“You, how do you know this…?!”
Liuli exclaimed in shock as she saw a demonic pattern glowing with violet light on her lower abdomen, with a flower-like center and butterfly wing-like patterns on either side.
This pattern was both familiar yet somewhat strange to her!
Familiar because this combination of butterfly wings and violet flower center was what Liuli had researched and developed after joining the Full Moon Sect.
But strange because the pattern’s details showed numerous optimizations and improvements upon Liuli’s original design!
“How is it? My drawing’s not bad, right?”
“Though it may not be as refined as the Holy Maiden’s handiwork, after my creative improvements and such a long time personally catalyzing it, this copied pattern has deeply embedded itself in the Holy Maiden’s belly.”
“So I’d say its effectiveness should be no different from the Holy Maiden’s original – perhaps even more powerful?”
Yino said with some confidence.
He no longer held any malice – that gentle yet proud look in his eyes even made Liuli feel like he was a top student eager for his teacher’s praise.
“You, how do you even know how to draw my formation patterns…?!”
Liuli’s eyes widened, her face became pale. When she saw this violet demonic pattern deeply carved into her belly below her navel, Liuli felt her last shred of hope completely crumble to dust.
Originally, she had still harbored a glimmer of hope, planning to endure this humiliation temporarily until she could leave the Azure Forest and use the Demon Abyss ritual to cleanse the demonic patterns from her body, thereby finding a way to sever her connection with Yino.
But now, with this layer of formation patterns, if Liuli were to bathe in the Demon Abyss she would only be corrupted more deeply.
Because her original intended use for this pattern was to use it to plant demon seeds in the dantian below righteous cultivators’ bellies, then push the cursed person into the Demon Abyss to be nourished by demonic energy.
That butterfly pattern’s flower center was actually a demon seed.
Once the formation sensed demonic energy, the seed within would activate, greedily absorbing demonic energy through the pattern and converting it to life force. The seed would then grow uncontrollably, invading the dantian and parasitizing it… Finally, the demon seed would gradually merge with the host’s dantian, leaving the cultivator’s most vital energy center completely corrupted and defenseless.
This was meant to be a pattern the Evil Sect’s Holy Maiden used to corrupt righteous cultivators.
But…
Yino had used this pattern on Liuli herself, the Evil Sect’s Holy Maiden.
In the future, even if she didn’t enter the Demon Abyss, wouldn’t she still need to perform sacrificial rituals in the Full Moon Sect?
And once she performed the sacrifice, she would have to bathe in the Mother Goddess’s life essence – an energy the demon seed craved even more than demonic energy! When that time came and Liuli conducted the ritual, the pattern on her belly would be activated by the Mother Goddess’s life force, and naturally the demon seed, nourished by the Mother Goddess, would quickly parasitize Liuli’s dantian.
Over time, it would become a vicious cycle.
The more Liuli basked in the Mother Goddess’s favor, the more her belly’s pattern would be nourished by the life essence, and the deeper the parasitic demon seed would merge with her dantian.
It seemed there was no solution.
But in truth, Liuli’s pattern did have a weakness.
If the host was a righteous cultivator, they only needed to escape the Demon Abyss before the demon seed took root, then spend time cultivating in a Buddhist temple. After being bathed in Buddhist light long enough, the pattern would gradually be purified, and without nourishment, the demon seed would wither and die.
This was supposed to be the salvation path for righteous cultivators.
But what could Liuli do now?
She was an Evil Sect’s Holy Maiden – was she supposed to shave her head like a nun and kneel before Buddha statues to purify her heart?
What a joke!
“Holy Maiden, you are the creator of this formation art, and I have been your devoted student all these years.”
Seeing Liuli’s despairing look, Yino felt a sense of achievement, as if receiving his idol’s acknowledgment.
In his past life, he had deeply admired Liuli’s corruption techniques.
But due to the game’s limitations, these complex demonic patterns with their twisted nature were naturally forbidden to the protagonist. Even if players chose the evil path, they could only learn combat-related dark arts.
Since being reborn into the real fallen immortal world, free from game restrictions, Yino had been deeply fascinated by the game’s various evil sect patterns.
During his years as a playboy in Luo City, he hadn’t wasted his time at the Phoenix Pavilion just drinking tea. The underground levels housed gambling dens and black markets – with enough money, what evil sect techniques couldn’t you buy?
So Yino had been studying quietly all along.
But with his aunt watching over him at the Grand Tutor’s mansion, Yino had always practiced in secret, rarely having chances to experiment on others.
Now at the remote Wuji Sect, Yino naturally wouldn’t miss any opportunity to practice his dark arts!
“Impossible…”
“I’ve never taught this pattern to anyone…!”
Liuli was still struggling desperately, unable to accept this bizarre reality.
She hadn’t known what Yino’s palm was catalyzing on her belly, so she had only felt a strange burning sensation and ticklish feeling.
But now, after seeing the pattern’s design, she could immediately judge from the intensity of the burning that the demon seed below her belly was being constantly catalyzed under Yino’s palm.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t just copy paste.”
“Actually, I’ve always felt that when Holy Maiden created this demon seed pattern back then, it was due to certain constraints that you chose to have the demon seed parasitize the cultivator’s dantian…”
Yino pressed against the violet pattern on the red-robed maiden’s belly, recalling the original plot with a hint of regret in his downcast eyes.
As he spoke, he injected more demonic energy to catalyze the demon seed under Liuli’s pattern.
In fact, what Yino had been injecting into Liuli’s body was never righteous spiritual energy, but rather the life blessing he had obtained through sacrifices to the Mother Goddess. As a Full Moon Sect Holy Maiden for many years, Liuli knew all too well how efficient this life force was at catalyzing demon seeds! However…
As the demon seed continued to take root and sprout under Yino’s catalyzation, Liuli gradually felt something wrong with the burning location in her belly. The demon seed seemed to be parasitizing somewhere other than her dantian!
“Mmph…?!”
Liuli couldn’t help letting out a whimper.
She noticed the subtle wrongness in her body, and simultaneously recalled Yino’s regretful words from earlier, causing cold sweat to break out on her back. She took a deep breath, but even her abdomen almost instinctively contracted.
From the very beginning, Liuli had felt Yino’s pattern was different from her original.
And just now, Yino had said some strange things, denying the practicality of having the demon seed parasitize the dantian…
Actually, thinking about it now, combined with the direct sensations from her internal organs, Liuli could probably guess what improvements Yino had made to her original design.
She just…
Dared not think in that direction.
“No… you… how could you…”