Guxin Island.
Lin Heng, familiar with the place, quickly found where the Confucian Sect disciples were stationed.
Although they belonged to different sects, most information about the training of the three righteous sects under the Haoran Path was shared, especially now with the matter of the Twelve Demon God Stakes.
A quarter of an hour later, Lin Heng walked out of the camp holding a token.
He looked seriously at Qin Ruoshui and Ji Yutang, and said solemnly, “Several Demon God Stakes have already revealed themselves.
The closest one to here is Wuqishan.”
“Then let’s go to Wuqishan,” Qin Ruoshui nodded at his words, then asked, “What’s the situation at Wuqishan?” Lin Heng replied, “The Wuqishan area has suffered a drought for two years now.
The crops have failed, and the land is full of starving people.
Originally, this was a matter for the imperial court, but recently something strange has happened.
Anyone who goes to Wuqishan to pray for rain has their essence drained.
So the court suspects demons are at work and passed the news to the Haoran Path.”
Qin Ruoshui said angrily, “It’s probably the work of demonic cultivators.
These people are utterly evil and deserve the worst.” He wished he could wipe out all demonic cultivators and restore clarity to the world.
After learning about Wuqishan, the three of them flew toward it.
They arrived at their destination a day later.
The heat here surged, the air thick with fire, as if the world itself was a giant furnace burning everything to ash.
Even cultivators found it hard to bear.
Ji Yutang wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Besides the intense heat, she also sensed a foul, turbid energy constantly rising.
Looking up, she saw scorched earth, cracked ground, not a blade of grass in sight.
What was just a suspicion before was now certain—this was the work of Demon Sect cultivators.
“It’s truly hateful,” Lin Heng said, lips pressed together.
Looking ahead, he saw a few people standing in the dried-up riverbed, holding clay pots.
They were skin and bones, faces yellow and thin, hoping to squeeze a little water from the last damp mud.
“Let me try to make it rain.” This scene struck Lin Heng deeply.
Compared to hunting down the evil cultivators, easing the people’s suffering was clearly more important right now.
He took a deep breath, and a scroll flew from his sleeve.
His cultivation was of the mountains and rivers: mountains gather earth, rivers carry water.
As his power surged, a stream of water was drawn from the scroll, pouring into the dry river, trying to fill it.
But as soon as the water touched the riverbed, a wave of turbid energy surged up, turning into blazing fire that devoured the water.
Lin Heng’s power wasn’t enough to suppress this earthbound demonic flame.
“Looks like we have to get rid of that turbid energy first,” Qin Ruoshui said, frowning.
Lin Heng looked at the people and felt a pang of pity.
“But those people—” His path had its limits; he couldn’t directly bring water to their wells, but had to work with the land and rivers.
“I’ll try,” Ji Yutang suddenly said.
“Cloud Summoning and Rainmaking” was a dragon clan divine ability, and now that she was at the equivalent of the Foundation Establishment stage, she could use it.
But—Ji Yutang thought for a moment, then added, “There’s not enough moisture in the air.
Even if it rains, it won’t cover much ground.” If only Li Jingyu were here—her Jewel of the Rising Tides could draw water from the four seas, making the Rainmaking Spell much more powerful.
Lin Heng and the others nodded.
“We’ll protect you.” From what they’d learned, any cultivator who tried rainmaking here had their essence drained, clearly attracting some unknown entity.
Now that Ji Yutang was using such a divine ability, it might draw that “evil thing” over.
As the Rainmaking Spell was cast, clouds gathered, and thunder and dragon shadows flickered in the sky.
A strong wind swept away the heat, and after a few breaths, big raindrops began to fall, covering only half a mile—Ji Yutang’s limit.
The people in the riverbed were stunned at first, then overjoyed, catching the precious rain in their clay pots and cheering loudly in the wind and rain.
But just then, a wave of heat suddenly rose from the south, and a blurry, wild-haired demonic figure appeared in the flames.
Its roar crashed like thunder, shaking the heavens and earth.
“A drought demon?” Qin Ruoshui saw the apparition and his expression changed.
