Chapter 189: Chapter 173: Li Xuerou’s Origin, Demon Dao Technique

Li Xuerou’s tense body relaxed slightly, a fine sheen of cold sweat even beading on her forehead. It was clear that facing the killing intent of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator head-on had put immense pressure on her.

A pale smile formed on her exquisitely beautiful face. She didn’t answer Lu Zhao’s question directly. Instead, she began to speak on her own, her voice drifting with a mix of reminiscence and bone-deep hatred:

"Elder, would you be willing to hear a story?"

Lu Zhao snorted coldly. He flicked his sleeve and sat down on the cold stone bed, his gaze as icy as ever. "Hmph. Do I have a choice but to listen?" ’He’d see just what this woman was planning.’

As if not hearing the sarcasm in his tone, Li Xuerou gazed into the depths of the dim blue light, her voice growing ethereal and distant. "More than fifty years ago, in Lishui County in the southeast of Chen Country, there was a Foundation Establishment Clan known as the Li Family."

"Though the Li Family wasn’t a top-tier Foundation Establishment Great Clan, they were still a power to be reckoned with in Lishui County. In this family, there was a little girl from a side branch. Her Spirit Root Talent was mediocre, merely a Lower Grade Spirit Root, and she wasn’t valued by the clan."

"But fortunately, she had a gentle and loving mother. Although her mother was only a Mid-stage Qi Cultivation Cultivator, she showered the girl with all her affection. That time was the warmest, most carefree period in her memory..."

Her voice trailed off, laced with an almost imperceptible sob, but it was quickly replaced by a wave of overwhelming hatred. "However, all of that was utterly destroyed on the night of a full moon, fifty years ago!

"That night, the Clan Protection Array was torn apart as if it were made of paper! Shouts of battle, blood-curdling screams, and the deafening roar of Magic filled the air! She watched with her own eyes as a clan elder, usually so dignified, had his head pierced by a beam of black light. She watched as familiar uncles and cousins were turned to cinders in the raging flames..."

"Her beloved mother, in order to protect her, held her tightly beneath her own body... Warm blood soaked through her clothes. She watched, helpless, as her mother was stabbed through the heart right in front of her by a masked Cultivator wielding a short blade engulfed in black flames..."

At this point, Li Xuerou’s body began to tremble violently. Her beautiful face twisted in extreme pain and hatred, her nails digging so deep into her palms that crimson Blood Beads seeped out. The temperature in the secret chamber seemed to plummet several degrees along with her hatred.

After a moment, she forcibly suppressed her turbulent emotions. Her voice returned to its previous calm, yet it carried a bone-deep chill. "Perhaps fate decreed she shouldn’t die, or perhaps the heavens decided the Li Family shouldn’t be completely annihilated. In a lull during the massacre, the masked Cultivator, who seemed to be the leader, saw the little girl huddled beneath her mother’s corpse. He didn’t kill her. Instead, he picked her up like a piece of cargo and took her away."

Lu Zhao listened quietly, a slight ripple stirring in his heart. The calamity of a clan’s extermination, a deep-seated blood feud—he could empathize with such an experience. In a low voice, he asked, "That girl... was you?"

Li Xuerou nodded slowly, her eyes utterly dead. "It was. I later learned that he spared me because I possess a rare constitution. This constitution was of great use to his cultivation, and he planned to use me as a Cultivation Resource, to squeeze out every last drop of my value."

"However, just as I was about to be used as a Cultivation Resource, a turning point came. My father, the Foundation Establishment Family Head who had already fallen in the chaos, actually had a sworn friend who was a powerful Vice Hall Master in the Bixia Sect!

"When that Vice Hall Master learned of the Li Family’s destruction, he rushed over personally. Unfortunately, even he could do nothing about what had happened to the Li Family... He only managed to rescue me from my enemies. Perhaps out of guilt towards my father, or perhaps out of pity for my plight, he offered me some protection, allowing me to eke out a meager existence in the Bixia Marketplace to this day."

With her story finished, Li Xuerou fell silent, merely staring fixedly at Lu Zhao with eyes that seemed to hold both endless ice and blazing fire.

