In his right eye, the writhing fox head was a grey mist-shadow.
The fox drew closer to sniff him, its nostrils twitching, sniffing again and again.
Shi Chun also caught the source of the fragrance, it was the fox demon before him. His smile grew more fawning, mixed with the agonizing pain within his body, making his smile truly unsightly.
The next moment, he couldn't smile anymore, his grin frozen on his face, as the great blue fox demon suddenly bared its terrifying fangs at him.
Shi Chun frantically cried out, “Fox Immortal Empress…”
He couldn't tell if it was male or female, but he guessed it was female, having heard a woman’s voice earlier.
However, his plea for mercy was cut short before he could finish.
A large, pink, slimy tongue flicked out from between the vicious fangs, swiping across his body and face a few times, then disgustedly twisted its head away, simultaneously letting out a woman’s bell-like hum, “Your blood smells foul.”
Suddenly, it lowered its head, directly biting onto the accuser’s corpse. Blood spurted out with the bite, and with a slurp, it was drawn into its mouth and carried away, terrifying Shi Chun, who was standing right there, making him shiver.
The great blue fox demon’s head then retracted into the spatial rift, and the immense demonic energy retreated like a tide. As its clutching claws withdrew from the rift, the spatial rift rapidly closed, healing in an instant as if nothing had happened.
A large amount of demonic energy still lingered in the city, but the terrifying oppressive feeling that had amplified the demonic energy suddenly vanished.
Lan Qiaoyan and the others on Far-Gazing Tower, and all the bewildered people in the city, were almost all staring in the same direction.
Shi Chun landed on the ground, touching his face and body. There was wet drool, but it was nothing.
He looked around, at least confirming that he was temporarily safe, but he was still shaken, his legs weak with fear, after all, the accuser had been devoured right before his eyes.
The city guard still holding the drumstick swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
Clearly, he too had been terrified by that powerful oppressive aura just now.
He had wanted to run just now, but he knew someone was watching nearby and dared not abandon his post.
Du Huoguan upstairs was calm and unperturbed. After all, he knew the great blue fox demon was released by the Jailer, but he was still somewhat puzzled, reminding him, “Jailer, the wounds on the deceased can serve as evidence.
Shi Chun should be clear about what happened that night.”
The implication was, why did you release a fox demon and let it eat the evidence?
Nie, however, said indifferently, “How long do you intend to keep a few corpses around? Clean them up.”
Du Huoguan was stunned. Currently, there were no other corpses besides Qi Yueru’s son’s.
His eyes flickered, and he turned to look at the scene of bloodstains where the corpse was gone, instantly understanding something.
That is, what his eyes saw was the truth: the Jailer deliberately released the fox demon to eat the evidence, eating the evidence that Shi Chun killed Qi Yueru’s son! Then the meaning of the Jailer’s instruction to clean up those corpses was not hard to guess.
His eyes widened slightly. Was the Jailer trying to protect the weak-kneed young man downstairs? He found it somewhat unbelievable.
What kind of person was the Jailer, to actually protect an “ant” he didn’t know? “Yes,” he replied verbally, but the astonishment in his eyes hadn’t faded. He was wondering why the Jailer would make such an astonishing move and couldn’t help but think of the ‘demonic art’ the Jailer had mentioned after recognizing it.
He couldn’t quite grasp the pronunciation of the first character, there were too many homophones, but he vividly remembered the scene of the accuser’s flesh bearing a skull imprint. That was absolutely not ordinary, so he tentatively asked, “Jailer, is Shi Chun cultivating a demonic art?”
His heart was uneasy when he asked this question.
Righteousness and evil cannot coexist, why would the Jailer protect someone cultivating a demonic art? Nie glanced at him, initially not wanting to explain anything, but some misunderstandings were unnecessary, and it was bad to be misunderstood when it involved the non-coexistence of righteousness and evil. He uncharacteristically explained, “The first person to cultivate this method, during the ancient war of gods and demons, severely wounded numerous demons and slew the Demon Ancestor.”
At these words, Du Huoguan was greatly shocked and blurted out, “Slew the Demon Ancestor?”
