Lord of the Demon Sect

Jiang Chen stood at the cave entrance, hearing a cacophony of wails and howls from within.

Filled with curiosity, he gingerly moved forward a few steps and discovered that the path ahead was a stone bridge, with a large hole about ten feet in diameter in the middle. One wrong step, and he could easily fall into it.

Peering down from the stone bridge, he was shocked to see it was teeming with Jiangshi, all moving around in a chaotic swarm-there were likely over a thousand of them.

Jiang Chen’s heart raced at the sight. If he had been careless and accidentally stepped into the hole, he would have plunged right into the mass of Jiangshi! Even if they were all ordinary Jiangshi, the sheer number could overwhelm him. Moreover, he had just reached the first layer of qi refinement and didn’t possess any spells or martial skills. Falling down would surely mean a certain death under the onslaught of so many Jiangshi.

Despite his fear, he found himself enormously intrigued by the Jiangshi from earlier. Its ability to lure him into a trap suggested that he had indeed encountered a Jiangshi with a high level of spiritual awareness.

Now that he realized he was dealing with an intelligent Jiangshi, Jiang Chen resolved to capture it. He decided to set a trap to lure it in.

Jiang Chen hid not far from the cave entrance, around a bend in the mountain path, where he drove five Jiangshi nails into the ground. These nails were a kind of spiritual object that could change color to match the surrounding terrain, making them nearly invisible to the untrained eye. If a Jiangshi stepped on one, its foot would be pierced, and it would be pinned in place, unable to move.

Of course, a Jiangshi with spiritual awareness would find a way to pull its foot free before escaping. However, this would give Jiang Chen just enough time to throw his Jiangshi catching net and ensnare it.

Once the trap was set, Jiang Chen placed a piece of fresh meat behind the nails, then cautiously moved forward a few more steps to drop a second piece of meat…

In this manner, he continued to lay down meat until he reached the entrance of the cave. Then, he hid behind a large boulder, waiting for the intelligent Jiangshi to take the bait.

However, Jiang Chen had overlooked one crucial detail: while his bait would certainly attract Jiangshi that favored raw meat, it didn’t guarantee that the one coming would be the intelligent female Jiangshi!

He waited for two days, almost exhausting the fresh meat in his storage bag, but all he encountered were ordinary Jiangshi. Occasionally, a slightly smarter one would show up, but it was clear they were nowhere near the level of the female Jiangshi.

Just as Jiang Chen prepared to toss a final piece of meat and considered settling for a somewhat stronger Jiangshi, he finally spotted her-the female Jiangshi in tattered pink clothing had appeared.

The Jiangshi paused, glancing around cautiously, likely assessing whether there were any threats in the vicinity. After a moment, she carefully picked up a piece of raw meat and started eating it, all the while keeping a watchful eye on her surroundings, fearful of any enemies appearing.

Once the meat was consumed, the female Jiangshi seemed to gain some confidence. She quickly spotted another piece of meat ahead and joyfully stepped forward to devour it.

Step by step, she moved closer to Jiang Chen. Just when she was only about fifteen meters away from the trap, a figure suddenly dropped from above, laughing loudly, “I didn’t expect to find a Jiangshi with spiritual awareness right away! What amazing luck I have!”

Jiang Chen turned to see a young man, dressed in a Ghostly Slaughter Sect uniform, around twenty years old. He must be a fellow disciple from one of the peaks, though Jiang Chen didn’t recognize which one. The young man had an ordinary appearance, but there was a hint of malice in his eyes.

Jiang Chen couldn’t help but sigh in frustration; he was so close to capturing the Jiangshi, and now an unexpected guest had swooped in to steal his prize. Moreover, with his spiritual sense, Jiang Chen could tell that this guy was likely at the third layer of Qi Refinement, suggesting he had been cultivating for a few years. There was no way Jiang Chen could defeat him in a fight.

The Jiangshi was startled by the sudden appearance of this cultivator and immediately took off running.

