novelapdf Chapter 198 A Beauty for Day and Night?
Chapter 198 A Beauty for Day and Night?
"A substitution technique?"
Jiang Mu waved his hand to disperse the black ash and blood mist that filled his vision, then frowned as he looked at the empty ground.
This sixth-tier, perfected demonic cultivator is quite skilled.
They even resorted to amputating their arm as a means of survival.
Although he wasn't able to kill it completely, Jiang Mu knew that this demonic cultivator had forcibly used the "Blood Demon Disintegration Technique," sacrificing at least half of his cultivation and original essence blood.
He sheathed his Blood Frenzy Blade and his gaze fell upon the two black-clad female demons not far away.
These two female demons had long since lost their human form.
Tormented by both poison and fear, their lower bodies had begun to reveal half of their original form, showing two thick, scaly snake tails that writhed helplessly in the ground.
Clearly, these two women are snake demons.
Jiang Mu walked up to them and asked Chu Lingzhu, "Is there any way to make them a little more lucid and able to speak?"
Chu Lingzhu opened her small medicine box, took out a few flower petals, and handed them to Jiang Mu, saying:
"Here, this. Try chewing it a few times and then spit it out to them. If you don't like it, I'll do it."
"No, I'll do it."
Jiang Mu didn't want his little female doctor to have someone else chew up her juice and spit it out.
Women are not allowed either.
He took the flower petal, chewed it twice, and walked up to one of the female snake demons.
"Pooh!"\
He spat the chewed flower petals, along with the medicinal juice, into the snake demon's mouth.
However, the moment the female snake demon came into contact with the medicinal liquid that Jiang Mu spat out, her body convulsed violently as if she had been electrocuted.
Immediately afterwards, her eyes rolled back, and she let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Then.\
His head lolled to the side, and he fell completely silent.
It couldn't even maintain its human form in its upper body, transforming completely into a giant snake over three meters long.
"..."\
Jiang Mu looked at the dead snake on the ground and silently turned her head away.
He looked at Chu Lingzhu with a speechless expression.
Chu Lingzhu gave an awkward laugh and stammered an explanation:
"This...this...this might be an accident..."
"My antidote formula is still in the experimental stage, so it might not be very effective against demons."
Helpless, Jiang Mu walked towards another female snake demon.
Although this snake demon had also inhaled the poisonous gas, it seemed to be in less pain than its companion, perhaps because its cultivation was slightly higher or it had inhaled less.
Jiang Mu continued spitting out the medicine.
Fortunately, the snake demon regained some of its senses and rationality.
Jiang Mu pressed the tip of the knife against the other man's neck, her voice filled with chilling killing intent:
"Tell me, where did you come from?"
"If you dare utter even a single lie, I'll skin you alive and turn you into snake soup right now."
The snake demon's mental defenses had long since crumbled.
He stammered:
"We...we are maids under Lady Painted Skin..."
"The Painted Skin Lady?"
Upon hearing this name, Jiang Mu's heart skipped a beat.
He recalled that when he was investigating a case in Yancheng, the female snake demon had used the art of skin-changing to break through and improve her cultivation level.
As a result, Ling Ye ruined the plan.
Later, on his way to Yancheng, he encountered the female snake demon again.
The other person formed a mortal union with a ghost in an abandoned temple, only to be ultimately killed by his own hands.
The ghost cultivator who cultivated the corpse seems to be one of Lady Painted Skin's subordinates.
To verify his hypothesis, Jiang Mu continued to press for answers.
And the answer was indeed so: the ghost cultivator was a subordinate of the Painted Skin Lady, who had taught the Painted Skin Technique to the Snake Mother for her breakthrough.
Jiang Mu was surprised.
After going around in circles, the cause and effect have unexpectedly come full circle.
"So, what exactly brought you here tonight?" Jiang Mu pressed.
However.\
Before the snake demon could answer, a blush suddenly appeared on her face.
Immediately afterwards.
His body stiffened, and his eyes rolled back.
A stream of black, poisonous blood spilled from her mouth, and she breathed her last.
It revealed the complete form of a large snake.
Jiang Mu looked at Chu Lingzhu beside her.
"Cough cough..."
Chu Lingzhu coughed twice and chuckled dryly, "At least you asked a few questions, right?"
"..."\
Jiang Mu said speechlessly:
"Next time, could you please develop the real antidote first before tinkering with these strange and unusual poisons?"
What if we accidentally hurt our own people?
"Okay."
Chu Lingzhu pursed her pink lips and muttered, "Just be more careful next time. Don't worry, I'm measured."\
The girl's eyes suddenly lit up, and she ran over to pick up the two black bows that had fallen to the ground.
"This is pretty good."
