357 Defeating a Demon

Since Meng Qi and the others were afraid of losing their way and failing to return to the exit, they could only advance along the river flowing with scarlet water. They cautiously walked along the path, seeking cover under the strange black trees and large boulders as they looked out for possible targets.

Not all demons could condense Demonic Crystals. The Devil Qi in their bodies had to be thick enough for them to do so. In other words, their strength had to at least rival that of Iron Demon.

"How's that one? Feels like it's almost at the inferior Half-step Exterior Scenery level." Meng Qi was hiding behind a large, black boulder that seemed covered in human faces. Half of his head was exposed as he watched an evil spirit munching on something fish-like by the river.

The evil spirit was over three meters tall and had long, thick limbs. It was holding a heavy and unusually sharp demonic knife. Dense black gas enveloped its entire body, preventing them from seeing any details. The fish-like creature in its hands was three feet long with green scales. Black fur filled its cracks and a ring of sharp teeth lined its inner lip.

Blood and flesh sprayed everywhere as the evil spirit chomped on the fish and devoured it in a matter of seconds, leaving only large skeleton. Blood stained the evil spirit's mouth a deep crimson.

"We'll go for that one," Jiang Zhiwei said in a concise manner. Qi Zhengyan and the others expressed their agreement by keeping silent.

Thus, the five of them spread out. Ruan Yushu and Qi Zhengyan stayed in place, while Jiang Zhiwei and Zhao Heng sandwiched the evil spirit from the left and right sides. Meng Qi took a deep breath, and then directly charged at the spirit.

He hadn't expected to be able to deceive evil spirits of that level in the Demonic World. Their breaths, as well as the effect of the Devil-rinsing Charm, were all the more apparent in their current filthy environment. They were like fireflies in the darkness, bright and eye-catching.

Tap, tap, tap! With a blade in his right hand and strength pumping through his legs, Meng Qi dashed toward the evil spirit like a tank ready to flatten its opponent.

The evil spirit immediately became alert and turned around, swinging its demonic knife at Meng Qi. The Knife Qi was tangled in the black fog like a call from the Nine Serenities.

It was over three meters tall. Compared with Meng Qi, it was like half a mountain. It towered over him, making him feel as if he was incapable of defeating it.

Clang! Ruan Yushu focused her gaze and quickly strummed a note with her right hand. It was the Duo note from the Eight Non-human Sounds. The evil spirit suddenly froze, its Vital Spirit shaken up like it was about to be snatched away.

Meng Qi seized this opportunity and magically performed an unusual fold to dodge the Knife Qi. He arrived before the evil spirit's face.

He hollered, "Kill!"

The evil spirit shuddered as his Thundering scream resounded.

Meng Qi unleashed his Purple Thunder Force, slashing nine strokes with his long knife. Each stroke seemed to tremble in its place like residual shadows. Layer after layer compressed together, producing a sonorous rumble.

Boom!

The nine streaks of purple electricity were like dragons, crackling non-stop as they became tangled with one another to form a wheel that struck the evil spirit.

Boom!

Sky Thunder eliminated the evil on the spirit and completely dispelled the Devil Qi surrounding it, revealing its body underneath.

The evil spirit was full of black scales and looked like a lizard. A deep knife wound appeared on its body, revealing the bone underneath. Purple electric snakes slithered near the wound and continually smashed its nasty scales.

The evil spirit had just recovered from the sound of the zither when it fell into a state of extreme numbness.

Simultaneously, Qi Zhengyan activated the Dragon Stripe Golden Sword. Its light resembled a hornless dragon with a dim blue light launching itself at the evil spirit.

Everywhere the light passed, Devil Qi froze and turned into black snow, slowly scattering like the ash remaining from burnt paper.

The sword light hit the paralyzed evil spirit, exacerbating its knife wound. It pierced its body, causing dark red blood to spray. Like blood clots suspended in mid-air, the blood turned into ice crystals before even hitting the ground.

