Chapter 25: Day 750 of the Dayuan Calendar — Slaying the Demon Beneath the Moon

"My lord may not be an ordinary martial artist, but I am no ordinary cultivator either."

Lady Liu's voice was ethereal and indistinct.

As her words fell, pillars of blood-red light blazed to life around Chen Mo, trapping him within like a cage.

He raised a hand to touch the pillar, and his fingers were charred black in an instant!

Flesh rotted away, bone visible deep within!

"Since my lord insists on interfering, then leave your life behind."

The wives and concubines of the Liu family stepped forward, taking the Seven Stars formation, pinning Chen Mo between "Tian Shu" and "Tian Quan."

Blood-light swelled, the pillars of light tightening inward without cease.

They meant to grind Chen Mo to death on the spot!

"This man's true essence is abundant — not like a sixth-rank. His bladework is bizarrely strong. We must not clash with him head-on."

"But a martial artist is still a martial artist — his methods are one-dimensional. He absolutely cannot break my Blood Prison."

"So long as we wear him down before the midnight hour, let the demonic thing complete its metamorphosis, and offer it to the great array, the great matter can be accomplished!"

Lady Liu murmured to herself.

Her voice became a young girl's one moment, then a mature woman's the next.

The little mouse perched on her shoulder squeaked excitedly, unable to hold back its urge to feast.

Little did it know, it too was one of the sacrifices.

Bang!

At that moment, a figure plummeted from the rooftop, slamming hard into the ground.

Li Yuan braced herself on her glaive and climbed up from the ground, bitterness seething in her heart:

That lecher had struck far too viciously — she'd been left limping so badly she could barely walk…

"…"

Lady Liu's brows sank slightly.

"Another nuisance has come — kill her first!"

The wives and concubines of the Liu family lunged forward, pouncing toward Li Yuan!

Li Yuan swept a glance, and the situation was clear at once; a flicker of excitement flashed through her eyes.

Perfect timing!

I've been sitting on a bellyful of fury with nowhere to vent it!

She swung her glaive in her hand, sweeping like splashing water, enveloping all of them at once.

Wild Hack Blade — a formation-breaking method of the army, most adept at facing many with few!

Seven against one, and not a whit behind!

Lady Liu's brows furrowed deeper. Until now her attention had all been on Chen Mo; she hadn't expected this woman to be so troublesome as well!

But it was no great matter.

There was still time. So long as she kept Li Yuan occupied, she could slowly refine Chen Mo away…

Whoosh!

A sharp whistle rang out.

A signal arrow streaked across the night sky and burst apart with a bang!

In the firelight's glow, a dozen or so figures were sprinting toward this place at full speed. The fat man at their head bellowed:

"Protect the Captains — follow me and kill the enemy!"

They had followed Chen Mo's instructions and gathered at the county government office at the Hai hour.

But after a long, anxious wait, Constable Xing had brought word that the two Captains had decided to stay the night at the Liu residence…

Qin Shou knew Chen Mo was not a man to lose his head over beauty; sensing something was wrong, he led the men toward the Liu residence.

On the way they saw blade-intent piercing the heavens, and then immediately came upon the scene before their eyes.

Constable Xing followed behind, his face slightly pale.

He realized he had misunderstood Chen Mo.

"Lady Liu is actually the murderer!"

"My lord stayed at the Liu household not out of lust for beauty… but to slay the demon!"

……

"A few scattered rabble, and you dare come join the fun!"

Lady Liu spread her arms wide, her robes snapping in the wind, as endless black mist poured from her sleeves and drowned the crowd.

They instantly lost all sense of direction — though they stood inches apart, they could not see one another, stumbling in circles within the black fog.

"It's nearly the midnight hour — we can't drag this out any longer. Kill this woman first!"

Lady Liu opened her mouth to speak, yet the voice issued simultaneously from the mouths of all seven wives and concubines.

Demons and ghosts have their own rules — three days, one death, the slain must wear a wedding robe… Since Chen Mo had been chosen, even as a ghost cultivator she could not change it.

Dispose of this stinking woman first, then refine Chen Mo with full strength!

"After years of scheming, only the final step remains — how could I let it all come to nothing?"

"Fight a swift battle to force a swift end, lest we draw the Grandmasters of Ducheng!"

Lady Liu opened a mouth like an eagle's escape-hole, the corners of her lips splitting back to her ears, and sucked in sharply. Black qi poured into her belly, and her form swelled several times over.

Immediately after, she swallowed all seven concubines whole!

After devouring the seven, her aura climbed steadily, the black mist enveloping her thicker than the night itself!

Boom!

Two red lanterns lit up in the black fog, and a monster over ten meters tall strode out with great steps!

