Chapter 61: Forty Years of Gang Qi — What Are You Going to Block It With? (Thanks, thanks!)

Jiaofeng let out a long breath, making no effort to hide the disgust in his eyes.

The long trek had left the dark-red scabs covering his body showing faint signs of cracking open again.

His youthful features creased slightly, a trace of pleasure flickering across his brow.

That tearing pain stimulated him so thoroughly that his whole body trembled with a quiet, blissful shiver.

He could not help opening his maw and letting out a piercing, drawn-out cry: "Aaang!"

Within that eerie cry, the entire low mountain forest fell utterly silent — every bird and beast felt its liver and gall about to split apart.

He gazed into the distance beyond the mountains, wanting only to return to the village as quickly as possible.

His lithe form wove through the trees, and the outstretched claw merely happened to pluck off the head of that black-robed Captain along the way — as casually as picking a fruit from a branch.

Compared with the demon's many thoughts.

Shen Yi tightened his grip on his ceremonial blade, his eyes as still as an ancient well, his entire focus on the ferocious claw probing toward him.

The scale-covered claw came stabbing in, carrying a surging, violent aura.

Jiaofeng was unarmed, but his body alone was enough to look down on divine weapons.

"..."

Whether it was the yellow dog, the black ape, or even Old Mother Qinglin, all of them were animals Shen Yi knew that had cultivated into spirits.

Yet the beast before him — that long cry just now, combined with the strange horn growing from its brow.

Most likely, even without cultivation, its very form was already a creature out of myth.

Shen Yi's grip on the blade tightened further. Those black-and-white eyes, by all rights, should have held a trace of tension, but for some reason, beneath the rapid pounding of his heart, an inexplicable excitement welled up in him.

His whole body's aura poured swiftly into the blade, making it merge with the night.

Greedy Wolf Slays Evil.

The straight long blade descended silently, pausing for an instant when it met the scales of the claw — then sliced through with ease.

Jiaofeng did not even register the pain; he was only puzzled as to why he had not felt that familiar, satisfying tear of flesh.

He glanced sideways.

In his line of sight, half a palm tumbled down — no spray of blood — only that pitch-black blade, at some unknown moment, wrapped in a few strands of crimson.

Shen Yi held the blade with both hands, his motion not pausing for an instant.

Just as the look of disbelief on Jiaofeng's face was only half-formed, he drove the black blade viciously into the other's body!

Puchi!

The ceremonial blade was only a dead object, yet it somehow radiated a greedy air.

Countless threads of blood were drawn out, staining the blade a deep crimson.

"Chi..."

Jiaofeng suddenly seized the young man's wrist. Beneath those sharp claws, the Eight Treasures Mystic Body Shen Yi relied on seemed to lose its effect — the Bai Xi skin blazed with mystic light, only to be easily torn open by the razor-sharp fingertips.

He exerted force in an instant, trying to wrench out that strange blade.

Shen Yi, seemingly oblivious to pain, indifferently drove the blade another three inches deeper.

Even with the Eight Treasures Mystic Body bolstering him, the strength of an Initial-Realm martial artist could never hope to match a flood dragon whose body was ferociously tough.

But as the crimson aura along the blade poured into his body through his Hukou, he felt an inexhaustible surge of strength — even the wound on his wrist was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Are you eating me?"

Jiaofeng bared his teeth, his voice hoarse; the madness in his eyes was even thicker than when his claw had been severed.

"You dare eat me?"

He grinned savagely, as if the whole thing struck him as absurd.

Then a violent ferocity surged across his face!

The dense web of wounds all over his body split open completely; he released Shen Yi, grabbed his own flesh, and tore it viciously apart!

Chila!

In an instant, a colossal creature some ten zhang long rose into the air.

Its body coiled across the sky; its head was ferocious, and that lone horn gleamed with bloody light.

The black blade stuck in its body now looked utterly insignificant, utterly trivial.

The flood dragon screeched as it looked down from above, its slit pupils fierce and murderous, fixed tightly on Shen Yi — too lazy even to shake off the ceremonial blade on its body. The dead object, no longer controlled, had reverted to its original black-glinting appearance.

"Roar!"

It bellowed once more; the gale snapped the low trees, swept up the fallen leaves, and surged violently toward the young man! Its massive body rolled and came crashing down!

With such a disparity in size, an unarmed martial artist posed it no threat whatsoever.

And Shen Yi, standing still with his arms at his sides, seemed to confirm the flood dragon's thought.

Until he raised his eyes to look.

In the span of a breath, the flood dragon seemed to sense some dangerous aura; the scales all over its body bristled, and it instinctively twisted its head to look.

It saw, behind itself, countless currents of aura converging into a curtain of swords.

Beneath the pale moonlight, it faintly glowed with a wicked crimson light, and the murderous intent within was in no way inferior to its own.

What manner of evil cultivator is this!

As Shen Yi's face went pale and he exhaled a breath of turbid air.

A skyful of Gang Qi crashed down with a thunderous roar!

The flood dragon's massive body had nowhere to dodge; it could only curl up as tightly as possible, shielding its belly with its hard black scales.

Bang! Bang!

The invisible Gang Qi hammered into the flood dragon's body like a blacksmith striking iron; the dull sounds echoed through the valley, and in an instant they smashed it down into the forest.

When the Gang Qi dispersed, the eerie crimson glow clung to its body like little flames — no matter how it rubbed and rolled its body, it could not extinguish them.

Sizzling sounds of corrosion rang out unceasingly as the black scales were swiftly seared away, exposing the flesh and blood beneath.

"Aaargh!!"

The flood dragon screamed, churning the surroundings into a world of darkness and chaos.

Only when the crimson glow had also burned out did it raise its head trembling, its body in a wretched state, no longer feeling the pleasure of savoring pain from before; in its slit pupils remained only the relief of having survived a calamity.

It suddenly looked toward the youth, and upon discovering the other's deathly pale complexion, finally let out a vicious laugh: "Good! Good! Now it's my turn."

Before the words had faded, the flood dragon suddenly noticed Shen Yi had closed his eyes.

Such a posture clearly indicated he had long been exhausted and could only wait to be captured.

Yet an inexplicable tremor rose in its heart.

The next moment, another sheet of sword-screen of astral qi, identical to the previous one, appeared in the sky.

Then came a second sheet, a third…

Until they completely blotted out the heavens, the boundless demonic crimson glow faintly revealing a hint of mockery.

The flood dragon craned its neck and froze on the spot.

It suddenly flung open its bloody maw, baring its sharp fangs, and shrieked, its voice sharp yet laced with despair: "Fake! All fake! You can't fool me!"

Shen Yi pressed his palm down coldly.

Countless bolts of Heavenly Astral Blood Sha surged like a tide and utterly drowned that small flood demon.

A full forty years of demonic lifespan.

Even he felt a twinge of heartache.

Until a prompt flashed across the panel.

【Slain early-stage Jade Liquid Realm flood demon, total lifespan 1,427 years, remaining lifespan 1,230 years, absorption complete】

【Remaining demonic lifespan: 1,435 years. Can be condensed】

Shen Yi walked slowly toward the wreckage-strewn ground.

The remaining remains were still stained with crimson glow, and within a few breaths another large portion was dissolved away.

He bent down and picked up that radiant flood dragon core, placing it together with the fox demon's beast essence from before.

This was not the moment to tally the harvest.

Shen Yi turned and swept through the mountain forest, casually scooping up those two unlucky souls along the way, and headed toward the fishing village.

(End of chapter)