Recruit demons to become heroes, hunt demons to become gods

Chapter 261 Shi Hao's Initial Clash with Dou Eqing
Dou Eqing gave Luo Chuyan the Heavenly Origin Liquid, and Luo Chuyan in turn sent her "shadow body" to the Ten Thousand Demon Cave to give to him, in order to relieve Dou Eqing's longing for her.

Luo Chuyan cultivated a secret technique called "Shadow Slave Clone," which allowed her to enslave other cultivators and turn them into shadow-like clones of herself.

This clone is called the Shadow.

The shadow figures possess unique skills and abilities, making them ideal for stealth tracking and assassination.

During battle, Luo Chuyan can summon these shadow figures at any time to assist in combat. They are like her right and left hands, flexible and versatile, capable of both offense and defense, allowing her to fight two against one.

"Shadow Slave Clone" is one of the Hundred Evil Techniques of the Demonic Path, known for its bizarre and unpredictable cultivation methods and powerful combat enhancements.

This spell transforms other cultivators into shadows, making them shadow slaves of the caster, capable of stealthily moving in the dark and silently carrying out various tasks.

The Shadow Slave clone not only possesses most of the caster's abilities, but can also independently cultivate spells and martial arts and then transfer them to the original body. Furthermore, it can unleash deadly shadow attacks at crucial moments, making it impossible for enemies to defend against.

Those who practice this method must possess extremely high mental concentration and a profound understanding of the laws of darkness in order to master this mysterious and unpredictable evil art.

By using this secret method, if a demonic cultivator can reach the ultimate level, he can not only defy fate but also significantly increase his chances of becoming an immortal.

There is a significant drawback to practicing this secret technique: each breakthrough in a minor realm requires refining a cultivator of the same realm into one's shadow slave; otherwise, the shadow slave's cultivation level will not be able to improve or break through.

As the saying goes, if you stand by the river long enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet.

In order to refine shadow slave clones, cultivators with outstanding cultivation talent and combat power naturally provoke geniuses as their targets.

Over time, this will inevitably accumulate into countless grudges, leading to karmic repercussions.

During the process of being refined, these shadow slaves undergo a painful transformation. Their souls are forcibly extracted and merged into the caster's shadow, becoming his loyal servants.

The newly created Shadow Slave is then fused with the old Shadow Slave through an extremely evil fusion technique.

This process is filled with darkness and bloodshed. Each fusion is accompanied by intense pain and side effects, corroding the cultivator's soul and plunging the cultivator who created the Shadow Slave clone into deeper madness and darkness. Their consciousness is gradually eroded, their rationality disappears little by little, until they are completely transformed into a ferocious demon, with only endless killing desires and a greedy pursuit of power in their eyes.

Shadow slaves are normally much stronger than the original. They not only possess the power granted by the spellcaster, but also inherit the memories and skills of the previous shadow slave, making them more ferocious and difficult to deal with in battle.

In addition, the Shadow Slave Clone possesses a unique ability that allows the main body to absorb the cultivation of the clone.

Whenever the clone accumulates a certain amount of cultivation during cultivation, the main body can absorb this cultivation through the Shadow Slave Formation and transform it into its own cultivation.

This not only accelerated the cultivation process of the main body, but also allowed the user to control the shadow slave as a regular clone for use.

These shadow slaves can not only perform various tasks, but also provide powerful support to the main body at critical moments, enabling the main body to handle powerful enemies with ease.

Luo Chuyan discovered that her cultivation technique, "Shadow Slave Clone," had mutated. Even if the Shadow Slave Clone was more powerful than the original body, the original body could easily control the Shadow Slave Clone's actions, and the side effects were greatly reduced.

Because absorbing the cultivation power of the Shadow Slave clone would result in significant losses for the main body, Luo Chuyan only used the Shadow Slave clone to enhance her cultivation once.

