Standing outside of the caverns in which Mei Yujia was hiding, Mo Duan let out a sigh of relief as he merged again with his clone and felt his cultivation base return to its complete state.

It had taken quite a frustratingly long time for the clone to reach him without a flying tool, but the demonic cultivator had thankfully not left the caverns. Instead, a thick layer of ominous demonic qi had been gradually building up from its depths and the many Jiangshi began meticulously patrolling the caverns. It didn’t take a genius to realize that Mei Yujia had bunkered down and started doing something that was particularly heinous.

Mo Duan had successfully mapped the entire caverns and made notes of the most powerful Jiangshi, so he felt confident that he would be able to get to her before she could detect him.

Mo Duan turned his attention back to said caverns as he prepared to begin his assault. The entrance was situated in a rather desolate and rocky landscape, with two grotesque Jiangshi vigilantly standing guard. It was fortunate that there were a few isolated trees near the entrance large enough for Mo Duan to teleport into and hide inside. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to surveil them without being spotted.

The undead creatures had yellow sunken eyes that emitted an unnatural glow, skin that was visibly rotting, and fingers which extended into wicked claws fit for ripping chunks of flesh from their victims. Most importantly, they carried alarm talismans that they would activate as soon as they saw anything suspicious. Mo Duan had no doubt that Mei Yujia had also added contingencies that would alert her if either of the creatures were killed.

Fortunately, he would be able to easily incapacitate the two Jiangshi without killing them, given that they both had strength similar to a cultivator in the Foundation Establishment realm.

The largest risk was not that Mo Duan would lose the fight as his combat ability was probably substantially above any of his opponents, but that Mei Yujia would be able to escape while he was being swarmed by Jiangshi. Mo Duan would have to discreetly place traps along her escape routes. If that happened, Mo Duan had a feeling it would be rather complicated to find her again.

I suppose it’s now or never…

Slowly emerging from the side of the tree facing away from the Jiangshi, Mo Duan removed anything that would identify him as a member of the Verdant Valley Sect and retrieved a featureless wooden mask from his spatial ring. During their fight, it was very likely that Mei Yujia would recognize him as a demonic cultivator and former member of the Abyssal Garden sect. If she were to then escape with that information after getting a clear look at his face, then that would be the worst-case scenario for Mo Duan.

The mask he was holding was one that his predecessor wore while committing his worse crimes and could perfectly block spiritual sense. Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Mo Duan fastened the mask to his face and grew two seeds from his palm.

A moment later, he channeled a large amount of Qi into his muscles, made his way around the tree, and threw them toward the Jiangshi. Neither of them had any time to react before seeds moving at supersonic speed crashed into their bodies, burrowed under their skin, and grew a network of vines that completely incapacitated them and prevented them from raising the alarm.

Not much time before another one of the Jiangshi checks in…

Channeling Qi throughout his entire body, Mo Duan dashed into the caverns faster than the eye could see. He needed to move quickly if he wanted to accomplish his objectives before his presence was noted. As he navigated the dark and treacherous tunnels, Mo Duan carefully avoided the various Jiangshi and talisman traps he had noticed during his prior surveillance. He had noted earlier that Mei Yujia was likely anticipating an attack from cultivators weaker than herself, which made sense.

Her former sect would be discreet with their hunt for Mei Yujia if they wanted to minimize the risk of retaliation from the Celestial Jade Empire. Powerful cultivators didn’t exactly grow on trees, and they were more likely to be noticed. Mei Yujia was probably being hunted by a squad of cultivators specifically trained to avoid notice and kill more powerful targets. As a consequence, her traps simply weren’t hidden well enough to avoid the notice of Mo Duan’s powerful spiritual sense.

As Mo Duan continued to move deeper into the caverns, he could feel the sinister energy in the air grow stronger. The miasma grew more oppressive with each step that he took and almost seemed to pulse like a heartbeat, a clear indication that Mei Yujia was conducting some kind of ritual.

