A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity-Chapter 48 - 47: Skeleton Demon

Early the next morning, Lü Zhong arrived at Li Dong’s house.

Unlike the middle-aged woman who had answered the door last time, this time it was a wrinkled old woman. One of her eyes was terribly clouded over, seemingly blind.

He walked into the house as if it were the most natural thing in the world, accustomed to the old woman’s awestruck gaze.

Once inside, he could smell the pungent scent of medicinal herbs lingering in the air.

Accompanied by a soft tune, Li Dong emerged from the bedroom, humming a cheerful nursery rhyme while cradling a sleeping boy in his arms.

It was painfully obvious that the boy’s face had a deathly, sallow pallor; his life was hanging by a thread. No wonder Li Dong had been so desperate to find the Coffin Mushroom yesterday.

"Fellow Daoist Lü, what have you decided?" Li Dong asked in a low voice, as if afraid of waking the boy.

"Well..." Lü Zhong glanced at the boy, but decided to voice his thoughts anyway.

The information from Tongfu Tea House was most likely true, and in his opinion...

...even as a team of two, they could only explore the mass grave area of the General’s Tomb, and they couldn’t risk going too deep. Otherwise, they were likely to encounter unpredictable dangers.

He didn’t think it was worth risking his life for a mere Evil Exorcism Talisman recipe.

Hearing Lü Zhong’s thoughts, Li Dong looked at the boy in his arms. After a moment of silence, he said, "Let’s set a limit of three ancient hours. After that time, whether we’ve found the Coffin Mushroom or not, you are free to leave, Fellow Daoist. I will still give you the recipe for the Evil Exorcism Talisman afterward."

As he spoke, he handed the boy to the old woman, a flicker of attachment in his eyes. He didn’t forget to add, "Remember to give him his medicine at noon."

"Yes, Master." The old woman took the boy with practiced ease and turned back toward the bedroom.

Drawing his gaze back, Li Dong turned to Lü Zhong. "The Workshop Market is a bit far from the entrance to the General’s Tomb. Why don’t we set off now? That way, we’ll reach the mass grave by noon."

At noon, the Yang Qi is at its strongest, which is when the activity of zombies and Yin Souls is at its lowest, making it a relatively suitable time for exploration.

Lü Zhong thought that made sense, so he agreed.

...

Leaving the Workshop Market, the two of them headed south, directly across the wasteland.

On the wasteland, aside from overgrown wild grasses, there wasn’t a single tree to be seen.

They didn’t even encounter a single shrub. It truly looked like an ancient battlefield.

The farther they walked, the more barren the land became. Gradually, even the grass stopped growing, and the soil changed from yellow earth to a deathly-gray, sandy texture.

He scooped up a handful of earth, and the sand trickled through his fingers.

All that remained in his palm were some jade-like bone fragments and a few shimmering metal shards.

But what puzzled Lü Zhong was that even though it was nearly noon, he couldn’t see the slightest sign of a tomb—only the boundless ancient battlefield stretching out before him.

"This way," Li Dong said suddenly.

He pointed to a hidden pit in the ground, then ducked down and disappeared from view.

Walking over, Lü Zhong saw that an entrance was cleverly concealed on the reverse slope of the pit. Judging by the signs of weathering, it must have been dug long ago, but it was still large enough for one person to pass through.

Stepping inside, he found himself in a gloomy passageway.

The passage was about thirty feet square with walls of black, rammed earth. The entrance was simply a hole in one of the earthen walls.

Standing in the passageway, he could smell the stench of decay.

Judging by the dust on the floor, no one had been here recently.

Lü Zhong tried using his Qi Observation Skill and saw only a faint gray glow, which indicated that the Yin Qi here was rather thin.

He could clearly perceive that the concentration of Yin Qi to his left was significantly lower than to his right.

Li Dong was holding a glowing piece of jade in one hand and a map in the other, trying to get his bearings.

After a moment, he pointed to Lü Zhong’s left. "The mass grave is this way. Let’s go take a look."

"Alright!" Lü Zhong nodded.

He clutched a Golden Light Talisman in his left hand and held the Green Frost Sword in his right, fully prepared to encounter an enemy at any moment.

He deliberately hung back, keeping about a step behind Li Dong.

One could never be too wary of others; it was always better to be cautious.

They hadn’t walked far before scattered bones began to appear in the passageway.

As they continued, the number of bones increased rapidly, soon carpeting the entire floor of the passageway.

Now, every step they took landed on brittle, decaying bones.

Each step coated the soles of their shoes with a fine layer of Bone Powder.

Along the sides of the passageway, small chambers had been dug out. Inside them were large vats filled with skeletons, surrounded by piles of skulls stacked into small, gruesome mounds.

Gradually, a ghastly aura settled over the entire passageway.

Throughout this process, Lü Zhong kept his Qi Observation Skill active, remaining vigilant for any threats that might leap out at them.

Unfortunately, all he could see was the same faint gray glow; there were no signs of anything unusual.

Meanwhile, Li Dong ducked into nearly every chamber they passed to check inside.

But every time he went in full of hope, he came out with a look of disappointment. Li Dong’s face grew more and more sullen, and he continued his persistent search without a word.

Lü Zhong took it all in but said nothing.

Just then, he heard a rustling sound. RATTLE... RATTLE...

He spun around and saw that some of the bones were floating into the air on their own. They gathered together, and in moments, assembled themselves into complete skeletons.

WHOOSH! A green flame ignited within each of their skulls.

’An ambush!’

In the blink of an eye, the two of them were trapped, their path forward and back blocked by hundreds of skeletons.

"They’re just Skeleton Demons. No matter how many there are, they’re just like ants. We’ll each handle one side," Li Dong said calmly, drawing a Magic Sword and giving Lü Zhong a heads-up.

Lü Zhong nodded; the information he’d purchased mentioned them as well. He began to form hand seals for a Sword Mantra.

The Green Frost Sword responded to the Sword Mantra, glowing with a cyan light. HUMMM. Snowflakes began to fall, causing the temperature in the already frigid passageway to drop even further.

WHOOSH! The sword shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bowstring.

To be cautious, he didn’t send his sword plunging into the horde of Skeleton Demons. Instead, he planned to have it skim past the first few to test the mettle of these Bone Demons.

To his surprise, the Skeleton Demons were incredibly fragile.

The gust of wind from the Magical Artifact flying past was enough to knock them over.

Seeing this, Lü Zhong felt greatly relieved.

He immediately altered the Sword Mantra, abandoning his previous cautious strategy.

The Green Frost Sword cut wide swaths through the horde of Skeleton Demons, chopping horizontally and slashing vertically. Nothing in its path could withstand a single blow.

In less than ten breaths, he had dealt with all the Skeleton Demons on his side.

On his side, Li Dong had also deployed his Magical Artifact.

However, this Sword seemed to be too heavily worn. The Spiritual Light on its blade flickered erratically, and it looked as though it could go out of control at any second.

Moreover, he wasn’t very skilled with his Sword Mantra, only able to use simple Sword Techniques like chops and stabs; he couldn’t link them together seamlessly like Lü Zhong.

’Perhaps this is the typical level of an Independent Cultivator Talisman Maker...’

As Lü Zhong thought this, he formed several more Sword Mantras, calling the Green Frost Sword over to help.

A moment later, not a single Skeleton Demon was left standing in the passageway.