Lu Zhao was silent for a moment, his fingertips tapping softly on the cold stone bed. "What do you want me to do? Get revenge for you?" He cut straight to the point. "Our agreement was for something within my power. The force required to easily breach a Tier Two Grand Array and annihilate a Foundation Establishment Clan is no small matter."

"With my current Early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation, confronting them would be like an egg smashing against a rock. Besides, based on what you said, even that Vice Hall Master couldn’t do anything to them. It’s obvious their actions must have been within the rules, or things wouldn’t have ended that way."

"Finally, all Foundation Establishment powers in Chen Country are subordinate to the Bixia Sect. As an Inner Sect Steward of the Sect, how could I attack one of them without a valid reason?" His tone was flat, as if stating a fact that had nothing to do with him, but his sharp gaze was fixed on Li Xuerou’s reaction.

Hearing this, the corner of Li Xuerou’s mouth curved into an extremely sarcastic arc. Her gaze roamed over Lu Zhao’s face, her eyes seeming to say: ’Elder, don’t you find your own words ridiculous? Was the Northern Plains Zheng Family really wiped out "in passing" by some "stray Demon Cultivator"?’

Her stare slightly irritated Lu Zhao, but his expression remained impassive, as if the Zheng Family’s fate truly had nothing to do with him. He spoke with a heavier tone, "Fellow Daoist Li, let’s not mince words. You went to great lengths to lure me here and brought up the Zheng Family. What is your goal? If you want me to do something, say it directly. Stop beating around the bush!"

Seeing that Lu Zhao was impervious to her approach, Li Xuerou stopped circling the issue. Her tone shifted abruptly. "Elder Lu, aren’t you curious how I knew you annihilated the entire Zheng Family?"

Lu Zhao’s gaze tightened. This was indeed his biggest question. He believed his actions had been covert and clean, so much so that even the Bixia Sect Law Enforcement Hall had never suspected him.

Watching Lu Zhao’s reaction, Li Xuerou said slowly, "Actually, I felt something was off as early as the second time I met you, Elder. I sensed a very faint, almost imperceptible... aura of a Demon Dao Technique on you."

’An aura of a Demon Dao Technique?!’ Lu Zhao’s heart pounded, and his pupils contracted sharply. This was one of his greatest secrets—the *Blood Shadow Corpse Refining Skill*! Although it wasn’t his primary cultivation technique, he had practiced its Inner Refining Technique for a long time and had inevitably been tainted by its aura. He had always used his pure Water Spirit Power to conceal it, and by now, he was confident that not even a Foundation Establishment Perfect Cultivator could detect it. After all, he wasn’t actually practicing the skill itself, only its associated magic!

Seeing the fleeting shock in Lu Zhao’s eyes, Li Xuerou quickly added, "Rest assured, Elder! Others, even a Foundation Establishment Perfect Cultivator, would absolutely never be able to sense it!"

"My ability to sense it is related to my special constitution." She paused, then continued, "When I sensed that trace of an aura, and then learned that you, Elder, were willing to pay a high price for Tier Two Demon Beast Remains—specifically those with powerful Flesh Bodies and vigorous Qi and Blood—I found it even more strange."

"Later, I took it upon myself to use some connections within the Bixia Sect to secretly investigate your past, Elder. I learned that you came from Northern Plains County and later ended up with the Zhou Family in Changfeng County, where you established yourself with your exquisite Puppetry skills..."

"At first, I thought I was just overthinking things. It made sense that you, as a Tier One High-Grade puppet master, would seek powerful Demon Beast Materials to improve your craft."

"But—" Li Xuerou’s voice suddenly turned cold. "A few years ago, news spread like wildfire that the Northern Plains Zheng Family had been annihilated by a mysterious Demon Cultivator using a Tier Two Zombie! The moment I heard this, I immediately felt something was wrong! I used my connections again to investigate carefully and discovered that you, Elder... happened to be away from the Bixia Sect during that exact period!"

