Chapter 550: Weak and Powerless

"Exorcist sirs, how did you arrive so quickly?"

The Holy Order's field personnel looked at Tang Luo's trio, very surprised.

"What do you mean arrive so quickly?" Ao Yulie was even more surprised; it was impossible for their emergence to be discovered by anyone.

"We found the Sacred Heart, so we sent a telegram to notify..." the field personnel said, then suddenly realized, "So it was a coincidence?"

"Yes, a coincidence." Ao Yulie nodded. "We were just passing through here."

"That's wonderful. Please, several of you, quickly take the Sacred Heart and leave." the field personnel said.

The appearance of Exorcists was a good thing; having Exorcists take away the Sacred Heart meant these people would be much safer and wouldn't be attacked by demons.

Demons usually hide, emerging to kill when needed, then continuing to hide.

But if they encountered Exorcists and the Sacred Heart, there was no "continue hiding" option.

Killing Exorcists and seizing the Sacred Heart was a demon's top priority.

An Exorcist's top priority was killing demons and seizing the Sacred Heart.

The two were truly enemies cut from the same cloth; the difference was demons seized the Sacred Heart to destroy it, while Exorcists did so to protect it.

Several dusty field personnel led Tang Luo's trio toward the resting place; the Sacred Heart was there.

On the way, Ao Yulie asked, "Aren't you afraid we're imposters?"

"How could we be?" the field personnel laughed. "You several look exactly like Exorcists. I've been a field operative for several years, personally seen and interacted with dozens of Exorcists; I can still tell the difference."

"..."

Ao Yulie thought for a moment, but didn't puncture this person's bluster.

You can stop pretending; we fundamentally aren't Exorcists at all, okay?

If we're talking bearing, our bearing is higher than Exorcists' by who knows how much.

Little did he know, these several field personnel were also sneering inwardly.

Impersonating Exorcists — you'll soon find out why the flowers are so red.

Field personnel naturally undergo strict training; as long as conditions permit they contact headquarters and branches. Any Exorcist personnel changes are known to them immediately.

Memorizing Exorcists' appearances is one of their jobs.

Hearing someone say Exorcists had appeared, they rushed over to look — hah, three very convincing frauds.

Too bad, no matter how convincing, it's useless.

From a Resonator becoming an Exorcist to their officially undertaking missions, the shortest is three months, the longest a year.

In such a long time, unless a field operative went missing, they would all receive new information and know the new Exorcists' appearances.

Naturally not afraid of frauds.

They did know that headquarters recently planned to summon a Savior from another world, unsure if it was completed.

Even if successfully summoned, those people truly "emerging from seclusion" was still a long way off.

These three people — one hundred percent frauds.

However, the uniforms are basically indistinguishable from the real thing; that heavy feel isn't like some frauds' fake uniforms which look gorgeous at a glance but are actually like paper.

Exorcist uniforms are actually rather heavy.

Worn by ordinary people it's equivalent to marching under a heavy load; for Exorcists the impact isn't great.

The defense is there; a bit of weight cost is acceptable.

After forming one's own combat style, adjustments can be made to the uniform if needed.

Standardized uniforms don't mean completely, utterly identical.

Old Exorcists' uniforms more or less all have some differences.

These several field personnel's plan was simple: bring Tang Luo's group over, then hand the fake Sacred Heart to them.

They themselves would take the real Sacred Heart and slip away scot-free.

They could tell whether Exorcists were fake, but onlookers and demons couldn't.

Demons would definitely chase the Exorcists.

"Raise" the fraud a thousand days, "use" the fraud for a moment.

The person who originally set up the indulgence, even secretly pushed people to impersonate Exorcists — truly a sinister genius.

"Boom!"

Still en route to the location, a thunderous boom rang out.

Those several field personnel's faces changed drastically; the direction the sound came from was where their remaining personnel were.

Field personnel operate in ten-person squads.

One captain, two vice-captains.

The three who came to find Tang Luo's group — the one who just spoke was the captain; the other two, one vice-captain and one ordinary member.

The remaining members were all there!

"Go." Tang Luo leaped up, body soaring into the sky.

Ao Yulie and the other followed close behind.

"Huh?"

"Not imposters?"

The captain and the others instantly froze; this exaggerated jumping power, even ordinary Exorcists might not have.

"It really is a demon."

In a few blinks, Tang Luo's group arrived at the incident site.

They saw a low-grade demon suspended in mid-air, a long tentacle whipping a building.

Speed not particularly fast, but extremely heavy.

The sturdy building had already collapsed more than half, and the loud noise just now was the sound made when it collapsed.

The arrival of Tang Luo and the others immediately drew the demon's attention.

It turned its body.

Tang Luo and the others saw that hidden within the dense black tentacles was a twisted, eerie face.

Deathly pale, frozen in a ferocious grin, the eyes were two hollows, like a mask embedded in the peach pit-like body.

It looked like a smile, but upon closer inspection, it also seemed to be weeping.

