Record of a Demon's Cultivation Chapter 1537: First Entry into Fallen Demon Valley

Each man took out a Purifying Fire Talisman, infused it with spiritual power, and slapped it onto his chest.

Instantly, the talismans erupted in dazzling golden light, coalescing into a golden protective shield around them.

Countless runes swirled across the shield's surface, bathing the two men in a radiant glow, making them appear like golden-armored deities descended from the heavens.

They plunged downward, straight into the churning, multicolored poisonous mist.

The mist appeared ethereal, like fog or haze, but the moment they entered, they realized it was as thick and viscous as paste.

Immense pressure squeezed from all directions, causing the golden shield to tremble violently.

The poisonous mist, as if possessing spiritual intelligence, sensed the intrusion of the "foreign object" and threw itself at the golden shield with frenzied intensity.

Sizzle—sizzle—sizzle—

A teeth-grinding sound of corrosion erupted, dense as rain on banana leaves, like the shield's mournful cry.

The moment the golden runes on the shield came into contact with the multicolored mist, a violent reaction occurred.

Golden light and the vibrant mist annihilated each other, releasing wisps of acrid, fishy-smelling green smoke.

The golden light of the protective shield dimmed at a visible rate, as if being coated in a layer of filth.

The same thought flashed through both their minds:

"This Purifying Fire Talisman won't hold much longer."

Without daring to delay, they fully activated their escape techniques and plunged deeper into the poisonous mist.

However, the thick, churning poisonous mist offered tremendous resistance to their progress.

Their speed plummeted, as if they were struggling against a raging torrent, swimming upstream.

Seeing the golden barrier grow dimmer and the colorful poisonous mist below show no sign of ending, a flicker of anxiety crossed Rong Shao's eyes.

"Gu Huang, do you have a solution? If we continue like this, a single Purifying Fire Talisman might not be enough to get us through the poisonous mist."

Song Wen's brow furrowed, his expression grave.

He had also sensed this danger.

After a moment of thought, Song Wen swiftly formed two magic seals with his hands.

Instantly, dazzling silver lightning erupted outside the golden barrier.

The lightning rapidly expanded, transforming into a massive, spherical thunderball several zhang in diameter.

The thunderball pierced through the poisonous mist below and shot into the air.

The thunderlight and the vibrant poisonous mist clashed, producing a sound like cold water dripping into boiling oil.

Sizzle—!

Countless lightning snakes writhed wildly and exploded.

The ultimate yang and yang power of the thunder clashed fiercely with the poisonous mist, annihilating each other.

Wherever the thunderball passed, the vibrant poisonous mist was forcibly pushed aside by an invisible giant hand, briefly forming a channel several zhang wide.

The channel was filled with the acrid smell of burnt miasma. Though not completely cleared, the miasma within was reduced to less than one-tenth of its original concentration, significantly diminishing the strain on the golden barrier formed by the Purifying Fire Talisman. The barrier was no longer threatened.

The viscous, living poisonous mist surged forward from all sides, seeking to fill the void.

"Fellow Daoist Rong Shao, follow me!"

Song Wen roared, charging into the channel first, closely trailing the thunderball.

Seeing this, Rong Shao was overjoyed and hurried to catch up.

While thunder magic was effective against the poisonous mist, the thunderball itself was rapidly being consumed.

After traveling only a few hundred zhang, the thunderball's energy was nearly depleted.

Noticing the thunderball teetering on the brink of collapse, Song Wen quickly formed another seal and conjured a new thunderball.

As Song Wen condensed his twenty-third thunderball, the concentration of miasma suddenly began to diminish, now mingled with a faint trace of nether ghost qi.

As they pressed deeper, the miasma grew increasingly thin while the nether ghost qi became increasingly dense, until the miasma completely vanished, leaving only the thick ghost qi.

"Phew!"

Rong Shao exhaled a long, turbid breath.

The golden barrier surrounding him had turned a withered gray, clearly indicating they had reached the end of their rope.

"Fellow Daoist Gu Huang, your thunder magic has saved us. Otherwise, we would have needed at least three Purifying Fire Talismans to traverse this poisonous mist. I had heard of its dangers, but I still underestimated it."

