As expected, fire attribute techniques were the most effective means of dealing with poisonous Qi.
Han Li stood in place as he felt hot winds blow against him. A strange expression stirred in his eyes as he stared at the stone platform while the smoke cleared away. When he eventually saw what was there, he felt his heart jump and he dryly swallowed as a shiver went down his spine.
There was a human-shaped silhouette on the platform that remained still, and it was unknown whether it was still alive.
Although it could be said to be human-shaped, there was dense green fur covering its body. Additionally, it smelled very much like a rotting corpse.
Although he didn’t see what it truly was, it was absolutely not human.
Like its human form, it had only one arm, but this arm was much longer and had pitch-black claws. This was clearly what had attacked Han Li earlier.
What was even more notable were the many chains that wrapped around its body. Not only did they bind its legs and arm, but it also pierced through its chest and back. It had been entirely restrained.
Without much further thought, Han Li pointed to his flying swords and had them pierce into the monster.
As a result, a series of muffled clangs sounded out. The green fur had repelled them without harm.
Han Li wryly smirked, but he didn’t feel particularly surprised. Given what heavy restrictions the monster was subjected to, Han Li would’ve been somewhat astonished if that had actually cleaved off its head. It couldn’t have possibly been that simple.
Han Li waved to the swords and had them fly back towards him. He then took a few steps forward and lightly flung his sleeve towards the green haired monster. At that moment, an azure mist of light shot out form Han Li’s sleeve and gently enveloped the monster, resulting in it dropping to the floor with its true appearance revealed.
With its hair parted, it was revealed to have only skin and bone as if it were a dried up skeleton. Its half open mouth had a pair of inch long fangs emerging from it, making for a frightful appearance.
“This is...” Han Li glanced at the green fur on the body and took another look at its face. It faintly felt familiar as if he had seen it before in a jade slip.
After lowering his head in contemplation, its name suddenly appeared in his head. He couldn’t help but raise his head and frightfully shout, “Cadaver Demon!” He suddenly recalled the fearsome legends of this vicious spirit from times of antiquity.
“Cadaver Demons” were a type of Jiangshi. However, it was greatly different from cultivator refined corpses and ordinary Jiangshi that naturally rose from deep within the earth. It only appeared under extremely rare and specific circumstances.
Although no one knew of the method by which this fearsome spirit took form, there were two main conditions that a Cadaver Corpse required to take form.
First, there must be a corpse of a Nascent Soul cultivator at the very least. Corpses of mortals and inferior cultivators weren’t sufficient for a cadaver demon to form. Secondly, the corpse must have heavenly spirit roots that are either wood or earth attribute. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be able to draw support from nature to rise once more.
In addition to this, the cultivator must’ve died harboring immense grievances. With the soul unwilling to return to the path of reincarnation, it is retained by the corpse. As time passed by with some other unknown conditions fulfilled, the soul and corpse would fuse together to form the monster known as a Cadaver Demon.
The monster could be said to be half human and half Jiangshi as well as half Jiangshi and half ghost.
Not only did it lack the fatal weakness of sunlight that ghost demons and Jiangshi possessed, but it also possessed most of its memories and techniques from when it was alive. And because it died harboring grievances, this fearsome spirit was undoubtedly bloodthirsty. They were particularly fond of hunting down cultivators and slowly torturing their souls with corpsefire for their amusement as they feasted on them.
It had been ages since the last Cadaver Demon had appeared in the cultivation world.
Chapter 613: Transformation
Recalling the stories about the Cadaver Demon’s incredibly durable body, Han Li felt slight dejection. According to the rumors, he could only use true fire to slowly burn the corpse or extract the soul and seal it.
The Cadaver Demon clearly wasn’t dead. It was merely restrained for the time being by the unknown golden talisman. He reckoned it would take quite a while before the Cadaver Demon would be able to recover its strength.
