Chapter 53

Youxin waved the yinfan, no longer bothering to talk nonsense with Lu Xiaodeng, his only thought was to break her neck. Gray smoke spread out again, forming a huge skull in the air. The skull let out a whistling sound that made one feel very uncomfortable.

He decided to deal with her himself, cutting off her fat rabbit legs to see how she could still kick around.

Lu Xiaodeng, seeing the skull over two zhang wide, turned and ran, not at all prepared to fight him properly. She rushed towards the others, and the moment they took out their magical artifacts, she kicked them, sending them flying over ten zhang away.

Her ribs were broken by the kick, and the person couldn't help but scream in pain, dropping their magical artifact and spitting out blood.

"Thousand Yin Ghost, attack!" Seeing that she ignored his existence and targeted his subordinates, Youxin waved the yinfan, and the huge skull flew over with its mouth open. Lu Xiaodeng, seeing this thing chasing her, immediately jumped away, but the skull followed closely, emitting a chilling aura.

Her speed was very fast, her rabbit legs showing incredible jumping ability. Even with the skull chasing her from behind, she could still jump around like a flea. While running, she would look for opportunities to kick the evil cultivators.

Everyone used their spiritual energy to protect themselves, looking around for her. Whenever they thought they had spotted her, they would throw various attacks. But even so, they couldn't hit her at all.

After running for a while, Lu Xiaodeng finally got tired. She was hit several times, though not in vital spots, but the rabbit fur on her legs was knocked off, and white rabbit fur floated everywhere. In her movements, small grains of something were continuously thrown out, mixing with the rabbit fur.

Unconsciously, the rabbit fur in the cave seemed to be too much, like snow falling everywhere. And Lu Xiaodeng's rabbit legs, without her noticing, had lost all their fur. Seeing that the gray smoke skull would eventually find an opportunity to attack her, she decided to use that move.

She spat out a pill with spiral patterns into her mouth and bit it without hesitation. At the same time, the Thousand Yin Ghost's attack reached her, and it bit her whole, immediately enveloping her in gray smoke.

"Ha ha ha, with my Thousand Yin Ghost, I want to see how you can escape!" Finally catching her, Youxin laughed heartily.

Any cultivator trapped by the Thousand Yin Ghost would be frozen into pieces by the cold, and even their soul and spirit would feel pain. No cultivator of the same level had ever escaped from it, let alone a mere mortal who had turned into half a rabbit.

Seeing that she couldn't escape, the cultivators dispersed their spiritual energy and gathered around, saying, "Boss, her soul should be kept to check her memories."

"Of course, I'll keep it. Unfortunately, that guy died before pointing out where the crystal core was. You all search around, find the crystal core, and take all these crystal fruits away." Youxin glanced at them with dissatisfaction, as if he were a fool. How could he not think of this?

"Yes." Everyone immediately scattered to find the crystal core. The only possible place in the cave was a smaller hole in the stone wall, so three of them decided to enter it.

Before they reached the entrance, they heard Youxin's angry shout, "What's going on? What is this thing?"

They quickly looked over and saw that the Thousand Yin Ghost had dispersed, and what appeared was not Lu Xiaodeng's body but a large snail shell as tall as a person. There were no snails here before; where did this thing come from?

At this moment, the snail shell below wobbled, and the hard shell covering the snail's mouth opened. Lu Xiaodeng poked her head out and said disappointedly, "You're still alive? That's a bummer. I'll come out later, then." She then slammed the snail shell shut and hid inside, motionless.

Everyone was speechless, unable to imagine what the inside of the shell looked like. Could this girl have turned into a snail, her body boneless and soft, curled up inside?

This was stranger than any evil magic they had seen. What kind of person had they encountered this time, and why were such strange things happening?

"Smash it, break this snail shell!" Youxin grabbed the yinfan and angrily smashed it on the snail shell, but it was unexpectedly very hard, and his spiritual artifact was deflected, almost hitting his own forehead.

Seeing this, everyone realized that smashing it was useless. Those who had raised their swords put them down and started throwing various spells at the snail shell. They tried fire, water, and even found a jar of salt in a corner of the cave, which they sprinkled on the snail shell, but it had no effect.

Youxin glared at the person with the salt jar and scolded, "Use spells, you're a cultivator, not a cook. What good is salt?"

