Chapter 332 The Hunter Who Killed Immortals (83)



(Secret Headquarters Of The Crimson Demon Sect)

(Hidden Mountain Range)

"The successor?' the woman gasped in shock and placed a hand on her chest. Her narrow eyes fixated on Xu Lu's body and a terrifying smile spread across her face.

"My… my… aren't you an interesting one…" 

The corpses walking around in front of the building all simultaneously stopped moving and turned towards Xu Lu as well.

"Pleased to meet you," Xu Lu replied calmly as she ignored the living dead and stared directly at the mysterious woman.

She was not afraid of zombies.

(Eve… was one of them…)

Eve? Who was Eve?

Xu Lu frowned beneath her mask as a vague figure with pitch black eyes briefly appeared in her memories before fading away.

Fortunately, the voice of the mysterious woman interrupted her strange mood before she could get lost in her thoughts.

"The pleasure is all mine darling… the sect leader hasn't introduced us properly… my name is Wei Fang," the woman smiled warmly and then snapped her fingers.

"If you ever want to dabble in corpse raising techniques… my babies are at your disposal for practice anytime you want…"

Wei Fang raised up her hand and touched the face of one of the corpses next to her. 

The corpse belonged to a female disciple who looked no older than twenty and her empty eye sockets showed no emotions or signs of intelligence.

She was like a broken doll.

No… this was evil.

Wei Fang's smile grew even wider as she played with her puppet's hair and twirled her fingers around the corpse's long ponytail.

Xu Lu bit her tongue and resisted the urge to ask Wei Fang if she was crazy. Why would she want to learn how to turn dead bodies into puppets?

"Come… we still have more buildings to visit," Yang Xia calmly spoke and broke the tense atmosphere that was beginning to form.

She walked away and Xu Lu was eager to follow behind the sect master and leave this dreadful place.

Wei Fang waved them goodbye with a slightly disappointed expression on her face. Xu Lu waved back politely and hid the true feelings in her heart.

"Corpse puppeteering only works on lower-level cultivators," Yang Xia spoke lazily as she guided Xu Lu through a well-worn pathway into the inner mountain region.

"The real threat is when you combine the technique with trapping formations and curses to lower the strength of your opponents."

"Wei Fang's personality may be… eccentric but she is a good teacher. I suggest you take the opportunity to learn from her."

"I'll keep that in mind," Xu Lu replied thoughtfully. 

She still wasn't sold on the idea of commanding corpses and defiling dead bodies, but it may prove useful to learn curses and weakening formations.

Yang Xia led her through a pathway along the side of a mountain that was littered with the bones of dead animals and skulls which belonged to humans.

The air in this place was hot and stale. Xu Lu could not see any disciples and the only signs of life were the ravens perched on the withered trees.

It took around twenty minutes but eventually they arrived at the entrance to a cave that was guarded by an old man wearing a vibrant purple cloak.

The man's body was covered in heavy wrinkles and yet Xu Lu could feel goosebumps run up the sides of her arms as she looked at him.

Danger… this elderly man was extremely dangerous…

"I have…" Yang Xia began to speak but was interrupted as the old man raised up his hand.

"The successor," he calmly spoke.

"Please… can you come a bit closer?"

Xu Lu turned to Yang Xia who nodded at her to approach the elderly man. The former saintess walked up towards him and the old man stretched out his palm for her to grab.

Xu Lu felt a bit reluctant but still touched the old man's hand. His hand was soft but the rough callouses on his palm felt very uncomfortable.

"Hmm…" the old man hummed softly under his breath as he closed his eyes.

"Are you sure that you want to become the next leader of the Crimson Demon Sect?"

"I have no other choice," Xu Lu replied honestly.

The elderly man opened his eyes and laughed at her answer. His hoarse giggles echoed through the empty surroundings and caused the ravens nearby to shriek angrily.

"You are a truthful one… I like you…" the elderly man warmly spoke as he withdrew his palm but not before giving Xu Lu a reassuring smile.

"Don't lose that kind heart of yours."

Xu Lu nodded her head, and the old man patted her on the shoulder. 

Unlike most of the people who she had encountered so far in the demon sect, Xu Lu could not sense any curiosity or malice in the elderly man's gaze as he looked at her.

"Elder Zhong… does she posses the qualifications to enter?" Yang Xia asked quietly.

"Yes… she does," Elder Zhong replied with his smile fading ever so slightly. 

He let out a heavy sigh under his breath and then gestured towards the open entrance of the cave.

"Go inside… and be reborn," he softly whispered.

Xu Lu felt a bit confused because she did not know what the elderly man was talking about. She turned to Yang Xia who simply waved her inside.

"Enter the pool and stay as long as your body can endure," Yang Xia coldly spoke as she offered up no further explanations.

The former saintess nervously stepped forward and then entered inside the cave. At the back of the cave was a long and narrow corridor that was devoid of all light.

Xu Lu circulated her demonic qi into the tip of her fingers and a deep purplish-black flame erupted from her left hand.

She raised up her palm in the air and used the light to illuminate her surroundings. 

She noticed that the walls were covered in heavy writings and texts that were written down in a language that she had never seen before.

As she continued to walk down the corridor, it became harder to breathe. A sense of terror mixed with an aura of malevolence permeated the air.

The darkness inside the cave wriggled and squirmed as if it were somehow alive. 

Faint whispers echoed through the underground space, but Xu Lu could not tell what direction they were coming from.

"Leave this place…"

"Turn back… you are unworthy…"

"Pretender… unfit to be the successor… a fraud… a hypocrite…" 

"You will die here."

The ominous whispers sent chills down Xu Lu's spine as she desperately tried her best to get the voices out of her head.

She focused on the sounds of her footsteps as she placed one foot after the other and bravely kept continuing forward.

Eventually the narrow passageway widened out to reveal an open space. Xu Lu stepped inside the room and saw something that took her breath away.

In the centre of the space was an imposing structure carved out from an obsidian- black stone that seemed to absorb the surrounding light.

Its presence was awe-inspiring and menacing in equal measure. 

The structure was bowl-shaped with a length of around twenty feet and a width of roughly thirty feet at the widest point.

Every inch of the exterior of the structure was covered in intricate red runes that glowed with an eerie light in the darkness.

Xu Lu hesitantly approached the structure and noticed that an unusually sweet and yet sickly scent filled the air.

The scent of blood… she recognised the slightly metallic undertone to the smell.

This was a smell that she was used to after spending many decades inside a vampire's castle. 

Xu Lu peered over the edge of the bowl-shaped structure and saw a deep dark pool of crimson liquid.

Despite the lack of air currents, there were waves inside the pool and Xu Lu noticed what could only be described as skeleton-like things lurking at the bottom of the bowl.

She was supposed to go inside this?

Xu Lu hesitated for a moment and the voices inside her head got even louder as if fueled by her self-doubt.

"The pool will devour you…"

"Look at the bodies inside… where do you think the blood came from? The sect leader… she sent you here to die…"

"She wants you gone… she wants to kill you… leave this place and confront her…"