As he finished speaking, Liu Min decisively took out the prepared talisman.
Water spiritual power gradually soaked the talisman paper, revealing the complex runes inscribed upon it.
With the talisman’s initiation complete, Liu Min stepped forward and slapped the paper directly onto the hunter’s chest.
Golden rune-light points spread through his body in that instant, then quickly fell silent.
However, the hunter only calmed down slightly.
The words from his mouth still dripped with despair and terror.
“Monsters… you man-eating monsters! You’re not human! You’re just bone-devouring fiends! Don’t think I can’t recognize you just because you’re disguised as humans!”
As he spoke, the man suddenly rolled his eyes back and fainted on the spot.
“Huh? What’s going on? Why did he faint suddenly?”
Liu Min wore a completely bewildered expression.
Even if his talisman had no effect, it shouldn’t have made someone faint, right?
Please don’t let him die!
The Academy was very strict with its students, unlike those loose sects.
While accidental deaths of mortals wouldn’t result in punishment, one’s reputation would take a huge hit!
He was already mediocre in talent and had failed to find a master.
If this caused a stir, he’d really have no future left!
“…Sigh—let me handle it. I’ll see what’s wrong.”
Yun Fei’s patience was wearing thin quickly.
Besides, this was a holding area after all, filled with unpleasant, nauseating smells.
“Alright then. Junior Sister is an alchemist, so she must have some healing methods.”
Liu Min made way for Yun Fei, but after hearing his words, Yun Fei felt a bit uneasy inside.
Although she was already a fourth-rank alchemist, apart from taking some emergency hemostatic or injury pills herself, she had no real treatment experience.
If asked, she’d just say the pills did all the work!
But Yun Fei hadn’t stepped forward to save this man.
She wasn’t as kind-hearted as the Saintess.
She just sensed a familiar yet discordant aura from this hunter.
Driven by curiosity, after secretly activating the various defensive treasures hidden on her person, she pressed her finger against the man’s wrist.
‘This is… demonic power? No, that’s not right. It’s backflowing demonic power. This intensity… looks like he’s been contaminated with quite a bit, no wonder he’s so delirious.’
Backflowing demonic power—a term perhaps unheard of in the Profane Realm, but in the Demon Realm, anyone who had studied or had basic knowledge would know it.
It was a major taboo for those who cultivated demonic energy.
Due to the inherently unstable nature of demonic energy, in certain groups within the Demon Realm, because of their physical constitutions, the demonic energy absorbed into their bodies would flow backward.
In mild cases, it caused unconsciousness; in severe cases, it led to raving and harming others.
These groups were known in the Demon Realm as the “demonic energy intolerant.”
And in the Profane Realm, almost all its inhabitants were demonic energy intolerant.
In other words, once someone from the Profane Realm inhaled too much demonic energy, the magic power would flow backward within their bodies.
This was what the Profane Realm commonly called “falling into the demonic path”—they became outright evil cultivators!
However, due to the long-standing war between the two realms, the vast majority of people in the Profane Realm, including sect disciples, conflated demonic cultivators from the Demon Realm with evil cultivators.
In reality, the two were opposite existences.
This was also why Yun Fei had secretly slipped into the Profane Realm with a group of death soldiers.
If she were ever chased by some “righteous” cultivator, she could have them cover her retreat while she made a quick escape.
Mu Lingxi had also once categorized Yun Fei as an evil cultivator for a period.
But after being caught by Mu Lingxi once, Yun Fei, wearing an expression of utter grievance, desperately explained the difference, finally making Mu Lingxi believe her, albeit with great suspicion.
“Backflowing demonic power? Demonic power has distinctions between flowing forward and backward?”
Great, another one who doesn’t know!
The higher-ups in the Profane Realm clearly knew these principles, so why didn’t they disseminate this knowledge to the public?
At the very least, they should separate the classifications of demonic cultivators and evil cultivators!
Yun Fei didn’t bother answering Liu Min’s naive question.
She just took out a pill from her person and fed it to the hunter—but it was just for show.
The pill was merely an ordinary sugar bean she usually ate while watching amusing spectacles.
After pretending to feed the hunter the “pill,” Yun Fei activated the Great Siphon Technique!
She guided the backflowing demonic power within the hunter’s body into the Magic Mirror at her waist.
It had been a long time since Yun Fei had absorbed demonic power, and she was quite craving it.
But since it was already backflowing demonic power, it indicated the power had an owner.
Absorbing it herself might cause unforeseen problems. Her own safety came first.
As a demonic artifact, the Magic Mirror naturally wouldn’t have any issues absorbing owned demonic power.
It had been a while since she’d fed it any magic power anyway, so this would serve as its reward!
“Alright, problem solved. Senior Brother Liu, you can wake him up by spraying him with water condensed from your water spiritual power. His mind should be back to normal now.”
Liu Min was slightly taken aback, his expression a bit strange.
“Ah… okay, Junior Sister Yun… but, could you phrase it differently next time? It sounds really weird…”
What kind of ‘spray him awake’ is that?!
