'Gulp.'
Su Hongzhu tilted her head back and, right in front of the young man, swallowed the demon core she had dug out from his abdomen.
She extended her scarlet tongue and licked her red lips with a hint of lingering taste, seemingly oblivious to the astonishment and rage on his face.
However, for this young man who had transformed from a catfish demon, all the fury in his heart was now useless.
The divine light in his eyes rapidly dimmed, and his body fell straight to the ground, a pool of water-blue blood silently flowing out.
Looking at the physically robust body brimming with vitality and spiritual energy at her feet, Su Hongzhu hesitated for a moment before parting her thin lips instinctively.
The next instant, the qi and blood, spiritual energy, boundless life force, and magic power contained within the demon's body seemed to be influenced by some power, emerging from her physique and being drawn into Su Hongzhu's mouth.
Her complexion visibly became more rosy as if she were savoring an exquisite delicacy, and she even let out a soft hum.
"Flesh is rapidly growing on her bones."
Song He said in a deep voice.
As a cultivator at the second realm, even without practicing any secret arts, simply infusing magic power into his eyes granted him the basic Law Eyes.
Under the gaze of these Law Eyes, he could see through Su Hongzhu's concealment techniques and focus his sight directly on her true form.
At this moment, fine threads of flesh and blood were rapidly generating on Su Hongzhu's true form, attaching themselves to the crystal-clear white bones. Though not numerous, they were filled with spiritual energy and vitality.
And as this flesh and blood grew, her aura was steadily and rapidly increasing.
After previously consuming the martial artist's qi and blood from Magistrate Yuan Yongcheng, Su Hongzhu's aura had already solidified from the initial stage of the second realm. Now, after consuming the demon before her, her cultivation had continuously climbed, finally stopping at the mid-stage of the Spirit Condensation realm.
She was even only a step away from the late-stage of the Spirit Condensation realm. Even without any fortunate encounters or consuming elixirs, through normal cultivation, she could smoothly take that step in three to four years.
"I once heard a storyteller say: 'In any matter, he who benefits the most is often the key. If not the planner, he is certainly closely related to the planner.'"
Ji Yuan, looking at Su Hongzhu whose aura was continuously climbing, suddenly mused to himself.
Upon hearing this, the others around him also fell into deep thought, as if his words had sparked inspiration.
"You don't actually think that Su Hongzhu is the one orchestrating this, or that she has a connection to the orchestrator, do you?"
Shen Lang chuckled, a hint of helplessness on his face, clearly not agreeing with Ji Yuan's speculation.
Huixin was of the same opinion, believing he was overthinking things and that there was no connection between the two.
Only the Song He couple were seriously contemplating whether there could be any link between them, not dismissing such a guess as baseless.
However, they lacked the one thread that could connect the two.
"I think it's better to deal with the other enemies first rather than wasting time on this."
Shen Lang shook his head, disagreeing with their thoughts.
In his view, rather than dwelling on matters for which there were no clues, it was better to resolve the immediate enemies. With their strength, they could completely slay the possessed City God and the five Spirit Officials.
At that point, regardless of what the hidden schemer was plotting, after losing almost all their pawns, how many pieces would they have left?
"No rush, as long as we ensure they can't harm others, delaying a bit of time is beneficial for us."
However, Ji Yuan shook his head, stating that it was better to stall for time until they understood some crucial points.
Otherwise, always being led by the nose by the hidden schemer would be an extremely unpleasant experience, let alone continuing like this, where they might stumble into a trap at any moment.
That would truly be a situation where they couldn't speak of their suffering.
"Is there a possibility that, many years ago, the hidden schemer cultivated this very 'Hongfen Kulou' in the mass grave?"
Song He pondered, suspecting that Su Hongzhu was also a pawn of the hidden schemer.
After all, given that she could enlighten demons and secretly establish unholy temples to scheme for centuries of incense offerings, cultivating a 'Hongfen Kulou' a hundred years in advance wasn't an entirely far-fetched idea.
Moreover, Su Hongzhu's appearance at this particular time was indeed too coincidental.
"Thinking about it this way, it's not entirely impossible."
Ji Yuan's eyes showed a contemplative look, and then he suddenly froze.
He suddenly realized that whether it was the old locust tree in the Zhao family's mansion, Wuhai of Baiyun Temple, Yuan Yongcheng in the county office, or even the demon just killed.
These demons and monsters possessed considerable cultivation. Even when facing human cultivators of the same realm, while not necessarily guaranteed victory, they would at least hold many advantages.
Yet, they were killed one after another. Although the process had some twists and turns, it was generally quite smooth.
Ji Yuan did not believe it was due to their own overwhelming strength. In fact, if luck had been slightly worse, they might have been the ones who died.
Even so, they were ultimately able to defeat these demons and evil spirits in a relatively easy and smooth manner.
Thinking back carefully, it seemed that every opponent they had faced before was precisely countered by the 'Hongfen Kulou'.
Upon this realization, a chilling feeling washed over him. If his speculation was correct, then all their actions so far might have been in gradual furtherance of the hidden schemer's plan.
Instinctively, Ji Yuan's gaze towards Su Hongzhu shifted slightly.
If everything was as he suspected, then everything they had done during this period was not preventing danger, but rather accelerating the progress of this scheme.
What was most terrifying was the schemer, who was silently linking each step to the next, making it impossible to find any trace or clue, and at the slightest inattention, one could be schemed to death.
Such calculation ability was beyond that of ordinary cultivators. Even a master adept at divination and deduction would likely be no better.
