Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 175 "Explanation"

After the seventh door opened, the Demon Tower did not give the intruders a show of force as it had when the doors opened before.

Or has the show of force disappeared? It's just a group of normal-sized toads squatting behind the door.

The toads, who had initially intended to pounce, stopped abruptly upon realizing the size difference between themselves and the soldiers. They then leaped to either side, much like frogs scattering in a summer pond after being hit by a stone.

However, most toads did not escape being kicked away in mid-air; just like in the 21st century, if there is an empty soda can on the side of the road, it is hard for anyone to resist kicking it.

Xuan Chong precisely caught a toad and performed a dissection with his sword, confirming that its abdomen was full of parasites! — Therefore, if they were magnified to the size of a human by the power of decay, they would be extremely terrifying.

Upon entering the seventh level, the group discovered numerous corpses and a series of slime molds. The green slime molds left footprints as they stepped on them; and as they entered, some flying insects scurried up from within the slime molds.

Everyone held torches, and the firelight illuminated the slime-filled place, making it look very eerie. People explored cautiously, trying to find out where the monster was. Suddenly, a huge monster seemed to emerge from the shadows, and the entire army immediately formed ranks.

However, as Xuan Chong stared intently, the phantom grew smaller and smaller until it became almost imperceptible. In the end, Wu Fei saw a slug on a rock covered with slime mold. This thumb-sized slug was translucent and contained a large number of parasites, which wriggled like neon lights as its antennae moved.

With Xuan Chong's arrival, there were no more trials on the seventh floor; everything had been figured out.

Of course, Xuan Chong is very objective and does not believe that the "power of decay" is a pure illusion of humankind. In Xuan Chong's understanding, the monsters that grow to be huge with rotten pustules under the illumination of the evil moon are actually a kind of "jelly" substance full of a lot of information.

This "jelly" can fill in the volume, mass, and various states of an organism in three dimensions.

The power of decay can inflate a mosquito to the size of a pterosaur, and all the wing nerves controlling the mosquito's flight in the real physical world can be synchronously mapped to the giant mosquito in a jelly-like state that has been magnified hundreds of thousands of times, just like what Bai Renfeng encountered on the sixth floor.

Of course, the huge pustules and ulcerated skin on human bodies are also caused by being contaminated with this "information jelly" substance.

Therefore, in this place filled with slime mold and all sorts of filth, whether it's maggots or mosquitoes, they are all things that have been contaminated by the corrective effects of the information jelly projected by the evil moon.

Xuan Chong: "Is it possible that there is an existence completely detached from reality, where all physiological functions and even thoughts are completely uploaded into the 'jelly'? (That would be the state after ascending to demonhood)?"

Looking at this silent spore area, Xuan Chong had already guessed what the trial on the seventh floor of the tower was originally like.

In other words, the target that needs to be addressed may be some inconspicuous slime mold under one's own feet.

If I don't find this information node that exists in a space the size of a mustard seed, then the "information power" that supports the seventh floor of the tower will not be erased.

"So—" Xuan Chong: "I'm stuck!"

The cutscene didn't load...

Bai Renfeng walked through the slime mold area. Behind him, the orderly movement of soldiers produced the sounds of armor plates rubbing together and officers' whistles.

Bai Renfeng was about to draw his sword, but after searching his surroundings and finding no enemy, he was slightly puzzled. He then sheathed his sword, having already tempered his arrogance after the battle.

Bai Renfeng said gently to the soldiers beside him, "I'll go scout out into the distance. I'll leave things here to you all."

However, just as he was about to step onto the sword energy and leave, the soldier called out to the sword immortal.

Team Leader: "My lord, my master has given orders to ask you to wait a moment."

This command was like a binding rope, pulling him back instantly, forcing Bai Renfeng to stop in his tracks.

After rushing back to the army formation, Xuan Chong said to the sword immortal, "Immortal Bai, please join me in the next operation."

Bai Renfeng frowned: "My sword is still used to working alone; your army is not encountering any enemies now, so it's perfect for me to explore."

Xuan Chong: "No need to look anymore, the enemy is right here, they will appear soon, you and everyone else get ready." — As he spoke, Xuan Chong picked up a roll of cloth and blindfolded himself.

