Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

What's wrong with Chapter 348?

Xue Baoping's mind cleared instantly, and she remembered every movement she had made: drawing the sword, raising her hand, and thrusting it towards her Baihui acupoint. She could have easily withdrawn her hand if she wanted to. But she didn't; instead, she let the sword remain embedded in her skull, enduring the excruciating pain while silently calling out, "Master, is that you?!"

"It's me. Thank goodness I glanced over here. What's wrong with you? Are you thinking of doing something rash?"

He glanced this way? Was he a spirit? From outside this realm? Xue Baoping didn't have time to think further: "Master, save me! Save Li Wuxiang!"

"Let me see it." His tone wasn't as relaxed, but it wasn't serious either.

Xue Baoping was taken aback, but then she understood what he meant. When she was thrusting her sword earlier, she had slightly lowered her head and her eyes were downcast; she was still staring blankly at the ground in front of her. Upon hearing his words, she immediately raised her head slightly, her gaze sweeping over Xu Zhen, Tong Xu, and the lake.

Then he exclaimed, "Oh, wow, a true realm demon! Where's Li Wuxiang?"

"He seems to be on a lake, in the mist!"

"Oh, there's another True Realm over there. Think about it, what's going on?"

He spoke in a seemingly rambling manner, but someone as quick-witted as Xue Baoping immediately understood—her master wanted to know the cause and effect of this matter, so he asked her to think about it in her mind.

She quickly thought it over—just as a few thoughts instinctively formed in her mind, he said "Oh" again: "It's still about your affairs here. I thought it was something serious. Well, I'm busy right now, and the timing isn't right, so it's inconvenient for me to come and help you. How about this—I'll leave this breath with you, and when Li Wuxiang comes out, you exhale it while holding it in. Do you know how to exhale it while holding it in? Just close your mouth, and don't exhale through your nose. First, exhale into your mouth, and then open your mouth."

He didn't explain it clearly, but Xue Baoping understood perfectly—once when they were in Jinshui, they ate meat, and Li Wuxiang said the pig wasn't slaughtered well, it had a foul smell. Xue Baoping said she couldn't taste it, so Li Wuxiang taught her to try to recall it, and she could smell a little bit of it.

She immediately thought to herself, "Okay!"

At this moment, Xu Zhen noticed that she had stopped moving. He frowned slightly and stared at her carefully. "It's rare to see a young girl who is cultivating Qi so clearly. Let me give you a hand."

He took a step in this direction, and before Xue Baoping could even ask herself what to do, she heard a voice: "You ask him if the Ninth Young Master knows where the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Young Masters are since he calls himself the Ninth Young Master? Has the Ninth Young Master told him?"

Xue Baoping immediately spoke up: "Xu Zhen! Since the Ninth Young Master calls himself the Ninth Young Master, do you know where the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Young Masters are? Has the Ninth Young Master told you?"

Xu Zhen was slightly taken aback and looked at her: "At a time like this, you're still spouting these vague and nonsensical words?"

He didn't stop, and took another step forward.

Xue Baoping heard her master say, "Oh? Then recite the poem to him: 'The Jade Capital in the heavens, with its twelve towers and five cities. An immortal touched my head, and I was granted immortality. I mistakenly pursued worldly pleasures, and became deeply troubled by the complexities of reason and emotion.' Recite it here and let's see."

Xue Baoping immediately began to recite the entire story from memory.

For some reason, Xu Zhen stopped and frowned, asking, "Where did you hear that? The rest?"

“I knew it.” Xue Baoping heard him say that—but this time she really didn’t know what he “knew.” “A hum, a laugh, a touch of wickedness, that’s about it.”

Xue Baoping did as she was told. Xu Zhen was taken aback by her smile, and after a moment asked, "The Ran Mountain you mentioned, is it really where the Ninth Prince's lineage has been passed down?"

Xue Baoping waited to hear her master instruct her on what to say next, but instead, she heard something else entirely—

"I saw what you were thinking just now. What, did you really want to kill yourself when you walked this way so they couldn't use you to threaten Li Wuxiang?"

"……what?"

“Let me tell you, there’s something wrong with how you think. I suggest you stop hanging out with Li Wuxiang; it won’t do either of you any good. Right now, you’re treating yourself like Li Wuxiang’s vassal, but nobody should be anyone’s vassal, understand?”

"I……"

"Alright, think about it again. Think about what you would do if Li Wuxiang weren't around. I'm leaving."

"Master, wait, how should I address you?"

