A Demon's Path Chapter 68

A white haired Elder was leisurely strolling through the empty streets in the outskirts of Northern Jade City. He looked left and right and all around as though he was searching for something.

"Elder Hua, how is it that the Northern Jade Sect has the thing you've been searching for all this time?" a voice containing the hint of a smile suddenly reached the ears of the Elder. This Elder was the Sunken Wind Valley's green ranked pill cultivator, Hua Que. He was also one of the orchestrators of the turmoil in the Sunken Wind Valley.

The green masked Elder from the Seven Devils Cult, Elder Qing, had greeted Hua Que. Under his leadership together with Flame Demon Pan Xuan, a large group of Demonic Soul Masters had ambushed the Northern Jade Sect and the Everlasting Pool Sect outside the valley.

Hua Que heartily laughed. "They don't have what I want, but they have what your founder, Ancestor Qi Mo wants. It's only natural for this old man to be curious."

Elder Qing's obscure eyes penetrated through the mask, a strange glint flashing in them. "Don't digress. Has the matter been done?"

Hua Que nodded affirmatively. "I finally scouted out their true strength. Other than that huge Demon Exterminating Array, the Sunken Wind Valley has 100 green ranked Strength Celestial Soul Masters. I reckon they still have a technique left up their sleeves, however, like a joint attack. Even if the Seven Devils Cult attacks them with everything they have, I doubt they'll be able to kill those 100 guys."

Elder Qing chuckled. His tone contained a strange sort of joy. "Our current Master, Elder Mo isn't so stupid as to attack the Sunken Wind Valley. Either way, the odds of success aren't in our favour so long as the source of the mysterious ward in the Northern Jade Sect isn't destroyed. We've always had to rely on your pills to conceal our aura. The price we have to pay is too high."

"The Seven Devils Cult is rich beyond imagination. What is a small amount of gems to you guys? You even spent a staggering amount of gems to craft two Soul Stone Plates for that idiot Luo Shang. And for what? It was all for naught," Hua Que said.

"Luo Shang just won't do. He couldn't even deal with a small brat. He's really a disappointment," Elder Qing disdainfully said.

Hua Que frowned. "Don't look down on that boy. He actually dared to say he can dispel my poison. I'm sure he's somewhat certain about himself. If I get the chance to catch him, I'll most definitely torture the answers out of him."

"Alright. Elder Hua, I'll have to thank you for your assistance. Please follow me back to the Seven Devils Cult as soon as possible, lest someone from the Sunken Wind Valley takes note of you," Elder Qing said in a respectable tone, while making an inviting gesture to Hua Que.

Hua Que didn't bother being courteous. He strode on ahead. Following a flash of green light, the both of them disappeared outside Northern Jade City.

…

Ling Xiao and Shen Mingfang flew toward the Sunken Wind Valley at a frightening speed on Ling Xiao's broom.

When they were about to reach the Sunken Wind Valley, Shen Mingfang took out a violet pearl and handed it to Ling Xiao. "Take this."

Ling Xiao naturally wouldn't turn down a gift from Shen Mingfang. He stored the pearl into his chain depository before asking, "What is this?"

Shen Mingfang faintly smiled and said, "Don't hide from me when I'm bored and want someone to talk to."

Ling Xiao really didn't understand why Shen Mingfang favoured him so. But since this was her request, it wouldn't do him any good to refuse. "Sure."

Whoosh! After Ling Xiao ripped off the Flying Talisman from his broom, the both of them descended at a frightening speed. Shen Mingfang might've lost her vision, but that didn't impede her ability to safely bring Ling Xiao and herself to the ground.

"You've returned!" Shen Nanfeng went up to welcome them, but noticed something strange with Shen Mingfang. "Aunt, you-"

Shen Mingfang smiled. "It's nothing. Luck wasn't on my side."

The corners of Shen Nanfeng's eyes twitched a few times. "Aunt, thank you for all your troubles. Return to the Bright Moon Pavilion and rest up."

"Yeah." Shen Mingfang rapidly walked off without help. She didn't need any when navigating through the Sunken Wind Valley, even when blind. She knew it like the back of her hand. This would be one of the few occasions where her loss of vision didn't impede her in the slightest for she could find her way around here blindly.

Ling Xiao sensed the shred of peculiarity in Shen Nanfeng's behaviour when he found out Shen Mingfang had gone blind. An extremely uncomfortable feeling arose in his heart. This guy doesn't seem to be all that concerned about his aunt…

Shen Nanfeng resumed his normal demeanour soon after. He asked with a gentle smile, "Martial Nephew Ling Xiao should have harvested the required ingredient, right?"

Ling Xiao nodded. "Did you gather those five Elemental Celestial Soul Masters?"