Just after Xuan Chong blindfolded himself, Bai Renfeng immediately felt the evil aura rising around him, and various things were moving about a hundred paces away.

Xuan Chong explained to Bai Renfeng, “Sir, the main purpose of our coming here is to plant the ‘purifying substance’ in the source of filth so that we can quell this chaos! As for killing, it is endless, because the enemies are infinite; in every place under our feet where filth can hide, enemies can be born at any time.”

Then Xuan Chong suddenly remembered something: "Right, you are a cultivator, and military law and orders will bind you. Hmm, take this!" Xuan Chong took out a command flag, which could command a thousand-man team and belonged to the level of a centurion.

After receiving the flag, Bai Renfeng felt his spiritual power suddenly rise to its peak. His sword light could now sweep over a hundred feet away. However, it wasn't just him; at this moment, the blazing flame within Xuan Chong's body, resembling an eternal star, was also rising, and this magical power corresponded with the "Heart Constellation" in the sky.

Bai Renfeng glanced back at the malevolent aura and the stars in the sky, then looked back at Xuan Chong's obscured eyes. A phrase jumped into his mind: "Suppressing the fortune of a region."

"When he opens his eyes, all is well; when he closes them, demons run rampant." Bai Renfeng thought to himself, "Is he a saint?"

…Close your eyes when it gets dark…

A blazing fire erupted around Xuan Chong, engulfing all the troops. All the slime mold beneath their feet was burned to death, and no monsters spawned at their feet.

A stench wafted from afar, and from the mist, four toad-lizards comparable in size to thunder dragons emerged, followed by a densely packed army of rotting creatures that seemed to outnumber their own forces by dozens of times.

This rotting army consisted largely of civilians who had died in the plague. The soldiers huddled around Xuan Chong, while Bai Renfeng waved his battle flag and gave the order for the legion to hold out to the death.

The battle began, and volleys of crossbow bolts were fired. However, Xuan Chong's soldiers soon discovered that their quivers contained an endless supply of arrows, and that each bolt was accompanied by flames. As a result, they began to recklessly fire their crossbow bolts indiscriminately.

Meanwhile, the armored soldiers in the front ranks were also engulfed in flames.

As the hordes of festering demons charged forward, Bai Renfeng took the lead, plunging into the ranks of demons. His powerful sword light swept across a hundred feet, causing large swathes of demons to collapse. But then Bai Renfeng noticed that after being struck by the sword energy, these demons shook their heads and stood up again.

After about two rounds of unleashing his ultimate attacks, Bai Renfeng was panting heavily; his magical power had once again reached its limit. At this moment, the lotus seed had leaped into his dantian, and incredibly powerful spiritual energy was continuously supplying it. So he unleashed another sword strike, clearing away the monster before him.

Under normal circumstances, cultivators only have nine levels of Qi Refining. After that, their magical power liquefies and they enter the Foundation Establishment stage. After the Foundation Establishment stage, there are twelve levels, and the liquefied magical power condenses into a golden core.

Now, the lotus seed has broken through his upper limit of magical power, bringing him to the twenty-eighth level of the Qi Refining stage. The density of his magical power has long exceeded the density of the liquefied magical power required for Foundation Establishment. He can even feel that the metal-type spiritual power generated by each of his sword beams is as fine as the magical power at the Golden Core level.

His current Qi cultivation state was formed under extremely demanding conditions. His magical power density has reached the Golden Core stage, but it's mixed with malevolent energy, preventing it from solidifying into a physical form. However, due to the powerful flow of Qi, the liquid magical power cannot dissipate. In this wondrous state, even amidst the unrestrained malevolent energy, Bai Renfeng's sword intent remains clear.

The battle raged for a full hour. The demon army, dozens of times larger, crashed against the rocks like a tsunami, but the three-hundred-man team remained completely still.

Just then, a group of little monsters pushed out a giant golden bull. On the bull's back was a piggy bank that looked like it had been smashed with a hole. There was a seat in the hole, and a fat man was sitting on the seat.

Bai Renfeng stared solemnly at the demon-possessed general before him. This demon general stood fifteen meters tall, with another human face on his forehead, and a rusty, twisted dagger-like blade embedded in his chest. Xuan Chong knew that in reality, a dagger as long as a cow's leg couldn't exist; a dagger might rust, but it would never develop pustules.

