Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 315 Sigh!
The twelve members of the Shangchi faction were well-mannered and coordinated, making them appear to be a truly elite force.

The problem is that their sect's magic weapon, the Mountain Mirror, is not good at offense but better at defense, so it was completely ineffective against this crocodile demon. If it were the Heavenly Heart Sect, the crocodile demon would probably be restrained as soon as the Mystic Mirror was used.

People from the Shangchi faction should have an advantage in low-level games, but they don't perform well in high-level games, which explains why they aren't well-known.

As for the crocodile demon's cultivation level, it should be quite ordinary. The highest evolutionary level for water-attribute demons is the jiao (a type of dragon-like creature). Once it transforms into a jiao, and given tonight's rainy night, especially by the water, its supernatural powers could probably flood the town. But seeing that it chose to fight hand-to-hand, its supernatural powers must not yet be fully developed; it's just relying on its thick skin, tough flesh, and tenacious vitality.

So, judging from the tone of the Shangchi Sect disciples, they had swallowed quite a few of their people before?

The crocodile demon returned to the water, seemingly wanting to leave, but the four disciples on the shore who had lost their great spears immediately raised their hands and began chanting incantations. Suddenly, four hazy lights appeared in the dark water, vaguely reflecting the crocodile demon's enormous body.

The four large spears seemed to be flying back, pulling at the crocodile demon, whose strength increased dramatically in the water, shaking its head and tail as it tried to dive deeper.

At this moment, Li Wuxiang heard the sound of water; the crocodile demon must have been casting its spell—the sound of waves crashing against the shore grew louder, one after another, seemingly without end. The waves grew higher and higher, gradually becoming almost like large waves at the seaside, crashing down violently. The four swordsmen and shield bearers in the lead, still holding their shields, took the full force of the impact, and two of them fell instantly. Then the wave receded, and the two men were pulled about by the force of the current, swaying from side to side, about to slide into the river with a splash.

The infantrymen behind them, forgetting their incantations, rushed to rescue them. In the ensuing chaos, the eerie light in the water vanished, and the crocodile demon disappeared without a trace.

“They ran away…” Xue Baoping said.

"Hmm." Li Wuxiang nodded.

The crocodile demon fled, and the waves receded. The twelve disciples of the Upper Pool Sect helped each other away from the water's edge and back onto the road.

Then someone exclaimed, "Senior Brother Li!"

The others immediately looked over upon hearing the sound—the one called Senior Brother Li was the one with the red tassel on his helmet. He was now being held in someone's arms and lying on the ground.

The man who had called him shouted to his companion, "Quick, quick, remove his armor! Senior Brother Li, where are you injured?!"

That senior brother's helmet was askew, his face was very pale, and there was no blood seeping from his mouth or nose. But there was a small hole in his chest—it must have been from being hit by the crocodile demon's water arrow, which pierced through his armor.

Supported by his upper body, he weakly waved his hand and said, "No need to remove it, it's useless. I've been hit by its arrow, sigh..."

"It's just a water arrow wound from Senior Brother—"

Senior Brother Li waved his hand again and coughed twice: "It's damaged the Qi Sea, it's useless... It will take another half an hour to get back to the mountain... cough cough!"

Upon hearing his words, everyone around him fell silent.

Xue Baoping frowned and looked at Li Wuxiang: "It's just a minor injury to the Qi Sea, what are they doing?"

"Qihai acupoint is a major acupoint on the Ren meridian. If Qihai is injured, the Ren meridian will be blocked, and the essence and qi will accumulate in the heart. The situation is somewhat similar to having a lung punctured and then having a heart attack. But it's not just about choking on blood in the lungs—there's also the essence and qi. The blocked essence and qi will wander around randomly and cannot be straightened out, just like going into a state of demonic possession."

Xue Baoping frowned again: "Why don't we just rush over and rest a bit more?"

Li Wuxiang laughed: "Ping'er, not everyone can practice the True Immortal Body Dao Chapter or the Great Calamity Sword Scripture. For a normal cultivator, being injured in such a major acupoint would be fatal."

Xue Baoping looked at him, then at Li Wuxiang, as if she was hesitating.

Li Wuxiang said, "You want to save him?"

Xue Baoping bit her lip: "They've come to avenge their fellow disciples... but... if we save him, aren't you going to Dapan Mountain? Won't that alert them?"

