Chapter 291: Torment and Retribution
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!
The sound of something ripping through the air echoed continuously in the cellar. A dense mass of red silk ribbons flew and coiled, like sharp blades, cutting through everything around them.
But the young woman, who had initially been at ease, now had a serious expression on her face, her teeth clenched as she clicked her tongue.
“To dare come here alone seeking the truth, you truly possess extraordinary cultivation!”
The ribbons, sharp enough to cut through metal and stone, bounced off the refined scholar as if they had hit an incredibly sturdy weapon. He even grabbed them and tore them apart!
Seeing him approach step by step, the young woman couldn’t help but stand up abruptly, her face dark and gloomy.
“Ordinary methods might not be able to harm him, in that case—”
Her thoughts racing, she swiped two fingers of her right hand, hidden within her long sleeve.
Lin Tianlu had just grabbed the dozen or so ribbons flying towards him when he suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet disappear, his body falling downwards.
Looking up, the circular opening in the cellar floor quickly closed, as if it had become a dark and endless cage!
“This demon truly has some tricks, no wonder those martial artists and Daoists couldn’t find anything unusual after repeated investigations.”
Was this some kind of mysterious barrier, or manipulation of space itself?
It was similar to the Soul Origin Heart Realm, yet also somewhat different, quite strange.
Lin Tianlu was about to forcibly break free from this cage when he suddenly felt his feet land on soft ground. Slightly stunned, he looked around.
The surroundings were still pitch black, but he could vaguely sense creepy and strange roars echoing, and a pungent stench filled the air, cold and damp.
Looking closely, he could see countless giant insects, like earthworms or maggots, crawling and wriggling everywhere, their bodies rubbing against each other, making a faint squelching sound.
He couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his eye.
This was truly…
Disgusting.
Glancing around, he could also see several skeletons in the corners where the worms were wriggling.
It seemed that most of the missing men had died in this hellish place. And their deaths were mostly caused by having their Yang energy completely drained, their flesh and internal organs devoured, a truly gruesome and terrifying sight.
“This is what you call… a ‘heart of a scorpion,’ right?”
…
Meanwhile, seeing Lin Tianlu fall into the trap, the young woman couldn’t help but grin ferociously.
The miasma in that cave was enough to corrode both mind and body. With no solid ground to stand on, even someone with extraordinary cultivation would be trapped inside, eventually becoming disoriented and at her mercy.
“This scholar possesses such astonishing cultivation because of his incredibly abundant Yang energy. If I could drain his essence and devour him, the taste… tsk tsk tsk!”
She twisted her fingers and chuckled sinisterly, touching the human skin mask that had unconsciously cracked and caved in on her face.
“If I can reach the Crimson Demon Realm without relying on the power of this Mend the Heavens Formation, I will completely shed this ugly and decaying body and be reborn. I’ll create a new appearance and figure, seductive enough to tempt any man in the world, and all the men under heaven will become my slaves and cauldrons!”
However—
The young woman didn’t let her guard down.
She continuously formed hand seals, casting more Yin techniques to reinforce the cage and setting up warning and escape methods around it, in case the mysterious scholar truly managed to escape, giving her more countermeasures.
Of course, she was still full of confidence.
It wasn’t that she believed her cultivation was enough to completely suppress the strange scholar, but that she had a good trump card in her hand.
“What a foolish woman.”
She chuckled coldly and hooked her finger, and a figure, bound by several silk ribbons, was lowered from above.
It was Youluo, who had disappeared earlier!
But Youluo was currently hanging in mid-air in a rather indecent posture, her eyes half-closed, her hair disheveled, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
“Looking at your arrogant and haughty demeanor when you were pulled into the illusion, strolling around and investigating as if everything was under your control, I really thought you had some amazing abilities. I didn’t expect that a small trick would be enough to trap you.”
The young woman crossed her arms, looking at Youluo’s bound and contorted body with a mocking smile: “In the end, you’re just a slut with a pretty face, who are you trying to impress with that haughty attitude?”
“Hu… I’m curious, where did you get such profound cultivation in this remote place?”
