Chapter 593: Chapter 403: The Bane of Stealth

An eruption of Demon Power at the early Foundation Establishment level. As the Demon Power enveloped his entire body, he immediately entered a state of Half-Demonization. Iron horns sprouted from his forehead, and a layer of thorny Scale Armor grew over his limbs.

Xue Ren’s right hand swiped across the Storage Pouch at his waist, and a pale red longbow appeared in his hand. The runes at the center of the bow’s body lit up. He drew the bowstring to a full moon, a deep red arrow already nocked.

A Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Demon-Slaying Bow!

This was a Spiritual Artifact designed specifically to deal with Demons.

To better combat Demons, Xue Ren owned no ordinary Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts.

’Thankfully, the Sect Leader is highly efficient at Refining these types of Spiritual Artifacts now. Otherwise, an ordinary Elder like me would have to wait in line indefinitely to get one.’

The loosed arrow whistled through the air. In a mere instant, it tore a bloody hole through the Qin Family Demon’s Scale Armor, and blood gushed out uncontrollably.

’Damn it!’

’These Spiritual Artifacts are truly vile!’

The Qin Family Demon couldn’t understand why Spirit Refiners would forge such vile Spiritual Artifacts, while their own Artifact Refiners couldn’t produce Demon Artifacts capable of countering Spirit Refiners.

He knew that a hundred years ago, Spirit Refiners didn’t have such artifacts. In a clash between those in the early Foundation Establishment Realm, it was more often the Demons who held the upper hand.

But after these Spiritual Artifacts specifically designed to counter Demons appeared, the situation had completely changed.

An early-stage Foundation Establishment Spirit Refiner holding one of these Lower Grade Spiritual Artifacts could take on mid-stage Foundation Establishment Demons. At the same Realm, it was very difficult for Demons to gain any advantage.

What was even more terrifying was that over the years, more and more of these Spiritual Artifacts specialized against Demons had appeared. Over thirty percent of the Spirit Refiners he had encountered were equipped with them.

The Spirit Refiners who possessed such artifacts were usually Elders of the Celestial Cloud Sect. Whether it was cultivators from the Celestial Cloud Sect’s vassal Foundation Establishment Influences or from the Wind Ling Sect, it was rare for them to have such artifacts. For the Demons, this was the only good news.

’As long as I’m distracted, the bleeding won’t stop. I can’t let this go on...’

After the arrow dissipated, a residual power remained, preventing his wound from healing. Not only that, but this lingering power was also corroding his Demon Power.

The ability to corrode Demon Power was one of the defining characteristics of the Spiritual Artifacts designed to counter them.

Originally, the Qin Family Demon had planned to hold Xue Ren here, wait for reinforcements from the Qin Family to arrive, and then kill Xue Ren in one fell swoop.

Now, the thought of escape had already crossed his mind.

"Where do you think you’re going!"

Xue Ren once again drew the Demon-Slaying Bow in his hands to a full moon.

Unlike the previous arrow formed from Spiritual Power, this time a physical arrow covered in runes flew out from his Storage Pouch and was nocked on the fully drawn bowstring.

This was one of the Demon-Slaying Bow’s companion arrows. Each one used was one less he had.

He only had three in total, and this was the second.

"Die!"

Xue Ren narrowed one eye. Before the word was even out, the arrow had left the string.

An explosion rang out in the distance. The early-stage Foundation Establishment Demon was blown to pieces.

"Sweet! The Spiritual Artifacts refined by the Sect Leader are just that good."

The sound of the arrow’s explosion was one of the most wonderful sounds Xue Ren had ever heard.

Back when he had commissioned the Refining of the Demon-Slaying Bow, he had submitted his requirements. But when he received it, its actual performance far exceeded what he had asked for.

Xue Ren had asked the other Elders about the Sect Leader’s Artifact Refining. Apparently, Spiritual Artifacts refined by the Sect Leader always had better effects, more perfect than the requested specifications.

For ordinary Spiritual Artifacts, the Sect Leader now only refined Upper Grade ones. As for the Spiritual Artifacts specialized against Demons, the Artifact Refining Elders still couldn’t make them. Even if given the right Spiritual Materials, they could at best produce a top-grade Magical Artifact, and only if they were lucky.

This was already quite impressive. Before the Sect Leader wrote the corresponding manuals, it was incredibly difficult for the Artifact Refining Elders to even refine an Upper Grade Magical Artifact specialized against Demons.

Xue Ren walked over to where the Demon had died and began collecting his spoils of war.

His mission was complete. He had been very lucky this time; not only had he completed his mission, but he had done so quickly.

Xue Ren took out a Demon Stone from his Storage Pouch and used a clever trick with it to open the Foundation Establishment Demon’s Storage Pouch.

"This is... a Sulfur Demon Stone! Excellent! I can have more arrows forged."

Forging these arrows required a Second Tier Spiritual Material, the Sulfur Demon Stone, which the sect no longer had in stock.