After a while, Xue Baoping thought he had really left, and then said, "No need to address me with respect, my name is Li Yunxin—and don't tell anyone."

Xue Baoping had just silently recited the name in her mind when she heard Xu Zhen ask again—this time it was a stern question: "How did you know the last few lines?!"

What should I say this time? Should I still laugh?

But it's no longer needed—

The thick fog on the lake suddenly exploded, as if swept away by a hurricane that suddenly arose from within. The fog turned into wisps and strands, which scattered in all directions and then turned into wisps of smoke.

Something emerged from the lake: first, an enormous tiger—only the outline of a tiger, like a small mountain. Most of its body wasn't fur, but scales, irregularly shaped like scabs, with only black, yellow, and white hairs growing in the gaps. Its eyes weren't black either, but like two blood-red copper bells, each one probably the size of a small house.

The hurricane was roared from it; its scales bristled, spewing forth billowing bloody stench from beneath them. Countless phantom-like ghosts, clad in armor, scattered in all directions amidst the bloody aura.

"...If you don't agree, I'll kill them all! Kill them all—"

Only after shouting this did Xu Pianpian see Xu Zhen by the lake. Her eyes widened, and she immediately cried out, "Xu Zhen! He's not human! He's—" Only then could she see Li Wuxiang. Compared to Xu Pianpian in her true form, he was incredibly small, like a single scale of hers. He was being tossed into the air by the gust of wind Xu Pianpian had unleashed, his soft armor and inner robe torn to shreds. The wind had reached the lakeside, and Xu Zhen raised a hand to brace himself, the wind sweeping past him and protecting the people behind him.

In other places where the wind blows, trees wither and decay instantly, and stubborn rocks turn into fragments. The Taiyi Hall of the Shangchi Sect was built by the lake. When the wind blew, the wooden structure collapsed, leaving only a Taiyi statue inside swaying in the wind.

The wind seemed poised to sweep across the entire Dapan Mountain. At that moment, Li Wuxiang's figure swayed, as if he had been blown larger, scattered, and reduced to a mere skin by the wind—

First, it transformed from a human shape into a cloth-like garment, which rattled loudly in the wind, growing larger and louder until it suddenly covered the tiger demon's head. Xu Pianpian immediately raised her claws to grab it and roared loudly, trying to blow it away, but the more she blew into Li Wuxiang's body, the larger the human skin became. First, it covered his head, then his shoulders and neck, then his entire upper body, and finally it enveloped the entire enormous tiger demon, even scooping up a lot of lake water—

He swallowed it!

As soon as the tiger demon was wrapped up, the wind on the lake immediately dissipated. A thin, almost translucent skin appeared on the water's surface, emitting wisps of golden light, and the tiger demon's outline could be seen struggling desperately inside. But the skin shrank smaller and thicker, and the tiger demon inside gradually seemed unable to struggle any longer, only emitting mournful howls.

What was Xu Zhen doing standing by the lake at this moment?
He was watching!
At first glance, I wanted to see what methods Li Wuxiang would use to deal with Xu Pianpian and to see the power of the Taiyi Flying Sword.

But when he heard Xu Pianpian shout "He's not human," he immediately turned to look at Xue Baoping and remembered what she had just said—that Ranshan had the lineage of the Nine Princes, and that the sect leaders of each generation had long since become demons.

However, he wasn't too worried at this moment—if Li Wuxiang really was a demon cultivator, his current cultivation level was insignificant; in a little while…

Just then, following Li Yunxin's instructions, Xue Baoping exhaled the last breath she had left in her chest and abdomen.

She hadn't expected him to react like this—

The instant Li Wuxiang swallowed Xu Pianpian, a fierce wind immediately rose from the top of Dapan Mountain!
This gust of wind didn't have the destructive power of the wind spewed by Xu Pianpian; instead, it was like a strong wind in autumn or winter, passing through everyone's clothes and hair.

But the wind seemed to contain an extreme level of malice, and also contained a dizzying evil power. It even ignored Xu Zhen's supernatural powers and passed through the gaps between his spread fingers!

Xu was all too familiar with this wind, and the smell within it.

So powerful! Such immense demonic aura!

This Li Wuxiang is not human, but a great demon!

Xu Zhen stood there stunned for a moment, speechless. If Li Wuxiang were truly a demon, it wouldn't have surprised him so much. There were many powerful demons in the Eastern Continent, and many with demonic energy far stronger and more intense than this. His astonishment stemmed from Li Wuxiang's supernatural ability to swallow Xu Pianpian whole.

