A Demon's Path Volume 1 Chapter 15

It didn't take Wang Batian long before he appeared in front of everyone from the Northern Jade Sect with his fellow corpse-carrying sect members in tow.

Exhaustion was strewn across his face. Wang Batian felt ashamed as he looked at Ling Xiao and Li Yuanhuan. "Thank you."

Ling Xiao replied in a cold tone, "You're welcome. All those gems belong to me now. Senior Brother, take them back."

Wang Batian felt embarrassed to no end. "That's to be expected."

After exerting his spiritual power, Li Yuanhuan saw a little pale. He stopped his outflow of soulforce and while doing so, he took the opportunity to retrieve the gems. He laid them on the ground and said, "Senior Brother Wang, Junior Brother Ling is just joking. Don't take it to heart. We're returning these gems to you."

Wang Batian hesitated. How embarrassing would it be to drop on his knees to pick them up?

Ling Xiao, on the other hand, was always rather thick-skinned. Since the start, he believed in a single truth: those who didn't take advantage of the situation were stupid. Under everyone's heated gaze, he picked the gems up and stored them in his Celestial Seven Souls Chain.

Such audacity! The members of the Sunny Spring Sect were stupefied. Not just them, the disciples of the Northern Jade Sect were also speechless. He's putting us to shame!

"Senior Brother Wang, it's best if you guys follow us back to the Northern Jade Sect." Li Yuanhuan had a sincere look on his face, simultaneously diverting everyone's attention away from Ling Xiao.

This time around, Wang Batian didn't dare to reject the offer. "Alright. We'll be troubling you then."

The Sunny Spring Sect disciples followed Li Yuanhuan as they departed from the plain. Ling Xiao was walking at the very back of the group and when no one was paying attention to him, he absorbed the rest of the spoils into his Demonic Seven Souls Chain. They were the soul stones of the Demonic Soul Masters who were now food for nature.

Before he left, Ling Xiao turned around one final time and came to a standstill. He looked intently far off in the distance. After snorting at whatever it was he spotted there, he fell back in line with the rest of the group.

Two shadows gradually appeared where Ling Xiao was previously looking at. They were the two Demonic Soul Masters Li Yuanhuan and Wang Batian had exchanged blows with.

Shades of evilness were spread across their faces. One of them hatefully said, "The Northern Jade Sect actually has such an outstanding disciple. The Corpse Blood Poison didn't kill them and that boy saw through our Blood Shadow Array. It seems like he knew we were hiding here, too. What a frightening fellow! Zhou Heng, we must kill him when we get the opportunity!"

Zhou Heng nodded in agreement. "Cheng Yao, our mission isn't over yet. Elder Mo will definitely punish us for today's losses. The Northern Jade Sect is just a small sect, after all! Perhaps we can alleviate his fury somewhat by finding that thing. Even though I don't understand why he insisted on asking us to come here and look for that thing he doesn't even know anything about…"

"Yeah, I don't understand either. But Elder Mo said the Ancestor died in Northern Jade City. The thing he was looking for has to be near here. The ward around the Celestial Soul Masters' Seven Grand Holy Lands will be lifted once we find it. With it in place, no Green-ranked Demonic Soul Master can enter these lands without sounding the alarm bells. There'd be no need for us yellow ranks to come here and investigate if it wasn't for that ward. We'd better look for it. Let's search the Northern Jade Sect tonight and dispose of that brat while we're at it!" An ominous glint shone in Cheng Yao's eyes.

"No! We can't even handle the prime disciple from the Northern Jade Sect. We'll die if we meet that boy's Master!" Zhou Heng immediately objected.

Cheng Yao mischievously laughed. "If their Master was around, would we still be alive?"

"Huh? You're saying their Master isn't around?" Zhou Heng stared blankly before realising the meaning behind Cheng Yao's words. "That settles it. We'll break into the Northern Jade Sect tonight!"

There was no camaraderie between fellow disciples amongst Demonic Soul Masters. Besides, these two had more important things on their minds, so they didn't even glance at the corpses littering the ground. As a result, they didn't notice the soul stones were missing on the corpses.

Li Yuanhuan led everyone to the safety of the Northern Jade Sect. After settling them down, he headed back out with the Sunny Spring Sect as his destination. He wanted to inform the sect of what went down, and request for them to send people to escort Wang Batian and the others back home safely.

Moments after Li Yuanhuan left the Northern Jade Sect, Cheng Yao and Zhou Heng appeared at the sect's outer periphery.

Zhou Heng viciously glared at Li Yuanhuan. "Why don't we kill him first?"

Cheng Yao shook his head. "We can't do that, not on our lives. Even though that boy is only at the yellow rank, I kept feeling he was holding back when we fought. I'm not convinced we can beat him even if we gang up on him. If an opportunity arises in the future, I'll get even with him. But for now, let's focus on the matter at hand. That's far more important."

At this moment, Ling Xiao was hiding in his small wooden house counting his spoils when he saw demonic light shining from the Demonic Seven Souls Chain on his neck. He couldn't help but rub his nose. "Those two bastards really did keep their word and came. Do they really think there's no one left in the Northern Jade Sect? Wait! Master took Mistress back to his in-laws and Senior Brother just left for the Sunny Spring Sect. There really isn't anyone here! There's nothing we can do about it. I'll just have to force Wang Batian to beat them up. He can handle one of them and we can take care of the other one. I'm more experienced in ganging up on others, after all. Hehe!"

Ling Xiao felt that this wasn't safe enough. Since he was a calculative person, he wasn't happy with just being confident in succeeding, but rather he needed the reassurance of a perfect victory.

