So it turns out I'm the demon!

Tanzhou City, Demon Slayer Division.

The atmosphere in the council hall was somewhat oppressive.

Shui Miaozheng, dressed in a light blue dress, stood quietly in front of the huge city defense map.

Her voluptuous and graceful figure cast a long silhouette in the candlelight, reflected on the opposite wall and swaying with the flickering flame. The woman's face remained dignified and radiant, but a deep weariness lingered between her brows and eyes.

The Red Umbrella Cult's offensive, launched in conjunction with the demon army, came too suddenly and too fiercely.

Fortunately, the secret message sent by Jiang Mu in advance allowed her to make many arrangements before the enemy forces surrounded her; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

However, the disparity in troop strength between the enemy and ourselves was simply too great.

If reinforcements don't arrive soon, we'll be in dire straits sooner or later.

"Master!"

Accompanied by a series of hurried footsteps, Ming Cuicui walked in quickly.

The girl, dressed in a tight-fitting outfit, said breathlessly:

"Our second line of defense outside the city has also been breached."

However, the traps and array points laid in the enemy lines have all worked, significantly slowing the demon army's advance. This buys the city some time for now.

Shui Miaozheng nodded, her gaze still fixed on the map.

Her finger traced the markings of the second line of defense and stopped at the markings of the third and final line of defense.

"Pass the word down."

Shui Miaozheng's voice was calm and composed, "All Demon Slayers on the third line of defense must hold the line to the death. Before I issue the order to enter the city, anyone who retreats even half a step will be executed."

Ming Cuicui gritted her teeth, clasped her hands in a fist salute, and replied, "Yes!"

She turned to leave, but then stopped, glanced back at Shui Miaozheng's noticeably thinner face, hesitated for a moment, and said in a low voice, "Master... you should take a rest too. It's been three days, and you haven't even had a proper meal."

Shui Miaozheng gently shook her head: "I will rest when the reinforcements arrive."

Ming Cuicui opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing more, turned around and quickly left.

The hall fell silent again.

Shui Miaozheng gently tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

She raised her head, her gaze passing through the half-open window, through the flickering beacon fires atop the city walls, through the dark night sky obscured by demonic energy, and looking towards the distant horizon...

The woman's lips moved slightly as she murmured:

"Little Jiang..."

The training session didn't last very long, ending abruptly after just over half an hour.

It's not that Jiang Mu lacks willpower.

The main reason is that Lan Rou'er is just too fragile.

The young girl was naturally delicate and frail, so how could she withstand the impact of such a powerful technique?

Even with the protection of the "Great Bliss and Light Dual Union Meditation" technique, in the latter half of the process, she could only grit her teeth, her forehead covered in cold sweat, and she collapsed on the soft cushion, almost completely exhausted.

If this continues, it might really damage her foundation.

"Aunt Shui is the best."

Jiang Mu sighed and covered the two women with blankets.

Bored, Jiang Mu simply summoned the [Magic Gauge].

In recent battles, the demonic energy he absorbed has filled his magic tank to a considerable thickness.

This time, after the demonic energy overflowed, in addition to the emergence of a new demonic shadow, a brand new demonic core was also formed.

This magic pill is completely different from the ones before.

Not only was it larger in size, but the black aura surrounding its surface was also much denser.

With a thought, Jiang Mu summoned the newly conceived "Number Five Demon Shadow" and then had it swallow the demon pill.

The next moment, the function of the Demon Pill clearly appeared in Jiang Mu's mind.

[Zheng Xing]?!

Jiang Mu was stunned for a moment, a sharp glint in his eyes.

This demonic pill unexpectedly granted the demonic shadow the ability to independently determine its star position.

It is a star position below the Venerable level.

It should be noted that although he was able to forcibly seize star positions in the past, it always had to be done personally by his main body.

Because the process of proving one's star status ultimately involves the mysterious connection between the cultivator's soul and the starry sea.

Use your thoughts as a bridge, and the principles as a guide.

Only then can one pinpoint their own destiny star from among the countless stars in the sky.

The Shadow Demon is essentially just a virtual puppet formed from demonic energy, lacking the three souls and seven spirits.

Naturally, it cannot resonate with the starry sea.

But this magic pill defied this common sense.

