Chapter 498: Fierce Battle Against the Long Gong Generals

A cultivator like Liu Shiqian, who could open two great cities and draw out the Qingluan Immortal Soldier, was a fearsome existence worth counting not only in Yu Nanhong but across the entire Hongze.

Ordinary demons and monsters would not dare to brush against his edge.

Even those qualified to cross swords with him could be counted on one hand, each bearing an infamous reputation.

But today, five such powerful demons had appeared all at once!

Apart from the Xian Sect, any top-tier force, faced with such a lineup, could only watch helplessly as it was annihilated.

Yet now, they had gathered within the Immortal's Cave.

Making even this secret realm feel somewhat cramped.

Wu Jun's wild laughter rang out unceasingly around them; his massive forepaw suddenly exerted force, slapping the long-trunked water elephant, its body covered in wet scales, and sending it flying!

Boom!

This sudden strike instantly shattered the temporary, eerie calm within the Immortal's Cave.

What had been three Long Gong generals ganging up on one had now reversed.

Even Liu Shiqian temporarily held back the shock and surprise in his heart; on his stern face, a few hints of killing intent slowly surfaced.

One could tell this rigid elder's mood was not as calm as it appeared on the surface—clearly he had been bottling up a bellyful of fury from the earlier exchange.

He stared at the enormous figure crashing toward him, and the crescent moon blade in his hand suddenly flipped.

The blade edge swept across the long sky, stirring up a streak of azure light.

That pure, extreme shade of cyan, compared to the sword strike Su Hongxiu had once unleashed, lacked such a grand spectacle and seemed rather plain, but the sharpness contained within seemed capable of cleaving through anything in the world.

"Hiss hiss!"

The three-headed snake demon's slit pupils flickered uncertainly.

Although it was one person fewer than the opponent—three against four—Liu Shiqian's condition was clearly withered, merely forcing himself to hold on; after a few exchanges, it was effectively three against three.

Winning would not be easy, but preserving itself should not be a problem.

Thinking of this, it finally struck; its necks suddenly shot out, like three ferocious long dragons, lunging at Liu Shiqian from different directions.

Apart from bloodline divine abilities, an important standard for a demon to be considered comparable to Bai Yujing was whether its demon body could withstand head-on the Dao Soldiers drawn from the great cities.

These three Long Gong generals had been able to suppress Liu Shiqian heavily with virtually no damage earlier.

That alone was enough to prove just how tyrannical their demon bodies were.

At this moment, the snake demon's body stood in place; the three necks extending from its shoulders reached Liu Shiqian's sides in an instant, sealing off all his escape routes, while the last one coiled around the long-trunked water elephant's body, trying to drag it back.

Just as that bloody maw was about to swallow Old Liu whole—

Elder Chiyang held an iron token in his hand—his Qingluan Immortal Soldier; as for the milky-white light released from the second Chimingcheng, it had transformed into a spirit soldier: a heart-protecting bronze mirror.

He was about to strike.

But a violent, piercing hiss suddenly rang in his ears, like a pained shriek.

Two enormous snake heads could not get within three zhang of Liu Shiqian before they were seized by a pair of sharp claws and slammed violently into the ground!

The last long snake also unwillingly released the long-trunked water elephant.

Only because a giant maw bristling with fangs lunged from behind—ugly and reeking of blood—sweeping past everyone's vision at a speed barely visible to the naked eye, and abruptly swallowed that last snake head whole.

"Roar!!"

The three-headed snake demon was knocked to the ground, pinned firmly by the fleshy-winged silkworm's two wings.

One claw gripping a snake head, it greedily chewed on the snake demon's skull.

Beside this figure tall as Rushan, the snake demon's originally rather massive body suddenly seemed somewhat delicate; it struggled desperately, but for the moment could not break free at all.

Its tail, seemingly cast from refined iron, kept smashing down on the fleshy-winged silkworm's body.

Shattering the opponent's body, sending broken stone raining down like rain.

"Hehehe!"

Yet the fleshy-winged silkworm only let out a strange, sinister laugh, as if feeling no pain at all, single-mindedly trying to swallow the snake demon whole; its saliva made the snake demon's already slick body even more slippery.

Puchi—

The long-trunked water elephant, originally bound by golden patterns under Wu Jun's slap, after the snake demon abandoned it, could only face Liu Shiqian's blade head-on.

The instant the azure light burst forth, a deep gash appeared on its skull; a large chunk of flesh and hide, along with the entire elephant trunk, was sliced off, splattering foul-smelling demon blood.

Having landed a successful strike, Liu Shiqian showed little joy.

Instead, he instinctively cast a slightly odd gaze toward the two figures writhing and rolling on the ground in the distance.

The fleshy-winged silkworm's shrill laughter drowned out the three-headed snake demon's wails.

