White Bone Demon Trail

Chapter 15 Return

Even though he was high in the sky and could look down on all living beings, those pairs of white eyes were smiling at him eerily, and seeing such a scene in the air was even more nerve-wracking.

He is the king of the heavens, and he has always been the only one who looks down on the prey on the ground.

But this time, those who should have been the prey all raised their foreheads, staring at him strangely as he flew through the air.

The god's heart suddenly began to pound. He struggled to spread his wings and flew towards the higher clouds, trying to escape these strange illusions.

But when he rose to a thousand feet, he could no longer fly higher into the sky. He was blocked by an invisible barrier, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not get over the black rocks behind him.

The Azure God transformed into human form and stood quietly a thousand feet in the sky. The bright moon behind him was enormous, and the strong night wind blew his flowing hair. Everything on the ground, people and objects, turned into blurry dots. Only the vast clouds drifting around him swept past.

Looking at the bizarre scene before him, Cang Shen said coldly, "I underestimated you."

"Formless One, have you shown yourself yet?"

Aside from the surrounding wind, a strange laugh suddenly echoed in the air, mixed with the low, soft chuckles of a man and a woman. A man dressed in a plain robe emerged from the moon. On the calm, cloud-shrouded sky, he took a few steps and seemed to descend from the moon to the mortal world. The silver light shone through his skin, making him appear like an immortal from the moon palace stepping into the human realm.

"Azure God, do you know you are about to die?"

A disdainful laugh rang out, sending chills down the spine of the Azure God. He turned around, his eyes wide with astonishment as he looked at the ethereal "demon" beneath the moon, and spoke with a barely perceptible tremor in his voice:

"You're nothing but a spirit. Even if you pull me into this illusion, can you really kill me?"

His thick, dark eyebrows were filled with a resolute ruthlessness, which he kept hidden as he looked at the man who called himself Wuxiang.

Bai Wuxiang raised his hand, and a black raven appeared on his fingertip. He combed the raven's scattered black feathers and laughed, "Now that I've entered the illusion, this is my world."

Even if you find the flaw in this illusion, you will only enter the next illusion.

When the moon and the sun meet, illusions of the past and present appear. If your heart is in turmoil, this illusion will gradually devour your will, like the moon in the sky and the wind in the mountains, silently seeping into your heart.

Until you can no longer distinguish between truth and falsehood, reality and illusion, and become completely insane, then I will have another physical body.

The Azure God was startled by his words, because he hadn't realized at first that he had provoked such a terrifying phantom monster.

"Please, sir, have mercy and spare my life! These elaborate illusions will also deplete your demonic power! I am willing..."

"Alright, no need to beg for mercy." Bai Wuxiang gently raised his hand, and the black crow on his finger flapped its wings and flew away. He said calmly, "I will not kill you, but from now on, Black Stone Village should not be a place for you to raise your prey."

Our enemy, or rather our common enemy, is only that mountain lord.

Bai Wuxiang asked with a smile, "Do you know the origin of this Lord Yunze Mountain?"

When Cang Shen saw that the other party had actually stopped, he was surprised for a moment, but still explained: "It seems that you also know how powerful that mountain lord is. There have been rumors about the Yunze Mountain Lord for two hundred years. He is an old black tiger demon who has existed for at least two hundred years. Even when the dynasties in the human world below the mountain rose and fell and the mountains and rivers changed, he has always been sitting cross-legged in this Yunze Mountain and has never come out."

As for demon hunters and exorcists, rumors say they dare not enter the Yunze Mountains because of this person's existence. His strength is indeed beyond our reach!

"You killed his cubs and grandchildren; even if this tiger spirit wasn't valued by him, you'll likely face some trouble."

"That tiger demon must be wary of the surrounding demons, otherwise it probably wouldn't have allowed you other spirits to build a stronghold here." Bai Wuxiang asked with a smile, "Are there any powerful deities in the other strongholds around?"

Cang Shen replied truthfully: "Indeed, to the west of Tiger King Village, there is an old pine tree. Legend has it that it received a drop of moonlight from the heavens hundreds of years ago, which awakened its spirit and wisdom. It is now eight hundred years old. Nearby is a village called Ancient Pine Village, and even the Tiger King dares not provoke its territory."

North of Yunze Mountain lies the highest point of these eight hundred miles of mountains. The mountain peak is perpetually covered in ice and snow. A snow maiden descended from the foot of the mountain amidst the wind and snow. She was seen by mortals and revered as the Snow Goddess of Yunze. She established a village called Baishui Village and guarded only a hundred miles of land, never venturing out of the mountain.