Youluo opened her eyes slightly, a faint smile appearing on her pale face: “To be able to ambush me so unexpectedly, this isn’t an ordinary Yin technique. It’s more like you’re completely controlling the space here… this isn’t something an ordinary demon or ghost can do… guh!”
A silk ribbon suddenly tightened around her neck.
Youluo’s face gradually turned red, and she struggled as if in pain, but with her limbs bound, she could only writhe and moan.
The young woman stared at her coldly: “Who gave you the audacity to speak to me in that tone?”
She spread her five fingers, and the ribbons binding Youluo’s limbs tightened, as if trying to tear her apart!
“You…! Truly barbaric—”
Youluo managed a weak smile: “But now it seems you truly hate and resent women. Did you have some unforgettable experience in the past that made you hate women and want to drain men’s Yang energy and essence?”
“Or perhaps, you’re just a promiscuous slut who, after marrying into the Li family, couldn’t keep your legs closed, seducing men everywhere, even beggars and scoundrels, and after being discovered and punished by the main wife, you became resentful, wanting to torture and kill all the women who stood in your way?”
“You’re quite perceptive.”
The young woman laughed as if angered by her words: “You and that scholar, piecing things together, actually managed to figure out my past.
You’re right, I do enjoy being intimate with men, experiencing that exhilarating pleasure. Those so-called worldly customs are nothing to me!
But I hate beautiful women even more now, especially delicate little ladies like you. If I didn’t need to keep you alive as a hostage, I would make you experience the pain of being torn apart by five horses!”
Seeing that the young woman’s charming smile was gone, replaced by a palpable and sinister jealousy, Youluo suddenly laughed.
“Truly a pure demon, with a vile personality and a chaotic lifestyle, no wonder you’re on a killing spree in this village.”
“Heh!”
The young woman chuckled coldly and pointed her finger at Youluo’s abdomen: “Looking at your smug expression, I wonder if you can still smile after I disembowel you.
Don’t worry, I won’t take your life yet. At least not before I capture that handsome scholar.”
As she spoke, a ribbon suddenly shot out from her palm, piercing Youluo’s abdomen.
“Ugh?!”
Youluo’s pupils constricted slightly, a pained expression on her face.
Seeing this, the young woman grinned ferociously as if enjoying it immensely. She curled her fingers, and several ribbons materialized, infused with Yin energy, aiming at the voluptuous body hanging helplessly in mid-air. Her eyes, filled with madness and jealousy, sparkled with delight, as if she was eager to see the beautiful woman before her completely destroyed.
Until—
The pain on Youluo’s face vanished completely, and she chuckled, exhaling a puff of green smoke towards her.
“—Wh-What is this?!”
The young woman quickly waved away the smoke and clenched her fingers, tearing off Youluo’s limbs.
But to her shock, the woman who should have been screaming in agony… was still smiling calmly.
As if mocking and ridiculing her.
“It’s truly thanks to the favorable circumstances that you, a fool, could act so recklessly in this village. A mere evil spirit daring to be so arrogant and haughty, truly laughable.”
A playful and seductive chuckle echoed softly.
The young woman’s heart skipped a beat, and she quickly turned around to see Youluo sitting on her bed with a smile.
“How—”
“I’ve been sitting here the whole time.”
Youluo casually waved her folding fan, her smile even more seductive: “Watching you play with that clay doll was quite amusing. I wanted to see what strange methods you had, but it seems you’re still so barbaric and uninteresting, not worth mentioning.”
The young woman’s eyes widened. She glanced at the broken body hanging in mid-air and realized that it was starting to melt and disintegrate, turning into dust and scattering to the ground.
“…”
“How is it? My sculpting and manipulation technique, does it have the ingenuity of a master?”
Youluo smiled and gracefully crossed her legs, the scenery beneath her skirt faintly visible, breathtakingly beautiful: “If you like, I can even sculpt a statue of you here, so the villagers can see your ‘true form,’ not this fake face you’ve created.”
“—You… deserve to die!”
