Chapter 116: The Misty Realm’s Cruelty

Before Su Baixue could fully voice her question, the oppressive sensation and weightlessness from the ‘Sixth Staircase’ gave way to the abrupt, solid touch of ground beneath their feet.

The terrifying demonic energy at the end of the corridor suddenly underwent a qualitative change. It was no longer a mere impact or pressure, but a force that enveloped everyone.

Su Mian blinked hard as her vision slowly sharpened, clearing from its initial blur. She found herself still standing on something akin to ‘ground.’

Beside her were Su Baixue and Ling Chen, who had just regained their footing, their faces grim. Qin Xuan and Lu Yang remained unconscious.

Hua Liang and Xue Li were nowhere to be seen. It was unclear if they hadn’t been pulled into this place, or if they had departed through some other means.

But the environment… it was entirely different.

The sky above them was an eerie, deep crimson. A blood-red full moon hung low on the horizon, casting an ominous, dark glow. The air was thick with a demonic aura, so dense it felt palpable, unlike the chilling, resentful presence in the old teaching building. Here, countless different demonic energies mingled.

The surrounding ‘scenery’ appeared similar to before, yet it was utterly devoid of human presence. It was as if everything had been abandoned for ages.

“Where… where is this place?”

Su Mian glanced around, her voice dry. This place gave her an extremely unsettling feeling.

“The Misty Realm.”

Ling Chen answered her, brushing nonexistent dust from his clothes. A hint of his usual playful tone had returned, but the vigilance in his eyes remained undiminished.

“It’s a monster’s lair, or rather… another dimension that overlaps with our current world yet remains isolated from it.

I never expected that the evil spirit’s impact on the seal would temporarily tear open a rift to this place, throwing all of us in.”

“Tsk, this is big trouble.”

Su Baixue’s expression was extremely grave. She quickly checked Qin Xuan and Lu Yang, confirming they were only unconscious and not in immediate danger. Only then did she stand up, her voice sharp and cold:

“The laws of the Misty Realm are different from our world. The demonic energy concentration is extremely high, making it very hostile to humans. And the monsters that wander here…”

She didn’t finish her sentence, but her meaning was clear.

As if to confirm her words, almost simultaneously with her voice fading, countless pairs of greedy, violent, crimson eyes suddenly lit up within the dense, fog-like demonic energy all around them!

“Hiss…”

“Tear—”

“Human… the scent of humans!”

“Fresh souls!”

Muffled growls and excited shrieks surged from all directions! Shadows writhed, and bizarre figures emerged from the demonic mist. There were grotesque flesh tumors, bloated and covered in festering pustules.

There were swift dog demons, their sharp claws gleaming with a cold light. Phantoms floated in mid-air, trailing long, phosphorescent wisps.

There were also painted-skin demons, caught between human and monster, with unsettling, eerie smiles. Even more disturbing were the twisted beings that defied description, seemingly patched together from various biological limbs.

Their target was clear: Su Baixue, Ling Chen, and the unconscious Qin Xuan and Lu Yang, all exuding the vibrant scent of living humans.

However, in a bizarre turn of events, every monster, mid-pounce, seemed to encounter an invisible barrier or a natural predator the moment their gaze fell upon Su Mian, who was protected by a milky-white light shield.

They let out cries of terror or confusion, abruptly twisting their bodies to bypass Su Mian completely, unleashing all their aggressive intent upon Su Baixue and Ling Chen instead.

“You’re courting death!”

Su Baixue snorted, her hands rapidly forming seals. Spiritual energy flowed from her fingertips, outlining profound, pale blue runes.

“Purifying Flame, Expel Evil!”

Boom!

Blazing golden flames erupted from thin air, forming a rotating ring of fire that expanded outwards from her. It instantly ignited the first few low-level monsters that lunged forward, incinerating them into ash amidst their frantic shrieks.

Ling Chen’s movements, in contrast, were entirely different. He curled his toes, without forming any seals, and simply snapped his fingers.