His gaze abruptly shifted to outside the window frame, looking at Shi Chun with a strange expression. This tiny ant was cultivating a technique that slew the Demon Ancestor.
No wonder it displayed such powerful palm force even in its nascent stages.
As if guessing what he was thinking, and also not wanting any misunderstanding, Nie explained again, “The existence of this method has long been like a chicken rib, or even less useful than one.
First, it is extremely picky about practitioners. The specific requirements are unclear, but it is said to be difficult to get started.
If one can begin cultivation, it is indeed more dominant than ordinary techniques at first, as you saw, but he will have to change cultivation techniques sooner or later, otherwise he will stop at Early Martial, and it will be difficult to even enter the High Martial realm.”
Du Huoguan was puzzled, “Why?”
Nie: “Although this method is dominant once cultivated, its cultivation process is like its name: it cannot thrive without demons.
It requires absorbing demonic energy for cultivation, and the higher the cultivation level, the more massive the demonic energy needed. The era of rampant demonic paths has long passed, and demonic traces are fading, making it simply impossible to sustain the cultivation of ‘Bathing Demon Art’ anymore.”
“So that’s how it is.” Du Huoguan felt relieved.
Looking at Shi Chun downstairs, he was still puzzled, “The Living Prison still has the inheritance of ‘Bathing Demon Art’.”
Such a top-tier cultivation technique shouldn’t be obscure; he had never even heard of it, indicating it had been lost for a long time.
Only time could defeat and submerge everything.
Nie: “Before coming to the Living Prison, I had never heard of this cultivation method.
After taking over the Living Prison, when I was bored, I accidentally found a long-lost record while looking through the handover items of previous Jailers and learned about it. That was before the Heavenly Court changed masters several times.
A long time ago, there was indeed a successor of ‘Bathing Demon Art’ who was banished here.”
“Ah?” Du Huoguan was very surprised, and instinctively blurted out those two words again, “Why?”
Nie: “It was precisely because the cultivation method was like a chicken rib, making it difficult to achieve success, so he had to resort to extreme measures.
This cultivation method indeed has its dominant aspects. Besides absorbing demonic energy for cultivation, it can also absorb killing intent to refine the body.
The place with the most intense killing intent is where large armies clash. That person secretly plotted and incited wars of slaughter in the human world.
The result was too much commotion, difficult to conceal. After being caught, his cultivation was crippled, and he was thrown into this place.
According to records, he perished not long after being thrown here. I never expected that after so many years, the inheritance would still continue.”
Du Huoguan nodded repeatedly. Indeed, only when a cultivation method was too useless, making it impossible for cultivators to rise, and ultimately forcing them to give up, would its name not be prominent.
Otherwise, such a dominant cultivation method would not have gone uncelebrated for so many years.
Nie also looked at Shi Chun downstairs.
“The most dominant aspect of this cultivation method is that those killed by it will have their souls scattered and their forms completely annihilated, completely disappearing from the world, without even a chance for reincarnation. Perhaps this is why this method is difficult to revive; the method of killing is too extreme.”
“Hiss!” Du Huoguan gasped slightly, this was equivalent to not only destroying one’s current life but also severing their next life. The method of killing was indeed too extreme.
He couldn’t help but recall the struggling human face outline he had seen earlier beneath the skin, as if it had endured immense suffering and torment.
With that said, Nie raised his chin, motioning downstairs, “He won.
Let them go.”
“Yes.” After receiving the order, Du Huoguan remembered that the other party intended to protect him, and reminded him again, “Jailer, it’s easy for him to leave here. After he leaves, the Qi family might not let him go.
He might just die once he’s out.”
The implication was, even if you help him now, it would be in vain.
Nie pondered for a moment, then said indifferently, “That woman who came to visit the prison, execute her on the spot.”
“…” Du Huoguan thought he misheard, and quickly asked, “If we kill Qi Yueru, how do we explain to the Qi family?”
“What Qi family? Never heard of them.” Nie turned and walked towards the brocade couch, “After the execution, hang her body outside the city for public display, and say that I personally executed her!”
The meaning was very clear: afraid of them asking for an explanation? Let the Qi family come to me.