A Demon's Path Volume 1 Chapter 33

Ling Xiao returned to the guest room and locked himself within. This time, his thoughts didn't drift off to Tang Yingying and where she might be, but rather he started meditating.

Ling Xiao had used a demonic spiritual attack when he faced off against the two yellow ranked disciples of the Sunken Wind Valley. It went without saying that it'd be impossible for him to injure them with his red ranked spiritual attack. However, in that split second, the token in his chain's depository absorbed both his celestial and demonic Spiritual Wisdom Soul. The two souls fused together, making the spiritual attack he used especially fierce.

A brave notion sprouted in Ling Xiao's heart. This token my old man left for me is a treasure that can fuse celestial and demonic souls together! This line of reasoning forming in his mind was both brave and maniacal. It far surpassed the imagination of all Chain Soul Masters in existence and undermined the firm ideology they held true to all this time!

Celestial and demonic souls simply couldn't coexist in a single entity, yet Ling Xiao managed to accomplish just that feat. What Ling Xiao wanted to do now was to push it a step further and fuse these two polar opposites together. Only a lunatic would dare to take such a risk. Any Chain Soul Master with common sense understood how terrifying it was when these two soulforces collided. If even the slightest lapse of attention occurred, their body and soul would undoubtedly perish!

However, someone like Ling Xiao who was still wet behind the ears wasn't afraid. This was a perfect example of how an ignorant person knew no fear. Besides, he had a strange token.

Ling Xiao quickly entered a state of meditation. He slowly tried to pour his celestial and demonic Spiritual Wisdom Soul into the token. The token was like a sponge as it greedily sucked up whatever Ling Xiao fed it. The two specks of light above the token lit up. One was gold, the other black. They modulated back and forth as though they were calling out to one another.

Ling Xiao calmly observed these two twinkling specks of light, entering a state of absolute concentration. His surroundings slowly vanished…

Ling Xiao didn't know how much time had passed before the two specks of light stopped flickering. A surge of demonic soulforce that was far purer than his celestial soulforce charged straight at the spiritual wisdom point located right between his eyebrows.

To his pleasant surprise, he found that if he wanted to use the power of his Spiritual Wisdom Soul, he no longer needed to extract it from either of his soul chains. As long as he mentally willed it to be so, he could use the power from both soul chains with his own body. They had successfully fused and gathered at the Spiritual Wisdom point located right between his eyebrows!

"It's really strange!" Ling Xiao thought out loud as an unexpected ecstacy surged in his heart. He could possibly use the power of the seven souls even if he didn't have the two soul chains. Just using his body alone might suffice in the future!

This was a madman's logic!

Shortly after, yet another crazy thought formed in Ling Xiao's mind. Since I can fuse the celestial and demonic Spiritual Wisdom Soul, I can definitely do the same with the other six souls!

Ling Xiao wanted to strike the iron while it was still hot and tried to fuse the power of the Heavenly Soul. Unfortunately, he failed.

The mystical token was no longer all that mystical. It didn't matter how Ling Xiao tried to feed it his soulforce, it rejected everything.

"Fine, we'll leave it at that for today." Ling Xiao no longer pursued it greedily. He jumped off from the table and started pondering about another matter. I didn't manage to kill Xiao Wu. He should've returned to his sect by now and told on me, right? Humph, what can he do to me if I adamantly refute his claims when the time comes?

Right until the very end, Ling Xiao firmly relied on the notion that dead men told no tales. In any case, he'd used the Corpse Blood Poison from the deviant demonic sect, so he wasn't afraid of a single person's testimonial.

Ling Xiao even felt he could use this matter to make bogus accusations against them. He could claim there was a conflict between Wu Tan and himself and that he was being framed. He fully believed everyone would trust him on his word.

Ling Xiao couldn't forget about Xiao Wu and deeply worried about what might come. However, he was wholly unaware that Xiao Wu was already an ice cold corpse lying in the Sunken Wind Valley's official grand hall next to his comrade.

…

Valley Master Shen Nanfeng's eyebrows were tightly knitted together as he watched an elder dressed in grey examining the two corpses. Quite some time had passed, yet the elder couldn't unfold the mysteries surrounding their deaths.

