Chapter Thirteen: The Gathering of Shadows

“Tell me, where are Li Ping and her daughter now?” Su Ye watched the cat demon ruthlessly slaughter the two elders of the Zhao clan. As the cat demon was about to leave, Su Ye blocked its path.

“Move aside!” The cat demon’s emerald eyes fixed on Su Ye. Because Su Ye had never harmed Li Ping and her daughter, the cat demon did not attack him directly.

“You’ve struggled hard in your cultivation. Li Ping and her daughter have become vengeful spirits, corpses possessed by resentment. If you continue this slaughter, all your previous efforts in purification will be wasted.”

Su Ye sighed softly. This cat demon was a cultivator of the pure path, a type of demon whose methods were much like those of human cultivators: refining the energy of heaven and earth to strengthen themselves. Though progress in such cultivation was slow, its foundation was solid, ensuring stability even when advancing to higher realms.

Yet demons rarely possess the strength of will to endure the hardships of purification, often succumbing to the temptation of devouring humans to empower themselves. The cat demon before him was already a first-rank beast; an aura of clarity emanated from its body, marking it as a practitioner of the pure path. However, traces of demonic energy and the sinister aura of corpse spirits now flickered within it—the demon’s own energy, and, unmistakably, the corpse spirit’s aura from Li Ping and her daughter.

Through the cat demon, Su Ye was certain: Li Ping and her daughter truly had become vengeful corpse spirits. In life, Li Ping harbored deep hatred toward the people of Zhao Village; her resentment was immense, and only by slaughtering the villagers could she disperse that hatred.

There were two possibilities: either Li Ping and her daughter’s resentment would fade, their souls sealed within their corpses would be released, and they would enter the cycle of reincarnation; or, they would absorb the collective resentment of Zhao Village, greatly increasing their power and unleashing even greater danger.

The second outcome was far more likely. Thus, Su Ye had to act before Li Ping and her daughter’s resentment was resolved, to force their souls out and send them to the Underworld for reincarnation.

“Even if my purification is ruined, I must avenge my mistress!” The cat demon let out a fierce growl.

He knew his own body well—he had slain too many mortals recently. Though he had not consumed their bodies, his ferocity had grown, a troubling sign. If he continued, he would become no different from those demons who feed on humans.

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“Those who once plotted against Li Ping and her daughter have already been slain by your hand. Will you not stop now? Do you, or Li Ping behind you, intend to wipe out all the thousand souls of Zhao Village?” Su Ye’s voice rang out in anger, his gaze cold as he stared at the cat demon. “Besides, Li Ping and her daughter are dead. Are you sure that what you now serve is still them?”

Li Ping and her daughter were now vengeful corpse spirits. Though such spirits retain all the memories of the living, they are not to be mistaken for the people they once were; the two are utterly different.

A look of confusion appeared in the cat demon’s emerald eyes. He indeed felt that his mistress was no longer the same—she now gave him the same sense as those demons who preyed on humans. He hadn’t minded before, but hearing this human point it out, he realized something was terribly wrong.

He could not bring himself to massacre all the villagers of Zhao Village.

“Then what should I do? If I don’t fulfill my mistress’s last wish, she cannot reincarnate?” the cat demon murmured, lost, before suddenly looking up at Su Ye.

“Take me to Li Ping and her daughter. I can help them reincarnate,” Su Ye said in a low voice, his gaze firm.

A struggle flickered in the cat demon’s emerald eyes. After a moment’s hesitation, he finally agreed to lead Su Ye to Li Ping and her daughter.

Li Ping and her daughter now hid within Black Stone Mountain. Since they became vengeful corpse spirits, their power was weak. Only after the cat demon returned to Zhao Village did Li Ping urge him to begin her revenge.

Li Ping had been kind in life; she once rescued the cat demon from the jaws of wolves, forging a close bond. While Li Ping was trapped in Zhao Village, the cat demon had considered harming the villagers to help Li Ping and her daughter escape, but Li Ping stopped him. She did not wish for the cat demon to hurt anyone and feared being accused of colluding with a demon.

On the day Li Ping and her daughter were buried alive, the cat demon was away, following Li Ping’s instructions. When he returned, they had already become vengeful corpse spirits.

Transformed, Li Ping’s personality changed drastically, becoming the opposite of who she had been: fierce, sinister, cunning, and vengeful, she drove the cat demon to kill the villagers of Zhao Village.

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The cat demon pitied Li Ping and her daughter’s fate and remembered Li Ping’s act of saving his life. When she first begged him to kill Zhao Qi, the one who disgraced and ruined her, he readily agreed.

But Li Ping was never satisfied, repeatedly pleading with the cat demon to continue slaughtering the villagers. This continued to the present.

After learning all this from the cat demon, Su Ye gained a clear understanding of Li Ping, though he had not yet met her.

Rain poured endlessly from the sky; Black Stone Mountain’s forests were lush, and under the cover of dark clouds, the mountain seemed even more foreboding.

Both Su Ye and the cat demon moved swiftly. After walking for two hours into the depths of Black Stone Mountain, they arrived at the hiding place of Li Ping and her daughter.

“My mistress is beneath this tree hollow. Follow me down. Be careful—her temperament has changed greatly. If she knows you’ve come with me, she will surely attack you!” The cat demon slipped into the massive hollow of an ancient tree, his yellow furry tail flicking as he glanced back at Su Ye.

Su Ye nodded lightly. Standing at the entrance, he could already sense the foul, corpse-tainted air seeping from deep within.

He followed the cat demon into the hollow. The tunnel stretched long and dark, and after descending five or six yards, they left the tree’s embrace and entered a deeper underground passage.

Su Ye drew power from his dantian, channeling it to his eyes. Instantly, he could see clearly in the gloom.

The passage was damp, shadowy, and thick with stench. Silently, Su Ye followed the cat demon for nearly a hundred yards, until a vast underground cave appeared ahead.

It was a natural gathering place for yin energy. At its center was a cold spring, its waters infused with faint yin power.

When the cat demon brought Su Ye into the cave, Li Ping and her daughter’s bodies were submerged in the spring.