Demon Taming: Start by synthesizing a Lantern Ghost with Divine and Demonic Talents

Chapter 21: Who is the Prey? (Please add to your favorites and read on!)
"calm!"

The middle-aged-looking Holy Son gave a low shout, stopping the woman's grumbling: "Perhaps after sacrificing a few survivors, the situation might be different. There can't be too many enemies, just one that's more troublesome. We can't afford to lose our composure."

Another holy son, who looked like a pale-faced scholar, also said, "We must speed up our actions. The number of believers lost last night has not yet been tallied, but I estimate it is not small."

The fat monk said, "He doesn't dare to face us, probably because he's afraid of our power. Fortunately, he didn't wander around too much last night, and we've roughly tracked down the whereabouts of a few people. They thought they were safe once the night was over, but in reality, we were the ones who were restricted at night."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's act now and find them all."

The fat monk nodded. "Let's split up and try to catch them all in one fell swoop."

Before long, a rumbling sound echoed in Li Chunfeng's mind again:

Survivors He Zenglong and Li Jieyu are undergoing a sacrificial ritual. The ritual will last for twelve hours; if successful, the power of the Spider Mother's reflection will increase by another 20%!

Survivors Sun Yao and Fang Jinyao are dead!

Goodness, including the one who got arrested yesterday.

Two have died, and three have been captured.

Nearly half of them have been wiped out.

Just one day later, the foundation of victory tilted 50 degrees.

Li Chunfeng, who was about to return to the mountain, stopped and turned back down the mountain.

During the day, cults are powerful and assume that survivors can only hide, but I will do the opposite.

In the thick morning fog, the butcher at the meat stall had just opened the door when he saw a bald man walking towards him. "Hey, isn't this the little monk from the mountain? Coming down the mountain so early to beg for alms today? Want to take some liver and stalks back to offer to Buddha?"

Before he could finish speaking, Li Chunfeng shoved him into the house and locked the door from the inside.

"Sweetheart, right? You're offering sacrifices to Buddha, right? I'm here to add some atmosphere."

The butcher reacted quickly, grabbing the butcher's knife at his waist with his other hand.

With a flash of the blade, the butcher's head was severed.

A stench assaulted his senses, and his original physical body rapidly disintegrated. A terrifying spider monster burst through the headless body, its eight compound eyes locking onto Li Chunfeng, about to hiss.

"Swish, swish, swish~"

The four bone spirits descended, unleashing a barrage of sharp blade energy that chopped the demonic spider into a bloody pulp.

In an instant, red and green blood splattered all over the ground, and the corpse on the ground had turned into a putrid, rotting mess of unknown shape.

Li Chunfeng remained calm, summoned the Burning Lamp, blew a breath at the corpse, and it immediately turned into a raging fire that burned the corpse to ashes.

[The Hundred-Man Slayer Blade, a Tier 1 demonic weapon. Due to excessive killing, its blade is filled with murderous aura. Its power increases when swung, but it also consumes additional stamina!]

"The equipment exploded."

The commotion outside alerted the people inside, and two figures with twisted limbs burst out from the wall.

So he drew his sword and killed his wife and son as well.

[There seems to be more to it than meets the eye in the backyard cellar!]

Li Chunfeng's giant handprint lifted the stone mill that was pressing down on the cellar, revealing a deep underground cave.

call……

A gust of cold wind swept by, and he suddenly held his breath as the central lamp in the small interior space shone brightly.

The talisman in his arms was half carbonized; it was an exorcism talisman given to him by Uncle Song.

"Light the lamp!"

Just as the demonic pet was summoned, a howl echoed from the cellar, and a foul-smelling maw lunged out, about to tear at the creature, when a talisman was shoved into its mouth. The maw bounced back into the cellar as if electrocuted, the talisman spontaneously combusting. The owner of the maw immediately screamed in agony, rolling around at the entrance of the cellar.

[A ghoul, who suffered inhuman torture in life, whose soul was extremely twisted, and whose body was fed with the flesh and blood of demons, has mutated into a ghoul!]

Li Chunfeng frowned deeply; the ghoul was already a first-tier monster.

The butcher is just a martial artist, at most he has a lot of murderous aura, how could he possibly create a ghoul?
The Spider Mother Cult must have passed down heretical cultivation methods that can turn living people into ghouls and chain them to the cave entrance as guard dogs.

— Truly a path to death.

The lamp-wielder spat out a fireball, igniting the ghoul's corpse into a pillar of flame. Only after the ghoul had turned to ashes did he burrow into the cave. Inside, he discovered a vast network of interconnected underground caverns. At regular intervals, these caverns had passageways leading to the cellars of a house above ground.

It's obvious that this was an accidental intrusion into a spider's nest.

This makes it convenient for him to take them down one by one.

"Roar!"

As soon as a door was pushed open, a zombie suddenly opened its eyes, exuding a murderous aura.

Pfft!

A flash of light, and the zombie's head was severed. A fireball was thrown down, instantly turning into a pillar of fire. Li Chunfeng's figure rushed out of the cave, and after a while, he returned carrying a blood-soaked demon-slaying sword. The zombie on the ground had turned to ashes, leaving behind only a soul crystal.

After that, he kept going in and out of the underground passage, entering the houses across the street, and wreaking havoc, wiping out the entire family.

The streets of Maha City are noticeably quieter today, lacking the hustle and bustle of yesterday.

Last night's fighting frightened many people.

