Devouring Evil Martial Arts, Eliminating Demons from All Heavens

Chapter 257 Temptation and Seduction

Beneath the nameless hillside, the night was cold, and the wild grass was damp.

The dark, heavy pieces of wood, with red veins resembling talismans, and the iron bars that serve as supports are also covered with small characters.

Together they built a three-story altar.

The carriages of the Five Witches Saintess were all made with special techniques. Normally, they were assembled by using a latch mechanism to join the carriage panels together to form the carriage.

When it is time to perform the ritual, the chassis, walls, and roof of the carriage can be quickly unfolded and assembled into a ritual platform.

The first level of the altar, which is the outermost circle, has twenty-four candles lit, alternating between red and white.

On the second altar, twelve preachers sat, each holding a different ritual implement. Beside each of them were a bamboo tube of rice, a stack of talismans, and a short knife.

On the third altar, Cao Ying was the only one.

She sat cross-legged in the center, with a five-crow mask made of black iron, a sword, a command flag, a token, a command arrow, a magic ruler, and a wooden altar in front of her.

There was also a pot of blood wine and a lead cup.

Throughout history, lead and mercury have been considered profound metals in various lineages of Buddhism.

Lead is clumsy and sinks, and its nature is extremely stable and difficult to manipulate. In many folk religious practices, eating utensils made of lead are not meant for human ghosts to enjoy, but for use by ghosts and gods.

Although no one was drinking the blood wine in the cup, it was visibly decreasing layer by layer.

That proves that the Five Wrathful Gods have always supported this incantation ritual.

Cao Ying's eyes were calm and slightly bright, her incantations were like a song, her left hand made a hand seal and remained still between her lower abdomen, while her right hand's knuckles were as graceful as a snake, and her fingertips sometimes curled up like a peacock's head, constantly swaying and moving a few feet in front of her.

In her eyes, there seemed to be a miniature version of Luoyang's East District.

Nearly a hundred tiny points of light moved through the city.

Suddenly, two of the twelve preachers swayed slightly, and the ritual implements in their hands cracked.

Before anyone around could react, two more preachers trembled, their heads drooped, and they died.

Cao Ying frowned as she looked over.

There would be casualties tonight, and even if all the preachers died, it would be within her expectations, but... it happened too fast.

Thinking of this, two more preachers died suddenly.

The souls of these six people are attached to the three assassins.

Given this performance, doesn't it mean that the three assassins have all been defeated in just a short while?!
Could it be that Chu Tianshu has obtained the original text? But who is the original text he obtained?
No, no matter which character it is, it's unlikely to become that much stronger just from acquiring them.

Cao Ying's eyes darted around, her thoughts momentarily in disarray.

Click! !

She glanced down and noticed that a beaded necklace on her left wrist was cracking.

That beaded necklace consisted of tiny black pearls, each the size of a bird's eye.

The size is not unusual, but the pearls are of excellent color. When worn on her hand, they complement the subtle blue veins and muscle lines on her wrist, giving them a unique charm.

Only Cao Ying herself knew that these thirty-odd pearls were the life-bound pearls she made for her group of close ninja followers.

She had clearly instructed the ninjas to only conduct their business outside the city and not to enter it.

The three assassins failed just now, and now the ninjas are dying one after another.

This only means that the enemy has left the city.

"Did we lose...?"

Cao Ying completely stopped the hand gestures and incantations, and was lost in thought for a while.

The remaining six preachers, who were originally there to assist her in casting spells, also guessed what was going on and their hearts pounded.

"Holy Maiden, it seems the battle tonight has been lost. Let's go!"

Cao Ying didn't move, she just looked at these people.

"If you want to leave, then go ahead."

Cao Ying's eyes were meaningful. She reached out and picked up the lead wine glass as if to toast them, and said with a smile, "Don't worry about me, you can go your separate ways."

The six preachers looked at each other in bewilderment. Suddenly, one of them, holding an iron ruyi (a type of scepter), bowed and hurriedly jumped off the platform to fetch a horse.