Because the Shadow Demon has no emotions or soul, it cannot "move" the stars through its heart. Therefore, it adopts the most direct method of "sacrifice and exchange." It only needs to place three low-level star positions as "bargains" within the body of the Fifth Shadow Demon to offer as sacrifices, and it can use these as offerings to directly exchange for a higher-level star position from the sea of ​​stars.

It's like making a deal with the will of Heaven.

Its operating mechanism can be described as crude and bizarre.

Of course, there is a hard premise:

There must be exactly one empty, unclaimed star position in the starry sky.

Furthermore, the three star positions that were used as sacrifices will return to the sea of ​​stars in accordance with the laws of heaven after the exchange is completed.

That sounds fair enough.

but!

Jiang Mu possesses something that defies martial ethics, called the "Star-Locking Egg."

This means that after he swapped out the three Heavenly Star Positions, he could easily use the Star-Locking Egg bug again to snatch them back one by one. It's like buying someone else's real money with a worthless check.

I imagine Heaven has no objections.

"I remember, Ye Zhifei, the governor of Hailing Prefecture whom I killed, her star position hasn't been claimed yet, right?"

"How about we test the waters?"

A thought flashed through Jiang Mu's mind, and he immediately closed his eyes and focused his mind, immersing his consciousness in the depths of the starry sea.

After carefully sensing for a moment, it was confirmed that Ye Zhifei's star position was still unclaimed.

Without hesitation, Jiang Mu extracted the three orthodox Heavenly Star positions he possessed—[Heavenly Killing Star], [Heavenly Lone Star], and [Heavenly Swift Star]—and injected them all into the body of the Fifth Demon Shadow.

It directly activated the Demon Pill's [Star Proof] function.

The illusory figure of Number Five was seen sitting cross-legged in a corner of the carriage.

Inside its body, three brilliant points of light, representing the positions of the Heavenly Stars, began to intertwine and rotate in a triangular pattern.

The speed is getting faster and faster.

Ultimately, it transformed into a blinding beam of light, shooting straight into the heavens!

In just a short while.

The three celestial light spots within the Fifth Demon Shadow gradually dimmed.

At the same time, a brand new, brighter spot of light was slowly gathering in the center of the demon's chest.

Jiang Mu immediately received the feedback through the soul bond with his original body.

Become!

Ye Zhifei's star position was actually forcibly taken away by the Fifth Shadow Demon through this thuggish "barter" method!

This star position is called 【Heavenly Greed】!

It is a star position under the command of the Pleiades Rooster in the Western White Tiger Seven Mansions of the Twenty-Eight Mansions.

At the very instant that the [Heavenly Greed] star position fell into the demonic shadow's body, the three Heavenly Star positions that were used as sacrifices transformed into three streams of light and disappeared back into the vast sea of ​​stars.

"You think you can just walk away after you've already put it in my pocket?"

Jiang Mu sneered, and with her prepared right hand, she flipped out the [Star-Locking Egg].

The surging demonic energy within the demonic trough surged out like tentacles, and in conjunction with the Star-Locking Egg, with shameless efficiency, forcibly pulled those three Heavenly Star positions back like catching chicks.

It was perfectly reinserted into the body of Shadow Number Five.

To serve as a sacrifice for the next "card draw".

After a series of actions, Jiang Mu took stock of his personal wealth.

There are now seven orthodox star positions.

One Earthly Fiend level, three Heavenly Gang level, and three Venerable Stars.

"This is fucking..."

Jiang Mu couldn't help but silently complain in his heart, "Why is my cultivation of immortality being treated like collecting a Pokémon Pokédex?"

at the same time.

The Imperial Palace of Daqing, the high ground of the Imperial Observatory.

The high-altitude sundial continued to rotate slowly. More than twenty white-robed disciples sat around the array diagram, their hands forming hand seals to maintain the operation of the star-gazing array. The supervisor, who was resting with his eyes closed, suddenly shuddered, opened his eyes, and stared at the sundial in disbelief.

"Master Ye's star position... was actually stolen by a witness?!"

The supervisor gasped in shock.

It should be noted that Ye Zhifei, as the prefectural governor appointed by the imperial court, had her star position bestowed upon her by the court from the very beginning.

