Dual Cultivation: I Summon Villainesses of Mythic Era-Chapter 22: Young Master Baishe is too pure for the cultivation world
Night Cloudy Mountain remained a place where many disciples liked to train and despite the fact that there was a test to designate the heir of the Supreme Dao Sect a group of inner disciples of that same Sect progressed with caution through the steep ridges.
At their head, a senior disciple named Zhao stared at the horizon with an expression of pure incredulity.
The chaotic Qi they had felt a few moments earlier was so oppressive that it had forced the lower-rank cultivators to kneel instinctively.
" Did you feel that pressure elder brother ?" asked a young disciple, his voice trembling while gripping the hilt of his sword. "It was not the energy of an ordinary Rakshasa. It was something much older... more demonic. I felt my meridians freeze."
Zhao nodded slowly, his eyes nervously scanning the surroundings.
" It is an absolute certainty. The Khao energy that still impregnates the air is of a terrifying purity, of a concentration I had never encountered. Even the elders say that only a Rakshasa from the Forbidden Kingdom could emit such a stench of death,"
" Look up there !" suddenly cried a female disciple, pointing at the dark sky with a trembling finger of fear.
" LIN FENG ! Vile creature!! I tried to defend you against their accusations but you attacked me like a traitor ???!!!! "
A trail of dark light brutally tore through the clouds of ash that stagnated above the mountains. A silhouette pierced the sky at a lightning speed before crashing far away. The impact raised a cloud of dust temporarily masking the vision of the disciples.
Without hesitating for a single second, the disciples rushed in that direction, using their fastest movement techniques to cross the obstacles of the rugged terrain.
When they finally reached the crash site, they discovered a smoking crater at least thirty meters in diameter. The earth was turned over several meters deep, torn tree roots lay in all directions, and fragments of still incandescent rock dotted the ground. At the center, lying in the turned-over earth, almost buried by the debris, was Xuan BaiShe.
"Young Master Xuan!!!! "
His silk clothes, usually so impeccable that they seemed freshly made, were now nothing but torn rags, revealing pale skin covered with deep lacerations. Blood flowed from multiple wounds. The most terrifying was the gaping wound at the level of his abdomen, right at the location where his dantian was.
" Who could be so powerful as to put the young master in such a state."
The wound was clean, as if a hand had literally penetrated his flesh to tear something out. Scarlet blood, mixed with traces of a black and viscous energy that refused to dissipate, flowed abundantly from his wounds, soaking the ground in a puddle that grew larger every second.
The disciples quickly used protective talismans around him, drawing their swords and facing the surrounding darkness, ready to repel any attack. Zhao rushed to his side to support his torso, slipping an arm under his shoulders to lift him slightly.
" Young master, lean on me."
BaiShe seemed to be in agony. His silver eyes, usually so piercing and so calm, were veiled by pain. He struggled for every breath, his chest rising with difficulty, emitting a whistle with each inhalation. He suddenly spat a spray of blood that splashed Zhao’s white robe with long red streaks before managing to articulate a few words between two painful spasms.
" Lin Feng...*Cough*... Lin Feng is the Devourer of this era..." he articulated, almost inaudible, but everyone had heard.
"..."
The disciples looked at each other, their faces livid, their eyes widened by shock. The news was an earthquake for their minds, a revelation that shattered all their certainties.
Lin Feng, the talented disciple from the common people, the one many considered a prodigy blessed by destiny, the chosen of luck, was in reality the monster that the oldest prophecies feared, the legendary creature that, ten thousand years ago, had almost devoured the world of cultivators.
"What ? Lin Feng ?" murmured a disciple while instinctively stepping back, his sword pointed at nothing. But... How is that possible ? I once saw him save three disciples with his Golden Dragon technique ! How could a son of luck hide such darkness for so long ?"
" This is not possible... he carried the heritage of the Golden Dragon !" added another, short of breath, his voice trembling with incomprehension.
The dragon lineage is pure, it cannot coexist with Khao, it is a fundamental law of the Dao ! The Devourer is supposed to be a legend from ten thousand years ago, a story to scare children. " How could he have reincarnated among us without anyone noticing, without the elders detecting his presence ?"
" He must have found a way to devour that lineage and appear talented in front of us ! "
BaiShe tried to stand up, but he staggered, his head falling heavily backward, hitting Zhao’s arm. His face was of a cadaverous pallor.