"I think you're overthinking it."
After listening to Ji Yuan's thoughts, Shen Lang sighed helplessly.
He always felt that Ji Yuan's ideas were too wild and imaginative, connecting things that had no apparent relationship and forcing them into a commonality to make deductions.
Huixin felt the same, believing Ji Yuan was a bit obsessive, as if he had lost his usual caution under immense pressure.
Even with their dissuasion, Ji Yuan himself wavered for a moment, questioning if he was indeed overthinking. But he quickly reaffirmed his conviction.
As cultivators, if they denied themselves based on a few words, there would be no point in practicing the Dao.
While they were contemplating, Su Hongzhu, having 'feasted,' turned back and stood before them with a peculiar expression.
Her gaze flickered, a pensive look appeared on her face, and even her eyes seemed unfocused, giving the overall impression of being lost in thought.
Seeing this, everyone couldn't help but frown slightly. However, as cultivators, they quickly realized within a breath or two that it was likely due to an influx of too many memories appearing in her mind at once.
"I suddenly... have a lot more memories now..."
Su Hongzhu frowned, her eyes filled with confusion. In this state, she rarely displayed her usual charm.
Without that constant aura of temptation, her face actually appeared rather delicate and pure, perhaps even more so than many noble young ladies who lived secluded lives.
"It seems I've remembered a person, and some lost memories."
She murmured to herself, feeling both familiar and estranged from these memories.
Su Hongzhu frankly admitted that since she transformed into the 'Hongfen Kulou' and awoke, most of her memories from her past life were lost, replaced by some memories related to demonic arts.
Now, as her cultivation increased, some of the memories she had forgotten began to resurface. These memories of people and events from what felt like eons ago made it difficult for her to adapt for a long time.
"When we killed the old locust tree, you grabbed a spirit core. Where is it now?"
Ji Yuan pondered for a moment and suddenly asked.
Su Hongzhu heard him and tilted her head, frowning in thought for a long time. The sheer volume and chaos of memories in her mind made it difficult to locate what she needed.
After a while, she slowly replied, "It seems... I 'ate' it."
Upon receiving the reply, Ji Yuan fell silent. After a long pause, he let out a soft sigh.
"Old Song, could you do me a favor and deal with the possessed City God?"
He then turned to Song He beside him and said with a hint of weariness.
Hearing this, the latter silently nodded. He knew the other man must have thought of something, but he didn't ask.
At this moment, he flicked his sleeve, sending out a streak of icy blue light – the inherited artifact of Mingyue Sect, the 'Cold Moon Shuttle'.
This artifact, only half a step away from becoming a magic treasure, flashed a few times before heavily striking the City God's three-zhang golden body.
Instantly, an icy cold force spread, not only coating his golden body with frost but also freezing the surrounding incense offerings in mid-air.
Seeing this, Xu Liuqing, who had been struggling, his eyes suddenly blazed with light. Without hesitation, he took out a lustrously colored walnut from his belt.
He unleashed his full power, flinging the walnut in his hand. Immediately, thunder roared, and more than a dozen brilliant bolts of lightning erupted from it.
Rumble!!!
With a deafening roar, countless flashes of lightning surged, unleashing an aura akin to divine wrath.
The three-zhang golden body was instantly engulfed by the lightning, and shouts of rage echoed continuously.
However, in just a moment, the City God's roars became barely audible. As the lightning gradually dissipated, a scorched golden body that was rapidly collapsing and scattering appeared in everyone's sight.
The golden body, which should have been indestructible, was now constantly disintegrating. Fragments of the golden body, condensed from incense offerings, began to dissipate as soon as they detached, turning into streams of extremely pure spiritual energy.
"Well killed..."
At the brink of death, the City God, who had fallen into demonic ways and had his mind controlled by evildoers, finally regained his consciousness.
His gaze swept over everyone present, finally resting on the five Spirit Officials whose eyes blazed with demonic light.
With a sigh, the City God pointed his hand a few times. The imposing Spirit Officials immediately paused their movements, and then their golden bodies explosively collapsed, transforming into spiritual energy and returning to heaven and earth.
After doing this, a sense of weariness settled upon the City God. He hadn't expected that after decades of fighting on the battlefield, he, who should have protected the people, would become a pawn of demons to harm living beings.
He gave a bitter smile and intended to return to heaven and earth, accepting the demise of his golden body.
Bang!!!
The three-zhang golden body suddenly collapsed, scattering countless fragments in all directions, which then transformed into streams of pure spiritual energy.
Seeing this, everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief. A City God at the peak of the second realm, along with five Spirit Officials at the late stage of the first realm, had indeed been a considerable pressure.
"Such potent spiritual energy dissipating into the world like this is truly a waste!"
A voice laced with a hint of mockery rang out, though it carried no true regret.
As this sudden voice faded, a suction force appeared. The spiritual energy that should have dissipated into the world immediately turned into vortexes, converging towards a single point.
At the center of the boundless spiritual energy, a somewhat gaunt figure solidified from nothingness. It was none other than Sun Youfang, who had not appeared until now!
This former scribe of the county office, who had not shown himself even when Magistrate Yuan Yongcheng was killed, finally appeared before them as the City God and the five Spirit Officials' golden bodies collapsed, transforming into countless potent and pure spiritual energies.
"Oh, quite a few people. But don't worry, we have plenty of time to take things slow."
Sun Youfang's gaze swept over everyone, then he spoke with a ferocious smile.