After Escaping From Death, He Went Even Crazier By Criticizing Black Lotus Chapter 21
bySu Huan couldn’t help but ask aloud.
Liu Zhejun’s eyes instantly reddened. He said, “That is a corpse puppet refined by the demon race using his remains.”
His voice choked. “My father died protecting Liufang City. He did not defect! No one in Liufang City ever sided with the demon race! I don’t know who led them to infiltrate the Central Continent…”
Liufang City was only a small city. Although it was under the jurisdiction of the Xuanji Sect, its remote location near the border of Tingmeng Continent made it difficult to manage many affairs. Consequently, the Xuanji Sect had no idea that a change had occurred in Liufang City.
When the demon race quietly infiltrated the city, City Lord Liu was the first to notice something was wrong. He told Liu Zhejun to deliver the Spirit Nurturing Pill to Chijian.
Chijian’s true body had died ten thousand years ago, and now only a wisp of its divine consciousness remained attached to its severed beast head. To ensure its continued existence, it needed to be constantly fed Spirit Nurturing Pills.
There were many spiritual elixirs capable of breaking through realms and refining cultivation, and the random opportunities they offered were highly unpredictable. The cost of maintaining the Spirit Nurturing Pill was also extremely high. The elder of the Xuanji Sect responsible for this matter back then looked down on this costly beast head and left it in Liufang City, where the Liu family was tasked with feeding it for generations. This was considered a small benefit the Xuanji Sect provided to its affiliated territory, allowing their descendants to undergo the Illusion Dream Trial.
However, after Liu Zhejun delivered the elixir, the outside was covered in blood. The Liu family’s basement, protected by Chijian, was the only place that remained undiscovered during the demon race’s massacre of the manor.
At some unknown point, the entire city fell under the demon race’s blockade, completely preventing any messages from being sent out.
At this point, tears streamed down Liu Zhejun’s face. “I remember flames everywhere that day. The people of the city were trapped. My father fought the demon leader to the death, but in the end, a demon tiger pierced his chest… Corpses piled up, yet not a single person betrayed us…”
Liu Zhejun covered his face, squatting on the ground and sobbing uncontrollably.
Xiao Jianming, who had been forcefully dragged along, sneered upon hearing this and couldn’t help but mock, “So you hid here alone and watched them die? How cowardly.”
Liu Zhejun broke down. “I’m not… I didn’t! I wanted to save them…”
Chijian suddenly snorted, and a faint white breath blew onto Liu Zhejun. The weak scholar’s expression, filled with grief, froze, and he collapsed, falling asleep.
He had been sent into the Heart Tribulation Illusion Dream by Chijian.
The beast head sighed mournfully. “I set up a barrier to prevent him from leaving. He is only a small Foundation Establishment cultivator; going out would only mean death. Then Liufang City would become an empty city. But I didn’t expect this to become his nightmare, causing him to lose sleep for days.”
The beast’s copper-bell-sized eyes rolled. “Let him sleep soundly now.”
Su Huan secretly wiped away tears, and Feng Jiangyue was also speechless.
After a long silence, Feng Jiangyue sighed. “The Xuanji Sect has failed Liufang City.”
The beast head exhaled heavily and snorted. “You bunch of wet-behind-the-ears brats coming here is just suicide. You should escape quickly and find an adult.” It paused, then added, “If you can take this boy with you when you leave, that would be a good deed.”
However, with the demon race sealing the city, it was likely easy to enter but difficult to leave.
Xiao Jianming suddenly asked, “Since the demon race sealed the city, who sent the message that the Xuanji Sect received?”
The beast head did not answer, instead closing its eyes, clearly unwilling to address his question.
Xiao Jianming’s face darkened, turning black as ink.
Su Huan glanced left and right, suspecting that the first thing the Black Lotus would do after being unbound was to destroy this beast head.
Feng Jiangyue frowned and asked Chijian, “How many demons are in the city? What is their strength?”
Chijian finally opened its eyes. “Three hundred demons in total. The highest cultivation is late Nascent Soul, but most are Golden Core. You must be careful of that white-furred, red-striped tiger. Its demonic fire can incinerate a Nascent Soul cultivator.”
