Just then, Ji Wuqi discovered that the back of the bronze box had a talisman seal. Several Talismonger Sect disciples looked at it and gasped again.

Although talisman patterns throughout the world followed similar principles, the symbols on the talismans were slightly different. For instance, all talisman patterns of the Lingshan Talismonger Sect would have an inverted hook at the end.

Disciples of the Lingshan Talismonger Sect could recognize their own sect’s talismans at a glance. And at the end of this ancient-looking demon-subduing talisman pattern, there was a hook that represented Master Tang Youshu’s handiwork.

Ji Wuqi bowed reverently, then stated with certainty: “That’s right, this was left by Master!”

Just then, the talisman on the box floated down, and the box opened at once.

Everyone looked closely and saw a small wooden carving inside. The carving looked like an ancient deity with a human face and serpent body.

This carving had hollow eyes and a mouth carved with an ambiguous smile. Staring at it for too long made one involuntarily shiver.

Several people looked at each other. Ji Wuqi was the first to gather courage and reach out to take it, but before he could touch it, he was forced to withdraw his hand by waves of cold air emanating from the wooden carving.

Jiang Nanmu and A’Yi tried to take it tentatively but couldn’t manage it, being repelled by the carving’s cold air.

Cui Xiaoxiao had always been prudent and wanted to stay away from this evil carving.

But unexpectedly, there seemed to be a voice in her heart constantly whispering, urging her to quickly pick up the carving.

As if possessed by a ghost, Xiaoxiao had already reached out toward the carving and easily took the wooden carving into her hands.

It seemed that her extremely yin fate not only made her blood peculiar but also made her unafraid of the extreme cold air attached to this carving.

But First Senior Brother stubbornly believed that because she had been affected by the Demon Pearl, she had begun to be connected with the demonic cult, which was why she could pick up this thing that looked like an evil object.

However, after the carving was held by Xiaoxiao for a while, the cold air gradually receded, and First Senior Brother and the others could also take it over to examine. But looking at it from all angles, they couldn’t discover anything special about this carving.

Cui Xiaoxiao stared straight at the carving’s face, always feeling that the carving’s eye sockets seemed somewhat hollow, as if something was missing.

On the back of this carving, a line of Sanskrit was carved. First Senior Brother and the others couldn’t understand it, so they discussed putting it away first, planning to find someone who understood Sanskrit to explain it.

Because of that overly realistic dream, Cui Xiaoxiao firmly refused to keep this carving and even planned to burn it with fire.

Ji Wuqi absolutely wouldn’t allow it. After all, the box that sealed this carving had a seal left by their master from two hundred years ago. If there was some shocking demonic conspiracy, wouldn’t the Lingshan Talismonger Sect be able to achieve great merit before other palace and sect schools?

Cui Xiaoxiao, this sect leader, had no authority. Although she strongly opposed it, she could only watch helplessly as First Senior Brother packed both the carving and the box together into his traveling bag.

So that when they traveled again, Cui Xiaoxiao always inexplicably felt that cold intent emanated from First Senior Brother’s bag, as if a pair of eyes were coldly staring at her.

Cui Xiaoxiao planned to find an opportunity to throw it away, but First Senior Brother watched that evil object very closely and wouldn’t let anyone approach it.

When it came time to meditate that evening, Cui Xiaoxiao, who had never been very enthusiastic about meditation and cultivation, this time actually found a small hillside far from her fellow disciples early on. After spreading out a soft cushion, she closed her eyes and entered concentration.

Her enthusiasm had a reason. Since that night, she always felt that there seemed to be voices in her heart, misleading her.

Taking the wrong path and ending up in Chixi Province was one instance, and going against her instincts to grab that carving was another.

Xiaoxiao wasn’t a confused person. She wouldn’t misread a map, and she wouldn’t charge forward into difficulty to grab that damned half-snake carving.

She seemed to still be affected by the Demon Pearl. When her willpower was occasionally weak, she would unconsciously do things against her wishes. If she couldn’t figure out the situation and let the voice in her heart control her, more problems would occur next.

So she entered concentration early to see if she could enter dreams and understand what exactly that blood demon from the nightmare was!

To prevent accidents, Cui Xiaoxiao cut two of her fingers before entering concentration, letting fresh blood flow out to prevent the blood demon from launching a sneak attack.

Perhaps fearing the smell of Cui Xiaoxiao’s blood, the blood demon didn’t appear. But after entering concentration, the strange voice in Cui Xiaoxiao’s heart gradually became clearer.

“Little girl, are you looking for me? No need to look – I’m suppressed by your bloodline and temporarily can’t move… But don’t think you can easily get rid of me!”

Cui Xiaoxiao closed her eyes and asked silently: “Who are you? What exactly do you want to do?”

That voice seemed to yawn boredly, then said: “Me? Didn’t you people give me the name ‘Greed’? I was damaged by your talisman and lost vital energy, so I can only attach to a living body. Who knew you’d have this kind of constitution, making me unable to move… Don’t worry, when I find a suitable opportunity, I won’t want to stay in your body for even a moment!”

“You’re the one who led me to Chixi Province, right? Just to make us find that carving? What’s so special about it?”

Cui Xiaoxiao closed her eyes and asked several more questions, but the Demon Pearl seemed too lazy to answer, only yawning and saying: “Why ask so much? You’ll know in the future. Oh, my poison has already spread throughout your body. Little girl, you must be strong – don’t die too quickly…”

After saying this, it seemed extremely tired. No matter how Cui Xiaoxiao called out, it wouldn’t speak again.