With that thought, Han Li’s gaze fell onto the jade box at the corpse demon’s side. Since it had suppressed the Cadaver Demon and still hadn’t burned to ash, it must be a seal of sorts.
From how closely related the jade box was to the Cadaver Demon and the golden talisman that sealed it, it stands to reason that the box must’ve contained the Cadaver Demon’s soul.
But in that case, why was the the Cadaver Demon able to control its body? It had also managed to nearly deceive Han Li into opening the jade box with its great intelligence. Could it be that the soul extraction was incomplete and that a remnant of the soul remained inside her body?
Also, why did the Cadaver Demon have a jade spirit well in its possession? Did it acquire it after it was trapped?
As Han Li was puzzling over this, he frowned and sank into deep thought.
After a short moment, Han Li bluntly tossed the useless question away and began to look around for a way to leave.
He would need to be at least at the Nascent Soul stage to be able to burn away the Cadaver Demon with true fire. Additionally, it would take several months at the very least. Even if Han Li had the cultivation to do so, he wouldn’t waste the time or effort on such a fruitless task.
He’d rather just get as far away from here as possible and have the Cadaver Demon continue to remain in isolation.
As for any unwitting cultivators in the future that wandered in here? That wasn’t any of his business.
As for whenever the Cadaver Demon escaped from here, the great sects nearby could deal with it instead.
But in the end, Han Li’s gaze fell onto the jade box once more.
After glancing at the jade box with the golden talisman several times, he hesitated for a moment before taking it into his hand. Afterwards, he placed it into his storage pouch with an unchanged expression.
The golden talisman on the jade box had released truly peculiar talisman characters. He planned on giving it a proper examination later on.
As for whether or not he would open the box, that decision would be left for once he finished condensing a Nascent Soul. At that point, he would be completely safe from any harmful spirit it may contain. With the Divine Devilbane Lightning, the Weeping Soul Beast, and a Nascent Soul cultivation, he would have nothing to fear.
Han Li waved the jade scepter in his hand and the light barrier around him suddenly disappeared, revealing the yellow wolf. He intended on having it use the earth movement technique to open a path through the stone room. The Lapis Stone was still stone after all, regardless of how rare and hardy it may be. As such, it should still be affected by the earth movement technique.
With that in mind, Han Li was about to have the wolf press onward when his expression suddenly stirred. He suddenly turned around and looked at the motionless Cadaver Demon.
After tilting his head in thought, he sighed and stepped towards it. He raised the leg of the Cadaver Demon to reveal a pit underneath it. Inside the pit was the Snowcloud Fox that was now staring up at Han Li with pitiful eyes.
Han Li faintly smiled and muttered, “You’re rather intelligent to take refuge here.”
With that said, Han Li waved his arm and an azure light reached towards the small fox.
The white fox knew that things were far from good and hastily jumped in an attempt to flee. However, Han Li’s azure light was remarkably fast and caught it in midair. The azure light quickly wrapped around the fox, before quickly bringing it into Han
Li’s grasp.
Han Li grabbed the white fox by its nape and turned around to leave the stone room.
As he walked, he unconsciously muttered, “You are quite persistent. Not only did you manage to preserve your life through that, you even managed to survive until now in the company of the Cadaver Demon. Truly inconceivable!”
“Huh? That’s... inconceivable...” Just as Han Li said that, his steps came to a sudden stop as a thought appeared in his mind.
With a greatly changed expression, he suddenly waved his arm and ruthlessly flung the white fox towards the stone wall.
In that instant, a trace of resentment appeared within the demon fox’s eyes. Those short and small limbs sharply increased in length, and it swiped its snow-white claws at his chest.
A huge clang shook the room.
In the midst of Han Li’s furious alarm, the white silhouette blurred as it was flung towards the wall. Preventing itself from being smashed, the small fox deftly rolled several times in the air and distorted its body to fall down at a corner of the room.
An ice-cold gaze appeared in its eyes, and it stood unscathed as it gazed at Han Li. Its green eyes faintly revealed a trace of disappointment.