Li Wuxiang raised his hand to touch her hair, then leaned his body slightly outward and jumped out through the dark gap that Wanhua Fang had exposed.

Then he waved to the people on the street: "Hey, bring the person over here."

The eleven people were startled when they suddenly heard such a sound in the rain, and the armor plates rattled. They all stood up abruptly—and Senior Brother Li was knocked to the ground with a thud.

"Who goes there?!" Everyone drew their weapons and became alert.

Li Wuxiang walked out of the woods and gestured with his chin toward the person on the ground: "Bring him here, let me see if I can save him."

The man who had just been supporting Senior Brother Li glanced quickly at the ground, then frowned: "Who exactly are you?"

Do you want to save him or not?

The group exchanged bewildered glances, then the man gritted his teeth and said, "You—"

Seeing Li Wuxiang turn around slightly, he immediately called out again, "Okay! Wait a minute!"

Nine people remained standing guard, while the remaining two quickly dragged Senior Brother Li over. Senior Brother Li lay on the ground, barely breathing, as if trying to see clearly who Li Wuxiang was, but the heavy rain made it impossible for him to open his eyes.

Li Wuxiang bent down and touched his neck, then straightened up.

The man shouted, "What are you doing? Didn't you say you were going to save someone? Hurry up and save them!"

Li Wuxiang kicked his senior brother's shoulder armor: "Get up."

The two people beside him were furious when they saw him kick. Just as they were about to speak, they heard Senior Brother Li cough violently for a while, coughing so hard that his body arched like a shrimp and he had to support himself on the ground with his hands to sit up!

More than a dozen people were stunned. Forgetting their guard, they all rushed over to help him, and Li Wuxiang took another step back.

"Senior Brother Li, Senior Brother, how are you!?"

Senior Brother Li was helped up, coughed violently, gasped for breath twice, and immediately stared blankly at Li Wuxiang—

Just as I was about to die, I felt an incomparably powerful force flow from my neck into my internal organs and the Ren and Du meridians, forcefully clearing away the stagnant essence!
At this moment, that true energy was still circulating within his body, not only clearing away the damage to his Qi Sea, but also clearing away many old ailments that had accumulated in his meridians due to improper cultivation methods in the past. It took several breaths for the energy to slowly dissipate... He felt as if he had been given a power!
"I...I'm alright..." He dazedly circulated his qi again. The injury to his dantian was still there, and circulating qi was extremely painful. But he knew that the injury would heal with time; it had been opened up and was no longer fatal.

He looked at Li Wuxiang—this man looked too young, one could say he was eighteen or nineteen, or even twenty-one or twenty-two, and he was wearing a light gray Taoist robe…

The robe was not wet by the rain, nor did it stick to his body. The rain around him was forced away by an invisible force, yet he could not sense the other person's energy emanating from him.

What level of cultivation is this? To be able to control it so freely!
A cultivator who looks old is not necessarily not a master. Some people attain enlightenment in their youth, but in order to appear more mature or to avoid attracting attention, they will make themselves look older.

Judging from his young age, he must be an extremely skilled master!
"Senior, you...you...may I ask who you are?"

Through the rain, he saw the other person's lips move, and he lightly uttered three words: "Li Wuxiang".

For a moment, only the sound of rain filled the air. All twelve of them froze for a instant, then fell silent. After a couple of breaths, Senior Brother Li finally spoke: "Is it... that young deity, Li Wuxiang?"

"Oh? It's spread all the way here?"

There was another moment of silence.

"Divine Lord... Divine Lord, you have intervened... saved me. I..."

Li Wuxiang waved his hand: "Go on your way."

Then he took a step into the woods and immediately disappeared.

The twelve men stood rooted to the spot, their armor plates clanging in the heavy rain. Looking into the woods, they could vaguely make out the outline of a carriage. But after just one glance, they dared not look again. They exchanged a look, then turned and walked away!

Xue Baoping watched them walk away, then turned to ask, "...Why were they so afraid of you?"

Li Wuxiang took off his shoes and scraped off a thin layer of mud from the soles: "The people from the Shangchi Sect also went to Dajie Mountain. There should be Nascent Soul cultivators from the Shangchi Sect among the corpses and ghosts of Dajie Mountain. It would be strange if they weren't afraid when they suddenly found me at their doorstep."

"Should I have asked you to go save them...?"

