Chapter 225: Butterfly Monarch and Her Team Really Have the Worst Luck

Lian Mu tried to brush off the caterpillars, but the moment her hand touched the silk they spat out, it stuck fast.

She conjured a small flame in her palm, only to find that even fire couldn’t burn through it.

Changing tactics, Lian Mu reversed her grip and plunged her sword into the pool of flesh beneath her. With a twist of her arm, she churned the meat into mush.

Her foot finally broke free from the bloody mire. Without hesitation, she leapt into the air. But the caterpillars were spinning silk faster and faster. One strand wrapped around her shoulder and anchored her to a dead tree, preventing her from escaping completely.

A Red Butterfly hovered over the pool. After feeding on the blood and flesh, the swarm gathered and fused into a humanoid shape.

Lian Mu was still entangled midair, struggling with the silken threads. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a reflection on her sword’s blade—a Red Butterfly was perched behind her ear, feeding on her blood.

She reached up and crushed it with her fingers.

The humanoid form made of Red Butterflies instantly twisted and distorted, then scattered apart.

Lian Mu understood. These cursed butterflies had fed on her memories, which was how they managed to disguise themselves as people she knew to deceive her.

Seeing the caterpillars nearly wrap her arm completely in silk, Lian Mu didn’t hesitate. She sliced off the patch of skin stuck to the thread, finally breaking free.

Clutching her bleeding arm, she tried to fly higher. But the dead forest seemed to come alive, its branches stretching and weaving into a dense net to block her path.

The branches were crawling with caterpillars. If she forced her way through, she’d likely end up strung to a branch and cocooned.

Lian Mu tried channeling her spiritual power, but her spiritual blood had no effect on the butterflies. They didn’t seem like ordinary Demonic Creatures.

Dodging the caterpillars falling from the trees, she flung fireballs at the dead wood, darting through the forest like an eel.

Even as she attacked the trees, she didn’t forget to slash down the gray cocoons, trying to prevent more Red Butterflies from emerging.

The ones inside those cocoons had once been living people. In one torn cocoon, Lian Mu even saw the robes of the Returning Immortal Sect. One of her senior brothers or sisters must have been trapped here just like her, unable to escape, forced to watch helplessly as the silk wrapped them up.

The thought made her scalp tingle and her stomach churn.

She kicked down a dead tree. The caterpillars that fell into the pool of flesh turned blood-red.

They came in all sizes—some as thick as a thumb, others as fine as hair. They seemed frantic, starved for new sustenance. Some had grown deformed from being unable to cocoon for so long.

Lian Mu looked around the forest, unable to see a way out. She felt dizzy from blood loss.

As expected, the Demonic Creatures of the Five Great Death Zones weren’t something newcomers like them could handle.

She couldn’t help but feel cursed. All she wanted was to find a weakness in the Ground Skin Infant from the inside. But the moment it ate her, it fled. And just her luck, it spat her out right into this forest.

Or maybe the Ground Skin Infant didn’t flee because it ate her. Maybe the moment she entered, Senior Sister Pei struck and forced it to retreat.

The thought left Lian Mu speechless. “…”

How could someone’s luck be this bad?

She had a sudden urge to release the Black Flood Dragon and let it raze the place. But after thinking it over, she decided against it. The elders of the various sects still didn’t know she’d lured Penglai Sect’s Black Flood Dragon over to her side.

She calculated how much longer she could hold out, then pulled out the Plum Blossom Jade and crushed it with her bare hand.

“…”

Might as well try the free backup first.

After sending a message to the owner of the Plum Blossom Jade, Lian Mu wiped her face and continued battling the caterpillar-like Demonic Creatures.

She dodged strands of silk shooting toward her, her sword now wrapped in a thick bundle of threads. She didn’t dare touch them, afraid of getting stuck again.

Fighting her way through the layers of dead trees, she didn’t get any closer to the exit. Instead, she accidentally wandered deeper in.

When the ground beneath her gave way, Lian Mu instinctively steadied herself. She stabbed her sword into the ground and realized the pool of flesh had turned pitch black.

She turned her head and saw a blood pool behind her, filled with dark, inky blood. At its center was a patch of land, and on it lay a gray cocoon several times larger than the others.

The area was enclosed by a dome of dead branches, all crawling with caterpillars. But these ones didn’t attack her. Instead, they swarmed toward the giant cocoon, scrambling to tear it open.

Without hesitation, she swung her sword. A wave of sword energy sliced through the cocoon, trying to destroy it like the others.

But no Red Butterflies emerged.

Moments later, a pair of delicate hands pulled apart the crack.

Lian Mu: “?”

Then, a stunningly beautiful woman emerged from the cocoon, a smile playing at her red lips. The butterfly wings behind her revealed what she truly was.

She wasn’t human at all.

Her senior sister had once said, the more human a Demonic Creature looks, the more dangerous it is.

Lian Mu: “…”

Great. Looks like she stumbled right into a Demonic Creature’s nest.

