Neither the eldest, Zong Yajuan, nor the lively Yu Kailin noticed the fleeting anomaly.
They had long grown accustomed to the Demon Cave's tranquility and held a deep trust for every part of it.
Ever since the twelve women of the Time Girl Group were stationed in the Demon Cave, they had held a small meeting.
Considering the vastness and security of the Demon Cave, they decided to split into six teams of two, taking turns on daily patrol duty.
Today, it was the turn of the eldest, Zong Yajuan, and the youngest, Yu Kailin.
Yu Kailin's lively and active nature made the mature and steady Zong Yajuan the perfect partner for her.
Yu Kailin was like a cheerful fawn, skipping and hopping along the forest path.
She even took out her Bluetooth earbuds and played her favorite songs. The upbeat melody seemed to dance with her steps, adding a bit of life to the mountain forest.
She would occasionally stop to strike a few youthful, energetic dance poses before continuing on her way.
Soon, Yu Kailin arrived at the final sealing point.
This sealing point was located in a deep canyon. A long set of Chains stretched across the cliff, covered in yellowed Talisman Paper.
The Runes on the Talisman Paper were written in an elegant, flowing script, profound and difficult to comprehend, and they contained a kind of mystical power.
Yu Kailin walked closer for a careful look, then clapped her hands and said cheerfully, "The Chains are broken, but it doesn't look like there's anything else wrong. We can call it a day."
"Wait... The Chains are broken?"
She had just turned and taken two steps when she froze, a look of horror spreading across her face.
She looked back at the Chains. They were indeed broken. One half dangled from the cliff, while the other had vanished without a trace.
Many of the Talisman Papers that had been stuck fast to the Chains had also fallen off, clearly having plunged into the bottomless canyon when the Chains snapped.
A sense of foreboding washed over Yu Kailin. She patted her chest, trying to calm her racing heart.
She clearly remembered that her second and third sisters had come to patrol just yesterday and hadn't found anything unusual.
These Chains were forged from refined steel and infused with special materials capable of suppressing Evil Spirits.
Furthermore, the Runes on the Talisman Paper were drawn with the blood of Fifth Grade or higher Martial Artists as ink, their power not to be underestimated.
'Could someone have sabotaged this in secret?'
The thought flashed through Yu Kailin's mind, but she quickly shook her head, trying to cast it aside.
On their very first day in the Demon Cave, all twelve members of the Time Girl Group had conducted a thorough inspection of the entire area.
All the sealing points had been intact, merely looking a bit faded and worn from exposure to the elements.
But this sudden development left her feeling uneasy.
RUSTLE!
The sound was like a fallen leaf gently touching the water's surface, or perhaps the stir of an undercurrent. Yu Kailin whipped her head around, her movements swift and agile. Without a thought, she had already drawn the sword from her waist.
Her body became like a volcano on the verge of erupting.
The Elemental Power within her churned like boiling magma, gathering its strength.
In that brief moment, Yu Kailin was certain something had darted past in the shadows, making that faint sound.
Such a noise could only have come from a powerful Martial Artist or one of the legendary, terrifying Evil Spirits.
The members of the Time Girl Group, despite having countless resources under the careful arrangements of Queen Ji Shengyue, had almost no real combat experience.
Yu Kailin herself had never seen what an Evil Spirit truly looked like.
After all, every last Evil Spirit in the Great Jing Empire had already been purged by Chu He and sealed away in this Demon Cave.
Yu Kailin took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves.
She told herself that perhaps the Evil Spirits weren't as terrifying as the stories claimed.
They may have once run rampant, but that was in an era before Martial Arts had truly flourished.
But when she felt a faint gray mist begin to spread from the woods, gradually thickening as the surrounding temperature plummeted, her unease surged once more.
The chill seemed to press in from all directions, seeping straight into her bones.
Yu Kailin's body began to tremble involuntarily. She gripped her longsword, its tip pointed warily around her, her heart pounding at every tiny sound.
Gripping her longsword tightly, Yu Kailin suddenly swung it all around her.
Sharp Sword Qi swept through the forest like a hurricane, slicing the surrounding trees in half.
Her King-level prowess was on full display, yet her heart remained filled with fear and unease.
"You're a far cry from him. A far cry from Chu He."
A hoarse, deep voice echoed from the shadows, like a summons from Hell itself, making her scalp tingle.
Yu Kailin gripped her longsword, cold sweat trickling down her forehead. "Who... Who's playing tricks?" she yelled. "Get out here, or this young lady will tear you to pieces!"
The surroundings remained deathly silent. Only the gray mist grew thicker, threatening to swallow her whole.
Despair filled Yu Kailin's heart. 'Why hasn't Zong Yajuan shown up yet?'
'Didn't she feel the fluctuation of my Elemental Power?'
Just then, the ground began to squirm as if it were alive. A putrid stench rapidly filled the forest, so thick it seemed to devour the sunlight, and the light in the woods dimmed abruptly.
An indescribable terror rose in Yu Kailin's heart. She felt as though her very skin was trembling in this atmosphere.
Suddenly, she felt a strange sensation on her foot.
Looking down, she saw a rotting hand covered in deathly pale skin emerge from the ground, gripping her small leather shoe tightly.
Immediately after, more of those rotting hands appeared on her fair calves, arms, shoulders, stomach, and even her chest.
They burrowed up from deep underground, greedily clinging to her body.
RIP! The rotting hands suddenly moved.
Her Lolita dress, a piece of defensive equipment that was supposed to have a suppressive effect on Evil Spirits, now seemed incredibly fragile before the Evil Spirit's power.
The dress was torn to shreds.
In an instant, her body, as flawless as white jade, was completely exposed in the dim forest.
"To make this king act personally, you're quite the toy."
A raspy, sinister voice whispered in Yu Kailin's ear.
She looked up and saw a rotten man's face emerge from the ground. His face had long lost any human color, leaving only a gray, decaying pallor.
Then, the man pulled himself out of the ground.
His body was just as rotten, yet abnormally strong and powerful.
He pulled the stunned Yu Kailin directly into his embrace, and his decaying parts pierced her body like sharp arrows.
Yu Kailin felt a cold, malevolent power surge into her. Her body began to tremble uncontrollably.
This was the power of an Evil Spirit—so strong and terrifying that it made a mighty King-level master like her seem utterly fragile.
"You ignorant little thing, how dare you offend this king."
The rotten man murmured, his voice filled with pleasure and satisfaction.
A grotesque smile appeared on his rotten face as he savored Yu Kailin's despair and struggle.
Yu Kailin broke down. She couldn't imagine she would meet such a fate.
She struggled to resist, but the putrid power had already corroded her entire body, leaving her unable to move.
She could only watch helplessly as the rotten man unleashed his power upon her.
Finally, the rotten man suddenly shuddered, and a surge of decaying energy was forcibly crammed into Yu Kailin's body.
She felt as if her body was being torn apart, the pain unbearable.
Yu Kailin tried to scream, but the rotten man swallowed her cry with his mouth.
He opened his rotten mouth, tore Yu Kailin's face to shreds, and then swallowed it.
Throughout the entire process,
Yu Kailin could only manage a faint whimper, which was ultimately drowned out in the putrid-smelling forest.