Its eyes were blood-red like lanterns, seven pairs of arms grew from its sides, flesh and blood churned across its body, and from time to time several human faces surfaced — its appearance was utterly hideous and terrifying!

Facing such a monster, even with Li Yuan's temperament, she could not help but feel her hair stand on end!

"Die!"

Eight voices blended together, and enormous palms came slamming down one after another, blotting out the sky!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The street caved in, houses collapsed, as if the earth had split and the heavens fallen!

Li Yuan's figure flashed and shifted; while dodging, she kept swinging her saber to counterattack.

But the moment she chopped off the monster's toes, black fog surged out and restored them in an instant! She couldn't inflict any real damage at all!

"At this rate, I'll be worn down to death sooner or later!"

"I can only gamble everything on one strike!"

Li Yuan's gaze turned resolute.

Her figure halted, the long saber stabbed into the ground.

Her hands gripped the hilt, her feet pressed against the blade, and the nearly two-meter-long saber bent like a crescent moon!

The instant the seven pairs of palms came slamming down, the blade snapped straight, her whole body shot up, shoulders hunched and shoulder blades drawn in, and she narrowly threaded through the gaps between the fingers, arriving before the enormous head!

Beneath the vast night sky, her back against the jade disk, she was like a fierce tiger beneath the moon!

Li Yuan gripped the saber with both hands, flooding it with true essence, and a domineering, unmatched saber intent slashed toward the monster's neck!

Chaotic Hack Saber · Ten Thousand Troops Take the Head!

This was the only chance!

Yet the seven faces ceaselessly churning on the monster's body all revealed eerie smiles at once, and a glint of cunning flashed through its blood-red eyes.

Its chest split open, and another pair of great hands actually reached out!

"Crap!"

Li Yuan's pupils contracted!

At this moment she was suspended in midair with nothing to push off from, and was grabbed dead-on!

"Your combat awareness is good, your courage isn't bad either, but unfortunately, your strength is still a little lacking."

"I'll kill you first, then deal with him…"

The monster's hands pinched the woman, its mouth like a vast abyss, and it made to swallow her whole in one bite!

Betting everything on a single throw doesn't succeed every time.

Fail, and not even your bones will remain!

Smelling that utterly foul stench, watching the darkness swell endlessly before her eyes, Li Yuan's face went pale, and despair welled up within her—

Am I going to die?

She had skirted the line between life and death countless times, but always managed to survive in the end.

But this time, it seemed she really was going to die.

How truly unwilling.

She still hadn't fulfilled her father's dying wish, hadn't reached the absolute peak of the saber dao, hadn't had a single romance, hadn't beaten that bastard Chen Mo…

Is it over…?

Suddenly, the monster's movements halted.

As if sensing something, it slowly turned around.

Li Yuan followed its gaze, and instantly froze in a daze.

She saw Chen Mo, trapped within the blood prison, gripping the red pillar of light with both hands, wisps of green smoke rising, accompanied by the smell of burning flesh.

"Don't underestimate people — with just this thing… you think you can trap me?!"

His palms had been corroded by burning down to nothing but bone, yet he still strained to pry the pillar of light apart.

Red light flared wildly in the monster's eyes, the blood prison swiftly tightened, nearly engulfing him completely!

Yet Chen Mo kept walking forward, slow and steady.

Under the erosion of the blood light, flesh kept peeling away, revealing ghastly white bone, so much so that the beating heart within his chest cavity could be seen!

"Is this guy throwing his life away?"

The monster stared at him in bewilderment.

Chen Mo took his final step, and finally walked out of the blood prison.

A face with only half its skin remaining lifted into an incomparably exhilarated grin.

"That damn setting sun — it really hurts, damn it!"

The saber slid back into its sheath, his aura withdrawn.

An inexplicable dread rose in the monster's heart, as if being watched by some vaster, more profound existence.

In the blink of an eye, a dazzlingly brilliant saber light descended like an inverted galaxy!

Vast life essence poured into it, and a colossal azure dragon faintly took shape, Lei Ting coiling around its body, rapidly swelling within its blood-red pupils!

"Roar!"

The dormant dragon awakens; the spring thunder first rumbles!

The instant it touched the monster, the azure essence utterly annihilated the black fog!

Death was replaced by vitality, and amid the monster's horrified expression, its enormous body crumbled to dust.

The world seemed to fall silent.

Cloudless for ten thousand miles, the moon pale and the wind clear, when suddenly a fine drizzling rain began to fall.

Li Yuan landed on the ground, gazing through the fine curtain of rain at the man whose body was covered in scale-like wounds...

She found herself somewhat lost in a daze.