She took a step forward. "What’s more, when I investigated your origins, I discovered that more than forty years ago, a small clan in Northern Plains County called the Black Cliff Valley Lu Family was also mysteriously wiped out by a ’Tier Two Demon Beast’! And not long after, you, Elder, appeared at the Zhou Family Marketplace in Changfeng County and became their Honored Guest Elder! Elder Lu, Lu Zhao... the Black Cliff Valley Lu Family... are there really so many coincidences in this world?"

After saying all this, a smile mixed with certainty and sorrow appeared on Li Xuerou’s face. She looked at Lu Zhao. "Elder, are these ’coincidences’ I’ve mentioned... correct?"

The secret chamber fell deathly silent. Lu Zhao’s face was expressionless, as if he had donned a perfect mask. Only in the depths of his profound eyes did a storm of indescribable emotions rage—shock, killing intent, vigilance, and a trace of anger at having his secret completely exposed.

He remained silent for a long time before finally speaking, his voice frighteningly calm. "What do you want?"

The smile vanished from Li Xuerou’s face. "You don’t need to worry, Elder. As far as I know, the Bixia Sect’s official conclusion is still that some passing Demon Cultivator was responsible."

"My ability to connect these clues and guess the truth was purely due to a series of coincidences and my special constitution. As long as you agree to my request, Elder, I will take this secret to my grave. No third person will ever know!"

Lu Zhao didn’t answer, merely watching her coldly.

Seeing this, she changed the subject, her tone becoming incredibly serious. "Elder, do you know what kind of constitution I possess?"

Li Xuerou answered her own question, her voice tinged with self-mockery. "The Three Yin Ghost Body! Not only is this constitution useless for orthodox cultivation techniques, it’s like a maggot gnawing at my bones, constantly eroding my Origin and dragging down my Cultivation! If not for this, even with just a Lower Grade Spirit Root, how could I have languished until I was nearly sixty before barely reaching the Peak of Qi Cultivation Realm, despite consuming five or six times more Pills and resources than my peers?" Her words were filled with resentment and indignation.

Lu Zhao was now beginning to grasp Li Xuerou’s intentions. "You want the Demon Dao Technique I possess?" he asked tentatively. If she was after the *Blood Shadow Corpse Refining Skill*, it would be troublesome, but not entirely out of the question to negotiate.

But Li Xuerou shook her head with a bitter smile, a flash of despair in her eyes. "If you had been willing to give me the technique twenty years ago—no, even just ten years ago, Elder—I would have been eternally grateful and would have done anything to obtain it! But now..."

She gave a wretched smile. "It’s too late! Far too late! Even if your Demon Dao Technique is a perfect match for my Three Yin Ghost Body, and even if I start cultivating it right now, without ten years of arduous work, I’ll never be able to practice it to a level sufficient to attempt Foundation Establishment!"

"And ten years from now, I’ll be nearly seventy. My Qi and Blood will be in decline. No matter how good the technique is, my chances of successfully reaching Foundation Establishment will be minuscule! Rather than eke out a miserable existence, I’d rather... while I still have the strength to fight, gamble my life on one slim hope!"

Lu Zhao’s brows furrowed. "Then what is it you want?" He truly couldn’t fathom what this woman was thinking.

Li Xuerou took a deep breath, as if mustering all her strength, and said, word by word, "All I ask for is a promise. A promise bound by a Heart Demon Vow!"

"A promise? A promise bound by a Heart Demon Vow?" Lu Zhao raised an eyebrow.

"Yes!" Li Xuerou said unequivocally. "A promise concerning life and death! I will soon be making a forceful attempt at Foundation Establishment! If I’m lucky enough to succeed, then I want to make a trade with you, Elder—I’ll trade some of the rare Tier Two Spiritual Materials in my collection for your Demon Dao Technique! Once the trade is complete, I will immediately swear the most stringent Heart Demon Vow to never reveal a single secret about your identity, the Demon Dao Technique, or the matter of the Zheng Family to anyone!"

She paused, her tone suddenly becoming incredibly cold and resolute. "But if I fail to reach Foundation Establishment... then my life will be at its end. Under the backlash of the Three Yin Ghost Body, there’s no possibility of my survival! At that time, I will only ask one thing of you, Elder!"

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