Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 341 Pill Formation
The crocodile demon suddenly leaped out of the water, transforming into human form. She placed her two front paws on the waterway entrance, poked her crocodile head out, and hurriedly said, "Shh! Don't brag here! Be careful someone hears you! Humans want to catch demons! Sigh!"

Xu Pianpian asked cautiously, "Do you know Li Wuxiang and Xue Baoping who are currently on the mountain?"

"Sigh, they're human too! They want to catch me too! You should stay away from them!"

So, this little demon wasn't with them, and Xu Pianpian felt relieved. Actually, she felt she had been overly cautious—how could a human and a demon mix together?
She sat down at the waterway entrance, her legs and tail dangling over the water: "Didn't you hear me? I'm very capable. I'll kill them in a few days."

E Meifeng rested his head on his arm and looked at her: "You're really good at bragging."

"Huh? How did you know? That's right, I can blow everything on this mountain away in one breath." Xu Pianpian turned to her, her face instantly transforming into a furry tiger's head. "You know the saying 'wind follows the tiger, clouds follow the dragon,' right? The mountains near my home are all bald, all thanks to my blowing. Let me tell you, I ate someone a few days ago, someone from Qingpu Mountain. The people there can also blow the wind, and I even learned a few things from them, so now I can blow even more."

E Meifeng felt that this demon was really not very smart; she couldn't even tell if someone was being nice or mean.

But she knew this tiger demon was quite powerful. Li Wuxiang had told her to run if things went wrong. She could also sense it herself—a trace of demonic energy emanated from Xu Pianpian the moment her tail appeared. It was like quickly opening a window and throwing something out. No matter how fast you went, a little bit of demonic energy would always dissipate.

That little thing terrified E Meifeng. She almost forgot what Li Wuxiang wanted her to do and immediately fled for her life.

However, after talking to her for a few more minutes, E Meifeng was no longer afraid, because Li Wuxiang had told her, "When she's not angry, you can be sarcastic and sarcastic towards her. When she gets angry, you should quickly try to coax her. If you can't coax her, just call me. Don't be afraid."

E Meifeng had already managed to coax a Great Rejuvenating Pill into her possession, and was quite satisfied with herself and Xu Pianpian. She then thought about what Li Wuxiang had taught her, blinked, and asked, "I've never seen a bare mountain, nor have I ever heard of one. Where is it?"

"Anyway, it's not here. Have you ever heard of the Eastern Continent?"

"Oh, I know about those. I used to see them every winter. Sometimes I'd wake up hungry and see them. They're hard to catch, and they get cold too—"

"What did you say? I'm talking about the Eastern Continent! You call this the Central Continent, but we call ours the Eastern Continent, don't you understand? It's separated by the sea!"

This was something Li Wuxiang told her to ask. As for what to ask next after that?

E Meifeng felt that Xu Pianpian wasn't angry, so he said, "Anyway, I've never seen what the sea looks like, so I don't know what you're talking about. Sigh!"

"The sea is vast; your Tianchi Lake is just a drop of water in the ocean."

"You're really talking nonsense. How could you possibly swim that far?"

Talking to this ignorant little demon is really annoying, but annoying is better than boring. Xu Pianpian snorted: "Who said you have to swim? You don't know about the Eastern Continent, but you must know about the Five Sacred Mountains True Form Sect in the Central Continent, right? They created a string of islands between the Central Continent and the Eastern Continent. You can just ferry across to each island one by one, can't you? You stupid thing, have you never seen a boat before?"

E Meifeng jumped up and sat next to her: "Of course I've seen boats. Sometimes there are boats on the Mohe River. I ignore the big ones, but I play with the small ones. The people on them scream in terror, and some even fall off! I just put them in my mouth and toss them around, making them scream even louder. Do you know how to hold them in your mouth without breaking your skin? Let me tell you—"

Xu Pianpian asked warily, "Didn't you say you'd arrest anyone who saw you?"

"I'm not talking about those kinds of people, I'm talking about people who haven't cultivated themselves."

Xu Pianpian was relieved: "Oh, I know what you're talking about. We have those kinds of people in our Eastern Continent too, and they're much more fun than the ones here. I have over three hundred of them myself. But let me tell you, it's best not to play like that, it'll scare you to death... Oh, anyway, there are so many people here, it doesn't matter if a few die of fright. But back home, they're considered good stuff."