Shaken with fear, Han Li glanced at the large hole left behind on his clothes, revealing a sparkle of green light. It was the inner armor that he had looted off of Wen Tianren.
After the Royal Scale Plate had been destroyed, Han Li had decided to replace it with this inner armor instead. Despite not knowing its name, Han Li could tell it wasn’t inferior to the Royal Scale Plate in the slightest.
Although the sly and fierce attack had caught Han Li off guard, it was naturally incapable of piercing through an armor that even common magic treasures couldn’t harm.
With his calm regained, Han Li stared at the white fox and gloomily asked, “Who are you? That morphed attack was something a low grade demon beast isn’t capable of.” At the same moment, he waved the jade scepter and tried to emit a light barrier around him.
However, he was shocked to discover the jade scepter was completely unresponsive. Han Li bewilderedly glanced at the yellow wolf to discover that it was standing in place without any changes.
Facing a powerful enemy, Han Li couldn’t further investigate this and ordered the flying swords above him to form a curtain in front of him.
With the droning flying swords protecting him, Han Li finally felt somewhat more at ease.
In the following moment, Han Li was shocked to hear human words come from the Snowcloud Fox’s mouth.
“Who am I? I’m the one who you just attacked. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about me already?” The familiar woman’s voice revealed a trace of mockery as the fox suddenly stood up on its hind legs.
In that moment, the demon beast began to transform before Han Li’s eyes.
Within a few breath’s time, the white fox grew several times its size and shed the entirety of its fur in an instant. It transformed into a gorgeous young woman with a fox’s tail. Han Li pursed his lips and could no longer keep calm. His entire face was filled with astonishment.
This woman appeared exactly the same as the black-clothed woman except for the fact that she was nude. With her ample chest bared, she glanced at Han Li and flirtatiously said, “Huh? My demon fox incarnation is not bad at all!” However, the depths of her bright eyes didn’t contain the slightest warmth.
After Han Li took a deep breath, he recovered his calm and coldly said, “That was you?” He unconsciously glanced at the stone platform and saw that the corpse demon was completely still.
With his heart relieved, he turned his sights to the newly formed woman.
It would be reasonable to say that any demon beast that could assume human form was grade eight at the very least. However, when he examined the Cadaver Demon’s white fox incarnation, he saw that it only had the cultivation of a seventh grade demon beast. Han Li felt surprise but not fear.
However, he didn’t dare to completely trust the judgement of his spiritual sense. With a solemn expression on his face, he recalled what he had read about high grade demon foxes.
Nearly all demon foxes of this level were able to fully utilize illusion techniques. Many were even capable of toying around with similar grade cultivators without their knowledge. Their gift for concealment was among the best of all demon beasts.
Previously, Han Li had felt somewhat doubtful of those words. He had managed to examine the woman with his immense spiritual sense with ease.
However, since the Cadaver Demon had the ability to transform and retain this cultivation, why wasn’t it able to take off the golden talisman of the jade box? Could it be that the demon still feared the golden talisman. Even in that case, with her cultivation, she would be able to kidnap a low grade cultivator and force them to tear it off.
As Han Li began to expressionlessly ponder, he faintly felt that the demon fox wasn’t so simple as just the Cadaver Demon’s incarnation. There was certain to be something hidden deeper.
With that thought, he regained his calm and glanced at the naked young woman before him with a trace of harsh killing intent.
Chapter 614: The Wolf's Appearance
“Regardless of whether or not you’re the Cadaver Demon’s incarnation, only one of us will be leaving alive.” With this staunch declaration, Han Li pointed to his flying swords without hesitation and had the azure sword curtain surge with light. It then transformed into a mist as it engulfed the demon fox’s corner of the room in an enormous display of strength.
When the young woman saw Han Li’s attack, she smirked and licked her luscious pink lips. With a bewitching, bone-shaking laugher, she faded away in a flash of white light.