At a certain point, Mo Duan felt his eyes widen in surprise as he sensed the aura of something at the Core Formation level in the tunnel up ahead. Acting quickly, he transformed his body into a clump of common cave moss and attached himself to the top of the cavern. The technique that he was using was a favorite of his predecessor and made him nearly indistinguishable from any plant without close inspection.

Mo Duan carefully studied the figure as it passed by half a minute later, and was astonished to see that it was a Jiangshi that he hadn’t noticed during his prior reconnaissance. Not only that, but it looked completely different from any Jiangshi that he had ever seen.

It appeared to have been a beautiful young woman before being turned into a Jiangshi and had an appearance that was alarmingly more human than should be possible. Even the more powerful Jiangshi had a tendency to look like corpses and constantly emitted demonic Qi from their talismans. The one he was looking at had skin that retained some semblance of life, with only a faint pallor to betray her undead nature. Her eyes lacked the tell-tale glow of her peers and appeared far more lucid than they should.

In fact, there wouldn’t be any way to distinguish the Jiangshi from a human if not for the talisman animating her body. The Jiangshi itself only had strength equivalent to the Early Core Formation stage, but the sight of it shocked Mo Duan deeply.

Has Mei Yujia… found a way to improve the Jiangshi talisman? Mo Duan thought with growing alarm. But that should be impossible. If the talisman was so easy to improve, it would have been long before now.

Mei Yujia was a fairly powerful cultivator, but she was absolutely insignificant compared to all of the other individuals who had probably attempted to make improvements to the talisman. There were demonic cultivators in the world who had lived for millennia and reached heights that someone like Mo Duan or Mei Yujia could barely comprehend, yet a mere Core Formation cultivator achieved something they could not? That would be a ridiculous claim, but the proof was in front of his eyes.

Deciding that he didn’t want to risk fighting multiple Core Formation stage enemies at the same time, Mo Duan rapidly thought over his options. He could likely take the creature out fairly quickly, but the fight would be loud enough that Mei Yujia would almost certainly be alerted. He could retreat and request reinforcements from the Verdant Valley sect, but Mei Yujia would probably finish whatever ritual she was performing before then.

If she’s alerted while she’s performing her ritual… she shouldn’t be able to quickly flee without suffering a backlash. She probably needs some time to safely wind it down. This is the best possible moment for me to confront her.

It would mean that Mo Duan would have to abandon his plans to lay traps along her escape route, but he should be able to catch her if he was quick enough.

His decision made, Mo Duan steeled his heart and waited until his enemy was directly beneath him. After taking a moment to reform his body, Mo Duan launched himself at the Jiangshi with the intent of ending the battle quickly. The creature reacted to the attack the very moment that he moved, displaying an alacrity unusual for a Jiangshi of even her power. The ground beneath her feet cracked as she launched herself at Mo Duan while he was still midair, her previously beautiful face twisting into a grotesque inhuman visage as she bared her fangs.

Had she chosen a smarter strategy it was likely that she could have lasted significantly longer given her Early Core Formation strength. Unfortunately for her, Mo Duan was deadliest at close range and he didn’t see any need to hold back.

Blood-red vines burst from his body like a ravenous tide, wrapped themselves around the Jiangshi, and began eating away at her body only for her to quickly regenerate. In a display of extreme strength, the Jiangshi cut her way through several of the vines and began screaming loud enough to rupture eardrums and shake the earth. She turned into a blur of razor-sharp claws and teeth, desperate to escape his grasp.

To Mo Duan’s surprise, the Jiangshi began to grow mouths with razor-sharp teeth across her body to tear at the vines. That wasn’t an ability that Jiangshi usually had as far as he knew, but it wouldn’t be enough to save her.

