Slaying Demons: Starting with Upgrading my Calligraphy-Chapter 396 - 359 - : Immortal

"And this person’s clothing..."

Qi Xiu’s gaze shifted from the corpse-spotted elder on the man’s back. He suddenly noticed that the attire on the man, who was covered in corpse marks, startlingly belonged to the style of a previous dynasty.

"It’s been nearly two thousand years since the last dynasty, yet this man’s body hasn’t decayed. It seems this eerie power has preserved his corpse."

Approaching the man with the corpse spots, Qi Xiu scrutinized him closely.

Under the suppression of the Yellow Turban Strongman, the man was like a long-dead corpse, completely motionless.

Lifting his hand, Qi Xiu gestured to the Yellow Turban Strongman to release the man.

The moment the Yellow Turban Strongman let go, the man, whose eyes had been tightly shut, suddenly snapped them open. His pinpoint pupils unleashed a terrifying, strange power.

The man was incredibly fast. The instant he awoke, he lunged for Qi Xiu’s arm, and the corpse spots on his body began to writhe as if alive.

Infection?

Noting that the corpse-spotted elder on the man’s back also attacked in concert, Qi Xiu transformed into a burst of Lei Mang and dodged instantly. Then, he lifted his hand, and a bolt of lightning shot out abruptly.

BOOM—

Lei Mang burst forth, and the roar shook everything around.

The man fell straight down, his body charred black.

However, just when Qi Xiu thought the man had been eliminated, he saw the creature’s wounds healing at a visibly rapid pace.

In just a few short moments, he stood up again, completely unharmed.

Unkillable?

Sensing something unusual, Qi Xiu began to increase the power in his hands.

Once...

Twice...

Ten times...

A hundred times...

After striking down this uncanny corpse over a hundred times, Qi Xiu fully understood that this creature truly could not be slain by conventional means.

The extremely potent Thunder Magic could turn it to ashes, but it could not eradicate the eerie power entwining the creature. Under the influence of this power, even if the man was killed a hundred times, he would revive after a certain period.

Watching the bizarre male corpse continue to lunge at him, Qi Xiu flicked his finger. A Suppressing Talisman flew out swiftly, securely landing on the man’s forehead.

The Suppressing Talisman on his forehead glowed brightly, and the man, who had been about to go berserk again, fell back into a deep slumber.

It couldn’t be killed, but it could be suppressed.

"Judging from this, most of the cultivators who entered the Evernight Ancient Kingdom were infected and transformed into such undying creatures. However, the power of these undying creatures is quite ordinary, at best equivalent to that of a common martial fighter. An average cultivator might not be able to kill them, but repelling them should be well within their means. If worst comes to worst, one could simply leave this ancient city..."

Thinking of leaving the city, Qi Xiu subconsciously glanced back at the city gate.

Gone?

The majestic city gate—high, wide, and reaching into the clouds—was now inexplicably missing without a trace.

One can enter but not exit? Trapped inside?

The Evernight Ancient Kingdom, which had seemed bustling and prosperous from afar, began to gradually reveal its hidden horror and weirdness the moment one set foot inside.

Looking upward slightly, Qi Xiu shot into the air like a bolt of Lei Mang. His speed was so immense that he broke through several sonic booms, and in a blink, he had pierced the unseen clouds above.

After speeding for a full quarter of an hour with the swiftness of thought, there was still no end in sight to the thick, sturdy city wall.

Stopping in his tracks, Qi Xiu observed the unyielding city wall before him and lifted his right hand. A supremely brilliant white light began to gather in his palm.

Mixed Yuan Ultimate Cannon

BOOM—

The terrifying technique, capable of injuring even a Dao Expert, exploded at close range against the city wall. Layers of tangible shockwaves rippled out wildly, emitting a continuous rumble like colliding Divine Iron, threatening to shatter everything around into silence and desolation. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The light gradually faded.

Qi Xiu gazed intently at the section of the wall he had bombarded.

A fist-sized hole appeared on the wall, with fine stone powder trickling down from its edges.

The Hunyuan Ultimate Cannon, capable of inflicting cross-realm injuries, could only leave a fist-sized hole on this city wall.

Moreover, Qi Xiu’s eyes flickered as he suddenly noticed that the hole he had just blasted into the wall was now visibly shrinking.

Does this wall also have self-healing properties?

Controlling his Lei Mang, he returned to the ground. Now having a rough idea of why no one who entered this ancient kingdom ever returned alive, Qi Xiu slowly fingered the bronze ring on his thumb.

"Since there’s no retreating, the only way left is forward."

He glanced at the bizarre male corpse restrained by the Suppressing Talisman. The golden light of the Suppressing Talisman on its forehead had already grown much dimmer. The Talisman Scripts on its surface were beginning to show mottled signs of decay, as if being eroded by the corpse spot power as well.

Indeed, this is somewhat tricky...

Seeing that even the Suppressing Talisman could not suppress the corpse spots on the strange male corpse for long, Qi Xiu took a deep breath. He scattered handfuls of soybeans, which unfurled into a sky-obscuring dazzle. Beneath the resplendent Divine Light, numerous Yellow Turban Strongmen descended.

"Go and search. If you see this mark, report back immediately."

Qi Xiu swept his wide sleeve, conjuring an imprint in the void resembling a ghostly face. This was the information transmitted from the bronze ring; the legacy of the Food Demon Sect was stored at the location marked by this symbol.

"Yes!"