Before the drought demon could act, he formed a hand seal and unleashed countless sword lights at it.
Lin Heng recognized the monster too and quickly cast his own spell.
The two forces collided with a booming sound, and the drought demon in the flames shrank back, slowly retreating.
“If it’s a drought demon, the drought is only part of the problem.
The real terror is corpse poison,” Lin Heng said gravely.
Drought demons are zombies—corpses that don’t rot after death, gaining sentience and cultivating to become corpse kings, able to control corpses and leave devastation wherever they go.
Ji Yutang’s eyelid twitched.
“Then the villages near Wuqishan—” Qin Ruoshui said, “Let’s go ask.” The people they’d seen in the riverbed were alive, but there weren’t many of them.
Wuqishan used to be a blessed land with many villages—were these the only survivors? The three hurried toward the village, and only at the outskirts did they find a small area marked off with talismans.
Everywhere else was ruined and deserted.
As Ji Yutang and the others went to investigate, several figures appeared a few miles away.
Beside them sat a wild-haired cultivator in red, face stiff and blue, with terrifying fangs—clearly the drought demon from before.
“Senior Brother Gao, those Immortal Sect cultivators are here again.”
The one called “Senior Brother Gao” was Gao Cang.
The Twelve Demon God Stakes were originally assigned to twelve Demon Sect cultivators.
This area was supposed to be Zhao Yannan’s, but he’d died outside.
Gao Cang had fought hard to get this job from his peers, and if he succeeded, he’d earn plenty of rewards.
Then his ghostly fire would rise another level, and with the Three Yin Poison Fire, he could achieve the Human Immortal fruit.
“So they’re here.
Good, more food for the drought demon,” Gao Cang said with a smile, unconcerned.
Other cultivators had come before, but all ended up as food for the drought demon.
The Demon God Stake here was different from the others—it had two forms: “Houtu” and the drought demon.
Houtu was bound to the earth and couldn’t move.
Only when the drought demon was fully formed and returned to the spirit cave could they merge and truly become a Demon God.
“But the North Sea failed because of Immortal Sect cultivators.
We should be careful,” another demonic cultivator said.
Gao Cang just laughed.
He and Zhang Ren were rivals, and in his eyes, Zhang Ren’s death only made him look better.
“They might have magic tools that prevent their essence from being drained.
We’ll wait until night, then control the corpse horde and use corpse poison to corrupt their power!”
Small village.
They soon learned that fewer than thirty living people remained here, the total from all the villages near Wuqishan.
The rest had died in various ways.
The talismans here were left by a previous rainmaking cultivator, who had died fighting the drought demon.
Lin Heng was chilled by this and asked, “Why don’t you leave Wuqishan?” Battles between righteous and demonic cultivators shouldn’t involve mortals, but these demonic cultivators kept breaking the old rules, committing every evil.
An old man answered with a bitter laugh, looking miserable.
He shook his head.
“We can’t leave.” Who didn’t value their life? But after the drought began, it was as if their souls were bound to this land.
Any villager who tried to leave Wuqishan died mysteriously.
Qin Ruoshui said, “It must be the Demon God Stake.
The earth’s evil energy has changed the spiritual flow of this place.”
The old man gave a bitter smile.
“You immortals are righteous, and I’ll remember your kindness, but even the immortals before couldn’t save us.
It must be fate.
You should leave, don’t get dragged down by us doomed folk.”
Lin Heng shook his head, face serious.
“We are here to uphold justice and slay demons.
How could we retreat?”
The old man sighed, stretching out a withered hand to light the oil lamp in the house.
“At night, monsters come out.
I don’t know how long the talismans left by the last immortal will hold.”
Lin Heng said, “Don’t worry, old man.
Since we’re here, we’ll help Wuqishan through this disaster.”
The old man said nothing more, his eyes full of ash and despair, clearly not expecting much.
Night fell, darkness like a ferocious beast swallowing the village.
Rustling sounds came, first like leaves brushing, then growing noisy and sharp, like the wailing of a strangled baby—chilling and terrifying.