The young woman’s fury erupted, her face contorted as she waved her hand, countless swirling ribbons instantly engulfing Youluo’s figure.
At the same time, she formed hand seals, drawing all the Yin energy in the cellar like a raging tide.
But at this moment, a palm print suddenly appeared on the ground beneath her feet, and a hand reached out from within.
The young woman looked down instinctively, her face filled with shock: “Wha—”
“If you don’t clean your house properly, guests can’t stay long.”
As the shattered stones and debris scattered, Lin Tianlu leaped out from the ground, and without a word, he struck out with his palm, a smile on his face.
The young woman hurriedly raised her hand to block, but in the next second, she was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing heavily into the rock wall dozens of feet away, sending dust and debris raining down.
Youluo glanced in the direction where the young woman had been sent flying and then quickly looked back at Lin Tianlu with interest: “Are you injured, Master Lin?”
“I’m fine.”
Lin Tianlu dusted off his robe: “It’s good that you’re safe, Miss. I thought you had been captured and trapped in a cage, so I specifically looked around down there.”
Youluo’s eyes flickered, and she couldn’t help but cover her mouth with a chuckle: “Thank you for your concern, Master Lin, but I’m not that easily subdued… although that demon does have some strange abilities.”
Lin Tianlu was about to continue speaking when the ground beneath their feet suddenly trembled slightly.
“Hmm?”
Both of them looked slightly surprised at the young woman who had been slammed into the wall. As the dust settled, her body seemed to be lifted and suspended by numerous threads coming from all directions.
And all those threads were coming from underground…
Boom!
The ground trembled violently again, cracks spreading rapidly.
Then, as the two of them watched in surprise, the ground beneath their feet completely collapsed, and a massive, fleshy body, like a mountain of flesh, emerged from the depths!
“What is this monstrous thing—”
Whoosh!
In an instant, the young woman, who had been suspended by the threads, was pulled into the monster’s mouth and swallowed whole.
“You… can’t escape from this forbidden zone!”
A sharp and piercing roar echoed, and the fleshy monster that had emerged from the ground wriggled, opening its deep maw filled with sharp teeth, as if trying to devour Lin Tianlu and Youluo as well.
Countless stones and debris flew around them. Lin Tianlu lifted Youluo onto his shoulder and leaped into the air. Looking at the bottomless, fleshy hole below, his gaze narrowed slightly, and he struck out at the monster with his palm, gathering his energy.
Instantly, a torrent of spiritual energy surged forth, suppressing the wriggling monster and pushing it back into the depths of the earth.
“Aaaaaaaaah!”
With an earth-shattering roar, the fleshy monster was completely crushed and disintegrated by the torrent of spiritual energy, exploding into countless pieces of flesh and scattering Yin energy.
“That’s the true form of that woman~”
Youluo, perched on his shoulder, whispered with a chuckle: “That young girl’s appearance was just a shell, that wriggling mountain of flesh is her true form.”
Lin Tianlu grinned: “When I fell into that cave earlier, I was already mentally prepared. But I didn’t expect it to be even more disgusting than I imagined.”
“There are all kinds of demons and ghosts in this world. There are beautiful and charming women, and naturally, there are also ugly and grotesque monsters.”
Youluo smiled and tapped his cheek with her finger, teasing gently: “You must stay clear-headed in the future, Master Lin, and don’t be seduced by these shallow and uninteresting demons. If you were to be intimate with such an ugly monster, you would surely regret it later.”
“I’m not that… hmm?”
Lin Tianlu raised an eyebrow and looked up at the ceiling of the cellar.
Countless cracks appeared on the ceiling, rapidly spreading, until it completely collapsed. Another massive mountain of flesh emerged, its giant maw opening to devour them!
“This thing… has other bodies?”
Youluo explained softly: “Although this demon’s cultivation is only at the level of an evil spirit, the Yin techniques she uses are very strange and unpredictable, seemingly related to the Seven Stars Mend the Heavens Formation here.”
“As expected, it’s the influence of this formation.”
