Chapter 219: Ground Skin Infant – Elegance Never Goes Out of Style

The Trickster team decided to stay put and wait until nightfall before taking action.

However, staying in one place didn’t mean they were safe. If they didn’t move, the Demonic Creatures would track them down by scent.

In just two short hours, they encountered three waves of low-level Demonic Creatures.

The area where the Demonic Creatures appeared was rather remote. Fortunately, no demonic beasts joined in, or it would have been utter chaos.

After slaying the last batch of eyeball Demonic Creatures, Qu Ruotian panted heavily, “There are too many of them. We can’t possibly kill them all.”

Guan Shize was also struggling. As a Three Spirit Roots sword cultivator, he exerted more effort, sweating profusely and needing to consume several pills to recover.

During their battle with the Demonic Creatures, they inevitably veered off course and were now some distance from their original location.

Lian Mu stomped on a writhing snake on the ground. The snake was a sickly green, with three heads, yet it bore the face of an infant. Its pale, childlike face rolled its eyes and emitted a pitiful cry, eerily human-like.

Guan Shize found the noise irritating. “It’s so noisy. Why is it still crying even after we’ve chopped off its head?”

Lian Mu thrust her sword into one of the snake’s heads, shredding its flesh. “It’s probably another attack method of the Demonic Creatures.”

Qu Ruotian looked at the scattered remains, his stomach churning. He forced himself to suppress his nausea and looked up. “These Demonic Creatures are really cunning. They take on human forms just to make us hesitate to strike, don’t they?”

Among the three waves of Demonic Creatures they had fought, half had human faces and limbs. Destroying them left behind fragmented corpses that made it feel like they had killed actual people.

Lian Mu said, “Is that so? I find it easier to strike after seeing them.”

The half-human, half-ghost appearance was so hideous that it annoyed her.

“This place is really not fit for humans,” Guan Shize remarked.

Last night, they had been quite eager. But after less than a day inside, they had already thought countless times about turning back.

Lian Mu turned to look at Pei Yunshang, who had not made a move throughout the ordeal, always staying in the center.

“Sister, why aren’t you helping?” Lian Mu asked.

Pei Yunshang replied calmly, “These low-level Demonic Creatures are within your ability to handle. It’s not yet my turn to step in. I believe you can defeat them.”

Lian Mu sighed, “Sister, you overestimate us. We’re just weak, helpless, and pitiful newcomers.”

It’s fine to fight for a while, but they couldn’t keep it up indefinitely.

Compared to demonic beasts, Demonic Creatures not only inflicted physical harm but also had a unique way of attacking the mind. Under this dual assault, even some Chief Disciples couldn’t last long.

Pei Yunshang said, “Is that so? You all seem quite lively to me, capable of handling dozens more waves.”

Guan Shize, abandoning all pretense, pleaded, “Sister, please help us. We don’t want to keep struggling.”

Pei Yunshang raised an eyebrow, slowly extending her hand to remove a pendant from her neck. At the end of the chain was a small object, which upon closer inspection, was a light purple konghou.

As the konghou rested in her palm, its strings emitted a chilling aura. Her fingers gently plucked the strings, producing a melodious sound that drowned out the cries of the infant-like creatures.

The three of them immediately felt a sense of clarity, the irritation caused by the Demonic Creatures dissipating, leaving them refreshed.

Pei Yunshang continued to play, a slow and lingering melody flowing from the icy strings. Water Spiritual Power spread with the sound, enveloping everything nearby.

The tune was gentle and beautiful, occasionally interspersed with a sharp note of killing intent, causing the approaching Demonic Creatures to halt in their tracks.

Pei Yunshang stepped over the scattered corpses, leading the way. Her cool voice mingled with the music as it reached their ears. “Let’s go. Although it’s not dark yet, we should try to distance ourselves from the Demon Nurturing River.”

Lian Mu quickly followed, the three of them clinging to Pei Yunshang like leeches, not daring to fall behind.

Lian Mu couldn’t help but curiously examine the konghou in her hand.

Musical cultivation was so convenient. Wasn’t it far more elegant and grand than sweating it out in battle?

The other two were also witnessing the power of musical cultivation for the first time. Guan Shize couldn’t help but ask, “Sister, how far can your spiritual power extend?”

They had all felt it. Pei Yunshang’s spiritual power, released with the music, formed an invisible protective barrier.

They just weren’t sure of the barrier’s limits, which was why they stuck close to Pei Yunshang, afraid of accidentally stepping out of it.

Pei Yunshang replied, “As long as you can hear the music, you’re under its protection.”

The three of them were stunned.

They immediately spread out. Lian Mu said, “Doesn’t that mean we can move freely now?”

Pei Yunshang warned, “Don’t go too far. The weaker the music, the weaker the protection. I’ll lead the way, and you handle the nearby Demonic Creatures. Remember, don’t lose sight of each other.”

Lian Mu reassured her, “Don’t worry, Sister. Leave it to us.”

With the assurance of safety, the three of them set out, clearing the nearby immobilized Demonic Creatures.

Although Pei Yunshang had temporarily controlled these Demonic Creatures, it was safer to eliminate them.

For a moment, Lian Mu felt the thrill of leading a charge in the Illusion Realm, cutting down demonic beasts with a wooden core flower. Her sword rose and fell without hindrance.