Chu Lingzhu played with the two bows with obvious delight, and said with a grin,
"Master, are you giving me these two bows? I'll take them back and modify them; they'll be my and Rou'er's weapons for self-defense from now on."
I'll coat it with my newly concocted poison; I guarantee it'll hit its mark every time.
"Do as you please, just don't poison yourself."
Jiang Mu walked to the two snake demon corpses, swung his knife, cut open their abdomens, and took out their demon cores.
He absorbed all the demonic energy and then threw it into his storage ring.
After dealing with these matters, Jiang Mu's gaze fell upon the frost moon high above the ancient tree, radiating a soft white light.
Tan Shang. \
"That demonic cultivator just said that the flowers can't be picked for another half hour. Is that reliable?"
Jiang Mu stroked her chin, asking with some doubt.
Chu Lingzhu frowned slightly, pondering as she said:
"What he said...makes some sense. However, I don't know whether there's demonic blood or malevolent energy on this tree."
Jiang Mu walked to the ancient tree and gently placed her palm on the trunk.
Close your eyes and perceive carefully.
A moment later, Jiang Mu opened her eyes, a hint of surprise flashing in them.
"Something is definitely not right." He withdrew his hand and said in a deep voice, "There's a trace of malevolent energy remaining inside this tree trunk."
Jiang Mu was somewhat puzzled.
Logically speaking, trees and flowers, being spiritual creatures of nature, would quickly lose their vitality if splashed with filthy demonic blood.
Not to mention that it blooms with such a rare and wonderful flower.
Moreover, this malevolent aura seems to have lingered for a very long time, not something that was recently added.
"Could there be some secret hidden beneath this tree?"
Jiang Mu secretly speculated.
Unfortunately, he had already used up his [Divination of Spiritual Light] ability for the day while searching for this girl.
Otherwise, we could investigate further.
"It seems he wasn't lying to us."
Chu Lingzhu said helplessly, "Then let's wait another half an hour."
……\
Half an hour felt exceptionally long in the silent mountain forest.
Once she was certain the demonic blood and malevolent energy were gone, Chu Lingzhu immediately took out a specially made shovel, dug it off along with some bark, and placed it in a specially made wooden box.
"Done!"
The girl hugged the wooden box, her face beaming with joy and excitement.
However, the very next second after the Frosty Moonflower was plucked, a strange noise suddenly came from a crack in the tree trunk.
From the hollow where the frost-covered moonflower had once grown, a stream of black blood oozing out began to seep out, emitting a pungent, fishy odor.
Black blood spread rapidly downwards along the texture of the tree bark.
Wherever it passed, the tree bark instantly withered and carbonized, emitting plumes of white smoke.
Chu Lingzhu was so frightened that she backed away while clutching the box.
Jiang Mu pulled the girl behind him, simultaneously drawing his Blood Mad Blade and staring warily at the bleeding, withered tree.
"What the hell is this thing?"
Jiang Mu frowned deeply.
After flowing black blood for a while, it gradually stopped.
There were no terrifying scenes of monsters emerging from the trees.
Silence returned to all around.
Jiang Mu hesitated for a moment, then cautiously stepped forward.
He tentatively inserted the knife into the crevice of the tree trunk, which was oozing black blood. He had only gone in about an inch when he felt it meet against a hard object.
The texture wasn't wood, but rather some kind of metal or stone.
"Is there something inside?"
Jiang Mu's heart skipped a beat.
With deft stroke, he sliced along the edge of the tree hole, removing a piece of withered bark and revealing what was hidden inside.
With a gentle flick of the knife tip, it was lifted.
"Clatter."
A hard object stained with black blood fell to the ground at his feet.
Jiang Mu brushed away the mud and black blood on top.
It was actually a jade pendant!
Jiang Mu picked up the jade pendant and examined it carefully.
To his astonishment, he discovered that the design on this jade pendant was exactly the same as the one Tang Guixin had given him before!
No, there is still a slight difference.
On the back of the jade pendant that Tang Guixin gave him, in the center, was carved a small character "西" (west).
On the back of the jade pendant he had just picked from the tree trunk, in the same spot, was carved the character "东" (East).
"thing?"\
Jiang Mu stared at those two words, her mind racing.
East, South, West, North?
Could it be that there are four jade pendants in total, forming a complete set of magical artifacts?
Jiang Mu was completely baffled.
He took out the mysterious bronze mirror he had obtained deep within the dragon's lair and tossed the jade pendant onto its surface.
Just like the previous jade pendant with the character "西" (west).
The moment the jade pendant touched the mirror, the originally hard bronze surface rippled like water.
The jade pendant passed through the mirror without any obstruction.
It slowly sank into the inner space of the bronze mirror.
Jiang Mu stared intently.