Xiao Jianming’s face grew darker and darker.
Su Huan caught sight of him and felt a sudden panic. He quickly coughed, repeated Xiao Jianming’s question, and signaled with his eyes for the foolish beast head to stop antagonizing the Black Lotus. He’s the protagonist; you can’t beat him!
Xiao Jianming glanced at him and sighed internally, thinking how much he loved him.
Chijian snorted upon hearing this. Its two large eyes scanned them, and a flash of light crossed its vertical pupils. Its large, bristly mouth opened in a reprimand. “You brat, I wasted an opportunity for you to enter a dream! You are so infatuated with this scoundrel, but do you know that although your karmic ties are intertwined, they will not lead to a good outcome? You will die by his hand sooner or later! I advise you to immediately find a cup of Oblivion Water when you leave and cure your brain!”
Xiao Jianming looked at it with the eyes of a dead man. “Meddlesome nonsense.” He would never kill Su Huan.
Chijian snorted heavily. “You are the one full of lies. You previously…”
Feng Jiangyue suddenly looked at the two of them. Su Huan quickly interrupted the beast. “Hey, Divine Beast Grandpa, let’s not talk about these vague things. With your great divine power, you must know who that person is, right? Just tell us!”
To cover up the awkwardness, he even analyzed the situation convincingly. “Liu Zhejun said there was no one left in Liufang City. Since he didn’t send the message, it couldn’t have been the demon race, could it?”
Chijian was indeed distracted by him. It chuckled. “Wrong. It was indeed the demon race who sent the message.”
Su Huan: “?” What was going on? Calling people to beat themselves up?
The confusion on the young man’s face was too easy to read. Chijian explained, “They want to lure the Xuanji Sect disciples here, plant a demon seed in your bodies, and then release you, thereby burying the demon race’s chess pieces within the immortal sects.”
Feng Jiangyue’s face turned ugly. “No wonder they only knocked us out and didn’t kill us.”
If she hadn’t maintained her habit of never eating outside, she might have fallen into the demon race’s trap as well. Not to mention her subsequent night exploration and encounter with Liu Zhejun, who risked his life to save people.
Once a demon seed was planted in the body, the host would gradually become lost in negative emotions such as greed, anger, ignorance, resentment, hatred, and jealousy, eventually losing their mind and exploding to death.
Su Huan was secretly horrified, never expecting that the first mission he undertook since transmigrating into the book would be so difficult.
Suddenly, a voice transmission sounded in his mind: I have a way to save everyone.
Su Huan was startled and looked at Xiao Jianming. Feng Jiangyue immediately noticed, a spark of anger igniting within her. She grabbed Xiao Jianming’s collar and shouted, “What are you doing! Don’t you dare try to mislead Junior Brother again!”
The moment she saw Su Huan lying in a pool of blood, Feng Jiangyue regretted it immensely. If she hadn’t mistakenly believed that the two were truly in love, Junior Brother wouldn’t have been harmed…
From that moment on, Feng Jiangyue vowed that she must protect her Junior Brother for the rest of her life and never let him suffer any harm again.
Xiao Jianming chuckled, raising an eyebrow. “What are you afraid of, Senior Sister Feng? I merely told Senior Brother that I have a way to save everyone.”
Feng Jiangyue was completely unmoved. She gritted her teeth. “Don’t think about playing tricks to escape. Junior Brother is simple-minded and easily trusts you, but I won’t. If you dare to mislead him again, I’ll cut out your tongue!”
Su Huan said weakly, “Senior Sister, why don’t we… listen to his method first? What if he really can save all the Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters?”
Feng Jiangyue gave him a look reserved for “idiots” and sighed mournfully.
Su Huan: “…” No, he wasn’t really stupid, honestly.
The Black-Hearted Lotus might be dark-hearted, but he would rather enter the Cold Pool Sin Prison than leave the Xuanji Sect. In the end, he surely wouldn’t want to return carrying a bunch of demon seeds, right?
Xiao Jianming, hearing his words, felt a ripple in his heart. He glanced at Su Huan and compromised. “I can swear an oath.”
