Demonic Charm

With a crackle of thunder, lightning struck the distant dark figure. Xie Lang exited the carriage, holding a horsetail whisk in one hand and forming a thunder mudra with the other.

"They want these things," Chen Weichen said in the midst of the battle.

Lu Hongyan emerged with her heavy sword to join the fray, her sword momentum weighing over a thousand pounds, sweeping the surroundings.

Seeing that they seemed to be in trouble, Xing Qiu put the black flute to his lips, intending to help.

Chen Weichen and Ye Jiuya stood back to back, the folding fan in Chen Weichen's hand opening and closing as it danced. Seeing Xing Qiu's movement, a stream of qi struck the flute. "Don't intervene, you're not allowed to get hurt."

Xing Qiu pouted and returned to the carriage.

Xie Lang launched thunder mudras one after another, striking the heart demons that were pouncing from afar. The thunder rumbled incessantly, knocking down the things originally suspended in the air, leaving them crumpled on the ground. However, after a short while, they stretched out again. The human face in the center of the black qi opened its mouth, screaming and pouncing again, its mouth filled with dense black spikes.

Lu Hongyan wielded her heavy sword, not adept at attacking from a distance, and came to Chen Weichen and Ye Jiuya's side.

When facing that thing, her situation was no different from when she was in Jinxiu City. Even if shattered into thousands of pieces, after a while, those fragments would condense together again. Even with her level of strength, when facing heart demons, she could only buy time.

Apart from Ye Jiuya, everyone's ability to harm these things was limited - even Ye Jiuya's merciless sword intent that exorcised demons and broke evil could not completely destroy it.

When a heart demon was chopped by Ye Jiuya's sword intent and split in half, one half would disappear without a trace, but the other half would pounce again. If shattered into several pieces, there must be one among those pieces that would reform into a slightly smaller heart demon.

Ye Jiuya said, "Gouyue."

Lu Hongyan quickly turned to look at Chen Weichen. Seeing Chen Weichen nod at her, she immediately moved forward, her heavy sword sweeping out. Chen Weichen, on the other hand, dashed in the opposite direction from her.

Ye Jiuya leaped into the air, his snow-white robes fluttering.

A string of black shadows followed each of them as they attacked, like a black beast tide splitting into three.

Gouyue was one of the many sword formations of Sword Pavilion. The main formation only required three people. It was known that two-person sword formations lacked variation, with only a few fixed stances. When the number of people increased, it would be meticulous but lacking in flexibility. Only this Gouyue formation, derived from "a hook of crescent moon hanging three stars", had no fixed stances in both offense and defense, most suitable for facing opponents of unknown depth and weaknesses like now.

- With no fixed stances, relying only on mutual cooperation and intuition, it also meant that only Swordmasters could bring out the ever-changing might of this formation to the extreme.

The three figures on the mountain peak flew and alternated, sometimes dispersing, sometimes gathering. Blade lights and sword shadows formed a dazzling scene. When a heart demon tried to launch a sneak attack on someone's back, it was intercepted and slashed in half by one of the others. By the time they regrouped, the two had already flown apart. Or when obstructed by Chen Weichen's qi, they were shattered into countless pieces by another. Or when converging to surround and attack, they were swept away by Ye Jiuya's vast and lethal sword light.

Plus, with Xie Lang's distant thunder mudras filling the gaps from outside, although not to the point of being at ease, they were coping appropriately. Until now, no one had been injured.

But the heart demons were increasing in number, seemingly endless.

Like black tides flooding the mountain top, or pitch-black raindrops falling from the sky, blown by the fierce wind and splashing everywhere. In the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, hundreds of seemingly tireless heart demons had heavily surrounded them - from the ground, mid-air, and overhead. Howls and eerie laughter pierced the ears.

"Why can't we kill them!" Lu Hongyan gritted her teeth as she passed by.

"Heart demons are the heart demons of people in this world. Even Ye Jiuya can only weaken them, not sever them, unless the person dies or cuts off their own heart demons completely-" Chen Weichen grabbed her shoulder and lifted her up. Lu Hongyan used the momentum to flip upwards, avoiding a heart demon lunging from below, then turned and chopped down with her Shattered Kunlun, slicing that thing in half.

Ye Jiuya closed his eyes, gathering qi. After a moment, his eyes suddenly opened, and the Jiuya sword flew out of his hand, transforming into countless sword shadows, rapidly revolving around them. The sword qi soared to the sky, then swirled up like a vortex, pushing back the dense heart demons layer by layer, giving them a moment to catch their breath.

- Yet the heart demons still surged forth endlessly from all directions. This brief respite would not last long.

"Too many - what do they want these things for?" Lu Hongyan frowned.

Chen Weichen: "First we need to know where they're coming from."

Xing Qiu lifted the carriage curtain and shouted to them, "There are no such things in Xingluo Abyss!"

"They only fear you." Chen Weichen took out the exquisite brocade pouch he carried with him. He had just finished counting the items inside when they were surrounded and attacked, so he hurriedly packed them away. He quickly handed the pouch to Ye Jiuya. "You take these things."

