Night fell swiftly. The moon faintly illuminated the village as villagers hurried into their homes to sleep. For mortals living outside cities, their day ended the moment night arrived.
Qing Xuanling watched the villagers enter their homes with fearful faces. She clenched her fists. She wasn't a saint—but she still remembered the mortal children who had played with her before it was discovered she possessed a forming spiritual root. Seeing the village children awakened those memories.
She vowed to end the demonic cultivator tormenting this village.
As soon as all villagers retreated indoors, Qing Xuanling and the others split up. Instructor Huan remained at the village center on watch, while the rest guarded the four directions. Qing Xuanling, having the lowest cultivation, was paired with Qing Ziyi for safety.
"Elder Sister Ziyi—do you think we'll catch the demonic cultivator tonight?" Qing Xuanling asked, eyes scanning the surroundings. "The villagers said they never noticed anything when their children vanished at night."
"Demonic cultivators employ varied methods. It's no surprise mortals noticed nothing," Qing Ziyi shook her head. "But we're different. Unless he's a Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator, we'll detect him."
Qing Xuanling nodded, relieved. Demonic cultivators still unnerved her.
The few lights in the village houses flickered out one by one until only the moon's pale glow remained. This posed no issue for cultivators—their senses far surpassed mortals'. Seeing in near-darkness was effortless.
Hours crawled by. Midnight arrived. The air suddenly turned colder.
A wave of dread washed over Qing Xuanling. She frantically scanned the area—but saw nothing.
'Sigh… Am I just being paranoid?'
Just as she sighed in relief, Qing Ziyi shouted in alarm:
"Look at the ground!"
Qing Xuanling drew her sword and looked down. Four shriveled, emaciated, child-sized figures lay on the ground. They wore tattered rags covering bodies riddled with large boils and pus-filled sores.
Qing Xuanling's heart trembled as disgust tightened her brow.
'What… are these things?!'
She took a step back, trying to process the sight—but two of the crawling figures suddenly lunged at her. The other two charged Qing Ziyi.
She had no time to worry about her. Her eyes locked on their faces—faces still childlike beneath the festering wounds and oozing sores.
Her grip on her sword trembled as she realization struck.
'The missing children!'
Her face paled. She retreated hastily, steps faltering.
From a distance, Qing Ziyi gritted her teeth, pulling out a brush made of demonic beast hair and shouting:
"Qing Xuanling— you'd better not freeze up and ruin everything! Demonic cultivators grow stronger by absorbing the Qi of fallen cultivators! At least don't complicate the situation by dying! I won't die today because of some brat!"
Her usually flat voice crackled with fury.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
"Cut or even bite the enemy in front of you if necessary! Besides—these aren't the children they once were. These are just puppets who suffer constantly! Death would be a mercy!"
Qing Ziyi leaped into the air, sweeping her brush through the air. Brilliant strokes traced behind it. Soon, a character formed before her: "Fire."
A fireball erupted upon completion, soaring toward the two puppet children before her.
Boom!
Smoke billowed where it struck. Qing Ziyi landed, sighing in relief—but before the sigh finished, two figures burst from the smoke!
Her eyes widened. The charred, blackened corpses of the puppet children still moved. Her face darkened. She immediately began inscribing more characters midair.
Qing Xuanling was stunned. She hadn't expected Qing Ziyi to be a rare talisman master!
'Sigh… Calm down. She's right. These children are already dead. The best I can do for them is stop their bodies from being further defiled…'
She took a deep breath, activated the Iron-Cutting Sword Art. Sharp Qi enveloped her blade. She slashed at the arm of a puppet child lunging at her—the limb severed cleanly!
Slight surprise flickered in her eyes—but she refocused instantly. She dodged the second puppet child's leap, then slashed vertically at its waist midair.
Swish!
Another clean cut.
Qing Xuanling understood now.
'They're weak against slashing attacks!'
She didn't flatter herself—her strikes weren't stronger than Qing Ziyi's fireballs (Qing Ziyi was at the seventh layer, after all). Her effectiveness came from the puppets' children high vitality but low defense.
Although Qing Ziyi's fire attacks were incredibly powerful and deadly, they weren't powerful enough to completely obliterate an enemy. On the other hand, Qing Xuanling's slashes also lacked the power to kill the puppet children outright, but they could easily incapacitate them.
She watched the two halves of the puppet child still dragging themselves toward her. Pity flickered into eyes—but there was little she could do for them.
The last puppet child fell just as easily—bisected with one stroke.
Turning to aid Qing Ziyi, Qing Xuanling froze.
Before Qing Ziyi lay only two small piles of ash.
Qing Ziyi turned at her gaze. "Oh—you're done. Faster than I expected. Guess you had better compatibility with them than I did."
Qing Xuanling nodded with a forced smile, unable to tear her eyes from the ashes.
'I suppose even their unnatural vitality is no match for absolute power…'
Qing Ziyi paid no mind to her thoughts and headed toward the village center where Instructor Huan stood.
"Come on—I hear intense fighting over there." Her expression grew grave. "We need to regroup quickly. I feel this puppet attack isn't so simple…"
Qing Xuanling nodded. She too sensed things were about to worsen. They ran for a minute before reaching Instructor Huan.
Indeed, the battle here was fiercer.
Twenty-five puppet children surrounded Instructor Huan—larger and stronger than the ones Qing Xuanling and Qing Ziyi had faced.
Yet Instructor Huan stood firm, spear flashing with fiery precision, cutting down any puppet that neared. Ten lay dead around him. But sweat beaded his brow—he was tiring.
Qing Xuanling and Qing Ziyi rushed to assist.
Qing Ziyi inscribed a serpent-shaped character. Fiery serpents coiled around four puppet children, immobilizing them briefly.
Qing Xuanling's eyes narrowed. She danced between immobilized puppets, striking four times. The immobilized puppets fell in halves.
Instructor Huan grinned at her coordination. His spear movements accelerated—one puppet per thrust.
In under two minutes, all remaining puppets were destroyed.
Qing Xuanling panted heavily. She quickly retrieved one of Su Meiren's Qi Recovery Pills. Though she disliked the woman, the pills were innocent—and she'd feel guilty wasting them.
She swallowed the pale green pill. Immediately, her absorption of spiritual energy from the air—and its conversion to Qi—accelerated several-fold.
'My depleted two-thirds of Qi will fully recover in under ten minutes!'
Relieved, she turned to Instructor Huan, who was speaking with Qing Ziyi.
"What now? Aid the others or hunt the one responsible for… this?" Qing Xuanling glanced at the puppet children still twitching despite being bisected. "No ordinary person could do this…"
Instructor Huan frowned. "I'd intended to aid the others—but I think hunting the culprit is wiser. There shouldn't be more than fifty puppet children total. The others should be relatively safe…"
Qing Xuanling clenched her teeth. She understood his reasoning—the demonic cultivator had only abducted fifty children. So, at most, there were only twenty puppets left for three people. It wasn't too dangerous for the rest of the team.
She cast one last pitying glance at the puppets—then turned to speak to Instructor Huan.
But a sudden voice cut her off.
"Hehe… Well, congratulations, I suppose. One of your worries has been resolved."
A man suddenly appeared on the roof of a nearby house.
"I—the main culprit behind all this—have arrived! They won't have to bother looking for me anymore!"