His shadow suddenly elongated and split. Five graceful figures, each with a distinct aura, flowed out from the shadows and quickly solidified. They were five women, or rather, female-shaped monsters.

One wore a cherry blossom-patterned kimono, her face delicate and charming, though her eyes were vacant. She held a paper umbrella, its ribs as sharp as blades.

Another wore a tattered nurse’s uniform, her face deathly pale, her fingernails long and jet-black. A third resembled a lady from an ancient painting, her long sleeves fluttering gracefully.

One was dressed in a modern dress, soaking wet and constantly dripping water, her eyes filled with sorrow. The last was like a Western doll, with obvious ball joints at her articulations, her smile stiff yet sweet.

Their common trait was their beauty, but beneath that beauty lay an undeniable inhumanity and a deep sense of weariness and fear.

The gaze they directed at Ling Chen was filled with an unspeakable complexity: obedience, terror, and perhaps a hint of resentment suppressed to its very limits.

“Go, clean up this trash!”

Ling Chen’s voice was icy, as if he were commanding a group of inanimate tools. The five female shikigami didn’t hesitate, or rather, dared not to.

They immediately turned and faced the swarming Misty Realm monsters. Battle erupted instantly.

However, the Misty Realm monsters were too numerous, and many among them were fierce. The shikigami quickly found themselves in a bitter struggle.

They were injured and forced back, yet they dared not show the slightest slack. Ling Chen’s cold gaze, like a whip, constantly lashed at their backs.

“Useless! You can’t even deal with these mere shikigami? What good are you?!”

Ling Chen spat in displeasure. With a flash, he appeared beside the most heavily injured nurse shikigami and mercilessly kicked her in the waist!

“Urgh!”

The nurse shikigami cried out in pain, stumbling from the kick. Her wound burst open, and more ‘blood’ with an unnatural glow seeped out. “And you! Why are you hiding?!”

He delivered another kick to the back of the knee of the ancient lady shikigami, who had been trying to dodge the flames, sending her tumbling to the ground in a pathetic heap.

The fear in the shikigami’s eyes intensified. They could only grit their teeth, endure their pain, and fight even more desperately, even if it meant trading blows or unleashing their demonic power in a near-suicidal fashion, all to clear the enemies faster.

Su Mian watched all of this, a heavy, suffocating feeling in her chest. Those female shikigami were fighting for him, yet they were subjected to such cruel treatment!

Their eyes, filled with fear yet forced obedience when they looked at Ling Chen… This Ling Chen was truly a beast.

“Stop!”

Su Mian finally couldn’t hold back and shouted at Ling Chen, “How can you treat them like this? Aren’t they fighting desperately for you and getting injured in the process?”

Upon hearing this, Su Baixue’s movements, releasing flames, paused slightly.

Her brows furrowed tightly, and her gaze towards Ling Chen showed clear disapproval. But her lips moved, and she ultimately remained silent, refraining from stopping Ling Chen.

Perhaps in the exorcist education she had received, shikigami were ultimately just ‘tools.’ While Ling Chen’s methods were excessively cruel, they weren’t entirely incomprehensible.

Especially in such a perilous situation, the ‘expenditure’ of shikigami was sometimes a necessary cost. Ling Chen turned his head, looking at Su Mian with a mocking expression, as if he had heard the most ridiculous joke.

“What? You, a human, feel pity for these monsters?”

He pointed at the surrounding Misty Realm monsters, still wildly attacking with their hideous faces, his tone cutting:

“Look closely, this is the true face of monsters! Greedy, bloodthirsty, preying on humans! My shikigami, if they weren’t bound by a contract, do you think they’d be any different from these?

They’d pounce on you just the same, tear open your throat, and drain your essence!”

‘Contract binding… shikigami…’ These words struck Su Mian’s heart like a heavy hammer. She suddenly remembered… wasn’t she Xiao Moyuan’s shikigami? Also bound by a contract.

