"Thousand Faces Mask?"

His expression changed slightly as Qi Xiu subconsciously touched his own cheek.

He also had a face-changing mask.

It was on his face right now.

It was called the Hundred Faces Mask.

One Thousand Faces, one Hundred Faces.

Could these two masks be related somehow?

"Where is the mask?" Qi Xiu asked directly.

"It's, it's on my back..."

Hurriedly turning, Li Lingzi's back muscles squirmed, and a face with a faint smile and a serene expression startlingly emerged from his flesh.

"No wonder you're so thin. Most of your flesh and blood must have fed this mask," Qi Xiu said, eyeing the Thousand Faces Mask embedded in Li Lingzi's flesh.

Most Magic Artifacts were forged from the corpses of demons. They contained a hidden ferocity. Cultivators not yet at the Initiate Realm and ordinary people had to pay a price to control them, and that price was often their own flesh and blood.

Li Lingzi was just an ordinary person, so naturally, he had to use his own flesh and blood to nourish the Thousand Faces Mask. Or rather, it wasn't Li Lingzi controlling the Thousand Faces Mask at all; it was the Thousand Faces Mask that had parasitized his body.

However, this Magic Artifact is indeed much stronger than the Hundred Faces Mask I have. The Hundred Faces Mask can only change the user's appearance, clothing, posture, body odor, and such, limited to a normal state. But Li Lingzi's Thousand Faces Mask can even emulate the aura of an Initiate Realm cultivator. It almost had me fooled.

"You can't keep this thing. If you use it a few more times, I fear your life will be in jeopardy," Qi Xiu said with a helpless shake of his head as he reached out to grab the Thousand Faces Mask from the flesh on Li Lingzi's back. "We are somewhat fated. Well then, I'll show some mercy and save your life."

Upon hearing Qi Xiu's words, Li Lingzi gave a forced smile. Although he was displeased with Qi Xiu taking his Thousand Faces Mask, Li Lingzi bore no resentment. After all, the situation was as Qi Xiu described. Parasitized by the Thousand Faces Mask, his life was already hanging by a thread. Even without actively using the artifact's power, the mask would slowly consume his flesh and life.

This was why he risked everything to break into the Shenxiao Sect's entrance examination despite being a mere mortal. Apart from seizing the opportunity to join a Righteous Path major sect like the Shenxiao Sect, removing the parasitic Thousand Faces Mask was also a primary reason.

As if sensing Qi Xiu's intent to remove it from Li Lingzi, the closed-eyed Thousand Faces Mask suddenly opened its eyes—blood-red pupils like those of an Evil Ghost!

In the next instant, a stifling, dense red mist pervaded the air. RUMBLE—a loud rumbling. The red fog spread through the air, its powerful presence overwhelming.

Suddenly, countless demons emerged from the mist. They had various grotesque and terrifying forms, twisted and evil, filling the surrounding air with a mutating, alien presence.

Sensing the very real demonic aura in the void, Qi Xiu's eyes revealed a hint of surprise. "What a realistic illusion, indistinguishable from the real thing."

"AHH!"

Below, Li Lingzi suddenly screamed in agony as his skin peeled away, his flesh and tendons swelled, ivory horns grew on his forehead, his body became corrupted and diseased, and rows of tumors sprouted beneath his ribs.

Looking at Li Lingzi, who was infected and deformed by the alien aura in the air, Qi Xiu's brows quirked.

The pinnacle of illusionary magic that convinces the body and subconscious mind to "believe" it's real. So even if it's an illusion, it can still trigger real effects?

Watching Li Lingzi mutate under the demonic aura of an illusion, Qi Xiu pondered.

This world is not like my former life. The interwoven Great Dao of Heaven and Earth allows all laws of nature to have a profound Divine Marvel. If living beings harbor great obsessions and malice, they have the possibility of transforming into demons. This is also a reason why some demons enjoy bewitching living beings. Witnessing humans transform into demons gives them more satisfaction and pleasure than simply consuming them.

Li Lingzi is in such a state now. The demonic aura in the air is all an illusion of the Thousand Faces Mask, but Li Lingzi believes in this "reality" deep down. Thus, his body is directly mutating, transforming into a demon.

"If you hadn't met me, Qi the Kindhearted, you would have truly been done for." Shaking his head, Qi Xiu gently patted Li Lingzi, who was about to morph completely into a flesh-and-blood demon.

Yet these simple pats stopped Li Lingzi's mutation in an instant; his flesh writhed, gradually returning to its original human form.

"Thank you... so much..." Prostrate on the ground, Li Lingzi was drenched in sweat. Two small Suppression Talismans on his shoulder slowly dissipated.

Grabbing the Thousand Faces Mask embedded in Li Lingzi's flesh with five fingers, Qi Xiu tore it out forcefully. With a ripping sound, a large piece of flesh came off along with the mask.

"So good..." Missing a large piece of flesh from his back, blood streaming, Li Lingzi's pale face nevertheless showed a trace of a smile.

Ever since this Magic Artifact parasitized him, he could feel the mask gnawing at his flesh and blood every moment. That feeling of watching his body being eaten away bit by bit was even more desperate than being cut by a thousand knives! If he didn't have such strong willpower, had he been an ordinary person, he would have long since bashed his head in for relief.