Mentioning the people of the Eastern Continent, Xu Pianpian no longer felt bored and enthusiastically told the crocodile demon how to raise, play with, and eat them. E Meifeng listened in a daze, wondering if this was something he should be listening to. However, as he listened, he found it quite interesting and couldn't help but ask a few more questions.

Normally, Xu Pianpian wouldn't pay any attention to this little demon. But it was so boring here, and this little demon was so stupid, so she got carried away and started talking. When she got to the part about how she blows the wind, she stood up and said, "I'll blow a breath and you'll see how amazing I am. Come on, I'll take you to the mountain to get some wind."

Only then did E Meifeng remember what he did for a living, and quickly said, "Weren't you in seclusion?"

Xu Pianpian was taken aback for a moment: "Ah, right."

E Meifeng then tapped her mouth, making a knocking sound. Xu Pianpian quickly pinched her mouth shut: "Keep your voice down, Li Wuxiang is still outside!"

But it was too late—she heard footsteps in the courtyard, heading towards the alchemy room. Just as she was about to throw E Meifeng into the water, she heard Li Wuxiang whisper through the window, "Hu Wei, how is she?"

"Ah, I'm fine, Master Li."

"I'm going to gather some things at the bottom of the Heavenly Lake on the mountaintop, so I won't be here tonight. If you need anything, just call Elder Xie, but I think you should be fine."

Xu Pianpian was overjoyed and immediately covered her mouth, agreeing, "Okay, Master, I'll be fine."

Li Wuxiang didn't speak again, and his footsteps gradually faded into the distance. Xu Pianpian immediately grabbed E Meifeng by the mouth and went to the waterway. She threw E Meifeng into the water first, then jumped in herself, revealing her true form. Her true form wasn't large; it was just a tiger. Her head was tilted back above the water's surface, and she paddled with her four paws: "Come on, come on, take me out quickly! I'll take you to get some fresh air!"

Xu Pianpian was also a good swimmer, and following E Meifeng, they swam to the Mo River in just a short while.

But then she suddenly remembered her bead and said, "Come with me first, I'll show you something fun."

She finally escaped, feeling the vastness of the world around her, her whole body relaxed. With a leap, she jumped ashore and headed straight for the forest. E Meifeng followed behind her, wagging its tail and knocking down trees. Only then did she slow down a little.

She rushed to the crevice where she had hidden the beads, transformed into human form, and reached inside, but couldn't find them no matter how hard she tried. Just as she exclaimed "Huh?" and was about to look inside, E Meifeng had already followed her and whispered, "Hey, this thing inside, hey, is it yours?" Xu Pianpian suddenly turned around and glared at her: "Did you steal my things?!"

"I didn't know it was yours. I heard something making noise, so I ate it..."

Xu Pianpian turned around as well. E Meifeng, now in her true form, was a colossal figure compared to Xu Pianpian. But before she could speak again, Xu Pianpian had already grabbed her mouth, twisting her wrist—

With a loud thud, the crocodile was thrown belly up, its head buzzing, and it didn't even know where it was.

Xu Pianpian jumped onto her belly, raised her hand and ripped open the belly that previously required a disciple of the Shangchi Sect to shoot through with a crossbow infused with true energy.

E Meifeng only felt the pain then and tried to turn herself over. But little Xu Pianpian standing on her was like a solid weight pressing down on a large piece of paper; no matter how much she shook her head, wagged her tail, or waved her limbs, it was no use.

Xu Pianpian wanted to turn her stomach and intestines inside out to see if her bead was still there. But just as she reached out to pull out her intestines, she suddenly remembered something—

If she killed this little demon, this place wouldn't be like the Eastern Continent—she wouldn't have anything to do to relieve her boredom for the next few days. She had no choice but to stop and asked fiercely, "When did you eat it?"

E Meifeng had completely forgotten what Li Wuxiang had said, and couldn't remember when she had eaten it, so she said, "Yesterday, the day before yesterday, I...I..."

If it had happened yesterday or the day before, that bead would have turned into excrement and urine long ago, beyond saving. Xu Pianpian sighed inwardly and was about to jump off her, but then she remembered that she had ripped open her stomach, and was afraid that she would frighten the little demon again.

