Chapter 387: The Heart Demon Invasion

"A demonic cultivator has infiltrated the camp!" someone outside shouted loudly all of a sudden.

Both of their faces changed dramatically, and they scrambled to their feet.

Wei Yuning fumbled in his chest and finally produced a disc‑shaped object, its surface smooth, made of translucent jade, etched with strange intricate patterns—it was the Demon‑Seeking Mirror that Cheng Xin had given him that day.

The Demon‑Seeking Mirror glowed a clear blue, showing no abnormality. Wei Yuning and Cheng Xin both exhaled in relief; there was no great demon nearby.

"Let's go, Master, let's go out and take a look!" Wei Yuning said with a smile.

"Fine, that suits me. Monk, I haven't slain demons in ages!" Cheng Xin laughed heartily.

The voice wasn't heard by just the two of them; everyone in the kitchen area became aware.

Since demonic cultivators can be terrifying foes of cultivators, they rely not on a fearsome reputation but on formidable strength and bloody lessons.

Without means to restrain demonic cultivators, ordinary cultivators should run as far as possible upon seeing them!

Upon hearing of the demonic incursion, most cultivators turned ashen.

Even Light‑affiliated Heart Sword Sect cultivators, only the three leading ones remained composed, but overall their performance was much better.

After all the companions gathered inside the kitchen, Wei Yuning opened the Minor Thick‑Earth Realm, and after a brief discussion quickly made arrangements.

Aside from Wei Yuning, Cheng Xin, Shui Yong, and Qin Wu, everyone else stayed in the kitchen; those who cooked kept cooking, and if a demonic cultivator entered, Shui Kang and Shui An would lead Heart Sword Sect cultivators to defend.

Then, with Wei Yuning at the front, Cheng Xin, Shui Yong, and Qin Wu side by side behind him, they opened the side gate, passed the main dining hall, and walked outward.

Wei Yuning, being a flesh‑body cultivator with a Yang‑God physique, fears demonic cultivators the least; since he last absorbed a strand of soul and a fragment from the Dark Demon Lord, his body's resistance to demonic Qi has greatly increased.

He cleared the way at the front not by brute force; around him, semi‑transparent vines flickered in and out, forming an outer perimeter. Because he possesses a Light‑affiliated spirit root, the vines he summoned now carry Light energy, enhancing their ability to counter demonic cultivators.

The Heart Sword Sect's most potent attack is the invisible, formless Heart Sword, but it can only be unleashed in a deep cultivation state, draining the mind, and is rarely used without teammate coordination.

In ordinary combat they mainly wield ordinary flying swords; likewise, thanks to their spirit roots, their flying swords are Light‑infused, highly deterrent to yin‑evil.

Above Shui Yong's head, two half‑arm‑length platinum‑colored flying swords spun continuously, emitting a faint hum. At the same time, Shui Yong shed his outer coat, revealing a translucent white coarse‑cloth robe, surrounded by a luminous halo about two zhang in radius.

Qin Wu's outward appearance today was unchanged from before, but beneath his coat he wore jade‑white armor, and in his hand he bore a golden longbow, with a quiver slung across his back filled with golden arrows.

Among them, only Cheng Xin the monk remained as he always was; a Buddhist cultivator needs no external aid to deal with demonic cultivators.

As soon as they stepped out of the dining hall, a twisted‑faced celestial soldier charged at them.

Wei Yuning's spirit sense flickered, and the semi‑transparent vines shot forward like spirit snakes, coiling around the celestial soldier.

"Chit‑chit‑chit," strands of blackness oozed from the celestial soldier, but before they could travel far they were drawn back into the vines.

After only a few breaths, the celestial soldier's body went limp and collapsed to the ground.

Wei Yuning stepped forward a few paces, crouched, and examined the celestial soldier's condition.

In the massive courtyard of the right‑road camp, as many as fifty or sixty people were running wildly—some pursuing, some escaping, some dodging haphazardly—so in that moment it was impossible to discern who had been demon‑possessed.

Before Wei Yuning emerged, he had already devised a plan: not seeking perfection, but avoiding mistakes, focusing on defense.

"Hey, hurry and run, the celestial soldier who came back is demon‑possessed, don't…" a small‑statured celestial soldier sprinted toward them like a flash, but the words stopped midway.

As they moved closer, the celestial soldier's head exploded outward, a mass of black vapor spewed out, forming eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth—a bizarre irregular skull that emitted a low, eerie cackle.

Cheng Xin the monk's attack was the swiftest; in an instant a white Buddha aura sliced through the black vapor, the skull let out a painful whine, cast a hateful glance at Cheng Xin the monk, and then disappeared.

At that moment Qin Wu's golden arrows and Shui Yong's flying sword strikes arrived, all hitting empty air.

"Not good, this isn't an ordinary demon head, activate spiritual awareness defense quickly!" Cheng Xin the monk's complexion changed dramatically, warning the two beside him.

As he spoke, a milky‑white aura enveloped the three of them, Buddha's light shining everywhere.

The aura appeared, and the black vapor skull instantly materialized, only three feet from Qin Wu's head.

Qin Wu was horrified; he lowered his stance, rolled several somersaults in a row, and managed to evade the attack. "What kind of demon head is this? How can it not fear my Light Armor?" he cried out.

"Light armor can only defend against tangible demonic Qi, not against intangible demonic Qi!" Shui Yong said gravely, looking at the stationary black vapor skull as if facing a great enemy, "This must be a Heart‑Demon tactic!"

The founding ancestor's famed sword of the Heart Sword Sect, a Great Vehicle stage Light‑affiliated cultivator, was all killed by the Soul‑Devouring Demon, which itself is an ancient‑level Heart‑Demon; Shui Yong is unusually sensitive to Heart Demons.

"Heart Demon? How do we defend against it?" Qin Wu, who had been confident, now panicked.

Seeing that the others could now see it, the black vapor skull let out a cold snort, then with a swoosh shot out of the Buddha‑light aura's range.

"Aooo," a strange howl sounded from the direction where the black vapor skull vanished, followed by a "thump" as the skull reappeared, falling to the ground.

Qin Wu saw that a hole pierced between the skull's mouth and the back of its head. The skull's vitality was unusually tenacious; it struggled, trying to rise again. Suddenly another hole appeared, this time at the brow and the center of the back of the head.

The skull tilted its head and collapsed completely, remaining motionless.

"Heart Demons can only be struck with the Heart Sword! …" Shui Yong, whose eyes had been closed at some point, opened them; halfway through his words he suddenly spat a mouthful of fresh blood, his face pale as he calmly wiped the blood from his lips and continued, "But without Master Cheng Xin's Buddhist methods, I couldn't have tracked its location."

Cheng Xin the monk looked at the skull that had materialized on the ground, puzzled, and said, "Buddha above, I always thought Heart Demons were formless, never expecting that after killing them they could also take form!"