Ji Yutang and the others stood at the village entrance, watching the horde of stiff, rotting corpses shuffling forward, their faces tense.
Qin Ruoshui said, “These zombies’ evil energy is polluting the talismans.
They might not last.” He gathered his power, and a brilliant sword orb cut through the night, slashing forward.
The sword orb scattered beams of light, but there were too many zombies.
After a quarter hour, the orb was covered in foul energy and shattered in midair.
“These things can corrupt spiritual power,” Qin Ruoshui said calmly, sending out another sword orb from his sleeve.
He was a sword cultivator, so as long as he didn’t use his life-bound sword, he wasn’t afraid of his power being corrupted.
But Lin Heng was different—his scroll was his life-bound artifact, and the spirits of mountains and rivers within were linked to his mind.
Sensing he couldn’t hold out, he withdrew the spirits from the scroll.
Ji Yutang cultivated strength, borrowing Primordial Qi from heaven and earth, so she wasn’t afraid of the blood energy.
But she couldn’t just charge into the zombie horde.
With a thought, she took the Falling Moon Bow from her back, drew the string, and formed a glowing arrow at her fingertips.
The True Dragon Transformation Scripture included a divine archery art called “Heavenly Dragon’s Wrath,” which she’d learned in the Dragon Palace.
The arrow shot into the zombie horde, manifesting a mighty true dragon in midair.
The dragon’s roar drowned out the zombies’ wails, and as it crashed into them, it exploded a swath of writhing flesh.
Ji Yutang frowned.
“These things are tough, endless.
I don’t know how to wipe them out completely.” Divine abilities consumed willpower, but her own was limited.
Lin Heng thought for a while.
“I’ve heard that Three Light Divine Water, formed from the light of sun, moon, and stars, can purify evil energy.”
“Three Light Divine Water?” Ji Yutang raised an eyebrow.
“Where do we find it?” Qin Ruoshui was silent for a moment, then said, “Taiyuan Dao Palace has some.” He paused, then added, “Let’s just get through tonight first.”
It was a brutal fight, lasting until dawn.
When sunlight hit the village, the ground outside was littered with rotting limbs, disgusting and terrifying.
In the end, Qin Ruoshui couldn’t stand it and burned them all to ash with a talisman.
“They actually survived the night?” Gao Cang, who’d been watching the village, was surprised.
But he wasn’t worried—if not tonight, then tomorrow.
The zombies were weak and couldn’t act in the sun, only at night.
Two days later, the zombie horde still hadn’t broken through the village, and Gao Cang finally grew anxious.
Just as he was about to act, he suddenly received a flying message from Huoxin Palace, and his expression changed! Taiyuan Dao Palace had decided to use Three Light Divine Water against the drought demon? If it really arrived, things would get bad.
He’d heard of Three Light Divine Water, but never thought Taiyuan Dao Palace actually had it.
His eyes darkened, and he immediately ordered his fellow disciples to intercept the Three Light Divine Water on the way.
East of Wuqishan.
Li Jingyu hid in the shadows, patiently waiting for the Demon Sect cultivators to appear.
As she’d guessed, Ran Guzhu couldn’t resist sending out news.
After intercepting Ran Guzhu’s intent, she sent a letter to the Ran Family in her name, asking about the Three Light Divine Water.
Wang Shenyu didn’t suspect a thing and told her its whereabouts, even mentioning Wuqishan and hoping she’d go there.
If the Three Light Divine Water had stayed in Taiyuan Dao Palace, it would have been hard to get, but now the Wuqishan situation suited her perfectly.
Zhao Hechen had been ordered by his sect to deliver the Three Light Divine Water to Qin Ruoshui—so now, she just needed to take it from Zhao Hechen.
But she still needed to use “Ran Guzhu’s” identity, so she’d make use of Gao Cang.
When Zhao Hechen and the Demon Sect cultivators were both exhausted, she’d show up and take over the delivery.
Li Jingyu’s plan was solid.
On the way, Zhao Hechen was indeed ambushed by demonic cultivators.