With one person taking the lead, the other five, disregarding the saintess's intentions, immediately left.

Some people felt that the hoofprints and hoof sounds were too obvious when riding horses, so they stuck more than ten talismans on their legs and silently chanted incantations.

When walking, it was as if his feet were equipped with springs, and he could leap five or six meters in one step, as if riding the wind and mist.

Someone threw a paper crane in their hand, which transformed into a huge crane, and reached out to grab one of the crane's legs.

The crane flapped its wings, rose about ten meters off the ground, and flew away unsteadily.

Some people waved their whisks, and a thick smoke rose from the spot, obscuring their figures. When the smoke dissipated, the person was nowhere to be seen.

Cao Ying raised her cup, watched them leave, then brought the blood wine to her lips and slowly drank half of it.

Once the lead cup was empty, she poured herself another one.

Before the cup was even finished, a point of blue light in the distance rapidly magnified, transforming into a blue human figure.

The hillside was a slope, and the person crossed it horizontally.

But before they reached the execution platform, the man suddenly dropped the person he was holding and turned a corner.

His figure disappeared into the weeds, and soon reappeared from another direction, turning away into the distance once more.

Cao Ying shook her head and poured herself a drink.

A moment later, the figure in blue finally approached the altar and picked up the person he had previously abandoned.

Cao Ying had already seen clearly that the one being held by the belt and lifted into the air was none other than Qian Zuiweng.

Chu Tianshu walked from the east, and the flames of the twenty-four candles all tilted and lengthened towards the west.

The flames licked the air, and the candle burned noticeably faster.

Chu Tianshu could tell that these candles were originally part of the altar, and their unusual behavior was not due to a change in wind direction.

It was because he sensed the murderous aura emanating from himself.

"Mr. Chu has such a strong murderous aura."

Cao Ying smiled and said, "I suppose those six people who escaped just now have all lost their lives at your hands. Your killing intent is even stronger now."

Chu Tianshu walked up to the first level of the altar, then stepped onto the second level, casually looking around as he spoke.

Why didn't you run away?

Cao Ying calmly asked, "Would running away be of any use?" "We thought we had overestimated Mr. Chu's threat as much as possible, but we didn't expect that we still underestimated him."

"When I found out you had left the city, I knew we couldn't escape."

Chu Tianshu stepped onto the third level of the Dharma platform.

There were only two meters or so between him and Cao Ying.

The Thousand Drunken Old Man he was carrying in his right hand landed on the altar, while a handful of scattered yellow talisman paper scraps and broken whisk threads fell from his left hand.

"They did not escape, but one person did escape from my grasp earlier."

Chu Tianshu said, "According to Yuan Li's confession, your Five Witches Cult also has a Divine Heart Borrowing Dao Technique, but it requires the Five Witches Army Seal to activate."

"This time you came out to kill me, and Yuan Zai didn't lend you the Five Witches' Army Seal?"

By using the Divine Heart to borrow a path, even if Cao Ying's physical body cannot escape, her soul can still escape to the capital.

Given the Five Witches Cult's resources, it wouldn't be unreasonable to let her reside in some magical artifacts to live a little longer, or even transform into an evil spirit and live for a hundred years longer.

Is this considered an attempt to extract information?

Cao Ying toyed with the wine glass in her hand, her eyes narrowing upwards. "Isn't it a bit of a waste of my last moments to do this?"

"Heh, Chu Tianshu, I think you're quite good-looking. What do you think of my looks?"

Chu Tianshu put his right hand behind his back, and after hearing this, he carefully examined the object and said, "Very good."

"Really? Many men like gentle or glamorous women, but I happen to be neither. You have good taste."

Cao Ying seemed a little happy, "Do you like my style, or is it because of my identity as a saintess that you have a stronger urge to have sex?"

Chu Tianshu dusted off his sleeves: "Excuse me, I was just commenting on appearance. Even if I'm immune to all poisons, I don't have a penchant for being aroused by dead people."