These star positions had long been secretly manipulated by the powerful figures of the Imperial Observatory through secret methods, who planted special restrictions on them.

Once the original owner perishes, the difficulty for any wild cultivator outside the celestial bureau to obtain this star position will increase several times over, except for those designated by the Imperial Observatory through a grand formation.

This is similar to Zhou Yuanzhi's star position, which has always been suspended in the sea of ​​stars.

It was not until the imperial court arranged a suitable successor that it was successfully taken back.

But right now, Ye Zhifei has only been dead for a few days, and they are still selecting a suitable successor, and the star position is already gone?

Isn't this funny?

"Investigate! Immediately determine the exact location for this old man!"

With a livid face, the supervisor waved his sleeve and shouted sternly, "I want to see who has the audacity to steal the imperial court's star position!" The group of white-robed disciples dared not delay and hurriedly activated the star-gazing array.

The starlight on the array plate spun rapidly.

Hundreds of silvery-white rays of light intertwined in the void to form a giant net, which then enveloped the direction from which the star position had shifted.

Each person made hand gestures and chanted incantations.

The pillars of light in the array grew brighter and brighter, almost as bright as day.

However, no matter how they deduced it, the star pointer on the array remained spinning in place, unable to pinpoint a precise location.

"How could this happen?"

The supervisor was completely dumbfounded and muttered to himself:

"It can't be predicted... How could it not be predicted? Could it be that some supreme being has personally intervened to conceal the secrets of heaven, helping their disciple or descendant to forcibly seize a star position?"

If that's the case, then things could get really complicated.

Time slipped away quietly amidst the rumbling of the wheels.

In the blink of an eye, two days have passed.

The convoy was less than halfway to its destination, Yunzhou City.

The carriage continued its tireless journey along the official road.

And the practice inside the carriage never stopped.

With the help of "Great Bliss and Light Dual-Governance Zen", Jiang Mu seemed to have opened the door to a new world, constantly developing new and wonderful skills.

To be honest, over the past two days, Chu Lingzhu has impressed Jiang Mu quite a bit.

I thought it wouldn't be very durable, but it turned out to be quite strong.

Especially her indomitable spirit, which is definitely the strongest among all the women Jiang Mu has ever encountered.

Of course, part of this is thanks to the girl's unique secret medicine.

Just when everyone thought she was about to surrender, this girl would somehow produce a specially concocted "rejuvenation pill." With a small opening of her mouth, the pill would be swallowed.

In just a few breaths, his strength and energy were mostly restored.

Then, like a little female leopard that has been recharged, she pounced on Jiang Mu again with high spirits.

This "pay-to-win and drug-fueled" playstyle has completely baffled Jiang Mu.

If Jiang Mu hadn't been so incredibly powerful, he might have actually suffered a humiliating defeat against this girl's overwhelming force of medicine. In comparison, Lan Rou'er was truly no match.

This girl was already physically weak, and even though Chu Lingzhu generously gave her a few pills to restore her energy, she was still as frail as a willow in the wind. Every time, she would shrink into a corner and beg for mercy with tears in her eyes after only a few moves.

This caused Jiang Mu to always be very careful when practicing with her, for fear that he might lose control of his strength and actually break the fragile porcelain.

However, although Lan Rou'er was not good at direct combat, her role as an assistant in this technique was incredibly powerful. In just two days of feedback, she and Chu Lingzhu, two ordinary girls who were originally powerless, had a complete spiritual energy circulation channel forged within their bodies.

They both stepped into the threshold of cultivation.

First Realm Body Tempering Stage!

On the third day of his training with Lan Rou'er.

Perhaps the emotional connection between the two has reached a new level.

At the peak of his career, Jiang Mu directly reached the Great Perfection of the Seventh Realm, and then, relying on demonic energy, smoothly broke through to the Eighth Realm! According to his original plan, it would have taken him at least three or four months to hone his skills from the Seventh to the Eighth Realm.

I never expected that Lan Rou'er would provide such strong assistance.

Jiang Mu felt an unprecedented clarity in her mind, and every pore on her body opened up.

Of course, this is not only because the two women have the best physical constitutions.

This is also because their initial pure Yin energy was extremely strong.