…

…

Soul Return Mountain, Clear Wind Cliff.

Three elders tasked with secretly protecting the disciples stood atop the cliff. One of them, flushed and reeking of alcohol, looked down at the low-level Demonic Creatures foraging below with a detached expression.

“Tonight is a Red Moon night. Those kids are in for a rough time,” said Ji Xiuyuan of the Clear Thought Sect. “I don’t know what Sect Master Hua was thinking, sending them in just before the Red Moon descended.”

Shang Liu replied, “No one expected the Red Moon to arrive early. It’s probably related to the dimming of the Heavenly Return Palace’s pearls. I’ve already sent word to our sect master. We must protect all our disciples in the coming days.”

The so-called Red Moon night was a day of calamity that struck the Shifang Nether Soil every April. When the Red Moon appeared, it drove the Demonic Creatures into a frenzy. They ignored the deterrent of the Heavenly Return Palace and became far more savage.

“Honestly, we Immortal Sects are useless,” Ji Xiuyuan said with a sigh. “After all these years, we still rely on the demon race’s relics to protect the Shifang Nether Soil.”

Shang Liu said, “Even the demon race had internal factions. The lord back then was proud and arrogant, unwilling to tolerate any Demonic Creature weaker than himself. That’s why he set the Twelve Pearls before the Heavenly Return Palace to suppress the entire Shifang Nether Soil. After he left, we were able to gain maximum benefit with minimal cost. It wasn’t such a bad deal.”

Demonic Creatures were stronger at night. But ever since the Heavenly Return Palace appeared, night had become something they feared. Most Demonic Creatures now chose to move during the day, which conveniently benefited the cultivators of the Immortal Sects.

“But what if, one day, he comes back?” Ji Xiuyuan asked.

Shang Liu said calmly, “Impossible. That lord was sealed by the Thousand Mechanisms Pagoda long ago. Even though the pagoda is now lost, the killing formation inside trapped him for a thousand years. He’s probably long since turned to dust.”

Ji Xiuyuan mused, “Funny. I heard that the lord wasn’t sealed by the Immortal Sects. He entered the Thousand Mechanisms Pagoda of his own accord…”

Shang Liu said, “If you want to know what happened back then, you’ll have to ask the people who were there. But even if our generation learns the truth, it won’t change anything.”

Ji Xiuyuan couldn’t help but glance at the tall, solitary figure standing at the edge of the cliff. Mei Chengyu held a wine gourd in her hand, her gaze fixed on the distant horizon, lost in thought.

Though she was a sword cultivator, Ji Xiuyuan rarely saw her wield a sword. Most of the time, she carried that wine gourd around, and sometimes she could even fall asleep leaning against a tree.

Mei Chengyu was the “person from back then” that Shang Liu had mentioned. She was the daughter of the former Sect Master of the Penglai Sect and had witnessed its rise and fall with her own eyes. At Feng Tianche’s funeral, she had driven off the troublemaking lord of the Shifang Nether Soil with just three strikes of her sword. She must know the truth behind the so-called suppression.

Yet for some reason, she never spoke of those days. Anyone who tried to ask would only end up angering her.

Ji Xiuyuan quietly shut his mouth. He had no intention of offending the Crimson Sky Sect’s most powerful sword cultivator over something so trivial.

“Senior Mei, we’ve been here long enough. The disciples who passed through have long gone. Shouldn’t we move on?”

“…”

“Senior Mei?” Ji Xiuyuan called again.

Shang Liu pressed his lips together, then finally spoke to her for the first time. “It’s time to go. If you want to linger here and reminisce, don’t drag us down with you.”

Ji Xiuyuan: “?”

Why so angry all of a sudden…

With that, Shang Liu turned and walked off.

Ji Xiuyuan tried again. “Senior Mei, there are still disciples in other areas who need our help.”

Mei Chengyu finally stirred, as if snapping out of a daze. But instead of responding to Ji Xiuyuan, she reached into her sleeve and pulled out a jade token.

Ji Xiuyuan saw her expression change the moment her fingers touched the jade.

Mei Chengyu put away her wine gourd, drew her sword, and leapt into the air. “Something’s come up. You two go on ahead.”

“Senior, where are you going?” Ji Xiuyuan asked.

“Blood Butterfly Meat Pool.”

She tossed out the words and flew off on her sword.

Shang Liu paused mid-step. He turned to watch her figure disappear into the distance, frowning slightly. “That crazy woman, always acting on a whim. Never follows the plan. Being teamed up with her is pure bad luck.”

Ji Xiuyuan said, “…Just bear with it.”

But what else could they do? Even together, the two of them couldn’t beat her. The Sect Masters of both the Azure Profound Sect and the Crimson Sky Sect were her juniors. She deserved at least some respect.

Ji Xiuyuan was about to suggest they head to the next location and wait for her there, but before he could speak, he realized Shang Liu had already taken off in pursuit, leaving him behind.

Ji Xiuyuan: “…”