Chapter 591: Destroy the Demon

Within the Small Spirit Realm.

Qin Ming paid no heed to Jiang Yuan's shouts and showed no intention of stepping out.

Originally, he had some confidence in the Small Spirit Realm's ability to conceal.

Even with the Demon Sect's Holy Son's sharp methods, he could never find their hiding place.

Moreover, Jiang Yuan had suffered serious injuries from Hu Xu Zi's Golden Core self-explosion.

And his strongest life-linked demonic treasure had been damaged, its spiritual essence greatly diminished, unlikely to recover anytime soon.

All Qin Ming needed to do was stay hidden within the Small Spirit Realm and wait quietly for him to leave.

But he never imagined that after the True Disciple of the Blood Refining Demon Sect was slain, a "Blood Ring Curse Seal" would remain on his body, marking the killer.

Ordinary methods seemed unable to detect or remove it—truly a vexing problem.

Once marked by the Blood Ring Curse Seal, one would inevitably face endless retaliation from the Blood Refining Demon Sect.

On Jiang Yuan's pale face outside, a chilling smile appeared.

"So you're here."

"You must have taken the Star Sea Divine Vine as well?"

Then, Jiang Yuan raised his demonic rune token and pointed at a spot in empty air.

The Blood Ring Curse Seal erupted into a faint red thread, pointing toward a specific point in the void.

Precisely where Qin Ming's Small Spirit Realm was hidden.

Jiang Yuan saw no trace of any cultivator emerge under the Blood Ring Curse Seal's guidance.

A flicker of confusion crossed his pale, delicate face.

Then.

He suddenly realized something, and his eyes instantly filled with intense excitement.

"Jie jie jie!"

"Is this the legendary Dantian magic treasure?"

"Who would have thought such a thing exists in this lowly realm!"

"Misfortune may be a blessing in disguise!"

"Thankfully, Blue Sister isn't here—no one to compete for this opportunity!"

"Star Sea Divine Vine, Dantian magic treasure! Hahaha!"

Inside the Small Spirit Realm, Qin Ming's face was grim beyond measure.

After a flash of insight in his mind, he had already devised a plan.

"Master, we've been discovered—what do we do now?"

Hua Tianxiong asked anxiously, glancing nervously toward Jiang Yuan, the madman outside.

"Stay inside and don't come out."

Qin Ming immediately activated the True Demon Illusion, transforming into Hua Tianxiong's appearance, then used the Blue Emperor Scripture to conceal his spiritual power, masking it as Foundation Establishment mid-stage.

His form blurred, and in the blink of an eye, he vanished from the Small Spirit Realm.

Jiang Yuan waited outside for a long time without movement, growing impatient.

"Looks like I'll have to force you out."

Just as he prepared to act—

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Jiang Yuan instinctively leaped backward; a lingering shadow remained where he had stood.

When he steadied himself, he saw seven holes had appeared in the shadow.

Jiang Yuan unleashed a vast spiritual sense to scan the surroundings but found no trace of the hidden attacker.

Instead, his spine turned cold, and a sense of dread rose within him.

He formed a hand seal and recalled his damaged Blood Pagoda, revealing its true form: a black inkstone-like demonic treasure.

Jiang Yuan stored the Blood Pagoda within his body, and in his pale hand appeared a blood-colored demonic banner.

He swung the blood-colored banner forward.

The air twisted and writhed, as if something was crawling out from within.

Roar! The next instant, three skull heads, wreathed in pitch-black demonic energy, materialized.

Each demon head bore long hair, blue-green faces, fangs, a crimson tongue hanging down, hollow eye sockets and mouths spewing black flames, radiating terrifying energy.

Even wounded, Jiang Yuan remained calm—this was his confidence.

These three demon heads, at late-stage Golden Core, had already developed sentience, nearly indistinguishable from humans.

