Chapter 212: Is the Bull Demon Really That Bull?

Jiang Qiulan fell to midair and finally steadied herself.

The white mist around her had already begun surging outward — a sign her Dao Infant was collapsing.

Her eyes were calm, yet held a trace of daze.

She forced herself upright; within her line of sight, only the figure cloaked in black remained in the air.

The cold light between her palms flared — she was about to charge once more.

Just then, a hand seized her by the back of the collar.

"Stay out of the way."

A familiar, unhurried voice reached her ear. Before Jiang Qiulan could even turn her head, she was tossed lightly aside.

Through her blurred vision, beyond Lady Qinghua's figure, another slender silhouette appeared — also in a black robe, the whole person wreathed in thick crimson clouds.

The sky changed color.

The dark-red demonic clouds were swallowed in an instant by the surging scarlet that swept over them.

The youth stood atop a malevolent cloud of blood and baleful Qi, a gold-inlaid black sheath at his waist, his bloodstained black robe billowing — like a fiend-god incarnate.

In an instant, the entire city seemed to freeze.

Countless martial artists of the jianghu watched helplessly as their last hope was flung aside with a casual hand, utterly powerless to resist.

The hand Jiang Yuanhua had on his sword hilt suddenly went slack.

He stared blankly at the distant figure.

The man should be intercepting the Howling Moon Demon King right now — he himself had only just arrived a moment ago…

Noticing the blood staining Shen Yi's clothes, his pupils contracted, and an incredulous thought suddenly arose.

At the gate of the Li family residence, everyone — including Shenxu Laozu — stood numbly still. One ferocious demon was already chilling enough, and now another had appeared.

Just then, from the gate came their own young master's idiot-like roar: "It's Lord Shen! This demon is Lord Shen!"

Li Mujin was suddenly a little dazed, unable to tell for a moment whether the words were excitement or terror.

"…"

Lady Qinghua looked toward the handsome youth.

For a moment, she could not tell friend from foe.

If foe — how then to explain the demonic power filling the sky.

If friend… the crimson glow rising from his skin was unmistakably the mark of the Hunyuan Realm, and his indifferent gaze — why did it feel so unsettling, as though she had been seen through completely?

Of course, there was another question Lady Qinghua could not answer.

Why had her son chosen such a place as the new king's territory — a Wu Xian, two Hunyuan cultivators — this was nothing more than a remote little province.

Feeling that overwhelming aura, for the first time a flicker of hesitation rose in Lady Qinghua's heart.

At that very moment, under her gaze.

A set of bronze armor suddenly appeared around Shen Yi, hovering about him — truly a majestic sight,

A few blood vessels suddenly appeared in Lady Qinghua's eyes.

If the crimson clouds were nothing special — many demon kings prepared similar treasures — this armor, however, was something she had personally gone to another demon king to trade for.

"…"

Shen Yi glanced at the broken umbrella and shattered handle beside her.

He had never yet had the chance to show off his own foundation to others.

Thinking of this, he casually summoned a bronze mirror. The mirror swelled with the wind, and soon hung in the sky like a great sun.

"Heh…"

Lady Qinghua closed her eyes; her once-radiant beauty seemed to dim, and a tear traced down the corner of her eye.

This was her dressing mirror, one that had accompanied her through countless days and nights — and now it shone upon her once more, casting a faint Du Weiguang.

If this fiend is not slain, the hatred in my heart shall never be appeased!

"I want—"

Shen Yi seized her elaborate hair bun and drove a vicious knee into her cheek!

Closing your eyes in a fight — you really think this is some opera stage?

Lady's jaw was suddenly shattered by the blow. Beyond the full augmentation of the Heaven-Devouring Dao Infant, there was also the Hunyuan-tempered body forged from the fusion of the Nine Transformations of Immortal-Demon — nine immortal demons roaring wildly!

Because of the need for close combat, the bronze mirror only used its Du Weiguang to slow Lady Qinghua's movements, and did not unleash blazing pillars of light.

