Chapter 1073: The Evil Fetus
The journey ahead grew increasingly difficult.
Without the scholar, without the Eight Trigrams Evil-Averting Plate, without the predictions of fortune and calamity, the surrounding soil, rocks, every blade of grass and tree, all became strange and perilous. No one knew if hidden within were lurking evils or contaminated presences.
Master Situ sighed in his heart.
He should have realized earlier — the scholar was the key to this journey and should have been watched more carefully. But unexpectedly, he was "cut down" right at the start.
Even more puzzling to Master Situ was what exactly had bewitched the scholar to fall so.
The ancient texts of the Mystic Valley contained too few records about the evil gods.
Their experience dealing with evil gods was far too scarce.
The road ahead was shrouded in fog, and all the strange and abnormal rules were unfamiliar. A single misstep could lead to ruin beyond redemption.
Master Situ sighed softly.
"Take it one step at a time..."
Without the scholar, they could only rely on their own mental power to estimate fortune and misfortune.
Not only Master Situ, but all the cultivators present had to begin observing and calculating the dangers around them themselves — only this way could they be somewhat safer.
But the consumption of divine consciousness would also intensify.
This journey, they were all using their primordial spirits. The consumption of divine consciousness meant their strength was also being depleted.
Perhaps this was also part of the evil god's conspiracy.
But at this moment, Master Situ had no time to care about that.
Reaching the evil embryo itself safely might already be a good outcome. Before then, fully following the plan to avoid danger and preserve strength had already become an unrealistic luxury.
"No need to hold back, everyone, give it your all."
Master Situ said, then first took out a red-gold lamp. Using the clear light of the lamp, he cast another layer of protection over everyone to prevent anyone else, like the scholar, from being bewitched by some unknown parasite and having their primordial spirit contaminated.
The Six-Yang Red-Gold Lamp.
This was Master Situ's best celestial treasure, found after ten years of searching since losing the "Heaven-Earth Clear Light Lamp" during the upheaval in Liuzhou City.
The Heaven-Earth Clear Light Lamp was a treasured artifact of Mystic Valley, borrowing the power of heaven and earth to transform into a pure light lamp. It could preserve secrets of fate, fix cause and effect, continue life and death, with countless miraculous uses.
But now, it was used to lock that person's life-and-death fate.
This was a secret of heaven's mysteries, forbidden to reveal, lest it bring great calamity upon Mystic Valley.
This matter must not be mentioned or spoken of — it must rot in one's belly.
Master Situ decided to forget about it, and no longer think about the Heaven-Earth Clear Light Lamp.
But without it, he still needed an explanation and a handy treasure to "stand in" for it.
This Six-Yang Red-Gold Lamp was a substitute treasure, borrowing the yang energy of heaven and earth to protect the body and repel evil.
Its miraculous uses naturally did not compare to the Heaven-Earth Clear Light Lamp, but under the current circumstances, it was still quite useful.
The golden light of the lamp spread out, and the Six-Yang energy enveloped everyone, warming them.
Others also no longer held back.
The Taoist bit his tongue to draw blood, smeared it on a peach wood sword, and activated the sword's evil-repelling power.
The monk took out prayer beads, inscribed with Sanskrit protective mantras.
The white-robed female cultivator, with a clear and beautiful face, summoned the Three Pure Bells.
The old woman summoned the Six Ding and Six Jia spirits to guard around her.
The three brothers and the old woman all came from the same sect, practicing the Xuanmen Dun Jia art. When activated, a divine consciousness armor would appear around their bodies, impervious to blades and spears.
In the path of divine consciousness Taoism, "three" is a mysterious number. Anything related to three has some special use.
Especially the three brothers, if linked by blood, united in spirit, cultivating certain Taoist arts could be twice as effective, and sometimes the power of the techniques could manifest wondrous, unpredictable effects.
Hence, masters in the cultivation world like to take blood-related siblings as disciples.
Some demonic cultivators and monster people who train slaves are similar, preferring mysterious numbers like three, five, seven.
The last person was the big man covered in talismans — a rare divine consciousness "body refiner," who borrowed the power of the talismans to sustain his divine consciousness physical body.
The other four Dongxu Elders had not yet acted but were quietly mobilizing their divine consciousness power, ready to respond to unforeseen crises.
Thus, the group continued onward.
The further they went, the closer they came to the depths of the wild abyss, the birthplace of the evil god. The black qi thickened, the evil intent deepened.