More and more vines emerged from Mo Duan’s body to replace the ones that were destroyed and ravenously tore off pieces of her body and pierced every part of her with thorns. The Jiangshi’s shrieks intensified and echoed throughout the caverns before they began to fade. It took far longer than Mo Duan would have expected, but the Jiangshi’s regeneration eventually failed and his vines drained away her remaining blood.

Staring at the exsanguinated form in front of him, Mo Duan couldn’t help but feel slightly conflicted. Jiangshi were almost universally evil creatures and Mo Duan had inherited vivid memories of doing much worse, but this was still the first time that he had willingly killed a sapient being.

Worry about it later. Now isn’t the time, Mo Duan thought to himself as he heard the shrieks of more Jiangshi growing closer. There was no doubt that Mei Yujia had heard the disturbance and was making efforts to either finish or wind down her ritual so she wouldn’t face a backlash.

Deciding that subtly no longer served any purpose, Mo Duan wrapped himself completely in vines until he appeared as nothing more than a mass of writhing, blood-red tendrils. Given how much stronger he was than his enemies, he didn’t see any need to waste time by being creative or fighting them one by one. Instead, Mo Duan barreled down the caverns with the overwhelming strength of a Late Core Formation cultivator and trampled over any Jiangshi foolish enough to get in his way.

His vines snapped bones, shattered stones, and turned Jiangshi into bloodless husks as he raced towards Mei Yujia’s location. Still, the creatures threw themselves at him with reckless abandon, seeking to slow him down for even a few minutes. There were also several unavoidable traps that Mo Duan had to deal with, such as a talisman which released a mist that turned several of his vines into glass or one that unleashed a torrent of lightning in his direction.

Despite these setbacks, Mo Duan continued to make quick progress through the caverns. His vines grew more powerful and bloodthirsty as the demonic Qi in the air grew thicker. Mo Duan expanded his spiritual sense to cover Mei Yujia’s escape routes, but the demonic cultivator hadn’t made any attempt to leave the main chamber yet. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get a good look at the contents of the chamber itself as the ambient demonic QI had grown too turbulent.

The Jiangshi continued to grow stronger as he neared his target, but none was the same as the strange one he had seen earlier. It appeared that Mei Yujia was still unable to create them freely. Once he finally reached his destination, Mo Duan took a moment to quickly glance around his surroundings. It was very much what one would expect from a place where a demonic cultivator was conducting a ritual.

The chamber was expansive and filled with a miasma of demonic Qi so thick that it was actually visible to the naked eye. Mei Yujia had placed countless talismans all across the walls, each of which emanated a sinister aura that seemed to twist and distort the air around them. In the center of the chamber stood a large, raised platform where Mei Yujia had likely been performing her ritual only a few moments before he arrived. Surrounding the platform was a ring of Jiangshi who had been nailed to the ground and were screaming incoherently, their pain being used to thicken the demonic Qi around them.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The perfectly unblemished corpse of a young man was lying on a platform, likely the intended recipient of one of Mei Yujia’s improved Jiangshi talismans. The woman herself was standing at the edge of the platform, her eyes cold and calculating as she took in Mo Duan’s vine-covered form. Her long, black hair framed her pale, beautiful face, and her dark robed billowed around her like a living shadow. Mo Duan could tell that she was at the Mid Core Formation stage, and her entire presence seemed to exude an air of malice and danger.

“The Abyssal Garden sect?” Mei Yujia’s voice conveyed her surprise. “You seem… familiar.”

Mo Duan didn’t see any need to speak to his enemy before he’d successfully subdued her and immediately went on the attack. A torrent of vines shot toward Mei Yujia, each one moving with a frightening speed and strength. The demonic cultivator barely had time to react, quickly activating one of her talismans that formed an invisible barrier around her. The vines slammed into the barrier with enough force to shake the entire chamber, causing dust and rocks to rain down from the ceiling.

“I remember now. There’s only one man from the Abyssal Garden sect with this demonic plant and your cultivation,” said Mei Yujia, her voice calm as the vines continued to hammer against her barrier. “I heard rumors that you were dead, Ruo Xingchen. What is someone like you doing in the Celestial Jade Empire?”

