Brother, Where Did You Get That Golden Body Dharma Idol?

The three Senior Brothers wore ferocious expressions, their Daoist robes stained with blood.

Bestial growls rumbled from their throats as they eyed the trembling boys and girls huddled in the corner, their tender flesh igniting their savage hunger.

“These medicinal dregs aren’t quenching our thirst anymore. We need something fresh.”

“Come on out, little ones! Let’s go have some fun!”

One of the Senior Brothers reached out, beckoning the children hiding behind a water vat.

When a little girl hesitantly extended her hand, the Senior Brother snatched her out.

“Hahaha! This little girl is mine!”

The other two swarmed forward, seizing the newly arrived “retainers.”

Inside the house, Li Yan watched the scene, remembering Xin Zhi’s warning: Don’t open the door tonight!

Just as Li Yan restrained the urge to intervene, the captured girl in the courtyard suddenly flashed a sinister grin.

“Come on, let’s play.”

“Huh?!”

The bloodthirsty Senior Brother abruptly felt the little girl in his grasp grow unnaturally heavy.

Before he could react, she had clambered onto his back, becoming a crushing weight that forced his knees to buckle slightly.

“You… you little brat! How can you be so heavy?”

“No… something’s wrong! Get off me, you little demon! Get off me now!”

The bloodthirsty Senior Brother panicked. No matter how he pulled or yanked, the little girl clung tightly to his back, as if bound to him by some kind of spirit.

His two fellow disciples were similarly pinned down by the other children, their clinging forms completely binding them.

Inside the Stone Workshop Hall, Li Yan and Xin Zhi peered through the cracks in the window, witnessing the scene outside.

Li Yan recognized the creatures. After rummaging through his memories, he blurted out, “Bound Skins! How did these things infiltrate the Stone Workshop Hall?”

“Wait a minute,” Xin Zhi said. “The children were fine this morning. It must have happened after Master left and night fell. The Bound Skins must have swapped them out.”

Bound Skins were grotesque monsters that roamed the Mountain of No Return, obsessed with acquiring the skins of the elderly and children. They often disguised themselves as old women or children by the roadside, begging passersby for help. The moment anyone approached, the Bound Skin would latch onto them without hesitation, clinging like stubborn scabies that couldn’t be shaken off.

Once mounted, a Bound Skin’s body would become heavy and oppressive, crushing its host beneath its weight. Simultaneously, root-like tendrils would sprout from its underside, piercing the victim’s back. Like parasitic plants, these roots would slowly drain the host’s life force.

Li Yan stood by the window, witnessing the scene firsthand.

The children riding on the backs of the senior brothers had tree root-like growths sprouting from their navels, piercing into the flesh of the senior brothers’ backs.

Glug… glug…

The fleshy roots were visibly draining the Bound Seniors’ Blood Qi.

Li Yan gasped at the sight.

With Old Daoist Xuanwang gone, Tranquil Void Temple had become a breeding ground for malevolent spirits.

All manner of demons, ghosts, and monsters had gathered!

The retainers of Stone Workshop Hall had inexplicably transformed into Bound Skins. Fortunately, Li Yan hadn’t ventured outside and hadn’t opened the door to these imposters posing as children.

Otherwise, he would have been the one ridden by these Bound Skin children.

His three senior brothers writhed in agony, desperately trying to scream, but small hands clamped over their mouths.

The Bound Skin children perched on their backs, their flesh-roots parasitically entwined with their seniors, let out a chorus of eerie giggles.

“Onii-chan in the room, come out and play!”

“Let’s play horsey and war together!”

“Giddy-up!”

This bizarre and grotesque scene unfolded in the courtyard of Stone Workshop Hall.

Three senior brothers, mouths muffled by Bound Skin children, wept tears of blood.

The Bound Skins rode their living steeds toward Li Yan’s side chamber.

Inside, Li Yan frowned deeply. Three Bound Skins parasitizing his senior brothers weren’t simply the sum of their individual strengths—their combined power was far greater!

Thankfully, he had foreseen this and plastered the chamber with Evil-Suppressing Talismans. Relying on this fortified room, he might still stand a chance.

Li Yan formed the Burning Lamp Technique hand seal with his left hand and raised his Ebony Sword with his right, bracing himself for the impending assault.

Outside the door, a Bound Skin rode atop his Senior Brother, relentlessly battering the wooden barrier. The yellow talisman affixed to the door pulsed with crimson light, absorbing the eerie force of each impact.

“Onii-chan, come out and play!”

“Heh heh heh.”

The eerie laughter of a little girl echoed through the courtyard of Stone Workshop Hall.

Inside, Li Yan was fully prepared, his mind racing through calculations. Beside him, Xin Zhi bit her lip, lost in thought.

With each thunderous impact, the Death Yin Qi ignited the yellow talisman, engulfing it in an ethereal cyan flame. When the last talisman burned to ash, the Bound Skin would breach the door.

The commotion at Stone Workshop Hall had already drawn the attention of disciples from Tranquil Void Temple. On the upper floor of a distant pavilion within the Inner Sect, Eldest Senior Brother Mingshan and Second Senior Sister Mingyue stood with their hands clasped behind their backs, observing the unfolding events.

Senior Sister Mingyue spoke first. “Brother, it seems something’s amiss at Stone Workshop Hall. Should we go and help?”

“I never imagined these vile creatures would be so brazen as to infiltrate Tranquil Void Temple while Master is away.”

Yet Eldest Senior Brother Mingshan remained as immovable as a mountain.

Senior Brother Mingshan, with his square face, replied coldly, “There’s no need to rush. If we intervene now, the new Junior Brother won’t truly appreciate our help.”