Shrouded in ice, the evil spirit struggled and ripped a clear mark on the ice with a scratching sound.

Jiang Zhiwei dashed forward. She struck the evil spirit with Hitting the Sea with her spirit-scaring sword, dragging the blade from its mid-brows down to its throat.

Crack! The thin layer of ice on the evil spirit 's face immediately shattered, but its head was also split in half. Black fluid poured out and its seriously damaged Vital Spirit wriggled further into its body.

Real evil spirits were far more tenacious than those formed through the whole-body imbuing of Devil Qi. That was especially so in terms of vitality!

Clang! Zhao Heng swung his sword that glowed dark golden, twisting it. The evil spirit's Vital Spirit disintegrated entirely and its huge body collapsed on the ground.

With their combined efforts, the evil spirit that was slightly stronger than Snake King was decapitated on the spot. Meng Qi hadn't even use his sword yet.

It was truly terrifying to go up against a complete team in a battle!

With the collapse of its body, the black Devil Qi inside the evil spirit tumbled about and condensed into a dark Demonic Crystal. Its body either melted away into blood or entered the magic crystal, leaving behind only a blood red spine. Underneath the smooth surface of the spine was a violent viciousness.

"Blood-red Demon's Bone. It's a decent smelting material," Ruan Yushu commented, having caught up to them.

Meng Qi turned around and told Zhao Heng, "Let her keep it first. When we return, we'll exchange it for Karma points and divide it equally among us."

"Sure," Zhao Heng replied. Meng Qi criticized him again internally for acting like a rich tyrant who couldn't be bothered with things of insignificant value to him.

After putting away the Blood-red Demon's Bone and the Demonic Crystal, they searched for other demons nearby since they didn't dare to venture deeper.

They went around a part of the forest along the river. Meng Qi's eyes suddenly widened. There was a huge golden Swastikas Seal right in front of him. He couldn't tell exactly how far they were from it, but it was definitely right before them. The gleaming Buddha light, Zen chanting, and demonic roars were exactly the same.

Why was it here?

Didn't they head in the opposite direction on purpose earlier?

Countless thoughts surfaced in Meng Qi's mind. He turned to look at the rest and saw that they wore similar expressions of surprise.

"There shouldn't be many Primogenitor Devils suppressed by Buddha's light..." Qi Zheng said, brows furrowing.

Meng Qi nodded and said gravely, "Let's assume that we're not surrounded by Swastikas Seal on all sides. That means that no matter where we go, we'll end up in that same spot where the Buddha's light is."

"It's possible that when Buddhist Monk Jiuzhen was sealing Primogenitor Devil after defeating it, he suppressed the surrounding evil spirits as well so they can't escape from this boundary. No matter where they go, they'll end up back at the heart. And the entrance to the Demonic World channel is their attempt at an escape..." Jiang Xiaowei said, making an inference based on what she knew.

Just as Ruan Yushu was about to speak, a bloody figure suddenly sprang out of the river. It was blurry but seemed to resemble a human. It emanated the stench of blood and filth. Meng Qi was so shaken up that he couldn't help shivering.

An evil spirit that reached the Exterior level?

Meng Qi was shocked and horrified, but he didn't have time to draw his knife before bloody figure leaped up and charged at Jiang Zhiwei at an unimaginable speed.

There was a flash of bloody red light followed by a shattering sound. The evil spirit had failed to penetrate Jiang Zhiwei's body and swallow her flesh and blood.

A water-type Soft Fish-scaled Armor? Meng Qi was overjoyed. His mental energy gushed out and his chest suddenly glowed with a warm and peaceful flame.

A bluish-white lamp, whose glow was neither bright nor brilliant, slowly floated up and stood in front of Meng Qi. Warmth without even the slightest hint of evil spread and illuminated all corners, leaving not one spot untouched. The light prevented even shadows, filling the place with a sense of tranquility and solemness.

"Amitabha."

"Ommanibaimehum."

The bloody figure shrieked as lines of blood-red light appeared on the surface of its body as if the glow of the lamp was about to purify it.