The environment became increasingly harsh.
The lurking evil spirits that attacked in concealment grew stronger.
Fortunately, thanks to their combined efforts, most crises were narrowly survived.
The blocking evil spirits were all killed.
Though things seemed relatively smooth, Master Situ's expression grew increasingly grave.
These feather-transcended masters gathered from Qianxuezhou had outstanding divine consciousness techniques. Placed outside, they were all first-rate divine Tao experts.
They were enough to suppress an area, slay all sizes of evil spirits, ghosts, and monsters.
The other four Dongxu, though weaker in divine consciousness techniques, had strong divine consciousness overall.
This force, if unleashed fully without holding back, was extremely powerful.
Most evil spirits were simply no match for them.
But Master Situ knew this journey was far from simple. Having lived long, with rich experience in divine consciousness, he understood the deep hidden dangers and knew that the more evil spirits they killed, the weaker their strength became.
Cultivators' divine consciousness was just like that — terribly afraid of being consumed.
This was the evil god's nightmare. They all traveled with out-of-body primordial spirits; every bit of mental power spent was one less that could not be replenished or restored.
Once it was used up, once the mental power was exhausted, the only option was to wait for death.
Besides that, the primordial spirit also feared "contamination."
Feather-transcended fourth rank, Dongxu fifth rank — cultivators of these levels already had very strong mental power, but this "strength" was only about "quantity."
This "quantity" did not involve "qualitative" changes, did not involve "laws."
Some terrifying evil spirits and demons, unlike cultivators, naturally had mental power imbued with certain "laws."
The commonly spoken of evil spirit "contamination" was essentially a manifestation of mental power "laws."
Besides "contamination," evil spirits' mental power could have "corrosion," "decay," "parasitism," "devouring," "control," "assimilation," and other terrifying changes containing the power of laws.
These were precious divine Tao knowledge recorded by the cultivators of Mystic Valley over generations — learned from experience, observation, tragic deaths, contamination, transformation, assimilation, and slaying within the evil-minded world and powerful nightmares.
This was the most terrifying aspect of evil spirits.
Furthermore, a trickier part was that whether an evil spirit contained "contamination" power or other filthy law forces was almost impossible to tell from the surface, and there was little pattern to it.
A strong fourth-rank evil spirit might be a mere collection of grudges. Though hard to kill, once killed, the grudges would dissipate into heaven and earth, leaving no aftereffects.
But a second-rank little ghost might naturally possess "parasitic" power.
Unless from the start great effort was put into thoroughly eradicating it, once parasitized, even a feather-transcended cultivator might become a "blood bag," having their divine consciousness stolen daily by this little ghost.
Of course, a feather-transcended mental power too strong might not feel anything even after a long time being eaten by the little ghost.
But after many years of brain sucking, the divine consciousness would inevitably be depleted, harming its origin.
One day, if this little ghost was raised to third or even fourth-rank fierce ghost, it would instantly become a deadly "evil tumor" — even a feather-transcended cultivator would lose their life.
All this was the summary of generations of cultivators' hard work in Mystic Valley.
Battling evil spirits was not only a contest of divine consciousness "power," but also a severe test of Tao heart, perseverance, composure, and vigilance.
They could kill ten thousand evil spirits.
But if just one evil spirit contaminated them, it was over.
Because of too many concerns, Master Situ and his group walked extremely cautiously, and also very slowly.
They killed many evil spirits, but killing them did not bring peace of mind — it only made them more worried.
Because each evil spirit they killed meant their divine consciousness was consumed a bit more.
Moreover, were these evil spirits really "dead"?
And, did those evil spirits really "die"?
On the surface, it seemed they had indeed killed the evil spirits.
But in reality, even they themselves were not sure whether they truly "killed" them to death.
They were even less clear whether, after killing those evil spirits, their own primordial spirits had been unknowingly contaminated.
At first, they didn't consider these things.
But the darker the surroundings, the more evil spirits they killed, the more their primordial spirits were drained, the greater the mental pressure, and
the stronger the doubts in their hearts.
The Six-Yang Red Gold Chalice, the Big Dipper Seven-Star Formation, and various divine-mental treasures could dispel external yin energy and evil thoughts, but could not protect a person's inner heart.
Human nature has weaknesses; deep within one's heart, there are many flaws.
Under such intense pressure, the flaws in one's heart would be gradually magnified.
