Chapter 116: I Can Fight Pretty Well Too

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A violent stabbing pain seized Longtengzi’s eyes, forcing tears to spill from their corners.

At the same time, an inexplicable sorrow welled up in his heart.

His mouth opened, and he was just about to burst into loud sobs.

“Waaah… Who are you… Waaaah…”

Tears the size of beans poured forth without restraint, leaving the assembled demons both horrified and mortified.

If anyone learned they had been reduced to such a state, how could they ever show their faces again?

Yet before they could circulate their demonic energy and seize this mysterious human cultivator, a weakness that seemed to seep from their very bones spread through their bodies. One after another, the demons collapsed to the ground like soft-legged shrimp.

Their mouths twisted and their eyes slanted, looking exactly like Old Wu from the neighboring village.

Forget fighting back—even blinking had become extraordinarily difficult.

“The Sorrowful Soft Wind! You’re the human cultivator who captures demons and refines them into pills!”

Forcibly circulating his demonic energy, Longtengzi’s entire body erupted with black vapor. A layer of fine, yellowish scales suddenly surfaced across his skin.

Two long whiskers sprouted from his chin, his hair became disheveled, and a pair of slender fangs protruded beyond the window.

His pupils transformed into an eerie, shattered-gold hue.

In the blink of an eye, he became half dragon and half man.

“Oh? A dragon-blooded demon?”

Seeing Longtengzi’s body mutate and sensing the powerful demonic aura radiating from him, Qi Xiu smiled and leisurely returned to his chair. With great interest, he studied the half-dragon demon before him.

“No wonder you still haven’t cried after being exposed to my Sorrowful Soft Wind for so long—and you can even remain standing. It seems the saying that dragon blood wards off a hundred poisons is true.”

After transforming into his half-dragon form, Longtengzi suddenly opened his mouth. A strange breath poured from his nose and lips.

It was precisely the Sorrowful Soft Wind that had poisoned the entire room.

“You certainly have impressive abilities, sir. You actually possess the violently toxic narcotic strictly forbidden by the Great Profound Empire. As far as I know, this drug must be ingested before it can take effect. When did you poison us?”

Having forced the Sorrowful Soft Wind from his body, Longtengzi coldly fixed his shattered-gold eyes on Qi Xiu.

An indistinct demonic miasma, possessing the same function as protective true astral force, had already enveloped his body.

“Can’t figure it out?”

A medicinal talisman coiled around Qi Xiu’s fingertip. The corners of his mouth dipped slightly.

“That’s only natural. You’re nothing but beasts.”

Insulted as beasts, the demons sprawled on the floor like dead dogs flew into a furious rage. All they could do, however, was glare at Qi Xiu with eyes brimming with tears.

“I know you have mastered the Water-Evasion Art of the Five Emperors Demon Sect. Your escape techniques are second to none. Earlier, in Mudflat Valley, you abducted eight hundred demons. Fifteen demons who had attained the Way surrounded and pursued you, yet you still managed to escape.

“But today, you have truly walked straight into a trap.”

Longtengzi stamped heavily on the ground.

The entire demon inn suddenly seemed to come alive. Countless masses of flesh writhed, while twisted and sinister runic patterns continuously linked together, fusing into a seamless whole. In a daze, the shadow of a seated bone demon took shape.

“For nearly a month, you have abducted demonic cultivators and evil practitioners throughout Huangtan Prefecture—more than two thousand in all. To lure such an audacious and deranged criminal into a trap, how could I dare summon my fellow disciples here without making preparations?”

The shadow of the bone demon solidified.

Countless bones spread and grew from its body. In an instant, they tightly encased the entire demon inn, transforming it into a prison.

“Not a bad formation. It seems dragon-blooded demons really are stronger than ordinary demons.”

Qi Xiu flicked a finger against the bone barrier beside him.

The hardness that answered his touch was even greater than the protective true astral force of a cultivator who had attained the Way.

Breaking through it would certainly take some time.

“Once I capture you today, it seems my name, Longtengzi, will become renowned throughout Huangtan Prefecture.”

Longtengzi strode toward Qi Xiu, his voice filled with overwhelming confidence.