Only after he swore the oath did Feng Jiangyue remove the Immortal Binding Rope from him.
Su Huan asked him, “What is your method?”
Xiao Jianming calmly moved his stiff wrists and stretched his bones before slowly speaking. “The demon race poisoned us; naturally, we can return the favor, an eye for an eye.”
Su Huan’s eyes lit up. Oh, right!
Although this method was a bit underhanded, it required no effort!
The only problem was that the demon race was inherently toxic. Where could they find a poison strong enough to take them down?
Perhaps the Heavenly Dao was also assisting the Xuanji Sect. Tonight, the demon general had specially arranged a celebratory banquet to honor the Second Highness for achieving his first victory immediately after leaving the Barren Realm, successfully capturing a city belonging to the Xuanji Sect.
The Demon Race’s Second Highness sat at the highest seat, his hair styled with two small braids. His fingertips lightly stroked the raised head of the white-furred, red-striped tiger seated below him. Instantly, a deafening tiger roar echoed throughout the grand hall.
The demons below raised their cups and congratulated him in unison. “Congratulations to the Second Highness on your first victory!”
The sound traveled down the steps, like a thunderous tiger roar.
The Second Highness smiled proudly, raising his cup toward his loyal subordinates and draining it in a single, bold gulp.
If Su Huan were here, he would be astonished to realize that this person looked exactly like the Demon Lord’s son from the illusion!
Unfortunately, the ones who infiltrated were Feng Jiangyue and Xiao Jianming. The former was unaware of the illusion’s content, while the latter raised an eyebrow upon seeing a figure who had appeared in the illusion.
He wondered which people and events in the illusion were real and which were fake.
In the magnificent, gilded hall, Yin Rong put down his wine cup and was about to pick up his golden chopsticks to sample his favorite fresh fish slices when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. The chopsticks slipped from his grasp and clattered onto the table.
His pupils immediately contracted. Someone had poisoned the wine!
But he had grown up consuming ten thousand poisons. How could this poison affect him?
Crackling sounds erupted—
All the demons who had drunk the wine collapsed, clutching their stomachs in pain. They knocked over wine pots and overturned tables, plunging the celebration banquet into chaos.
Yin Rong gritted his teeth in fury, but the angrier he became, the more the pain in his stomach spread throughout his body, burning like boiling water. All his vital energy seemed to ignite. He quickly circulated his Qi to suppress the poison, but it was useless.
As he sweated blood from the pain, the white tiger beside him, sensing his agony and anxiety, suddenly glared fiercely and roared, spitting demonic flames toward a certain direction!
Xiao Jianming, who was about to take advantage of the chaos to kill, swayed and dodged the oncoming demonic flames, but this exposed his whereabouts.
Yin Rong recognized him—it was the detestable cultivator who hadn’t eaten anything at the banquet, stole something, and then vanished without a trace!
“Damn human cultivator, how dare you disrupt my banquet… Big White, tear out his throat!”
Xiao Jianming stood calmly in place, neither dodging nor evading the pouncing white tiger. Just as the tiger’s fangs were about to touch his flesh, a long sword pierced the tiger’s neck from the side!
The white tiger roared in pain. Yin Rong’s eyes were splitting with rage. “Big White!”
Xiao Jianming smiled and bowed to Feng Jiangyue. “Thank you for saving me, Senior Sister.”
Feng Jiangyue snorted coldly. “If you want to die, don’t do it in front of me. I won’t save you next time.”
At the same time, several wisps of demonic energy emerged from the white tiger, forming a vortex on the ground!
Yin Rong stared intently at Xiao Jianming’s face, hating him. “Damn human cultivator, next time I will slice you into a thousand pieces and make you into a side dish for wine!”
A vortex of demonic energy also appeared beneath him, and he vanished instantly.
Feng Jiangyue was startled. “Oh no, they escaped!”
Xiao Jianming stopped her. “No need to chase.”
He had seen the Demon Lord use the same spell in the illusion.
Thinking of this, he frowned. Could the Demon Lord have also infiltrated the Central Continent?