Li Wuxiang smiled at her: "It's alright. The higher-ups of the Shangchi Sect are the higher-ups, and the lower-ups are the lower-ups. They're two different things. Besides, I also want them to tell the sect that I'm nearby."

"Huh? Why?"

"Hmm... because I thought about it again, and it's good to let them know. You know, everyone in the world thinks they are right in what they do, and everyone thinks they have a clear conscience, so I'll give them a chance to see what they think is right."

“They already know I'm nearby. So tomorrow I'll see if they're on high alert or open their doors. That way, whether we make a move or not, we'll both feel better. In this world, we can't afford to become bad guys without realizing it.” ...

The twelve disciples of the Shangchi Sect should have reported Li Wuxiang's arrival, but nothing happened all night, and no one came.

The rain gradually subsided around midnight, turning into a light drizzle as dawn broke, and then completely stopped after the two finished breakfast.

They jumped out of the car, and Li Wuxiang used a spell to hide it. The two then headed towards Dapan Mountain.

After walking about a hundred steps and rounding a clump of trees, the two saw a person lying on the side of the road ahead.

The man, dressed in black armor, lay hunched over in the middle of the road, motionless. He had wounds, and the blood seeping from them had pooled in shallow puddles on the road. It was unclear whether he was dead or alive.

Xue Baoping paused for a moment, quickened her pace slightly, but slowed down a little as she approached the person—this caution pleased Li Wuxiang.

The two stopped five steps away from the man. Xue Baoping took a closer look, then turned to Li Wuxiang, frowned, and shook her head slightly.

Li Wuxiang asked, "What's wrong?"

“How did this person get here?” she whispered. “It looks like he crawled out of the water, but there are no footprints… The tracks from here to the riverbank don’t look like he was dragged up either, because there are no footprints of the person who dragged him.”

Li Wuxiang nodded: "Yes, that's really strange... Was he dragged up here last night? Did the rain wash away the footprints of the person who dragged him?"

Xue Baoping shook her head: "The marks from the river are fresh, which means he was just dragged up. Look, the blood on the ground is still bright red, which means he hasn't been lying here for long—ah, are you testing me on purpose?"

Li Wuxiang laughed: "I just want to hear what you think."

After saying this, he pulled Xue Baoping along and walked to the man's side, looking down at him.

"That's strange," Li Wuxiang said to Xue Baoping. "Look at this person, wearing armor and a helmet, doesn't he look a bit like a disciple of the Shangchi Sect?"

Strange? It really is strange! But how could it resemble a disciple of the Shangchi Sect?!

Because it was only at this moment that Xue Baoping realized that this thing did not seem to be human!
From a distance, it looks like he's wearing black armor, but up close, you can see that the "armor" is actually growing on his body! To put it another way, it looks like a pangolin with its limbs outstretched and curled up in a ball; from a distance, it only has a human shape!

The creature was still covering its face with its two front legs, only revealing its closed eyes. But even with its face covered, you could still see its face beneath its two front legs—long, dark, with a pair of nostrils at the end… It was clearly the face of a crocodile!
Xue Baoping glanced at the river beside her, letting Li Wuxiang see what she meant—"Was it that crocodile demon from last night?"

He nodded.

It's that crocodile demon from last night. It didn't actually go far all night; it just kept struggling underwater, as if it was injured and in pain.

Yesterday, Li Wuxiang thought this demon's cultivation level wasn't high, and now he saw it was indeed true—it wanted to transform into human form, but it could only transform into a "human form," with only two eyes in the middle of its face, and not even a mouth retracted. Its scales were directly growing onto its back, and the only thing that was relatively well done was that it didn't have a tail.

As the two exchanged glances, Li Wuxiang noticed that the crocodile demon, whose eyes had been covered, quickly opened them, glanced at him, and then quickly closed them again.

He shook his head and said to Xue Baoping, "It seems this person is dead and beyond saving. Let's go."

Before Xue Baoping could say anything more, Li Wuxiang pulled her a step forward.

Just then, they heard the crocodile demon behind them let out a low sigh.

Li Wuxiang said, "That's the sound of someone breathing their last before they die. There's no hope for them."

He pulled Xue Baoping and took another step forward.

Just then, they heard the crocodile demon behind them say in a low voice, "Ouch, ouch, help!"

Xue Baoping realized—no matter what the crocodile demon was doing lying there, Li Wuxiang was teasing him.

