Chapter 261 - 247: Su Ling’er Understands
Some disciples were even wearing just a bath towel around their waist. They were bare-chested, with another towel draped loosely around their necks and a pair of wooden clogs that went CLIP-CLOP on their feet. They mingled with the frenzied crowd, raising their arms and shouting, "Make the Guixi Sect great again!"
Su Ling’er’s terrified gaze swept over these figures. A chill crept up her spine, inch by inch, until her entire body felt ice-cold.
’Here... Many of the things here... aren’t human!’
’Are they demonic beasts? Some other race? This sect really is deeply connected to the demonic artifacts of legend!’
’My suspicions about evil cult rituals were right all along! The Guixi Sect’s daily appearance is just a disguise. This celebration is a carnival, a Night Parade of Hundred Demons! Aren’t these living, breathing demonic creatures right before my eyes?’
Her trembling gaze fell upon some of the disciples who still retained a human form. However, her fear did not lessen. Instead, it intensified sharply, as if she had been plunged into an icy abyss.
One person’s face looked like a failed creation, carelessly kneaded together by a god. Their left nostril took up half their face, large enough to fit a fist inside, while their right was just a nearly invisible black dot. One eye was set in the center of their forehead, desperately rolling upward to show the whites. The other eye had slid down to their chin, its pupil constricting in terror.
Another disciple’s facial features were squeezed tightly together, twisted like a pretzel, while their mouth was ripped open to their ears, forming a grotesque smile.
"BLECH..." The sight made Su Ling’er’s stomach churn, and she nearly threw up.
’Indescribable... These things can’t even be called "demonic"! They radiate a kind of madness that words cannot capture!’
’What is this?! Is this the end result of practicing some forbidden evil technique and suffering a qi deviation?’
’Or... did they sacrifice their bodies and even their souls to some unspeakable, terrifying entity, only to be twisted into these nauseating forms?!’
’Too terrifying... This is just too terrifying!’
’How could I have not noticed anything before? No, I must have seen clues, but these disciples usually conceal themselves with advanced Illusion Techniques or Magical Artifacts! Now they’ve finally torn off all their disguises and revealed their true forms at this celebration!’
Her gaze finally landed on a few animals mixed in with the crowd.
A bear, a deer, and a fierce tiger were beating their chests and stamping their feet, letting out muffled shouts.
Amidst this extreme madness and distortion, these few animals unexpectedly gave Su Ling’er a brief moment of respite. A memory she had buried deep in her heart floated to the surface.
’Five Beasts Immortal Play... This... this must be what happens when practicing the Five Beasts Immortal Play goes wrong. It causes a temporary bestial transformation, turning them into this! When I was practicing it, I almost lost control myself...’
This thought was like the last straw for a drowning person. It gave her a foothold, something that could barely explain the hellishly terrifying scene before her...
’That’s right... It must be! The Cultivation Techniques of this sect probably all have irreversible hidden dangers!’
On the high platform, Lin Qingfeng watched the demonic pandemonium below and nodded in satisfaction. He even sized up one of the bizarrely shaped disciples with great interest. "Tsk, your character creation sliders are a bit ridiculous, aren’t they? That’s some next-gen stuff right there."
Wang Xiedi’s gaze, however, slowly shifted from the swollen, pale green face of Shen Jieye beside him to the twisted, broken forms of his fellow disciples in the square. He was silent for a long time.
Finally, his gaze returned to Shen Jieye’s face, right next to him. By comparison... Shen Jieye’s face actually looked rather delicate and well-proportioned.
’At least her eyes, nose, and mouth are still where they’re supposed to be.’
Just then, Lin Qingfeng finished his speech, descended from the high platform, and returned to their side.
"So? Not a bad atmosphere, right?"
Su Ling’er was already pale as a sheet. Her lips trembled, and she had to use all her strength to squeeze out a single sentence, "S-Senior Brother... what... what exactly is...?"
She braced herself to hear a terrifying secret about bloodlines, curses, or some evil pact—a secret that would overturn her entire understanding of Cultivation.
Lin Qingfeng looked at her and Wang Xiedi’s terrified expressions and scratched his head, seeming to ponder how to explain it in terms they could understand.
He mulled it over for a moment, then clapped his hands. "Oh, you mean this? It’s a... hmm, a relatively advanced Transformation Skill. You can think of it as a kind of ’disguise,’ get it?"
’A disguise...?’
Wang Xiedi’s and Su Ling’er’s minds went blank. ’Can a disguise make you look like *that*? Isn’t a disguise supposed to make you look like someone specific? Are you a bunch of monsters planning to use these disguises to infiltrate the demon or beast races?’
Neither of them understood at all. But seeing their Senior Brother’s matter-of-fact expression, Su Ling’er’s survival instincts kicked in, and she immediately began nodding furiously as if she truly "got it," terrified that a moment’s delay would get her "disguised" into one of those things.
Lin Qingfeng didn’t seem to bother explaining further. He just smiled and said, "Forget it. It’s too complicated to explain. It’ll be easier to just show you."
The moment he finished speaking, the form of Lin Qingfeng standing before them began to change dramatically.
One second, he was their devil-may-care Senior Brother; the next, he had become a wealthy-looking traveling merchant. Then, the merchant’s form collapsed and transformed into a hideous ghoul. The ghoul then shrank in an instant, turning into a strange creature with a rainbow-colored mushroom growing out of its head...