Mo Duan didn’t respond and merely continued to attack. His predecessor hadn’t used the name Ruo Xingchen for quite a while and he didn’t want to risk giving Mei Yujia any hints about his current identity.

Realizing that he wasn’t going to respond, Mei Yujia scoffed and activated several of the talismans placed around the chamber. The room lit up as various attacks were unleashed in Mo Duan’s direction, from flaming torrents of magma to razor-sharp winds that could slice through stone. The Jiangshi who were nailed down shrieked with rage, pulled themselves free, and launched themselves at him as well.

Mo Duan quickly used his vines to pull himself away from the magma and created several barriers of wood between him and the wind. His vines whipped around him in a blur, defending him from a barrage of stones that had been launched at him faster than the eye could see. Mo Duan winced in pain as one of them smashed into his left leg, noticing too late that some of his vines were moving slightly slower than they should.

It took him a moment to realize that one of Mei Yujia’s talismans was distorting time in a particular section of the room, hastening anything that carried her Qi and slowing anything that didn’t. Mei Yujia was clearly displaying the skill and strength of a demonic cultivator at the Mid Core Formation stage who had thoroughly prepared her battlefield.

Unfortunately for her, the difference between stages grew more significant as one progressed in their cultivation and Mo Duan had too many tricks up his sleeves. Pulling on the immense amounts of wood Qi produced by his Golden Core, Mo Duan used a cultivation technique that covered every inch of the chamber with strange purple flowers. Almost immediately, the flowers bloomed and released waves of pollen that seemed to dampen the effect of Mei Yujia’s talismans. Magma cooled to solid rock, razor-sharp winds lost their cutting edge, and the time distortion weakened significantly.

Mo Duan ignored Mei Yujia’s exclamation of surprise and immediately redoubled his attack, knowing that this wasn’t a technique he would be able to sustain for long. He quickly tore the Jiangshi to pieces and drained them of their blood before causing cracks to form in the barrier surrounding her with a barrage of vines.

Her expression growing increasingly desperate, Mei Yujia surprised Mo Duan by jumping forward to attach a talisman to one of his vines the moment her barrier was destroyed. Mo Duan could sense his bloodvines immense pain as soon as the talisman activated and began attacking its spirit. No longer able to fully control the vines, Mo Duan was forced to pull them back into his body and dodge to the side as Mei Yujia attempted to bisect him with a sword she pulled from her spatial ring.

Every cultivator was skilled at martial arts regardless of their specialization, and Mei Yujia was no exception. She wielded her sword with precision and grace, each strike aiming to kill. Sensing that he wouldn’t be able to continue maintaining his cultivation technique for much longer, Mo Duan summoned his staff and aggressively leveraged his superior strength as he traded blows with Mei Yujia.

The two cultivators clashed with the force of a raging storm, their weapons creating shockwaves that shook the chamber. Seeing an opening, Mo Duan parried a slash that would have cut him open from groin to neck and manipulated his staff to wrap itself around Mei Yujia’s sword. The demonic cultivator realized what was happening almost immediately and tried to abandon her weapon and jump away, but Mo Duan was too fast.

He pulled the sword from her grip and slammed the staff into her chest with enough force to send her flying into the wall. Before she could recover, Mo Duan dashed across the cavern with a burst of speed and swung his staff into the side of Mei Yujia’s head, instantly knocking her unconscious and sending her face down onto the ground.

Finally…

Breathing heavily, Mo Duan took a moment to survey the battlefield. The chamber was a mess, littered with the broken bodies of Jiangshi and marked by the scars of their battle. Mo Duan put an end to his cultivation technique, allowing the purple flowers to wither away and the cloud of pollen to dissipate. He then walked over to Mei Yujia before dropping a seed on her back. The seed quickly burrowed beneath her skin, feeding on her meridians as it grew a network of wooden tendrils that would make it impossible for her to move or use her Qi.