The person, feeling wronged, held the salt jar and said softly, "Slugs dissolve when you sprinkle salt on them. I used to play with them as a child. I thought this snail might be the same, and if it dissolves, we won't have to work so hard."

"You still dare to explain? She's hiding inside the shell; no matter how much salt you sprinkle, it won't touch her. It's completely useless." Youxin had never been so angry in his life. His voice was almost hoarse from shouting. Suddenly, he saw one of his subordinates, holding the salt jar, telling everyone to stop casting spells. He squatted next to the snail shell, trying to pry open the mouth to sprinkle the salt inside.

Finally, Youxin, unable to bear it, kicked him over and kicked the salt jar away, panting and cursing, "I have a sore throat today, don't make me act."

"Boss, this is just a waste of spiritual energy. Are we falling for her trick?" After casting spells for a long time with no effect, the snail shell's defense was too strong. Everyone was helpless, unable to do anything to the snail shell.

Lu Xiaodeng was hiding inside the snail shell, listening to the commotion outside, muttering to herself, "It should be about time. I've thrown out a handful of Worm Pills and shed all the rabbit fur to hide the floating grass flower cores. By now, if they haven't protected their senses with spiritual energy, the flower cores should have been absorbed into their bodies."

While waiting for them to absorb the floating grass, there was nothing else to do. If she had stayed outside and fought, they would have protected their entire bodies with spiritual energy, and no matter how many floating grass flower cores there were, they wouldn't have been absorbed.

She could have hidden in the cauldron, but to help Lu Yaohang store more crystal fruits, the cauldron was already full. Lu Xiaodeng had to use the useless Beast Transformation Pill. The effects of the Beast Transformation Pill were entirely random.

But the snail was different. The only useful part of its body was the shell. No matter how many times she took the snail Beast Transformation Pill, the effect was always the same: turning into a snail with a hard shell. Without the cauldron to hide in, she dared to use the snail shell to wait for them to absorb the floating grass.

Suddenly, cries of pain came from outside, one after another. Lu Xiaodeng thought it was time and slowly opened a crack to look out. She saw everyone on the ground, trembling and spitting blood, clearly affected by the floating grass flower cores.

Seeing this, she took the antidote for the Beast Transformation Pill, and the snail shell disappeared, restoring her to her original form. Unfortunately, when she turned into a rabbit, she had torn her shoes and pants, so she was now barefoot.

Youxin now wanted to die, being tormented by a mortal girl. He looked fierce and cursed, "You'd better kill me, or I won't let you go."

"Just inhaling the flower cores won't kill you immediately, but it will be painful. However, the Ghost Pinch Powder I added to the crystal fruits will affect your throat. Without the ability to use spiritual energy, you're no different from mortals and will suffocate to death." Lu Xiaodeng walked among them, looking at one and then another, shaking her head at their suffering.

She took out a fan and waved it, saying, "Forget it, I'll give you a quick death. I sprayed a drug on my clothes, and the wind will speed up the blood flow. Normally, it's harmless, but if you're poisoned, it will accelerate the poisoning."

"You've been planning to poison us from the moment you saw us. What a vicious woman. Who are you? Are you from the Green Mist Valley?" Youxin now realized that the poison in their throats came from the crystal fruits, and she had used the excuse of fanning to spread more poison. It was all an act, including turning into a rabbit and being chased.

Lu Xiaodeng, somewhat puzzled, said, "What is the Green Mist Valley? I've never heard of it. I'm from a proper prestigious sect, don't lump me with a sect that sounds evil."

"Prestigious... cough..." Youxin wanted to curse but triggered a fit of coughing. A person who could do such things and still claim to be from a prestigious sect was worse than any evil cultivator.

"You're a waste of words. Die." As he was coughing, a black light flashed, and Youxin's head fell off. Qichi appeared in the air, arms crossed, looking unhappy, as if someone had offended him.

Lu Xiaodeng, dissatisfied, said, "You watched for so long without acting, and now that they're just waiting to die, you start acting, trying to steal the credit. How shameless."

"Spit, I don't want that kind of credit. I killed him because he's a waste. As a mid-stage Foundation Establishment evil cultivator, he couldn't even kill a mortal. Every moment he lived made me unhappy." Qichi said with a grim expression.

"Get lost, you're thinking of eating me now?" Lu Xiaodeng shouted angrily, realizing he wanted to use human hands to kill her so he could eat her.