After giving it some thought, he took out 100 talismans from the Demonic Seven Souls Chain meant to be used for cultivation. He threw them up in the air and the Essence Soul Stone on his Celestial Soul Chain immediately shone with scarlet rays of light. They dissipated into countless red speckles, flying straight at the 100 talismans.

Under Ling Xiao's precise control over his spiritual power, the red speckles evenly distributed themselves on those talismans and merged into them.

If cultivators of the Essence Soul saw the ease with which Ling Xiao was utilizing his techniques, they would probably give up on life and commit suicide. Their life's work was like child's play next to Ling Xiao!

They didn't have the perverse mental strength Ling Xiao did. However, the youngster in question wasn't satisfied in the slightest. He said while panting for breath, "Dammit! I tired myself to death, yet I only cultivated 100 talismans!"

While Ling Xiao rested, he concluded these celestial talismans wouldn't suffice. He was confident they could fight the enemy to a standstill, but that was all. However, if either Wang Batian or the orange-ranked disciples failed to kill those Demonic Soul Masters, their escape would be inevitable. He had to lock them down, somehow.

When his trail of thoughts reached this point, Ling Xiao recalled the talismans in the Demonic Seven Souls Chain—the Rapid Turtle Talisman and Miasma Talisman.

Afraid he would overexert himself, Ling Xiao only prepared four demonic talismans, two of each.

Once he was reminded of the fact that his opponents were yellow-ranked Demonic Soul Masters, Ling Xiao hardened his heart. He stuck a bit of the good stuff he'd previously stolen from their dead comrades onto the talismans. "Let's see you bastards survive this!"

As Ling Xiao was wrapping up his preparations for the ambush, he was rudely interrupted by someone kicking open his door.

Rage had turned Cheng Yu's beautiful face into one from nightmares. "Ling Xiao, fight me!"

"Why? On what grounds are you challenging me?" Ling Xiao coldly retorted.

Cheng Yu scraped the ground with her sword as she lifted it up, pointing at Ling Xiao. "Why did you lecture me in front of so many people? I'm your Senior Sister! Why would you embarrass me like that?"

Ling Xiao cast a sidelong glance at Cheng Yu. "I only scolded you once so you can learn your lesson. If a moment like that arises again in the future, you might be able to act in time. Let me ask you, what's more important? Your face or your life?"

"Bladderdash!" Cheng Yu was so furious she looked like she was going to eat someone up. "Stop acting so haughty! You're disgusting! If it wasn't for father, I would've long since beaten you up and broken all your bones!"

Ling Xiao had a calm look on his face. "Senior Sister, if you want to prove your mettle, you don't need to fight me. You'll get your chance tonight."

Cheng Yu stared blankly at him. "What do you mean?"

A harmless smile formed on Ling Xiao's face. "You'll know what I mean, tonight."

…

Deep into the dark and moonless night.

Two shadows sneakily tiptoed into the Northern Jade Sect, avoiding the fluorescent powder lamps lighting up the inner parts of the sect.  

They observed their surroundings while carefully moving about. To their surprise, they were greeted with silence wherever they went. Other than the occasional rustling of leaves, it was so quiet they could even hear their own heartbeats.

"The guards in the Northern Jade Sect are actually so lax?" The two practically couldn't believe their eyes. They'd run amok everywhere, yet hadn't encountered a single disciple on patrol duty!

"Let's go. We're going round the back of the mountain. I heard that's where Razor Cache Cliff is. The treasure we're looking for might be there." The duo dashed off in the direction of Razor Cache Cliff. Just as they left, the silhouettes of Ling Xiao, Wang Batian, and Cheng Yu appeared behind them.

Cheng Yao looked at the treasure weapons arranged everywhere and couldn't help but spit out, "What the fuck?! Such a small sect actually has so many treasures? That explains why Elder Mo has us looking for it here!"

Zhou Heng agreed. "That's right. Aren't they afraid someone's going to steal everything here away? There isn't a single guard!"

Cheng Yao's expression faltered. "This is bad. We've fallen into their trap!"

Zhou Heng didn't have the time to react when the both of them heard Ling Xiao's sinister laugh. "My dear friends, please forgive the Northern Jade Sect for our inhospitably."

The two of them turned their heads around and realised that more than 100 disciples from the Northern Jade Sect and the Sunny Spring Sect had surrounded them!

Cheng Yao and Zhou Heng didn't say a word as they dashed straight at Ling Xiao and the others.

Ling Xiao waved his hand, after which more than 100 crimson talismans flew out toward his comrades behind him. They felt their weights decrease and their speed increase due to the power of the talismans.

These were the celestial talismans Ling Xiao cultivated. They stuck onto everyone from the Northern Jade Sect and the Sunny Spring Sect. Everyone had a talisman, no one was left out.

While Ling Xiao was distributing these talismans, he also threw several at Cheng Yao and Zhou Heng. They were the four demonic talismans he had specially prepared.

The two Demonic Soul Masters were dazzled by the numerous talismans. In that moment of carelessness, these four talismans managed to strike them.

All of a sudden, they slowed down as poison eroded their soulforces, decreasing their combat powers.

Dammit! Isn't this boy a Celestial Soul Master? Why does he have the Rapid Turtle Talisman and the Miasma Talisman? Does he think he can injure us with talismans cultivated by a red-ranked Celestial Soul Master? As Cheng Yao and Zhou Heng cursed Ling Xiao, they suddenly felt waves of burning pricks coming from their skin. The both of them immediately understood what was going on and they howled out in unison, "Fuck that little bastard! It's Corpse Blood Poison!"

Chapter end