With his enemy fully restrained, Mo Duan took a deep breath and allowed himself to begin relaxing. All that was left now was for him to wait for her to wake up so that he could interrogate her. It wouldn’t take very long before a cultivator as strong as Mei Yujia would recover from such an attack, so Mo Duan stood patiently by her side and monitored her carefully. Sure enough, it was less than a minute later that the demonic cultivator began to stir, her body stiffening momentarily before relaxing as she tried to feign unconsciousness.

“Stop pretending, Mei Yujia,” Mo Duan said calmly. “I know you’re awake.”

Mei Yujia’s eyes snapped open, her gaze cold and calculating as she studied Mo Duan. After a few moments, her expression grew forlorn and lifeless as any semblance of hope seemed to leave her body. “Ah, it looks like today is the day that I’m finally going to die. I hadn’t expected it would come from you, Ruo Xingchen, but I suppose life is full of surprises.”

Mo Duan raised a brow at her statement. “How are you so certain that I intend to kill you?”

Mei Yujia scoffed derisively before answering. “I’m completely unable to move or use my Qi. Nobody on the Shadowed Isles has heard from you in more than a decade, and I’m certain you have a reason for that given your mask. I have no leverage over you and keeping me alive is too much of a risk, so my fate is obvious.”

Mo Duan didn’t make an effort to deny her words, as her analysis was correct. Mei Yujia was an experienced demonic cultivator and had good instincts when it came to evaluating threats. “I have a few questions for you about your actions and the Shadowed Isles. Will you answer them?”

Mo Duan fully expected Mei Yujia to resist or spit in his face, but to his surprise, the demonic cultivator simply sighed and agreed without a fight. “Very well.”

His surprise must have been more obvious than he thought because Mei Yujia chuckled mirthlessly before explaining. “Did you expect me to beg for my life or try to bargain with you? Perhaps that would work if you were a weak-hearted righteous cultivator, but I can tell you intend to kill me no matter what I say. Besides, I have nobody I care enough about to protect by keeping secrets. It’s better to die painlessly than wait until after you torture me until I break, no?”

Mo Duan fought the urge to shift uncomfortably. He had been hardening his heart and had intended to do exactly what she predicted. It made him feel uneasy to be so easily predicted, especially when her assumptions were based on her knowledge of his predecessor. Despite this, Mo Duan didn’t feel guilty about his intention to kill Mei Yujia.

She was a woman who had kidnapped, killed, and turned more than a hundred mortals into Jiangshi. He had also seen her torturing several of them for the sole purpose of polluting the ambient Qi with their suffering to create more concentrated demonic Qi. Nobody would judge him harshly for killing such a monstrous person.

Taking a moment to refocus himself, Mo Duan began his interrogation. “I’ve heard that the Shadowed Isles are in turmoil and that you’ve defected from your sect. I want to know everything about what is happening.”

“Turmoil… I suppose that’s one way to describe it when an unknown cultivator suddenly conquered every sect on the Isles with techniques nobody has ever seen before,” said Mei Yujia, her voice filled with bitterness. “It started nearly a year ago, but it took much longer for us to realize what was happening. It started at first with a few smaller sects being slaughtered and all of their resources stolen. Small sects are destroyed often, so we didn’t pay it much mind. At least, not until the Soul Reaver Order suddenly disappeared completely.”

The Soul Reaver Order was one of the most powerful sects on the Shadowed Isles, and Mo Duan could hardly imagine what it would take to make them disappear before anyone could realize what was happening.

“Before we could understand what had happened, he approached the larger sects directly. He gave us an ultimatum. He offered treasures and power that we could only dream of if we submit. If we refused, he threatened to wipe us all out completely like he did the Soul Reaver Order,” Mei Yujia continued, her voice shaking with a hint of fear as she recalled the events. “He felt… wrong. Not like a powerful demonic cultivator, but as something that shouldn’t even exist in this world. He gave treasures to each of our sects as proof of what he could offer. I stole the one given to the Cursed Inscription sect and fled at the first opportunity.”