People often confuse supernatural powers with magic, but there are actually differences between the two. Magic is a series of minor tricks; the illusions used by ordinary people can all be called magic. It's simply using various methods to utilize things in the world to achieve one's goals. The easily distinguishable point is that magic relies entirely on one's own power.

But supernatural powers are not of this world; they come from spirits and deities beyond this world, bestowed upon us. The strength of such powers is also easily discernible—the stronger the spirit that bestows the supernatural power, the stronger the power itself. Although the cultivation levels of those who use supernatural powers vary, this only relates to how well they use the power, not whether they are capable of using it at all.

What Xu Pianpian was currently manifesting wasn't actually her true form, but rather her dragon form—a form of supernatural power. She worshipped the Wei River True Lord under the Western Emperor Gouchen, belonging to the dragon lineage; therefore, only upon reaching the end of her cultivation would she transform into a Qilin and become a dragon. It wasn't surprising that Li Wuxiang had the means to devour her, but Xu Zhen watched as Xu Pianpian shrank smaller and smaller within his skin after being swallowed, eventually being forcibly forced back into human form—this was because Li Wuxiang, this great demon, had overpowered Xu Pianpian's supernatural abilities, forcibly forcing her back!
Startled, he stood rooted to the spot, sensing the situation with his divine sense—

The Western Emperor Gouchen of the Eastern Continent and the Eastern Emperor Taiyi of the Central Continent attained enlightenment around the same time. The demon race of the Central Continent should have no lineage left. Where did Li Wuxiang's supernatural powers come from? How can he be so strong?

He sensed it and indeed discovered it—

Unlike the people of the Six Mysterious Sects who came from Mount Ling, they seemed to come from somewhere beyond the heavens. With his cultivation, he couldn't see clearly, but he could sense a vast and violent aura connected to Li Wuxiang, containing boundless malice and calamity.

He concentrated and tried to get closer to the aura, wanting to discern it more clearly. But at this moment, the aura seemed to sense him as well, or perhaps Li Wuxiang also sensed him—Xu Zhen felt a flash of red light before his eyes and a stinging pain in his mind.

He quickly withdrew, realizing that his breath and body were fine, but there seemed to be something extra inside him, something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

But he had no time to think about it. Because at this moment, Li Wuxiang's body shrank smaller and smaller, until he was only nine feet tall, standing on the water like a small giant. He stretched his neck again, as if he had swallowed something, and then his body suddenly contracted—and a painful groan came from his body.

As soon as Xue Baoping saw that he had noticed her, she immediately called out to Xu Zhen, "See if I've lied to you—the entire Ranshan lineage is full of demon kings!"

Xu Zhen glanced at her, then looked at Li Wuxiang. He saw Li Wuxiang standing on the water, his brow furrowed: "What's the point of telling him all this? He's a demon from the Eastern Continent, what does he have to do with me—you're Xu Zhen now?"

Xu Zhen took a step back, making sure none of the people around him could escape, and asked in a deep voice, "Are you really not human?"

"Yes, I was. But I was imprisoned in one place and skinned alive. My skin gradually gained power and became a demon, unlike you creatures."

Which deity are you worshipping?

Li Wuxiang sneered: "What, you were trying to peek into the secrets of heaven just now, didn't you see clearly?"

Xu Zhen was silent for a moment, then his expression softened: "I used to think of you as a human cultivator. Since you are also of the same kind, why make things difficult for us? I brought this little girl with you, and she was neither rude nor harmful—you give Pianpian back to me, and I'll give her back to you. We can talk about our issues later, okay?"

what's the situation?
Li Wuxiang could understand what Xue Baoping had just said—he didn't know what she had said to Xu Zhen before, but in short, he had to admit that he was not human, but a demon.

He had just sensed Xu Zhen's demonic aura—that gust of evil wind was ridiculously strong, its power and malice practically dripping with malice. Xu Pianpian had said Xu Zhen was a great demon, and Li Wuxiang had considered that his abilities might surpass his own, but he hadn't expected him to come to the Shangchi Sect today, nor had he expected him to be this powerful. Just looking at that demonic aura, let alone himself, even Senior Sister Mei would probably have to put in some effort to deal with him.

Judging from Xu Pianpian's demeanor, Xu Zhen is definitely not the kind of person who values ​​emotions highly or is willing to back down. So why would such a powerful demon, who currently has Xue Baoping and Xie Qi at her disposal, suddenly tell her that she wants to change people and "talk things over slowly"?
What's wrong with Xu Zhen?
(End of this chapter)