Chapter 271: Old Demon Yan

Opposite Qin Ming.

That emaciated elder in black robes was surrounded by churning demonic qi, clearly radiating the magic power fluctuation of the Jin Dan stage.

Seeing this, Qin Ming frowned slightly, yet his face showed no significant emotional change.

"Who might you be, honored guest?"

"Coming here to play tricks with ghosts and gods, what exactly is your purpose?"

The elder in black robes gave a dry laugh, locking his gaze onto Qin Ming: "Hehehe! This old ancestor surnames Yan; I wonder if you have heard of me?"

Yan Laomo, seeing that he had revealed his true form while the Qin Ming opposite him showed not a trace of panic but instead conversed calmly with him,

seemed to possess some kind of backing.

He could not help but retract a hint of his underestimation.

After all, when Duanmu Sheng had passed him the information, he had mentioned that there was a second-stage peak great demon guarding the island here.

"However... this old ancestor did hear that a third-stage alchemist has emerged here, with a cultivation of only mid-stage Foundation Establishment; this old ancestor lacks pills for his cultivation and simply wished to come and take some."

"Oh, you wish to take? Then try and see if it is easy to take?" Qin Ming said expressionlessly.

The moment his words fell.

Suddenly!

A streak of black light flashing with a pitch-black phantom moved at a terrifying speed, striking Qin Ming's body with a swiftness that left no time to react.

Clang!!

Within the black light was a ghost-headed blade as black as ink, its hilt inlaid with a skull that whimpered with a chilling ghostly cry.

The instant the ghost-headed blade touched Qin Ming, a layer of blood-colored true force appeared, spiritual runes flashed, and the True Extreme Body was perfectly manifested.

The ghost-headed blade chopped onto Qin Ming as if striking an incredibly hard defensive treasure; the black blade, as if drunk, wobbled unsteadily before being rebounded.

Yan Laomo's surprise attack, which he was certain would succeed, was actually neutralized so easily; his eyes filled with shock and suspicion as he said: "Using the flesh body to withstand a treasure?!!"

"There is definitely something wrong with you! How can even my Ghost Weeping Blade fail to inflict harm upon you?!"

At this moment.

Yan Laomo suddenly realized the truth; no wonder that youngster opposite had remained so calm all along—he had been hiding his strength!

This Ghost Weeping Blade was his life-bound treasure, nurtured for over a hundred years; during his daily cultivation of demonic arts, he had slain countless cultivators, expended immense effort, and fed it the essential blood and souls of innumerable cultivators to refine it.

A single strike from this blade could not only defile an enemy's treasures, but its ghostly weeping sound could also seize the heart and soul, specifically breaking various body-protecting spiritual shields and defensive treasures.

The number of souls that had perished beneath this blade was beyond counting.

The Ghost Weeping Blade was also one of the greatest assets behind Yan Laomo's notorious reputation.

Even a Jin Dan stage cultivator, when facing his life-bound treasure, would seek to avoid it at all costs.

Yet he never expected that it could not even pierce the other party's flesh body.

Yan Laomo's heart shook violently; was this the strength a normal late-stage Foundation Establishment alchemist should possess?

When things go against the norm, there must be something sinister! He had already sensed something amiss, and the expression on his face shifted unpredictably.

He immediately turned to leave.

"You come and think you can just leave?"

"Did honored guest not intend to take this island master's spirit pills?"

Qin Ming scoffed, then waved his hand to summon! Ripples spread through the air, and the massive figures of three spirit beasts appeared, forming a triangular formation that surrounded Yan Laomo within.

In an instant, heaven and earth changed color.

Three terrifying auras descended into the mid-air, one of which even made Yan Laomo's heart pound with fear.

"A third-stage early-stage peak Demon King!!!"

"Two second-stage peak great demons!"

"That brat Duanmu has misled me!"

Yan Laomo let out a startled cry, dense black qi erupting from his entire body as he transformed into countless wisps of black smoke, attempting to scatter and flee.

"So much nonsense."

Qin Ming made a void grasp with his five fingers; as a flash of green light appeared, three long nails, each two inches in length, manifested in the palm of his right hand.

Crimson-gold spiritual runes emerged upon the Wood Emperor Nails, radiating terrifying power.

Inside Qin Ming's qi sea and dantian, a roar like surging waves erupted; continuous streams of magic power, like a flood released from a breached dam, poured into the three Wood Emperor Nail treasures.

Hum~ One by one, all the spiritual runes lit up; an aura of utmost hardness and utmost yang lingered around the long nails, causing the nearby air to begin twisting.

"Jin Dan-level magic power? A third-stage top-grade treasure!!"

"How is this possible?!"

