Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme

Chapter 320 - 212: The Truth_1

Chapter 320: Chapter 212: The Truth_1

Fish Market Pier, feeling the increasingly heavy breathing on her back, Qing was anxious yet helpless.

The surrounding darkness thickened, turning into a ghostly illusion. Just moments ago, distant thunder had roared; now, only silence remained, with neither birdsong nor insect chatter to be heard—only the waves slapping against the hulls of the dark awnings boats, their shapes flickering unsteadily.

At this moment, the soldier, faceless amidst the chilling Yin Qi beside her, paradoxically offered a sense of safety.

Suddenly…

Out of the darkness, a flash of lightning sped forth, plunging into the midst in an instant.

Startled, Qing hadn’t even had time to react before the tempest scattered, revealing a Light Wind boat.

The boat radiated light, hovering in the air, with a figure standing on it. Who else could it be but Xu Yang?

Xu Yang looked at her without speaking, simply waving his sleeve.

Then, there was blinding Spirit Light, and the world seemed to spin around her.

When her awareness returned, she found herself standing atop the Flying Boat, the several shadows gone.

Xu Yang offered no explanation, his Mana stirring as the Flying Boat set off again with a burst of thunder, heading straight into Wuzhe Lake.

Although it was a low-tier Magic Artifact made casually, it was still much faster than a common Escape Light.

In but a moment, they had returned to their lair.

The Flying Boat landed smoothly, but Qing was still shaken.

The events had unfolded too quickly for her to grasp.

“Let me see him,” Xu Yang said indifferently, approaching and reaching out his hand, without concern for her shock.

Qing, taken aback, quickly regained her senses and hurriedly laid her brother down from her back.

As Xu Yang approached, he saw the little boy, now gasping heavily, his face and neck covered in fine scales and crimson spots, with fresh blood seeping from beneath the scales, hinting at festering wounds.

After observing for a while, Xu Yang commented, “The Demonic Qi inside him isn’t substantial, but because his body is so frail, it can’t resist the corruption. He’s turning into a Demon Object.”

“This…!” Qing didn’t understand what Demonic Qi was, but grasped the meaning of his words. She immediately knelt down, her voice laced with panic, “Great Immortal, I beg you to save my brother, I’ll repay you in any way, I swear it!

Xu Yang shook his head and remained silent, placing his hand on the crown of the boy’s head.

Suddenly, the brilliance of the lightning reappeared, intensely luminous.

In the brilliance of the thunder, streams of dark mist rose and evaporated, the Demonic Qi vanishing like smoke.

The boy’s body shuddered, a look of agony crossing his face as the scales fell away, but the flesh beneath was charred and blackened.

Thunder is the pivot of heaven and earth, the agent of infinity, capable of creation or destruction, embodying both Yin and Yang, the origin of annihilation and the genesis of creation.

With thousands of years of bitter cultivation, thousands of years of research, the heritage of the Ancient Immortal Gods, and the founding of Wandao School, the depth of Xu Yang’s mastery over the Thunder Series need not be mentioned.

Even without the attributes of a Daoist Celestial Master, he could manipulate thunder to his will, effortlessly mastering Divine Skills in battle, martial arts, Alchemy, Artifact Refining, Talismans, and Array patterns.

His expertise was extraordinary.

But unfortunately…

Demonic Qi runs deep, like bone-clinging maggots; though thunder can purify it, it’s inevitable that there will be some harm done.

This is akin to medication—all medicines have their poisons, and they all cause some harm to the patient.

If the patient can bear it, they will heal, but if not…

As Xu Yang looked on at the boy, now with a pained expression, he shook his head and withdrew his Mana.

The Mana retracted, and the thunder vanished. The boy’s body went limp and crumpled to the ground. Scales remained on his body but had ceased to spread.

Qing, startled, rushed forward to support him but feared making a mistake, so could only look desperately towards Xu Yang.

Xu Yang sighed deeply and said melancholically, “This is merely symptom treatment, not a cure. To eradicate the issue, we must find another way.”

Without waiting for Qing’s reaction, Xu Yang took a small bamboo basket from his waist and set it down on the open ground.

“Huh!”

The moment the basket was placed, spirit light shone forth and released a figure—it was a woman.

Li Suhong!

Her upper body was exposed, her clothes in tatters, displaying not the slightest sensuality despite her nakedness. Blood and flesh like threads entwined around her right shoulder and arm, grotesquely growing as if part of her, covering even the sword in her hand, its hilt transformed into flesh while only the blade was visible.

“Is this Miss Li?” Qing gasped at the sight of Li Suhong’s current state.

Xu Yang was silent, his palm thundering energetically once more.

He had spared Li Suhong’s life, not out of compassion, but because he saw that her transformation wasn’t complete. She was an ideal subject for an experiment, to see if he could refine the Demonic Qi within her and reverse her demonization, or even completely eradicate her demonic nature.

As a Cultivator, her constitution was much stronger than a commoner’s, likely enough to endure the process of demon refining with thunder.

Without delay, Xu Yang spurred his Mana, guiding the streams of thunder into Li Suhong’s body with his palm.

“Mmm!”

Though subdued by Talismans and unconscious, Li Suhong still moaned under the piercing agony.

The refining of the thunder was intense. Wisps of dark mist rose and dissipated into ash.

“Crack! Crack! Crack!”

With each crisp snap, the threads of flesh broke apart.

It wasn’t just the threads breaking; lumps of flesh, too, shrank swiftly. First drying up and turning yellow, then dark purple and finally ashen grey, crumbling and vanishing with the wind, revealing fresh, unblemished skin.

In mere moments, the signs of demonization disappeared, revealing only Li Suhong’s pristine form amidst the thunder.

Seeing this, Xu Yang’s brow furrowed deeply, unmarked by any hint of joy.

The demonization had indeed stopped, and she had reverted back to human form.