Autumn strips the human shadow lean, frost dyes the chrysanthemums plump; in the blink of an eye, autumn had arrived!
This pitch-black night was as dark as an inkpot, with only a single star hanging in the high sky, piercingly bright and eerie, resembling a small hole torn in a huge black cloak.
Xu Ruoping leaned against the windowsill for a long time, gazing blankly into the sky, then raised her head, gulped down the cup of nearly cold milk in her hand, casually pulled the curtains closed, dragged her exhausted body, and collapsed headfirst onto the bed, meeting the God of Dreams in less than half a minute.
Xu Ruoping studied extremely hard. After graduating from college, to lighten her family's financial burden, she did not pursue a master's or doctoral degree. Instead, she signed a one-year temporary contract with a Grade A tertiary hospital and rented a one-bedroom apartment nearby. To save a hundred or so yuan in rent every month, she deliberately chose the top floor.
Apart from making you climb stairs until your legs felt like a dog's every day and turning the top floor into a steaming giant meat bun during the scorching days of midsummer, the only advantage was that every night, through those densely packed high-rise buildings, you could glimpse the sprawling stars across the sky.
In a daze, Xu Ruoping felt as if she had detached from her body, floating weightlessly above the roof.
"My soul has left my body again!" Xu Ruoping muttered softly.
She had checked books before; in *Origins of Varied Diseases: Fluctuations of Insomnia and Hypersomnia*, it was recorded: "Soul departure refers to unsettled vital energy and spirit, where every time one lies down, the soul and spirit fly away, sensing that the body remains on the bed while the spirit and soul have departed."
This was very similar to her situation tonight.
Xu Ruoping slowly turned her body sideways, her gaze sweeping aimlessly back and forth down below. Late into the night, the roadside barbecue stalls in the distance were bustling with customers. Streetlamps along the poles flickered uncertainly due to unstable voltage, and night owls dragging long shadows tumbled out of various brightly lit nightlife venues, plunging straight into these open-air food stalls to carouse and continue their nightlife.
She had no interest in this whatsoever and silently calculated the date of her previous soul departure: more than a year ago, when her soul left her body, she had inexplicably awakened certain abilities within herself and had been forced to encounter all sorts of phenomena beyond materialism. Could it be happening again this time?
After being dazed like this for a moment, suddenly her scattered gaze abruptly focused, piercing through the major streets and alleys and shooting straight toward the ancestral hall in this urban village that had not yet been demolished.
A layer of gloomy black Qi, resembling an undissolved paste, tightly enveloped the surroundings of the ancestral hall. Faintly, the heart-rending screams of living souls being disemboweled drifted over, and a heavy, unyielding stench of blood rushed toward her face, making Xu Ruoping's eye sockets sting with pain.
"Soul devouring! To dare to openly consume living souls in the ancestral hall in broad daylight—no, in the dead of night—what kind of demonic monster is so arrogant!"
As a folk casual cultivator, Xu Ruoping could never stand by and watch such a thing happen right under her nose.
Without even thinking, she lightly tapped her toes, and her body shot forward like an arrow released from a string, chasing the traces straight ahead.
"No wonder the hospital suddenly received so many sudden death cases recently; it turns out there are demons making trouble!"
Following her heart's intent, her body moved like a willow catkin, landing silently at the entrance of the ancestral hall.
This was an ancestral hall belonging to a certain family clan. Presumably, their descendants had moved or scattered away, abandoning it altogether.
After long years of neglect and severe disrepair, the doors of the ancestral hall were gone, leaving behind only a paint-peeled, worm-eaten, and pockmarked door frame. Bricks and tiles could be seen scattered everywhere, displaying signs of decay and desolation.
Only a pair of imposing stone lions in front of the door remained; although the stone was severely eroded by acid rain and their twin pairs of eyeballs were barely intact, it did not affect their swaggering and overbearing aura in the slightest.
Xu Ruoping half-closed her eyes, seeing a surge of baleful Qi rising from within, charging over with the force of an avalanche. She hurriedly steadied her mind and recited an incantation, erecting a protective shield around her body.
"What kind of evil creature is committing illicit acts here? If you know what's good for you, get lost quickly and return from whence you came! Otherwise, don't blame my old lady's hands for showing no mercy!"
Xu Ruoping took a deep breath, suppressing her slightly fluttering heart, and blustered boldly.
If she remembered correctly, this was the first time she was facing a demon alone since she began studying immortality and magic. In the past, she had only ever watched her grandfather subdue demons and monsters with effortless ease, while she had spent ten years learning her craft without any chance to put it to use. Her heart had long felt as if eight or ten little mice were running around inside, itching unbearably.
Today, it was finally time for her to hold her head high and shine.
Xu Ruoping secretly fantasized about how she would beat this demonic monster to a pulp and make it search the ground for its teeth, smiling stupidly to herself as she imagined it.
The next moment, she wished her parents had given her two more legs.
In the darkness, two tall and short monsters slowly dragged themselves out, their mouths and bodies stained with bloody flesh and skin. Their eyes were exceptionally large, their ears exceptionally pointy, and their two pairs of copper-bellied eyeballs emitted a faint blue light. Their two pairs of praying mantis claws resembled iron blades and steel knives, gleaming with a greenish light.
Earth Demons!
The book *Secret Compendium of Strange Creatures* given to her by her Grandfather clearly recorded the origins and background of this monster.
Legend has it that the vast universe is roughly divided into three realms: Heaven, Earth, and Mankind.
The Heavenly Realm is inhabited by omnipotent upper immortals; the Human Realm is the domain of mortals, birds, and beasts; and the Nether Realm is much more colorful. Aside from the mysterious and eerie Underworld governing the reincarnation of mortals and beasts, there are also many untamed monsters, ghosts, and demons, with various factions entrenched across the Earth's Core.