The rotting fat man's face was contorted, yet he smiled eerily and exclaimed, "Youngsters, you fought very well!"

Bai Renfeng: "Who are you?!"

The fat man raised his rotting giant sword and slowly said, "Who am I? Let me think!"

As he spoke, the broadsword came crashing down. Even though Bai Renfeng's swordsmanship had reached an unprecedented level, he was still forced to retreat steadily by the general's seemingly endless broadsword.

Wu Hanluan, gentle and loving like an old father, said, "Young man, don't dodge. My knife has no blade, it won't hurt." At this moment, everyone could see that pus was dripping from the blade.

When Bai Renfeng saw the character "Wu" on Wu Hanluan's waist tag, he immediately understood and shouted, "You are Wu Hanluan!"

At this moment, the soldiers were discussing among themselves, and many looked at Xuan Chong, because Xuan Chong had repeatedly mentioned that Wu Hanluan was dead and that his so-called plague magic was a scapegoat. However, after fighting their way here and everything was revealed, how should Wu Fei explain himself at this moment?
Xuan Chong didn't explain, but slowly said, "He is not Wu Hanluan." — His tone was bright and resounded throughout the hall.

Sitting in the broken golden ox, Wu Hanluan stared at Xuan Chong in the army formation, his brows furrowed in confusion. "Who are you? You seem so familiar. You look like my nephew, but my nephew doesn't seem to have your courage."

At this point, Wu Hanluan laughed heartily: "My poor nephew, his father died when he was young, but he didn't know that I accidentally cursed him to death."

At this moment, Wu Hanluan was a demon among demons, having already fallen into demonic possession. However, the demonic thoughts that had always been in his mind had also become demonic.

Wu Hanluan's demonic possession stemmed from a time when he was still frail and sickly. Feeling a sense of injustice, he used witchcraft against his brothers. As a result, both brothers died suddenly, while he, burdened by this inner turmoil, lingered on, barely clinging to life.

It seems that it was this state of mind, a feeling of being both dead and alive, that allowed him to master the Hunyuan Golden Cauldron.

Just as Wu Hanluan's knife gently slashed down again, its sharp edge unstoppable.

Suddenly, the soldiers felt the room light up. The rotten longsword in front of them had turned into a candlestick, with shattered ceramic shards embedded in the candle, making it look like a knife. The pustules that had been there before were just dirty wax.

Xuan Chong half-removed the cloth covering his eyes, revealing his tightly closed left eye. Then, he opened his left eye halfway, but even with his eyes half-covered, they still shone with dazzling golden light.

As for Wu Hanluan, he wasn't a colossal figure five meters tall, but rather appeared as an old man with a dagger piercing his chest. However, the restoration gem indicated to Xuan Chong that this was still an illusion and could not be restored.

The fake Wu Hanluan was barely breathing; his face was no longer smiling, but his brows were furrowed. Even the whole scene seemed precarious, like a mirage.

Bai Renfeng turned his head and saw "Wu Fei" walking out of the army. At this moment, from his perspective, Wu Fei's surroundings were like a radiating domain. The environment, which was originally filled with overwhelming evil energy, was suddenly pushed away by a stream of green energy, and the evil energy dissipated. The environment began to distort and change as if waking from a dream.

Within a few feet of Xuan Chong were ordinary floor tiles and messy vegetation, and he could even see windows on the distant walls; everything seemed to be in a room, or more precisely, a prison.

There was no seven-story tower, just dozens of prisons twisted into these seven stories.

Of course, from the perspective of the entire army, a little further away from Xuan Chong, where the incomplete Golden Ox Wu Han Luan is now located, just a few feet away, is still the Twisted Realm! The grass and trees have turned back into maggots, and the floor tiles have become filthy pustules; damp droplets drip from the wood, and the traces of the flow have become foul-smelling slugs.

As Xuan Chong passed by, he patted Bai Renfeng, instantly washing away the filth from his body. And after Xuan Chong withdrew his hand, the lotus seed had already fallen back into his palm.

Xuan Chong said, "Leave the rest to me, leave it to me."

The lotus seed sprouted in Xuan Chong's palm, the tender shoot swaying constantly. Each time it unfolded, it released a large amount of spiritual energy, while each time it slightly closed, a large amount of foul energy collapsed.

