Volume 2: Breaking into Fengdu Chapter 81: Demons and Blood Rings

 

While playing dead and watching the show, Xu Yan finally learned the truth about the blood rings in demons’ eyes from Eight Fingers Wang.

As Eight Fingers Wang had said, the blood rings in demons’ eyes were an external characteristic for distinguishing demon realms and strength.

Those with one blood ring in their eyes were called demons, but those with two blood rings weren’t called demons anymore—they were called demon spirits. According to Eight Fingers Wang, only Foundation Establishment realm powerhouses could face a demon alone, but when facing demon spirits, even Foundation Establishment realm cultivators might be devoured!

Above demon spirits, there were also great demons with three blood rings. As for how terrifying great demons were, Eight Fingers Wang couldn’t imagine. He had heard once as a child that a great demon had appeared in Qi Nation, but he didn’t know who had killed it afterward.

Demons, demon spirits, and great demons were distinguished by one blood ring, two blood rings, and three blood rings respectively—this was quite easy to differentiate.

Learning about the realm distinctions of demons, Xu Yan immediately thought of the wolf demon he had encountered at Old Grave Mountain years ago.

That wolf demon also had more than one blood ring in its eyes, but the second blood ring wasn’t complete. Moreover, that demon wolf had a second wolf head that others couldn’t see. Could that invisible wolf head be the demon spirit about to form?

His curiosity about demons made Xu Yan want to learn more about mountain demons and wild monsters, but Eight Fingers Wang was just a lackey with very limited knowledge. He couldn’t extract much more useful information from him.

Whoosh!

The sound of a crossbow bolt cutting through wind suddenly came from the distance. Xu Yan looked intently and saw that Second Guardian Yang Ge had already removed the refined iron heavy crossbow from his back. With one shot, he directly pierced through the snake demon’s tail, causing the demon snake to roll and writhe in the grass. The surrounding bamboo forest was successively knocked down.

Such powerful force!

Xu Yan exclaimed inwardly. The speed and power of this crossbow bolt was no less than his full-strength Flying Locust technique, perhaps even more powerful. One arrow could pierce through the snake demon—though it was the tail, it was still terrifying. If it hit a person, it would definitely pierce straight through the heart.

Heavy crossbows were weapons that only Qi Nation’s military could equip. Not only were they complex to manufacture, but their power was also extreme. If ordinary citizens or martial artists possessed heavy crossbows, it was a serious crime—being caught meant beheading, with collective punishment for family members.

Ghost King Gate’s Second Guardian not only possessed a heavy crossbow but could carry it around everywhere. It seemed Ghost King Gate held considerable weight in Qi Nation’s royal family’s eyes.

Taking advantage of the snake demon being severely wounded, dozens of innate martial artists attacked simultaneously. After nearly a hundred blade strikes, the Silver Crown Snake was immediately torn and bloodied. Ordinary martial artists found it difficult to break through the Silver Crown Snake’s skin, but innate true qi could.

Even a hero couldn’t withstand many people, let alone a snake demon. Although this type of snake demon could only be dealt with by Foundation Establishment realm cultivators, it couldn’t withstand the siege of thousands of people plus hundreds of innate martial artists.

This severe injury again left the snake demon extremely weak. At this moment, Second Guardian Yang Ge seized the opportunity, leaped onto the snake’s head, and with a swift sword strike, severed the silver crown from the top of the Silver Crown Snake’s head.

Once the silver crown was removed, the giant python immediately became listless. Using its last strength, it opened its bloody maw and bit wildly. Several unlucky Ghost King Gate disciples were directly swallowed into the snake’s belly before they could run far.

“Haha, the silver crown is in hand!”

Yang Ge laughed heartily as he flipped down from the snake’s head. Taking a few steps to approach the Grand Guardian, he handed the silver crown to Zhuo Shaoyu. Just as this Second Guardian was about to boast, he heard an ill wind behind him.

Two black shadows attacked one after another from the depths of the dense bamboo forest!

Raising his sword to block, the black shadows were very fast, but their targets were too large. Yang Ge easily deflected the two black shadows, though a spray of blood also exploded before this Second Guardian.

Thud thud!

The two black shadows rolled to one side, one of them rolling right to Zhuo Shaoyu’s feet.

Looking down, Zhuo Shaoyu’s face immediately darkened like water. At his feet wasn’t a hidden weapon, but a bloody human head!