Raising his hand, Qi Xiu drew two medicinal talismans to stop the bleeding for Li Lingzi and scrutinized the Thousand Faces Mask in his hand. The delicately white surface was like the finest porcelain, with faint glimmers flowing across it. After being torn from Li Lingzi, the human face the mask had formed disappeared. In its place was a pure white facial contour and a faint lip mark.

It looks ninety percent like the Hundred Faces Mask, but the craftsmanship is even more exquisite and complete, without any defects. With his back to Li Lingzi, Qi Xiu tore off the Hundred Faces Mask from his own face. He compared the two Magic Artifacts side by side. They were almost exactly the same. The only difference was that the Hundred Faces Mask was full of cracks and small, damaged pits, whereas the Thousand Faces Mask was intact.

Qi Xiu reattached the Hundred Faces Mask and temporarily sealed the Thousand Faces Mask with the Suppression Talisman Seal Skill.

"How do you feel now?" Standing in front of Li Lingzi, Qi Xiu tapped the forehead of this skinny man.

"It feels like I've come back to life." Raising his head to show a pale smile, Li Lingzi cupped his fists toward Qi Xiu. "Thank you, Senior, for the rescue."

"To endure the artifact gnawing at you day and night, you are quite the man. Let's make a deal. You tell me about the Shenxiao Sect's trial content, and I can give you a Talisman Script for protection."

This Li Lingzi dared to enter the Shenxiao Sect's trial grounds as a mortal; he must have been fully prepared and certainly knew the trial content very well.

"Since you've saved my life, Senior, I'm bound to repay you. This time, the Shenxiao Sect's Sect Entrance trial consists of three tests. The first test requires obtaining two jade seals, one 'Heaven' and one 'Earth,' within a set time and then going to the island in the lake for verification and review. After that, one can participate in the second test. These jade seals are scattered throughout the trial grounds. I have the Heavenly Seal, but I'm missing an Earthly Seal."

After rummaging in his chest, Li Lingzi opened his palm, displaying a small, thumb-sized jade seal, yellow-green throughout, with the character 'Heaven' engraved in its center, in front of Qi Xiu.

"Are there many of these jade seals?" Picking up a jade seal, Qi Xiu examined it closely.

The jade seal seemed ordinary, but deep inside, it seemed to hide a trace of Divine Marvel Power. Li Lingzi, a mere mortal, although the Thousand Faces Mask allowed him to disguise himself as an Initiate Realm cultivator to extort others, had gotten his hands on the Heaven Seal just a short time into the trials. If it wasn't for his extraordinary luck, then the number of these jade seals must be plentiful—plentiful enough that even an ordinary person like him could find one.

"For the Sect Entrance trial, the first fifty registrants can obtain a Heaven Seal in advance," Li Lingzi provided the answer.

"I see. With the Shenxiao Sect's disciple recruitment this time, there must be many applicants," Qi Xiu mused aloud.

"A bit more this year, around... three hundred people."

"That few?" Qi Xiu was taken aback at the response.

The Shenxiao Sect is the second-largest Righteous Path sect. How could there be only a little over three hundred applicants for disciple recruitment?

"Each time the Shenxiao Sect conducts a Sect Entrance trial, there are always a bunch of lunatics participating. These people are addicted to fighting and incredibly fierce, trying to get noticed by the high-ranking members of the Shenxiao Sect. And invariably, some always succeed. So, each Sect Entrance trial nearly always has a death rate of almost eighty percent. Three hundred is already a lot," Li Lingzi explained, scratching his head with a wry face.

An eighty percent death rate... And that's just the first test. It's no wonder there are so few people. Even the entrance trials of the Demon Sects might not have such a high death rate. No wonder the Shenxiao Sect was once judged as a Demon Sect. This style of recruiting disciples is indeed characteristic of an established Demon Sect.

"Senior, you keep this jade seal," Li Lingzi's lips twitched.

"Hmm? You're not planning to participate in the trial anymore?"

"Without the life-threatening item, there's no need to gamble with my life anymore," Li Lingzi said with a wry smile.

The Thousand Faces Mask had been taken by Qi Xiu, so he no longer had to endure the pain of the artifact's backlash and devouring. His life was temporarily safe. Plus, having experienced the terror of an Initiate Realm cultivator like Qi Xiu, the idea of swindling Initiate Realm cultivators had also been thoroughly squashed. It was best to focus on staying alive for now. Since he had no intention of participating in the trial anymore, the jade seal was a useless object to him. It would be better to do Qi Xiu a favor by giving it to him.

"You do see things clearly. Fine, I'll take this jade seal. And this is for you, as a token of thanks." With a flip of his palm, Qi Xiu produced a sword talisman and tossed it to Li Lingzi.

"This sword talisman contains an invisible Sword Qi that breaks the body. For those below the Initiate Realm, it's a sure kill. For those at or above the Initiate Realm, it can scare them off. As for how frightening it is, you know better than I do," Qi Xiu stated.

Before his voice had even faded, Qi Xiu clutched the jade seal and transformed into a mist-like Escape Light, vanishing from the spot.

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