A Land That Stops the Heart

A rare smile crossed Ah Li Man's face.

The greatest threat looming over Biyi City was the Lizard-Skull Giant Demon Tribe, and in all the time since Ah Li Man had arrived, she had failed to devise any workable strategy for keeping them in check.

She had originally come to investigate the Dongting Lake Death God — to understand what kind of entity could slay so many Lizard-Skull Giant Demons.

Yet who could have predicted that upon reaching Sunset Valley, she would run into a wild man and a shockingly reckless junior officer? The two of them had used the simplest trick — playing their enemies against each other — to eliminate a Commander of the Lizard Clan. For Ah Li Man, this was unambiguously welcome news, enough to let Biyi City breathe a little easier.

Then, watching the Marsh Poison Centipede emerge as the final victor, inspiration had struck. She used Light Element magic to brand it with a Sacred Word Mark, keeping it alive to serve as a continuing check against the Lizard Clan.

One Lizard Clan Commander dead, one natural enemy of the Lizard Clan created — in a single chain of events, she had effectively suppressed two entire Lizard-Skull Giant Demon Clans.

"I said it before — that carcass is mine." Mo Fan pointed at the mountainous remains of the Armored-Shell Giant Lizard, his expression perfectly serious.

"Fine. I got what I came for," Ah Li Man said.

"Brother Fan, so did I!" Zhang Xiaohou grinned from ear to ear. "That thing is the size of a mountain — haul it back and you could build a whole floor out of it."

Every part of a Commander-class creature was a treasure. Mo Fan would need to put in real work on this carcass to extract everything of value.

"Let me lend a hand," Ah Li Man offered. "I'll send a squad of Military Mages over to help you break it down. On your own, who knows how long that would take." The color had fully returned to her face — a warm, healthy flush that gave her a distinctly feminine quality. Whether it was the poison leaving her system at last or simply the relief of removing such a dire threat, she was clearly in high spirits.

"Better idea — just have the military buy it outright," Mo Fan said, deciding the headache wasn't worth it. "Considering how much you contributed today, I'll even knock ten percent off."

"That works," Ah Li Man said. As a Military Commander, she had full authority to make that call herself. "The Demon Research Division will definitely want a Lizard Clan Commander to dissect."

"Pleasure doing business." Mo Fan extended a filthy hand, its hair still abnormally long — unmistakable evidence that his Demonization hadn't fully receded.

"Pleasure doing business," Ah Li Man replied with an easy smile. Her narrow eyes curved into crescents, and there was open admiration in her voice. "You're something else. This is the first time I've seen an Intermediate-Level Mage kill a Commander-class creature. Even among high-level Mages, taking down a Commander-class is considered a remarkable achievement."

"Ha." Mo Fan laughed, his upper canines jutting out like sabertooth fangs. "I didn't spend months living in the wild just to reconnect with nature."

"Then perhaps you can tell me — why were both Commanders already critically wounded before I arrived?" Ah Li Man's gaze locked onto him, as though she could see straight through whatever he was concealing.

"Heaven knows," Mo Fan said, rolling his eyes with the air of someone who hadn't the faintest idea what she was talking about.

Seeing that he had shifted fully into deflection mode, Ah Li Man chose not to press the matter.

She was certain the Dongting Lake Death God had something to do with the wild man standing before her — but exactly what, she couldn't begin to pin down.

Back in Biyi City, Mo Fan could sense the final Demonic Backlash drawing near.

For Mo Fan, this was his tribulation — a reckoning for having wielded power that was never rightfully his. Survive it, and he'd come out unharmed. Fail, and there would be no coming back.

He had lost count of how many Lizard-Skull Giant Demons he had killed, let alone how much Spirit Essence he had burned through. All he knew was that he never wanted to be at the demon's mercy again. If not for the Loach Pendant's ability to condense Spirit Essence, he would have died a dozen times over by now.

Once he endured this final Demonic Backlash, the Blood Catalyst inside him should vanish completely.

*If the Demon Element didn't carry such brutal side effects, I'd never willingly give this up. That feeling — bending the battlefield to my will, sending a Commander running with its tail between its legs — it was absolutely intoxicating...*

But nothing in the world came without a price. The cost here was simply too high.

He remembered Jiang Yi warning him: if he survived, his cultivation would fall.