"Especially, a dead man who just poisoned himself."

How can a living person drink blood wine that is offered exclusively to ghosts and gods?
The moment Chu Tianshu saw Cao Ying, he knew she was beyond saving.

He was just here to take a look at the three-tiered Dharma platform.

"Oh, that's a pity."

Cao Ying's fingertips traced her lips. "I originally thought that maybe I could use this body to make Mr. Chu, who had just won a great victory and was full of pride, suffer a small loss."

Chu Tianshu didn't answer again. He walked around Cao Ying once, then suddenly stomped his foot.

The three-tiered altar suddenly cracked layer by layer, but did not shatter.

The surface of the platform has unique cracks, resembling lotus flowers.

When the cracks in the third layer spread to the edge, the twenty-four candles teetered precariously.

"Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Jie Zhen Lie Qian Xu!!"

Chu Tianshu formed a hand seal with his left hand, changing it nine times in an instant, and finally pointed his sword into the air, waving it towards Luoyang City.

Twenty-four candles went out at the same time.

He didn't simply destroy the Dharma platform; he completely destroyed it.

Inside Luoyang, the gunmen hidden in various parts of the eastern district were also somewhat panicked, unsure whether to scatter and flee or continue their attack.

Suddenly, they all felt a stinging pain in their eyes.

The unexpected pain caused the gunmen to groan involuntarily.

Some of the gunmen who were running and moving away even fell off the roof.

In the shadows of the street corner, Huo Ming's ears twitched and his eyes lit up.

Outside the city, on a hillside.

Cao Ying's lip color seemed to deepen along with the cracking of the altar, her lips turning completely black.

"Yes, it looks more beautiful this way."

Chu Tianshu said, "If you were just a beauty streamer, I would probably be happy to follow you."

"What a pity, you Five Witches Saintess, you've killed without hesitation!"

Cao Ying's breath grew weaker: "Did you kill fewer people than me? Haha, are you going to talk about good and evil? But in the face of imperial ambitions, talking about good and evil is too naive."

"Where did you get your claim to hegemony?"

Chu Tianshu looked down at her and said, "All I see is your failure."

“From the very first day your people met me, there was only one failure, and then another.”

Cao Ying was naturally approaching death under the influence of the blood wine; her vision was already blurred.

Completely unaware, Chu Tianshu's left hand was still in a mudra, and there was a small four-leaf clover mark spinning in the palm of his right hand behind his back.

“Cao Shaolin, the vice leader, the leader, and you, the holy maiden, the Cao family’s subordinates, the Cao family’s allies, and then the Cao family itself…”

"Whether it's searching for Sima Yi, stealing the original texts, or tonight's assassination attempt, it's all just failure, failure, failure!"

Cao Ying felt dizzy and disoriented. In the vast night sky, only a crescent moon remained.

Even the waning moon was slowly rotating in the center of the sky.

Everywhere, from heaven to earth, the sounds of defeat echoed, recounting her utter annihilation.

"Including what you want to do later."

Chu Tianshu said quietly, "...it will fail as well."

"No!"

Cao Ying gritted her teeth and said, "No, the Five Witches are greedy and increasingly difficult to control, so there's not much we can rely on."

"But Uncle Qi has already discovered the Qingcheng Ghost King."

"The Ghost King will devour the seal and then instigate the awakening of the Pear Goddess, allowing her to break free from the suppression and absorption of the Five Witches and take away their power."

"Thus, the three gods are both weak and powerful, and all three gods must be used by us!"

Chu Tianshu's eyes flashed, his tone remained unchanged, but his right hand lifted Cao Ying's chin, continuing to bewitch her while slowly channeling his energy to maintain a sliver of life.

"Really? But the method, the location, and the date you chose are very problematic; it's bound to fail!"

Cao Ying looked up, her eyes glazed and filled with hatred, her teeth clenched.

"No! Even if Chu Tianshu and the others all march on the capital, it won't make a difference. The time and place we chose were precisely..."

(End of this chapter)