Aside from the main Spiritual Material, the Sulfur Demon Stone, all the other Spiritual Materials could be exchanged for directly. He could post a task in the Artifact Pavilion, and the arrows should be ready in a year or two.

Only the Sect Leader could forge the arrows for the Demon-Slaying Bow.

After the pleasant surprise, Xue Ren prepared to leave.

Just then, he felt a fluctuation of Yin Power.

A mid-stage Foundation Establishment Ghost Cultivator!

’Why would a Ghost Cultivator appear here?’

Without a moment’s thought or hesitation, Xue Ren formed a hand seal for a Magic Technique and swiftly fled the area.

If it had been a mid-stage Foundation Establishment Demon, he might have stood a chance, but he was truly no match for a mid-stage Foundation Establishment Ghost Cultivator.

Not unless he had a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact specialized against Ghost Cultivators.

’I have to report this to the sect.’

The appearance of a Ghost Cultivator in the territory of the Qin Family Demons was problematic in itself. Another crucial point was that this Ghost Cultivator had likely sensed the explosion and was clearly heading for him.

If the Ghost Cultivator hadn’t been targeting him, it should have stayed away after detecting the fluctuations of Spiritual Power.

This ruled out one possibility: the Ghost Cultivator wasn’t here to deal with Demons.

During their operations in the Demon Spirit Sect’s territory, the Ghost Cultivators there had appeared to fight Demons, so there was basically no conflict with them.

Any conflict would only come after the Demon Spirit Sect was eliminated.

Not long after Xue Ren fled, a gray figure appeared where he had just been.

"He runs pretty fast. Oh well."

He displayed an indifferent attitude towards the Spirit Refiner.

It seemed to make no difference to him whether he killed the Spirit Refiner or not.

This was related to the instructions given by the Supreme Elder of their Ghost Head Castle.

...

「Black Ghost Cave.」

In the chamber reserved for entertaining guests of the highest honor.

Two Core Formation Ghost Cultivators were present: one was the Great Cave Master of the Black Ghost Cave, and the other was Supreme Elder Lan Zhaifen of Ghost Head Castle.

"Great Cave Master, I trust you’ve been well since we last met."

"Fellow Daoist Lan, the last time I saw you, you had only just broken through to the Core Formation Stage." The Great Cave Master reminisced for a moment before getting straight to the point. "Your Ghost Head Castle is quite interesting. To think you’d actually help the Dragon Demon Palace deal with the Celestial Cloud Sect."

After the conflict between the Dragon Demon Palace and the Celestial Cloud Sect broke out, the Black Ghost Cave had been constantly gathering intelligence from the Dragon Demon Palace’s territory.

They didn’t know much about what was happening in the Celestial Cloud Sect’s territory, mainly because gathering intelligence there was much more difficult than in the Dragon Demon Palace’s lands.

"From what I understand, Great Cave Master, your Black Ghost Cave’s previous cooperation with the Demon Spirit Sect was genuine, wasn’t it? You only changed your minds later because of the Ghost-Controlling Sect," Lan Zhaifen said, sharing the information she possessed.

"Oh?" The Great Cave Master looked at Lan Zhaifen in surprise. "Your Ghost Head Castle really has a knack for gathering information."

News of the Black Ghost Cave’s negotiations with the Ghost-Controlling Sect was not widely known, even among the Elders within the Black Ghost Cave itself.

"I learned this from the Ghost-Controlling Sect," Lan Zhaifen replied.

"When did this happen? You visited the Ghost-Controlling Sect before coming here."

"That’s right."

Lan Zhaifen told the truth; she had come to negotiate with the Black Ghost Cave only after concluding her talks with the Ghost-Controlling Sect.

The Great Cave Master fell silent for a moment upon hearing this, then asked:

"Fellow Daoist Lan, what did you discuss with the Ghost-Controlling Sect?"

"There are some things I cannot speak of until our own discussion is complete," Lan Zhaifen said, evading the Great Cave Master’s question and deliberately keeping him in suspense.

Whether or not Lan Zhaifen would ultimately reveal the contents of her discussion depended on whether Ghost Head Castle and the Black Ghost Cave could establish a partnership.

"Fine. I know you’ve come about dealing with the Celestial Cloud Sect."

It wasn’t difficult for the Great Cave Master to guess Lan Zhaifen’s intentions. After all, Ghost Head Castle was already active in the Dragon Demon Palace’s territory, helping the Dragon Demon Palace’s Demons fight Spirit Refiners.

"I’m very curious. Why did your Ghost Head Castle choose to help the Dragon Demon Palace against the Celestial Cloud Sect?"

"The answer to that question is simple." Lan Zhaifen answered without much thought. "The Dragon Demon Palace is caught between the Celestial Cloud Sect and the Wind Ling Sect. If the Dragon Demon Palace is truly wiped out by the Spirit Refiners, then our Ghost Head Castle’s territory will border the Celestial Cloud Sect’s."

"Is it really that simple?" The Great Cave Master was skeptical.

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