“Fifth! Sixth!”

The two guardians ranked fifth and sixth among the eighteen had gone to the back mountain not long ago to assist the four halls in surrounding and killing the righteous sects. They had returned quickly—only their heads had returned, not their bodies.

“Guardian!” From the depths of the bamboo forest, Ghost King Gate disciples responsible for surrounding the mountain came in disarray, kneeling before Zhuo Shaoyu and urgently saying: “There’s an expert at the back mountain. Three hall masters were killed, and two guardians are missing…”

Seeing the two heads, the messenger Ghost King Gate disciple shuddered in fright. Now he finally saw the two guardians who had been chased and killed earlier.

“Who was it!” Zhuo Shaoyu asked coldly.

“A masked person. We couldn’t stop them,” the lackey messenger answered with lingering fear.

Four halls with at least three thousand people, each hall master at least above two-meridian innate, plus two three-meridian innate guardians couldn’t stop them. Hearing of such strength, Zhuo Shaoyu’s heart immediately sank.

At least four-meridian innate, or five-meridian!

“Surround them!”

Zhuo Shaoyu hesitated only briefly before immediately ordering the siege.

The silver crown was already in hand, and the dying Silver Crown Snake was basically useless. Since the righteous sects had produced an expert, it definitely wasn’t from Qi Nation righteous sects like Azure Cloud Pavilion and Jade Sword Gate, because in Qi Nation’s martial world, righteous sects were suppressed by evil sects to the point of barely surviving. Forget about experts—even three-meridian innate martial artists were rare.

It must be someone from Pu Nation’s righteous sects!

Zhuo Shaoyu roared inwardly. Two guardians had been killed right before his eyes—how could this Grand Guardian not be furious?

With a great commotion, the thousands of Ghost King Gate disciples who had been surrounding the snake demon completely abandoned the dying giant python and rushed toward the depths of the bamboo forest where the heads had flown from. No matter who the opponent was, as long as they hadn’t reached Foundation Establishment realm, Zhuo Shaoyu was confident he could keep them here. A single expert, no matter how strong, couldn’t withstand thousands of troops.

When the crowd moved, Xu Yan in the distance stopped playing dead and stood up, jumping to get a better view.

He had just seen the silver crown that Second Guardian had cut off. The moment the silver crown separated from the snake’s head, a blurry golden small snake fell from the crown, disappearing somewhere unknown.

The crowd had already gone far, and sounds of fighting came from the depths of the bamboo forest. The dying Silver Crown Snake rolled a few times in the grass and finally stopped moving.

“Brother Yan, don’t go over there—it’s dangerous!” Eight Fingers Wang changed his position. He was now lying face down on the ground. Seeing Xu Yan walking toward the snake demon, he was so frightened he hurriedly warned him, not daring to speak loudly.

“Play dead properly, don’t move. You’re looking more and more like a corpse.”

Xu Yan didn’t turn back, leaving behind a compliment that made Eight Fingers Wang overjoyed. He thought that if he could learn the art of playing dead, wouldn’t he always be able to follow the halls on missions in the future? Just lie down somewhere deserted and he could gain benefits without anyone knowing—who would actually go fight desperately?

Ignoring the self-satisfied Eight Fingers Wang, Xu Yan carefully approached the snake demon.

The snake demon was truly dead this time. Not only was its entire body torn and bloodied, but its vital seven-inch point had also suffered heavy damage. Though the python was enormous, the seven-inch point was still its fatal weakness.

Xu Yan didn’t touch the demon snake. The snake skin was quite good, but it was already torn to pieces.

He began circling the snake demon’s corpse, constantly searching through the grass as if looking for something. Before long, Xu Yan’s eyes lit up. Under his left eye’s gaze, a blurry golden small snake was slowly crawling through the grass not far away.

Moving barely faster than a turtle—it was indeed quite slow. Xu Yan caught up in a few steps, but after catching up, he scratched his head, somewhat at a loss.

This blurry golden small snake was similar to those ginseng spirits.

Old ginseng had to have spirit to be called a spiritual object. Presumably, the demon snake’s silver crown was the same. This golden small snake should be the demon spirit dwelling within the silver crown, just not yet fully grown. With the demon spirit escaped, the silver crown’s value would naturally be greatly reduced. What troubled Xu Yan was that he had no way to catch this obviously spiritual entity.