The innate Yin energy was activated by the Dual-Circulation Zen Technique, and it merged and complemented the pure Yang energy in Jiang Mu's body, thus producing such an amazing effect.

at the same time.

As his cultivation level rose, a new cultivation technique appeared in Jiang Mu's sea of ​​consciousness.

【The Mantra to Transfer Misfortune and Bitterness】!

Jiang Mu closed his eyes and went through the entire contents of the cultivation technique from beginning to end.

The more I looked, the more alarmed I became.

This is actually a rare kind of "suffering transference" supernatural power.

The practitioner only needs to form an unobstructed Prajna mudra in their heart, and they can use cause and effect as a guide to "transfer" the suffering imposed on themselves to another person without any change.

Let the other party bear the burden!

Whether it's the intense pain of swords and weapons piercing the body, the burning sensation of magic, the agonizing venom of poison gnawing at the bones, or even the trembling of having one's soul torn apart...

They can all be transferred out in an instant.

In other words, as long as he has identified a target in advance as a "stand-in".

So if someone gets slashed by an enemy during battle, it's the Stand that feels the pain and bleeds.

The one whose soul was scattered was also the stand-in.

He himself was completely unharmed.

"This is good stuff..."

Jiang Mu licked her lips, her eyes sparkling.

With this supernatural power, he can now adopt a relentless, life-or-death fighting style in future battles.

However, this supernatural power also has considerable limitations.

First, it can only be used on cultivators of the same or lower realm.

Secondly, after each use, the Prajna Mudra will enter a cooldown period.

Even so, this is enough to be one of his trump cards.

Jiang Mu lowered his head, looking at Lan Rou'er in his arms, who had fainted from happiness due to the overwhelming power of the feeding force. His feelings were complicated. What a treasure of a girl.

However, what gave Jiang Mu a slight headache was...

Perhaps the intense battles of cultivation these past two days had caused too much noise, disturbing the two maids in the carriage behind.

Yuan Aqing was alright; the young girl was rather clueless.

All I know is that Sister Lingzhu and Sister Rou'er have changed a lot recently, but I can't quite put my finger on what those changes are.

She even naively thought that the two of them were always catching up on sleep during the day because they were practicing too hard, so she specially prepared a few extra portions of dry food at noon so that they could eat when they woke up.

But Duanmu Li is no innocent little rabbit.

His eye for detail is sharper than most seasoned veterans.

The girl in the black dress, who had a background in demonic cultivation, always looked at Jiang Mu with a complex and inexplicable emotion in her eyes. Occasionally, she would pretend to be casual and sneak over to investigate.

Each time, Jiang Mu, with his keen senses, caught him red-handed, grabbed him by the back of his collar, and ruthlessly threw him back into the carriage behind.

That morning.

Jiang Mu took some dry food and water to the carriage behind, intending to share it with the two little maids to tide them over.

Yuan Aqing obediently accepted it and whispered, "Thank you, sir."

Duanmu Li took the dry rations and took a bite, then suddenly looked up, her dark eyes fixed on Jiang Mu, and uttered a startling statement:

"Jiang Mu, I want to too."

"Snapped!"

Before she could finish speaking, Jiang Mu slapped her on the back of the head.

Duanmu Li was slapped so hard that she fell headfirst onto the cushion.

Jiang Mu scolded him impatiently:

"Stop having those dangerous thoughts and focus on practicing your knife skills. Don't cause any trouble. Otherwise, next time, I really will throw you out of the car window and leave you to do whatever you want in the middle of nowhere!"

"Okay, okay, why are you being so fierce..."

Duanmu Li covered the back of her head with a wronged expression, muttered something, and became much more obedient, only daring to secretly glare at him out of the corner of her eye.

Jiang Mu shook her head helplessly.

late at night.

Inside the swaying carriage, Buddhist light intertwined, and Jiang Mu and Lan Rou'er's cultivation was gradually progressing well.

The girl's delicate body was still as fragile as a willow branch.

She had narrow shoulders, shallow collarbones, and a waist so slender it could be encircled with one hand, as thin as a wisp of smoke.

I was afraid that if I exerted even the slightest force, I would shatter something fragile.

Jiang Mu's fingertips, carrying the warmth of pure yang energy, gently traced across the girl's jade-like back.