As a dragon-blooded demon, whether in demonic cultivation or physical strength, he surpassed ordinary human cultivators and demonic evil practitioners by far.

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On top of that, he had mastered several dragon-demon arts.

Against a human cultivator who knew nothing but poison and escape, he could crush him with one hand.

Hearing the absolute certainty and effortless composure in Longtengzi’s voice, Qi Xiu gave a dry chuckle. He gently rubbed the space between his brows, then lifted his eyes with a faint smile.

“Have you ever considered the possibility that I’m also very good at fighting?”

Before the final word had even left his mouth, Qi Xiu swept out his broad sleeve. Several invisible, body-piercing sword energies shot forth.

In an instant, the cramped interior of the inn filled with crisscrossing sword energy, overwhelming and peerless.

The demons sprawled on the floor could not move. They could only watch helplessly as terrifying sword energy tore past them again and again.

At times, it pierced through and slew one of their companions beside them.

Scalding, foul-smelling demonic blood splattered across their faces.

“You’re actually a sword cultivator?”

Shock appeared in Longtengzi’s shattered-gold pupils. He had never imagined that this human cultivator, who seemed to know nothing but poison, had been concealing such a terrifying killing move.

Longtengzi hurriedly recited an incantation. A dense, dusky-yellow aura instantly sprayed across his demonic miasma. Upon the hazy, ethereal barrier protecting his body, the faint outline of dragon scales gradually emerged.

Demonic Art: Dragon Aura Inhalation and Exhalation.

Clink, clink, clink, clink—

The invisible sword energies furiously battered Longtengzi’s protective demonic miasma.

Yet after being transformed and strengthened by dragon aura, the miasma’s defensive power increased dramatically. It could even nullify the special property of the body-piercing invisible sword energy—the ability to smash through protective astral force.

Still seated in his chair, Qi Xiu calmly watched as Longtengzi was repeatedly driven backward by the invisible sword energy. Sparks flew wildly from his protective demonic miasma.

“Weren’t you going to capture me? Why are you only getting farther away?”

“Don’t get cocky!”

Longtengzi stamped his foot again and flipped out a magical artifact.

It was a palm-sized golden cauldron, its entire surface engraved with countless demonic heads.

“Behold my artifact!”

He lifted the lid of the golden cauldron and urged his demonic energy into it. The small cauldron violently trembled, and in the next instant, billowing black smoke poured forth, transforming into hideous, savage demon heads that gnawed their teeth with a grinding sound.

“Go!”

Pointing at Qi Xiu, who was still seated in his chair, Longtengzi bit off a large chunk of flesh from his own arm and spat it into the air.

In an instant, the demon heads devoured the flesh.

Then their crimson, cruel eyes turned toward Qi Xiu.

“A magical artifact? Good. Then let’s compare artifacts.”

Qi Xiu shrugged. With a casual swipe across the Flood Dragon Pool ring on his finger, a slender bamboo staff appeared in his hand. It was entirely scarlet and divided into nine segments.

Magical Artifact: Autumn Sandalwood.

Qi Xiu tightened his grip around the Autumn Sandalwood staff. A vast quantity of pure Primordial Astral Force surged from the Primordial Pearl and poured into the artifact.

“Burp.”

Somewhere in the unseen depths, it seemed as though something had just belched.

Shaking his head with a quiet laugh, Qi Xiu suddenly swung the bamboo staff at the roaring, grotesquely laughing demon heads.

In an instant, a terrifying sword energy as broad as a door roared forth.

He swung again and again.

Vast waves of sword light merged into an unbroken tide, each wave rising higher than the last as they crashed down upon the demon heads.

Crack, crack, crack—

Amid a succession of explosive reports, the demon heads—each capable of devouring a cultivator who had attained the Way alive within a short time—were shattered directly into clouds of black vapor beneath the overwhelming tide of sword light, then dispersed into the void.

The magical artifact was destroyed. A plume of black smoke suddenly drilled out of the golden cauldron and forcibly gouged away a large chunk of flesh from Longtengzi’s chest.

Suffering the backlash of his artifact, Longtengzi let a thread of purplish-green demonic blood spill from the corner of his mouth.

But he had no intention of stopping.

Or rather, he could not stop.

