Back when they were halfway up the mountain, the wizard was able to accurately know where Ye Ling was and send the peach flying over. Qin Yi realized that sneaking around to gather information was pointless. No matter how well he hid, the wizard probably had ways to see everything.
So, they needed to find another way to investigate the situation.
Ye Ling sat in front of him, curiously watching as Qin Yi tore a piece of cloth and tied it into the shape of a little mouse. He poked the mouse's head with his finger, and it suddenly started scurrying around.
Ye Ling burst into laughter, jumping up with a big smile as she chased after the cloth mouse, shouting, "Mine, mine!"
Qin Yi couldn't help but feel helpless. Where was your demon power? Where was your speed? Why were you just running after a mouse with your little hands outstretched?
Just as the mouse was about to be caught, he flicked his finger, and the mouse suddenly sped back. Ye Ling dove to the ground but missed it completely, saying, "Aww... mine..."
"You’re a mature demon now. Once you learn some demon techniques, you can make as many as you want," Qin Yi said, picking up the mouse. He poked it with the sharp end of his wolf tooth club, then let it run off towards the hill.
Ye Ling looked at the mouse with teary eyes as it disappeared, saying, "It will die over there..."
"That's just a piece of cloth..." Qin Yi said, both amused and exasperated.
The mouse could move because he infused it with some magical energy. Although his control over objects wasn't as advanced as sword control, he could still manage a simple cloth mouse.
He poked it with the wolf tooth club to connect it with a thread of soul energy.
Right now, Liu Su couldn't separate her soul from her body, but as long as their souls were connected, it wasn't a big deal to use the cloth mouse as a substitute for sight. Once the mouse "died," the soul energy would immediately cut off, and it wouldn’t matter.
This was the best method they had for remote exploration.
Liu Su watched the mouse's position, constantly guiding Qin Yi to adjust its direction to avoid any monsters. After more than an hour of exhausting effort, they finally managed to get the cloth mouse to the edge of the hill.
The cloth mouse cautiously climbed halfway up the mountain, and the feedback from Liu Su's soul energy left it stunned.
The mountain was a mess, filled with countless monster corpses scattered everywhere.
The blood serpent lay on the mountainside, covered in blood, struggling against the last few monsters attacking it. However, those monsters were also exhausted, and the fight was like that of ordinary beasts, tearing at each other with their sharp teeth.
This battle had been going on for two days and was still ongoing...
But it was clear that the effect of the peach was wearing off; the monsters' eyes were no longer bloodshot.
Not far away, the blood pool, which had nearly dried up when they left, was now overflowing with endless monster blood.
But what was going on? Why hadn’t the wizard come to clean up the mess? Why was he just letting it happen?
Liu Su made a firm decision and told Qin Yi to move the cloth mouse further up the mountain.
Qin Yi had no idea what Liu Su saw; he didn't even know where the mouse was. He just followed her directions.
The mouse continued to climb, and they didn't see any monsters along the way. They did come across two stone tablets, but Liu Su's soul energy was too weak to read the fine print, so they skipped them and kept going.
Liu Su quickly recognized many traces of formations, but they all seemed to be damaged and ineffective. The cloth mouse couldn't trigger any reactions as it passed through.
At the top of the mountain, there was a large stone house. The cloth mouse circled around, and it was surprising that this place, which should have been filled with traps and formations, felt just like a regular human dwelling, with nothing happening at all.
As they approached the stone house's entrance, Liu Su's soul energy was depleted, and she could no longer see.
"From all the signs, it looks like this person was targeted by enemies. I don't know if they're still fighting inside, but he hasn't even returned to clean up the demon blood he set up," Liu Su said, her soul energy drained but her excitement evident. "Let's go; at least we can understand that stone tablet!"
Qin Yi was thrilled. If things went this smoothly, they might finish their mission right here, which was the most important goal—much more important than just picking up scraps!
Ye Ling ran even faster than him, shouting, "Cloth mouse..."
Qin Yi felt bad telling her that the cloth mouse had traveled through mountains and rivers and was now just a rag.