After enduring the tribulation using a Commander-class Remnant Soul in Biyi City, his soul had suffered severe damage, and his cultivation had dropped accordingly.

That left Mo Fan wanting to cry with no tears left to spare. He had worked so hard to advance his Fire Element to the third tier — Blazing Fist — Nine Palaces had been devastatingly powerful — and now his cultivation had plummeted back to the second tier, reverting to Blazing Fist — Earth Fiend.

And if his Fire Element falling weren't bad enough, his Lightning Element, Shadow Element, and Summoning Element had all dropped a tier as well.

If the sheer power of the Demon Element had still held any lingering appeal, that undeniable crash in cultivation settled the matter for good.

Cultivation was hard-won. He refused to waste it.

Of course, transforming into a demon was no longer a realistic option anyway. Once he made it through the final Demonic Backlash, the Demon Element energy within him would scatter completely. To Demonize again, he would need an entirely new Blood Catalyst.

The Blood Catalyst was in the military's hands. Mo Fan had considered getting another one after his soul and body recovered — after all, losing your life was a far worse outcome than losing a tier of cultivation — but that was a problem for another day.

Once he had recovered, Mo Fan followed Zhang Xiaohou to the Southern Military District.

Among all the military personnel he knew, the only one Mo Fan truly trusted was Zhankong. Everything related to the Demon Element had been locked down by him, and very few people were privy to the secret.

"You've got ridiculous luck, kid — somehow you're still walking around," Zhankong said, a shameless grin spreading across his face at the sight of Mo Fan very much alive and in one piece.

"Barely a difference from being dead," Mo Fan replied with a bitter smile. "My cultivation dropped."

"Don't worry about it — that kind of drop should come back quickly. I had your body fully checked over. The demon bloodline has been completely cleared from your system, and your soul is on the mend," Zhankong said.

"Good to hear." Mo Fan nodded and let out a long breath.

"Also," Zhankong added, "I ran some tests on you using trace amounts of the Blood Catalyst. Turns out your body has become immune to it."

"Immune??" Mo Fan was thoroughly baffled.

"In plain terms: the Blood Catalyst has no effect on you anymore, and you can no longer Demonize. If it were truly a new Element, your Demonized form should have counted as awakening one. But you still have four Elements — no so-called Demon Element has appeared in your Inner World. What those people were researching was nothing but a viral infection — something like a stimulant, a biochemical drug. It has absolutely nothing to do with a genuine new Element," Zhankong said.

Mo Fan nodded slowly.

Calling a corrupting force a world-changing new Element — in the end, Lu Nian and his followers were nothing but madmen with warped beliefs.

"For now, stay here and work on restoring your cultivation to where it was," Zhankong said. "We'll keep the story of your death intact — can't have the Black Church starting to watch you again. Once you've been clear for a while with no complications, you can drag yourself back to school."

"Thank you, Chief Instructor." Having survived such a close brush with death, Mo Fan felt lighter than he had in months, his spirits soaring.

"Stay a good while, Brother Fan," Zhang Xiaohou added with his usual cheerful grin.

"You — get yourself back to the Ancient Capital where you're supposed to be training," Zhankong snapped without ceremony. "Instead of studying, you're out here bouncing all over the place."

Zhang Xiaohou hunched into his shoulders and held his tongue.

"The Ancient Capital — Xi'an, right?" Mo Fan said. "I've heard it's close to the Land of the Undead."

"Dead things crawl out at the slightest disturbance," Zhang Xiaohou said, nodding with great enthusiasm. "No matter how many you clear out, they're back before long. But now that I have the Earth Element Spirit Seed — Flowing Marsh, I'll never have to worry about being swarmed by Undead again!"

"I'd love to see it for myself someday," Mo Fan said, a quiet note of wonder in his voice.

How many dynasties had risen and crumbled. How many soldiers' souls lay buried beneath the yellow sand.

When the morning sun crested the horizon, all creation stirred back to life — vibrant, warm, brimming with the world's vitality.

But when the sun sank below the horizon, every manner of spirit made its revelry known — clawing through the soil, casting off grave cloth and coffin lids, exulting in the darkness.

Burial pits. Imperial mausoleums. Ancient battlefields. Mass graves. Ghost-warrior effigies.

What kind of breathtaking realm was this?