Lord of the Demon Sect

At this moment, the young man known as Zhang Fei said with a hostile expression to the woman, “Senior Sister, I captured him first. According to sect rules, it should be my responsibility to deal with him! This guy has spiritual roots, albeit impure ones, but he can still be considered a cultivator. My hundred souls banner needs a cultivator’s soul… If you want to absorb a man’s essence blood, you should find someone else!”

“Hehe, Zhang Fei, I, Lin Yushang, am determined to interfere with you today!” The alluring woman, who called herself Lin Yushang, maintained a cheerful demeanor.

Zhang Fei’s expression shifted slightly, and he tightened his grip on the hundred souls banner, stating fiercely, “Senior Sister, are you really going to break the sect rules? Even if I can’t defeat you, I will report this to our master and ask him to intervene as a mediator…”

“Look where your thoughts have wandered! What I meant, Senior Brother, is that this little guy doesn’t need to be killed; instead, he should be brought into our Ghostly Slaughter Sect as a named disciple!” Lin Yushang’s tone softened slightly at this moment.

“Bring him into the sect?” Zhang Fei asked, his expression confused. “But he is just a person with impure spiritual roots. What achievements can he possibly cultivate? I fear he won’t even be able to break through to the seventh layer of qi refinement in his entire life.”

“Sigh, my dear Junior Brother, the task of recruiting people into the sect isn’t easy! This year, it’s our Ghost Mist Peak’s turn to recruit disciples. If we can’t complete the task, when spiritual fields are redistributed next year, all the good ones will be snatched by the other six mountains. We must even out the numbers and fill up the seven disciple slots!” Lin Yushang’s pretty face revealed a hint of helplessness.

Zhang Fei lowered his head and pondered for a moment, considering the consequences of failing the task, and reluctantly nodded in agreement.

At this time, he stomped the hundred souls banner against the ground, causing Jiang Chen to feel a slight tremor beneath his feet.

“Kid, since my Senior Sister is advocating for you, would you be willing to join our Ghostly Slaughter Sect? If you are, we’ll guide you into the sect, and you’ll become a named disciple…” Zhang Fei chuckled maliciously, then his tone turned cold, “But if you don’t want to, that’s fine too; my hundred souls banner is in need of a soul…”

Hearing his chilling words, Jiang Chen’s body trembled slightly. He mused that while the name of the Ghostly Slaughter Sect sounds domineering, the fact that they need to recruit disciples by mustering numbers indicates their strength isn’t as formidable as it appears. Deep down, he was quite reluctant to join this sect; he had hoped to find a prestigious sect to join instead.

However, based on the performances of Zhang Fei and Lin Yushang just now, Jiang Chen couldn’t help but think that if he refused, he would probably end up as one of the souls in this fat guy’s hundred souls banner. Moreover, since they mentioned that his spiritual roots were impure, it was likely that they were not very good. Would a major sect even accept him?

With that thought in mind, Jiang Chen forced a smile and said, “Both of you, at this point, how can I dare to say I won’t join? I’ll go with you…”

Jiang Chen and Lin Yushang rode together on a corpse horse, racing swiftly towards a distant mountain. This corpse horse had two large, bright green eyes. Aside from its head, the rest of its body was completely rotted, revealing its white bones. Jiang Chen had no idea how Lin Yushang had managed to refine it.

According to Lin Yushang, the horse only needed to absorb corpse energy to operate, making it very inexpensive to raise. However, it lacked spiritual awareness and could only follow simple commands from its owner, making it merely a mode of transportation and unfit for battle.

Zhang Fei rode a skeleton horse, which was essentially just a skeleton. It lacked the bright green eyes and had sunken eye sockets devoid of spirit, making it look rather unappealing. No wonder it had initially been mistaken for horse bones by hunters. Lin Yushang quietly told Jiang Chen that this horse had been a result of some mistakes Zhang Fei made during its refinement, leading to its current state.

Since it had no eyes and its skeleton wasn’t sturdy, it ran only slightly faster than a normal walking pace and was prone to going off course. It was certainly less capable of bearing weight than Lin Yushang’s corpse horse. Added to that was the fact that it was carrying the heavy Zhang Fei, making the whole scene quite comical.

Zhang Fei watched as his Senior Sister chatted happily with Jiang Chen on the same horse, seemingly quite fond of this new junior brother. He felt a surge of dissatisfaction and coldly snorted a few times. However, Lin Yushang acted as if she didn’t notice, continuously explaining some fundamental knowledge about cultivation to Jiang Chen, making sure he didn’t feel completely lost.

According to Lin Yushang, Jiang Chen meeting them was a great stroke of luck. With his impure spiritual roots, being able to enter a major sect like the Ghostly Slaughter Sect was truly a sign of good fortune from his ancestors’ graves. Otherwise, he would probably die in obscurity as an ordinary person.

However, Jiang Chen couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being conned. He thought Lin Yushang’s words were a bit exaggerated and false, reminding him of the deceptive tone one often heard in pyramid schemes in his past life.

The Ghostly Slaughter Sect was not far away; after traveling for more than two hours, they finally arrived.

This place was starkly different from the lush, picturesque scenery typically found in most mountain ranges. Here, steep cliffs and sheer drops were everywhere, with numerous ominous valleys and toxic pools scattered about. A fitting description might be: “A thousand mountains, no birds fly; ten thousand paths, no trace of humans.” Demons and malevolent creatures roamed freely, acting with impunity. Even if a cultivator ventured in, a moment’s distraction could lead to a fate of being torn apart by vengeful spirits, fierce ghosts, or Jiangshi¹ skeletons, leaving no bones behind.

Legend has it that over ten thousand years ago, this area was the battlefield of the battle of righteous and evil, where millions of cultivators and billions of mortal armies clashed. The fighting was so fierce that it darkened the skies and blocked out the sun and moon, turning the land into a river of blood and mountains of corpses. Ever since that battle, the echoes of ghostly wails could be heard year-round, and at night, one could see malevolent spirits, ghosts, Jiangshi, and skeletons wandering about.

The climate here was cold and damp, with dark clouds shading the sun, and it was rare to see sunlight for long stretches of time. As a result, the winds blew cold throughout the year, shrouding the area in ghostly mists. Most ordinary people would be too terrified to approach, paralyzed by fear.

However, this place was a treasure trove for the Demon Sect specializing in ghost path cultivation. While most people loathed all kinds of spirits, evil ghosts, and Jiangshi, for the practitioners of the Demon Sect, it was an excellent location for cultivation, controlling Jiangshi, spirit control, and ghost hunting.

It is said that in ancient times, many sects fought fiercely over this celestial paradise. Eventually, because this place was too close to the territory of the righteous path, there were frequent incursions from righteous heroes seeking to “exterminate demons and uphold justice.” As the Demon Sect discovered better cultivation sites elsewhere, over a thousand years ago, the Ghostly Slaughter Ancestor claimed this land as his own, establishing his sect here.

Footnote:

Jiangshi(僵尸):In Chinese folklore, the jiangshi, is a corpse that moves by hopping. These creatures are typically depicted wearing Qing Dynasty official robes, characterized by deep blue or black long gowns with a belt and a hat. To combat jiangshi, Taoist talismans, such as charms and peachwood swords, are commonly employed.