Demonic Cultivator: Immune To Common Side Effects - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Blood as Kindling, Ignite!

Blood Token in hand, Li Yan led Senior Brother Ming Zhe and his five fellow disciples down the mountain path from Tranquil Void Temple. He acted as their overseer, watching them like a military monitor.

As they descended, Li Yan maintained constant vigilance and a safe distance. The six senior disciples walked ahead, while he trailed behind.

His reasons were twofold: first, to survey the world beyond the mountain and assess any escape opportunities; second, to let the others clear the path, ensuring he could flee at the first sign of danger.

If the sky were to fall, the six ahead would bear the brunt of it!

According to Old Daoist Xuanwang, as long as Li Yan held the Blood Token, his senior brothers and sisters wouldn’t dare defy him. If the token shattered, they would all perish instantly—a collective punishment.

Up ahead, Senior Brother Ming Zhe occasionally glanced back, a fawning smile plastered on his face. “Junior Brother,” he asked, “aren’t you curious about our destination?”

Li Yan kept a safe twenty paces between them, his expression cold and devoid of emotion. He simply uttered a single word: “Speak.”

Ming Zhe saw this as an opportunity to curry favor with Li Yan.

Li Yan immediately raised the Blood Token, feigning as if he were about to snap it in half.

Ming Zhe and the others reacted as if facing a formidable enemy, frantically raising their hands to signal Li Yan not to act rashly.

“Calm down, Junior Brother!” Ming Zhe pleaded. “I’ll back away immediately!”

Watching their reaction, Li Yan inwardly marveled at the power the Blood Token held over these six individuals’ lives.

These senior brothers and sisters were forced to tread carefully around him, and the sensation of controlling their fates felt strangely exhilarating.

This rare opportunity, if handled skillfully, could be his best chance to escape Tranquil Void Temple!

When Li Yan slowly lowered the Blood Token, the six before him finally breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Senior Brother Ming Zhe resumed his obsequious smile. “Junior Brother, our destination is Cliff Village.”

“Many senior brothers who ventured there before never returned.”

Li Yan maintained his cold, aloof demeanor, his voice icy. “Tell me, what mission did Master assign us?”

Senior Brother Ming Zhe swallowed hard. “We can return to the Master Sect… as long as we bring back one survivor from Cliff Village.”

“Is that all?” Li Yan raised an eyebrow, sensing that the mission was far more perilous than its simple description suggested.

Noticing Li Yan’s curiosity, Ming Zhe stepped forward, eager to launch into a torrent of words. “Junior Brother, let me tell you about that village…”

“Stop!” Li Yan interrupted, brandishing the Blood Token as Ming Zhe advanced. “If you make another rash move, I’ll snap this token in half. Three strikes and you’re out—I mean it!”

Li Yan had seen through Senior Brother Ming Zhe’s scheme entirely. The senior brother had been waiting for Li Yan to lower his guard, hoping to snatch the Blood Token from his grasp.

After several failed attempts, cold sweat beaded on Ming Zhe’s forehead. He hadn’t expected this newcomer to be so vigilant. Realizing that seizing the Blood Token was nearly impossible, he abandoned his obsequious smile.

“Junior Brother, you and I are both clever men.”

“Going to Cliff Village is practically a death sentence. Why don’t we take a gamble and try to escape this Mountain of No Return instead?”

Li Yan raised an eyebrow. “Why should I trust you? Don’t forget what happened to Senior Brother Ming Che. He fled last night, only to return at dawn as a soulless walking corpse.”

“Besides,” Li Yan said, “Master has placed Tracking Restrictions on all of you. Where do you think you can escape to?”

Li Yan clearly knew exactly what he was doing and what his purpose was. He was merely scouting the situation at the foot of the mountain to prepare for the future. His current strength was insufficient to flee this place.

Seeing that they couldn’t persuade Li Yan, Ming Che and the other five resigned themselves to their fate, steeling their resolve as they trudged toward Cliff Village. They had never anticipated that this young Li Yan would be so shrewd, making him impossible to deceive.

The six whispered conspiratorially, “This kid’s too clever. He didn’t fall for any of our tricks.”

“What do we do? Are we just walking to our deaths in Cliff Village?”

“He only recently joined Tranquil Void Temple and doesn’t have any cultivation base yet. Let’s find a way to kill him.”

“We’ll take him out during the chaos when we enter Cliff Village!”

Unbeknownst to Ming Che and the others, Li Yan had already reached the third layer of the Blood Condensation Realm by absorbing Blood Qi. The senior brothers and sisters still regarded him as an ordinary person without a cultivation base, secretly communicating through small-scale voice transmissions.

Unbeknownst to them, Li Yan had overheard every word of their hushed conversation.

He decided against killing them, his mind already occupied with the Bloodline Burning Lamp Technique. He planned to use these six disciples as experimental subjects.

Since they plotted my demise, they must be prepared to meet theirs.

A ruthless glint flashed in Li Yan’s eyes. His right hand, concealed within his long sleeve, subtly formed a hand seal, ready to react to any sudden developments.

After walking eastward along the mountain path from Tranquil Void Temple for an hour, Cliff Village came into view—a mountain village nestled against a cliffside, shrouded in mist among the towering peaks.

This must be the place they called Cliff Village.

Master had ordered them to retrieve a villager from Cliff Village and bring them back to the Master Sect.

Could they be planning to use a villager as an alchemy ingredient?

But if it were just an ordinary villager, why go to such lengths, dispatching so many disciples for this task?

As Li Yan surveyed Cliff Village, everything appeared remarkably normal.

Villagers toiled in the terraced fields carved into the mountainside, while woodcutters and hunters moved along the dirt paths through the village.

Cliff Village looked exactly like the ancient mountain villages Li Yan had imagined.

He turned to Ming Zhe and asked, “Master told us to grab someone from here. Does it matter who we take?”

Senior Brother Ming Zhe pointed toward the village. “Exactly. As long as we bring one person from Cliff Village back, we can return and complete our mission.”

Li Yan maintained a safe distance, waving his sleeve and raising the Blood Token.

“If that’s the case, let’s finish this quickly.”

At his command, Ming Zhe and the other five exchanged glances, communicating through secret voice transmissions.

“We’re going all in! Charge into Cliff Village!”

“We need to create chaos, lure the villagers out, and give ourselves a chance to survive!”

The six gritted their teeth, hastily devising their strategy through covert whispers.

Their loud, conspiratorial behavior amused Li Yan, a third-level Blood Condensation Realm cultivator. He quietly watched them rush into Cliff Village.

The moment they stepped into the village, a mysterious mist began to envelop the once-peaceful mountain hamlet. Dark clouds swirled overhead, abruptly obscuring the sun.

At the village entrance, an old woman’s neck snapped backward with a loud crack, her eyes fixed on the intruders.

A piercing, inhuman screech erupted from her throat, a sound no living person could produce.

“Outlanders!”

Her cry ignited the villagers like a fuse. They surged forward in monstrous forms, their eyes glowing with an unnatural light.

The scene brought a term to Li Yan’s mind: Painted Skin Pseudo-Humans!

Senior Brother Ming Zhe and the others exchanged glances, herding the pseudo-humans toward Li Yan.

They hoped to create chaos, but Li Yan found their efforts utterly laughable.

Without hesitation, he pressed two fingers together, formed a hand seal, and silently chanted the incantation: “By blood as kindling, ignite!”