Chapter 11

Bai Jiaoying stood motionless in midair, his eyes filled with contempt and disdain, regarding Lu Fang as nothing more than an ant.

“Fool!” Hu Wei’s green eyes sharpened, and demonic energy instantly spread across the distant water’s surface.

Bing!

Several zhang high water spouts exploded beside Lu Fang as he fled; the splashing water merged with the rain, forming dozens of “roaring” water foxes that leapt toward him.

“Ten Swords of the Ten Thousand Swords Art!”

Yan Chixia formed a sword seal, and the Yingyue Small Sword split into ten beams of light, each piercing through a water fox’s body.

Hua la la…

The water foxes shattered by the sword beams dissolved into pools of water, crashing heavily back into the river.

Qiang!

The Yingyue Small Sword forged ahead for Lu Fang, piercing through each water fox in its path with unstoppable force.

Suddenly, the last water fox exploded on its own; Hu Wei stepped out with a cold sneer, swatting the incoming Yingyue Small Sword away with one palm, his ghostlike form appearing before Lu Fang in an instant.

“Did I give you permission to leave?”

Hu Wei’s eyes turned icy as he struck out with one palm.

Pu!

Before Lu Fang could react, the blow struck him; he spat blood and was flung backward, crashing onto the water’s surface.

He floated like a light “water skimmer,” sliding all the way back until he stopped before Li Yu.

“I knew it wouldn’t work, but I couldn’t bear not trying.”

Lu Fang spoke, blood continuously seeping from the corner of his mouth.

He gave a self-deprecating smile and simply lay still, arms and legs spread in a large “X” on the water; his injuries were severe—if Hu Wei hadn’t held back, he’d already be dead.

“Useless.”

Li Yu shook her head with a sigh.

She was intelligent; she knew Lu Fang had provoked Bai Jiaoying and fled alone to give her a chance to escape.

But the gap between them was too vast—escape was impossible.

Had Bai Jiaoying not been toying with them, she and Lu Fang would already be corpses.

“Aren’t you full of bravado just now?”

Bai Jiaoying sneered, extending his talons to snatch through the air.

Lu Fang, like a puppet on strings, shot swiftly toward Bai Jiaoying; no matter how Li Yu tried, she could not stop him.

At that moment, a powerful voice rang out across heaven and earth.

“How dare you act recklessly in the Great Zhou? Since you’ve come, don’t leave!”

A rainbow of light slashed across the sky, brighter than lightning, landing directly before Bai Jiaoying.

The newcomer was a tall old man in a white robe and jade crown, his square face expressionless; with a flick of his sleeve, Lu Fang, suspended midair, drifted slowly back to Li Yu’s side.

“Father!” Li Yu cried joyfully.

The man was Li Mao, a Great Confucian of the Great Zhou, one of the three leaders of this demon-slaying campaign.

Bai Jiaoying stared at Li Mao and growled, “I’ll handle this old fool—you kill his daughter and that boy.”

“Yes.”

Hu Wei obeyed, his demonic energy flaring before vanishing from sight; when he reappeared, he stood before Li Yu.

Li Mao kept his focus entirely on Bai Jiaoying, never once turning back, as if certain his daughter was safe.

Gong long long!

Lightning arcs, claw-shaped, tore across the sky; thunder exploded with deafening force!

A scroll unfurled across heaven and earth, its frame the heavens, its canvas the mortal realm; the ninth-rank demon Hu Wei had no time to act before the opening and closing light of dawn pierced him like a sieve.

The dawn light burned like an inferno; Hu Wei, like a human-shaped sheet of paper, turned to ash the moment it touched him.

“The Semi-Sage’s Ink Treasure—Scroll of Heaven and Earth!”

Bai Jiaoying recognized the artifact, his face darkening.

A supremely arrogant voice rang out: “Dare to touch my beloved disciple? I’ll kill you beasts!”

From within the Semi-Sage’s Ink Treasure—Scroll of Heaven and Earth—stepped a thin, tall, vigorous old man; he squinted at Bai Jiaoying and said, “I’ve eaten roasted chicken—wonder what roasted eagle tastes like.”

Seeing reinforcements arrive, Lu Fang was overjoyed; these two men clearly possessed at least Great Confucian-level power.

He had just thought this when he felt his body lift; Li Yu grabbed him and ran toward the tall old man, saying:

“I knew you’d come, Master!”