Xuan Chong walked straight toward the broken golden ox. With each step Xuan Chong took, Wu Hanluan's strength waned.

After the power of information from the Rotten Moon was eliminated, he resembled an old man weathered by time, his body emitting large amounts of green gas, as if he could vanish into thin air at any moment.

Bai Renfeng, leaning forward, then noticed another rotting corpse nearby. Judging from the corpse's posture, it was this man who had plunged the dagger into Wu Hanluan's abdomen. — In other words, this was the initial cause of the prison's anomaly.

But wasn't Wu Hanluan ambushed during the attack on Laocheng? This brings us to the information delivery from the Evil Moon Realm. The current Wu Hanluan is entirely created from information jelly.

Since even the restoration gems are unusable, Xuan Chong has every reason to deny that he is Wu Hanluan.

Wu Hanluan looked at Xuan Chong approaching, who was about to breathe his last, and smiled bitterly: "You just heard that."

Xuan Chong paused slightly: "I heard it." — Just now, Bai Renfeng heard Wu Hanluan recount how he used witchcraft to curse his brother.

Xuan Chong silently observed the information projection, preparing to send the lotus seed projection into the sky.

Wu Hanluan: "You hate Uncle, don't you?"

Xuan Chong asked in a barely audible voice: Why hate?

He then chuckled and said, "It's just a little grudge between people of your generation. When I was a kid, I often drew turtles on Wu Hengyu's back too."

Wu Hanluan: "But my witchcraft has affected your father..."

Xuan Chong said solemnly, "Uncle, as a general, you should not blindly believe in the power of ghosts and gods!"

Having said that, the lotus seed shot upwards. In this room closest to the highest heaven, the light from the lotus seed that Xuan Chong threw out landed on the Sky Garden above. Everything in the garden decomposed, and blue lotuses bloomed.

Wu Hanluan laughed, crawling out as if in a final burst of energy, clapping his hands with pus-covered fingers. However, under Xuan Chong's merciless gaze, he revealed his true form.

At this moment, Xuan Chong was surrounded by people.

Just moments ago they were dozens of steps apart, but now the space has suddenly shrunk, and everyone is crammed together. Upon closer inspection, many people have developed numerous welts from measles and mosquito bites.

It seems that the decaying damage that everyone just suffered was just these common ailments.

However, when everyone turned around, there was no golden bull at all, just a table half-buried in the ground, and inside the table was a set of armor with a dagger inserted in the gap of the armor! There was no Wu Hanluan at all.

Xuan Chong drew his dagger and addressed the soldiers who had witnessed the event: “Everyone, you have seen clearly. There is no Wu Hanluan here. What just happened was merely a demon or monster conjuring up a corpse. My uncle devoted himself to the people of Zhendi until his death. His reputation should not be tarnished.”

All the soldiers looked at each other, and then some of them prepared to accept this "final verdict".

Just then, the armor moved, immediately drawing everyone's attention to the armor and Wu Fei. It was as if Wu Hanluan, resurrected, wanted to give Xuan Chong a thumbs up.

Xuan Chong stared at the armor, then used his sword to lift it up, and a toad jumped out from it; that was why the armor had moved earlier.

Xuan Chong looked at the large number of soldiers.

Sergeant A: "General Yuan Chang is absolutely right. Commander Wu Hanluan is benevolent and loves the people!"

Sergeant B: "It's all the work of treacherous villains stirring up trouble in my Zhenzhou. We are their sworn enemies!"

Sergeant C: "Me too!"

Most of the soldiers were to be exiled during this battle, but if they did not express their opinion at this time, they would be exiled to the farthest frontier.

The lotus seed landed in the garden, but Xuan Chong condensed another lotus seed in his palm. Xuan Chong paused and handed the lotus seed to Bai Renfeng: "Immortal, there are still some plague demons in the territory. I hope you will come to slay the demons and eliminate evil."

Bai Renfeng paused for a moment, then nodded in acceptance of the invitation to "exterminate demons together."

Narrator: Xuan Chong could coerce others, but this sword immortal needed benefits to be brought into his camp, at least to maintain neutrality. As for what benefits to offer? Xuan Chong considered everything, and this lotus seed was the only one left. (Was it painful? A little, but to get help, you have to pay.)

(End of this chapter)