Chapter 524 - 491: The Market Behind Demon Fiend Malice

On this day, Song Ciwan healed all the injuries, major and minor, of everyone in Zhou Mu’s team.

In the end, all nine members of the team were fully healed, their bodies restored to a state as if they had never been injured at all.

No, it was more than just being as if they had never been injured. More accurately, everyone had been restored to a peak physical state they had never even experienced before.

After all, Cultivators who spent their years in Demon Suppression City were always susceptible to all sorts of injuries, major and minor.

Sometimes, an injury might seem to have healed, but in reality, subtle hidden wounds would remain within the body. Over the years, they would accumulate, slowly forming significant hidden injuries.

These hidden injuries were unnoticeable in normal times and didn’t seem to affect a Cultivator’s combat ability or health. But in truth, their presence both shortened one’s maximum lifespan and hindered breakthroughs.

The human body is a natural, marvelous grand cycle, and hidden injuries are the tiny pests that disrupt it.

As the saying goes, a thousand-mile dike can collapse from a single anthole. It’s fine as long as there is no flood. But the moment the waters surge—when attempting a breakthrough—those tiny, anthole-like hidden injuries will deal the Cultivator a fatal blow!

In a mild case, the breakthrough fails. In a severe one, their Qi Veins will reverse course, damaging their body and risking their life.

Everyone was well aware of these difficulties, but low-level Cultivators each had their own helpless struggles. What good did it do to know about these problems?

The problems they couldn’t solve remained unsolvable.

Song Ciwan’s treatment, however, had not only healed all the surface wounds of the Cultivators present, but she had even cured the hidden injuries that had accumulated in their bodies over time.

When everyone confirmed this fact, another collective wave of emotion washed over them, and Song Ciwan received a massive influx of human desires.

[Human Desires: The astonishment, ecstasy, and admiration of a Late-stage Qi Cultivation Cultivator. Weight: two jin and one tael. Redeemable.]

[Human Desires: The surprise, reverence, and gratitude of a Qi Cultivation Great Perfection Cultivator. Weight: one jin and nine taels. Redeemable.]

[Human Desires...]

...

A flood of human desires leaped into the Heaven and Earth Scale with a CLATTERING sound. It was like large and small pearls falling onto a jade plate; every single one was a bountiful harvest.

Zhou Mu, the team’s leader, stepped forward and said to Song Ciwan, "Fairy, this humble Cultivator and my companions will never forget your immense kindness. After we return to the city, we wish to offer you all the spoils from these two Demon Beasts. It is a meager gift, but we hope you will not reject it."

Song Ciwan withdrew her spell-casting hand and looked at the team of nine standing before her. As they gazed at her, their eyes were all filled with adoration.

Some mixed eager anticipation into their adoration, while others averted their gazes slightly, as if they had other thoughts—

But the human desires Song Ciwan received were uniformly filled with emotions like gratitude and reverence. This showed that even if some of them had other thoughts, those thoughts were likely harmless.

She then laughed softly. The moment the smile bloomed on her face, it was as if a resplendent flower had suddenly blossomed upon the surface of a quiet spring pond.

It made her formerly unapproachable image suddenly seem vivid and alive.

Zhou Mu couldn’t help but trail off mid-sentence. He placed his hands by his sides, suddenly flustered again.

Song Ciwan waved her hand dismissively and walked toward the two fallen Demon Beasts.

The Lion Demon was at the Demon Core Stage, and it had died a miserable death. Its body was completely mangled, covered in marks left by slashing and blasting Magic. Its once-lustrous fur was now dull and filthy. In short, it was a gruesome sight, and nothing more needed to be said.

Song Ciwan, however, wasn’t bothered by this. She had seen countless Demon Beasts that had died a hundred times more gruesomely; a sight like this was nothing to her.

She stepped forward and placed a hand on the Lion Demon’s corpse.

The Heaven and Earth Scale appeared: [Malice: From the death of a Demon Core Stage Lion Demon. Weight: four jin and eight taels. Redeemable.]

’Not bad,’ she thought. ’This Lion Demon must have died feeling utterly aggrieved, leaving behind a full four jin and eight taels of Malice.’

Then, as the Heaven and Earth Scale absorbed the Malice from the Lion Demon’s corpse, Zhou Mu and the others felt their vision blur for an instant. In their perception, the corpse, which had been emanating a bloody and sinister aura, suddenly became remarkably peaceful.

Even the surrounding air seemed to have been cleansed.

Obviously, the Demon Corpse Malice on the Lion Demon had been purified.

Zhou Mu and the others stood with their mouths agape, both shocked and amazed.

It was no wonder they were astonished. Although they couldn’t see Malice with their naked eyes, everyone who had cultivated to the Qi Cultivation Stage or higher possessed the ability to sense it.

According to standard procedure, they would first have to find a way to transport a Demon Beast corpse like this back to the city and deliver it to the Demon Refining Platform. This was done for two reasons: one, to exchange it for Battle Merits, and two, because a Demon Corpse saturated with Malice needed to undergo the platform’s special washing process to be fully cleansed.

Only a Demon Corpse stripped of its Malice could truly be processed and utilized.

Whether for Alchemy, Artifact Refining, or for use as Talisman Materials, and so on.

Malice was not something easily removed, even by a Cultivator.

The reason the Demon Refining Platform could use mortals for Washing Demons was because it possessed special, secret medicinal formulas.

It was one thing if the Demon Corpse was Low Level.

But if the Demon Corpse’s Level was high enough—like this Lion Demon, which possessed a Demon Core Stage cultivation—it would have originally taken considerable effort for Zhou Mu and the others to transport it back to the city, even though it was dead.

The presence of the Malice would have made it difficult to put the Lion Demon into an ordinary, Low Level Storage Pouch. They would have originally needed to carry it back together.