Worried that those useless fools couldn’t handle Zhao Hechen, Li Jingyu also sent disciples from Huoxin Palace, just in case.
Zhao Hechen was a top disciple of Taiyuan Palace, but he couldn’t fight so many at once, and soon began to lose ground.
Li Jingyu appeared at just the right moment.
“Senior Sister Zhao.” Li Jingyu frowned, a hint of worry showing on her face.
“Junior Sister Ran, you’re just in time!” The moment Zhao Hechen saw Li Jingyu, joy flashed across her face.
She rushed over to Li Jingyu, shoved the Three Light Divine Water into her arms, and without asking how she got here, said directly, “Go to Wuqishan and find Senior Brother Qin!”
“Then what about you, Senior Sister Zhao?” Li Jingyu looked at Zhao Hechen in confusion.
Zhao Hechen didn’t plan to say much more.
She sent Li Jingyu out of the battle circle, her spiritual power surging like a tide, clearly intending to hold off all the demonic cultivators by herself.
Li Jingyu hesitated for a moment, then called out to Zhao Hechen, “Senior Sister, I’ll find someone to come save you!” As soon as she finished speaking, she turned into a streak of light and shot off toward Wuqishan.
But before she even reached Wuqishan, Li Jingyu stopped in her tracks.
She took out the Three Light Divine Water, her spiritual power fluctuating, and her gaze instantly turned cold.
This thing couldn’t be refined directly—there was a Taiyuan Qinglu talisman seal on it, which only disciples of Taiyuan Dao Palace could undo.
Looks like she’d have to find Qin Ruoshui after all! Li Jingyu let out a cold laugh, put away the Three Light Divine Water, glanced ahead expressionlessly, changed her clothes with a frown, and then flew off.
In the village.
Qin Ruoshui had already received Zhao Hechen’s reply, but she still hadn’t shown up, and his face was tinged with anxiety and worry.
Just as he was about to go meet her, a familiar aura approached from afar, turning into a white-robed figure before his eyes.
“Junior Sister Ran?” Qin Ruoshui raised his eyebrows in surprise.
He was a little dazed—compared to the yellow-robed Junior Sister Ran from before, this look was clearly more pleasing to him.
Ji Yutang also saw Li Jingyu, but the moment she glanced over, her brows furrowed tightly.
White robes like snow, cool and clear features—now she finally matched the impression from the past.
Her fist clenched inside her sleeve, and she abruptly looked away, refusing to look at Li Jingyu again.
Li Jingyu met Qin Ruoshui’s gaze, smiled slightly, and said gently, “Senior Sister Zhao was ambushed by demonic cultivators on the way.
She asked me to bring the Three Light Divine Water here.”
“Alright.” Qin Ruoshui nodded, then said, “Let’s go rescue Sister Zhao first.”
Li Jingyu had expected Qin Ruoshui to say that, so she immediately reached out to stop him.
“Senior Sister Zhao said we should deal with the drought demon first.
She has her own way to escape.”
Qin Ruoshui paused, not doubting Li Jingyu’s words—Sister Zhao would indeed say something like that.
Li Jingyu continued, “Where’s the drought demon?” Lin Heng said, “In Wuqishan.” Their recent battles with the zombies hadn’t been for nothing; they’d learned a lot.
“But we don’t know what kind of setup is in Wuqishan.
It’d be better to lure it out.
We tried—whenever it rains, it shows up.”
“Rain?” Li Jingyu’s eyes lit up and she smiled.
“You mean rain down the Three Light Divine Water?”
“Three Light Divine Water can’t be wasted like that,” Lin Heng shook his head, then his eyes brightened.
“Junior Sister Ran, I saw you use water magic before, so you must have studied it.
Maybe if you team up with Daoist Friend Ji, the effect will be even greater.
Daoist Friend Ji, what do you think?” As he spoke, Lin Heng turned to Ji Yutang.
Ji Yutang’s mind was unsettled, her calm completely thrown off by Li Jingyu, her head filled with memories of the past.
She didn’t even hear what Lin Heng said.
She looked up in confusion and let out an “Ah?”