To the east of Tiger King Village is Blackwater Village, where there is an old tortoise that is said to have lived for an unknown amount of time. The spirits only know its name but have never seen its face.

The rest were all mountain strongholds protected by minor spirits and monsters, each with varying degrees of strength.

"Thank you for informing me." Bai Wuxiang smiled and reached out to take a piece of cloud, saying, "I hope you will not come to my Black Stone Village to steal blood food again. Consider this a lesson."

After saying this, he slowly lifted his foot and walked into the moonlight. His figure disappeared, and the clouds dispersed on their own.

The Azure God, who was standing still, suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back. He staggered and fell off the clouds, transforming into a giant eagle that lay prostrate among the rocks. A long feather was missing from its tail, and bright red blood was flowing out.

The Azure God tumbled out of the illusion. It turned its eagle head and looked at the missing life feather, feeling hatred rising in its heart. However, it was fortunate that it had escaped with its life due to the depth of the illusion.

On the ground, looking at the mountains and forests that had returned to peace, the people of Black Stone Village were filled with awe. They had underestimated the danger of this mountain.

Several men were discussing how to carry their leader, who had collapsed on the ground, back to the village. Others were debating whether to stay there for the night or risk a wild trek back to the village.

The faint torchlight could barely illuminate the vast mountains, only revealing the relief and relief on everyone's faces as they narrowly escaped death.

"Whoo~"

A gentle breeze blew by, and everyone felt a chill seep into their bones.

The flames on the torches swayed and flickered with the wind, slowly turning into a ghostly blue flame, startling the five men holding the torches who were caught in a dilemma, unsure whether to throw them away or not.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Lengxiang quickly waved to the crowd behind her and said, "Kneel down and thank Lord Wuxiang for saving our lives!"

As she spoke, she was the first to kneel down. No one knew how she felt when she saw her bravest elder brother crippled by a single blow from the demon. When her throwing knives, honed over many years, were easily destroyed by the tiger demon, the despair in her heart reached its limit. Even knowing that the other party was a demon, a monster, Zhao Lengxiang still knelt down without hesitation and said respectfully, "We thank Lord Wuxiang for saving our lives! The people of Black Stone Village are eternally grateful and will remember you forever."

Behind him, a group of men knelt on the ground, burying their heads in the earth of the deep mountain wilderness. Li Yiguang, paralyzed and unable to move, could only frantically turn his pupils to look at the ground where a misty wind was slowly enveloping him.

The eerie blue flames flickered, casting long shadows of everyone across the mountains and fields.

A mangled, bloody corpse lay before them. Zhao Lengxiang looked up, tears welling in her eyes. It was Sanmaozi, who had been alive and talking to her not long ago.

The men trembled slightly. They could see clearly that it was Sanmaozi, who used to joke and fight with them, but now he was covered in blood and lifeless.

In the dim light not far away, a figure dressed in simple yet elegant clothes appeared. With his back to them, he did not turn around, but said softly, "Let's go back to the village."

A chilling aura swept over them, and everyone slowly raised their heads to look at the somewhat frightening white-clad figure in the dim light. After the initial fear they felt upon seeing him, a sense of relief actually arose in their hearts.

Zhao Lengxiang wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, stood up, and together with several men, lifted her paralyzed older brother and followed the figure that they admired.

In the silent mountains, a man in white led the way, followed by a group of men walking hurriedly a few feet behind him. The burly man from Wulong Village, whose hands were bound, could only be swept along by the crowd as they walked through the forest.

Along the roadside, tiny specks of eerie blue light began to float up, accompanying the group as they walked. The dim blue light illuminated their path, and a fox in the mountain grass curiously watched the group of creatures before it.

The birds in the trees were not disturbed; they simply watched the strange creatures pass by in silence.

Bai Wuxiang, who was leading the way, paid no attention to the joys and sorrows of the mortals behind him. He simply walked at the very front, and his demonic aura inadvertently spread out, which startled away all the spying people hiding in the dark in the deep mountains.

Bai Wuxiang is no longer human; he cannot perceive human emotions. Perhaps the deaths of some of them are due to karma, or punishment from Yunze Mountain for their hunting of living beings.

After all, the prey they were carrying was once a living creature. This is the rule of the world: the strong prey on the weak.

If it weren't for me today, the people of Black Stone Village would have become food for the Azure God.

He slightly raised his hand, and the faint blue flames on both sides were formed from the corpses of hundreds of beasts that had accumulated in the mountains and forests. They spontaneously ignited when drawn by his death energy. Although they looked like fire, they were actually cold.