Looking exactly like a bully oppressing the weak, it pressed down hard on the snake demon's other two heads, its voice growing more excited as it mumbled indistinctly: "Scream! Hehehe! Go on, scream!!"

After receiving the blessing of the demons' origin, these town stones inevitably accumulated thick grievances in their hearts.

Following Shen Yi out to slay demons was probably their only chance to vent.

"Damn you, rein it in a bit."

Wu Jun cursed in disgust, considering whether to give his master a suggestion to stop bringing this thing out in the future—it was simply damaging to the master's immortal reputation.

Sensing that the long-trunked water elephant, under the stimulus of intense pain, was about to shatter the golden patterns all over its body—

It stepped into the air and pounced the water elephant to the ground as well.

Four massive demons instantly fell into a chaotic melee—each a terrifying giant, locked in the most bloody and primal form of combat!

The rumbling never ceased, demon blood splashing everywhere.

Only the remaining fat, fang-toothed fish demon stared fixedly at Chiyang before it, and suddenly let out a low growl: "You've broken the rules!"

Elder Chiyang silently glanced around.

This place was the Immortal's Cave.

He raised his head, summoned the iron token, and said indifferently: "Who knows?"

The next instant, the iron token was like a mountain.

A token the size of a palm slammed down with a boom, pinning the fish demon to the ground; the plaque weighed as heavy as Ke Shisan, crushing the fish demon's scales as if it were about to sink into its flesh.

"Old Liu! Slaughter the fish!"

Chi Yang let out an equally arrogant laugh, then froze, turning his head to see the crescent blade in Liu Shiqian's hand dissipate into green light; the man staggered forward, then collapsed headfirst to the ground.

Thud.

The opponent's habitual silence led everyone to misjudge the severity of his injuries.

"..."

Liu Shiqian's arms bulged with blue veins; expressionless, he tried to push himself up again, trying to clench the green light in his hand and condense it back into a crescent blade, only to fall back down once more.

A shade of gloom and self-reproach swept across his expression.

Shen Zongzhu's prepared tactic of using numbers to overwhelm the few had ultimately gone wrong right here.

With only Chi Yang alone, he could not match this fish demon general leading the demon army.

"Heh... ha..."

The fish demon also turned its gaze over; the despair from before vanished in an instant, and instinctively it let out a laugh of surprise.

Even the body suppressed by the iron token began to tremble slowly.

Its aura surged again; though its knees trembled uncontrollably, it still rose step by step, as if its shoulders bore Gaoshan, and it took an extremely difficult step forward.

Boom—

The great hall shook with a crack, as if it were about to collapse entirely.

"Damn it."

Elder Chi Yang suddenly grew panicked; he did not lack other offensive means.

But it was absolutely impossible to slay the fish demon before it reached Liu Shiqian.

He could only summon that long rainbow once more, pouring all its aura into the iron token, attempting to suppress the fish demon again.

Crack! Crack!

Under the suppression of the iron token, the fish demon's body suddenly appeared several zhang shorter, the result of its bones shattering.

But as a dragon palace general who had fought a hundred battles, how could it not see this was its only chance?

It likewise mobilized all its demon power, enduring the excruciating pain, and stepped forward step by step; its target was not Liu Shiqian, but the exit behind the opponent.

As for this elder of Qingyue Sect, he was merely a merit to be taken on the way out, to atone for the crime.

"Haa..."

The gap between Elder Chi Yang and the fish demon was actually not large; they could be considered on the same level, but to protect another exhausted cultivator in front of it required strength far surpassing the opponent.

Only now did he finally cry out in panic: "Shen Zongzhu, do you have any other spirit puppets? Quickly save this old thing!"

However, Shen Yi's response made his heart sink.

He heard the other party say softly, "None left."

Spirit stones like Ke Shisan were utterly useless before demons and monsters whose cultivation was comparable to opening two great cities.

"None left, good... good... Shen Zongzhu... do you know... you really almost scared this general to death..."

The fish demon laughed and cried at once, its voice trembling slightly.

At this life-or-death moment, even with its temperament, it could not help but reveal a bit of its true ugliness.

Who could have thought that a cultivator who seemed to be at the late stage of Return to Emptiness could pull out two terrifying spirit puppets capable of shaking top powers at any time?

"Since there are none left... then this general will not be polite!"

Just as the iron token was about to crush its spine, the fish demon finally reached Liu Shiqian; on that nearly twisted face, a bit more greed and ferocity appeared.

It bent its massive body, looking down at Liu Shiqian on the ground, then its broad palm struck down ruthlessly!

But it failed to touch Liu Shiqian's body; the palm wind only whipped up that black robe.

Shen Yi stood before that rigid elder, also reaching his hand out toward the fish demon; his movements were slow, with no ripple of aura, his five knuckle-defined fingers raised slightly.

Rather than saying he was acting, it was more like reminding the fish demon to stop.

"..."