She felt safe walking with Zeng Jianqiu, but she felt absolutely safe walking with Li Wuxiang. So she wasn't flustered at all, and even couldn't help but laugh a little before quickly suppressing it.

Li Wuxiang stopped and turned around: "Ah, this person is still alive? Hey, you on the ground, who are you?"

"I...I'm a human being..."

"Who are you?"

“I am, ah...a person from the mountain…”

"People from the mountain? People from the Shangchi Sect?"

"Yes, yes, I'm from the Shangchi faction..."

Xue Baoping couldn't help but turn away, trembling. She was laughing so hard she was shaking—because the crocodile demon spoke unclearly, and it took a lot of effort to make out that he was speaking human language, but he seemed to think that he was speaking quite well and quite like a human.

Li Wuxiang walked up to the crocodile demon: "Are you from the Shangchi Sect? Let me see your face, does it look human?"

The crocodile demon quickly covered its face even more tightly: "Please save me, alas."

Li Wuxiang asked, "Why should I save you?"

"Didn't you save people last night? I'm a person too, and I'm from the Mountain... Shangchi Sect. If you do that, you'll save me, sigh."

Li Wuxiang thought for a moment and said, "Oh, you saw me save someone wearing armor last night, so you're wearing armor now and are a person too, so I'll save you too?"

"Oh, yes, please hurry and save me!"

Li Wuxiang shook his head: "Forget it, you're not human, you're a demon, I'd better not save you."

The crocodile demon suddenly lowered its hand, revealing its face, and glared with wide eyes: "How did you know I'm not human? Huh?"

He jumped up again, took a couple of steps back and forth on his short legs, and said, "I walk like this too? Sigh!"

Xue Baoping stopped laughing and let the small sword on her wrist slide into her palm.

Li Wuxiang put his hands behind his back and said with a smile, "Anyway, I figured it out. So, if I don't save you, are you going to eat me?"

Upon hearing this, the crocodile demon's head suddenly swelled, and its mouth grew extremely long. As if very angry, it pounded its jaws together, making a clattering sound. But after pounding for a while, it turned and dived into the water.

Li Wuxiang flashed and grabbed his mouth in an instant: "Don't go, aren't you going to ask me to save you again?"

The crocodile demon suddenly revealed its enormous, dragon-like form, and then coiled around him like a snake, squeezing him tightly!
But Li Wuxiang remained standing with a smile, releasing the hand that had been gripping his mouth. The crocodile demon opened its massive jaws and swallowed Li Wuxiang's head whole: "Will you save me or not? Huh? Will you save me or not? Sigh!"

"Get out of my way!" Xue Baoping shouted, sword in hand.

But Li Wuxiang stretched out a hand and waved it: "It's alright, this demon doesn't eat people."

"I eat people! Alas! I eat the people on the mountain!" the crocodile demon said viciously.

Li Wuxiang then stretched out his other hand from the body that was wrapped around him and waved it into the river beside him—the powerful Nascent Soul True Force cleaved out, and the surging river was briefly cut off, exposing the mud and sand at the bottom of the river.

There were things in the mud and sand, but Xue Baoping couldn't make out their exact appearance. However, when the sun came out in the morning, she saw the glint of light on those things—they looked very much like the scales of a disciple of the Shangchi Sect. They were corpses, about four or five in total.

The crocodile demon turned its head and glanced into the water—as if it was frightened by the true power of Li Wuxiang's palm that split the water flow, or as if it was because the complete corpses of the Shangchi Sect disciples at the bottom of the water had been seen. It loosened its body, used all four limbs, and was about to leap into the river with its head and tail wagging.

Li Wuxiang stood still, waiting until the tip of the crocodile's tail brushed past him before grabbing it—the crocodile's body was instantly pulled taut by his grip, and it abruptly turned to bite him. Yet, as if afraid of being bitten, it angrily pounded its jaws together, its body thrashing back and forth. Blood gushed from the wound on its abdomen, pierced by the Shangchi Sect disciple the previous night, and four cold glints appeared on its back, as if the spearhead that had sprung out of its body the previous night had been squeezed and pierced through its flesh again by this violent movement.

"If you want me to save you, then tell me. You have no food left, so why don't you eat people? And why are the Shangchi Sect people causing you trouble?"

The crocodile demon roared, "I know! You're not human! You're a ghost too! Alas!"

Li Wuxiang's smile vanished, and he immediately demanded, "What the hell? A corpse demon?!"

(End of this chapter)