“Honestly, your ability is quite useful.”
That maid and Yun Yao were from the Taihe Sect, both having a bit of cultivation to rely on.
In his current state, truly escaping wouldn’t be easy.
It was also fortunate that most of the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s abilities were allocated towards fleeing, which was why he had managed to survive until now by relying on them.
“Hmph, you still have the nerve to say that. The little power I managed to recover has been completely squandered by you.”
An ethereal voice sounded out, humming with dissatisfaction.
Jiu Baiyun didn’t refute it.
He truly hadn’t found a method to quickly restore power yet.
His own rate of power recovery was naturally much slower than the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s, and having too little spiritual power was basically useless anyway.
In contrast, the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s demonic power was far more practical…
Jiu Baiyun maintained a relatively fast speed.
Soon, the outline of Nanfeng City appeared not far ahead, only… it was now stained with a layer of crimson.
Hiding within a forest of withered trees outside the city, Jiu Baiyun frowned tightly.
“The extent of the barrier’s damage is worse than anticipated…”
Multiple sections of the city wall had collapsed.
Dark red stains, like huge, dried blood tears, snaked down their surfaces.
A thick stench of blood, mixed with rot, easily reached Jiu Baiyun’s nose even from this distance.
Headless corpses wandered outside the city.
Twisted, bizarre creatures occupied the battlements.
A giant, festering palm, seemingly reaching down from the clouds, was pressed firmly inside the city.
“Hmm… There’s no trace of living beings left…”
Looking at the once-prosperous Nanfeng City reduced to this state, a flicker of helplessness passed through Jiu Baiyun’s eyes.
The mortal world was surrounded by strange and evil beings.
Without cultivating immortality, one simply couldn’t resist them.
But cultivating immortality would eventually turn one into mere fuel for those so-called “Immortals”…
“Hmph, I told you it was futile long ago.”
The Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s voice carried a trace of mockery, along with a hint of pity.
“With the paltry bit of power you left behind, could it possibly block a ‘Palm Filth’ of this level? It seems the ‘food’ in the city suited its taste quite well, making it unwilling to leave.”
Jiu Baiyun ignored the fox’s sarcasm, his gaze quickly sweeping over the wasteland outside the city.
Several headless corpses, like puppets controlled by invisible strings, wandered aimlessly near the ruined walls with a stiff gait.
“What now?”
The Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s voice sounded again, interrupting Jiu Baiyun’s thoughts, tinged with impatience.
“Are we retrieving the item or not? That ‘Palm Filth’ might look like it’s sleeping and digesting, but if we disturb it even slightly, our remnant soul and demonic power wouldn’t even be enough to stuff between its teeth.”
“We retrieve it!”
Jiu Baiyun didn’t hesitate in the slightest.
“Although the barrier is damaged, I can roughly sense its location.”
“We won’t use the main gate. We’ll infiltrate from the most severely collapsed southwest corner. The aura of bizarre creatures there is the most chaotic and mixed, which ironically makes it easier to hide.”
Hearing Jiu Baiyun’s decision, the Yao Fox Demon Venerable immediately became displeased.
“If you want to die, don’t drag me along with you!”
The Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s words caused Jiu Baiyun’s steps to falter, but he quickly continued.
“You know perfectly well how I was driven out of Nanfeng City. I didn’t retrieve it before because I was afraid of alerting them. But now that the ‘Palm Filth’ has destroyed Nanfeng City, this is the best opportunity to take it back.”
“That jade token might not be very useful, but at the very least it can restore a bit of my cultivation… And don’t you want to avoid having every bit of power you recover get squandered by me?”
After Jiu Baiyun finished speaking, the Yao Fox Demon Venerable fell silent for a long while before finally letting out a frustrated sound.
“Fine, fine! It’s like I owe you!”
As the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s words faded, Jiu Baiyun finally felt the demonic power within his body no longer stagnating.
Without the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s consent, he truly couldn’t utilize much demonic power.
And his own power was practically gone; he might not even have a chance to get inside otherwise.
Thinking this, Jiu Baiyun took a deep breath.
Despite having experienced much, the air, thick with a nauseating mix of blood and rot, still made him extremely uncomfortable.
“Southwest corner, the collapsed section.”
Muttering to himself, Jiu Baiyun quickly planned a route while drawing out a portion of the demonic power within him, forming a thin layer over his body’s surface.
Having made his decision, Jiu Baiyun’s figure rapidly blurred within the shadows of the withered forest.
Then, he crouched low and swiftly ran towards the southwest corner of Nanfeng City.
The closer he got to the city walls, the more horrifying the scene became.
Amidst the broken walls and rubble, scattered were unrecognizable fragments of limbs.
With every step, the charred ground oozed dark brown bloodstains.
Not far away, several “walking corpses” with twisted forms and misaligned, stitched-together limbs wandered aimlessly near the gap.
These “walking corpses” posed little threat to Jiu Baiyun.
What truly kept his nerves taut was the “Palm Filth” inside the city.
Most of that giant, festering palm reaching down from the sky was hidden within the pervasive blood mist.
The exposed portion of its fingers alone was as thick as temple pillars, covered in grey-black rotting flesh that continuously writhed and oozed pus.
The closer he got, the more dense and overwhelming that vast, filthy evil aura became, and the heavier the pressure on Jiu Baiyun grew.
“Move quickly! My power can’t hold out for long under this concentration of filthy energy!”
The Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s voice rang in Jiu Baiyun’s mind, urgent and grave.
Even without the reminder, Jiu Baiyun could clearly feel the demonic power within him draining rapidly.
“Palm Filth” weren’t particularly powerful bizarre creatures.
Jiu Baiyun had eliminated many “Palm Filth” far stronger than the one before him.
However, after losing all his cultivation, even a “Palm Filth” was something Jiu Baiyun couldn’t afford to take lightly.
“I know!”
Responding gravely in his mind to the Yao Fox Demon Venerable, Jiu Baiyun suddenly increased his speed.
He precisely avoided the perception range of several sluggish walking corpses and, with a few leaps, slipped into the huge breach formed by the collapsed city wall.
Inside the city, buildings were largely toppled.
Charred wooden beams were slanted amidst piles of rubble.
The broken walls were covered in large, solidified, blackened bloodstains.
Looking around, swarms of bizarre creatures wandered and gnawed among the ruins.
The sky was shrouded in a layer of turbid, dark red blood mist.
The enormous, despair-inducing outline of the “Palm Filth” loomed faintly within the fog.
Jiu Baiyun dared not pause for even a moment.
His figure left faint afterimages among the broken walls and rubble as he avoided the strange creatures, following the guidance of the damaged barrier, swiftly heading towards his destination.
The jade token was under an inconspicuous stone bridge near the original edge of the city’s eastern market district.
Back when he was driven out of Nanfeng City, he could only hastily use the last bit of his spiritual power to seal the jade token in a hidden compartment within one of the bridge piers.
His demonic power continuously depleted as Jiu Baiyun ventured deeper.
Finally, the half-collapsed stone bridge appeared at the edge of his vision.
Although the bridge deck had broken and fallen into the filthy black river water, the piers remained relatively intact.
“The second pier from the left, three feet above the waterline…”
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