His vision, blurred, returned to clarity. Changqing blinked. In the dim cave, several pairs of glowing eyes were fixed on him.
The cloaks of several women were taken off and spread on the ground like a large bed.
Sweet laughter filled his ears, and for a moment, the air was thick with spring, almost making him breathless.
At his feet lay a woman's corpse, still warm and bloody, her neck torn open as if a wild beast had ripped off a large chunk of flesh. Her eyes stared blankly in death.
No, no, no, what is going on!
Changqing was horrified. The scene before him was completely different from his previous four Rebirth experiences.
The previous four times, he had entered this Otherworld in his sleep at midnight, but this time, it was as if he had been forcibly dragged here ahead of schedule.
The beginning of his last Rebirth was when he woke up in a cave where humans were imprisoned.
But at this moment, it should be the scene a month after he had been in the cave, when he was first taken to the so-called Huanyi Hall to be harvested by these female demons.
For some unknown reason, the start of Changqing's Rebirth this time was pushed forward by a month.
His previous Rebirth experiences had made him deeply understand that these beautiful women were not benevolent, nor were they even human. They lacked normal ethics and morals, and some had slightly low intelligence.
Their clothing and human speech seemed more like a clumsy imitation of humans. In fact, Changqing often witnessed them cannibalizing their own kind.
Yet, the scene before him was still incredibly bizarre. The female corpse on the ground was clearly one of their own, but they seemed to ignore her, only interested in Changqing.
He looked closely and recognized the corpse at his feet as a female demon named Xing'er.
He had seen too many dead people in this Otherworld and had long become numb, but he couldn't understand why this female demon had died in this place for no apparent reason.
A fishy smell smell reached his mouth. Changqing wiped it with his hand and noticed that his hands and mouth were covered in fresh blood, which made him feel a wave of nausea. The blood splattered from the woman before her death had coincidentally gotten all over his mouth.
Without time for disgust, he bit his tongue, and a trace of clarity returned to his eyes. No matter what happened, he couldn't let these female demons harvest him now.
These female demons of the Hehuan Sect practiced a special secret technique. Once harvested by them, one would fall deeply into it, unable to extricate themselves, then gradually become addicted, and finally turn into a walking corpse only knowing lustful pleasure.
The harvested humans would slowly lose their Origin Qi, and once their Origin Qi was exhausted, they would be taken and refined into a 'Pure Yang Pill' as a tonic.
That had been his fate.
However, he already had a relatively complete plan before his Rebirth, so how could he be flustered by a mere corpse?
Thinking of this, Changqing prepared to repeat his escape method from his previous life. He pretended to be engrossed, took the opportunity to hold his breath and concentrate, and gripped a hairpin from a female demon's head.
The method was simple: self-mutilation, specifically targeting a certain sensitive area.
This move was a test of these female demons' bottom line. As long as he couldn't perform the human Dao temporarily, these female demons wouldn't be able to harvest him.
But they wouldn't be willing to directly take him, a young and strong human, for Alchemy, so they would try to heal his wounds, which would buy him a lot of time.
The cost was being a little too cruel to himself; only as a man could one truly understand that pain.
However, Changqing was already used to it. In this demon's den, the first flaw he discarded was his indecisive personality.
In this Otherworld, it's either you die or I die. Be ruthless to others, and even more ruthless to yourself.
Just as he raised the hairpin and was about to stab it down fiercely, his vision suddenly blurred, and the entire Otherworld became turbulent.
The strange clock in his mind spun wildly. Changqing felt a splitting headache, and then a small vortex appeared in his mind. At the center of the vortex, a white ball of light floated.
The white light emitted a faint glow. Changqing felt a surge of heat in his body, his Bloodline pumping. For a moment, he disregarded his self-mutilation plan, feeling as if something was about to burst out of him.
At this moment, the few female demons around him seemed like a snow-white flesh lily slowly blooming.
“Pfft”
Several women suddenly gasped simultaneously, then struggled like drowning people, their throats making muffled sounds. Several mouthfuls of blood were spat out at the same time. After a few convulsions, they fell silent.
The female Disciple outside the cave heard the commotion and rushed over. Seeing the scene before her, her pupils suddenly contracted to pinpricks.
The cave was splattered with blood. Several naked women were huddled together in various postures, dead.
If the spring scene just now was like a snow-white flesh lily, then the current scene was like a blooming 'blood lily'.
The 'pistil' at the center of the blood lily was several long bone spurs, piercing out from the center, impaling the bodies of the women. They were frozen in their alluring poses, like insect specimens.
A living hell, nothing more.
The female Disciple screamed and fled out the door.
After she left, the bone spurs impaling the corpses slowly retracted, and the corpses fell, revealing Changqing lying in the center.
Half of his face was covered in blood, making him look like an Asura returned from hell, but his face was pale, as if he wore a pure white ceramic mask.
Lowering his head, he watched the bone spurs slowly recede into his body until the wounds on his chest were completely healed. He then touched his ribs, somewhat puzzled.
Just now, he had used Imperial Spirit?
He, again, had cultivation?
Without thinking too much, Changqing closed his eyes and perceived inwards.
In his mind, there was a small vortex, and within the vortex, a milky white ball of light was suspended.
“Perhaps my Rebirth ability is like this: when cultivation drops to its lowest point, the time for Rebirth advances accordingly. I have one less month; it was originally a forced Rebirth after three months, now only two months remain.”
“However, correspondingly, I have regained my cultivation. Fortune and misfortune are intertwined.”
Even having experienced several life-and-death situations, Changqing still couldn't determine whether his current situation was good or bad.
“It's a pity it's only the cultivation of Fleeting Rotation. There's still too little I can do…”
Opening his eyes again, Changqing said with some regret.
Looking at the pile of pale, bloody corpses in front of him, he felt a headache.
He had originally intended to self-mutilate first, then, after returning to the cave where humans were imprisoned, execute his plan based on his memories from the previous four lives.
But unexpectedly, he had subconsciously used Imperial Spirit just now, killing these female demons and disrupting his original plan.
Thinking of the person he would have to face next, Changqing felt another headache.
“Alas, so be it. Human power has its limits, and the moon cannot always be full. Even with meticulous planning, accidents are inevitable, especially in a profound and mysterious Otherworld.”
Several Rebirths had long made Changqing very open-minded. Even though he liked to be in control and have everything proceed as he expected, he could still calmly accept the unexpected.
No longer dwelling on it, Changqing opened his eyes, stepped forward, and pulled out his robe from under the pile of bloody, pale corpses.
Shaking off the blood that had stained it, he draped the robe over himself, sat down on the ground, and waited quietly.
“How dare you! Were the Senior Sisters killed by you? You human, how could you be so audacious!”
Not long after, the female Disciple who had fled earlier rushed back, angrily pointing at Changqing and questioning him.
Behind the female Disciple, a pair of long, beautiful legs stepped into the cave, followed by a tall, beautiful woman. She had snow-white hair, wore a snow-white robe, her waist was cinched like silk, her neck was long and graceful, her skin was as white as jade, and her expression was as cold as frost.
AI drawing, for love, limited technology, please bear with me.
The beauty looked at Changqing and frowned.
Changqing, however, sneered inwardly.
“Leng Mei, you contradictory woman, have you finally arrived?”