When they reached the hill, a strong smell of blood hit them. The sight of the scattered corpses was overwhelming, so much so that Ye Ling forgot about the cloth mouse.
"How... cruel..." Ye Ling murmured. "This person must be stopped; it's too cruel..."
Qin Yi felt a churn in his stomach. Without seeing it firsthand, he couldn't imagine what it felt like to see endless corpses. The stench alone was enough to make anyone feel nauseous.
He held his breath and slowly approached the blood serpent still battling.
No matter how much sympathy he felt, the blood serpent was still a creature raised by enemies and couldn't be spared!
The blood serpent killed the last monster and, exhausted, glared at Qin Yi, saying, "You again, monkey..."
"Monkey?" Qin Yi grinned. "Perfect, I'm here to steal peaches."
He thrust the wolf tooth club deep into the blood serpent's belly.
Ye Ling dove into the wound. She knew that the blood of the blood serpent would be very useful to her.
The blood serpent rolled madly down the slope, crushing countless corpses, and finally twitched a few times before going silent. Ye Ling tossed out a peach from its body, saying, "Brother, it seems like it's done for."
Qin Yi caught it and Liu Su said, "Put it away. After refining, it will still be useful, at least as material for crafting."
Qin Yi stored it away, then took out a medicine bottle from his pocket, emptied it into the air, and handed it to Ye Ling, saying, "Go to the blood pool and find that drop of essence. I'll check the stone tablet first."
The third stone tablet was located about two-thirds of the way up the mountain. There were some corpses around, and when Qin Yi lightly kicked one, it turned to dust.
The stone tablet read: "Death Curse."
This was the curse used by Dong Huazi, which cursed the life force of those who killed themselves, causing them to age and die. If the levels of power were equal, it could potentially cause the opponent to age on the spot, but since Dong Huazi's actual cultivation wasn't as strong as Li Qinglin's, he could only cause them to grow old.
However, this aging became a very interesting form of torture.
Qin Yi's heart sank.
Because the inscription was identical to what Dong Huazi had recorded, and no matter how many times he looked, he couldn't find a solution or any other chapters.
From the meaning of the inscription, it seemed to be an unsolvable curse, as it drew on the life force, leaving nothing to break it unless one could increase the life force.
To truly increase life, that would be a method of immortality.
"The person who figured out this curse was involved in the study of the essence of life. This is the work of a powerful being, not something this wizard could achieve," Liu Su concluded. "This stuff must have been researched by one of my enemies back then when they were studying the essence of life, and it was accidentally obtained by this wizard after it scattered in the valley with death."
"Minor technique?"
"It is a minor technique. At my level back then, or theirs, such curses were as light as a breeze, practically useless. At most, it was just a record of insights, hoping that one day it could be delved into deeper."
"..." Qin Yi wasn't ready to give up. "Didn't you say there were two stone tablets? Let's go check the other one; it might just be the solution."
Liu Su didn't say anything to discourage him.
Qin Yi dashed up, searching for the other tablet.
Without any obstacles in the way, finding a stone tablet was easy, and he soon spotted one. Qin Yi rushed over, took one look, and his expression turned very grim.
It wasn't a solution and had nothing to do with the curse.
It was "The 365 Heavenly Soul Piercing Arrows."
This seemed somewhat similar to the impressive "Nail Head Seven Arrows" technique, but the difference was vast. It required collecting as much of the target's hair, personal items, and so on as possible.
The birth date and time had to be detailed down to the exact moment, and then a peach wood figure had to be carved to resemble the target as closely as possible, equipping it with all their commonly used items.
After completing this preparation, the spell had to be cast for an entire year to completely lock the soul connection, and finally, it took several days and nights to nail down 365 major acupoints...
Dong Huazi and Li Qinglin had been at odds for so long, and this technique had only recently been completed.
Using this could indeed allow one to kill above their level, but not by much. If they encountered an opponent who was already in soul cultivation, there was a significant risk of backlash. Besides, unless it was for palace intrigue, who had the time to gather such conditions to play around slowly? With Liu Su by his side, high-level techniques would only increase, making this one essentially useless.
Even if it was useless, without a curse solution, there was no point in any of this!
(End of Chapter)