She had truly chosen the right person. With a musical cultivator’s wide-ranging control, pairing with any sword cultivator was a recipe for chaos. If possible, she wanted to keep her sister by her side forever.

The three of them fought their way through, following the map’s markings away from the Demon Nurturing River. After clearing the nearby Demonic Creatures, they moved to the edge of the protective circle to deal with the trailing Demonic Creatures.

However, after a while, things didn’t go as expected. Not only were there more Demonic Creatures, but their ranks were also rising.

“Strange, why does it feel like there are more nasty things here than where we started?” Qu Ruotian wondered.

Lian Mu finished off a human-handed centipede, only to see a swarm approaching from a distance. Although they all halted upon entering the music’s range, the sight made her frown.

She had the same feeling. Not only were there more of them, but their size had also doubled.

“Did we go the wrong way?” Guan Shize asked quietly.

Their sect robes were soaked in blood, turning from blue to purplish-red, emitting a foul stench and covered in the remnants of Demonic Creatures. They had been too busy to clean up.

Qu Ruotian suggested, “Maybe the stench on us is attracting them?”

As he spoke, he pulled out three blank Talisman Papers and drew a simple rune, the lowest level of water talisman.

“Let’s clean ourselves up and see.”

The three of them cleaned their clothes, but it was to no avail. The immobilized Demonic Creatures seemed to detect their human scent and showed signs of breaking free.

Lian Mu said, “Something’s off. Let’s inform Sister.”

Pei Yunshang was already some distance away. She had been moving forward while they fought at the edge, using the music to ensure they hadn’t lost her.

The three of them immediately followed the music to find Pei Yunshang.

“Sister?!”

There was no one ahead.

“Where is Sister Pei?!” Guan Shize’s eyes widened. The music was clear in their ears, yet Pei Yunshang was nowhere to be found.

Lian Mu stood still, turning her head to look at the motionless Demonic Creatures around her. Their bodies were rigid, but out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the eye of a baby-faced snake shifting slightly.

It was sneaking a glance at her.

Following its gaze downward, Lian Mu’s pupils contracted sharply.

“Watch your feet!”

The other two immediately looked down and lifted their feet, only to find that each of them had a red thread piercing the soles of their feet, with the other end buried in the ground.

Guan Shize swung his sword to cut the red thread, which spurted blood, causing a stinging pain in his foot.

“Hiss…”

It was their own blood!

Qu Ruotian also cut the red thread without hesitation, enduring the pain as he moved away from the severed end. His reaction was more intense than Guan Shize’s because not only were his feet affected, but his legs were also covered in threads, like leeches sucking his blood, densely packed.

Lian Mu lifted her leg slightly; there were no red threads entangling her. The threads had tried to latch onto her but she had noticed in time.

“Don’t move,” Lian Mu called out to Qu Ruotian.

The red threads on him were too numerous, hidden beneath his robes, invisible unless closely inspected. They had silently crawled over Qu Ruotian’s legs, only now being discovered.

Lian Mu speculated that he was the first to be targeted by this thing because Qu Ruotian was the first to clear the Demonic Creatures at the edge of their protective circle.

Acting decisively, she sliced her palm, letting her blood coat the blade of the Wealth Bringer sword, then slashed at the red threads on Qu Ruotian’s legs. The bloodied blade ignited the threads upon contact.

The fire raced along the threads down into the ground, erupting with the sound of a baby’s cry from beneath the surface, its origin unknown.

The cry reached the ears of the three, causing dizziness and blackness to cloud their vision. Amidst this, a melodious sound echoed in their ears.

“Senior Sister is helping us,” Lian Mu said. “It seems we’ve fallen into an illusion.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the ground beneath them suddenly wrinkled and cracked.

Qu Ruotian reacted quickly for once, casting three body-protection talismans that lifted them into the air.

Looking down, they saw the black earth split into the features of a baby’s face, like a human visage spread across the ground, its features twisted, emitting a sound that was both crying and laughing.

Guan Shize was taken aback. “So we’ve been walking on its face all along?”

“Probably since we first entered,” Lian Mu replied. “It has intelligence and has been lying in wait for us.”

Qu Ruotian’s vision darkened. He had no idea how much blood it had drained from him. Seeing the creature’s true form made his scalp tingle, and he couldn’t help but vomit.

“Where’s Senior Sister? I hear the music, but…”

Lian Mu said, “We might be surrounded by it, with Senior Sister isolated outside. Its target is us.”

“This damn thing is cowardly, picking on the weak!” Qu Ruotian cursed after vomiting.

Guan Shize asked, “What should we do now?”

“Don’t panic. Although we can’t see Senior Sister, we can hear her music. At least under its sound, we won’t be affected by its crying,” Lian Mu thought for a moment. “For now, we can only wait until Senior Sister finds a way to save us.”

This Demonic Creature was too well-hidden, even deceiving Pei Yunshang at first. They lacked experience, and acting rashly would be suicidal.

Guan Shize and Qu Ruotian nodded. For now, waiting was their only option.

— Translator’s Notes —

• konghou: A traditional Chinese arched harp-like stringed instrument, originating from ancient times, often used in court music and capable of producing ethereal tones.