“Hey! Not bad! She runs pretty fast! Looks like I really struck gold!” The cultivator seemed equally surprised by the Jiangshi’s speed.

As he chanted something under his breath, a metal claw suddenly shot out from his sleeve, connected to a black rope. In the blink of an eye, the claw snatched the female Jiangshi, then swiftly retracted.

Under normal circumstances, after capturing a Jiangshi, one would perform a sacrifice refinement, infusing it with their essence blood and spiritual sense to make it their obedient servant.

However, this man didn’t immediately perform the refinement. Instead, he casually placed the female Jiangshi into his Jiangshi raising bag and said with a friendly demeanor, “Is there a fellow Daoist nearby? You might as well show yourself! I’m Du Wei from Skeleton Peak of the Ghostly Slaughter Sect. I’m just here to catch a Jiangshi, and perhaps we can exchange some cultivation insights.”

When Jiang Chen had used his spiritual sense to assess him, Du Wei had sensed it as well. Still, he thought the nearby cultivator should be weaker than himself, which gave him the confidence to speak up.

Upon realizing that this was a fellow disciple and hearing Du Wei mention the possibility of exchanging insights on cultivation, Jiang Chen felt a bit swayed. He pondered to himself that he had nothing of value for Du Wei to steal, and since Du Wei was being very polite, perhaps he was lucky enough to meet someone as kind as Zhang Pang.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Chen jumped out from behind the large rock and respectfully greeted Du Wei, “Greetings, Senior Brother Du! I am Jiang Chen from Ghost Mist Peak. I just joined the sect a few days ago and recently reached the first layer of qi refinement. I was hoping to learn from you, senior brother.”

Du Wei, seeing that Jiang Chen was a fellow sect member, immediately smiled warmly and kindly said, “Ah, so it’s Junior Brother Jiang! But why are you here alone? Being only at the first layer of qi refinement, it’s still somewhat dangerous for you to be in a place like this.”

Jiang Chen wholeheartedly agreed, “Yes, indeed! I wanted to bring my senior brother with me, but he had to take on a sect task at the last minute and couldn’t come. He told me that as long as I didn’t wander too deep, I’d generally be safe!”

Du Wei relaxed, then pointed to the remaining pieces of fresh meat on the ground, his smile fading as he asked seriously, “Did Junior Brother leave these pieces of meat to bait the Jiangshi?”

Hearing this, Jiang Chen felt a bit displeased inside, but tried to maintain a smile, “I originally wanted to catch a Jiangshi myself to practice the jiangshi control technique. But since you’ve already caught this one, senior brother, I’ll just find another.”

With that, he turned to leave.

Suddenly, Du Wei chuckled darkly and leapt in front of Jiang Chen with an ominous grin, “Junior Brother Jiang, why don’t you stay here with me?”

Jiang Chen was shocked and furious, stammering, “Senior Brother Du, what are you doing? We’re fellow sect members! Plus, I just joined and have nothing of value. Even if you kill me, all you’d get is the standard sect-issued storage bag and longsword…”

“Heh! Fellow sect members? Our Ghostly Slaughter Sect is notorious for sect members turning against each other! We’re far from any authority here, and without any peers around, who would know or care if a mere named disciple like you died?” Du Wei exclaimed smugly.

He paused, then said regretfully, “Actually, I’m not one for senseless killing. I wouldn’t need to kill you normally. But your luck is just terrible. I just captured a Jiangshi with spiritual awareness that hasn’t undergone a blood sacrifice yet. If, during the blood sacrifice, I use a freshly dead cultivator’s body instead of raw meat to satiate the Jiangshi, it can immediately connect with my spiritual sense within my command range. Otherwise, I’d have to wait until the Jiangshi advances to the middle stage of qi refinement to do so. This way, my Jiangshi servant will be able to undertake reconnaissance, scouting, and pursuing tasks right away. Haha! You’re really lucky, Junior Brother, to become a delicacy for my Jiangshi servant…”

At this, Du Wei burst into laughter.