Today, the Spider Mother Holy Cult, together with the soldiers of the City Lord's Mansion, is searching for strangers from house to house.

They also checked whether any local residents were acting suspiciously.

Unfortunately, if a cultivator wants to hide with all their might, it is far from something that an ordinary person can easily discover.

Having learned from last night's experience, the remaining members hid very well, and the search team didn't find a single one. However, the search team soon discovered other anomalies. Many households had reported unexplained disappearances, and the number was not small.

As the news reached higher levels, the leaders of the Spider Mother Holy Cult immediately turned ashen-faced. It wasn't until evening, when they saw that the number of followers gathered inside the mountain had suddenly decreased by more than half, that the Holy Consorts and Holy Sons realized the gravity of the situation.

"This is a desperate measure." Without the help of their henchmen, the vast ancient city of Maha could only rely on the power of the Nine-Eyed Demon Spider Array to patrol the entire city if the four of them wanted to find all the escapees seven days ago.

Fortunately, twelve hours have passed.

The first person caught has successfully logged off.

A pillar of fire erupted from Xu You's already exhausted body, and he was reduced to ashes within moments. The other two bound men, witnessing this scene, were filled with despair.

If I had known it would end like this, I would have preferred to die in battle!
The sacrifice was successful. The phantom of the giant spider on the altar solidified a bit, and one of its demonic eyes manifested directly in the air, never dissipating.

At the same time, many eyes in the city saw the changes in the formation in the sky.

The Nine-Eyed Demon Spider Formation suddenly accelerated its speed of covering the sky, quickly enveloping an area in the south of the city. Within the formation, in particular, the vertical-pupiled demonic eye, like a heavenly eye, constantly scanned all unusual movements within the area.

The fisherman hiding by the river south of the city saw this scene and hurriedly jumped into the water, transforming into an armored demon and quickly moving his position underwater.

The killers also clearly felt that their power had increased by more than 10%, and their freedom after transformation was also greater than the previous night. They were already able to communicate with each other remotely through telepathy.

Overjoyed, they agreed: "Tonight we will expand the search area, and if they dare to come out again, we will make sure to capture them all!"

Under the evil yellow light, it once again peeled off its human skin, transformed into a demon, and rushed into the night.

A fog descends, demons surge, and everything seems to have returned to square one.

But tonight, no one dares to take the risk.

The city below the mountain was silent, except for the unwilling monsters who were still frantically searching everywhere.

Unbeknownst to us, the mountain path of the Spider Mother Holy Sect was draped in moonlight, like a silver veil, giving the entire ancient mountain and temple a desolate appearance.

A figure went against the grain and actually stepped onto the wide mountain path leading to the Spider Mother's Holy Cult.

While monsters roam freely at the foot of the mountain, the mountain itself is not deserted. A stable garrison still exists.

Nighttime is dangerous; if you go out after dark, you will be hunted by hordes of monsters.

Are the survivors the prey?

Big mistake!

Only the weak are the prey!

A night breeze blew, and the crackling sound of bones rattling echoed through the mist. Several guarding spider monsters were drawn to the rapidly approaching bone spirit warrior, their eight compound eyes fixed on the bone spirit, only to be met with a barrage of blade energy.

The bone spirit warriors lined up in a fan shape and climbed upwards.

They fought demons and monsters along the way, their slaughter never ceasing.

They continued their rampage, slaughtering their way into the heart of the mountain, only to suddenly face an attack from a large number of the remaining spiders.

"Transform!"

Li Chunfeng transformed into a demonic form.

The Phantom Clone Technique was unleashed, with thousands of clones clad in nightmare-inspired black robes flanking from all directions.

The two men tied to the wooden spikes were overjoyed to see this, exclaiming, "Someone actually came to rescue us!"

"This mysterious powerhouse is too outrageous! He can actually create so many clones at the same time. His natal demon pet must be exceptionally talented!"

Li Chunfeng leaped onto the altar and, with two swift strokes of his sword, rescued the two strangers.

"Thank you so much for saving us! We are extremely grateful!"

"Let's get out of here quickly. The eyes of these spider demons can transmit information to the killers."

The two didn't want to stay a moment longer, so they immediately used their weakened bodies to summon their demonic pets and escape.

But a flash of light blocked their way. "You're just going to leave like this?"

"what……"

The two looked at each other, puzzled.

After Li Chunfeng transformed into a demon, his voice, as sharp as metal, said, "My rescue came at a great cost."

If the two people still don't understand after being spoken so bluntly, they might as well be sacrificed.

Only after experiencing a death threat do you truly understand the preciousness of life. As long as you can escape, everything else is secondary.

He Zenglong and Li Jieyu, without any hesitation, quickly offered up their valuables.

Li Chunfeng raised an eyebrow, not realizing that the two of them were quite wealthy.

The six magical artifacts and divine weapons, along with a number of elixirs, were all valuable items.

"Let's go!"

Li Chunfeng withdrew his long sword.

"Won't you leave with me?"

"I'll stay behind to cover your retreat. You all hurry down the mountain, or we'll be blocked again."

They didn't know who Li Chunfeng was, only that he was highly skilled and daring. After all, who wouldn't be terrified to see clones all over the mountain?

So, knowing better, he didn't say much, bowed again in thanks, and quickly descended the mountain.

Soon, only Li Chunfeng remained in the vast mountain interior.

He looked up at the statue in the very center, his 'Mind's Eye' burning with divine soul power.

[A statue of a strange demon!]

(End of this chapter)