Her main goal was to have the shadow slave clone enhance her combat power and help the main body handle trivial matters, allowing the main body to have more time to cultivate.

The shadow slave clone could completely replace her and handle the complicated trivial matters, allowing her to focus on cultivation.

Because her cultivation level mainly came from her own down-to-earth practice.

She firmly believed that only through continuous cultivation of the main body could one truly hope to become an immortal, and that the clones could be sacrificed to save one's life in critical moments.

When Dou Eqing saw Luo Chuyan's shadow slave clone, the shadow slave's cultivation was already at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage, and it was possible that it would break through to the Void Refinement stage before Luo Chuyan's main body.

The shadow slave clone was identical to the original in both appearance and aura. Dou Eqing initially mistook her for Luo Chuyan herself and, after getting intimate with her, almost performed the ritual of dual cultivation with her.

Fortunately, Dou Eqing's true self consciousness discovered this in time and prevented the two from engaging in dual cultivation at the "final step".

Because Luo Chuyan's shadow slave clone is still a pure Yin body, and possesses the physique of Yue Fen, which has the Yin-gathering spiritual veins, it is a perfect match for Dou Eqing's pure Yang Dao body.

Her shadow slave clone exuded a faint fragrance, like a ghost in the night, while the Gathering Yin Spiritual Vein was like a hidden river of primordial yin, gathering the pure yin essence of many female cultivators and bringing about a sublimated version of primordial yin.

Dou Eqing's pure yang body is like a blazing sun, with masculine energy filling his entire body. Whenever he gets close to Luo Chuyan's shadow slave clone, the yin and yang forces between the two will resonate subtly, forming a unique yin-yang complementary energy field that can promote the cultivation of both of them at every moment.

Therefore, Luo Chuyan's shadow slave clone can assist Dou Eqing in breaking through to a higher realm in the future.

In the world of cultivation, as one's cultivation level increases, not only does the difficulty of cultivation increase, but cultivation resources also become increasingly scarce, and resources that assist in breaking through realms are extremely rare.

Major powers have been accumulating and nurturing high-level resources from the beginning; otherwise, they wouldn't have had so many resources to cultivate genius cultivators.

For Dou Eqing, Luo Chuyan's shadow slave clone was undoubtedly a high-level resource worth cultivating, and it belonged to the highest level, possessing extremely high cultivation value.

Through training, Dou Eqing and others will be able to realize their highest value at the Tribulation Transcending Realm stage.

If the Shadow Slave clone were not of paramount importance, Dou Eqing's true self would never have subconsciously sensed it.

In fact, Luo Chuyan sent her clone here so that the clone could satisfy Dou Eqing on her behalf and strengthen their relationship.

The shadow slave clone wore a gorgeous silk fairy dress, the hem of which was embroidered with delicate cloud patterns and flowers, swaying gently with her steps, like flowing water.

Her figure was even more alluring, with exquisite curves, and every inch of her skin radiated a captivating glow.

She exuded a faint fragrance of spiritual oil, a scent as intense and intoxicating as the ephemeral beauty of a night-blooming cereus, making her even more attractive to Dou Eqing than Luo Chuyan herself.

Furthermore, when Luo Chuyan first merged with her clone while cultivating the "Shadow Slave Clone" technique, she repaired her own physical body.

Originally, after she cultivated with Dou Eqing, she was no longer a body without flaws, but now she possesses a perfect Dao body with a pure Yin body.

For the sake of her own cultivation, Luo Chuyan planned that she would not engage in dual cultivation with Dou Eqing again until she reached the Integration Realm.

To make up for this deficiency, Luo Chuyan's plan is to have a clone take her place.

After all, the exchange of desires is inevitable between Daoist couples.

The feeling of spiritual connection brought about by physical intimacy cannot be replaced by words, and the joy of dual cultivation is indispensable for cultivating the feelings between Daoist partners.