At that acknowledgment, thousands of Yellow Turban Strongmen immediately delved deep into the Evernight Ancient Kingdom. Meanwhile, Qi Xiu also kept busy, continuing to cast spells to summon more Yellow Turban Strongmen.

Twenty years in the Longevity Star Realm, coupled with the special blessing of the Hunyuan Palace, his Sowing Beans into Soldiers ability had reached the Fifth Realm!

Not only did the summoned Yellow Turban Strongmen possess strength infinitely close to the Blood-Stained Realm, but their numbers had also increased from the original ten thousand to thirty thousand!

Thirty thousand!

This number was almost equivalent to the total population of disciples and clansmen of some medium-sized Sect Aristocracies. Yet, in Qi Xiu’s hands, it was merely one of his techniques. If these medium-sized Sect Aristocracies did not have a sufficiently powerful Dao Expert presiding over them, Qi Xiu alone could annihilate them all.

However, dispatching thirty thousand Yellow Turban Strongmen into the Evernight Ancient Kingdom was like tossing a pebble into a vast lake. Although it caused a few ripples, the waters quickly returned to calm.

There was no helping it; the Evernight Ancient Kingdom was simply too vast.

Previously, when he was still far away on the Loess Plateau, Qi Xiu could only see one face of this ancient kingdom and the towering city walls that extended infinitely in both directions, never grasping its full scale. Now that he had entered this ancient city, this sense of immensity became even more pronounced.

Having sent away all the Yellow Turban Strongmen, Qi Xiu began to study the eerie male corpse, pondering if he could find a way to break through or eradicate the corpse spots covering it.

「Time flowed onward.」

「A month later.」

On the wide road beside the city wall, the eerie male corpse had been dissected by Qi Xiu into thousands of tissue fragments. Each piece was individually suppressed by a Suppressing Talisman.

Since the power of the corpse spots could not be dispersed as a whole, could it be done with one-thousandth of it?

Over the course of the month, Qi Xiu had employed almost every means at his disposal to try and eradicate the corpse spots on the man, but with little success.

Today was to be his final attempt.

With a flick of his fingers, Suppressing Talismans flew out one after another, layering themselves upon a single one-thousandth fragment.

As the Suppressing Talismans continuously accumulated, the golden light of suppression grew increasingly dense and dazzling, attempting to forcibly erase the corpse spots on the fragment.

It’s working!

Squinting through the blinding golden light, Qi Xiu noticed that a small patch of the corpse spot on the fragment had suddenly vanished. Although it was less than one-fifth of the total area on the fragment, it indicated that these bizarre corpse spots were not completely irremovable.

But just as Qi Xiu was about to increase the number of Suppressing Talismans, to see if he could completely obliterate this one-thousandth of the corpse spots, his connection with dozens of Yellow Turban Strongmen was suddenly severed.

"Hmm?"

Frowning, Qi Xiu looked toward the direction where the Yellow Turban Strongmen had vanished. Before he could react, a continuous, thunderous trampling sound suddenly arose from the ground.

It felt as though the very earth beneath his feet had turned to water, the violent tremors threatening to overturn and crush everything.

Has the real master of this place finally shown itself?

Glancing sideways toward the source of the vibrations, Qi Xiu stood with his hands clasped behind his back.

For so many cultivators who had entered this Giant City over the years to have all met their end here, there had to be some extremely dangerous existence within its walls. This was evident even from the eerie male corpse before him. He looked young; he hadn’t died of old age while trapped here. Something must have caused his death.

And that something was now approaching.

At the edge of his vision, dazzling sparks erupted.

A headless iron-clad cavalryman charged forth. He was clad in mottled heavy armor, thick as a mountain, reflecting a chilling metallic luster. His massive body, like a moving hill, seemed to lower the sky and compress the air, making the surroundings feel suffocating.

Beneath him was an equally terrifying giant horse, its body pitch-black as ink, with muscles rippling like knotted roots. Each fall of its hooves shook the very earth.

He wielded a long saber, its tip dragging along the ground. As he charged, the friction between the blade and the earth sent up a cascade of dazzling sparks.

With the appearance of the headless cavalryman, the surrounding light suddenly dimmed, as if everything was succumbing to decay.

I can’t sense his aura or cultivation level, making it impossible to determine his realm of strength...

His eyes narrowed slightly. Qi Xiu attempted to gauge the headless cavalryman’s cultivation, but the incredibly dense, cold, and eerie aura surrounding him blocked all attempts at investigation.

Suppression Talisman Seal Skill!

He flourished his sleeve. Thousands of golden Suppressing Talismans howled out, coalescing in the void into sturdy iron chains as thick as water buckets. These chains rapidly shot towards the headless cavalryman to entangle him.

BOOM—

In the instant the golden chains rushed forward, the terrifying black horse beneath the headless cavalryman accelerated abruptly. It instantly became a blur, too fast for the naked eye, and charged toward Qi Xiu in a bizarre, unpredictable manner.

STOMP!

The terrifying black horse reared. As it did, the long saber in the headless rider’s hands came crashing down. Faintly visible corpse spots emerged on the blade, its dense, eerie power seeming to pierce through the void and surge towards Qi Xiu’s body.

CLANG—

A devastatingly heavy fist slammed into the saber’s blade. The mountainously large headless cavalryman was sent flying, crashing heavily to the ground. The massive tremor even seemed to make the nearby city walls tremble.

Mighty Dragon Demon Vajra stood impassively beside Qi Xiu. It glanced down at the lingering traces of corpse spots on its hand-bone and, with a light flick, instantly extinguished the strange power.

The bone of a True Dragon, untouched by the Ten Thousand Laws.