Chapter 301: Slaying Demons

Because demonic beasts had appeared, after Hua Changxi took her position on the East Gate tower, she activated her Observation, Listening, Questioning, and Pulse-Taking Technique; with just a sweep of her gaze, she spotted a giant serpent coiled on the second floor of a gambling house three streets away.

A squad of Demon-Suppressing Soldiers happened to be passing outside the gambling den, completely unaware of the giant serpent upstairs.

"Hmm?"

Hua Changxi's gaze paused; within that squad of Demon-Suppressing Soldiers, she spotted a familiar figure—her elder brother, Hua Dalang.

Hua Dalang had now reached the late Core Formation stage; walking at the very front of the squad, it was clear he was its captain.

However, a Core Formation cultivator obviously could not even distinguish a Nascent Soul demonic beast, let alone contend with one.

After all, he was her own brother, so Hua Changxi still worried about Hua Dalang's safety.

Perhaps Hua Changxi's gaze was too conspicuous; Hua Dalang, who was leading his subordinates toward the city gate, suddenly looked up and met her eyes directly.

Seeing his sister standing on the gate tower, Hua Dalang's eyes flickered; instead of any joy at seeing her, he merely frowned.

He felt that Hua Changxi's act of standing on the gate tower was far too conspicuous.

Especially when he recalled how Hua Sanlang had returned home dejectedly a few days ago, telling the family that Ninth Lady would rather help four outsiders improve their aptitude than assist her own kin, his resentment toward this sister deepened.

Hua Dalang withdrew his gaze, acting as though he had not seen Hua Changxi at all, and continued leading his subordinates on patrol.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi frowned, but soon she had no leisure to worry about Hua Dalang.

Another Nascent Soul demonic beast had appeared!

It was a giant monitor lizard.

That giant lizard had transformed into a burly, bearded man, openly mingling among the gate guards, swapping shifts with the original soldiers, and brazenly beginning to inspect pedestrians entering and exiting the gate.

The sudden appearance of two Nascent Soul demonic beasts at the East Gate immediately put Hua Changxi on high alert.

Although she did not fear these two Nascent Soul beasts, many commoners lived around the East Gate; once battle erupted, innocents would surely be caught in the crossfire.

After deliberating, Hua Changxi leaped down from the gate tower, landing directly before Hua Dalang: "Elder Brother."

Hua Dalang was somewhat surprised that Hua Changxi had approached him voluntarily, but harboring resentment, his tone was unpleasant: "Isn't this my busy Ninth Sister? What suddenly made you think of your elder brother?"

Hua Changxi was equally displeased by Hua Dalang's sarcastic tone, but with demonic beasts hiding nearby, she had no patience to argue: "Elder Brother, shape-shifting demonic beasts are hiding within the crowd; find a way to disperse the commoners around the gate."

Hearing this, Hua Dalang forgot his quarrel with Hua Changxi; his expression turned serious as he looked left and right: "Where are the demonic beasts?"

Hua Changxi said, "Do not startle them; just disperse the commoners, and I will deal with the beasts."

Hua Dalang did not agree immediately; instead, he quickly walked over to his subordinates and whispered to a Demon-Suppressing Soldier holding a white jade disk.

Hua Changxi watched as that soldier fiddled with the white jade disk for a moment, then shook his head at Hua Dalang; immediately after, Hua Dalang returned with a grim face.

"The Demon-Suppressing Army's Beast-Revealing Jade showed no reaction; could you be mistaken?"

Hua Changxi frowned: "Demonic beasts surely possess methods to conceal their aura; it is entirely possible that magical treasures cannot detect them."

Hua Dalang shook his head in immediate denial: "Impossible; the demonic beasts that previously appeared in the capital were all detected by the Beast-Revealing Jade; it has never failed."

Hua Changxi felt Hua Dalang was being too stubborn: "Elder Brother, nothing in this world is absolute; are you unwilling to believe the magical treasure could fail, or are you unwilling to believe me?"

Hua Dalang instantly flew into a rage: "What kind of attitude is this? Must I believe whatever you say? You can order me around if you wish, but the Demon-Suppressing Army is not yours to command."

Worried that the serpent demon and the monitor lizard demon might erupt into violence at any moment, Hua Changxi suppressed her displeasure and stopped arguing with Hua Dalang: "Elder Brother, regardless of whether there are demonic beasts, let us disperse the crowd first to be safe."

Hua Dalang and Hua Changxi locked eyes for a moment; seeing the seriousness in her gaze, he hesitated briefly before turning back toward the Demon-Suppressing Soldiers.

Soon, the Demon-Suppressing Soldiers scattered in all directions.

Before long, the number of pedestrians on the street leading to the city gate gradually diminished.

Seeing this, the expressions of the serpent demon on the second floor of the gambling house and the monitor lizard at the city gate both changed.

The monitor lizard grinned as he sidled up to a Demon-Suppressing Soldier: "Sir Soldier, has something happened?"

The Demon-Suppressing Soldier glanced at him: "It will be dark soon; to be on the safe side, we are closing the city gate early today."

Hearing this, the monitor lizard chuckled: "I see, so we can head home early tonight." With that, still grinning, he returned to his post and transmitted a message to the serpent demon.

"They're closing the gate early today; why haven't Four-Headed Duck and Big Rat arrived yet? Do they still intend to kill Hua Changxi to intimidate the human race?"