This, Master Situ quickly realized. He sensed his own heart had blemishes, and the expressions of the others were shaken as well, so he immediately called out sternly:
"Hold fast to your Dao heart!"
This reprimand awakened everyone. Each quickly activated their cultivation methods, restraining themselves and guarding their hearts, dispelling the inner gloom.
Cultivators who walked the path of divine consciousness all had strong Dao hearts, or fixated thoughts.
At least, they were far more resilient than ordinary cultivators.
Thus, they continued moving forward.
The surrounding environment remained dark and perilous.
Blood creeks, flesh swamps, bone forests, evil nests everywhere, and various evil spirits like ghostly faces, spider insects, and bone demons blocked the way, step by step fraught with danger.
But they gritted their teeth, moving step by step, killing one by one, recklessly pushing deeper into the nightmare.
When they didn't know how many battles they had endured, and their divine consciousness was nearly numb, finally, a towering black mountain rose before them.
A strong, black-mist-like evil god aura emanated from the mountain.
The Barbaric Abyss Marsh, the final Evil God Mountain.
"We're here!"
Master Situ's heart trembled, almost unable to believe it.
If not for his firm Dao heart, holding his breath and gritting his teeth, he would have almost thought that none of them could have held on to this point.
But before Master Situ could breathe a sigh of relief, a sinister aura arose in front of them, accompanied by a fierce roar.
Before the Evil God Mountain, a giant evil spirit as large as a small mountain slowly revealed its form.
Everyone's expression changed drastically at the sight.
This huge evil spirit was fourth rank, and close to the peak of fourth rank.
Its evil spirit body was like a small mountain, sewn together with severed limbs of different people and beasts, like a spirit of ten thousand corpses, cruel and terrifying.
"The mountain guardian spirit…"
This was probably the largest and last mountain-guardian corpse spirit before the Evil God Mountain.
The mountain-guardian corpse spirit exuded a powerful and decayed aura, with a stinking and corrosive black water flowing from its mouth.
Master Situ said gravely:
"Kill it…"
Then immediately, he activated the Six-Yang Red Gold Chalice, sending out scorching light to envelop the mountain-guardian corpse spirit.
The golden-red light shone on the corpse spirit's body, instantly producing white smoke.
The mountain-guardian corpse spirit emitted a shrill roar that pierced the soul.
The white-robed female cultivator immediately summoned the Three Purities Bell to suppress the corpse's roar, while protecting Wenren Wan as she retreated.
The old woman summoned the Six Ding Six Jia to surround and attack the corpse spirit.
Other divine consciousness cultivators also unleashed their skills and charged in.
Even the four Dongxu-level elders had to act.
The Great Luo Sect elder used sword qi formed from divine consciousness.
The Little Spirit Sect elder used magic formed from divine consciousness.
One of the other two Dongxu elders, from the Twelve Gates' Spirit Talisman Sect, used a suppression talisman, while the other from Kunzhou wielded a wood sword made from thunder-struck timber.
This was another shocking and fierce battle.
This mountain-guardian corpse spirit was peak fourth rank, and it was unknown how many demons and evil thoughts it was "sewn" with; its size was enormous.
Among the evil thoughts, there seemed to be a "corrosive" power.
The summoned "corpse minions" also contained "corpse poison."
Fortunately, the suppression talisman could suppress its evil aura.
And the thunderwood sword contained thunder power, naturally having a restraining force against such evil creatures.
Additionally, the other divine consciousness cultivators were also quite capable.
After a long and grueling battle, they ultimately completely wiped out this gigantic peak fourth-rank mountain-guardian evil spirit.
But the group also paid a corresponding price.
The old woman's Six Ding Six Jia lost half of its strength.
The Taoist's peachwood sword developed cracks.
The monk's prayer beads lost their luster.
Among the three brothers of the Xuan Sect Dunjia, one lost an arm;
The talisman master's back was clawed by the corpse spirit.
The talisman-wielding strongman had a claw ripped into his back by the corpse fiend.
Moreover, everyone's divine sense was heavily drained, and even their divine sense and spiritual treasures were more or less tainted with a faint but lingering corpse poison.
The situation was grim, and Master Situ could no longer afford to worry about much else.
"Find the evil embryo quickly, and kill it first. Then we can think about purifying our primordial spirits. Otherwise, if the evil god truly resurrects, all will be meaningless..."
Master Situ's heart was heavy as he slowly said, "Let's move."
