Record of a Demon's Cultivation

Chapter 79: Wealth Moves Hearts

Translator: Cinder Translations

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Xuan Ye glanced at Song Wen, who was clearly considering retreating, and transmitted a message.

"Daoist Niu, you dare to come here to retrieve your brother's body; you must have some preparations. Tell us about them. If the risks aren't too great, Guo Tao and I might help you. If it's too dangerous, you can't blame us for leaving."

Niu Ding pondered for a moment before speaking.

"I have some preparations, but I'm not entirely confident."

"I know Daoist Xuan Ye practices ghost cultivation. I hope you can use your fierce ghosts to draw out the spirits and vengeful ghosts from the nests, making it easier for me to retrieve my brother's body."

Xuan Ye immediately refused.

"That's impossible. I can't handle over twenty vengeful ghosts."

Xuan Ye was only at the seventh level of Qi Refining. Even with many techniques, he couldn't possibly defeat over twenty late-stage Qi Refining vengeful ghosts. He and Niu Ding had only met by chance; he wouldn't risk his life for him.

Perhaps realizing that Xuan Ye wouldn't agree without some incentive, Niu Ding patted his storage pouch, producing a stack of talismans.

"I have ten Ghost-Slaying Talismans and four Evil-Exorcising Talismans. I can share these with you. With these talismans and your skills, we should be able to escape unharmed."

Evil-Exorcising Talismans are top-grade first-level talismans, similar to Ghost-Slaying Talismans, specifically designed to kill ghosts.

As Song Wen understood, Evil-Exorcising Talismans were quite valuable, much more than ordinary top-grade first-level talismans. The four talismans Niu Ding offered were probably worth around four hundred spirit stones.

However, since Niu Ding only had four Evil-Exorcising Talismans, if he had twenty, Song Wen might consider taking the risk.

After all, using one on each vengeful ghost, even if they didn't kill them, would at least buy some time, and Song Wen was confident he could escape.

Seeing no response from Song Wen and Xuan Ye, Niu Ding continued.

"I don't need you two to fight to the death for me. Just draw out most of the vengeful ghosts. After that, whether you fight or flee is up to you."

"Additionally, I have one thousand spirit stones as payment for your help."

Xuan Ye frowned slightly, feeling tempted, and transmitted a message.

"Think carefully. If you get trapped in the nest, you'll surely die."

According to Niu Ding, if they only needed to draw out the vengeful ghosts, the risk wasn't too high.

Among the fierce ghosts Xuan Ye raised, one was a goat-headed ghost with some intelligence and could act independently. If things went wrong, he could let the fierce ghost act alone while he stayed far away. Losing one fierce ghost was a small price to pay.

The value of the talismans and spirit stones Niu Ding offered far exceeded the value of the goat-headed ghost.

Niu Ding said, "You two needn't worry. Life and death are fated. Whatever the outcome, I'll bear it myself."

Xuan Ye nodded, taking the talismans and spirit stones Niu Ding handed over.

He took out five Ghost-Slaying Talismans and one Evil-Exorcising Talisman, handing them to Song Wen.

Song Wen shook his head and refused. "My cultivation techniques and artifacts aren't effective against ghosts. I won't be of much help in this battle. These talismans should stay with you, Daoist Xuan Ye."

Song Wen meant that he wouldn't take the benefits, so he wouldn't take the risk.

Five Ghost-Slaying Talismans and one Evil-Exorcising Talisman were worth about two hundred spirit stones. He wouldn't risk his life for such a small amount.

Xuan Ye didn't intend to give Song Wen many spirit stones and talismans anyway.

Without saying more, Xuan Ye put away the talismans and spirit stones.

A moment later, Xuan Ye summoned a tall, goat-headed, humanoid fierce ghost. Under his control, the goat-headed ghost charged towards the nests on the cave wall.

"Roar!"

The goat-headed ghost ran to the base of the cave wall and suddenly let out a roar.

It seemed as if the surrounding air began to boil and churn from the roar of the goat-headed ghost.

Immediately, the entire cave, about a hundred square meters in size, was filled with fierce winds and echoing sounds.

The enormous roar pierced through the air, reaching deep into the nests within the cave.

It was as if sleeping demons had been awakened, and the previously calm nests were now filled with surging yin energy and eerie ghostly aura.

One after another, ghosts emerged continuously from the various nests on the cave wall, many of them being powerful vengeful ghosts.

Seeing this scene, Xuan Ye's heart skipped a beat.

Even though he had been mentally prepared, the sight of so many ghosts emerging made him tremble with fear.

Not daring to stay for even a moment, he turned and ran, with the goat-headed ghost following closely behind.

Xuan Ye did not choose to run back the way he came but headed towards the direction of the serpent-scaled creature.

The ghosts, seeing Xuan Ye, had eerie green lights flashing in their eyes and swarmed towards him.

In an instant, Xuan Ye and most of the ghosts disappeared into the cave.

At this moment, a burly figure quickly darted in, rushing into the cave and heading straight for the nests on the wall.

Niu Ding quickly climbed up the cave wall and entered the nest Song Wen had mentioned. Within ten meters, he saw the long-awaited body of his elder brother.

Niu Ding's face immediately showed an expression of wild joy, with no trace of sorrow at seeing his kin's corpse.

Niu Ding pounced on the corpse, tearing off the storage pouch from its waist and inspecting it with his spiritual sense, only to reveal a look of disappointment.

Then, he frantically searched the corpse with his hands.

Moments later, finding nothing, Niu Ding became somewhat agitated. He stood up and began searching the ground around the corpse.

At this moment, Niu Ding's expression suddenly became flustered. He hurriedly took out a gray cloak from his storage pouch.

He draped the cloak over himself and pressed his body tightly against the stone wall.

Immediately, all of Niu Ding's aura disappeared, and his body seemed to merge with the surrounding stone wall. Without physically touching him, it would be extremely difficult to detect that a person was hiding there.

A vengeful ghost at the eighth level of Qi Refining appeared in the nest. It floated above the corpse, glancing around and sniffing the remaining scent in the air.

It seemed puzzled. It clearly smelled a human scent but couldn't see any trace of a person.

Could it be the lingering scent from the dead body?

The vengeful ghost, not being very intelligent, couldn't figure it out and turned to leave the nest.

Everything that happened in the ghost nest was seen by Song Wen through his beetle Gu.

Not intending to get involved in this mess, Song Wen had returned to the cave passage they had previously walked through before the two had acted. He found a crack in the wall and hid in it.

Using his physical body's ability to regulate his aura, Song Wen completely concealed his presence, with an effect even stronger than Niu Ding's cloak.

Seeing everything that happened in the ghost nest, Song Wen thought to himself: Niu Ding risked entering the ancient battlefield's cave not for his brother's corpse but for some treasure on the body.

That cloak must be an extremely rare treasure that can conceal one's aura and hide one's presence.

This was the true confidence behind Niu Ding's daring venture into the ghost nest.

In this world of cultivation, one must not easily trust others. No one would reveal their true trump card.

However, it was unknown what grade of treasure this cloak was.

But since it could deceive a ghost at the eighth level of Qi Refining, it should at least be a high-level magical artifact.

(End of the Chapter)