However, she was unaware of the immense auxiliary effect that her Shadow Slave clone's pure Yin body had on Dou Eqing.

Dou Eqing had no choice but to send his shadow slave clone back to Luo Chuyan's side to cultivate, lest he be able to look at the beauty but not touch her.

However, besides visiting Dou Eqing at the Ten Thousand Demon Cave, the Shadow Slave clone also had to meet Luo Kui.

Her purpose in meeting Luo Kui was also for Dou Eqing's sake, in order to ask Luo Kui to take good care of Dou Eqing.

After all, the Great Battle of the Ten Thousand Demon Cave is known as a meat grinder for cultivators, and every major battle is fraught with danger.

On the battlefield of this racial war, cultivators below the Refinement Realm were like harvesters of life, and after each clash, the ground was covered with broken magical artifacts and the remains of cultivators.

The ferocity of the battle was chilling; every inch of land witnessed the loss of countless lives, and it was no exaggeration to say that rivers of blood flowed during the war.

Since Luo Kui holds great power in the Demon Hunter Sect within the Ten Thousand Demon Cave and has broken through to the Void Refinement Realm, he can naturally use his power to protect Dou Eqing.

However, while Luo Chuyan's shadow slave clone remained in the Ten Thousand Demon Cave, the Demon Hunter faction, through the coordination of the Shi family, launched an operation against Dou Eqing.

Perhaps it was her arrival that prompted them to take action.

The Shi family spearheaded the operation against Dou E's celebration, with Shi Hao, a cultivator at the Refinement Realm, as the main person in charge.

When Dou Eqing arrived at the Ten Thousand Demon Cave, Shi Dakai informed Shi Hao of his arrival.

Shi Hao has been following Dou Eqing for nearly ten years.

Over the past decade, Shi Hao has secretly observed Dou Eqing's every move countless times. From his words and actions to his style of doing things, everything has been recorded by the cultivators Shi Hao sent out.

He was even more aware than Dou Eqing himself of details that Dou Eqing had not noticed.

These actions were all observed in secret and were never discovered by Dou Eqing.

The more he paid attention, the more interested he became in Dou Eqing.

Dou Eqing's intelligence and cunning posed an unprecedented challenge to Shi Hao. Every encounter was like a battle of wits, keeping Shi Hao hooked.

After all, the two had only been secretly competing, and his higher cultivation level than Dou Eqing put him at a disadvantage.

Shi Hao knew that Dou Eqing was definitely a more talented cultivator than Luo Chuyan.

If he had Luo Chuyan's background, he would undoubtedly be the next leader of the Demon Hunter Sect.

After Shi Hao decided to take action, he carefully considered various options and finally focused his efforts on Yu Yaoqin, who had lost her son, as the breakthrough point against Dou Eqing.

Yu Yaoqin, angered by the death of her son, distanced herself from Dou Eqing's circle. Without the protection of the Hezong core, it became easier for Shi Hao to take action.

However, when Shi Hao captured Yu Yaoqin, he was unable to obtain Dou Eqing's secret from her through soul searching because of the Demon Slave Seal.

He had no choice but to seek out Qiu Nianzheng, an expert in hypnosis, and use the most primitive method of hypnotic questioning to probe her. After Yu Yaoqin was hypnotized, Shi Hao eagerly asked:

What is Dou Eqing's biggest secret?

"do not know."

Yu Yaoqin answered instinctively.

"Why is Dou Eqing able to cultivate so quickly?"

"Romantic luck and dual cultivation."

Yu Yaoqin's answer left Shi Hao speechless, both amused and exasperated.

In fact, the hypnotic questioning method can only make the hypnotized person answer instinctively and not lie, but it cannot be determined that what she says is completely true.

Under hypnosis, the subconscious mind of the hypnotized person is activated, making it impossible for her to hide her true thoughts and feelings.

However, the information provided in this state may be affected by a variety of factors, such as individual memory biases, emotional fluctuations, and potential psychological suggestions.

