"Demonic Qi?" Taoist Yan Qi asked, his brow furrowed.
"Demonic Qi!" Taoist Jing Feng said with certainty.
"But she wasn’t practicing a Demon Technique, was she?" Taoist Yan Qi asked. "If she were, given her Dao Practice and Magical Power, she would have long since transformed into a demonic creature. She also wouldn’t have been so easy for us to kill."
"Nor was she just tainted by Demonic Qi." A sharp glint flashed in Taoist Yan Ling’s eyes as he scanned the large, red scorpion again with his Taiyi Divine Light.
Ordinary creatures tainted by Demonic Qi, like those water monsters in Mo Lake, would have the qi lingering around them after death. It wouldn’t have vanished in a flash like it just did.
This situation was more like...
"A Demon planted a thought or some kind of mark on her," Taoist Jing Feng said in a low voice.
He was quite familiar with this sort of thing, as the Fengyue Sect was in charge of capturing ghosts. The Beiyin Fengdu Technique even included similar Talismanic Magic, like the Wind and Thunder Dark Capture Talisman and the Fengdu Far-Catching Talisman.
It was just that he rarely had to use them. He usually just eliminated any ghosts and monsters he encountered on the spot.
"So this thought or mark allows that Demon to sense her location and status?" Changyi, followed by Yangshuo and Xiu Ming, walked back into the courtyard, craning their necks to look at the large dead scorpion on the ground.
Yangshuo’s gaze sharpened. "This banshee had over a thousand years of Dao Practice, right? To plant a mark on her without her even noticing... just how powerful must that Demon be?"
Hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.
"At the very least, not any weaker than the Netherfire Sect Leader," Taoist Jing Chun said, putting away his Slaughter Divine Prison and stroking his beard.
"So, will that Demon come looking for us?" Xiu Ming asked.
"But there’s another question: why would that Demon plant a mark on her in the first place?" Changyi asked again.
Everyone thought about it but couldn’t come up with an answer.
"No idea." Taoist Jing Feng shook his head. Then, with a beckoning gesture, he pulled the scroll that had fallen to the ground into his hand.
He unrolled it and saw it was densely packed with drawings of hundreds of different tails, enough to give someone trypophobia.
Taoist Jing Feng rolled the scroll back up. The Beiyin Yin Qi in his hand transformed into a Rune and pressed itself onto the scroll’s roller, sealing the ownerless, violent killing intent within.
"Did she just call this painting the Tail Map?"
"Heart Seal, Eye Sword, Tail Map." Taoist Yuan He smacked his lips. "The names are certainly unpretentious."
"But their power is truly extraordinary," Taoist Jing Chun said, looking at the scroll in Taoist Jing Feng’s hand. "Neither the Centipede Spirit nor Li Chiwang had fully refined their Magical Treasures, yet they could still use them to unleash power far beyond their own capabilities."
"This Scorpion Spirit had clearly refined her treasure. If you two senior brothers hadn’t arrived, the three of us wouldn’t have been able to take her down."
Taoist Jing Chun, Taoist Yuan He, and Taoist Yan Qi were by no means weak, but even the three of them together couldn’t stop Xie Zhihan while she wielded the Tail Map. She had nearly broken through their encirclement.
"And that’s with her Dao Practice being insufficient to unleash the Magical Treasure’s true power," Taoist Jing Feng said, sensing the Magical Power contained within the scroll.
"No wonder the Heart Wheel Sect Leader could establish a sect with the Heart Chakra, and that Li Chiwang’s final trump card was the Eye Sword."
"Could it be that the Demon who planted the mark on Xie Zhihan was also after the Tail Map she possessed?"
Everyone exchanged a look. "It’s very likely!"
"Let’s head back to the mountain first." Taoist Jing Feng put the Tail Map away. "As long as this thing is in Daluo Palace, that Demon won’t be able to get it even if he shows up."
Daluo Palace’s Mountain Protection Array was already immensely powerful, and now they had the Dragon King of Ten Thousand Spirits living in seclusion in Mo Lake.