But… Xiao Moyuan… The one who would hold her hand when she was scared, who would meticulously remind her to wear her necklace, who would prepare her breakfast in the morning, who would give her a gentle kiss when they parted, who would say,

“My feelings are genuine”… How could the attitude of exorcists towards shikigami be so vastly different?

And were all monsters necessarily evil? What about her then? And Xue Li… Hua Liang… A clash of relief, sorrow, and intense anger towards Ling Chen surged within her chest.

At this moment, under the shikigami’s near-desperate attacks, the surrounding Misty Realm monsters were finally cleared.

Only scattered remnants of demonic energy slowly dissipating across the ground and a few twitching fragments remained.

The five female shikigami were almost all wounded, their auras weak. The nurse shikigami and the ancient lady shikigami, especially, who had been kicked by Ling Chen, were more severely injured.

Their forms were unstable, as if they might dissipate at any moment.

Having completed their task, they received no credit whatsoever. Instead, they timidly retreated behind Ling Chen, heads bowed.

The most severely injured, the nurse shikigami, hesitated repeatedly before mustering her remaining courage, begging in a barely audible, trembling voice:

“Ma-Master… please… please grant us some spiritual power… to heal our injuries… otherwise… we might not be able to assist you next time…”

“Hm?”

Ling Chen raised an eyebrow, coldly sweeping his gaze over her pale face and the shocking corrosive wound on her shoulder.

There was no pity on his face, only intense impatience and disdain. ‘Just you useless lot?’ He scoffed, then raised his foot again, kicking the nurse shikigami hard on her injured shoulder!

“Ah—!”

The nurse shikigami let out a piercing scream, sent tumbling by the kick. Black energy billowed from her wound, and her form instantly became several shades more transparent, almost unable to maintain its physical body.

The other four female shikigami trembled in fear, not daring to even lift their heads.

‘A little scratch and you’re already dying? Wasting my precious spiritual power,’ Ling Chen’s face was filled with disgust. ‘Your value is to be a shield and a blade when I need you! Get out of here! Don’t be an eyesore!’

Seeing this scene, the anger in Su Mian’s chest could no longer be suppressed. She suddenly took a step forward:

“You! Is this how you treat the shikigami with whom you’ve formed a contract? They aren’t tools! They are also…”

She paused, unsure how to define them. Were they ‘lives’? Or ‘existences’? Also what? Ling Chen leisurely turned around. Facing Su Mian’s anger, he instead smiled, a cold and cruel smile.

“Also pitiful, little animals that need care? Heh, what a naive fool.”

His gaze suddenly fell upon the necklace pendant around Su Mian’s neck, which still emitted a soft white glow. A greedy glint flashed in his eyes.

He could feel the pure and powerful protective energy contained within that spiritual artifact; it was definitely a top-grade item.

“Alright,”

Ling Chen suddenly changed his tone, a malicious curve playing on his lips, “Aren’t you pitying them? Don’t you think my way of treating shikigami is wrong?”

He extended a finger, pointing remotely at Su Mian’s necklace:

“Give me that amulet around your neck. As long as you give it to me, I promise you, I’ll heal these useless ones’ injuries. How about it? I might even consider being a *little* bit nicer to them.”

He had no idea of the necklace’s origin, only assuming it was a precious amulet Su Mian had acquired from somewhere.

In his view, exchanging a ‘fool’s’ useless sympathy for a top-grade spiritual artifact was an incredibly shrewd deal. As for promises? Heh, in a place like the Misty Realm, what was a promise worth?

Su Mian’s pupils constricted upon hearing this, and her hand instinctively tightened around the pendant on her chest.

A warm, smooth sensation emanated from it, seemingly still carrying Xiao Moyuan’s lingering warmth and scent. Ling Chen continued to tempt her:

“Or perhaps you should consider your companions still lying on the ground beside you? You have this necklace for protection, but they don’t.

If not for Bai Xue and my kindness, those two would have been eaten whole by these monsters just now, not even bones left. If you give me the necklace, I might consider taking all of you out of this Misty Realm.”

Su Mian was currently engaged in an intense internal struggle.

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