The Cold and Aloof Palace Master's Daily Demon-Slaying Life

A collection of paintings of beautiful women.

In the demonic path, this is a type of magical artifact that is infamous and whose crafting methods are extremely cruel and evil.

It requires gathering a full one hundred virgin beauties with the best looks, figures, and temperaments, and at the time when their vitality is at its peak and their souls are at their purest, using a secret method to extract and refine their souls, sealing their three souls and seven spirits along with some of their flesh and blood essence into a specially made scroll, and then supplementing it with various yin spiritual materials, resentment crystals, and mind-altering spices to create it.

After the painting was successfully created, the souls of these one hundred beauties became "soul slaves" in the painting, forever bound to the owner of the painting and unable to be reborn.

Normally, it can summon singing and dancing to provide pleasure for its master (although the soul cannot engage in physical intimacy, being surrounded by beauties, with singing and dancing birds, is still an extremely comfortable sensory experience).

In battle, these hundred soul slaves can be commanded to form a battle formation against the enemy. Because their souls are connected and they are refined by secret methods, their combined power is considerable, and they are fearless and pose a great threat to Foundation Establishment cultivators.

However, for cultivators at the Purple Mansion level, the combat function of this Hundred Beauties Scroll is somewhat useless.

A hundred Foundation Establishment stage soul slaves might be able to hold off an early Purple Mansion stage enemy for a while and buy some time, but they would be hard to do against mid-Purple Mansion stage or higher enemies.

Therefore, once one reaches the Purple Mansion realm, the Hundred Beauties Painting is more of a luxury toy, used to display one's status and satisfy certain distorted collecting fetishes and desires for control.

For a Golden Core True Monarch like Zuo Qingqiu, the combat function of the Hundred Beauties Picture is utterly useless and worthless.

She originally intended to destroy the scroll of "One Hundred Beauties," filled with sins, on the spot, just like she would with other evil artifacts.

But when her divine sense swept across the painting, she keenly perceived the hundred faint yet still "vivid" soul fluctuations deep within the painting, filled with fear, confusion, and sorrow.

These women were all innocent people in life.

They were abducted, killed, and turned into magical artifacts by the demonic forces; they were the true victims.

If she were to destroy this diagram now, the hundred souls attached to it would surely be scattered and completely annihilated.

What did they do wrong?

Zuo Qingqiu paused for a moment.

After a moment's hesitation, she changed her mind.

Rather than destroying them directly and letting these innocent souls vanish completely, perhaps... we could try to separate their souls from this evil artifact, send them into the cycle of reincarnation, and thus free them from suffering.

Although it's a bit troublesome, it's not impossible for her.

Thinking of this, Zuo Qingqiu no longer hesitated, and once again extended her finger, pointing at the unfolded Hundred Beauties Picture in mid-air.

A wisp of purplish-black immortal essence, even purer than when the magic mirror was awakened, was infused into the painting.

This time, the activation was not abrupt, but rather carried a Daoist charm of purification and soothing.

"Buzz..."

The Hundred Beauties painting trembled slightly, and the images of the hundred beauties on the scroll suddenly came to life!

A series of slender, semi-transparent figures dressed in various ancient costumes seemed to break free from the constraints of the painting, gracefully flying out of the painting and landing lightly in front of Zuo Qingqiu on the relatively clean black stone ground.

A full hundred figures!

Their forms were ethereal, appearing as semi-transparent souls, enveloped in a faint spiritual light.

Her appearance was exactly the same as in the painting, stunningly beautiful, but now her face lacked the charm and allure of the painting, and instead showed a sense of bewilderment, wariness, and deep sorrow.

One hundred beautiful souls appeared, standing there quietly, like a silent, beautiful sea of ​​flowers in full bloom.

These souls are clearly much "smarter" than the "artificial intelligence"-type artifact spirits like the Demon Mirror Youli, possessing more complete memories and emotions from their previous lives.

Upon appearing, they instinctively looked around warily. When they saw the familiar, now ruined Yanfu Mountain, and combined this with the changes in their own faint connection with the original owner of the Hundred Beauties Painting, as well as the woman in the green robe and bamboo hat before them, whose aura was unfathomable...

They understood most of it without needing much explanation.

After a brief silence.

Among the hundred beautiful souls, a woman who appeared to be slightly older, with a gentle and dignified temperament, and wearing a light blue palace dress, stood out from the crowd.

She gracefully bowed to Zuo Qingqiu, her movements elegant and refined, displaying the demeanor of a well-bred young lady.

Behind her, the other ninety-nine beauties seemed to be of one mind, and they all followed her, bowing deeply to Zuo Qingqiu.

"This servant, Xiu Niang, along with my sisters—"

The woman at the head, who called herself "Xiuniang," spoke softly, yet with a choked sob of relief, clearly stating:

"—Thank you, fairy, for destroying the demon's lair and avenging the blood feud that has befallen us sisters!"

"We will never forget the fairy's great kindness!"

A hundred beauties knelt down in unison, their voices converging, not loud, but carrying a heart-stirring sincerity and sorrow.

They were imprisoned in the painting, suffering endless humiliation and unable to escape. They hated the demon who created and enslaved them to the core.

Now that the den of demons has been destroyed and their enemies have been killed, it is like a timely rain from heaven, and their long-standing grudges have been settled.

Looking at the beautiful souls bowing down before him, Zuo Qingqiu felt a slight fading of the disgust he had felt for the Hundred Beauties Painting, which had been present in his heart, and it transformed into a faint pity.

"Get up." Her tone softened slightly. "I have avenged you. Now, I will cast a spell to help you be freed."

"Relief?" Xiu Niang raised her head, a hint of doubt showing in her beautiful eyes.

"I can use magic to separate your souls from this evil artifact, sending them into the cycle of reincarnation to be reborn and reborn. Although you will lose your memories of this life, it is still better than being trapped in this painting for eternity, as slaves and servants," Zuo Qingqiu explained.

This was the best way she could think of to deal with these beauties.

However, to Zuo Qingqiu's surprise...

As soon as she finished speaking, the hundred beautiful souls almost simultaneously... changed their expressions drastically!

"No! Fairy, no! You mustn't!"

"This servant refuses! I refuse to be reincarnated!"

"Please, fairy, have mercy and do not send us into the cycle of reincarnation!"

"We are willing to follow the fairy! To serve her as slaves and maids! We only ask... we only ask to retain our memories of this life and preserve our intelligence!"

"Yes, fairy! After reincarnation, will I still be myself? What difference is there between that and being completely dead?"

"Who would choose to die if they could live? Even... even in this state..."

For a time, cries of pleas, weeping, and wailing rose and fell.

The hundred beauties, regardless of their previous demeanor, now had faces filled with fear, resistance, and a deep longing for "existence."

They are afraid of dying.

What I fear even more is "not being myself anymore".

Reincarnation sounds wonderful, but it means forgetting the past, losing all memories and emotions, and being reborn into a completely new life that has nothing to do with this one...

For them, that was no different from "their soul being scattered."

Although they are now just souls, bound by magical artifacts and unable to be free, at least "I" am still "I".

It possesses complete memories, clear emotions, the ability to think, to perceive, and to "exist" as its "present life."

Even if this way of "existing" is so wretched, so humble.

But... it's better to live a miserable life than to die a good death.

This is especially true for those special souls who have already died once and cherish "existence" itself.