[Note: Dark Theme]
....
"Aagh!!!"
Within the golden, transparent barrier, Elder Qiuye was covered in wounds, his hair disheveled, driven to the brink of madness. Previously, he had instinctively used his spirit power to summon the technique within his Golden Core, conjuring thousands upon thousands of maple leaves, each capable of killing a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator!
But his secret technique, which he had always been so proud of, couldn't even land a hit on the Drunken Madman; it was a futile effort.
The Drunken Madman took a swig of wine and kicked out with his foot. His dirt-covered shoe flew off, leaving another shoe print on Elder Qiuye's face. "You've been weakened," he taunted. "If you were at your peak, with your Earth Core and that 'Whirling Dance of Falling Leaves' spirit object fused into your body, you might actually be able to fight me for three days and nights."
This further enraged Elder Qiuye. His Dharma Body, a maple tree, was riddled with holes, yet it still swayed its branches and leaves, attacking the Drunken Madman.
"Scum! You scum have ruined my hopes!"
Silver claws extended from his five fingers, reaching the Drunken Madman in an instant. But the Drunken Madman had already vanished from his spot, slowly putting his shoe back on.
The Drunken Madman frowned.
Not only had Qiuye gone mad, but Xiao Huang was even more insane... Recalling the recent joint struggle against Li Dalong, even he, a demon cultivator, felt a lingering fear.
In his impression, despite only having met him a few times, he could sense that Li Dalong was a truly benevolent and kind-hearted person, treating others with courtesy and respect. He seemed like a somewhat cultured and mature farmer.
But...
That fellow, he was truly ruthless.
The Drunken Madman glanced into the distance. Xiao Huang was still alive, slumped on the spirit shuttle. Her hair was disheveled, her clothes and hands stained with blood. In her arms, she held a battered bundle, trembling as she murmured, "My child, my child... our Xiao family has another descendant…" Her expression shifted between tears and strained laughter, her whole body wracked with tremors.
This was Li Dalong's handiwork. With a single blow from his coffin. The Drunken Madman, a demon cultivator for two hundred years, felt that Li Dalong was even more deserving of the title "demon" than himself.
One strike had driven two people to madness, the only difference being that one was truly insane, and the other was feigning it.
"Let me out! I want to find Li Dalong! I want to find the Li family!" Qiuye roared, the leaves from his maple tree Dharma Body dyeing the sky gold.
"Do you truly want to find the Li family? Qiuye, I know you."
The Drunken Madman laughed, his laughter causing Qiuye's face to pale. "Time hasn't made you a brave warrior," he taunted. "Instead, it has made you even more reliant on womanly schemes and plots. People like you will never truly go mad."
His voice was low and eerie.
"People like you always hide behind others. When you were young, you hid behind that poor woman, Xiao Huang. When you got old, you hid behind the Skyveil Sect. Even when you wanted to assassinate Li Yunlin of the Li family, you hid behind the unfortunate Su family. Even all these years, despite being a peak Golden Core cultivator, you didn't dare face the Li family directly and instead hid in Medicine King Valley with your Dao companion."
The Drunken Madman's words seemed to pierce Elder Qiuye's heart. Even the crazed Xiao Huang's eyes flickered with a moment of clarity. He continued, "You're pretending to be insane, you coward. Where else do you think you can hide?"
As he spoke, he felt the communication spirit stone in his pocket move. He raised an eyebrow and unexpectedly opened the barrier formed by his top-grade Spirit Weapon. He spread his hands and said, "Go on then, didn't you want to escape? Run. Oh, and don't even think about fleeing back to the Azure Cloud Pavilion. If they could actually save you, they would have sent someone already, considering how close they are."
"..."
Looking at the Drunken Madman, who had resumed drinking and seemed to be genuinely letting him go, Qiuye wanted to roar at the heavens. This demon cultivator had seen right through him!
He had indeed been feigning insanity, even considering burning his Golden Core to scare the Drunken Madman. But now...
Gazing at the opened barrier, he felt as if he were looking at a gateway!
He didn't know why, but it seemed like he was staring at the Bridge of Helplessness, a sight that sent shivers down his spine. It was the gateway to the underworld.
"Go on, then. Do you still want to drink my wine?"
For the first time, he felt such resistance to fleeing.
He then boarded the spirit shuttle, that mid-grade Spirit Weapon. Without time to worry about the madwoman behind him, he steered the shuttle toward the Skyveil Sect!
"Ancestor, the ancestor will protect me! The Li family wouldn't dare go to the Skyveil Sect!"