The group, protecting Wenren Wan, followed the blood thread that connected mother and child, pressing deeper into the black mountain to find the location of the evil embryo.
As he walked, Master Situ kept a sharp and cautious gaze on his surroundings.
This was the deepest part of the Wild Abyss, the final black mountain.
The forest was dark and gloomy; the mountain peaks surrounded them like an inverted offering plate, forming a natural black mountain altar.
An eerie silence filled the area — except for darkness, there was nothing.
Not even the presence of a single evil fiend.
It was as if even the evil fiends dared not enter this black mountain abyss, nor set foot on this altar of the evil god's resurrection.
In the darkness, only the "mother-child connected" blood thread lit the way.
The deeper they went, the thicker the blood thread became, as if it really was an umbilical cord linking mother and child.
Wenren Wan's heartbeat quickened, as if the child she longed for day and night was just ahead in the darkness.
Not only Wenren Wan, but everyone could hear a faint but chilling heartbeat.
And this heartbeat grew stronger and closer.
Finally, out of the darkness, another red light appeared.
This red light was deep and flowed like blood, constantly surging. Beneath the red light, a child's figure was wrapped in the blood thread.
Seeing the child, Wenren Wan was overwhelmed with pain; tears streamed down her face as she cried out:
"Yu'er..."
She was about to rush forward desperately to hold her child, but Master Situ suddenly pulled her back.
"Wait!"
Master Situ looked at Yu'er, his expression grave.
He scanned the surroundings thoughtfully, then took out the Six Yang Red Gold Lantern, controlling its light to be faint and gentle, and slowly extended its glow around them.
The light from the Six Yang Red Gold Lantern spread gradually, illuminating everything nearby.
The group's eyes narrowed sharply as they saw clearly all around — and their pupils contracted violently, faces paling.
The entire mountain was covered, everywhere, with eggs.
Pitch-black demon eggs.
Some eggs were still incubating, but others had become transparent and blood-colored. Within that blood color, claws and teeth of demons squirmed.
"This is...?? Demons born alongside the evil god?? So many of them..."
A chill ran through Master Situ's heart.
Other demons and evil fiends might not possess "polluting" power, but demons born alongside the evil god were undoubtedly sources of corruption.
Their evil thoughts likely contained a power even beyond "pollution."
No one knew what kind of bizarre evil fiends these countless evil eggs would hatch as the evil god resurrected.
Nor what kind of filthy rule-based powers these evil fiends would contain.
Even a single fiend tainted by the evil god's primordial power would be disastrous.
But here, they were thickly scattered across the mountain.
If these fiends truly spread like malignant tumors, like an evil god's plague, expanding across Qianzhou's lands...
Just thinking about it made Master Situ's heart pound and his scalp crawl.
While Master Situ was horrified, the white-robed female immortal suddenly said, "Senior Situ, look there..."
Her voice was cold but filled with urgency and shock.
Following her pointing, Master Situ frowned and looked — beside Yu'er, the true evil god embryo, in the endless darkness, were four even larger demon eggs.
These demon eggs were several zhang tall, with sinewy muscles and dark purple flesh, covered in demonic patterns like poppies, connected by bloodline to the evil embryo Yu'er, surrounding the altar, guarding their divine master.
Among these giant demon eggs, some had already "matured," shedding a transparent blood-colored membrane. Through this membrane, one could see the corner of a more terrifying demon hatching inside.
The three words "胎生魔" (胎生魔: "Womb-born Demon") instantly surfaced in Master Situ's mind.
These were a type of more powerful offspring demons born alongside the true evil god embryo.
They were both the evil god's innate "guardians" and could be said to be the evil god's illegitimate "brothers" or "offspring" born by side means.
What shocked Master Situ even more was that all the countless demon eggs across the mountain were intact and still incubating.
But among the four giant womb-born demon eggs, one had already "hatched," the egg shell cracked open, and blood spilled all over the ground.
This meant one womb-born demon born alongside the evil embryo had awakened early and might have even followed them all along.
Master Situ felt a chill over his whole body and hastily said:
"Be careful!"
At that moment, the talisman-wielding strongman in the crowd suddenly felt his neck become wet, sticky, and soft, with an alluring fragrance and intoxicating sensation.
He instinctively touched it, and his hand came away bloody.
On his neck was a lip print.
A bright red, tender, writhing lip print, resembling a red worm.
(End of this Chapter)