Chapter 450 - 431: I Don’t Want to See Any More Failures
Deep within the Spirit Beast Garden.
Several undercover agents from the righteous path stood upwind. Although they held their breath, the stench still seemed to seep through their very pores.
Before them was a "mountain."
The agents' mouths twitched as they stared at it.
'Is this what she calls "love"?'
'It feels like that demoness saw through us and is deliberately using this method to trample on our dignity, trying to make us shovel dung like common farmers!'
'She probably thinks we'd be stupid enough to go in there with shovels, get close to that beast, and maybe even get trampled into paste, right?'
The group looked at the colossal beast slumbering in the distance.
An Armored Rhinoceros. Tough hide, thick flesh, and a violent temper. If it were startled awake, they'd be lucky to escape without serious injuries.
'But she miscalculated!'
The eldest agent formed a hand seal, and a glow of Spiritual Power flowed from his fingertips.
"Artifact Manipulation Skill! Rise!"
They all acted at once. Their Spiritual Power formed invisible giant hands that reached for the "dung mountain."
SQUELCH—!
With that sound, the dung was lifted by the Spiritual Power and suspended in mid-air.
The scene was quite spectacular.
A "long dragon" of filth snaked and coiled through the air, heading toward the wasteland.
The righteous path agents stood in a safe zone a hundred meters away, their clothes neat and spotless.
A sense of superiority swelled in their hearts as they watched the "long dragon" in the sky.
'So this is all the demonic sect is capable of.'
'Trying to make fools of us? Trying to get us filthy?'
'In your dreams!'
'We won't just complete this task—we'll complete it beautifully, with the utmost elegance!'
'We'll even take this chance to disgust that Su Ling'er and show her that the integrity of some people can never be sullied by a demoness like her!'
The agents maintained their Magic, ranting internally. Just when they thought victory was in their grasp, the slumbering Armored Rhinoceros's ears suddenly twitched.
It opened a drowsy eye.
Its vision was a bit blurry, but not so blurry that it couldn't see the scene in the sky.
In an instant, the confusion in the rhino's eye vanished, replaced by rage.
In the world of demon beasts, dung is not merely an excrement.
It is a landmark.
A declaration of territory.
It is the sacred and inviolable symbol of its status as the overlord of this area!
'I spent half a month painstakingly accumulating this much, just to finish marking my territory, and I wake up to someone stealing my "boundary markers"?!'
'This isn't cleaning up!'
'This is a blatant provocation!'
"MOO—!!!"
A thunderous roar echoed, and the righteous path agents felt the ground beneath them jump. Before they could even react, the Armored Rhinoceros, which had been lying on the ground, shot to its feet!
Its four hooves pounded the earth, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Lowering its single horn, it charged toward the group of "dung thieves"!
For a rampaging demon beast, a hundred meters was but an instant.
"Damn it! It's awake!"
"Is this beast insane?! We're helping it move its stuff, and it dares to attack us?"
"Hold steady! Don't break the Magic—AH!"
Before the elderly agent could finish his shout, the group was sent flying by the horn of the suddenly charging beast. The giant hands of Spiritual Power in the sky shattered.
No longer supported by Spiritual Power, the "long dragon" paused for a moment, held by gravity.
And then.
It fell mercilessly.
Directly below were the righteous path agents who had just been sent flying.
They looked up, watching helplessly as the massive shadow rapidly expanded in their pupils, blotting out the sun, and with it, their hope.
"NO—!"
SPLAT!
With a heavy thud, the world went quiet.
Three tons of aged dung completely submerged the men.
Only a few hands flailed helplessly in the muck before falling limp.
But that wasn't the most despairing part.
The Armored Rhinoceros charged closer again and discovered that its own unique scent was now emanating from these humanoid objects.
'Are these two-legged beasts perverts? Not only did they try to steal my crap, they smeared it all over themselves!'
'What an arrogant provocation!'
'This is clearly them saying, "Look, I smell like you. Now I'm the king here!"'
'How dare they! Unforgivable!'
'Absolutely unforgivable!!!'
The Armored Rhinoceros's eyes turned bloodshot. A low growl rumbled in its throat as it aimed its horn at the squirming "mudmen," pawed the ground, and prepared for a second charge.
"Run... Run for it..."
The elderly agent struggled to push half his head out of the dung pile, not even bothering to wipe the filth from his face as he let out a hoarse cry.
The men scrambled and crawled their way out.
"MOO!"
The rhino charged again.
The righteous path agents desperately used their Escape Techniques, wind whipping at their feet as they scrambled all over the mountain.
Everywhere they passed, a heavenly stench filled the air, and the grass and trees withered.
A crane by the roadside, which had been elegantly preening its feathers, was hit by the smell, rolled its eyes, and fell headfirst into a pond.
A few napping spirit foxes were jolted awake by the fumes. They covered their noses in horror, shot the sprinting humans a look of pure disgust, and fled at top speed.
That look was more painful than being killed.
It was the contempt of a mere animal!
'Dignity? Integrity?'
At this moment, it was all shattered into dust.
'Su Ling'er! Senior Brother! I swear eternal vengeance on you and this entire demonic sect!!!'