"You flatter me, Fellow Daoist Rong Shao," Song Wen replied.

Song Wen slowly halted in mid-air, observing the surrounding ghost qi, so dense it seemed it could drip like black ink. He conjured a mana shield around himself to ward off the ghost qi's intrusion into his body.

"Continue deeper?" Song Wen asked.

"Of course," Rong Shao replied. "This place is fraught with peril. The longer we linger, the greater the danger."

The two continued to fall, but not at a rapid pace.

The pervasive ghost qi severely disrupted their divine sense.

Though both were at the peak of the body integration realm, they could only sense a few dozen meters around them.

"Shadow Void, how far can you probe?" Song Wen asked in his sea of consciousness.

"Around two hundred meters at most," Shadow Void replied.

"Then keep a close watch on our surroundings. Inform me immediately of any anomalies," Song Wen instructed.

"Rest assured, Master. I will protect you at all costs."

Before Shadow Void's words had faded, Song Wen and Rong Shao's expressions turned grim simultaneously.

They both heard a dense, buzzing sound approaching from the left, like a swarm of bees taking flight.

"Fellow Daoist Gu Huang, what should we do? Fight or flee?" Rong Shao asked.

"The situation is still unclear. Don't panic. Random flight might only attract greater danger."

With that, Song Wen immediately summoned a spiky Turtle Shell Shield—the one he had obtained from Gu Huang (though he couldn't recall its name, and the text was too long to search back through!).

The massive, ten-meter-wide shield rotated continuously around Song Wen, its thick shell radiating a sense of ancient resilience.

Rong Shao, meanwhile, deployed his defensive spirit treasure.

A precious pagoda materialized above his head, spinning rapidly and casting a cyan glow that enveloped him.

[ Master, it's a swarm of poisonous insects. Their individual strength isn't high, but their numbers are overwhelming. ] The voice of the spirit treasure suddenly resonated in the sea of consciousness.

Hearing this, Song Wen couldn't help but warn Rong Shao.

"Be careful, they're coming."

"Perfect timing."

With a soft shout from Rong Shao, a three-foot flying sword materialized on his body.

The sword let out a clear, melodious hum, like the clash of jade.

As the blade trembled, streaks of peerless Sword Qi erupted spontaneously, churning the surrounding nether ghost qi into a frenzy.

At that moment, the swarm of poisonous insects finally appeared within their senses.

The insects varied in size, from fist-sized to millstone-sized, their bodies a translucent black. Within them, colorful poisonous light pulsed faintly.

Their needle-sharp mouthparts gleamed, and their eyes burned with crimson light.

"Ghost Blight Mosquitoes!" Rong Shao immediately recognized the creatures. "Constantly exposed to poisonous mist and ghost qi, their flesh differs from ordinary demon beasts—more akin to ghosts, yet still corporeal."

As he spoke, the three-foot-long azure peak sword, carrying ten thousand streams of Sword Qi, swept toward the surging insect swarm like a rain of shimmering blue light.

The Sword Qi crisscrossed the air, its edge peerlessly sharp.

The Ghost Blight Mosquitoes at the forefront of the swarm collided with an invisible meat grinder. With soft splat sounds, they were instantly torn to shreds by the razor-sharp Sword Qi, dissolving into a sky-high spray of foul-smelling ichor and mottled Corrosive Poison Liquid.

"Something's wrong!"

Rong Shao's expression shifted slightly as he hastily recalled his flying sword.

He saw that the flying sword, which had originally emanated a clear light like flowing water, was now stained with mottled Corrosive Poison Liquid.

The poison clung to its surface, gnawing away at the metal and leaving behind dim, corroded spots.

Clearly, the flying sword's spiritual essence had been damaged.

"These beasts' poison is utterly vile! It can even defile a Spirit Treasure!" Rong Shao exclaimed in surprise. "It seems I'll have to rely solely on spells to defend myself."

"Defile a mystic treasure?" Song Wen's eyes flashed with a sharp glint. "Then I'll test whether it's more vile than my own blood sea."