Demonic Cultivator: Immune To Common Side Effects - Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Other Shore Flowers Bloom, a Mirage of Joy

As the stone ceiling trembled, Li Yan keenly sensed someone was bombarding the Mountain Guardian Formation.

Something must be happening outside!

Beside him, the servant boy Yao Chen hesitated briefly before reaching into his robe and pulling out a human skin map.

“Senior Brother,” he said, “there seems to be trouble above. But my cultivation base is too low—staying with you would only hold you back.”

“I drew this map myself. I’ve marked various locations within the cavern. Follow it, and you’ll reach the God’s Tomb.”

Li Yan raised an eyebrow at the proffered map. “You had this all along? Why didn’t you show it to me earlier?”

Yao Chen shyly scratched the back of his head. “I was wary of you at first, Senior Brother. But after you gave me this protective talisman, I…”

Hearing the boy’s explanation, Li Yan didn’t dwell on it.

There was no time for further discussion. He snatched the map and tossed out a Stealth Talisman.

“Find a place to hide. I’ll come back for you when I’m done.”

After tossing the Stealth Talisman, Li Yan immediately set off, abandoning any further concern for Yao Chen’s fate.

If the youth was lucky enough to survive until Li Yan emerged from the God’s Tomb, he would undoubtedly honor his promise and guide him out of the Underground Cave.

Sweeping away the distractions in his mind, Li Yan glanced at the map and committed it to memory in an instant. With his current cultivation base, perfect recall was merely a basic skill.

“Let’s go.”

Li Yan stepped onto his flying sword and sped toward the God’s Tomb.

Yao Chen watched Li Yan depart, cupping his hands in a farewell gesture. “Senior Brother, take care! You must… you absolutely must return alive.”

Only after Li Yan vanished from sight did Yao Chen’s demeanor abruptly transform, revealing a composure far beyond his years.

The youth sighed with premature weariness, “Let’s hope Li Yan doesn’t disappoint me. I trust he’ll emerge alive from the God’s Tomb.”

Ahead, the tunnels of the Underground Cave stretched wide and interconnected in a vast network.

Following the map etched in his mind, Li Yan guided his flying sword through the labyrinthine passages.

Mid-flight, Li Yan lowered his gaze to the human-skin map in his hand.

“A human skin map… Am I overthinking this? After all, there aren’t any plants in this underground cave to make paper, but corpses are everywhere. Using skin instead seems plausible.”

Li Yan couldn’t shake the feeling that Yao Chen was hiding something from him.

But what did it matter?

He’d adapt to whatever came his way. With the System’s support, even if the God’s Tomb was filled with Yin Curses and Resentful Curses, the greater the side effects, the less they mattered.

As Li Yan flew onward, his Corpse Puppet Su Mo kept pace.

Master and servant navigated the labyrinthine cave system with remarkable speed, precisely pinpointing the entrance to the God’s Tomb.

Li Yan noticed markings etched into the walls—Yao Chen’s trail markers from his time exploring the cave.

“The God’s Tomb is just ahead.”

Even from this distance, Li Yan felt a towering wave of Blood Qi crashing against him.

As he approached the tomb, the Demonic Eye at his waist transmitted its thoughts directly into his mind:

“This foolish kid thinks he can just stroll into the God’s Tomb and plunder treasure?”

“Hmph, utterly ignorant. Having never beheld the majesty of an Ancient God, he can’t possibly comprehend their terror.”

“He’ll likely lose his nerve once he reaches the tomb’s outer perimeter.”

The Cinder Annihilation Fairy, residing within the Demonic Eye, secretly mocked Li Yan’s youthful arrogance.

Ancient Gods—the most primordial beings, born from the chaos of creation’s dawn.

No sooner had the Cinder Annihilation Fairy’s mental sneer faded than Li Yan strode into the outer reaches of the God’s Tomb.

As he crossed the threshold, a wave of Blood Malevolent Qi slammed into him, accompanied by eerie laughter that seemed to emanate from the very air.