Chi Yang's eyes widened in shock; he never imagined that without the protection of spirit puppets, Shen Yi would dare to stand before the fish demon again.

He had not even dared to let Shen Zongzhu take Old Liu away earlier.

It was because in front of such a terrifying demon, a cultivator at the late stage of Return to Emptiness was far too weak; so weak that any tiny, insignificant movement could lead to his death.

Liu Shiqian also fell into a daze.

Besides not quite understanding why Shen Zongzhu would risk his life to help in this way, there was another more important reason...

At the moment that palm was raised.

The fish demon truly stopped.

This matter was truly very hard for people to understand.

Two figures, one large and one small, seemed frozen in place; the fish demon stared blankly at Shen Yi.

In an instant, its body, which even the iron token had failed to crush, suddenly crashed down to its knees on the ground!

With a faint pfft sound.

Countless holes appeared on the fish demon's body; surging blood springs hissed and burst forth, and its appearance instantly became utterly miserable.

Fortunately, this miserable appearance did not last long.

In a few breaths, as if an invisible blade had struck down, the fish demon was split into more than ten pieces, dropping with plop plop sounds all over the ground.

Those round, unblinking eyes grew even larger.

Inside them lay a scene no one else could see.

Between the pitch-black night sky, stars filled the heavens.

It had previously endured the iron token, straining with all its might to push aside the stars, causing the entire sky to dim and fade, as if it had fallen into Tianyan Siji.

And when the light faded, within this deathly stillness—

A crimson Dao palace flickered in and out of view.

Below the Boundless Demon Emperor Palace.

That tall, slender figure hung in the sky, the archaically styled Guixu Immortal Armor wrapping the youth's body, like a divine general.

As his jet-black hair swayed, those eyes were overtaken by a violet hue, even more dazzling than the stars from before.

He held a dragon spear in his hand.

Drops of blood slid down the spear's tip, staining this stretch of sky with a vivid blush of red.

Until the very end.

As the curtain of night receded like the tide, that blush of red gradually solidified, becoming a glaring blood talisman in Bai Xi's palm.

This was the last image in the fish demon's sight.

"Hoo."

Shen Yi slowly curled his fingers, withdrawing his hand; the fingertips hidden within his sleeve trembled as though utterly spent.

As expected, Tianyan Sijiu couldn't be considered any especially profound spirit art—even when brought to perfection, it could still be seen through by a formidable demon like this, and couldn't serve as a killing move.

In the end, he still had to rely on the Wusheng Palm.

As his ink-black robe swayed, a layer of dark red suddenly appeared upon it; the faint smell of blood wasn't very obvious beneath the thick scent of demon blood.

Shen Yi's already fair face now showed a slightly sickly pallor.

This was the price he had to pay for using the Wusheng Palm to hold onto the One that had fled.

The last time he paid a similar price was when he fought Zhang Laifu to the death within Nanyang Sect.

And that was still with the full assistance of Elder Chiyang's Qingluan Immortal Weapon.

No wonder a separate title of Bai Yujing had to be carved out between Return-to-Void and Dao Merging—the gap between them had truly far exceeded Shen Yi's expectations.

Still, the result wasn't bad.

He had originally only meant to hold the fish demon back; he hadn't expected to be able to slay it outright.

The killing move he himself had comprehended did have something to it after all.

"Heh, heh."

Neither Chiyang nor Liu Shiqian noticed anything amiss with Shen Yi—not because their eyes were too low, nor because they didn't care about him.

It was simply that the scene before them was too utterly shocking.

It had completely thrown their minds into turmoil.

Even at the moment the fish demon was dismembered, Shen Yi's palm had never truly touched the other.

It was as though the cultivations of the two had been completely reversed.

The fish demon was the one at late-stage Return-to-Void, slain in a single palm-strike by a Bai Yujing cultivator.

"Stop playing around, move faster."

Shen Yi said casually, then walked to the wall, sat cross-legged, and began to close his eyes and regulate his breathing.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Wu Jun and the Flesh-Wing Silkworm's cultivation was similar to those two demons—in truth, with the augmentation of their full clan of brothers, the rarity of their bloodlines far surpassed that of these ordinary demons.

Add to that the complete absence of pain and fear of death.

Unless they ran into a true prodigy, they could well be called invincible within the same realm.

Upon hearing these words—

The two guardian stones seemed to have been injected with adrenaline, going completely berserk; the Flesh-Wing Silkworm paid the price of most of its body shattering, directly biting the Three-Headed Snake Demon's head to pieces, then tearing it into three snakes.

Wu Jun, even with his tortoise shell blasted apart, still pummeled with both claws, beating that Trunkless Water Elephant to death with his bare hands.

If this place weren't an Immortal's Cave—

Just the vast demon force spilling from their exchanges, enough to make one nearly suffocate—

Would likely have already thrown the living beings of a good half of Yu Nanhong into terror.

(End of chapter)