I am the Snake Taoist

Qin Qiu opened his eyes, watching a handful of ash he held in his hand slip away between his fingers.

After absorbing the essence of the divine chrysalis, Immortal Fairy Miaofa transformed into a pink silkworm cocoon, just like she did at the Immortal Fairy Temple.

At this moment, Qin Qiu's inner world was occupied by this pink silkworm cocoon, and his own human-bodied, snake-tailed spirit was forced into a corner.

With the two most important matters at hand resolved, it was time for Qin Qiu to seclude himself and refine his strength.

Qin Qiu had lingered in the mid-stage of the Four Fiends Life Realm for some time without breaking through.

Now was the perfect time to polish his cultivation and prepare to break through to the late stage of the Four Fiends Life Realm.

Previously, Qin Qiu felt that he had broken through too quickly and had not had time to consolidate his foundation, which would make it unstable.

It was like building a bridge in the air; the bridge collapsing and people dying was only a matter of time. Now that he had laid a solid foundation, it was natural to continue to the next step.

Time is the most precious commodity.

Three months passed in the blink of an eye.

Inside Qin Qiu's cave dwelling, a stench of decay permeated the air, and the deer carcass at the entrance had begun to breed maggots.

An astonishing aura surged within the cave, shooting straight into the sky, dispersing the clouds above and revealing a gap in the sky.

Qin Qiu slowly opened his eyes, and the pressure of the late stage of the Four Fiends Life Realm emanated from his body.

The small beasts that were trying to steal a bite of the deer carcass scattered in terror.

"This old bone of mine..."

After saying that, Black Dragon entered Qin Qiu's body.

Qin Qiu smiled and agreed: "Thank you for your hard work, Uncle Long."

This seclusion was a fruitful one for Qin Qiu.

Not only did he repair the snake bone, but he also increased the lethality of the Poisonous Fiend.

Now, even cultivators in the early stage of the Four Fiends Life Realm would have to pay a price to detoxify themselves if they were contaminated by the Poisonous Fiend.

The divinity of Immortal Fairy Miaofa had been replenished slightly, and the power of Qin Qiu's use of the Miaofa Heart Technique would be even greater.

The Serpent Demon had also recovered its original form after this period of repair, and its strength had become even greater under the influence of Immortal Fairy Miaofa.

Qin Qiu's own cultivation had also improved, reaching the late stage of the Four Fiends Life Realm, which was a big lead over his peers.

He could faintly compare with the middle-generation cultivators.

"Grumble~"

Just as Qin Qiu was pondering, a thunderous sound came from his stomach.

"Three months without food...it's really a bit too much..."

Looking around, there were three rotten deer carcasses and a puddle of flesh from an unknown creature.

Qin Qiu really had no appetite.

He summoned the snake bone, briefly identified the direction, and headed towards the village he had come from.

There should be some food in the village, and it was also in the direction of the Black River, which was a win-win situation.

After this period of refinement, the Pure Jade Snake Bone could now be considered a Red-level Exotic Treasure. It took Qin Qiu less than half a day to see the familiar village.

The village was the same as before, without the slightest trace of human activity, having disappeared cleanly.

However, what was different was that there was now some dust in the houses.

It was as if no one had cleaned recently, and the Buddhist fiendish aura had also disappeared.

The incense on the altar was no longer lit.

It would take Qin Qiu longer to find food this time. Many of the foods had deteriorated, although it wouldn't matter if Qin Qiu ate them.

But he felt disgusted, so he might as well not eat them.

It would be better to reach the Five Fiends Life Realm as soon as possible, so that he could temporarily abstain from grains and be fine without eating for a year.

Unlike now, where he had to rely on fiendish aura to replenish his strength after not eating for a few months.

Qin Qiu randomly stuffed a few steamed buns into his mouth.

He wiped his hands randomly on his chest, but his gaze was fixed on the mountain behind the village.

Qin Qiu sensed a familiar Buddhist fiendish aura there, the same one that was in the village before.

That was exactly the direction Qin Qiu wanted to go to the Black River.

Just as Qin Qiu was thinking about whether to avoid that direction, Black Dragon's words made Qin Qiu change his mind.

"Boy, you better go take a look. If it's a monk from the Five Senses Temple, then it's likely to be some strange ritual."

"The people in this village have disappeared, and it's inseparable from the Five Senses Temple. This is very much like what these lunatics would do."

Qin Qiu was a little puzzled: "Uncle Long, why bother with these lunatics?"

"Why are you being so stupid at this time? If they're making such a fuss, there must be some benefits!"

"If you can use it, snatch it!"

Qin Qiu showed a sudden realization: "As expected, ginger is still hotter when it's old. I have a lot to learn from Uncle Long."

After saying that, Qin Qiu smiled and summoned the snake bone, heading towards the back mountain.

At the foot of the back mountain, a chilling wind blew, and it didn't look like a proper place at all.

Qin Qiu put away the snake bone and chose to walk up the mountain.

With the snake bone's movements, he was afraid that he would be discovered by the other party before he even arrived.

On the mountain, countless huge trees were densely packed, and the dense branches and leaves completely blocked the sunlight, with only a few small gaps allowing the sunlight to shine through.

Forming patches of sunlight on the fallen leaves on the ground.

Qin Qiu stepped on the soft layer of fallen leaves, and the leaves sank under his feet.

A gust of cold wind stirred the leaves, carrying a musty smell that had not seen sunlight for a long time. The leaves made a "rustling" sound, as if countless vengeful spirits were laughing at Qin Qiu.

If an ordinary person came here, they would probably be scared out of their wits.

"Drip"

A drop of water fell on Qin Qiu's face.

"Is it raining?"

Qin Qiu wiped it with his hand.

A bright red liquid appeared on his fingertips.

Looking up, countless swaying black shadows hung on the trees.

Qin Qiu looked closely, and these swaying black shadows were actually countless internal organs.

Kidneys pierced by branches, spleens and stomachs hanging on tree trunks, intestines wrapped around branches, and hearts hanging down.

Swaying in the wind, as if walking into a slaughterhouse.

According to Qin Qiu's observation, the sizes of these organs were all human, but they varied in size and color, indicating that the owners of these organs also included children and the elderly.

"This scene of a meat forest..."

If he guessed correctly, the owners of these organs were mostly from the village...

Even Qin Qiu was a little frightened by this mountain of organs.

What kind of perverted guy could do such a thing?

And judging from the degree of dryness of these organs, they did not have the freshness of just being dug out, indicating that they had been hanging here for some time.

Qin Qiu continued to walk forward, wondering what other surprises were waiting for him.

Along the way, there were also many animals nailed to trees or on the ground, but Qin Qiu did not see the murder weapon that nailed the animals, only holes left in the corpses.

Soon, as he approached the top of the mountain, Qin Qiu saw another scene.

This was a small, dilapidated temple, with many futons placed at the entrance, but there was a lot of dust, as if they had not been used for a long time.