Among them, the most powerful faction is the Nether Kingdom. Under the command of the Underworld King Hubalake, there are ten demons and nine fiends, each possessing unique skills and precious treasures, making them Hubalake's capable generals. There are also four princesses and six princes, all brave in battle and possessing boundless magic. Hubalake himself wields a supreme weapon of slaughter refined from an extraterrestrial meteorite—the Primeval Dark Iron—and commands one hundred thousand Earth Demons under his banner. These monsters are naturally cruel and bloodthirsty, especially fond of eating living souls, and possess extraordinary combat effectiveness. For hundreds of years, countless cultivators have died tragically at their hands, becoming the sharp blades of the Underworld King's slaughter.
A deep chill suddenly surged up Xu Ruoping's spine, and the calves of her legs were cramping. To keep her wildly pounding little heart from leaping out, she crossed her arms over her chest and pretended to be righteous and awe-inspiring, though the root of her tongue was already trembling and knotted, unable to speak.
The short Earth Demon looked eagerly at Xu Ruoping, drooling profusely, and stammered, "Big Brother, this time we don't have to put in any extra effort. This one has top-tier aptitude, her three souls and seven spirits are brilliantly clear with almost no impurities. If we give her to the Great King to refine, he will definitely love her!"
The short Earth Demon's belly was exceptionally round, far surpassing that of a pregnant woman nine months along, yet when he spoke, his words were in a baby voice, sounding just like a three-year-old child who had only recently learned to speak. With one hand, he reached into his mouth to pick out some bone fragments from between his teeth, while using the other hand to pat his belly, puffing out his chest and pretending to inhale.
Out of thin air, a vortex formed, gathering all the garbage and paper scraps on the ground and sucking them straight into his mouth.
Xu Ruoping felt as if her body were being pulled by an invisible suction force, being drawn right toward the short Earth Demon's mouth. She hurriedly pinched an incantation to steady her stance.
Abruptly, the suction force vanished without warning, almost making her fall backward. Gathering her focus to scan ahead, she saw that the tall Earth Demon had raised a hand to halt the short Earth Demon's feeding action. His gaze moved up and down Xu Ruoping's body, and he frowned, saying, "Don't rush. Look at this little girl, she seems to have some cultivation. Let's see what's going on first!"
Xu Ruoping gave a cold laugh, her panic turning into anger, and shouted, "Such unbridled arrogance! Watch how I deal with both of you!"
She flicked her wrist and raised a—leaf.
The two monsters were startled at first and instinctively raised their hands to block. The leaf flew toward them carried by the force emitted from Xu Ruoping's hand and struck the short Earth Demon's body.
The two fiends looked down and saw that it was merely a harmless tree leaf, with the tip of the leaf slightly curled up to form a tiny reverse barb. They couldn't help bursting into laughter, finding the young girl before them all the more simple-minded and adorable.
What a scam!
In her panic, Xu Ruoping had forgotten that she was merely a disembodied soul. Talisman paper was a physical object; how could it possibly leave the body together with her?
In a panic, she hurriedly pinched an incantation, her ten fingers fluttering up and down as she chanted, and a thin, blazing light slowly gathered from all directions into her palm.
"The Nine-Word Mantra Hand Seals!" The tall Earth Demon cried out in shock at the sight.
He reacted extremely quickly, seeming to have suffered losses from these hand seals before. Without waiting for Xu Ruoping to finish chanting, he flicked his sleeves, and two streams of black Qi like dragons emerging from the sea let out a low roar and howled, instantly sweeping Xu Ruoping a dozen meters into the air, hanging her suspended halfway up.
Xu Ruoping screamed, "Ugly monsters, let me down right now!"
The tall Earth Demon didn't even blink his eyelids, standing rigidly with his eyes half-open, completely indifferent to Xu Ruoping's heart-rending screams. His hand suddenly flicked hard in the air, and Xu Ruoping's body was hurled away like a wooden pillar, slamming with a loud bang into the anti-theft net outside the balcony of a certain building. Half a second later, her body seemed to regain its weight, dropping down with a thud in a beautiful free-fall motion.
Xu Ruoping felt as if all the bones in her body were about to fall apart, her Qi sea churning endlessly. Her internal organs felt as though they had all shifted positions, tangled together in a chaotic mess, and a trace of a fishy, sweet taste surged straight up from her throat, causing her to retch and vomit a large mouthful of fresh blood.
This is terrible, even her soul blood had been vomited out; she was probably going to sell salted duck eggs tonight.
Xu Ruoping thought feebly, that'll teach you to play the hero.
The next moment, her body was suspended in mid-air, as if she had been hoisted up like a small chicken by the tall monster. Then, accompanied by the roaring sounds of the tall and short monsters, they passed through one dark gate after another, the sound of howling wind ringing in her ears as they rapidly burrowed deep into the earth.
Wait a minute, isn't beneath the earth the Underworld?
Oh mother, save me! This maiden is in her sweet youth and hasn't even gotten married yet! Bodhisattva, Buddhas, come save me quickly!
Xu Ruoping wailed and bitterly complained in her heart, wanting to struggle, but aside from pain, she couldn't even lift her hands.
Her heart was turning cold bit by bit.
Suddenly, the tall Earth Demon seemed to encounter some obstacle and came to an emergency stop, shaking Xu Ruoping until golden stars danced before her eyes.
He strapped Xu Ruoping to his body, twisting her like a hemp rope around his waist, and then bent over, cupping his fists in a full bow, saying respectfully, "This subordinate pays respects to Venerable Zeling!"
The little short guy had already become like a withered leaf in the autumn wind, trembling all over as his legs turned to jelly and he collapsed directly to the ground.