Each time her fingertip touched a major acupoint, a tiny golden dot of light appeared, like a dazzling pearl, strung together by invisible threads, climbing up her spine.

Finally, all the points of light converged at the girl's brow, forming a golden "己" character that appeared and disappeared.

Soon, the training ended.

Jiang Mu transmitted the subsequent cultivation method to the girl with his divine sense, allowing her to close her eyes and nurture it on her own.

Turning my head, I saw Chu Lingzhu sitting cross-legged on the cushion next to me, her little face flushed red.

He is cultivating according to the methods he learned from observing others.

However, she didn't have Lan Rou'er's physique and Buddhist blessing, so she seemed to be struggling quite a bit to forcefully draw qi into her body.

But this girl is ruthless.

Relying on his superior medical skills, he held several silver needles directly in his hand.

Wherever she felt her Qi was blocked, or her meridians were swollen and painful, she would immediately and decisively insert a needle into her major acupoint. If one needle wasn't enough, she would insert two, and if two weren't enough, she would insert three.

It's like a little hedgehog using itself as a guinea pig.

Jiang Mu's eyelids twitched as she watched.

They were terrified that this little tiger girl might accidentally go into a qi deviation and explode, dying instantly.

After observing for a while, Jiang Mu noticed that although her breathing was erratic, it was always skillfully neutralized by the silver needles. So she stopped paying attention to it, leaned against the carriage wall, and began to plan her next training program.

Having already stumbled into the eighth realm in a daze, I now have to consider the next step: crossing the threshold to the ninth realm, the [Venerable One].

On the one hand, it is necessary to stabilize one's realm and fill the magic gauge as soon as possible.

On the other hand, we need to find other star cores within the same constellation system.

Besides that, the most important thing is to build a foundation.

The seventh realm is the star, the ninth realm is the supreme.

These eight realms in the middle are the transitional period in which cultivators build a true foundation within their bodies, preparing for the future opening of their own "Cave Heaven Dao Mansion". They are the key watershed for cultivators from "borrowing the power of heaven and earth" to "creating their own world".

To build a foundation for one's Dao, one needs to use the [Sixty Jiazi Divine Objects].

Jiang Mu recalled the previous deductions.

One's destiny star corresponds to the "Great Forest Wood" in the sixty-year cycle.

One needs to find spiritual materials related to the Great Forest Tree and then refine them into divine objects using secret methods in order to establish a foundation for one's Dao.

This is just like building a house.

No matter how good the blueprints or how exquisite the craftsmanship, without suitable bricks, stones, beams, and pillars, it's just a castle in the air.

Just like Shui Miaozheng's destiny is [Great Ocean Water], which is why she went to the Dragon Demon Cave to steal the water-based treasure "Shuyu". The problem now is, where is the spiritual material of the Great Forest Wood hidden?

What kind of monster guards it?

These things need to be investigated gradually after arriving in Fazhou City.

"Once we reach Yunzhou City and help Aunt Shui out of her predicament, we'll settle down for a few days to strengthen our foundation. Then, we'll use the Demon Slayer Bureau's intelligence network to find out the whereabouts of the Great Forest Wood..."

Jiang Mu clearly outlined her future plans in her mind.

Just then, a familiar voice, tinged with a seductive and languid quality, suddenly rang softly in my ear:

"Oh, Young Master Jiang has already reached the eighth realm? Such a cultivation speed... Could it be that some ancient powerhouse has truly possessed your body?"

Jiang Mu was startled and turned to look.

A long, slender leg encased in black silk stockings appeared out of nowhere in his field of vision.

She was wearing a pair of specially made high heels.

The leg line extends from the knee upwards with a symmetrical curve, gleaming with a silky sheen under the dim carriage lights.

It was like a flowing night being wrapped around the skin.

This reminded Jiang Mu of a joke.

Even licking can cause a bone fracture.

His gaze slowly moved upwards along that calf. The woman was still wearing that black and red long dress, the slit barely revealing her figure, and her slender waist was cinched with a red sash.

Above that is a towering, proud, and formidable mountain range.

At first glance, she looks like a bewitching queen who stepped out of a dark-style traditional Chinese painting.

The person who arrived was none other than Ji Hongyuan!