The elderly agent roared in his heart as he ran, tears mixed with unidentifiable substances carving streaks down his face.
'This is a demonic sect!'
'This must be that demoness's scheme!'
'She did this on purpose! She knew this rhino treats its dung like treasure and sent us here to die!'
'So vicious! So insidious!'
Finally, they ran out of the rhino's territory. The righteous path agents collapsed onto the wasteland, gasping for air.
With every breath, they inhaled the stench coming from their own bodies.
Their stomachs convulsed violently, and they gagged, but there was nothing left to throw up.
They looked at each other and saw only despair and the will to die in each other's eyes.
'What kind of bullshit task was that?! We have to get a new one!!!!'
「...」
「Transmission Hall.」
Su Ling'er stood with her hands behind her back, her red dress like fire, her expression as cold as ice.
Before her stood the group of demonic path undercover agents who had just returned from the Demon Ape Zone.
Compared to the... fragrant... state of the righteous path agents, these ones were simply pitiful.
Bruised and swollen faces, tattered clothes—they had clearly been given a "warm welcome" by the ill-tempered monkeys.
Su Ling'er looked at this band of defeated soldiers and felt a tightness in her chest.
'They're just a few little demon apes raised by the sect, usually exploited to the point where they have no energy to resist, not even daring to fight back. And yet they attacked you? And beat a group of Cultivators like you into this state?'
'What does that tell you?'
'It means you people didn't even try to reform them with your hearts! You must have approached them looking like fierce devils, and that's what provoked the demon beasts' ferocity!'
'How did Senior Brother's great mission of enlightenment get saddled with a group whose hearts are so set on the demonic path!'
She took a deep breath, suppressed her anger, and decided to try a different approach.
"Look at the state you're in."
"Just a few demon apes were enough to throw you into chaos? I sent you to 'prune' them, not to provoke them!"
The demonic path agents hung their heads, trembling, not daring to breathe too loudly for fear of offending Miss Su.
"True control is never achieved through brute force."
Su Ling'er took a step forward, her gaze profound. "It is a silent, nourishing influence. You must have revealed your killing intent the moment you arrived. A demon beast's intuition is incredibly sharp; of course they would fight back with all their might."
"You must learn to restrain yourselves, to 'blend in'."
"Make them feel no threat. Have them see you as one of their own, as a trusted companion. Only then can the blade in your hand—the nail clippers—be delivered deeper and more accurately."
"That is the highest realm of 'love.' Do you understand?"
Su Ling'er felt her speech was a stroke of genius.
It conveyed the core idea of "caring for animals" while using a seemingly insidious tone that wouldn't expose her true intentions in a demonic sect.
Sure enough.
The moment her voice fell, the group of demonic path agents below, who had looked as if they were attending a funeral, suddenly lifted their heads.
Ignoring the pain in their faces, their eyes shone with the light of sudden realization.
'I get it now!'
'So Miss Su was just scolding us for being too crude, for our methods being too ugly!'
'All that talk about "blending in" and being "one of their own"... isn't she just teaching us how to be treacherous backstabbers who smile while hiding a knife?'
'Pretend to be a harmless little rabbit, earn their trust, wait until the prey completely lowers its guard, and then deliver the fatal blow!'
"Miss Su's teachings are correct!"
"We were too shallow! We only knew brute force and didn't understand how to manipulate their hearts! Thank you for your guidance, Miss Su!"
"Thank you for your guidance, Miss Su!"
The others also bowed in Su Ling'er's direction, their eyes filled with adoration as they looked at her.
Su Ling'er nodded with satisfaction.
'They seem to understand. Well, a good mission just came up. It's time to let them experience the true meaning of life!'
"Since you can't even handle adult demon beasts, let's start with the basics."
She waved her sleeve.
HUM—A giant screen of light unfolded before them.
On the screen was the very mission that had just been refreshed and accepted by Lu Ping and those other undercover agents: "Help Hatch a New Life."
"This mission requires no combat, no Body Techniques. It only requires you to give your 'body and soul'."
"Feel the weight of life. Use your body heat to warm it, until the moment it breaks out of its shell."
"Only by nurturing a life with your own hands will you understand how difficult it is to simply stay alive in this sect."
Here, she paused. Her gaze swept over the crowd, and her tone suddenly turned cold.
"I don't wish to see any more failures."
To their ears, this was no gentle lesson.
It was a naked death threat!
'"Give your body and soul"? Does that mean we're supposed to sacrifice our lives?'
'"Warm it with your body heat"? Does that mean using our bodies as cauldrons?'
'"I don't wish to see any more failures"? That means if you can't even handle an egg, you can just go and die!'
'Is this the trial of the Guixi Sect?'
The demonic path agents looked at each other, seeing grim determination in one another's eyes.
'We'll risk it all!'
'It's just hatching an egg, right?'
'Besides, it's not like we practitioners of the demonic path have never taken on risky missions before!'
'For the sake of opportunity, I'll lay down my damn life!'
"Disciples accept the order!" the crowd roared in unison.
Looking at this group of high-spirited disciples, Su Ling'er felt deeply gratified.
'Hopefully, with the right method, even these seeds of evil can be reformed by love.'