The next instant—

A subtle ripple echoed through the void, and seven wooden imperial nails, glowing crimson-gold, shot forth, striking directly at Jiang Yuan's face.

Ao! The three demon heads before Jiang Yuan opened their jaws, howled fiercely, and spat out several torrents of devastating black demonic flames, sweeping forward.

The wooden imperial nails pierced through the void; upon contact with the demonic flames, brilliant solar essence flared violently.

The demonic flames, upon meeting the solar essence, instantly shattered.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The wooden imperial nails kept their momentum, piercing through the three demon heads, leaving multiple large holes.

The demon heads screamed in agony; the black demonic energy surrounding them was halved, their aura withering.

The seven wooden imperial nails circled in midair, then returned to Qin Ming's hand.

Yet Jiang Yuan had used the demon heads to block the attack, unharmed.

"Top-grade third-rank magic treasure! And solar essence! No wonder it counters my demonic cultivation!"

"What is your name, sir?"

A ripple spread through the air, and a stout, elaborately dressed cultivator appeared, belly protruding, smiling warmly at Jiang Yuan:

"I am Hua Tianxiong—no need to change my name or alter my identity."

Inside the Small Spirit Realm, Hua Tianxiong watched the scene, his face twisted in bitterness—he knew he'd once again be forced to take the blame.

Jiang Yuan casually waved his hand, recalling the three demon heads, his expression pained.

These three demon heads were painstakingly refined by him—requiring arduous methods and the slaughter of countless beings to absorb their resentment.

When all three were unleashed, even a Golden Core peak cultivator could be slain without effort.

But Jiang Yuan hadn't expected the opponent to possess a top-tier magic treasure forged with solar essence, which strongly suppressed his ghostly creations.

It had effortlessly shattered his demon head technique.

"Heh! You coward hiding behind shadows—turns out you've got some skill."

"Almost destroyed my demon heads."

"Foundation Establishment mid-stage? That's surely not your true cultivation level."

"Your killing of Brother Chou and Brother Meng was no injustice."

Today, Jiang Yuan had suffered setbacks with two demonic treasures, leaving him deeply irritated.

Yet as the Demon Sect's Holy Son, his methods were far from exhausted.

Upon realizing the opponent possessed a magic treasure that countered demonic arts, he showed no surprise.

Qin Ming internally sighed—this Blood Refining Demon Sect Holy Son had indeed forced Fire Xu Zi to self-explode his Golden Core; his strength was truly extraordinary.

"Why don't you go down and ask your two fellow disciples where they are?" Qin Ming said casually.

Instantly, he produced the Nine You White Bone Sword and without a word, slashed out dozens of cold-flame sword qi toward Jiang Yuan.

"Excellent! No one has dared speak to this Holy Son like this in a long time."

"You're the first."

Jiang Yuan, enraged, laughed bitterly and spat out a blood-colored demonic pearl, which hovered before him.

The demonic pearl radiated brilliant light, flowing into a blood-red silk brocade in his hand; the brocade rapidly expanded, instantly covering a hundred-li radius.

"Demon Lord's Heavenly Canopy!"

Crimson light rained down like a vast crimson curtain, sealing off all space below.

The sword qi from the Nine You White Bone Sword never reached Jiang Yuan—it was swallowed and dissolved by the crimson light.

Then—

Jiang Yuan's demonic energy surged violently, his aura climbing higher as he activated the demonic pearl.

A pillar of crimson light shot toward Qin Ming with lightning speed, sweeping everything in its path, dissolving all matter, its power unmatched.

Qin Ming immediately retracted the Nine You White Bone Sword and unleashed his blood and true spiritual Gang to its full extent! Roar! The true Gang took form!

A blood-colored eight-armed demonic ape, clad in armor, emerged from Qin Ming's body, its aura crushing all. Then its third vertical pupil snapped open!

A crimson mystical light shot from the double pupil, striking directly at Jiang Yuan's crimson light technique.