"All should be clear to you if you look over there," Shen Nanfeng said with a slight smile as he pointed at the center of the arena. There stood a large pill cauldron. Five Celestial Soul Masters were sitting around it in a pentagonal formation.

Ling Xiao was pleased with Shen Nanfeng's arrangements. "Alright. I'll start right away."

This was Ling Xiao's first time concocting medicine in public. Everyone in the Sunken Wind Valley was observing him from the grandstand. They were curious about such a small boy. To what extent could he concoct medicine? At his current level, could he really dispel the poison Hua Que concocted?

Cheng Qiantai also sat on the grandstand with his disciples. He looked at his disciple proudly, his confidence in Ling Xiao unmatched.

Ling Xiao walked toward the pill cauldron that stood as high as the average person and slapped the lid open with his palm. He threw in all the medicinal ingredients he'd prepared before sealing the pill cauldron with the lid again.

Everyone was stunned. Is he concocting medicine or boiling congee? Is this how you concoct medicine? Even if the majority didn't know how to concoct medicine, they'd heard stories of how it was done. It supposedly involved paying particular attention to the control of the fire combined with the meticulous steps taken when adding the medicinal ingredients to the mixture.

Every medicinal ingredient had its own unique properties. Some required hours on the fire to bring out their full potential, whereas others would lose their medicinal properties if left to simmer for too long. This was why medicinal ingredients had to be placed into the cauldron one at a time. Ling Xiao did quite the opposite. What Ling Xiao did was like cooking a large pot of congee. How could the audience not be taken aback by the absurdity of it all?

Shen Nanfeng also frowned. A shred of doubt toward Ling Xiao and himself arose in his heart. Did I place too much trust in this boy?

Ling Xiao was in no mood to bother with the look in the eyes of the spectators, or the doubts filling their minds. He shouted out, "You five, ignite a green ranked fire and keep it steadily burning for six hours!"

The five green ranked Elemental Celestial Soul Masters rolled their eyes in anger. They had come on behalf of Shen Nanfeng's request. They weren't here to be a source of fire for some boy! And for six hours? Even if they were green ranked Celestial Soul Masters, it would cost a person their life to ignite a fire for six hours! It wasn't someone else's life, it was their own that was at stake here!

Shen Nanfeng really didn't have any choice nor did he have any substitute candidates up for the job. He had no choice but to go along with Ling Xiao's whims. He feigned ignorance to the anger on their faces as he compromised, "The five of you, please do me this favour. I'll double the reward I promised."

The five of them swallowed their saliva. They would throw caution to the wind in the face of so many treasures and gems! Whoosh! The soul stones on their necks simultaneously started shining green. Five balls of green flames flew out from their palms and landed below the pill cauldron.

In the blink of an eye, steam started rising up from the large pill cauldron.

"That boy only knows how to squander people! He tormented Senior Brother like this in the Northern Jade Sect too!" Cheng Yu snorted.

Li Yuanhuan chuckled, but didn't respond. His eyes were trained on Ling Xiao.

Where Ling Xiao wore an expression of indifference before he started concocting medicine, that all changed in this moment. His eyes were shining as though he was doing something of utmost excitement. His whole demeanor showed his sincere and complete devotion to the pill making process. It was even to the point the spectators started to believe he really was a master at concocting medicine.

Without needing anyone to keep track of time for him, Ling Xiao made his move on the one-hour mark. He slapped the air with his palm and flipped the lid back open again. Using his powerful mental strength, he observed the situation in the pill cauldron. Ten seconds later a black ball of medicinal ingredients flew out with a wave of his hand and landed on the ground next to him.

Those with sharp eyes recognised that this black ball comprised medicinal ingredients of the same kind. In other words, Ling Xiao had filtered out this particular medicinal ingredient from the pill cauldron with his mental strength alone.

"How skillful!" Shen Nanfeng finally got to see a glimpse of Ling Xiao's extraordinarily powerful mental strength. The green flames would most likely burn a normal red ranked Celestial Soul Master to a crisp if their mental strength diverted for but a moment when filtering the medicinal ingredients from a pill cauldron five green ranked Celestial Soul Masters ignited.

Ling Xiao was not only unafraid of the green flames, but he could even multitask and filter the medicinal ingredients. This kind of mental strength was really baffling!

This boy's potential knows no bounds! Countless thoughts flashed through Shen Nanfeng's mind, but they all had a single common goal: firmly bind Ling Xiao to the Sunken Wind Valley!

Some people seemed to understand Ling Xiao's methodology too and cried out in marvel at once. Where the common pill cultivator added in the medicinal ingredients one step at a time, Ling Xiao went against the norm and filtered them out one step at a time. Comparing these two methodologies, Ling Xiao's way of concocting medicine was far more effective but also far more difficult. They couldn't help but admire him.

Chapter end