Therefore, although hypnotic questioning can reveal some hidden truths, its accuracy and reliability still have some uncertainty.

Shi Hao asked countless questions, but little of the information was valuable.

His eyes darted around, trying to catch a useful clue from every detail, but the result was disappointing.

However, something piqued his interest.

Through a series of corroborating questions, Shi Hao learned of Dou Eqing's ambitions toward the Blazing Flame Cave.

When Shi Hao learned of Dou Eqing's ambition, he gained a deeper understanding of Dou Eqing.

After realizing that he could no longer obtain any more valuable information from Yu Yaoqin, Shi Hao immediately implemented his last plan to exploit her identity.

The operation aimed to frame Luo Chuyan's shadow clone after the murder, thereby sowing discord between Dou Eqing and Luo Chuyan.

After learning of Dou Eqing's ambitions for the Blazing Cave, he changed his plan to eliminate Dou Eqing.

Shi Hao wanted to exploit Dou Eqing's plan to gain benefits from the Blazing Cave.

In fact, most cultivators in the Demon Hunter Sect believed that Luo Chuyan would be the next sect leader.

Even the factions that are at odds with the Luo family are not planning to play the opposition card, but instead will try to gain a share of the benefits through roundabout means.

This roundabout method involved arranging a marriage between one of their own people and Luo Chuyan.

But as everyone knows, Luo Chuyan is in love with Dou Eqing.

Therefore, the Shi family's involvement stemmed not only from their enmity with Dou Eqing and their covetousness of Dou Eqing's treasures, but also from Luo Chuyan's necessity to deal with Dou Eqing.

Therefore, the Shi family not only had a grudge against Shi Dou for being killed by Dou Eqing, but also coveted the treasures on Dou Eqing's body, and also had to deal with Dou Eqing because Luo Chuyan had to.

Shi Hao used the Illusion Gu to control Yu Yaoqin, causing her to flee in panic to Dou Eqing.

Yu Yaoqin's face was full of terror, but she couldn't stop and rushed straight into Dou Eqing's arms.

Then, she made Dou Eqing lower his head, bring his ear close to her mouth, and whispered to Dou Eqing:
"Dou Lang, avenge me, kill Luo Chu..."

After uttering these six words weakly, Yu Yaoqin's eyes gradually dimmed, her lips twitched slightly, and she finally breathed her last, her soul dissipating.

Her body slowly collapsed, as if she had lost all her strength.

On her chest was a scar characteristic of the Soul-Shattering Palm attack from the 'Shadow Slave' clone—a deep purple crack with eerie light emanating from its edges, as if it were still radiating deadly energy fluctuations.

The Soul-Shattering Palm did indeed originate from the "Shadow Slave" clone, but it was left by Yu Yaoqin when she was controlled by the Illusion Gu and ambushed the "Shadow Slave" clone.

In fact, once she was afflicted by the Illusion Gu, she was already a living dead.

The owner of the Illusion Gu decides when she will die, and that's when she will die.

At the same time, it was also because Yu Yaoqin was hit by the Soul-Shattering Palm that the Illusion Gu in her body was destroyed, which is why Dou Eqing was unable to find the traces left by the Illusion Gu when he examined Yu Yaoqin's body.

The Illusion Gu is one of the most mysterious creatures in the Kunlun Realm. It is not only extremely valuable but also very rare.

No one would have imagined that someone would be keeping a pet in the small Demon Hunter Sect.

Compared to the value of the Illusion Gu, the Demon Hunter Sect is truly insignificant.

If we compare the Illusion Gu to a cultivator's spirit pet mount, it is equivalent to a pure-blooded demon pet of the dragon or phoenix kind that possesses the bloodline of divine beasts.

If the news that the Demon Hunter Sect possesses a pure-blooded dragon hatchling becomes known to the outside world, their annihilation will not be far off.