Instantly, the crimson light froze in midair, then vanished under the mystic light.

After destroying the crimson light, the blood-colored demonic ape did not pause.

The towering hundred-zhang blood-colored eight-armed demonic ape glared at Jiang Yuan, clenched its five fingers into a fist, and crossed hundreds of zhang to strike directly.

Boom! With this punch, heaven and earth trembled!

"How is this possible? My Blood Refining Demon Light was shattered?"

For the first time, Jiang Yuan was shaken.

For earlier, he had used this demonic pearl's Blood Refining Demon Light, combined with Blue Ice Holy Maiden's Ice Soul Demon Light,

to severely injure the Nascent Soul True Person of Great Zhou, Han Ya.

He knew better than anyone the power of his ultimate technique—it was far beyond ordinary Golden Core strength.

Now, it had been obliterated by a single glance—he could no longer underestimate his opponent.

"Such a powerful body-refining art!"

He continued to activate the demonic bead, and in an instant, demonic light surged wildly, engulfing his entire body.

The next moment.

Jiang Yuan transformed into a pale-white Celestial Corpse, his body also reaching a hundred zhang in height, exuding an aura capable of destroying heaven and earth with every gesture.

Across the massive torso of the Celestial Corpse, blood-red demonic runes spread everywhere; it leapt skyward, then slammed down, hurling a claw at the demonic monkey opposite—CRACK! In an instant, black lightning flashed across the sky.

A terrifying shockwave radiated outward, reducing everything within sight to dust.

Amid the violent collision, both colossal figures recoiled backward.

When Qin Ming steadied himself and looked closely, he realized the reason the soft-voiced man was so powerful lay entirely in that pitch-black demonic bead.

Suddenly,

His mind recalled a certain demonic art from the *True Scripture of the Primordial Demon Seed*.

"So it's primordial demonic energy?"

"Demon Seed in the Dao Heart—*Celestial Corpse of Yin Ming Scripture*."

At the same time, Qin Ming was deeply puzzled: how could the Holy Son of the Blood Refining Demon Sect possibly cultivate such a pig-farming-style demonic art?

It was nearly identical to that of his dead enemy, Brother Shi.

Only, his *Celestial Corpse of Yin Ming Scripture* was of a higher rank.

Opposite him, Jiang Yuan, upon hearing the other identify both his cultivation art and the demonic energy emanating from the bead,

finally lost his composure, his pale face showing signs of panic.

"How do you know what art I cultivate?"

"Who are you?"

Qin Ming sneered. "I not only know your art—you've already seeded the demon in your Dao Heart, and there's no turning back, right?"

"I'm merely curious: why would a Demon Sect Holy Son cultivate such a technique that merely serves as a gift to others?"

"Have you ever considered that while you can harvest others' cultivation to rapidly increase your own, a cultivator stronger than you can use this same demonic art to harvest you?"

As his words fell,

Jiang Yuan's eyes instantly turned blood-red, his face twisted in fury—Qin Ming had exposed Jiang Yuan's greatest secret.

The primordial demonic bead and the *Celestial Corpse of Yin Ming Scripture* were precisely why Jiang Yuan had risen swiftly in the Blood Realm and become the Demon Sect's Holy Son.

Even his own master in the Blood Refining Demon Sect did not know this secret.

"You seek death!!"

The Celestial Corpse that was Jiang Yuan swallowed the primordial demonic bead, and his aura surged again!

He even began to subtly draw upon the celestial primordial energy.

Seeing this, Qin Ming knew he had guessed correctly, and sighed softly, then withdrew his blood force.

The crimson eight-armed demonic monkey shadow behind him also vanished.

In his hand, a simple, ancient bronze mirror appeared.

Qin Ming activated the Yin-Yang Mystic Mirror technique; a faint emerald-green light flickered across his eyes as he swept it over the monstrous Jiang Yuan.

He spoke calmly: "I didn't expect you still have five hundred years of lifespan left."

