Chapter 61

Looking at the evil cultivator blocking her path, Lu Xiaoding took out the Soul Devouring Fan and waved it in her hand, saying, "Do you recognize this fan? It's something your Demon Lord gave me. I'm here to find him."

"I don't recognize it." Unexpectedly, the other party's status was too low, and they had never seen this fan. Without giving the Soul Devouring Fan any consideration, they raised a pair of ghost head hammers and attacked.

Lu Xiaoding quickly raised her hand and threw a red pill, which exploded with a bang, instantly filling the stone path with red smoke.

"Ah, my eyes!" The evil cultivator screamed, covering his eyes. The fiery smoke burned his eyes, instantly blinding him. As he screamed, he inhaled the smoke, which felt like molten iron burning his throat, making him feel as if he was spitting fire. While he couldn't see, Lu Xiaoding clearly saw that the person's mouth was spewing out a flame-like gas.

She gently fanned with the fan, and when the person fell to the ground, she walked over and headed off to find her senior sister without looking back. The cauldron on her back was wide open, but not a trace of red smoke entered it. The child inside was still sleeping soundly, definitely not dreaming of eating spicy peppers.

Lu Xiaoding had eliminated another person. This time, using poison alone wasn't enough; she had to transform into a beast to barely win, which made her a bit disheartened. "There are too many evil cultivators. Some must be dealt with using the Beast Transformation Pill, and the consumption is quite high." However, she also noticed a pattern: whenever she took out the fan, those who recognized it were more powerful, while those who didn't could be handled with poison.

She used this to determine who needed the Beast Transformation Pill, which could save some pills, as she didn't have many. After knowing about the poison, everyone used their spiritual energy to protect themselves, and only three or four types of drugs could be used, but their effects were limited.

"Why is this? Could this fan have such power?" She thought this was too exaggerated. Carefully considering, she realized that those with higher cultivation had higher status, so they knew what the Golden Core evil cultivator Yuan Zhi had brought.

With this, she progressed smoothly in the stone path, but she couldn't find where Lu Yaohang and the others were. She began to doubt whether her senior sister had already left.

Yuan Zhi also received the news that a girl carrying a cauldron was spreading poison everywhere, and everyone was poisoned before they could even act. Those at the Qi Condensation stage easily lost their ability to fight back, and even those at the Foundation Establishment stage were affected. If this continued, it would surely create chaos.

"Worthless! The opponent doesn't even have cultivation, and you, who are at the Qi Condensation or Foundation Establishment stage, can't even deal with an ordinary person. Have our Ghost Spirit Sect fallen to this level, with only you trash left? I'll give you half an hour. If you can't catch her, bring your heads to see me." Yuan Zhi was almost driven to kill. The opponent wasn't even a cultivator and didn't even use any spells, dying so weakly that it was pitiful.

Lu Xiaoding wandered for a long time without finding anyone, standing silently in the stone path, not wanting to continue. She thought about it and stood still, as she had run too hastily. Perhaps her senior sister had already called out, but she didn't hear it because of the noise.

She closed her eyes and stood quietly, slowing her breathing, gradually merging her senses with the surroundings. Suddenly, she heard a heartbeat, deep and strong, but it wasn't hers.

What is that?

She was certain she couldn't hear the heartbeat of a cultivator. She didn't have that ability. What she could hear must be a spirit or a soul, and this heart was so powerful, it must belong to a very strong entity.

Could it be that this mountain has a soul? If she found it, she could ask about her senior sister's whereabouts. Since the heartbeat was so loud, the entity must be large, and if it was related to this place, it would definitely know where her senior sister was hiding.

With this thought, she followed the intermittent heartbeat, but was blocked by a stone wall. She pressed her ear to the wall and heard the sound coming from inside, but it was sealed.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one had found her yet, she took the Earth Sinking Beast Transformation Pill and quickly dug a large hole in the stone wall, crawling in with the cauldron on her back. Not knowing any restrictions or arrays, she had to dig quickly, or the evil cultivators would find the hole.

She hadn't thought about filling the hole, as it would take too much time, and even if she did, it wouldn't stop the cultivators, who weren't blind and would notice the fresh soil.

