Chapter 78: Child Of The Devil
Blood, blood everywhere.
The yellow soil underfoot was dyed into crimson blood-soaked earth, and the air was filled with a thick stench of blood.
The streets were littered with corpses bleeding profusely, each more gruesome than the last, forming a scene of human tragedy.
Though this horror element was rather low-level, sheer quantity led to a qualitative change, unwittingly drawing you into a terrifying atmosphere.
“What exactly is the background of this Death Mountain Town? It’s so brutal?”
“God-forsaken land,” Xue Lingling scanned the surroundings vigilantly. “No one has figured out the deeper background concept yet. All we know is that this small town offended a god, and every day at dawn when the rooster crows, it suffers slaughter and plunder by bandits, only to start over the next day.”
Wu Xian was puzzled. “Isn’t this a scroll painting from your Undead Dojo? Don’t even you know?”
“You have to understand, when scroll painters create domain scroll paintings, many subtle influences even they themselves may not fully grasp.” Xue Lingling explained: “Not to mention【Death Mountain Town】 is a work left behind by the dojo’s primordial scroll painting master, and in that era, people’s exploration of scroll paintings was still in the exploration stage.”
“Primordial scroll painting master?” Wu Xian was startled inwardly. “The first generation of painters in history to awaken extraordinary scroll paintings?”
“That’s right,” Xue Lingling nodded emphatically. “They were the pioneers of the Way of Scroll Painting and the founders of the Scroll Painting Era. Don’t let the fact that Death Mountain Town is just a silver tier scroll painting fool you—its status in the Undead Dojo far surpasses many later domain scroll paintings.”
“Why is that?” Wu Xian didn’t understand.
“As a primordial domain scroll painting, Death Mountain Town contains the wisdom and extraordinary inspiration of the primordial awakeners, retaining many ancient techniques and traces that are fundamentally different from later domain scroll paintings.”
“What differences?” Wu Xian was startled again.
To put it simply, Death Mountain Town, as a primordial domain scroll painting, is infused with the extraordinary inspiration and ancient techniques of the primordial awakeners.
Xue Lingling said: “By fully unraveling the mystery of Death Mountain Town, you gradually glimpse the deeper secrets, advancing the background concept to the next stage, thereby triggering the evolution and upgrade of Death Mountain Town.”
“You mean Death Mountain Town can automatically upgrade just by solving mysteries and advancing the plot?”
Wu Xian was secretly shocked. Good grief, isn’t this exactly a characteristic of ancient scroll paintings?
Just like【God of Wealth】, who can improve directly by absorbing various spiritual substances.
For Death Mountain Town, later explorations and mystery-solving are essentially helping it digest various spiritual substances, allowing it to evolve and elevate to higher levels.
But because each scroll painter can only possess one life-bound scroll painting.
Death Mountain Town is more like a special product of the transition from ancient scroll paintings to new method scroll paintings, possessing some characteristics unique to ancient scroll paintings.
“Therefore, Death Mountain Town is like a mystery left by the primordial master,” Xue Lingling confirmed. “This is also the fundamental reason why the dojo is willing to share Death Mountain Town for the world to explore.”
Wu Xian understood.
“Then what level is Death Mountain Town currently at?”
“Silver five-star,” Xue Lingling said. “It can only be advanced to the fifth order instance so far, with no further progress, and the silver scroll rank has never improved from beginning to end.”
“No one can clear the fifth order instance?” Wu Xian was puzzled.
“They can clear it, but it’s more like forcing through, without unraveling the deeper mysteries in the background.”
In short, they can clear the instance, but the way they clear it isn’t quite right, so it doesn’t advance the development of Death Mountain Town’s background plot.
The more this was the case, the more curious Wu Xian became.
Unlike the first order Death Mountain Town, the third order Death Mountain Town was filled with bandits burning, killing, and looting everywhere. These bandits acted like NPCs, rigidly carrying out their fixed behaviors.
As long as you don’t interfere with their atrocities, they won’t bother with you.