The Illusionary Gu takes countless forms, sometimes transforming into a beautiful butterfly, fluttering gracefully; at other times, it becomes a lively insect, shimmering with mesmerizing fluorescence.

The appearance of the Illusion Gu is always elusive. Its wings are as transparent as gauze, yet covered with enchanting patterns, and each scale seems to contain the mysteries of the world.

The Illusion Gu is mysterious and unpredictable; even if someone raises it, their understanding of it is very limited.

It can secrete an irresistible sweetness that captivates even cultivators of a higher realm, making them unable to extricate themselves from its allure.

Once someone is lured by the fragrance, the Illusion Gu can control their consciousness, turning them into a puppet to be driven at will.

A cultivator who wishes to possess a Phantom Gu can only obtain an unborn Phantom Gu egg by chance.

Even more astonishing is that the Illusion Gu can mimic all kinds of sounds, from birdsong and insect chirps to human chatter. It uses these sounds as bait to lure its prey step by step into its trap.

Under the cover of night, the silhouette of the Illusionary Gu blends into the darkness, making it almost impossible to recognize.

It floats silently in the air, almost blending into its environment, waiting for its victims to be deceived by its illusions.

Even the most astute cultivators would find it difficult to escape its meticulous control.

Yu Yaoqin was initially controlled by the illusionary Gu manipulated by Shi Hao, and then automatically came to Shi Hao's side.

Shi Hao probed Wan Dou's secrets from her, and then manipulated the Illusion Gu to make Yu Yaoqin attack Luo Chuyan's 'Shadow Slave' clone.

If Yu Yaoqin were to launch a sneak attack on Luo Chuyan's "shadow slave" clone, it would undoubtedly be courting death.

Whether in terms of realm difference or strength comparison, the "Shadow Slave" clone could easily crush Yu Yaoqin.

However, Yu Yaoqin has been parasitized by the Illusion Gu and is no longer herself; her strength has been greatly enhanced.

This is where the magic of the Illusion Gu comes into play.

It can replicate 80% of its master Shi Hao's strength and cause the 'Shadow Slave' clone to fall into an illusion, unable to distinguish the real scene.

When the 'Shadow Slave' clone was attacked, the Illusion Gu caused her to have a hallucination, as if Luo Chuyan herself ordered her to eliminate all the female cultivators around Dou Eqing who had emotional entanglements with him.

Moreover, after she regains consciousness, she doesn't think she's hallucinating, as if such a consciousness has been implanted in her mind.

This consciousness implantation is an innate talent skill of the Illusion Gu, but its application is subject to considerable limitations.

This is also because Shi Hao possesses the cultivation level of the Void Refining Realm and has strong spiritual power; otherwise, the ability of the Illusion Gu would not be so easy to achieve.

Once a cultivator has this subconscious implanted by the Illusion Gu, unless they are a person with strong mental power, it is difficult for them to eliminate this consciousness.

Of course, the owner of the Illusion Gu can also retract this influence of consciousness.

In addition to the talent skill of consciousness implantation, the Illusion Gu can also "refine" an avatar, just like a cultivator.

Among them, the one who died along with Yuyao Qinti was the clone of Huan Gu.

Otherwise, Shi Hao would definitely not be willing to let Huan Gu and Yu Yaoqin perish with him.

The value of the Illusion Gu and its potential benefits for the future are immense, and Shi Hao cannot currently estimate them.

Although the Illusion Gu is extremely rare and magical, Shi Hao never expected Dou Eqing to be so extraordinary, especially since Dou Eqing's true consciousness is half a player in the game of fate.

Dou Eqing discovered that the enemy had set a trap for him. Although he could understand being targeted, he decided to make the enemy pay a heavy price when innocent people around him were harmed and died because of him.

"This grudge will be avenged!"

Looking at the lifeless Yu Yaoqin, he gritted his teeth and made a vow in his heart.

(End of this chapter)