Leaving the hole open, people would assume it was poisoned and hesitate to enter, giving her time. Of course, she didn't just make them think; she really did place many colorless and odorless poisons. She even wrote "Toxic" in red liquid on the stone wall at the entrance.

With these two words, they should be delayed. Then she dug and crawled in, quickly disappearing.

Seeing such an obvious cave, anyone passing by would notice. The evil cultivators gathered, looking at the fresh soil, none daring to enter first. The words "Toxic" were clearly written on the stone wall, and entering recklessly would mean death.

Almost completely wrapped in spiritual energy, someone cautiously explored the path, following and crawling in.

As Lu Xiaoding dug deeper, she could hear the heartbeat more clearly. As the sound grew louder, she raised her claws and struck, breaking through the cave wall with a whoosh, revealing an opening.

"Ah!" She couldn't pull back in time, and with the weight of the cauldron on her back, she fell forward. She toppled over a large section of the stone wall, and with the cauldron, she fell over ten zhang before splashing into an underground river, immediately being swept away.

This cave had countless underground rivers, and this was one of them, leading to an unknown destination. When the evil cultivators arrived, they found only the rapidly flowing underground river in the darkness, with nothing else.

They looked at each other, wondering how to report back. They would have to let the Demon Lord Yuan find her. Fortunately, it was still early, and they didn't have to bring their heads to see him, but it would be troublesome if they were late.

"I got a big scare, I hope I wasn't directly washed out." Lu Xiaoding lay on the cauldron, looking at the seven children inside, feeling troubled. The only advantage of her cauldron was that she could control the opening to prevent things from entering, but it had no other special features.

She didn't know where she had been washed to, spinning in the water, and finally drifted to a place with calm water, quickly dragging the cauldron ashore.

The heartbeat was now above the cave wall, but there was no light, and it was pitch black. Lu Xiaoding carried the cauldron, grabbed the cracks in the wall, and started climbing. Soon, she reached near the top of the cave and found a natural cave, which she entered.

This stone path had many branches, like intertwined tree roots, but she could hear the heartbeat. With this guidance, she held a night-luminescent stone and didn't take the wrong path. As she went deeper, the heartbeat grew louder, as if it was right next to her ear.

Finally, when she crawled out of another cave, she saw a small cave about five zhang wide. The entire cave ceiling was covered with vine-like things, and in the center hung a peach about half a person's height. The peach had a thin film, wrapping some black things inside.

The heartbeat, which had been heard all along, came from this peach, beating once every five breaths. The peach was red at the tip but black everywhere else, looking like it was about to rot.

"Peach, whose heart are you?" She walked over and reached out to touch it. As soon as she touched the peach, a deep voice said, "Who are you? Why are you disturbing my sleep?"

"Ah!" Lu Xiaoding quickly pulled back her hand, looked around, and saw no one, then asked the peach, "Are you talking, peach?"

"This is not a peach, it's my heart. What are you doing here, child?" The deep voice sounded as if the speaker had food in their mouth, making it a bit unclear.

Indeed, it was a powerful entity, recognizing her as a newly transformed spirit. Lu Xiaoding quickly said, "What kind of soul are you? Are you the soul of this cave?"

"I am Mumu, a tree soul trapped here for countless years." The voice came from the peach.

Lu Xiaoding clicked her tongue and said, "Don't you have a more impressive name? 'Mumu' sounds so childish."

"..." Mumu fell silent, and she thought she even saw the peach stop beating. After a while, he said, "I am Black Corpse Wood. You can call me Black Corpse."

"Forget it, I'll still call you Mumu." Hearing his full name, Lu Xiaoding immediately said, "Mumu is better." Then, ignoring the silent Mumu, she gestured and said, "Can you help me find my senior sister? She got lost here, and I've been looking for a long time without finding her."

"Sure." Mumu slowly said, "As long as you give me those children, I can help you find her."

He had already discovered the children in the cauldron. Black Corpse Wood, with such a name, wouldn't be planning to eat them, would he?

Lu Xiaoding didn't speak, thinking that giving up the children so easily would make her efforts in saving them meaningless. She said, "Eating children is a bad thing. Let's talk more. You must be very lonely here, don't think about eating when you see me."

"These are human children, and they have nothing to do with you. Let me eat them." Mumu hadn't eaten children today, thinking he would go hungry, but now seven were delivered, and his greatest wish was to eat them.