Lin Tianlu flicked his fingers repeatedly, condensed spiritual energy shattering the mountain of flesh. At the same time, he stepped on the flying debris and moved nimbly, dodging the splattering pieces of flesh in this dark space.
But—
Boom!
As the surrounding walls collapsed one after another, countless fleshy tumors seemed to overflow from the ruins, a cold laughter echoing like thunder: “I told you, even if you have great abilities, you can’t escape from my grasp!”
Youluo, perched on his shoulder, frowned slightly, a wary look in her eyes as her hair fluttered.
This monster was truly troublesome and annoying, but she couldn’t find a suitable way to break the situation for now. Relying on brute force alone seemed insufficient to defeat it completely.
The power of the Seven Stars Mend the Heavens Formation was truly strange and unpredictable.
“Master Lin, why don’t we retreat for now?”
Youluo whispered in his ear: “This monster is far more difficult to deal with than we imagined. Let’s make plans after we leave this place.”
“No need.”
But facing the worms and mountains of flesh surging from all directions, Lin Tianlu calmly pressed his palm downwards.
Then, a profound and ancient aura spread out.
The previously frantically surging mountains of flesh froze in place, as if time had stopped. Emerald green spiritual chains quickly emerged from the illusory immortal mist behind him, piercing into the mountains of flesh and pulling them outwards.
“Wh-What is… this?!”
Terrified screams echoed as the mountains of flesh, from which grayish-white masses of energy were being pulled out, withered and shriveled, until they became dry and lifeless.
In the blink of an eye, the mountains of flesh that had filled the surroundings were completely eradicated, a blurry and fragmented soul condensing in Lin Tianlu’s palm.
Youluo looked at the soul in his hand, her heart filled with surprise.
So, he possessed such an incredible ability?
The aura that had emanated from him just now had even made her tremble slightly. If it had been directed at her, she probably wouldn’t have been able to withstand it for long with her current soul fragment.
However, this demon might not be so easy to deal with.
“Here it comes!”
Lin Tianlu suddenly looked up.
Cracks appeared out of thin air, rapidly spreading in all directions, as if a barrier was collapsing.
But he narrowed his eyes and raised his right hand, his fingers spread apart.
Within the increasingly clear and wondrous scroll, through the layers of barriers, he could vaguely see a faint shadow escaping towards another direction.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Lin Tianlu’s figure flashed, and he shattered the enclosing barrier, leaping out with the remnant soul in his hand, landing steadily on the ground.
This place was right in front of the old mansion.
…
“N-No, it’s impossible! How did you find me—!”
The “young woman” trapped in his palm screamed in terror, struggling frantically to escape.
No, to be precise, this remnant soul could no longer be called a “young woman,” but a hideous and decaying old woman, her face contorted as she screamed repeatedly.
“Let me go! If you dare disrespect me, the kings of the ancient realm won’t stand idly by, you will die a horrible death!”
“It’s been a while since I’ve heard such interesting words.”
Lin Tianlu couldn’t help but chuckle.
Was this the most standard declaration of defeat?
“It’s a pity that with me here, those so-called kings of the ancient realm won’t be able to sense anything happening here.”
Youluo smiled and swiped her finger across the remnant soul, a grayish-white thread being extracted and floating towards the old mansion behind them.
“There will be a new ‘guardian’ of the formation in Tunqing Village to replace you. As for you, unknown little pawn, just close your eyes and rest in peace~”
As soon as she finished speaking, a blurry and indistinct figure appeared in the courtyard, bowing slightly before turning into green smoke and dissipating throughout the mansion.
Lin Tianlu looked away and smiled at the stunned remnant soul in his hand: “I’m sorry, but the kings of the ancient realm might be a bit hard of hearing and can’t hear your cries for help.”
“…S-Spare me—”
“Did you ever spare the lives of those who begged you for mercy?”
The smile on Lin Tianlu’s face gradually faded, his gaze turning serious: “You enjoyed draining men’s Yang energy, now it’s time for you to taste the retribution of being destroyed by a man.”
Pfft!
Without any further ado, he tightened his grip, and the fragmented soul was instantly crushed.