Before him lay a mountain of corpses bathed in a sea of blood.

Piles of crimson flesh loomed like macabre monuments, strewn with grotesquely mangled bodies. Yet amidst this carnage, the scarlet Other Shore Flowers—Manjusaka—bloomed in riotous profusion.

Their petals, like silken robes dyed crimson with fresh blood, unfurled in strange, windless arcs, each fold whispering of a thousand Resentful Souls descending.

The pistils, thick as congealed blood, emerged from the floral hearts like spectral hooks designed to seize souls. The pallid stems, pale as bleached bones, were entwined with dark red veins.

But atop these mounds of flower-strewn corpses, living beings remained!

A group of white-robed women, hand in hand, danced upon the blood-soaked flesh-scape, circling a Head Mound—a grisly cairn constructed of human skulls—amidst the sea of scarlet blossoms.

Their pure white robes stood out starkly against the crimson backdrop of corpses and blood.

Each woman wore a wreath of Manjusaka flowers in her raven hair.

Tireless, the white-robed women danced hand-in-hand around the Head Mound, their laughter ringing like silver bells as they performed a strange ritual reminiscent of a bonfire dance.

The scene was utterly surreal. Seemingly immune to fatigue, they whirled endlessly through the pools of blood and forests of flesh.

Their clear laughter echoed through the vast underground cave, but its incessant repetition transformed the melodious sound into a demonic cacophony that pounded in the ears.

They appeared to be enacting some kind of ritual, or perhaps trapped in an eternal illusion, destined to dance for the God’s Tomb across countless lifetimes.

Li Yan watched this bizarre spectacle, knowing that any normal person would have felt their scalp crawl with horror.

But Li Yan noticed something crucial: these white-robed women were not Blood Qi Cultivators from the Era of Dharma Decline!

They radiated spiritual energy—these women were genuine Immortal Cultivators!

This realization prompted an astonishing hypothesis.

“Qi Refining Realm, Foundation Establishment Realm, Golden Core Realm… I never imagined they’d be actual Immortal Cultivators.”

“Could they be people from tens of thousands of years ago? Have they survived until now?”

They seemed ageless and immortal, forever confined within the God’s Tomb, dancing amidst blood pools overflowing with Other Shore Flowers.

Tens of thousands of years had passed, yet none of them had aged, eternally immersed in this bizarrely cheerful atmosphere.

Near the entrance, Li Yan discovered dozens of corpses of Servant Disciples.

Their bodies had become mummified, but their faces still bore the smiles they wore at the moment of death.

This was utterly bizarre.

Li Yan was speechless, unable to find the words to describe the scene before him. The shock of witnessing it firsthand rendered any written account utterly inadequate.

From the Demonic Eye at his waist, Cinder Annihilation Fairy’s mental voice echoed:

Hmph. Even a fool would recognize the danger here.

If This Venerable One, the Sect Master of a Demonic Sect, couldn’t withstand the corruption of an Ancient God, what delusion drives a mere Dao Child to trespass upon the God’s Tomb?

Cinder Annihilation Fairy was certain Li Yan would turn tail at any moment. After all, she herself, a Great Ascension Stage cultivator, had fallen here, reduced to nothing but a single eyeball. How could this puny Dao Child possibly surpass her, a Great Ascension Immortal?

But just as she was waiting for Li Yan to embarrass himself, he stepped into the God’s Tomb right under her nose.

“Madness! Is this brat completely insane?”

Cinder Annihilation Fairy nearly blurted out a warning to the reckless Dao Child.

Even though his cultivation base rivaled that of a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, the Blood Shifting Realm of the Era of Dharma Decline was far weaker than the Foundation Establishment Realm of the Immortal Art Era.

How dared he enter the God’s Tomb with such meager strength?

Yet Li Yan not only dared, but also approached the group of dancing white-robed women for a closer look.

Cinder Annihilation Fairy’s heart pounded in her chest.

“Dao Child, stop! Don’t awaken them! You’ll be dragged into their blood-soaked revelry!”