Yan Laomo let out an incredulous shriek from within the black smoke, once again not hesitating to severely damage his cultivation to activate a secret technique; countless beams of blood light erupted from his body as he fled madly away from Qin Ming in a bizarre posture.

While fleeing, Yan Laomo gritted his teeth, feeling the pain in his heart as he flung out an object: a black bone staff adorned with several strings of ink-jade colored skulls.

In an instant.

The black bone staff instantly expanded, growing to a size of over ten zhang; ten thousand souls roared as countless ghostly entities gushed forth from the mouths of these ink-jade skulls!

This third-grade low-quality demonic artifact was something he had accidentally obtained from the Taihu ruins; it could continuously enhance the artifact's power by sacrificing cultivators' souls.

Indeed, as long as there were sufficient quantities of souls, raising the black bone staff to mid-quality or above would be no problem at all.

At this moment, Yan Laomo could no longer care about the pain in his heart; he only hoped these ghostly entities could delay the opponent briefly, granting him a sliver of a chance to survive.

'Duanmu Sheng! You just wait for this old ancestor! How dare you scheme against me!'

'Once this old ancestor escapes this predicament, I will definitely use your divine soul to light a lamp and burn it for a thousand years!'

At this very moment, in the depths of his heart, Yan Laomo had already cursed Duanmu Sheng eight hundred times! However, in the next instant.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The three Wood Emperor Nails in the palm of Qin Ming's right hand seemed to completely merge into the void and vanish without a trace.

Puchi!

The air near the black bone staff rippled faintly, as an emerald-green Wooden Emperor Nail, breathing crimson-gold divine radiance, silently pierced straight through the bone staff.

Like a drop of lava falling onto snow, a great hole was smashed open in the middle of the bone staff.

At the same time, the moment those ghosts met the crimson-gold divine radiance emitted by the Wooden Emperor Nail, they crumbled one after another, evaporating on the spot.

The black bone staff let out a wail beneath the strike of the Wooden Emperor Nail, and snapped clean in two.

Qin Ming's gaze blazed like a torch, his heart surging with excitement! This was the might of a top-grade magic treasure!

It was utterly beyond comparison with ordinary magic treasures.

The other two Wooden Emperor Nails, as if possessing a lock-on ability, gave chase to one of the black smokes Yan Laomo had split off.

In only an instant.

"Ah!"

Yan Laomo staggered, stumbling out from within the black smoke.

At this moment, his face deathly pale, clutching a severed arm, he stared at Qin Ming with utter despair.

'A third-rank spirit pet, a third-rank top-grade magic treasure'

'This bastard is even stronger than those old fogeys from Xuanxi Valley!'

'How could the Wei Kingdom possibly have such a figure?'

'Never would I have thought that after this old ancestor dominated the demonic path for so many years, today I would capsize in a ditch.'

Yan Laomo knew perfectly well that had he not just now severed his own arm and employed the demonic path's secret Substitution Calamity technique, he would already be dead beneath that unfathomably strange long nail.

"Fellow Daoist Qin, what happened before was my fault, my tone was a bit too heavy. In truth, I never meant to make an enemy of you!"

"I beg Fellow Daoist to spare my life."

Yan Laomo pleaded for mercy.

"I still prefer the way you looked just now, so arrogant and untamed."

"Didn't you say you were coming to take the spirit pills?"

"And why did you just now shout that Duanmu Sheng had misled you? Could it be that he passed some message to you?"

"You actually transformed into the appearance of Gu Qingzhao to lure me off the island."

Qin Ming regarded the other as if looking at a dead man, and said lightly.

"Yes, yes, yes! It was him."

Yan Laomo hurriedly answered, yet his gaze began to shift evasively, secretly pondering how to break the deadlock.

"Mm, then you can go die too."

The words fell.

Qin Ming immediately reached into the void once more, and three Wooden Emperor Nails struck toward Yan Laomo.

Yan Laomo's eyes nearly split with fury, and he roared savagely: "Junior! Are you truly determined to perish together?"

He knew full well there was absolutely no chance of surviving beneath the strike of those three top-grade magic treasures.

Immediately, a wild look crossed Yan Laomo's face, and he was about to choose to self-detonate his Jin Dan and perish together with Qin Ming.

However, the three Wooden Emperor Nails abruptly pierced through Yan Laomo's protective demonic Qi, and easily penetrated the defensive magic treasures on his body.

In an instant they punched straight through his skull, revealing three bloody holes.

Yan Laomo lost his breath; before he could even self-detonate, his corpse slumped down from the air.

Qin Ming immediately cast a Thorn spell on him, and countless black vines wrapped around him and drained him into a dried corpse.

Shi Tian Shu, having watched from the side for a long time, immediately dug out a Jin Dan from Yan Laomo's corpse and placed it into Qin Ming's hand.

"Master, there's also this."

"Hehe!"

(End of this chapter)