Hearing this, Senior Sister Mingyue’s eyes lit up. “Brother, do you mean we should wait until he’s in dire straits before stepping in? That way, he’ll be eternally grateful to us.”

Standing by the pavilion railing, Eldest Senior Brother Mingshan lifted his chin, his voice brimming with confidence. “Grandmaster promised me that if I could overthrow that old coot Xuanwang, I would inherit the Tranquil Void Temple.”

“While he’s away, we siblings must prepare thoroughly!”

A fierce glint flashed in Senior Brother Mingshan’s eyes. He was no longer content to live in the shadow of others. He was determined to betray his roots and murder his Master!

But before he could act, he needed to win over a faction within the Master Sect, meticulously advancing his scheme.

“We’ll move in once that brat Mingyan’s door is breached,” Mingshan said, already envisioning the unfolding events.

The Bound Skin would smash through Li Yan’s door, and he and his Little Sister would burst in like divine warriors descending from the heavens! With a mere flick of their wrists, they could annihilate the Bound Skin, leaving the new Junior Brother with an awe-inspiring memory of their heroic rescue.

Rescued from the brink of death, the Junior Brother would undoubtedly shower them with gratitude, pledging his unwavering loyalty and devotion. He would follow them wholeheartedly, ready to lay down his life for their sake.

The thought brought an involuntary smile to Eldest Senior Brother Mingshan’s lips. He could already picture Junior Brother Li Yan trailing behind him, utterly devoted to his esteemed Senior Brother’s every whim.

Just as the siblings were reveling in Li Yan’s future gratitude for their heroic rescue, a demonic wind howled through the courtyard.

Bang!

The door to Li Yan’s room splintered open as a Three-Headed Bound Skin charged inside!

Seeing the monstrous creature storm into the room, Eldest Senior Brother Mingshan and Second Senior Sister Mingyue summoned their personal magic artifacts and leaped from the pavilion.

They soared across the rooftops, their robes billowing as they raced toward Li Yan’s room, their figures flitting like swallows.

But before they could reach him, a sudden blaze erupted within!

The Three-Headed Bound Skin emerged screaming in agony, fleeing as if pursued by some unspeakable horror. The Bound Skin creature, now possessing the child’s husk, stumbled blindly around the courtyard like a headless chicken.

“My eyes! My eyes!”

“Burning! Burning!”

The Bound Skin, trapped within the child’s body, let out piercing cries like a newborn’s wails.

Li Yan remained inside his room, knowing that the house, fortified with Evil-Suppressing Talismans, served as a safe haven. As long as he stayed within its boundaries, he was protected from the creature’s ambush. Rushing out rashly would only expose him to greater danger.

Standing at the doorway, Li Yan formed a hand seal and silently chanted: “By blood as guide, twin embers rise, Blood Fiend Demonic Shadow!”

Though his incantation spoke of evil techniques, a golden radiance emanated from Li Yan’s entire being.

A Golden Body Dharma Idol blazed into existence within the room, its radiant light blinding the Bound Skins.

The incantation was clearly for the Blood Fiend Demonic Shadow, yet what materialized was a Golden Body Dharma Idol.

The spell was supposed to ignite Li Yan’s own blood, but with the reversed side effect, it instead set aflame the blood of the Bound Skins and his Senior Brothers.

Using the blood Qi of others to fuel his spells was simply too exhilarating!

Li Yan realized that the higher the enemy’s level, the longer they burned.

If not for the golden light from the Dharma Idol blinding the Bound Skins, they might have turned and fought him to the death.

Fortunately, the Golden Body Dharma Idol inherited a key feature of the Burning Lamp Technique: just as the Burning Lamp Technique illuminates the Demonic Shadow to obscure vision, this Dharma Idol’s golden light, once inverted, could blind those nearby.

Even Xin Zhi, the girl behind Li Yan, squinted, unable to open her eyes against the dazzling radiance emanating from him.

“This…”

“A Golden Body Dharma Idol?!”

The girl narrowed her eyes, struggling to open them against the blinding light.

She sensed another aura emanating from Li Yan—Yang Qi.

“Daoist Brother… are you… are you one of them too?” Xin Zhi asked curiously, as if trying to confirm Li Yan’s identity.

Li Yan was too busy dealing with the Bound Skins to think clearly, so he simply asked out of curiosity, “What do you mean, ‘me too’?”

“Your Living Sacrifice Golden Body Dharma Idol…” The girl trailed off, realizing Li Yan didn’t know what a Yang Sacrifice was. She explained, “Yin Offspring represents death, while Yang Sacrifice represents life.”

“Death Yin—the character ‘Yin’ means continuation.”

“Living Sacrifice—the character ‘Sacrifice’ is akin to ‘ancestral rites,’ referring to offerings to the ancestors.”

“Daoist Brother, don’t you understand?”

The girl’s words left Li Yan thoroughly confused. But he vaguely sensed that her identity might be extraordinary. How could an ordinary person know so much? Just who was she?

Just as Li Yan was about to ask her true nature, the girl spoke first, “I’ll explain in detail tomorrow. Don’t lose focus! There are undoubtedly more malevolent spirits lurking nearby.”

Outside, the Three-Headed Bound Skin let out a final, agonizing wail as they burned to ash, leaving behind only three ghostly cyan Ghost Pills on the ground.

No sooner had these creatures perished than a Demonic Wind swept through the doorway. Li Yan heard a faint scratching sound, like a wild beast sharpening its claws. At that very moment, a scream pierced the air from the rooftop.

“Big Brother, something’s wrong!”

“Master’s back!”