In no more than the time it took to take three breaths, Lin Qingfeng had already shifted through four or five completely different forms, each with a distinct aura, appearance, and even race.
Wang Xiedi and Su Ling’er were utterly dumbfounded.
’So this is the Transformation Skill that the Evil Cultivators of this sect possess? It truly is profound and unfathomable... But you use such incredible Divine Techniques for *this*? Making yourselves look so bizarre... Aren’t you afraid of being mistaken for demons and killed the moment you step outside?’
The carnival in the square lasted for a full two hours before the deafening noise finally began to subside.
The disciples dispersed in twos and threes. Some seemed to have accepted a quest and eagerly left the sect in groups, embarking on their first exploration after the sect’s upgrade. Others went straight back to their wooden huts, probably planning to wait until the next time they "logged on."
The clamor faded. The celebration was over.
Lin Qingfeng stood in the empty square, thinking to himself. ’I managed to take advantage of the secret realm trial to secretly form my Nascent Soul in that special cave residence, but that brings its own problems. While I’m away from the sect, someone has to watch over things here.’
His gaze inadvertently fell on the uneasy Su Ling’er not far away.
’Got it!’
Lin Qingfeng raised his hand, and a screen of light unfolded before him. He tapped it a few times, skillfully creating a temporary position called "Sect Guide." After setting the permissions just right, he unhesitatingly transferred the title to Su Ling’er.
’Done!’
’Next is the matter of the gate guards. It would be bad if some clueless NPCs or other players wandered in and caused trouble while I’m gone.’
So, Lin Qingfeng brought up the management interface again. He assigned a few idle "Mr. Qians" to guard the sect gate and set new behavioral rules for them.
"First, anyone entering the sect gate must present a disciple token of this sect."
"Second, if they have no token, they must be personally received by the Sect Guide, Su Ling’er."
"Third, while the Guild Leader is away, the sect gate is open for entry but not for exit for anyone not registered as a Guixi Sect disciple. Anyone wishing to leave must also present a token or receive approval from the Sect Guide."
"Fourth, anyone who violates the above rules will be detained immediately."
He paused for a moment to add details about the detention.
"Detention status: squat on the spot with hands on head. Provide minimum daily sustenance to ensure they do not die."
Having done all this, Lin Qingfeng was very satisfied.
He turned, walked over to Su Ling’er, and patted her on the shoulder.
"Miss Su."
Su Ling’er’s body stiffened. She quickly bowed. "What are your orders, Senior Brother?"
"From now on, you are the sect’s new Guide. In the future, you must guide the new disciples well and help them get familiar with the environment, understand?"
’Guide? Watch over the sect?’
Su Ling’er’s mind went BUZZ, completely blank. She even wondered if the extreme shock had caused her to start hearing things.
’Senior Brother... what does he mean? Is he entrusting this sect, which hides a horde of indescribable monsters, to me, a mere so-called Holy Daughter at the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment?’
’You can’t be serious, right? Pick any one of the bizarre-looking disciples in this entire sect, and their Cultivation is probably higher than mine!’
"Senior Brother... are, are you sure?" Su Ling’er asked cautiously. Although she had developed a sliver of a good impression of her Senior Brother, his behavior was still too strange. She couldn’t get a read on him and was afraid that one wrong word would spell eternal damnation.
But Lin Qingfeng nodded as if it were a matter of course, as if this was no big deal at all.
"Yep, I’m sure. I’m planning to head to Anhe City for my next stop, so I’m leaving everything here in your hands! Don’t worry, I’m a good judge of character!"
His relaxed tone and approving gaze made it seem like he was truly just entrusting her with an ordinary task.
Without even realizing it, Su Ling’er’s wildly beating heart calmed slightly because of this "trust." ’Perhaps... Senior Brother really does just want someone to look after the place? Perhaps he really does value me?’ She even began to consider how she would go about managing the sect if that was all it was...
However, the name "Anhe City" instantly shattered the mental defenses she had just built, detonating in her mind!
Her home was in Anhe City!
In an instant, all the blood in Su Ling’er’s body rushed to her head, making her vision go dark. Then, just as quickly, it drained away completely.
’Senior Brother... he’s going to Anhe City?! Why?! There are thousands upon thousands of cities under heaven, so why there of all places?!’
Countless thoughts, ten thousand times more terrifying than the demonic pandemonium she had just witnessed in the square, began to breed, fester, and roar within her mind!
’Is he going to cut the weeds and pull up the roots? Because of me, he’s going to erase my entire past, including my family and my hometown?! But there’s no need! What have I ever done to deserve this much attention from Senior Brother?’
’Or has he set his sights on the city itself? Is he going to turn all of Anhe City into a sacrifice for his demonic techniques?! Is he going to use the lives and souls of hundreds of thousands of mortals to pave a road of flesh and blood, summoning those indescribable demonic companions of his?!’
’No... something’s not right.’
’If he really wanted to do that, he could have gone quietly. Why... why would he say the name "Anhe City" so casually in front of me?’
Su Ling’er’s breath caught in her throat. Under the grip of extreme fear, her mind began to race, trying to comprehend the hidden meaning behind his words.
’Wait!’
A flash of insight suddenly struck her. Su Ling’er... understood!