" Young master, do not move at all ! Your wound is critical," exclaimed Zhao with urgency.
"We should call other main disciples and the Elders ! "
He hurriedly took out a small jade vial from his sleeve. As soon as he opened it, a soothing medicinal fragrance escaped, a smell of millennial ginseng mixed with other rare herbs that perfumed the air around them.
" Young master, here, take this regeneration elixir," insisted Zhao while bringing the vial to BaiShe’s lips. " You must repair your dantian immediately ! Your cultivation base is collapsing, I feel your Qi dispersing! "
BaiShe pushed away Zhao’s hand despite his weakened state, a brusque gesture that almost made the vial fall, the one Zhao had sacrificed a fortune to obtain.
" No... I must find Xuan Ling’er... first... Ling’er..." he murmured before spitting blood.
" She is... she is in great danger... Lin Feng took her away... He wanted to devour her too... Her lineage is so pure... I held him back... but he used treacherous methods to attack me like a coward..."
" Do not worry, young master, we are going right away to search for her ! "
Meanwhile, the other disciples began to organize themselves. Some had already set off in pursuit of the Qi trace that BaiShe had deliberately left behind before crashing, a trail of chaotic energy carefully calibrated to simulate Lin Feng’s flight toward the depths of the mountain.
" We have lost his trace !" shouted a scout returning toward the crater while running, his face streaming with sweat. He used a very high-rank teleportation talisman.
"The Devourer’s energy disappeared abruptly into the depths of the mountain, it is impossible to determine his exact direction."
" This is an absolute catastrophe," sighed Zhao while helping BaiShe sit more comfortably against a rock.
" If he really escapes, he will continue to devour the dantians of other cultivators to increase his power again and again. He will become unstoppable. We must warn the Sect Leader immediately, use the emergency communication talismans. Lin Feng is now the enemy of the entire immortal kingdom! "
" Look ! Over there," suddenly exclaimed the female disciple, frantically pointing in one direction.
She was showing an elongated form a few hundred meters away, half hidden by a rocky outcrop. Several cultivators immediately rushed over and discovered Xuan Ling, lying on the ground on her side, unconscious.
Her breathing was slow but stable, her regular breath slightly lifting her chest. Apparently, she bore no major physical injury, except for a dark red mark at the base of her neck, where a sharp blow had probably knocked her out to prevent her from intervening.
" She is here ! Lady Xuan Ling is alive and seems unharmed !" shouted the disciple who had discovered her, his voice full of relief.
The cry brought immediate and palpable relief to the entire group.
When he heard that Xuan Ling was fine, BaiShe seemed to lose all his accumulated tension. His shoulders suddenly slumped and he let out a long sigh of relief.
" I can die in peace now..."
" Do not say that, young master... The dao is just, it rewards the valiant! "
" Young Master Xuan risked his own life, his own cultivation, to protect his sister. He faced the Devourer alone without hesitation. His courage is beyond anything I could have imagined ! " said an elder who had just arrived, wrinkles at the corners of his eyes testifying to his years of experience, examining the surroundings with professional mistrust. He crouched to observe the ground, touching the earth with the tips of his fingers.
"See these strange marks on the ground," he said while pointing to concentric circles of grayish earth.
"It looks like the earth itself has been sucked of all its life, of all its energy. It is terrifying but it is indeed the work of the Devourer. Lin Feng really hid his game from the beginning. To think that we had welcomed him as a martial brother, that we had shared our food and our wine with him."
" Young Master BaiShe is too pure for the world of cultivation, " commented another main disciple.
" He has always looked for the good side in people, he believed in Lin Feng until the end, he defended him when others suspected him, and here is the price he pays today for his kindness. His dantian is broken, completely perforated... his career as a cultivator could be over forever. He may never surpass the Transcendence stage again."
" Do not say such nonsense," retorted the elder in a firm voice.
" The Xuan family possesses invaluable accumulated treasures. They will find a way to heal him, I am certain. For now, our absolute priority is to leave this cursed mountain as quickly as possible."
Meanwhile BaiShe already felt his Chaotic Qi stabilizing in his own dantian, reorganizing around the wound he had inflicted on himself.
*Cough*
" Young Master Xuan?! "
BaiShe stood up with difficulty :" Take me to see Ling’er."
The elder sighed while looking at BaiShe :" It seems that the young master’s weakness is his little sister... "