"Ex... or... cist..."

A sound filled with boundless malice, like a wail, emanated from the demon.

The thick, long tentacle spanned ten meters and swept horizontally toward Tang Luo and the two others.

Its speed and force had increased somewhat compared to before.

"I'll go!"

Ao Yulie charged forward first, swinging his right hand simultaneously.

Dragon Claw Hand!

A golden afterimage flashed, colliding with the tentacle; Ao Yulie flew backward and slammed into the wall of a nearby building.

That tentacle also rose up, having been repelled by Ao Yulie.

"Huh?" Zhu Bajie looked at Ao Yulie, "Little White Dragon, how did you become so weak?"

This demon is clearly weak—saying it boldly, even spitting saliva could kill this thing.

Ao Yulie was actually blown away by it?

"No, this thing is strange." Ao Yulie said, "My claw felt like striking empty air—no force landed at all."

"Only the Sacred Heart can counter demons?" Tang Luo said.

"I'll give it a try." Zhu Bajie also rushed forward, dodging several whip strikes from the demon, and moved to its front.

The demon hovered about five meters above the ground.

Zhu Bajie leapt up, jumped to its upper diagonal, and punched downward.

For now, it still maintained the appearance of a "normal demon hunter"—roughly speaking.

The demon was struck by Zhu Bajie's punch, fell to the ground, and half its body sank into it.

"Ex... or... cist."

The wailing sound rang out again; the wounded demon lashed its whip toward Zhu Bajie, who had just landed.

Zhu Bajie reached out and clamped the whip directly under his armpit.

"Master, that punch just now had at least ninety percent of its force neutralized—it couldn't truly land on this demon." Zhu Bajie said.

"But we ate the Sacred Heart?" Ao Yulie asked strangely.

"Does eating a tank let you fire cannons?" Zhu Bajie said.

The Sacred Heart, when forged into a weapon or parasitizing a human body, can inflict effective damage on demons—but that doesn't mean eating the Sacred Heart itself allows one to harm demons.

Moreover, Tang Luo and the others had completely refined the Sacred Heart, leaving not even a trace.

"I don't need to eat a tank..." Ao Yulie scratched his head, having boasted of slaughtering all directions, "Really troublesome."

As a result, he couldn't even easily tear apart a low-level demon with his bare hands—he needed to focus.

So what's the difference between him and those high school students now?

"Let me try." Tang Luo said.

"Alright." Zhu Bajie violently swung, hurling the demon toward Tang Luo, who stood there.

Tang Luo extended his left hand, pressed his thumb against his index finger, and flicked.

It struck precisely the demon's face, which seemed both crying and laughing.

"Exorc..."

Before the demon could finish speaking, countless cracks spread across its walnut-like body, it shattered, and turned into a pile of gray powder and ash.

"Is this face the weak point?" Ao Yulie asked curiously.

"I don't know." Tang Luo shook his head.

He hadn't deliberately aimed for that face—it just happened to come up; he had thought it would be blown away, but instead it shattered directly.

It might be a weak point.

At the same time, in a classroom with several empty seats, someone raised their hand and asked: "Teacher, is that face on low-level demons their vital point?"

The old man gave a sinister chuckle: "Low-level demons lack wisdom—they are the weakest (in intelligence) of demons; we can make them fall for the same trap ten thousand times."

"But they can also deceive us."

"For example, they might point this face at us, making us mistakenly believe it's a vital point—or a sensory organ."

"Actually, this face is nothing at all."

"It's no different from other parts—no, I should say, this face is even slightly harder than other areas."

"So this must be the vital point—next time, aim for this face and strike hard; let's see if it dies."

Ao Yulie, who lost the dragon, said: "This place, I, the son of the Yu Long family, will surely reclaim it."

No amount of persuasion helps—except from the master; the second senior brother saying something pleasant can also work.

"Let's save people." Tang Luo pointed to the half-collapsed building, where many were trapped under the rubble.

Ao Yulie and Zhu Bajie walked over, fully demonstrating what it means to be a powerful demon hunter.

Digging them out was more efficient than using an excavator.

Soon, the injured and dead were all dug out—all were field personnel of the Holy Group; this was a secret stronghold established by the Holy Group.

Many cities have such "safe houses."

It's just a pity that the safe house isn't safe at all in the face of demons.

"Ah..." Tang Luo opened his mouth, remembered he wasn't a monk, and simply waved his hand.

A streak of golden light fell upon the wounded and the dead.

In less than half a minute, the wounded's cries of pain ceased, and the dead reopened their eyes.

"Looks like they're all a bunch of good people."

Sensing the merit power gained from the Merit Jade Lotus, Tang Luo mused inwardly.

The merit power gained from saving people this time exceeded the consumption by quite a bit.

These field operatives are a group of truly good people.

Additionally, killing demons also granted a portion of merit power.

Then, the possibility of a complete reversal between the Demon King and the Exorcist Holy Order is very small.

At most, they all just have to die.