Mo Duan frowned, trying to understand the full implications of what Mei Yujia had told him. The sects of the Shadowed Isles were no pushovers and it would take an extremely powerful cultivator to conquer them. Those kinds of figures were all widely known in the world and never just popped out of nowhere. “Who is he and where did he come from? What kind of techniques did he use?”

“How should I know? He wore the appearance of some weak disciple from the Soul Reaver Order named Mowang Jing, but it was obvious that the fool must have been possessed by some old monster,” Mei Yujia said with frustration. “I didn’t see what he could do himself, but I sourced the treasure I stole as being created before the Separation, so I have no doubt his techniques are similar.”

Mo Duan felt his heart drop. The pattern taking shape was beginning to grow clearer. It wasn’t uncommon for many centuries to go by between the discovery of Pre-Separation treasures, yet this mysterious cultivator had appeared at the same time that a Pre-Separation secret realm had opened? He refused to believe that this was a coincidence.

Mo Duan continued to interrogate Mei Yujia about everything she knew regarding the Shadowed Isles, but that was frustratingly little. It seemed that she had truly escaped as soon as she could because her instincts told her that nothing good would come from staying. The treasure she stole, a scroll given to the Cursed Inscription sect that contained previously unknown knowledge, was the source of her improved Jiangshi talismans.

“Why did you choose to act so conspicuously if you were being hunted by your sect?” Mo Duan asked curiously.

“You should know that true freedom only comes from power, Ruo Xingchen. Had I succeeded in my efforts, I would have possessed a Jiangshi capable of fighting even Nascent Soul cultivators under my control,” said Mei Yujia. “I would have been found eventually no matter how carefully I hid, so I decided this was worth the risk.”

Her words made sense to Mo Duan. If the treasure she had stolen was truly as valuable as she claimed, then the Cursed Inscription sect would have never stopped looking for her. He would have to be extremely careful to hide his involvement in Mei Yujia’s death if he didn’t want them coming after him next once they realized he had taken her possessions.

“Any last words?” Mo Duan asked once he was certain he had learned all he could.

“No. I only hope my next life is kinder than this one,” Mei Yujia replied, her voice tinged with a mix of resignation and exhaustion.

Mo Duan nodded solemnly and activated a cultivation technique that sent sleep-inducing pollen in Mei Yujia’s direction. The demonic cultivator would have easily been able to fend it off if she had access to her Qi, but she didn’t last more than a few moments in her current state. Once he was certain that she was asleep, Mo Duan sharpened the end of his staff and prepared to end her life. With a quick thrust to her skull, Mei Yujia died instantly and painlessly.

Mo Duan pushed away his discomfort; it was a better fate than she deserved given all that she had done. Once the deed was done, he turned his thoughts back to everything he had learned. Mo Duan had honestly found more questions than answers, but there was one conclusion that he had reached that overshadowed everything else.

Mo Duan was beginning to think that his reincarnation into this world was not an unexplainable phenomenon as he had initially thought.

When there were so many world-changing events happening at the same time in the same portion of the world, was he supposed to believe that it was a coincidence that he had been inexplicably brought to the center of these events? That would be completely ridiculous. Mo Duan hadn’t put much thought into how his reincarnation had happened because nothing in his predecessor’s memories had shed any light on the subject and it seemed beyond his ability to figure it out. Now… he wasn’t so sure that was the case.

He had mostly just been doing his best to survive in this world up until this point, but he now had a goal that filled him with a sense of motivation. Mo Duan felt a fire light up inside him as he realized there was actually a chance he could unravel the mystery of how he came to this world. He would need to think hard about how he intended to actually do so, but Mo Duan already had a few good ideas about where to start…