Chapter 91: The Early-Death White Moonlight in a Cultivation Novel (Part 22)

Although her heart was full of questions, Zhou Yanxi maintained a calm and composed demeanor on the surface. She hadn't expected to run into Li Haochen here of all places.

After all, who could have guessed that his cultivation would skyrocket in such a short amount of time? It was practically defying the heavens—even more terrifying than her own past enlightenment.

At this moment, Li Haochen himself was far from calm. He still saw himself as the child of destiny, yet now the sect had banished him to the frontlines of the battlefield.

Previously, he had luckily stumbled across a secret cultivation technique: as long as he engaged in dual cultivation with female cultivators, he could gradually absorb their cultivation.

Ever since he had failed to enter the inner sect, Li Haochen had grown increasingly ambitious. He no longer worked hard in earnest cultivation—instead, he constantly schemed for shortcuts.

The technique he acquired from a back-alley market clearly described itself as a demonic cultivation method, but Li Haochen had long since lost patience with snail-paced progress.

Eventually, he gave in to the darkness within himself. His first target was a junior martial sister with lower cultivation than his.

She was a four-spirit-root cultivator who had already given up on reaching Foundation Establishment. Her dream was to find a Dao companion in the sect and raise a talented child—a modest wish for a meaningful life.

Unfortunately, the kind husband she envisioned was actually a predatory wolf. Li Haochen pretended to get to know her, staged a heroic rescue, and soon had the naive girl wrapped around his finger.

The girl's innate yin energy became a significant boon for his cultivation.

After that, Li Haochen became addicted to this shortcut, utterly unable to stop.

Of course, he always targeted foolish women with weak cultivation, ideally those who had not yet lost their yin essence. With his good looks and cultivated image of a gentle, refined young master, he was remarkably deceptive.

At the very least, when it came to love-struck female cultivators, he had a near-100% success rate. Worse, he was a master of time management, ensuring that none of them realized they were just one fish in his pond.

This time, Li Haochen didn't volunteer to come to the battlefield—his cultivation had merely reached the threshold through demonic methods, triggering the sect's mandatory assignment.

By the time he learned of his deployment, it was too late to regret. The decision was already finalized, and he had no choice but to obey.

As for those women he duped, they couldn't bear to see him suffer and had gifted him plenty of spirit stones.

In matters of seduction and manipulation, Li Haochen was a master—across both lifetimes.

Now, spotting powerful female cultivators, his thoughts naturally stirred. Of course, he knew he wasn't qualified to pursue any of the strong ones just yet. But Qi Refining-level girls? Fair game.

Privately, Li Haochen believed that if he kept using this method, it was only a matter of time before he could entrap even the so-called "proud daughters of heaven."

At this moment, Zhou Yanxi didn't know exactly how Li Haochen had boosted his cultivation.

But judging from his hollow, indulgent aura, she found him downright nauseating—his presence alone felt like it was polluting the team's spiritual atmosphere.

However, other female cultivators with no emotional experience saw Li Haochen as a polite and gentle junior brother, despite his low cultivation. He gave a favorable impression to those who didn't look too closely.

But Zhou Yanxi had a different thought:

"Since Li Haochen is now on the same team as me... then if something unfortunate happens during a battle with demonic cultivators, well... that would be perfectly normal, wouldn't it?"

Coincidentally, she had just learned a divine sense attack technique from the second half of Forging the God—perfect for use against opponents with weaker divine sense.

To her, Li Haochen was a walking red flag. It was best to take care of him quickly. She was confident that if she could dispose of him cleanly, the mission system would give her a high evaluation.

Since she accepted this task, she would naturally get inside his head and find the best way to squeeze out points.

But just then, the demonic cultivators launched a brutal new tactic: using Qi Refining-level demonic cultivators as living bombs. Whenever a large number of righteous disciples gathered, one of them would self-detonate.

This horrifying tactic threw previously orderly teams into chaos.

Even though a Qi Refining cultivator couldn't kill those at Foundation Establishment, they could take down fellow Qi Refining cultivators, and seriously injure those above Foundation Establishment.

In such a chaotic battlefield, any injury meant an increased risk of demonic energy infection, leaving everyone in constant fear.

Zhou Yanxi seized the opportunity. Amid the confusion, she unleashed her strongest divine sense attack directly at Li Haochen's sea of consciousness.

Some others on the team briefly sensed a divine sense as powerful as a Golden Core cultivator's, but given the urgency of the moment, no one had time to question its origin.

And the goddess of luck finally stood on Zhou Yanxi's side.

Just as she made her silent move, a Qi Refining demonic cultivator approached Li Haochen from behind.

Li Haochen, disoriented and overwhelmed by the mental assault, felt like his consciousness was about to collapse.

Worst of all, the human bomb was already upon him—there was no way to escape.

In his final moment, Li Haochen vaguely thought:

"This... this can't be how I'm supposed to die... right?"

But—

No one noticed or cared about his death. Too many Qi Refining disciples had died that day for his demise to make a splash.

No one expected that low-level demonic cultivators would actually dare to trade their lives. But the truth was far more sinister than it seemed.

These so-called "demonic cultivators" were actually death puppets, carefully created by the demon race—mindless shells with one purpose: to explode.

After this battle, the four great sects suffered massive losses among their low-level disciples.

And worst of all—

Zhou Yanxi received news that her father had gone missing.