"You must have devoured countless cultivators' blood."

Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan, the moment he saw the bronze mirror pulled out,

suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of impending doom—

and not just any doom, but certain death. His face turned pale with terror: How could this be? Just as Qin Ming's Jade Pendant Golden Light Mirror was about to ignite—

a black jade pendant hanging at Jiang Yuan's waist suddenly flashed a pitch-black radiance.

A thunderclap echoed through the air; rolling black clouds revealed a colossal human face floating above.

The figure had long white eyebrows and a blood-red eye on his forehead—it was the Patriarch of the Blood Refining Demon Sect.

"Who are you, daring to harm my sect's Holy Son?"

Qin Ming remained silent. The face in the sky roared again like thunder: "Brat! Release him, and I'll spare your life. Otherwise, even if you ascend to the heavens or descend to the nine hells, I will take your life."

Qin Ming probed briefly, realizing the face before him was merely a spatial projection.

It possessed zero combat power.

Presumably, the Blood Refining Demon Sect had installed this as a final protective warning for their Holy Sons.

A sliver of Nascent Soul Patriarch's spiritual sense, embedded in the jade, would automatically activate when the Holy Son faced mortal peril.

After all, even the Blood Refining Demon Sect had invested heavily in cultivating such a Holy Son.

Qin Ming's pupils contracted. "Old bastard, you're trying to scare me?"

The next moment,

he channeled his magic power and directly activated the Jade Pendant Golden Light Mirror—the mirror's surface erupted in a burst of golden light.

The Golden Light Divine Flame ignored all of Jiang Yuan's defenses and struck him directly.

Jiang Yuan's face twisted in utter terror—he realized, within mere breaths, his life force was withering like autumn leaves in the wind.

"This—this—"

As strands of white hair drifted down, his teeth fell out, and his face rapidly withered.

His lifespan was instantly exhausted; his corpse plummeted from the sky.

The face in the sky saw only the Golden Light Divine Flame strike—and Jiang Yuan was dead in an instant.

It flew into a rage, yet could only watch helplessly.

Qin Ming raised his hand, casually scooping up Jiang Yuan's corpse and tossing it into the Little Spirit Realm, to study later.

The face in the sky was stunned—how could he not know the primordial demonic bead? The bead and the art had been deliberately left for his beloved disciple Jiang Yuan. This primordial demonic bead was one of the Blood Refining Demon Sect's few treasured artifacts.

The Patriarch of the Blood Refining Demon Sect had spared no resource to cultivate Jiang Yuan precisely to harvest his cultivation and reach a higher demonic realm.

But before the face in the sky could speak, with Jiang Yuan's death, the jade pendant lost its host's support—and the face dissolved into thin air. Qin Ming had no fear of the old demon, for from Yue Lingyan, he had learned that cultivators above the Nascent Soul realm could not enter the mortal realm via the Descent Realm Talisman.

This was precisely why he was so unafraid.

"Since I've already killed him, killing one more Holy Son won't make a difference."

"Sigh, I've just wasted fifty years of my own lifespan for nothing."

Qin Ming's current magic power was immense, comparable to a Golden Core at its peak; thus, using his lifespan-draining technique on Jiang Yuan, his equal in realm, carried a one-to-ten exchange ratio.

The demonic artifact, the Demon Heaven Canopy, lost its support from Jiang Yuan's magic power and fell from the sky as a crimson silk scarf.

"This item is also quite extraordinary—a fine treasure indeed."

After clearing the battlefield, Qin Ming judged the timing right and transformed into a streak of green light, vanishing into the horizon.

The surroundings fell silent; the land, scarred by the great battle, lay in ruins.

Gradually, low-level cultivators hiding near the Five Elements Mountains, having survived the ordeal, began timidly emerging.

Each of them trembled with fear.

"Was that a Nascent Soul True Person fighting just now? It was truly terrifying..."

(End of Chapter)