Chapter Eighteen: Owe Nothing

Banyan swept his gaze over Chang Xiangzhi in satisfaction. The forlorn misery of the fallen legitimate daughter of the Seven Sages’ bloodline, mingled with the serpent woman’s innate allure, sent a blaze of heat through his lower belly. In his mind rose the image of pressing her beneath him and making her yield in soft, twisting submission.

“A treasure like this—if I do not taste it, how could I answer to myself...”

Banyan ran his tongue across his lips, a wicked grin spread over his face, then suddenly lifted his eyes toward Chang Xiangzhi, his stare roaming brazenly up and down her body.

At once, she sensed danger. Instinctively she looked up and met his eyes, and it felt as though vermin were crawling over her skin. Her hair stood on end, her body turned rigid, and she spun to flee.

That only deepened the temptation in Banyan’s eyes. How could he hold back any longer? The instant Chang Xiangzhi moved, demonic power surged through him, and his right hand lashed out in a fierce grasp through empty air.

A vast force of demon power instantly enveloped her. Raising her hammer in a blaze that scorched the sky, she charged against it, only to be crushed down by that immense pressure, nearly driven into the earth. Sweetness rose in her throat, and she spat out a mouthful of blood.

Drunk on lust, Banyan used all his strength. How could he still care whether she lived or died?

Throwing back his head, he burst into wild laughter and rushed to Chang Xiangzhi in a few strides. With one savage yank, cloth tore in a harsh rip, and her inner and outer garments were shredded together, exposing the pale, tender flesh beneath...

Liu Chou’s gaze remained cold and distant. Watching Banyan’s violence in the distance, listening to Chang Xiangzhi’s heart-rending screams, he did not move at all.

The four Wind-Scouts, understanding the situation well enough, had already withdrawn far away. All that remained was Banyan’s rough breathing and Chang Xiangzhi’s anguished cries. Yet Liu Chou still did not act. He was waiting, still waiting for the perfect moment.

As another male creature, Liu Chou knew very well when the best time to strike would be. If he could use this chance to kill the brute, then nothing could be better.

As for everything else, he gave it no thought, nor did he think it mattered.

Banyan’s movements began to quicken. Whether from overexcitement or not, he could not last very long. He was already sinking deeper and deeper into sensory pleasure, and Chang Xiangzhi’s broken, wavering cries only inflamed him further, leaving him beside himself.

At last, a rare tide of ecstasy climbed from the base of his spine all the way into his skull. In that instant, he felt as though he had drifted beyond the heavens, lost in cloud and mist, drowned in endless bliss and joy. It was as if all the strength in his body had been emptied out in that very moment—poured forth, released, erupting...

The highest summit of pleasure was also the sudden opening of hell’s eyes.

At that very instant, a tremendous sense of danger surged from behind Banyan. He felt as though his scalp had exploded. The intuition of imminent death swept over him, making his whole body nearly freeze in mad terror.

By instinct, Banyan twisted his head toward the source of danger. His body tried to evade it, but under some unspeakable constraint, it continued the motion it had already begun and could not complete the dodge.

At the corner of his eye, a streak of silver rapidly swelled.

Under ordinary circumstances, this hand crossbow, though immensely powerful, would not have posed much threat to someone like Banyan, who stood at the peak of the monster-demon realm and was about to step across the threshold into Great Demonhood. But with the use of the Thousand-Catty Bolt, and with Banyan himself sunk into abandon, the chances of this strike succeeding rose without limit, drawing ever closer to certainty.

The instant Banyan glimpsed that silver flash, he began to move. Yet his whole body was always half a beat too slow. His mind could keep up, but his body’s instinctive state doomed him to failure in the end. He only managed to shift a little, narrowly avoiding the most fatal point.

Bang!

In that instant, it was as though a mountain had smashed into the root of his thigh, hurling his whole body through the air, while his right leg flew from him at the same time and was flung far away.

The shot had not missed. Banyan’s reaction had simply been too fast. Even in such a state, he had still managed to wrench his body aside and avoid a strike to the most lethal spot on his back. From that response alone, it was clear that had Liu Chou attacked rashly before, he would never have landed the hit.

The might of the Thousand-Catty Bolt also far exceeded Liu Chou’s expectations. Had it struck head-on, it would have killed him instantly.

But this was no time for amazement. Liu Chou spared no thought for anything else. He shot out from hiding, the hand crossbow already replaced by his black iron staff. Before Banyan had even finished falling from the air, before he had touched the ground, Liu Chou had already rushed before him and swung upward from below, smashing the staff squarely into his chest with a thunderous blow.

This time, Banyan had no strength left to dodge.

As his shrill scream split the air, the place where the iron staff landed caved deeply inward. His body flew upward once more, and almost at the same moment Liu Chou leapt high into the air, raised the staff over his head, and brought it crashing down like Mount Tai collapsing.

With another explosive crash, Banyan was slammed straight into the ground, sinking deep into the earth. His body bent at a grotesque angle, all power to stand gone from him.

His scream tore through the night and carried far, drawing the four Wind-Scouts swiftly back together. But Liu Chou paid them no mind. He only rushed to Banyan’s ruined body and brought his staff down again and again upon head and torso, each blow landing with a dull, brutal thud.

The Wind-Scouts appeared in the distance and began to draw near. Liu Chou ignored them completely and continued what he was doing. Though his actions still looked fierce and overbearing, in truth he was at the end of his strength. Activating the Thousand-Catty Bolt had consumed most of his demon power, and the last of what remained had all been spent on Banyan. He had no spare strength left to deal with the remaining four Wind-Scouts.