The Bone-Sealed Prison Formation had already been activated. To undo it, he had to continue chanting for a full quarter of an hour.

Would the mysterious sword cultivator before him give him that opportunity?

He could only fight!

With ruthless determination rising in his heart, Longtengzi stamped down heavily.

Surging demonic energy burst from his heart, transforming into dusky-yellow scarlet flames. His aura climbed without pause, pressing down until the ground in every direction cracked apart inch by inch.

“Hm? Are you finally getting serious?”

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Roar—

A deafening roar shook the remaining demons and fiends completely deaf. Streams of blood shot from their ears.

“Die!”

His entire body transformed into a dusky-yellow dragon shadow. Relying on his formidable demonic miasma and the physical body of a high-grade demon, Longtengzi smashed through wave after wave of blood-colored sword light and forced his way to Qi Xiu.

He intended to use the physical advantage of a dragon demon to engage this sword cultivator in close combat!

Clang—

His razor-sharp dragon claws slammed viciously into the protective true astral force swirling with radiant colors.

A vast shock wave rolled outward with a thunderous boom, becoming a tangible impact that sent the demons and fiends—who had only just been deafened—flying in every direction.

Hiss, hiss, hiss—

The dragon claws struck Qi Xiu’s protective true astral force like electric drills, boring into it with mad fury. Blinding sparks burst in all directions.

“Break for me!”

Eyes blazing with fury, Longtengzi roared. His flesh swelled wildly as the dragon blood within him was squeezed for power beyond its limits, while his demonic energy thundered at full force.

Boom!

All the strength in his body gathered into his arm. His back curved like a full-moon bow, and he savagely drove out a deadly punch.

Brilliant light trembled and flashed.

Qi Xiu’s protective astral force seemed on the verge of being shattered by that single blow.

Then Qi Xiu suddenly flicked his finger.

A wisp of blazing violet fire dropped onto Longtengzi’s fist.

Boom—

A spark no larger than a soybean landed on his fist and instantly transformed into a towering inferno.

How fierce was the pure Yang violet fire, possessing the utmost yang and hardness?

It clung stubbornly to Longtengzi’s protective demonic miasma like a parasite burrowed into the bone.

Although the miasma, strengthened by dragon aura, could block the piercing and slashing attacks of the invisible sword energy, it possessed no special resistance to the pure Yang violet fire.

And this pure Yang violet fire was not merely fierce and searing.

It also possessed another terrifying characteristic.

When it had clashed with the Ink Flood Dragon, the embodiment of the extreme yin, the two forces had battled in a struggle between dragon and tiger. Through that confrontation, the overwhelming and uncontrollable flames had absorbed a trace of the profound harmony between yin and yang.

Whenever any force opposed the pure Yang violet fire, the flames treated it as fuel, repeatedly tempering and sharpening their edge.

Unless one possessed overwhelming power sufficient to extinguish the violet fire outright, once locked in a stalemated struggle with its burning edge—or reduced to nothing but defense—the pure Yang violet fire would only burn more fiercely, growing ever more terrifying.

And at that moment, Longtengzi was experiencing this firsthand.

Under the fierce, unrivaled blaze of the pure Yang violet fire, his demonic miasma began to fail. The dragon scales flickering across its surface burst apart one after another, while the miasma itself was burned through and riddled with holes.

Snap—

With a violent explosion, the barrier scattered amid surging black smoke.

A demonic miasma seal above Longtengzi’s head suddenly dimmed, while the protective miasma, burned apart by the pure Yang violet fire, reappeared around him.

Smiling as he sat in his chair, Qi Xiu watched Longtengzi trapped in a sea of flames, with no path to heaven and no entrance to earth. He tapped his fingers lightly on the tabletop.

“I wonder how many demonic miasma seals you have left.”

Seeing that he had used every technique at his disposal without even forcing Qi Xiu to rise from his chair, a trace of despair appeared on Longtengzi’s face.

“Have you surrendered? Good. I happen to have a few questions for you.”

Noticing the despondency on Longtengzi’s face, Qi Xiu took several secret talismans used for soul-searching from his Flood Dragon Pool ring.

Seeing Longtengzi’s expression change dramatically, he smiled gently.

“Don’t worry. It won’t hurt at all.”

…

End of chapter.

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