"The Nine Nether Spring Water and the other items would disrupt each other's fortune, so I didn't put it in the pouch." Chen Weichen took out the jade bottle containing the Nine Nether Spring Water separately and was about to hand it to Ye Jiuya.

But for some reason, his movement paused for an extremely brief instant.

And in that instant, a pitch-black figure rapidly emerged from the ground and bit Chen Weichen's wrist with a speed that no one could react to. The jade bottle fell from his hand and was swallowed by it!

Then, this thing swiftly flew into the sky. Many other black shadows let out eerie laughter and also flew over, surrounding and escorting it as it rapidly flew away.

Chen Weichen's wrist was covered in blood, from which a horrifying black qi quickly spread. His face was pale, his voice carrying a slight urgency and panting, "Don't mind me, go chase it."

Ye Jiuya gave him one last look, his snow-white figure dashing into the distance, his robes fluttering with a hint of chilling sword intent.

Lu Hongyan also flew after him.

When their figures disappeared on the distant horizon, only Chen Weichen was left on the mountain peak. The heart demons all over the mountain suddenly stopped moving, the black qi still endlessly swirling around them, but the faces in the center all unanimously turned to look at Chen Weichen.

Xie Lang felt an inexplicable shudder in his heart and also looked at Chen Weichen.

"Brother Xie." Chen Weichen smiled at him, the smile carrying a hint of strain.

Xie Lang's unease grew even stronger - Chen Weichen usually only jokingly called him "little Daoist", never using such a serious address.

"What you see today, please don't mention it to Ye Jiuya," Chen Weichen said, his gaze turning to Xing Qiu who poked his head out from the carriage window.

Xing Qiu obediently made a crossing motion near his mouth.

Xie Lang saw that his expression and aura were different from usual, feeling uneasy, but still nodded.

Chen Weichen no longer looked at the two of them and took a step forward.

His aura suddenly soared.

The heart demons, as if coming back to their senses, pounced forward with a unanimous shrill cry.

Chen Weichen leapt into the air, floating, his brocade robe sleeves fluttering in the fierce wind.

Xie Lang's eyes widened in shock, his horsetail whisk falling to the ground.

The spiritual energy at the mountain peak surged wildly, kicking up sand and rocks as the fierce wind broke trees.

Chen Weichen's long hair scattered and hung down, his face expressionless, the ink-black hair contrasting with his pale complexion, adding a ghostly and gloomy air.

On that mortal-style brocade robe, ink seemed to diffuse in an instant, turning it into a dark, silver-patterned black robe.

Just, just in an instant--he was enveloped in the same black energy as those things.

He took a step forward in the air.

The heart demons seemed to shudder in unison, their previous offensive momentum difficult to maintain.

Chen Weichen spoke, his voice like a pond of stagnant dead water, without the slightest fluctuation: "Where did you come from."

The heart demons were silent for a moment, then suddenly became chaotic again, their voices hoarse and coarse yet with a hint of piercing shrillness: "Where did you come from?"

It wasn't just one heart demon speaking, but many, forming a headache-inducing reverberation.

"Where did you come from?"

Chen Weichen only looked at them coldly.

The heart demons became restless, eager to pounce on him again.

Hoarse and unpleasant voices echoed in the dense mountain forest.

"Why are you qualified to be human?"

"To become human?"

"Why are you human?"

The corners of Chen Weichen's lips curled into a faint smile: "You also want to?"

He tossed his fan into the air.

Countless black energy threads shot out from the fan's ribs, scattering across the sky like a heavenly net, binding all the heart demons within.

Chen Weichen raised his right hand.

A beautiful hand, nurtured in the splendor of the mortal world, permeated with a faint fragrance from years spent in lavish chambers.

Five fingers spread forward, slowly closing, then opening again.

When closing, the heavenly net suddenly tightened, and those heart demons that regarded mortal entities as nothing cried out in pain.

When opening, they were all pushed away from the mountain peak by an invisible force.

Chen Weichen closed his eyes.

He was heard asking: "Who brought you here?"

The heart demons still screamed: "Why are you qualified to be human?"

When he opened his eyes again, his face was even paler, and a black crack opened in the sky.

That hand continued to close, then open.

The heart demons were pushed bit by bit into the crack.

Chen Weichen slightly frowned, a pained expression on his face, panting a few breaths, trembling slightly.

"If you won't say, then forget it, go back," he said slowly, "don't come to places you shouldn't."

The black energy surged, the heart demons struggling frantically: "We also want to become human!"

Chen Weichen closed his eyes again, his face bearing a weak weariness: "You think I count as human? You think I want to be human?"

The figures of the heart demons gradually disappeared into the crack, their shrieks fading away, the crack slowly closing.

Chen Weichen gently exhaled. What he had just done had exhausted all his cultivation and strength, leaving his mind in a muddled daze.

He calculated the time, thinking that in such a short, such a short moment, Ye Jiuya should not have discovered it yet.

He turned his head to look at the horizon.

At the horizon, someone stood in the wind, with jet-black hair and snow-white clothes.

"Ha." Blood seeped from the corners of his lips as he laughed with utmost mockery.