The arrogant disciple called Wu Tan didn't dare to utter a word as he stood to the side, scared and on edge. Now that he thought about it, something like this wouldn't have happened if he hadn't asked Xiao Wu to shadow Ling Xiao. If the Valley Master placed the blame on him because of this, his insignificantly small life would…

A chill arose in Wu Tan's heart and he couldn't stop shaking. He dared to be arrogant in front of others, but in front of Valley Master Shen Nanfeng, he was like a docile puppy. Even if he was given 10 sets of balls, he still wouldn't act out against his Master.

"What do you think?" Shen Nanfeng quickly asked when the elder dressed in grey stood up. However, Shen Nanfeng could tell from the slightly disappointed expression that the outcome was as obscure as before.

Shen Nanfeng didn't find it strange at all, because even he couldn't determine who the murderer was. The elder dressed in grey conducting the autopsy was only a tad bit stronger than he was.

Yang Hui sighed. "From the way they died, it only indicates that the members of the demonic sect are the ones behind it. The Corpse Blood Poison is a demonic sect specialty. Xiao Lu died from it. However, if a Demonic Soul Master really is behind this, his cultivation is definitely below Xiao Lu's. There's no other explanation for killing him with such a devious method. However, Xiao Wu's death is where the strangeness lies. I'm afraid his murderer is not weaker than any elder of our Sunken Wind Valley."

Shen Nanfeng didn't believe a Demonic Soul Master would dare to sneak into his Sunken Wind Valley. The only lead he could follow was to search in the direction Wu Tan pointed him in—to find that strange brat called Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao could be regarded as a different species since he dared to act out on the Sunken Wind Valley's turf. One had to know that Shen Nanfeng had tacitly approved of the arrogance Wu Tan and the rest showed. His intention was clear—he wanted to strike these smaller sects down until they didn't have a shred of confidence left in them. He would make every last one of them offer their sects to him and make their Sect Masters Elders in his own.

The Sunken Wind Valley had originally been formed that way. Shen Nanfeng was prepared to continue expanding his sect in this fashion.

"Humph, we'll know if he's a donkey or a horse after taking him out for a walk. Let's not bother with Ling Xiao for now. We'll find out about that brat at the newcomer's tournament. What's more important is dealing with those disloyal sects. Humph!" The veins on Shen Nanfeng's body violently stuck out of his skin, making his bare arms look extremely terrifying.

…

The last two days before the tournament were calm and peaceful. Ling Xiao seemed to have walked out from the shadow of Tang Yingying's disappearance and started to enjoy life again. Since food and drinks were free of charge, he saw no reason to be stingy. His days were filled with good wine and lavish dishes piled with generous amounts of meat and fish. Ling Xiao who was used to a poverty-stricken life loudly sighed. Life as a wealthy man really is swell!

Cheng Yu was itching to jab Ling Xiao's butt with her sword seeing him abandon himself to despair. However, when she recalled that Ling Xiao had seen her disgraceful appearance only two days ago, her cheeks flushed red and her temperature rose. She wanted to beat him up, yet she couldn't. She gnashed her teeth in anger. Damn you, Ling Xiao!

Cheng Qiantai also saw that Ling Xiao's mental state didn't seem optimal. Even though he felt anxious, he didn't know how to mediate. All he could do was stand to the side, shaking his head as he sighed.

Only Li Yuanhuan didn't say anything. Instead, he became Ling Xiao's drinking partner.

There was someone else who was far more depressed than Ling Xiao, and that was Qian Hai. In these two days, Qian Hai's distinguished name had spread far and wide across Sunken Wind City. Everyone knew the Everlasting Pool Sect had a mighty and majestic Young Master Horseman. As a result, many civilians visited the Joker Hotel in the hopes of catching a glimpse of his beautiful face.

All the pent up stress and anger building up in Qian Gui turned his hair white. Everytime he heard someone gossiping about his son, it felt like they were repeatedly stabbing him in the heart.

Qian Hai confined himself in the guest room. He didn't eat, drink, or speak. Even if Qian Gui called out to him, he only coldly replied with, "Father, relax. I'm alright."

Qian Gui was furious with this reply. You're asking me to relax? How can I relax when you're behaving like this? Are you deliberately trying to piss your old man to death? Qian Gui really felt helpless as his anger was returned with anger.

Two days passed with Qian Hai pondering on his mistakes behind closed doors and Ling Xiao drinking and eating his days away. It didn't matter what torrential ruckus was going on outside because everything was quiet and calm within Joker Hotel.

It was finally the first of November—the day of the newcomer's tournament.

Chapter end