Chapter 20: Beheading the Great Yellow Dog Demon

The Cloud-Dispersing Long Fist, perfected to the utmost realm!

With the support of his cultivation in the five orifices of the initial realm, Shen Yi's palm was covered by the breath of heaven and earth; every punch seemed poised to utterly shatter the weasel's flesh and internal organs.

"Come on! Give it your all!"

The weasel bared its teeth; as its form gradually shrank, the crimson malevolent qi surged with the wind, covering a range of fully ten zhang or more.

Nothing whatsoever could escape the fate of being corroded.

This was also why it had not unleashed this evil technique just now.

Under the red mist, all living beings perished.

Only martial artists who had transcended could resist it with the breath of heaven and earth for a short time.

In such a situation, the contest was nothing more than whose accumulation was greater.

When Shen Yi drew his blade, the weasel had already discerned the opponent's realm; though somewhat surprised, it did not believe the opponent's foundation would be more substantial than the hundred years of flesh and blood it had accumulated.

Until Shen Yi struck with his fist for the tenth time, and the momentum still showed no sign of weakening.

His breathing was steady; the white mist clinging to his body seemed thin, as if it would be completely corroded by the crimson malevolent qi in the next second, yet it continued to surge forth endlessly.

The weasel's pupils contracted slightly, and a hint of hesitation finally appeared in its expression.

It seemed it had guessed wrong about something.

"You..."

The fist pierced through the golden fur, like stabbing through an empty balloon.

Beneath those layers of stacked skin, the dog demon's flesh and blood had already been exhausted, leaving only an empty skin bag.

"Spare me!" The weasel finally became terrified.

Shen Yi slowly withdrew his palm from that pile of shattered viscera, gripped the sword hilt again, pulled Shen Daoren out from the bone crevice, and then delivered a crisp, decisive downward chop!

【Slain early stage of the initial realm dog demon, total lifespan 575, remaining 180 years, absorption complete】

The sky-filling red mist suddenly lost its core, becoming vague and unstable.

The villagers squatted far away; for the first time, a trace of emotion appeared in their cloudy eyes—that was a barely perceptible anxiety.

Suddenly, they saw the youth emerge from the mist, his long, powerful five fingers sheathing the long blade.

Beneath his disheveled hair, his expression showed a bit more fatigue; his breathing was no longer as calm as when he arrived, slightly hurried, yet his figure remained upright.

Behind him, the tall body, now reduced to skin wrapping a skeleton, collapsed like a flag with a thunderous crash!

On the small road from Bai Yunxian to Liuli Temple Village.

Chen Ji gripped the old donkey's neck, feeling somewhat restless and irritable.

Although Liu Dianli could not be counted as a formal official, with a single word from him, not a single constable in the entire penal office dared to disobey.

Chen Ji had hurried home to settle his sister, yet still decided to come alone to take a look.

Watching the old donkey stroll leisurely, he gritted his teeth and slapped it; immediately after, he flipped off and used a not very proficient lightness skill to rush forward.

Not long after, a wisp of bloody scent drilled into his nostrils.

Chen Ji's face stiffened slightly; he instinctively gripped his sword scabbard, as if guessing something, and his legs hastening the journey trembled faintly.

Panic enveloped his heart; a scene of corpses strewn everywhere vaguely appeared in his mind.

He gritted his teeth and suddenly charged toward the village.

"..."

Moments later, a few wisps of cooking smoke appeared in his line of sight.

Two villagers walked past Tian Geng; noticing someone nearby, they looked at Chen Ji; moments later, they awkwardly squeezed out an ugly smile.

Chen Ji habitually wanted to return the smile, but his lips were stiff; he simply could not smile.

He stared blankly at the object the two villagers were carrying; it was a furry, thick thigh, its hair clotted with blood, obviously dead for some time.

"The constable said we could eat whatever we wanted; whatever we couldn't finish, he'd pack onto the cart."

The villager swallowed.

Hearing this, Chen Ji fell completely silent.

The constable? Who else could it be! The only one in all of Bai Yunxian who dared to set foot here now, besides Shen Yi, who else could it be?

But what exactly had happened?

Chen Ji felt he was about to lose his wits; he nodded as a greeting and passed the two to continue forward.

Soon, that familiar back appeared before his eyes.

There was no fierce battle as he had imagined.

Shen Yi sat quietly on Tian Geng; around him, seven or eight half-grown children gathered, cautiously touching his sword.

Dozens of villagers busily fished demon corpses out of the muddy fields, just like digging lotus roots; occasionally lifting out an arm, smiles would leap onto their faces.

Bloodiness and serenity, two utterly different scenes, intertwined, weaving into the extremely bizarre sight before them.

Chen Ji's whole body stiffened; he did not know how he had walked to the other's side.

He spoke in a daze: "Where are the demons?"

Shen Yi raised his eyes with slight surprise, as if he had not expected the other to come: "All driven away."

Hearing these words, Chen Ji strangely felt they were somewhat familiar.

It seemed that when he had previously asked the other about the ape demon, my lord Shen had given this very reply.

He extended a finger, trembling as he pointed at the mud ground nearby soaked in dark red; smelling the foul stench rushing toward him, he barely suppressed the urge to vomit: "You call this... driving away?"

This is the outskirts of Chengxi; step out and you enter the weasel's sphere of influence.

The other stood right here and slaughtered demons everywhere; that leaves only two possibilities: either the weasel ran away from home, or it too died right here.

Even if the latter possibility was extremely slim, compared to the absurdity of the former, Chen Ji could only convince himself again and again that this was real.

Two or three days ago, the other party was still a thoroughly wicked scoundrel.

With a single strike, he had swept clean Yellow-Skin and the dog whelps under his command; when it came to the word "endurance," he truly had to call the other party "ancestor."

"Go tidy up the corpses. It's time to head back."

A laborer had shown up just in time — no sense wasting it.

Shen Yi stretched out his hand, and the half-grown children obediently wiped the handprints on the scabbard clean against their clothes, then placed it back in his palm, flashing toothless grins: "Take care on your way, Officer."

He adjusted his saber at his hip, slowly rose to his feet, and closed the panel before his eyes.

【Remaining Demon Lifespan: 672 years】

Twelve sturdy dog demons, plus the hundred-plus years Yellow-Skin had contributed — at this moment, Shen Yi's reserves had swelled to a terrifyingly abundant level.

Beyond that, there was one unexpected gain.

When his punch had shattered Yellow-Skin's five viscera and six bowels, Shen Yi had suddenly noticed an unknown organ the size of a chicken egg inside the other's body.

That fleshy ball was far tougher than the other organs; under the violent force, it could actually keep operating as if it were a living thing.

Most importantly, it held within it an aura Shen Yi had been craving ever since he advanced into the initial realm.

He simply pulled it out on the way and wrapped it up in a piece of hemp cloth.

This was Shen Yi's first time crossing hands with a true demon.

Those awakened dog demons, though they could live a hundred or two hundred years, were no different from ordinary folk in essence apart from their sturdy bodies.

Yellow-Skin, however, was a different story entirely. That sky-blanketing, blood-red baleful aura left the soldiers and constables with almost no way to cope — touching it meant certain death. Even pulling back and shooting arrows from a distance, it was hard to pierce Yellow-Skin's layer of fat and flesh.

To deal truly effective damage, one would at least need a heavy crossbow to have a chance.

But don't forget — though the dog demons looked fat, they were no slouch in movement; ten zhang was only two or three steps' worth of effort.

And such a creature, nearly unsolvable for ordinary folk.

Turned out to be only at the early stage of the initial realm in cultivation.

(End of chapter)