Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Appearance of the Demon's Trace

After breaking through to the second level of the Reliance Technique, Zhou Bai did not sense any obvious change. Although his life-bound ghost artifact had evolved from a seed to a sapling, its power remained subtle. On the system panel, "Reliance Technique I" had become "Reliance Technique II, 1%," and he refrained from investing any points, knowing that advancing to the second level would require far more points than the first. With only three points remaining, attempting to use them for a breakthrough would be futile and self-defeating.

With a thought, Zhou Bai retrieved the sapling into his dantian. The life-bound ghost artifact vanished in a mysterious manner, reappearing inside his dantian at a proportionately reduced size, no larger than a thumb.

As soon as the Yinwood sapling entered his dantian, it began to stretch, putting forth roots little by little. Zhou Bai felt a tingling numbness in his lower abdomen as the sapling actually took root in his flesh.

Before he could react, the sapling’s sole leaf trembled lightly, and an intense pain stabbed through Zhou Bai’s head. The sensation came suddenly but faded just as quickly, vanishing in an instant.

Unbeknownst to him, two lines of tears slid down his cheeks. Deep within his Yin-Yang Eyes, a black rune, no larger than a few millimeters, emerged and floated out.

The rune shifted and changed shape like a snowflake falling from the sky, imbued with an air of profound mystery.

Though Zhou Bai did not know what the rune signified, he noticed the proficiency of the Yin-Yang Eyes on his system interface drop abruptly from 6% to 5%.

The rune followed his meridians, slowly making its way toward his dantian. The moment it entered, it was like a swallow returning to its nest, flying directly to make contact with the sapling’s leaf.

After absorbing the rune, the sapling’s leaf began to change. First, the rune appeared on its surface and transformed, ultimately forming an eye-shaped pattern on the leaf, black above and white below.

Zhou Bai suddenly understood: from this moment on, as long as his life-bound ghost artifact existed and did not reach its limit, his Yin-Yang Eyes would never run out of control again. The yin energy within could now be completely mastered through this leaf.

Moreover, as Zhou Bai acquired more ghostly arts in the future, the sapling’s branches and leaves would surely grow more lush and abundant.

Curiosity welled up in his heart—could this life-bound ghost artifact ultimately become a towering tree? One could only imagine what powers it might wield then.

The only regret was that, although he had reached the second level of the Reliance Technique, the total amount of yin energy in his body had not increased. He could only rely on the sapling to slowly absorb the scattered yin energy of heaven and earth by night—a slow process that could not be rushed.

This seemed to be the pattern with all the cultivation methods of the Nether Registry; unlike Daoist Hou, who needed to meditate and cultivate, their life-bound ghost artifacts absorbed energy on their own. The practitioner’s role was to master and control this power, preventing it from running wild.

Zhou Bai stretched lazily, realizing that another night had passed unnoticed and dawn had already broken.

He stepped out of the house. Dew glistened on the leaves and branches outside, and a few birds flitted across the sky.

Zhou Bai stretched his limbs in the courtyard. Having truly entered the path of cultivation, the yin energy in his body would subtly transform his constitution.

Though it had only been a single night and the change was not yet obvious, Zhou Bai could already feel himself moving with greater agility.

He summoned the system panel in his mind again. Only three points remained—hardly enough to make a dent in advancing the Reliance Technique. But then he remembered Daoist Hou’s Five Beasts Exercise.

Much like the "Carnivore Aspect," after using two points, his proficiency in the Five Beasts Exercise instantly reached 100%. It was a shame that he was just one step away from advancing to a divine ability.

With the Five Beasts Exercise perfected, Zhou Bai felt a warm energy emanating from every pore of his body. While his physique had not changed drastically, he now felt a steady, unending flow of strength. Recalling how easily Daoist Hou had traveled, Zhou Bai realized his own endurance had likely surpassed that of ordinary men by far.

His spirits soared. This session of seclusion had been exceptionally fruitful, and the flaw in his life-bound ghost artifact was resolved. Unable to resist, he gripped his butcher’s knife and began to swing it in the courtyard.

During the ritual for his life-bound ghost artifact, the butcher’s knife had absorbed a trace of yin energy as well. Though its edge was still notched, it now looked much more natural, resembling the blade of a saw.

Zhou Bai’s swordsmanship prized speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness. With only a few swift strokes, he cleared the courtyard of weeds, revealing some training stones that had been hidden beneath.

His curiosity piqued, he casually picked up one of the fifty-pound stones. With a small effort, he lifted it and tossed it aside with satisfaction.

All at once, a glint of light caught his eye in the sun—a bright spot that made him squint.

The glare was sharp, so Zhou Bai could not see it clearly at first. He walked toward the source of the light.

"What is this…?"

It was a crystal-clear scale. As he saw it fully, his pupils contracted. He immediately bent down and picked the scale up from the ground.

No matter how carefully Zhou Bai examined it, there was no doubt—it was a fish scale. But it was at least three times larger than those of ordinary fish, and he could distinctly smell a strange, fishy odor wafting from it.

For a fish to have scales this large, river fish were unlikely—the only possibility was a deep-sea fish.

Even the nearest great river, the "Clear River," was a day’s journey away, and Zhou Bai had never once set foot in the sea. How could there be a sea fish deep in these mountains?

A sense of unease gripped him. If it wasn’t the scale of a sea fish, there was only one possibility left—

A demon!

Zhou Bai instantly activated his Yin-Yang Eyes. With his life-bound ghost artifact’s presence, the sapling released a flow of yin energy that stimulated his eyes, causing them to change.

The world before his eyes shifted gradually into shades of black and white. Only the fish scale in his hand was entwined in a wisp of ghostly green smoke.

He had never seen demonic energy before, but deep down, Zhou Bai was certain—a demon had indeed visited Wang Lei’s courtyard.

With his Yin-Yang Eyes, he quickly uncovered more and more clues: blood in the soil, claw marks gouged into the door frame—all evidence of something amiss.

The traces were fresh, likely left just a few days before. It seemed that Wang Lei and the others had been caught off-guard by a one-sided assault from the demon.

They were merely ordinary hunters, with no power to resist. The demon subdued them easily. Only Wang Lei had struggled, using his iron sand palm to rip free a single scale from the demon.

Wang Lei and his companions were probably still alive for now. But since they had been taken by a demon, the creature’s intentions were unlikely to be benign.

Zhou Bai’s gaze flickered. To be safe, he used his token to transmit a brief message to Wen Meng, but at this point, returning to Hangdu would almost certainly be too late.

His hand moved instinctively to the Tang blade at his waist, his killing intent surging, eyes fixed on his dantian, where the rune for "cursed death" swirled.

He returned to the house once more, and when he emerged, he wore a bamboo hat.

The northern wind howled—today would be a day for slaying demons.