The master and disciple—one standing on a coffin board, the other on a flying sword—hovered above the malevolent energy-filled Death Mountain Town.
“How do we handle the third order Death Mountain Town? Just watch like this?” Wu Xian was puzzled.
“It depends on what you need,” Xue Lingling raised her hand and pointed to the town chief’s mansion. “The town chief’s daughter is in labor. Either stop the bandits to help the child be born safely, or kill the town chief’s daughter to prevent the demon child from being born.”
“There will be different outcomes?” Wu Xian was surprised.
Xue Lingling smiled. “If you stop the bandits, the bandit leader will receive the blessing of undead divine power and turn into a powerful undead monster, while the child is born safely and becomes a demon child, leading to a fight between them.”
Wu Xian’s eyes flickered slightly. “What if we prevent the demon child from being born?”
“After the town chief’s daughter dies, she will be devoured by the demon in her womb and turn into a fierce ghost, which will still fight the bandits,” Xue Lingling gave a eerie smile. “The difference is one is a demon child, the other a fierce ghost.”
“…”
So after all that, every solution leads to a dead end, huh?
“What’s the correct way to clear it?” Wu Xian pressed.
“Let the bandits kill the town chief’s daughter, turning the child into a fierce ghost. At that time, a powerful god-level undead will intervene.” Xue Lingling explained: “Then we help that god-level undead deal with the fierce ghost, and in the end, we obtain the divine power factor granted by that god-level undead.”
“What if we just kill that god-level undead directly?” Wu Xian was puzzled.
Xue Lingling was stunned. “Why confront a deity?”
“What do you mean? Both sides are monsters condensed from the scroll painting—why can’t we kill it?”
Wu Xian’s mind was entirely focused on maximizing benefits, with no reverence for “gods” whatsoever.
Xue Lingling’s expression was odd, yet she felt an inexplicable attraction.
“Though I’ve never fought that deity, it’s probably beyond what we can handle.”
“Then let’s team up with the fierce ghost first.” Wu Xian was fearless, his eyes full of desire for instance revenue. “We can’t die anyway—let’s give it a try.”
Xue Lingling was actually speechless.
At the same time, the bandits had already stormed into the town chief’s mansion, heading straight for the town chief’s daughter’s delivery room.
Screams and sounds of killing echoed, and the town chief’s mansion soon became a river of blood.
Finally, amid the despairing scream of the town chief’s daughter in the delivery room, a terrifying aura erupted from within, with yin energy and resentment gathering toward the delivery room like tides.
The demon child failed to be born and turned into a terrifying fierce ghost.
The bandits who rushed into the delivery room were instantly killed or wounded everywhere, their essence drained by the fierce ghost, turning into desiccated corpses.
“Get ready to act!”
Xue Lingling was solemn, treating it like a great enemy, as the Ghost King Divine Diagram slowly unfolded above her head, with the gold scroll five-star Soul Devouring Ghost King roaring out.
“Aren’t we teaming up with the fierce ghost?” Wu Xian was puzzled.
“That deity won’t appear for a while, and that fierce ghost won’t care if you’re trying to help it.”
“Fine.”
Wu Xian was secretly helpless, then released the Ten Great Yin Marshals Divine Diagram.
“Huh, the fierce ghost seems much more subdued,” Xue Lingling was shocked. “Good disciple, what is the origin of your divine diagram that it can intimidate a fierce ghost of this level?”
“It’s just a slight intimidation.” Wu Xian shook his head with a smile.
He could feel that the fierce ghost condensing below was merely wary but not retreating, still gathering and strengthening its power.
“Child, don’t be afraid. We’re here to help you. Be good~!”
Black and White Impermanence floated out from the divine diagram, jointly performing transcendence to soothe the fierce ghost below.
Sure enough, the fierce ghost below really restrained much of its resentment and malice.
“Since when did fierce ghosts become so obedient?” Xue Lingling’s eyes were full of shock.
In the past, when she took the correct clearance route, she inevitably had to battle that fierce ghost for a long time before the deity appeared to assist.