Lin Heng smiled.
“Of the four of us, only you two practice water and lightning magic.
You could try the rain summoning technique together.”
Ji Yutang shook her head.
“No need.
My power can’t merge with hers.”
That was just an excuse, and Li Jingyu could see right through it.
She deliberately moved closer to Ji Yutang, and sure enough, Ji Yutang uneasily took a step back, looking even more distant and troubled than before.
“It’s only been a few days, and you already have a new grudge against me?” Li Jingyu leaned in and asked Ji Yutang in a low voice.
Ji Yutang took another step back, glared at Li Jingyu in annoyance, and pressed her lips together in silence.
When Qin Ruoshui wasn’t paying attention to their interaction, he thought for a moment and said, “If we infuse the Three Light Divine Water into the water magic, maybe we can deal with those zombies.
When they come again tonight, we can give it a try.”
Li Jingyu turned to Qin Ruoshui.
“Senior Brother, do you want to study water magic?”
Qin Ruoshui shook his head.
“It’s not for me.
I only practice pure swordsmanship.
Junior Sister, you’ve studied many techniques and visualized the light of the Big Dipper, one of the Three Lights, so you should be more compatible with the Three Light Divine Water.”
Li Jingyu’s smile deepened at his words.
She handed the Three Light Divine Water to Qin Ruoshui, pretending not to understand.
“But I’m afraid my cultivation isn’t enough to use it.”
“It’s fine.” Qin Ruoshui replied simply.
He took the Three Light Divine Water and casually wiped off the Taiyuan Qinglu talisman on top.
But in that instant, he suddenly sensed a strange lingering aura.
“Yin energy?” Qin Ruoshui thought, his eyelid twitching.
Did Sister Zhao get contaminated while fighting the demonic cultivators? But no one in Tianhai Demon Sect practices this path, right? His eyelid twitched again.
He was about to hand the Three Light Divine Water back to Li Jingyu, but as soon as he did, he couldn’t help but tuck it into his sleeve instead.
He couldn’t quite explain the odd feeling in his heart.
Li Jingyu noticed Qin Ruoshui’s actions, but her face remained calm.
She turned and whispered to Ji Yutang, as if she hadn’t taken the earlier events to heart.
Lin Heng looked at Li Jingyu and Ji Yutang, then at Qin Ruoshui, sensing something strange in the air.
He frowned and asked quietly, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Qin Ruoshui shook his head.
He just suddenly felt that Junior Sister Ran was a bit strange, but he couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong.
He frowned, recalling their previous interactions, but the more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt.
“Junior Sister Ran—” Qin Ruoshui couldn’t help but call out her name.
Li Jingyu raised an eyebrow and looked at Qin Ruoshui, puzzled.
“Senior Brother, what is it?”
Qin Ruoshui steadied himself and said, “Come with me.”
Li Jingyu didn’t hesitate and followed Qin Ruoshui.
Lin Heng scratched his head, confused.
“Those two are acting weird.”
Ji Yutang grunted, her expression suddenly turning cold, her resentment and anger toward Ran Guzhu growing even stronger.
“Junior Sister Ran.” When Qin Ruoshui said her name again, his emotions had calmed.
He looked down at Li Jingyu’s delicate features, his thoughts turning as he asked, “What’s going on between you and Daoist Friend Ji? Before you joined Taiyuan Dao Palace, you swore to devote yourself to the Dao and break free from worldly ties, but now you’re getting close to her.
Is it your family’s request?”
After he finished, Qin Ruoshui stared at Li Jingyu, waiting for her answer.
Li Jingyu spoke slowly.
“We’re all fellow cultivators.
It’s fine to be a little closer, isn’t it?”
Qin Ruoshui said, “But Junior Sister Ran, you said your path is to strive for the top, to walk only with the strong.”
Li Jingyu’s eyelid twitched.
She realized Qin Ruoshui might be getting suspicious, but she wasn’t nervous.
She replied calmly, “Ji Yutang used to be a cripple, but now she’s close to the Dao.
Doesn’t that make her strong?”