Master Wang Fu nodded with satisfaction, but Li Yu rushed over and snatched his waist pouch, urgently demanding: “Master, quickly give me your healing pills!”

“These are precious elixirs… this boy seems like an idiot?” Wang Fu glared disdainfully at Lu Fang, who was still sucking his fingers.

Lu Fang wasn’t stunned—he’d been prepared to die, but now that salvation had come, he was using the book-scent on his fingers to heal his wounds.

If he left any lingering injury, it would be a problem.

Book-scent was essentially a potent tonic—it could heal wounds too.

“Master, he wrote the ‘Exorcism Verse’—if he dies, how will you answer to His Majesty?”

Li Yu cried anxiously.

“Truly, a daughter grows too attached.”

Wang Fu sighed, pulling a porcelain vial from his waist pouch; just as he was about to pour out a pill, Li Yu snatched the entire vial and fed Lu Fang three pills in a row.

The small vial held only three pills.

“Those are ‘Vast Righteous Qi Pills,’ my little ancestor! One pill is enough to save this boy’s life!”

Wang Fu’s face twisted in agony.

Vast Righteous Qi Pills could only be refined by Great Confucians above the ninth rank; each required three years of effort and was extremely precious.

Especially beneficial to those below the ninth rank—they could nurture Vast Righteous Qi…

“So full!”

The moment the Vast Righteous Qi Pill entered Lu Fang’s mouth, it dissolved in his saliva; a powerful energy surged into his body, rapidly healing his wounds.

As the medicine took effect, thick streams of blue Vast Righteous Qi radiated from his skin, gathering and not dispersing—he glowed like a light source.

Meanwhile, Bai Jiaoying and Great Confucian Li Mao clashed.

Bai Jiaoying wielded a black iron rod that, when thrust, swelled into a mountain peak; with each swing, space collapsed and illusions multiplied, its power terrifying.

Li Mao was no less formidable; with two fingers, he traced horizontal, vertical, and slanting strokes—each brushstroke shook heaven and earth.

“I’ll help you!”

Wang Fu moved to join the battle, aiming to capture Bai Jiaoying alive.

A blood-red demonic aura descended from the sky, blocking Wang Fu’s path.

From the aura emerged a wolf demon with wild “crimson eyes”; standing tall several zhang, it had thick limbs, razor-sharp claws and toe-talons, and a long tail hanging behind.

A white tuft of beard hung from its chin; its golden fur gleamed with oily luster.

From it spread a solid, yellow mist; any plant that touched it withered instantly, becoming part of the mist.

“Scroll of Heaven and Earth—Annihilate!”

Without hesitation, Wang Fu unleashed the Semi-Sage’s Ink Treasure—Scroll of Heaven and Earth; as it unfurled, beams of dawn light shot straight at the Crimson-Eyed Wolf King.

“Demon Pagoda—Muddiness!”

The Crimson-Eyed Wolf King opened his fanged maw and spat out a seven-tiered demon pagoda; the spinning tower swelled with the wind, becoming a mountain-sized seven-tiered structure in moments.

The grotesque, demon-like carvings on its surface seemed alive, shrieking with piercing, ear-splitting wails.

Tap!

One tower gate opened; thick yellow-black muddiness collided head-on with the dawn light from the Semi-Sage’s Ink Treasure.

A massive shockwave rippled outward, reducing trees within range to dust and shattering rocks.

Li Yu and Lu Fang were untouched, but anything capable of resisting the Semi-Sage’s Ink Treasure must be a quasi-Demon Sovereign treasure.

Even without looking, just the sound of the clash was beyond their current realms to endure.

“Wind Surge—Speed!”

Li Yu seized Lu Fang and fled on the wind; the battlefield now belonged to demon kings and Great Confucians—staying here served no purpose and would only make them a burden.

After fully channeling Vast Righteous Qi for two watches, they stopped in a deep mountain.

Li Yu looked weary, barely able to stand, clearly severely injured.

“You’re hurt?”

Lu Fang asked anxiously; though he’d been badly wounded, after swallowing three Vast Righteous Qi Pills and absorbing ample book-scent, his injuries were nearly gone.

Li Yu did not answer; instead, she turned her pale face back toward the direction they’d come from.

Following her gaze, Lu Fang looked back—but saw nothing amiss. “What’s wrong?”