Record of a Demon's Cultivation

Chapter 500 - Hostage

Translator: Cinder Translations

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The middle-aged male cultivator frowned. "We came to this Reef Sea for your trial, not to create unnecessary complications. Moreover, both he and I are at the mid-Golden Core stage. If we fight, I won't be able to protect your safety."

"But..." the young female cultivator pouted, clearly dissatisfied. "Our Cui family has other Golden Core cultivators here. How could we fear just one person?"

"No buts. Leave immediately and continue with your trial. You must independently slay a second-tier demon beast to complete this trial," the middle-aged cultivator said, his tone laced with anger.

The young female cultivator, feeling wronged, turned and flew toward the reef area.

The middle-aged cultivator shook his head, looking somewhat helpless.

After watching the young female cultivator dive into the sea, he flew toward a different section of the reef.

This trial involved more than twenty young cultivators from the Cui family. To ensure their safety, four Golden Core cultivators were accompanying them.

The middle-aged cultivator still had to look after the other disciples, so he couldn't focus entirely on the female cultivator.

Song Wen, after flying several hundred miles, dove into the sea, then concealed his aura and descended to a depth of forty miles. He changed direction and circled back to the Reef Sea.

Having traveled tens of thousands of miles, he wasn't about to leave so easily.

The Cui family blocking the Reef Sea was a bit unexpected.

Song Wen had originally planned to find a hidden spot in the reef to concoct third-tier demon-attracting incense, then use it to lure out Abyss Sea Butterflies from the depths.

The appearance of the Cui family had completely disrupted his plans.

He stopped at the outer edge of the reef area and released six Shadow Gu to scout the situation underwater.

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Cui Xinyi was in a very bad mood. As a seventh-grade spiritual root genius, she had grown up under the care of the Cui family's elders. Though now twenty-three years old and already at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, she still lacked a clear understanding of the cultivation world.

She had thought the trial would be easy.

However, it had been seven days, and she hadn't even seen the shadow of a second-tier demon beast, let alone slain one by herself.

If the other cultivators participating in the trial were also empty-handed, Cui Xinyi might have been able to remain calm.

However, several members of her clan had already successfully completed their trials, including Cui Xin, who had always been at odds with her. This made Cui Xinyi both angry and frustrated.

Earlier, she had encountered a Golden Core cultivator passing through, who acted recklessly, completely ignoring her status as a Cui family genius, and even tried to kill her. However, after Third Grandpa intervened, the Golden Core cultivator had to retreat.

Cui Xinyi dived deeper, hoping to have better luck in the depths of the sea.

The deeper she went, the thicker the stone columns of the reef became, standing densely together like a maze of stone pillars.

She circled around a stone pillar several dozen feet high.

Suddenly...

A tiny insect, no bigger than a sesame seed, appeared in front of her.

Cui Xinyi was startled. Before she could react, the insect accelerated and collided with her forehead.

She felt an immense force strike her, followed by intense pain. Her vision began to blur, and everything went dark as she fainted.

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Song Wen watched Cui Xinyi, who had been caught by a Shadow Gu, with an odd expression.

What a coincidence.

After instructing the Shadow Gu to be on guard, Song Wen used his Soul Search Technique.

There was very little information in Cui Xinyi's memories, but he gathered the following:

This Reef Sea was home to a large number of ordinary sea fish, and as a result, many demon beasts came here to hunt, including several second-tier demon beasts.

Every twenty years, the Cui family would send newly ascended Foundation Establishment cultivators on a trial to hunt second-tier demon beasts. This trial was being held in this very sea area.

The people from the Cui family had been in the area for seven days. Most of them had been operating in the shallow waters, without any signs of the Abyss Sea Butterfly.

After finishing the Soul Search, Song Wen was about to end Cui Xinyi's life. However, just as he was about to act, he suddenly stopped.

In Cui Xinyi's memories, there was information about her closest relatives.

Her grandfather was a peak Golden Core cultivator named Cui Gu, who was leading this trial.

Cui Gu cared deeply for his granddaughter, Cui Xinyi.

"Perhaps I don't need to act personally to deal with the Abyss Sea Butterfly," Song Wen thought to himself.

The information he gathered mentioned that the Abyss Sea Butterfly here was a peak third-tier demon beast, and the seabed was its territory. Song Wen wasn't confident he could kill it.

Dragging Cui Xinyi, Song Wen descended further into the seabed.

The depth of this sea area was not very deep. After diving more than a hundred miles, they reached the ocean floor.

The deeper they went, the greater the pressure of the water, especially after exceeding a hundred miles. With each additional mile, the water pressure increased exponentially.

At this depth, Song Wen could clearly feel the pressure on his body, so he had to activate a protective barrier using his spiritual power.

As for Cui Xinyi, if Song Wen hadn't protected her with his energy, she would have already been crushed into a pulp.

The seabed was uneven, with jagged mountain-like rocks, and many fish-beast caves were hidden among them. Hundreds of miles away from the reef, Song Wen chose a larger cave.

Inside the cave, he set up the Yin Yang Four Symbols Formation to create a dry zone.

Song Wen then searched through Cui Xinyi's body, removing everything related to her cultivation to ensure she couldn't communicate with anyone else. After that, he threw her into the formation.

Next, he placed a Spiritual Barrier Formation outside the Yin Yang Four Symbols Formation, ensuring that unless someone entered the cave, it would be extremely difficult to find her.

With everything set up, Song Wen returned to the reef and began searching the nearby area.

At the seabed, the stone columns could no longer be called pillars, but instead, massive stone mountains. They were almost pressed together, leaving only narrow gaps.

Due to the dense arrangement of the reefs, Song Wen could barely get inside and could only slowly search around the outer edges.

After nearly two hours, Song Wen completed a full circle around the reefs, but aside from some small native sea creatures, he found no trace of the Abyss Sea Butterfly.

These sea creatures mostly had hard exoskeletons, but there was no aura of spiritual energy. They weren't even considered demon beasts.

Not long after Song Wen returned to the cave, Cui Xinyi slowly regained consciousness.

When she saw Song Wen entering the formation, she was terrified and quickly tried to retreat. However, the cave was narrow, and after only a few steps, she reached the edge.

"I am from the Cui family! How dare you kidnap me!" she exclaimed fiercely, but her face betrayed her fear.

Song Wen said, "It seems the Soul Search didn't damage your brain, so you're still useful. Otherwise, you would just end up as food for the sea beasts outside."

Cui Xinyi was terrified, but she forced herself to stand firm.

"You'd better release me now, or the Cui family will never let you off."

Song Wen smiled slightly. "This formation only has defense against the outside. If you want to leave, you can go anytime."

Cui Xinyi's expression became suspicious.

"Really? Are you really going to let me go?"

Song Wen replied, "But I should warn you, with your cultivation, you won't survive the water pressure of the seabed. Once you leave this formation, you'll be crushed into a pile of meat."

"You..." Cui Xinyi's face turned pale. "You brought me here... what exactly do you want?"

Song Wen said, "I just want the Cui family to help me with a small task."

"You want to use me to threaten the Cui family!" Cui Xinyi quickly realized his plan. "You have some nerve."

Song Wen said, "I hope they will be threatened. Otherwise, you won't be of any use to me."

(End of the Chapter)

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