As for Chang Xiangzhi, she had only barely managed to push herself upright from the ground. Tugging her clothes back on, face twisted with pain, the torment below her waist left her unable not merely to fight, but likely even to walk freely.

The four Wind-Scouts appeared together. As soon as they came a little closer, they saw Banyan, beaten by Liu Chou into something scarcely still shaped like a body. Only then did Liu Chou finally stop.

He threw the staff straight to the ground, plunged both hands brutally into Banyan’s back, and with crackling tears ripped apart spine and ribs, gouging open a cavity. Then he tore out the heart, already pounded flat, and devoured it in great savage bites.

At the same time, he removed the demon core and stored it within the Gourd Realm.

Then he rose, turned, and faced the four Wind-Scouts, a look on his face hideous and feral, yet somehow seeming almost like a smile.

The two sides confronted each other. The Wind-Scouts did not retreat, but neither did they dare approach. For a time, the standoff held.

Chang Xiangzhi’s attention was drawn back to Liu Chou and the Wind-Scouts. Slowly she tried to rise, but suddenly her brow knotted, and she sank back down again, her face contorted into a knot of pain.

At last Liu Chou swallowed the last of Banyan’s heart. He tilted his head slightly back and exhaled a long breath, spraying out a mist of blood. Only then did he pick up the iron staff once more and take a step toward the Wind-Scouts opposite him.

This interval of deadlock was exactly what he had wanted.

While devouring the heart just now, Liu Chou had secretly taken out a spirit medicine pill and slipped it into his mouth. His demon power was now recovering at speed, and with the help of this standoff, he had already regained nearly half. It was still not quite enough to deal with four Wind-Scouts, but he was no longer in a state to be slaughtered at will.

The four Wind-Scouts unconsciously took a step back.

Liu Chou frowned, as if dissatisfied by their retreat. Suddenly he quickened his steps and charged straight at them.

He wanted to draw the battle as far from Chang Xiangzhi as possible.

“This is not guilt...” Liu Chou murmured inwardly, fixing his gaze on the rapidly approaching Wind-Scouts, his eyes calm and cold. Though he faced four opponents of the same seventh rank, the momentum of this fight was different, and the outcome would absolutely not be the same.

Confronted by Liu Chou’s advance, one of the Wind-Scouts let out a furious long howl. Black smoke rose from all four of them, and from within the haze their true forms emerged. Two were leopard demons, one yellow and one brown; the other two were a wolf demon and a weasel demon. They spread front and rear and pounced toward Liu Chou.

The two sides rushed toward one another, the distance shrinking in an instant, until soon fewer than thirty paces lay between them.

The weasel demon and the brown leopard charged in front. Once near enough, both suddenly leapt. The weasel demon shot toward Liu Chou’s lower abdomen like lightning in a diving strike, while the brown leopard transformed into human shape in midair and came slashing down from above, great blade aimed at Liu Chou’s head.

An assault from above and below at once—they meant to leave him unable to attend to both ends, driven into desperate defense.

Now!

But this was also the moment Liu Chou had been waiting for.

The iron staff in his hand suddenly vanished, replaced once more by the hand crossbow. He arched his upper body backward, kicked out with both feet, and shot away like an arrow in retreat while pulling the trigger again and again, the timing and angles flawless.

With both sides closing so quickly, aiming was almost effortless.

The bolts flew one after another. Three muffled bursts rang out, and the two nearest Wind-Scouts were both struck.

The bolts punched clean through their bodies and out the far side, leaving wounds as thick as an arm. Mangled fragments of their organs spilled from the holes and, as their bodies turned over in the air, dribbled down in a grisly scatter.

Liu Chou had not used the Thousand-Catty Bolt. Yet even ordinary shots were far more than those two Wind-Scouts could withstand.

Faced with a weapon as unfamiliar as the crossbow, the demon host of Plum Mountain suffered another heavy loss.

But Liu Chou did not come away unscathed either. Though he struck down the two in front, the rear Wind-Scouts almost simultaneously burst into a surge of speed, lunging forward and crashing upon him. To ensure the bolts hit their mark, Liu Chou had not evaded at all. He took two leopard claws head-on and was sent flying far away.

He crashed to the ground dozens of paces off and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Before he had time to react further, the leopard demon and wolf demon Wind-Scouts were already upon him again, continuing their assault. Liu Chou could only roll over with all his strength and swing the iron staff in desperate combat. But after only a few exchanges, dozens of wounds had opened across his body, and his left leg had even been savagely bitten, nearly broken.

At that moment, Chang Xiangzhi also made her choice.

Clenching her teeth, sweat beading thickly on her brow from the searing pain, her whole body nearly spent, she cast one glance toward where Liu Chou and the Wind-Scouts were locked in battle. Then, biting down hard, she turned and fled into the depths of the forest.

Just as Liu Chou had used her to kill Banyan, she now used Liu Chou to hold off the enemy so that she herself could escape.

This was the law by which demons survived. There was no right or wrong in it, no good or evil, no question of who had failed whom. There were only choices made in helpless necessity for the sake of living on.

Life was pitiful; the life of demonkind was even more a tragedy, one that began to be staged from the moment of birth, and even in death might not yet find its curtain.

From the corner of his eye, Liu Chou noticed her leaving. He remained unmoved, neither pleased nor saddened, yet deep within himself he let out a quiet breath of relief.

Perhaps in this way, the account was settled?

Perhaps.

You owe me nothing, and I owe you nothing. That was all.