She quickly said, "Don't be afraid. I just think you're too stupid. You're too stupid because your cultivation isn't deep enough, but you're cultivating too slowly. I don't want to harm you; I'm here to help you. Don't scream. I'll help you regulate yourself—oh, you want to form a demon core, don't you? Just watch, I'll help you."

After she said this, a small light disappeared from the dark forest on the edge of the distant mountain. She naturally didn't see it, nor did she care whether E Meifeng had said it well or not. She puffed out her cheeks, blew a breath into her ripped-open stomach, and then immediately jumped down and covered her mouth with both hands.

It was like holding a fish that had just been caught and brought ashore—the huge crocodile seemed to be in agony, its whole body thrashing about on the ground, but it just couldn't break free from her grasp.

Almost all of her internal organs were flung out of the ruptured opening, like parasites being thrown from her body. The surrounding forest was filled with a stench, as the crocodile demon's flesh and blood were scattered everywhere. But once her internal organs were gone, her body seemed to inflate, becoming increasingly swollen, and the sound of her bouncing on the ground changed from "thump thump" to "thump thump".

Xu Pianpian held her mouth, frowning, "I know what's wrong with you, you're too delicate. Stop jumping around like that, aren't you annoying?"

At this moment, E Meifeng truly had no strength left to jump—because she felt her body was empty. It wasn't an emptiness that felt like nothingness, but rather as if the breath Xu Pianpian blew in had drained all the demonic power from her body, and then gathered it into a single point.

Then, she felt an immense power erupt from that point. The pain vanished, the feeling of her mouth being gripped disappeared, and all her senses were drawn to and gathered within that point. She seemed to suddenly remember something, something that happened before she hatched. It was as if she had returned to that egg, and been hatched a second time—

When she came to her senses, she found herself lying on the ground. The first person she saw was Xu Pianpian—looking extremely smug: "See, as long as you didn't jump around like that, everything would have been fine!"

E Meifeng found that he was seeing things very strangely; everything seemed different. The surrounding mountains and forests were still dark, but other things had changed—changed, how to put it…

Color. She remembered that word. It had become colorful. This change left her feeling a little dazed, and she just stood there, stunned. She looked around, then at Xu Pianpian, and felt that Xu Pianpian was different too.

Li Wuxiang had warned her that Xu Pianpian was a powerful demon and not a good person. She had to be careful when dealing with her and slip away if she sensed something was wrong. She had found it quite amusing to talk to Xu Pianpian before, but after Xu Pianpian had ripped open her stomach, she remembered what Li Wuxiang had said about her being "not a good person."

However, now, she felt that Xu Pianpian had become even more likable than before. It was a feeling similar to Li Wuxiang's, but closer, like… her master? No, even closer than her master—

"You're mine now." Xu Pianpian paced back and forth in front of her, hands behind her back. "From now on, you'll call me Mistress, understand? You're happy now, do you know how many demons in the Eastern Continent want to call me Mistress? Stop looking around, I'll teach you—"

She raised her hands, which had been behind her back, her fingers hooking onto the crocodile demon's former skin: "You need to address yourself as a person now, understand? This is clothing, you have to put it on. Actually, you don't have to wear it when you come with me to the Eastern Continent, but you'll have to wear it when you see Xu Zhen."

E Meifeng, bewildered, put the crocodile skin that Xu Pianpian handed her over her head, and everything went black. However, she felt that her head was also completely black now—Li Wuxiang had told her that this thing in front of her was not a good thing, but she still felt very close to it, so close that she had to try very hard not to tell anyone about Li Wuxiang.

Xu Pianpian reached out and tugged at her head, and her head popped out of the crocodile skin.

"Are you out of your mind? You've already formed a demon core, why can't you speak?"

"Ah...oh, mistress!"

"That's right. Come on, I'll take you out for some fresh air. I'll show you what you look like now."

"Alas, Mistress! I, I, Li Wuxiang—"

What happened to Li Wuxiang?

"Sigh, him, sigh, actually—"

Just then, Xu Pianpian heard Li Wuxiang's voice. He wasn't nearby, but on the cliff top, and he sounded very unhappy: "Hu Wei, is that you over there? Why aren't you in seclusion? What are you doing here?"

(End of this chapter)