Vein-Severing Dragon-Capture!

Shen Yi's fists carried the force to crumble mountains; his legs lashed like a vicious dragon's tail.

In an instant, they struck the major meridians all over Lady Qinghua's body.

Before the sharp pain had even faded, the numbness spreading through her limbs — combined with the restraint of the bronze mirror treasure — meant that even though she clearly knew how to block, her movements were always a step too slow.

"Vein-Severing Dragon-Capture?"

Jiang Yuanhua gripped his treasured sword, wanting to take the chance to sneak-attack the demon. The moment he moved, he was warned off by a casual glance from the youth.

He stared in astonishment, an inexplicable sense of familiarity rising within him.

As the creator of this martial art, he truly had never imagined it could work on a demon king… how could such a powerful demonic body be sealed at its acupoints by ordinary strikes?

This could only prove that the seemingly casual fists Shen Yi threw contained a power beyond his comprehension.

And at this moment, the youth was savagely pouring all of that force into Lady Qinghua's body.

"Wait—!"

Lady Qinghua gritted her teeth in fury; in the next instant, her neat row of white teeth was blasted apart by a punch.

The knee strikes to her abdomen came in relentless succession, as though they would shake her very organs to pieces.

The two of them fought from the east of the city all the way to Chengxi.

Lady Qinghua was battered and smashed along the way like a torn burlap sack.

Beneath that dark red and black shirt of his, Shen Yi's body seemed to hold an inexhaustible force — no matter how much he used, it never ran dry.

The Dao Infant had only just begun to show signs of weakness when he burned off a year of the demon's lifespan to digest a single drop of demon blood.

"Gulp."

The Li family ancestor swallowed hard. If the fight moments ago between the Commandant and his master and disciple pair against the demon had left him completely unable to join in, then now, looking at the situation in the sky, he was genuinely afraid that if he got any closer, the casual overflow of the young man's fist wind would shatter him to pieces.

This demon really could take a beating…

"Wait!!"

Lady Qinghua finally let out a roar. The black cloak fluttered down, her garments shredded, and a massive demon body was suddenly revealed.

It was a short-horned yellow ox, with bright red markings across its body and red mist swirling around its four hooves.

Roughly thirty zhang long, clearly an ox — yet its mouth was full of tusks.

The terrifying force in this young man's body carried both the vast cultivation of a Hunyuan Sect master and a domineering fleshly body no weaker than a demon's, forcing her to take an enormous risk and reveal a demon form with extremely obvious traits just to fight back.

"…"

Shen Yi casually caught the cloak and tucked it into his storage treasure. The ox's hooves struck heavily as it trampled toward him; he blocked with his forearm, but before that overwhelming force, his arm guard was sent flying, and the body fortified by the Nine Immortal-Demon Transformations was finally breached.

The ox's hooves crushed the flesh on his arm, exposing the crimson Dao Infant within.

Shen Yi couldn't even be bothered to lift an eyebrow. The Kong Que's red light swept over the wound in an instant, and before the ox demon could even withdraw its hoof, the injury had already healed as if it had never been there.

He sensed a familiar scent in the markings on its body.

It was the taste of demon blood.

Temper the demon's bone, forge the demon's body… so that was what it meant.

Shen Yi wrapped his arms around the slender part of the ox's leg, his whole body suddenly exerting force, and hurled the enormous ox demon sideways in a full circle before tossing it skyward.

Such a terrifying scene made everyone present tremble, some even feeling their scalp go numb.

Immediately after, they saw the young man's figure turn into a streak of light and shoot straight after it.

Hidden Abyss as the blade — it punched through the ox demon's flesh with a wet rip. Shen Yi entered its body, then tore his way out through its spine, dragging a mess of entrails behind him.

All that remained over Outside Qingzhou was the ox demon's wretched wailing.

"Aaah!!"

(End of this chapter)