Chapter 191: Humanoid Monsters

What exactly happened here in the Blissful Land of Mount Jinting?

Li Yanchu pondered deeply.

How could such a grand immortal Daoist site fall into ruin? And those twisted, grotesque humanoid sculptures, where did they come from? Could it be that this entire Blissful Land was once attacked by evil demons?

His thoughts surged with countless questions. Just one magical artifact could endure the passage of a thousand years and still retain its divine nature. Just one jujube tree could contain immense vitality, boost spirit qi, strengthen the body. It was comparable to divine elixirs.

Just one Vermilion Fruit could significantly increase one’s cultivation, propelling a cultivator to the peak of the second realm. And these were only the remnants left behind in this immortal sanctuary. It was hard to imagine just how prosperous and powerful the Blissful Land in Mount Jinting had once been.

And yet, what kind of demonic force could have wiped out such a holy Daoist ground?

Li Yanchu was filled with awe and unease.

He bowed respectfully to the sword-bearing statue of the immortal, then stepped into the depths of the temple. He gathered his thoughts and began exploring the hall.

Unlike the other temples he had encountered, this one was far larger. There might be unexpected discoveries here. As he explored the ruins of the temple, he once again noticed that there were no corpses and no remains.

Night was beginning to fall. But strangely, Li Yanchu suddenly heard what seemed like the faint cries of an infant!

However, when he stopped to listen closely, the sound vanished again, as if it had only been the howling of the wind. Li Yanchu stood still, focusing all his attention to listen.

“Strange. Why would there be a baby in the ruins of Mount Jinting?” He was certain that soft sound had indeed been the crying of a child.

But it seemed to come from all directions at once, and there was no way to pinpoint it. A sense of unease grew in his heart. This Blissful Land was full of hidden dangers and lurking evil. Strange demonic sounds meant to disturb the mind weren’t unusual here.

But something about today felt... different. Li Yanchu could sense a faint trace of danger in the air.

Moreover, in this entire temple, he hadn’t found a single artifact that still retained divine energy. Not a single one. What he did find, however, were fresh traces of activity, as if someone had already been here.

This entire massive temple had already been thoroughly looted!

Li Yanchu couldn’t help cursing aloud, “Which bastard cleaned this place out so thoroughly!?”

Frustrated, he returned to the main hall. He had thought this would be a pristine, unexplored relic, but it had already been scavenged.

Back inside, he pulled out some jujubes from his Universe Pouch and began to meditate.

The pure spirit qi within the fruit was quickly absorbed into his body. After completing a full circulation cycle, it flowed into his

dantian

and qi sea. He consumed three jujubes in a row, and his cultivation surged like never before.

By now, night had fully fallen. Darkness poured in like a flood, swallowing every trace of light outside.

At this point, survival depended on magical artifacts inside the Daoist halls. Their inner divine light could ward off external evils.

Among the items Li Yanchu had taken from the corpse of the God-Hit practitioner and the zombie-wielding Daoist, two were confirmed to be genuine Daoist magical artifacts from these temples.

They were respectively a stone bead and a stone tablet. They were ancient and weathered, yet brimming with divine energy.

As for the black command flag and other evil artifacts taken from Daoist Master Tieshan, Li Yanchu had already burned them to ashes with the divine fire inside the Heaven-Illuminating Seal.

The spirit-possessed practitioner had left behind a Spirit Possession Talisman, but it was of little use to Li Yanchu. He casually tossed it into his Universe Pouch.

This kind of thing might be rare, but who knew what sort of strange spirit might be summoned by it?

Li Yanchu had no intention of using it.

After killing those two, Li Yanchu received a total of 8,000 merit points, mostly thanks to the Five Ghosts Soul-Seizing Spell Daoist Master Tieshan had cultivated, which alone contributed 5,000 points.

Boom!

Bang! Bang!

Suddenly, intense crashing sounds echoed from outside the temple, followed by heavy and frantic footsteps.

Li Yanchu instantly rose to his feet, and he turned sharply toward the temple entrance and quickly strode over.

Under the pitch-black, eerie night, a young woman in Daoist robes could be seen leaping toward the temple.

She held a whisk and had a cold, elegant aura about her; though now, she was visibly flustered. Chasing her were several dark figures, their faces obscured by the night.

ROAR!

One of the figures suddenly accelerated, closing in on the woman. A gentle divine light glowed from the woman’s wrist, and it came from a beaded bracelet.

As the creature neared, it was repelled by the divine radiance, and at last, its appearance was revealed!

It wasn’t human at all, but an unclothed humanoid monster with metallic scales covering its body. Its facial features were grotesquely twisted, as though forcibly stitched together, and it radiated a sense of deep malevolence.

Each time the monster attacked the Daoist woman, the divine light around her would grow noticeably weaker.

And coincidentally, from another direction, another panicked figure charged toward the temple. It was a massively obese man, surprisingly agile despite his size. He ran on all fours, kicking up clouds of dust behind him.

Around his neck hung a pendant that emitted a divine glow. Behind him was another group of humanoid monsters, in hot pursuit.

“Holy hell, what the hell are these damned things?!” the fat man howled as he fled, looking like a terrified wild boar.

He was being chased by more than a dozen of those humanoid creatures, all covered in metallic scales and exuding an ominous aura.

Li Yanchu’s brows furrowed.

Back when he had first arrived outside this hall, he had seen vague, shadowy figures in the distance...

Now it was clear that those figures were these humanoid monsters. However, these monsters looked somewhat different from the strange sculptures outside the temple.

The humanoid statues didn’t have scales on them, and appeared even less human and more beastlike.

But these monsters, despite being covered in scales, looked almost human if glanced at quickly!

Is it a matter of sculpting style, or are there multiple kinds of demonic beings in this paradise realm?

Li Yanchu wondered to himself.

“Ah!” the Daoist-robed young woman let out a startled cry.

Though she was the closest to the temple, she was the first to have her divine light shattered.

The prayer beads on her wrist, which were already damaged, suddenly shattered into powder. A single light swipe from one of the humanoid monsters ripped through her protective jade amulet like paper.

Seeing her about to be reduced to bones, her flesh dissolving...

Suddenly, a blazing hot and powerful saber of light flashed out. The monster that had seemed impervious to harm was instantly destroyed by the slash of that saber!

Boom!

It burst apart, turning into a barely visible black mist. Then, just as eerily, it dissipated into the air, as if the very heavens rejected it, forcibly expelling it from existence.

“Fall back!” a thunderous shout rang in the young woman’s ears.

She scrambled and sprinted toward the grand hall of the temple, doing her best to escape. Meanwhile, the humanoid monsters gave chase relentlessly.

Boom!

Another monstrous figure, the fastest among them, was obliterated by a crushing, mountain-like palm strike. It was shattered into pieces on the spot!