The jade pendant bearing the character "东" (East) floated silently in the void inside the mirror.
The jade pendant with the character "西" (west) that had been sucked in earlier was on the opposite side.
The two jade pendants stand opposite each other, facing each other in the emptiness deep within the mirror, seemingly forming a strange opposing magnetic field, with a faint light flowing and connecting between them.
As Jiang Mu was carefully observing, the previously dull bronze mirror suddenly burst forth with a blinding light.
Jiang Mu instinctively closed her eyes.
Once the light faded somewhat, I looked in the mirror again.
The mirror that had been reflecting his face now showed a woman's face.
Most of her face was obscured by a hazy, swirling mist, making it impossible to discern her facial features.
The only thing clearly visible was a pair of eyes.
It is pure and clear, without any impurities.
It's like the purest glacial lake in the sky, deep and ethereal.
One glance is enough to draw you in, as if your very soul is being sucked into those eyes.
Jiang Mu stared blankly, her mind reeling.
This woman is
who?\
The clear eyes reflected in the mirror seemed to see Jiang Mu as well.
Immediately afterwards.
A melodious, ethereal sigh echoed in Jiang Mu's mind:
"Finally... I've been waiting for you..."
who?\
Jiang Mu was completely confused.
The fog in the scene grew thicker, even making the eyes appear somewhat hazy and ethereal, but the voice became clearer.
It sounded like someone was speaking right next to my ear.
"fraud."\
The woman uttered a sentence lightly.
Before Jiang Mu could recover from this inexplicable remark, a piercing pain suddenly shot through him like a red-hot dagger, stabbing deep into the depths of his mind.
Jiang Mu let out a scream.
The world before my eyes turned completely black.
"thump!"\
Jiang Mu's eyes rolled back, and she fell straight to the ground.
He fainted on the spot.
"Hey! Boss! What's wrong?!"
Chu Lingzhu, who was tidying up her medicine box nearby, was startled by Jiang Mu's sudden collapse.
The girl froze for a moment, then hurriedly rushed to Jiang Mu's side, shook him, and checked his breath with her fingers.
Once her breathing was confirmed to be stable, the girl felt relieved.
Thankfully, I'm still alive.
She didn't dare delay, immediately pulling Jiang Mu's wrist and placing three fingers on his pulse points to take his pulse.
Find out why the other person suddenly fainted.
"The pulse is steady and strong, the blood and qi are abundant, and there are no signs of poisoning or internal injury..."
Chu Lingzhu's delicate eyebrows furrowed tightly.
She bent down again and examined Jiang Mu's pupils by lifting his eyelids; everything was normal.
The man's face was somewhat pale.
"What exactly happened?"
Chu Lingzhu was completely baffled. "She's perfectly healthy, how could she just suddenly faint?"
Unconvinced, she rummaged through her small medicine box and pulled out a packet of silver needles.
Once unfolded, it revealed dozens of silver needles of varying lengths arranged neatly inside.
The girl picked up the longest silver needle, sterilized it by slightly heating it on a fire poker, and then aimed it at Jiang Mu's philtrum, Baihui acupoint, and several other highly stimulating acupoints.
It plunged in hard.
"Still not awake?!"
Chu Lingzhu was completely at a loss. "What's wrong with this guy?"
She scratched her hair in frustration.
Could it be that during the fight with that purple-robed pervert, I couldn't see any hidden injuries?
Or perhaps something went wrong with the lousy cultivation technique he was practicing.
The girl tried various acupressure points and pinching the philtrum, but Jiang Mu remained fast asleep, like a dead pig.
Helpless, Chu Lingzhu had no choice but to give up the idea of waking him up.
She pulled out the silver needles and put them away, then tucked the strange bronze mirror back into Jiang Mu's arms.
"We can't stay here any longer. The commotion we caused will definitely attract other demons or bad guys. We need to get him out of here quickly."
The girl rolled up her sleeves and walked to Jiang Mu's side, attempting to carry him on her back.
However, ideals are often grand.
Jiang Mu had practiced martial arts for a long time, and his muscular physique was truly impressive.
Chu Lingzhu, this seemingly weak and helpless little healer, even with all her might and her face turning red from strain, could only barely lift Jiang Mu's upper body a few inches off the ground.
"I'm exhausted! How come you're so heavy?"
Just as the girl was at her wit's end, not knowing what to do...
A sudden, unusually dense chorus of birds taking flight and flapping their wings came from deep within the woods on the right.
Chu Lingzhu paused, turning her head to look.
Above the dark forest, countless startled birds, like black clouds, soared into the sky and scattered in all directions.
"This is trouble."
Chu Lingzhu's eyebrows furrowed, and her expression changed.
Her intuition told her that danger was rapidly approaching.