The azure mist ended up striking nothing but the Lapis Stone wall in a series of small rings.
Han Li frowned and quickly swept his spiritual sense across the room but found no trace of the demon fox. Her concealment technique was far beyond his own.
However, Han Li still remained calm. He coldly sorted and slapped the storage pouch, taking a small silver bell into his hand.
“Go!” Han Li shouted. The small bell began to glow and instantly flew to a meter above his head.
Without the slightest delay, Han Li formed an incantation gesture with his hand and opened his mouth, releasing a breathful of azure Qi towards the small bell.
The ancient treasure flowed with light before releasing a loud clang.
Since this room was sealed, the silver bell’s sound attacks should be slightly more effective. As of that moment, the entire Lapis Stone room began to reverberate and the air within twenty meters of Han Li began to distort. Soon after, the naked woman revealed herself in a flash of white as she staggered from the attack.
Han Li rejoiced and was inwardly puzzled. The demon fox appeared weaker than common grade seven demon beasts. Was this because the Cadaver Demon had sustained damage before the incarnation took form?
With that in mind, Han Li flicked his hand without any further hesitation, shooting five streaks of azure sword Qi towards her. The meter long streaks of light penetrated through her body in an instant.
Then with a miserable scream, the woman fell to the ground as a puddle of blood began to form around her.
Han Li felt rather stunned at how easy it had been. While he was at a loss, the jade scepter in his hand suddenly grew hot and pulsed with red light as it surrounded his body in a dark-red light barrier.
Immediately after, several silver strands attacked him from a seemingly empty area. The light barrier’s sudden appearance had managed to just block them just in time.
“What!? No!”
A man and a woman’s voice shouted at the same time.
After recovering from his fright, Han Li opened his mouth and spat out an azure streak in the direction from where the silver strings were launched.
A series of alluring, soul-shaking laughs suddenly sounded out as a flash of white light appeared at another place in the room. The naked woman
appeared with her chest loosely held in her arms.
Han Li’s expression became extremely unsightly, and his gaze turned towards where the young woman had previously fallen. However, there was no longer anything there!
Han Li pursed his dry lips and sullenly said, “Illusion technique!”
The young woman widely smiled and didn’t respond. Instead, her gaze dropped down towards the yellow wolf at his side, and her face revealed a trace of astonishment.
When Han Li saw the young woman reveal this expression, his heart stirred and he glanced at the wolf as well. Afterwards, his attention turned to the jade scepter in his hand and his expression began to waver.
The light barrier blocking the fox's cunning strike wasn’t something that he had ordered. Could it be that the artifact spirit had taken the initiative to rescue him? At that moment, the mystery behind the huge silver wolf, the combined form of the red and yellow wolves, was suddenly brought to Han Li’s mind as his heart grew heavy.
The young woman twisted her slender waist and thought to say something when the jade scepter in Han Li’s hand pulsed before a red wolf emerged before Han Li in a flash of red light. As soon as it appeared, both the red and yellow wolves merged together in a dazzling display.
Han Li was deeply shocked by the scene and tightened his grip on the jade scepter, not daring to make any rash movements.
As he expected, a ring of silver light erupted from the converging yellow and red light, revealing a three-meter-tall silver wolf from within it. The wolf floated in the air as it stared at the demon fox with interest.
Although the naked woman didn’t know what the silver wolf was, for some reason she had felt her heart drop as soon as it had appeared, arousing a faint sense of foreboding. Under the stare of the huge wolf, her charming expression unconsciously froze.
It was then that she realized things were far from good for her. With raised brows and a serious expression, she spat out a pink, fragrant mist, concealing her entire body in an instant.
The pink mist quickly spread throughout the air and enveloped most of the room in the blink of an eye. Although Han Li didn’t know what purpose this pink mist had, he didn’t dare to breath it in. His expression immediately grew stern as he grabbed the spirit beast pouch at his waist.
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