Even if a big boss with Ten Thousand Years of Dao Practice were to attack Daluo Palace, the old Taoists in the palace could simply use a Thunder Seed to send a message to the old Taoists in Pingjiang Prefecture, then ask the Dragon King of Ten Thousand Spirits for help. That would solve the problem.
...
"The Tail Map? Demonic Qi?"
Back in Daluo Palace, Gu Zhao, who had been in the middle of his Cultivation, received Taoist Jing Feng’s Divine Sense transmission before the others had even returned.
Now, he had come to the rear courtyard and taken the map.
"She wanted to serve you tea and have you retrieve something from the palace?" Gu Zhao asked Changyi.
Changyi nodded. "But she didn’t say what it was."
"Then it must have been the Eye Sword," Taoist Jing Feng said, looking at Gu Zhao. "She didn’t know that we had killed the Centipede Spirit and obtained the Heart Chakra."
"It must be because the Eye Sword in Li Chiwang’s possession was exposed. She knew Red Moon Valley was destroyed and that we had obtained the Eye Sword," Taoist Yan Ling said.
"She didn’t dare force her way into Daluo Palace, so she targeted Changyi and the others, hoping to control them and steal the Eye Sword," said Taoist Yuan He.
"The only uncertainty is that wisp of Demonic Qi that flashed and disappeared when she died," said Taoist Yan Qi.
"We suspect it’s also related to the Magical Treasures left by the Six-Headed Divine Monarch, and that the Demon was after the Tail Map in her possession," said Taoist Jing Chun.
The old Taoists went back and forth, and between them, they basically figured out the motives of both Xie Zhihan and the unknown Demon.
"Understood." Gu Zhao nodded. "Put the Tail Map in the treasury as well."
Daluo Palace now possessed the Heart Chakra, the Eye Sword, and the Tail Map. They had already collected half of the six Magical Treasures passed down by the Six-Headed Divine Monarch.
"What a coincidence, we were just investigating Demons. If a Demon delivers himself to our doorstep, that’s a good thing!"
"If it’s a powerful Demon, we might even be able to connect it to that Great Sun Demon Ancestor and ruin his plans."
"I hope that Demon finds us soon. If he kills the other disciples of the Six-Headed Divine Monarch, we won’t be able to get that Evil Qi!" Xiu Ming said worriedly.
Although he had only been an observer in the recent battle, he had still managed to absorb a bit of Evil Qi.
For a small fry like him, even that tiny amount of Evil Qi was very satisfying.
Everyone was speechless. "..."
Gu Zhao was also at a loss for words. He waved his hand. "Let’s dismiss. The pressing matter right now isn’t this Demon, but Zhan Qing’s wedding. We’ll be departing in a few days."
"Yes!" The group dispersed.
Changyi, Yangshuo, and Xiu Ming went to find Zhan Qing again to share what they had just experienced, making Zhan Qing quite envious.
Meanwhile, for dealing with a thousand-year-old Great Demon, Gu Zhao also received a Thunder Seed.
When Taoist Ming Chong learned that they had acquired another thousand-year-old Scorpion Spirit, he hurried back from Wuya Ridge, preparing to refine another batch of Elixirs.
Although a Demon was lurking in the shadows, no one in Daluo Palace gave the matter too much weight. All affairs continued to be carried out in an orderly manner.
...
「Ten days later.」
The day for Zhan Qing’s wedding procession had arrived.
Taoist Shen Hao led the procession. Taoist Ming Yu and Taoist Ming Chong were on his left, while Taoist Jing Hong and Taoist Jing Fa were on his right. They were accompanied by the Winged Fire Serpent, Ye Ruyan, and Wei Yueyan, Miaoyun Princess. The Fire Monkey of Turtle Beak, Hou Hao, and The Monkey, Yuan Lin, also joined them.
Deploying nine great masters at once was the very definition of putting on a grand display.
Aside from the nine-and-five set of Spiritual Treasures, there were also two chests of blue-and-white porcelain imported from modern-day Blue Star, two chests of silk and satin, two chests of high-proof alcohol, as well as the traditional two chests of gold and jade discs and two chests of jewelry.
All together, it was five categories in ten chests—a number signifying perfection.
Taoist Shen Hao, now dressed in a festive red Magical Robe, announced, "Let’s move out!"