When Cui Xiaoxiao finished meditating and opened her eyes, she was almost startled because her three fellow disciples were squatting in front of her like they were watching a monkey.

Jiang Nanmu looked at Junior Sister Sect Leader with admiration and whispered, “Junior Sister, what method have you comprehended? How is your cultivation increasing at such a rapid pace? It’s only been a few days, and when you were meditating just now, auspicious energy was steaming from your head – you’re somewhat entering the realm of the Small Heavenly Cycle!”

When Cui Xiaoxiao was meditating just now, hot air was constantly steaming from her head, and her whole body was emanating spiritual light similar to the Heavenly Gang Body Protection of sword sect disciples.

Although her spiritual light was still very weak and couldn’t compare to the disciples of the Jiuxuan Sword Sect, it surpassed her three fellow senior disciples, showing great potential to surpass them later.

Cui Xiaoxiao was stunned when she heard this. What kind of secret technique did she have? When others meditated, they only needed to focus and relax. But when she meditated, she had to meet with demons and be ready for a life-and-death struggle at any moment.

Perhaps because of this, her meditation had double the effectiveness, allowing her dantian cultivation to multiply and surge in an extremely short time…

She thought about the origin of this Demon Pearl. It was refined from the turbid energy in Wei Jie’s body back then, which meant the Demon Pearl had accompanied Wei Jie for a long time.

Back then, Wei Jie’s cultivation had also surged rapidly. Perhaps Wei Jie, like her now, needed to constantly check and balance the demonic nature in his body, which instead achieved this rapid daily progress…

Thinking of this, Cui Xiaoxiao sighed and said to her senior disciples: “I want to share this kind of secret technique with someone… Do you want to take over the Demon Pearl?”

The other three people immediately shook their heads like rattling drums.

In the following two days, the Demon Pearl didn’t disturb Cui Xiaoxiao’s daily life again, lying dormant as if hibernating without any sound.

Because this Demon Pearl was too evil, Cui Xiaoxiao had been very diligent in reading Master’s secret manuals these past few days.

Tang Youshu was different from that traitorous disciple Qin Lingxiao. Although he also didn’t approve of the numerous crimes Master Wei Jie committed when he went astray, as a disciple, he still maintained proper reverence for his master. Even if Wei Jie later became a demon and committed heavy wrongs, Tang Youshu would lightly explain to his benefactor master with “invaded by demonic energy, unable to control himself.”

As for the description of the Demon Pearl refined from Wei Jie’s body, Tang Youshu didn’t record too much.

But he emphasized one point: Wei Jie’s nemesis was the blood of extremely yin people. It could dissolve Wei Jie’s demonic power. If such blood fell into the hands of a great cultivation master, the consequences for Wei Jie would be unimaginable.

So Wei Jie had always been searching for such people, wanting to eliminate them quickly.

When Cui Xiaoxiao read this, she gasped. She finally understood why Master seemed moved when he learned of her Ten Injuries fate, saying directly that her fate was quite good.

If she had been born two hundred years earlier, she would have been hunted by a half-human, half-snake demon.

If that were the case, she who could be born two hundred years later truly had good enough fate.

After Cui Xiaoxiao learned about the wonderful use of her extremely yin blood, she didn’t think the Demon Pearl’s invasion was anything serious. Since her blood was feared even by the former Demon Lord Wei Jie, what could the Demon Pearl refined from his dantian do to her?

That day, when the sun came out, they began to pack and set off again.

Ji Wuqi and A’Yi weren’t particular and prepared to depart without washing.

Cui Xiaoxiao and Jiang Nanmu were girls and took a little more time washing up, going together to the stream to clean their faces.

When Cui Xiaoxiao squatted down and was about to splash water, she was suddenly possessed by a ghost and remembered the scene from her dream that day when she controlled her blood to repel the blood demon.

That feeling was so realistic that even after several days, the memory remained fresh.

Several days of continuous meditation had given Cui Xiaoxiao a sense of fullness in her dantian, like a person who had finally eaten their fill and wanted to show off their strength in their energetic state.

Just thinking this way, when her fingertips stirred the water’s surface, her mind moved slightly, and she silently recited the water control incantation.

At first, the water surface seemed to be stirred by her fingertips, creating circles of ripples. The next moment, several water drops jumped tremblingly out of the water surface like they were bouncing on a vibrating drum.

Those bouncing water drops quickly gathered together, growing longer and longer, like water snakes rising and spiraling in the newborn morning sun, soon coiling around Cui Xiaoxiao’s slightly raised wrist like the colorful silk of flying celestial maidens dancing joyfully…

Jiang Nanmu was washing her face, but when she looked up, she saw her useless junior sister casually controlling the water flow.

She was so surprised that she opened her mouth wide, pointing at Cui Xiaoxiao with shaking hands, but couldn’t speak for a long time.

Just then, Ji Wuqi and A’Yi, who were getting impatient, came over to urge the two junior sisters to get on the road. But they saw Cui Xiaoxiao waving her arms, directing water flow to flip up and down…

Now both of their eyes widened like eggs, mouths agape, unable to speak.

One must know that controlling water and fire, although entry-level skills for Talismonger Sect disciples, weren’t something any disciple could master.

For instance, A’Yi had been in the sect for three years but could only perform some illusions. And although Ji Wuqi could control fire, he could only manipulate it for brief moments.

But Cui Xiaoxiao, who previously knew nothing, could now control water flow with ease, like playing with snakes overnight. How much cultivation would that require for support?

How… how could she possibly have such a surge in cultivation overnight?

Thinking of this, Ji Wuqi finally reacted and shouted: “Disaster! She… she’s become a demon! Junior Brother, quickly get the talismans!”