"This Hua Changxi is even more of a homebody than I am; she rarely goes out for ten days or half a month; if we miss this opportunity, we'll have to wait another half-month."

"I have already urged Four-Headed Duck and Big Rat; they will arrive soon."

Just as the monitor lizard transmitted his message to the serpent demon, Hua Changxi sensed a ripple of invisible power.

Following the fluctuation, Hua Changxi's gaze fell once again upon the serpent demon and the monitor lizard demon; at that moment, she noticed that both beasts occasionally fixed their eyes on her.

Why did it feel as though these two demonic beasts were targeting her?

"They're here; I smell the stench of duck on Four-Headed Duck."

Another fluctuation emerged; Hua Changxi saw the monitor lizard's eyes suddenly brighten intensely, and following his line of sight, she spotted a flower carriage approaching from outside the city gate.

Seated on the flower carriage were a coachman and a beautiful young woman.

Yet through her Observation, Listening, Questioning, and Pulse-Taking Technique, what Hua Changxi saw was a duck with four heads and a black rat.

Two more Nascent Soul demonic beasts had arrived!

Hua Changxi's first reaction was that these two demonic beasts must not be allowed to enter the city!

"Elder Brother, more demonic beasts have arrived; hurry and lead your men to evacuate the commoners."

After hastily speaking these words to Hua Dalang, Hua Changxi quickly poured Fire Spiritual Qi into the Five Spirits Divine Ring on her hand.

In an instant, several Fire Spiritual Needles shot out, striking the monitor lizard demon at the city gate with lightning speed.

"Ah~"

A miserable scream rang out above the East Gate; before the monitor lizard demon could even react, its demonic core was shattered, and then, flames like maggots in bone began to burn its body.

The moment she launched the Fire Spiritual Needles, Hua Changxi flashed upward to the gate tower; Fire Spiritual Qi swirling in her hands, dozens of Fire Spiritual Needles shot forth like flowers scattered by a heavenly maiden, aiming simultaneously at the rat demon and the four-headed duck demon.

"Oh no!"

Startled by the monitor lizard's scream, the rat demon and the four-headed duck demon only realized their peril when the Fire Spiritual Needles were already upon them; no matter how fast they reacted, both beasts were struck by several spiritual needles.

"Ah~"

Once the Fire Spiritual Needles entered their bodies, they began to burn their spiritual meridians, making even the circulation of spiritual qi difficult.

"Flee~"

The rat demon and the four duck demons wasted no words and attempted to escape, yet the next moment, a sword beam of fire surged skyward from the city tower, piercing directly through both demons.

"Bang, bang!"

Seeing the two demons collapse motionless, Hua Changxi did not approach to inspect them; instead, she turned and flung over a dozen Fire Spirit Divine Needles at the snake demon within the city.

Upon hearing the monitor lizard's shriek, the snake demon had immediately rushed out of the gambling house, intending to save the monitor lizard demon, but after hearing the successive screams of the four duck demons and the rat demon from outside the city gate, it suddenly slammed on the brakes and, without a word, turned and fled.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~"

The sound of breaking the air exploded beside the snake demon's ear; despite dodging left and right, it still allowed one Fire Spirit Divine Needle to embed itself in its right shoulder.

The intense burning pain was so severe that the snake demon nearly failed to maintain its human form.

Knowing it was no match for Hua Changxi, the snake demon, in order to escape, flew directly toward where the crowd had gathered.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi paused briefly, hesitated for a moment, then quickly gave chase.

After the snake and the woman vanished one after the other, the East City Gate fell into silence.

Everything that had just occurred happened in the blink of an eye; most people had not yet regained their senses before the battle ended.

Had the demonic body of a monitor lizard not still been burning at the city gate, they would have thought everything they just witnessed was an illusion.

After the monitor lizard demon's demon core shattered, it revealed its true form; its massive body directly blocked the city gate.

Hua Dalang was the first to regain his senses; looking at the monitor lizard demon's body, his forehead was covered in sweat.

Even though the monitor lizard demon was now dead, the Nascent Soul realm pressure emanating from its body still made every Demon-Suppressing Army soldier feel their hearts tremble.

Without Ninth Lady, he and everyone at the East City Gate would have died!

Suppressing the terror in his heart, Hua Dalang took out a Demon-Locking Cage and stored the monitor lizard demon blocking the gate: "Let's go, head out of the city to take a look."

As soon as they exited the city gate, Hua Dalang and his subordinate Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers saw two balls of fire; approaching cautiously, they discovered yet another two Nascent Soul realm demons.

"Three Nascent Soul realm demons actually appeared at the East City Gate all at once..."

"Not three, but four."

All the Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers present swallowed hard, their backs drenched in sweat; even Hua Dalang's complexion turned somewhat pale.

After storing away the four duck demons and the rat demon, Hua Dalang led the Demon-Suppressing Army back into the city; leaving some behind to guard the East City Gate, he took the remaining soldiers to pursue the direction in which the snake demon and Hua Changxi had vanished.

Following behind them were Xia Ziyang, Meng Yuchuan, and the others.

"Fighting four Nascent Soul realm demons alone; Hua Changxi's strength is even greater than we imagined."

It was Xia Ziyang's turn to patrol the East City today, yet he never expected to encounter Hua Changxi.

"Senior Brother Xia, what are we following them for?"

"To save people, of course."