CHAPTER 46: CHAPTER 46: DEMON CULTIVATOR

"It seems I’ll have to brew a few more vats," Xu Ping thought to himself.

"It’s just a bit expensive," he frowned as he thought about the Spirit Stones spent on brewing.

The success rate was just too low.

Fortunately, he’s quite wealthy now and can afford it.

...

In the next few days, Xu Ping brewed two more vats of Hundred Flowers Wine and buried them underground.

"Monthly expenses have increased again, and I’m almost out of loot to sell. I need to start researching the drawing of the Golden Light Talisman," he mused, patting the dirt off his hands.

The Golden Light Talisman, a first-rank middle-grade talisman, is one of the best-selling talismans among loose cultivators.

If he can succeed in drawing it, his talisman-drawing skills would be considered entry-level.

At the desk, Xu Ping thoroughly examined the key points of the Golden Light Talisman, every detail flashing through his mind.

After confirming he had memorized everything, he began preparing to draw the talisman.

Before that, he silently practiced the ’Taihang Nourishing God Skill’ once.

This helps him eliminate distractions, focus, and increase the success rate of drawing talismans.

A little over half an hour later.

"Begin,"

Xu Ping opened his eyes, his gaze intense, and began drawing the talisman.

Dipping the talisman brush into the spiritual ink, he channeled his Spiritual Power onto the brush and started outlining on the talisman paper.

A faint light appeared on the blank talisman paper as the brush moved.

Then suddenly,

Sizzle—

A spark erupted on a piece of talisman paper on the smooth floorboard, and it instantly burned to ashes.

Xu Ping was already accustomed to failures like this.

Expressionless, he cleaned up the ashes, took out a new talisman paper, and continued drawing.

Drawing continued late into the night before Xu Ping, exhausted, stopped. After using a Cleaning Talisman on himself, he went to sleep in the underground room.

Today wasn’t successful; I’ll continue tomorrow.

...

Early the next morning.

Xu Ping was having breakfast.

"Ah... Someone’s dead!" A piercing scream shattered the morning calm.

"Someone’s dead?"

Xu Ping squinted. The voice was so clear, indicating the person died nearby.

After pondering, he went outside.

A circle of neighbors had already gathered outside a house.

Zhang Chenyu stood among them.

"Zhang Daoist, what happened?" Xu Ping asked upon reaching his side.

"Someone died; rumor has it their internal organs were completely emptied." Zhang Chenyu looked worried.

"Internal organs were all emptied?"

Xu Ping was slightly stunned, recalling a similar corpse they encountered when investigating a sinister presence.

Could it be the same person?

His gaze pierced through the crowd to a house with its door wide open, where a broken corpse lay in sight.

All the internal organs had been emptied, the blood had dried up, leaving only dark stains on the ground.

’The same death method, it seems it’s really the same perpetrator as before.’ Xu Ping furrowed his brows.

"Ordinary rogue cultivators probably aren’t interested in gutting people, but demon cultivators do it quite frequently," Zhang Chenyu muttered, lowering his voice.

"Demon cultivator?"

Seeing Xu Ping’s puzzled expression, Zhang Chenyu explained, "Demon cultivators are practitioners of dark cultivation techniques who enhance their Cultivation by refining the flesh and blood of other cultivators."

"To demon cultivators, average cultivators are no different from Pills."

"They cause abominable events, and some demonic cultivators even massacre entire cities, including ordinary people, in their domains."

"Massacre a city?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Ping frowned.

An entrance of a city hosts at least over a hundred thousand people, and yet they slaughter and refine them all.

The threat of demon cultivators is even greater than sinister presences, at least the latter only eat cultivators.

"Sigh, without the Longevity Sect’s suppression, all sorts of demons and sprites have arisen," Zhang Chenyu sighed, his face full of helplessness and concern.

The threat of sinister presences had barely passed, and now it seemed a demon cultivator was causing trouble again.

When will these days finally see an end?

Not long after, the Spirit Tiger Gang arrived, dispersing the onlookers.

Xu Ping and Zhang Chenyu didn’t linger and each returned to their homes.

...

...

The episode with the demon cultivator didn’t affect Xu Ping.

With his current strength, as long as the demon cultivator isn’t at Foundation Establishment, he has no fear.

Considering, it’s unlikely the demon cultivator is; if they had Foundation Establishment strength, would they need to covertly murder at night?

Should the demon cultivator truly come to him, he wouldn’t mind eradicating evil for the people.

This confidence stems from power.

After practicing the ’Taihang Nourishing God Skill,’ Xu Ping resumed drawing the talisman.

Time passed with each stroke.

Ten days later, he finally sensed a glimmer of hope for success.

At noon.

Fully focused, Xu Ping drew the talisman. The brush tip moved over the paper; the talisman flickered a few times, almost combusting but finally dimming in compliance with his expectation.

"Success!"

Xu Ping let out a long sigh of relief, a surge of joy overwhelming him.

He immediately opened the proficiency panel, seeing it displayed [Golden Light Talisman Entry Level: 1/100], he mused:

"Not easy, it took nearly two weeks just to successfully draw a Golden Light Talisman!"

He quickly activated the talisman he was holding.

After a faint glimmer of mana, a golden shield enveloped him.

He prepared to test the defensive power of the Golden Light Talisman.

Xu Ping took his Qinghe Sword, exerted a tenth of his strength, and struck the golden shield.

Amidst the fluctuation of brightness, it remained intact.

"Defense is decent, should barely withstand a strike from a late-stage Qi Cultivator," Xu Ping nodded, somewhat satisfied with its protection.

No wonder it sells for five Spirit Stones per sheet.

...

...

Another ten days passed in a flash.

In the morning.

Xu Ping visited Yuan Wei’s home again.

"Any major events in the market town lately?" Xu Ping asked while handing over the items for sale to Yuan Wei.

"Recently in the market town, that demon cultivator who extracts internal organs has been the major news," Yuan Wei said after taking the items.

"That demon cultivator is becoming more rampant, even people from the four major factions have been killed by him."

"Even a late-stage Qi disciple from the Longevity Sect was killed by that demon cultivator a few days ago."

"Dare that demon cultivator be so bold?" Xu Ping was slightly astonished.

"Exactly, but this time, that demon cultivator has certainly hit an iron plate."

"Of all troubles, he picked the Longevity Sect."

"So the Longevity Sect has initiated, mobilizing the four major powers to form a Demon Suppression Team to track down that sneaky demon cultivator," Yuan Wei said with schadenfreude.

He loathed such heart-extracting demon cultivators to the core.

He eagerly hoped for their downfall.

"With this, that demon cultivator is no more than a post-autumn cicada, not much time for its antics."

"Indeed..." Xu Ping nodded.

The unity of the four major powers should suffice to annihilate a demon cultivator, unless encountering a Foundation Establishment cultivator.