Chapter 252 - 129: Quick, Someone’s Coming

Chapter 252: Chapter 129: Quick, Someone’s Coming

As for this girl...

If she’s never truly harmed anyone, letting her go wouldn’t be a problem.

After all, his sexual orientation was perfectly normal. He wasn’t at the point of wanting to spend a wedding night with a female ghost.

"But there’s something strange,"

Jiang Mu said suddenly. "Why does Yu Xiaoqian have a physical body? Aren’t Ghost Cultivators supposed to be incorporeal?"

He had previously slain the Ghost Cultivator who was entangled with the Snake Mother.

Although that one had appeared solid, its body became illusory and unstable in a real fight, not much different from a regular ghost.

But Yu Xiaoqian was different.

When he’d touched her earlier, her body was as cold as a piece of jade, but she felt incredibly real, her skin smooth and delicate.

There was almost no difference from a living person.

Especially since the girl’s Cultivation Level was only around Tier Three.

Generally speaking, a Ghost Cultivator could only condense a physical body after reaching Tier Five or obtaining some great opportunity.

Ji Hongyuan’s gaze shifted. She slowly recrossed her legs, the hem of her skirt sliding down to reveal more of the skin wrapped in black silk. Her voice was languid.

"Because she has a body of incense."

"A body of incense?" Jiang Mu was taken aback.

"Is it that hard to understand?"

Ji Hongyuan toyed with a lock of her black hair. "When gods or Cultivators lack a body of flesh and blood, they rely on the faith and worship of living beings—or the Votive Power from sacrifices—to coalesce a physical form.

It’s the same principle as the Garrison Envoys of your Demon-slaying Bureau.

The foundation of their Cultivation Level is mostly tied to a region’s incense. The longer you protect the common people, the more grateful they become. They build shrines and worship you, and the Incense and Candle Power generated will be a greater aid to your cultivation."

Jiang Mu’s expression changed. "You mean to say the demon fiends here are being worshipped by the common people?"

He immediately shook his head and said firmly, "That’s impossible."

’How could demon fiends and monsters possibly be worshipped by the people?’

’Wait!’

Jiang Mu suddenly remembered something.

He recalled when he had just joined the Demon-slaying Bureau and was collecting taxes in the countryside. That rascal Zhang A’wu had casually mentioned that some ignorant commoners, seeking protection, would secretly worship Demons, calling them "Great Immortals."

Like that "Great Immortal Huang," for example.

But the problem was, this didn’t match the Tree Demon Granny’s situation.

The Tree Demon Granny’s faction was infamous. They sent their alluring ghosts out to seduce men and had taken many lives.

And he’d never heard of any commoners nearby building temples for them. How could they possibly have such pure incense power?

Ji Hongyuan seemed to see through his confusion and said slowly,

"I find it strange as well. But after following you into this place, I detected a very thick and peculiar aura of incense.

It’s precisely through the nourishment of this incense that these low-level female ghosts have been able to condense such lifelike physical bodies."

Jiang Mu fell into deep thought.

This was an entirely unexpected variable.

If it were proper worship from the common people, it would mean the Demons here were well-loved, so-called "good demons."

But thinking back to how Yu Xiaoqian had tried to attack him at the very beginning, Jiang Mu still felt it was impossible.

’There’s definitely some other trickery at play here.’

"Can you sense where this incense power is coming from?"

Jiang Mu asked.

Ji Hongyuan closed her eyes to sense it for a moment, then opened them and nodded. "Although the aura is being concealed by an Array, the source is very strong. We can try to find it."

Jiang Mu no longer hesitated. He took out the bone tablet that could conceal his presence from his robes, infused it with Demonic Qi, and activated it.

"Let’s go. We’ll see what the hell that Old Witch is up to."

...

Using the Instant Teleportation anchor point of Demon Shadow number one, Jiang Mu silently slipped out of the house.

The night was as black as ink, and the entire valley was silent.

Jiang Mu moved through the shadows.

Meanwhile, Ji Hongyuan had transformed into a faint red shadow, floating beside him and guiding the way.

Jiang Mu glanced at Ji Hongyuan floating beside him, her feet off the ground and her skirt billowing, and couldn’t help but quip,

"You seem more like a ghost than that female ghost from before."

Ji Hongyuan covered her lips with a light laugh. She suddenly drew close, nearly pressing against Jiang Mu’s back, and brought her red lips to his ear, her breath warm and fragrant.

"Jiangshi and ghosts are quite similar when it comes to cultivation. We’re both yin creatures that gained sentience. Since I don’t have a physical body right now, of course I seem like a ghost. However..."

Her long, slender fingers traced a line over Jiang Mu’s chest without quite touching it, her eyes shimmering.

"If you were willing to let me take a couple of sips of your yang qi, my main body could return to its true form through this Clone. I promise, I’m much more interesting than a ghost... If you don’t believe me, you can give it a try sometime."

Goosebumps broke out all over Jiang Mu. He shot her an irritated glare and quickened his pace.

’This female jiangshi is always trying to seduce me.’

The two of them avoided several patrols of demon fiends.

Most of these patrolling demon fiends also had physical bodies. Their faces were blank and lifeless, and while they weren’t as animated as Yu Xiaoqian, they were far beyond what ordinary wandering souls could compare to.

As they went deeper, the surrounding buildings became more and more dilapidated.

The demonic aura, conversely, grew thinner.

But Ji Hongyuan’s expression grew increasingly solemn. "This place is very strange... It feels like a place that doesn’t belong to the real world, yet it’s very real. It seems to be a spatial world specially created by some Great Power."

"A spatial world?"

Jiang Mu’s heart skipped a beat.

For some reason, he was reminded of Lady Peach Blossom’s "Grotto Heaven Dao Mansion."

That world of ice and snow had also been an independent space.

’Could this Tree Demon Granny also possess a technique similar to a Grotto Heaven Dao Mansion?’

’Impossible. She hasn’t reached that realm yet.’

Under Ji Hongyuan’s guidance, the two passed through numerous corridors and arrived before a solitary cabin deep within the valley.

The cabin stood alone on a high ground littered with jagged rocks.

Not a single blade of grass grew around it.

At a glance, the cabin, with its blue bricks and dark tiles, looked utterly ordinary, even a bit rundown, like the abandoned home of a forest warden.