…Damn! Can’t think about it anymore, or I’ll never be able to unsee it!
Recalling a certain long-forgotten image, Liu Min couldn’t help but turn a shade of green.
This junior sister… her language is truly unrestrained!
She’s probably from near the border of the Northern Territory between the two realms.
People there are deeply influenced by the Demon Realm, so her speaking like this is explainable.
After this internal grumble, Liu Min, as if possessed, condensed his spiritual power into a small stream of water and sprayed it onto the unconscious hunter’s face.
“Hey! Liu Min! Don’t get led astray by Junior Sister Yun!”
Seeing this, Dong Qi’s face also darkened.
He quickly elbowed Liu Min, who was lost in thought.
“Ah… Sorry, Captain!”
Seeming to finally realize something, Liu Min quickly changed the water stream into a water bullet and splashed it onto the hunter’s face.
The strong impact made the hunter’s body jolt, and he gradually woke up.
“Ugh… what happened to me? Wasn’t I hunting in the mountains… and where is this?”
The newly awakened hunter looked utterly confused, clearly not understanding what had transpired.
Now, it was time for Captain Dong Qi to take the stage again!
Dong Qi straightened his attire and quickly stepped forward to explain the situation.
“…So, do you remember what you saw in the mountains?”
“I… yes, now that you mention it, I do remember. There was fog everywhere in the mountains that day. I was walking along the mountain path from memory. Usually, little wild rabbits would suddenly pop out there, but that day, there was nothing. The entire mountain was dead silent. When I realized that, I finally started to feel scared. I began heading back. Halfway there, I suddenly heard a noise. I was overjoyed and hurriedly pushed through the grass to look!”
“But I never expected to see two groups of people fighting! They were clearly not ordinary mortals. Just as I was about to leave, the group in black clothes… their hands suddenly became furry! Their nails grew long and sharp! They pierced right through a person’s neck in an instant!”
“I was so scared I froze on the spot, completely unable to move. Later, one of the black-clad men discovered me. He dragged me out from the grass. I saw his face, and the faces of a few others… some had human faces, but the one who grabbed me actually had the face of a wolf!”
“But the other group didn’t seem to be pushovers either. One of them saved me. After being rescued, I ran as fast as I could. I kept running until I lost consciousness, and now I’ve woken up here…”
The man, who had been unable to say anything before, now that he’d recovered, provided them with a lot of information.
However, the truth of this information was uncertain.
People suddenly growing beast-like hands?
Wolf-headed, human-bodied creatures?
These were things none of them had ever heard of!
Mu Lingxi shot a glance at the well-informed Yun Fei, but Yun Fei could only shrug helplessly, indicating she didn’t know either.
But Yun Fei could be certain that among that group of black-clad individuals, there definitely were evil cultivators.
As for the… werewolves?
They’d have to wait until they actually got there to see.
After obtaining concrete information, the group took the hunter and left the dungeon.
Under the city lord’s arrangements, the hunter was safely escorted back by his subordinates.
“Everyone, this situation is very unusual. According to Junior Sister Yun’s analysis, part of our opponents should be evil cultivators. But those with wolf heads and beast claws are enemies whose existence we’ve never been aware of. I’ve already reported these unconfirmed details to the Academy. The Academy has instructed us to investigate first. If we cannot eradicate them, the Academy will send an Elder to personally resolve the matter.”
“But it’s already late today. We’ll set out for the specific investigation tomorrow. Rest well tonight and conserve your energy. Oh, regarding accommodations, the city lord said his place isn’t very large. He can’t provide five guest rooms, only three at most. Liu Min and I will share one. Junior Sisters Yun and Mu seem to be acquaintances, right? Then you two can share one. Junior Sister Jiang will have a room to herself. How about that? If it’s not acceptable, we can book rooms at an inn on the street.”
Dong Qi was mainly seeking the opinions of Yun Fei and Mu Lingxi.
After all, assigning them to share a room without prior consent felt somewhat inappropriate.
Neither Yun Fei nor Mu Lingxi had anticipated this sudden cohabitation request, but Yun Fei quickly recovered.
“I have no problem with it,” Yun Fei quickly chimed in, stating her position.
Since she’d decided to accompany Mu Lingxi in this romantic endeavor, she had to seize the initiative.
“…I have no problem either,” Mu Lingxi fell silent for a moment.
She hadn’t expected Yun Fei to agree so readily.
Logically, Yun Fei should have shown some resistance.
Although Yun Fei’s attitude towards her had changed greatly after she confessed her feelings, even to the point of actively teasing her, how could Mu Lingxi not know Yun Fei’s little schemes?
She could see it in Yun Fei’s eyes every time she teased her—that was clearly the expression Yun Fei wore when she found something amusing!
From Mu Lingxi’s understanding of Yun Fei, when it came to such matters, Yun Fei was all talk.
Once things progressed to a deeper stage, like the current cohabitation, she should have refused…
She actually agreed?
This is truly… wonderful!