Just like myself, I look like a human being, with flesh and blood, but in reality I am dead.

Bai Wuxiang led the group to the vicinity of Black Stone Village, then turned and left. The surrounding chill dissipated, and the dim light on the torches gradually returned to its fiery red.

As everyone looked at the familiar mountain village, many of the men's eyes were slightly moist, perhaps because the night was deep and the dew was heavy.

As Zhao Lengxiang watched the disappearing figure, she was touched once again. The warmth of human kindness made her face no longer pale. "Everyone has had a long day. Let's go back to the village and rest."

The gates of the stronghold were opened, and You Junzi, seeing the disheveled group and Li Yiguang lying on the ground, finally breathed a sigh of relief and laughed, "It's good that you're back!"

On the cliff, the black crow silently watched the mortals reunite. It was only a day's journey back, why were they so happy?
Seeing the men, women, and children of the village all coming out with smiles on their faces, Xuan Ya felt really bored, so he spread his wings and flew over the village, landing on a locust tree branch on Skull Mountain, silently watching his master.

Bai Wuxiang saw it return without saying a word, but with a wave of his hand, a flawless white tiger skeleton appeared and lay in the locust grove.

The bones of this tiger spirit, refined by demonic power, have reached a point where they are impervious to swords and blades in the mortal realm. With the further application of its demonic power, it can serve as a bone-yin tiger guarding the cave. In this way, even if someone were to enter the White Bone Cave, they would be pounced upon and killed by this bone-yin tiger.

As for the tiger skin, he planned to use it as practice material for his leatherworking.

This time, he used his demonic power to nourish the human skin, and then used the tiger spirit's blood and flesh to replenish it. At least for several years, he will no longer need to worry about the maintenance of the human skin.

But human skin requires a lot of care and maintenance, so why not try making your own human skin?
Bai Wuxiang now wants to cultivate into human form, but it's unknown how many years it will take. He cannot do without the protection and disguise of a human skin. Using human skin is ultimately only a temporary solution; he still needs to have a skin custom-made for himself!

He remembered that the picture book said that demons were good at painting their own skin, imitating human traces, and hiding among humans.

He should also master this skill. Even without the treasure, the Vengeful Spirit Pearl, Bai Wuxiang would still learn it. He couldn't rely on the pearl to work its magic for everything.

This time, he used the powerful technique of the Vengeful Spirit Pearl to induce a mental tribulation, and only under multiple illusions was he able to control the mind of the Azure Eagle Demon. If he had relied solely on his own demonic power and illusion techniques, he would have had to fight to the death to barely survive.

He wasn't so merciful as to sacrifice his own cultivation for Black Stone Village. If he took action himself, there had to be a reward.

Bai Wuxiang took out the Jade Void Golden Bell from his sleeve and examined the magic weapon itself. This was an ancestral technique of demon hunters, so this magic weapon must be extraordinary.

He needed to observe carefully to understand the methods of demon hunters in this world. Since they were demons, he had to be wary of these beings who made a living by hunting demons.

Bai Wuxiang is neither good nor evil towards these people, but he must have the means to control their evil, otherwise he might be entangled by them one day.

Since You Junzi is wary of him, Bai Wuxiang is no better person, and he will try his best to eliminate any cards that could threaten him.

After all, in this world, the goodness or evil of people's hearts is sometimes beyond one's control. Although people are strong when they gather together, their hearts are also fickle. He believed that You Junzi sincerely invited him to the village, but after all, he was no longer human.

He hung the Jade Void Golden Bell on the stalactite hanging in the cave. When the wind blows, the bell will ring. However, the sound of the bell without the blessing of human power can help Bai Wuxiang clear his mind and refresh his spirit, thus aiding his cultivation.

There is usually no wind in this White Bone Cave unless there is life force. When death meets life, and yin and yang collide, wind is generated, which will make the golden bell ring.

After dealing with the situation, he picked up the last thing he had obtained on this trip: the life-bound feather of the eagle demon. This feather was no ordinary feather; it was the essence of the demon's power and blood, and only one feather could be grown every few decades. Now that Bai Wuxiang had taken one of them, the demon's vitality was naturally greatly damaged.

But Bai Wuxiang didn't kill him in order to preserve Cangyun Village, because Cangyun Village's territory is only eighty miles north of Black Stone Village, and beyond Cangyun Village lies Tiger King Village's territory!
With this fortress as a buffer, Black Stone Village can live in peace for a long time.

(End of this chapter)