"Demon-subduing Pagoda!" Meng Qi shouted. He was armed with Heaven Inflicted Pain in his right hand and Flowing Fire in the other, ready to attack.

He was no Exterior-level master and his Buddha's Lamp was also damaged. It would be difficult to truly purify an Exterior-level blood demon.

Ruan Yushu had already retrieved the Demon-subduing Pagoda the moment the bloody figure pounced onto Jiang Zhiwei. She tossed it out while the demon was still under the influence of the Buddha's Lamp.

The seven-story glossy tower shone magnificently, with the prominent image of the Luohan Bodhisattva standing above each story. Each of them was talking about scriptures, creating residual shadows.

Amid the gleaming Buddha's light, the pagoda fell. With nowhere to run or hide thanks to Meng Qi's lamp, the pagoda squashed the bloody figure squarely on its head.

All its Devil Qi spewed out as the vague feeling of the bloody figure disappeared and its true form appeared. It was actually a bloody demonic skin with a pair of eyes and a nose!

They only had five breaths' time to spare! Without thinking twice, Meng Qi immediately stabbed the demon.

Flowing Fire was like a sunset glow across the sky, beautiful and unchanging, and without any means of escape. It lunged straight at the bloody skin.

The bluish-white lamp dimmed after the strike and returned to its original size, hanging on Meng Qi's chest.

A sizzling sound emitted, like that of burning fat, as Flowing Fire pierced the demon's bloody skin and created an obvious hole in it. Fierce and unyielding flames spread and swallowed up every inch of the skin.

The demon screeched like it was in a lot of pain.

Without the illumination of the lamp, it could move more easily but it wasn't as no longer as difficult to capture. Qi Zhengyan quickly followed up with Meng Qi and presented the Thousand-mile Freeze, turning the pallid light into Sword Qi and bringing the black snow back again. They froze into layers and layers of clear ice, sealing the demon in it.

After a brief adjustment, Jiang Zhiwei drew her sword. She no longer held back. Buddha's light dimmed ever so slightly. Her radiant sword light appeared to be the only entity between all of heaven and earth.

Following some mystical law, the sword light easily penetrated the layers of ice and struck the mid-brows of the demon. Sword Qi surged and shook the demon's evil spirit, crushing its Vital Spirit.

The gas dragon gathered behind Zhao Heng and launched itself as he swung his left palm out. It opened its jaws, engulfed the bloody demonic skin, and began ripping it apart.

Shreds of skin fell on the ground as the evil spirit's Vital Spirit was exterminated.

Meng Qi rejoiced on the inside. Had they not have their Demon-subduing Pagoda, they would've been in deep trouble since regular attacks didn't faze the demon. Their only chance would have been using Ruan Yushu's 12 Magical Sounds of Langhuan and Qi Zhengyan's Exterior-level attack at full force to control the evil spirit. Meng Qi would then have to use the Sky Thunder and a flame from the Eight-part Sky Dragon to repress the evil spirit's attacks and try to kill it. When that time came, if Jiang Zhiwei and Zhao Heng also had similar moves, there would still be hope. Otherwise, once the evil spirit catches its breath, they would be nothing more than human skins.

The Devil Qi that was spewing out returned and condensed into a blood-red Demonic Crystal.

Most of the bloody skin had seeped into the black soil, leaving only a palm-sized residue behind.

Jiang Zhiwei shook her clothes and the ashy particles of what had been the Soft Fish-scaled Armor fell out. Without it, she could have been killed on the spot earlier. That was unless her master had given her another means of preserving her life.

The armor contained Murky's Blood Essence. The evil spirit had first swallowed that, explaining why it had been blocked.

They had to thank Murky for saving both their lives… Meng Qi quietly heaved a sigh of relief. His Soft Fish-scaled Armor had shattered under the impact of the Flame-scorching Devilman's final blow at the shrine on the mountain. It had broken beyond repair but had allowed him to win against three opponents alone. He considered that a worthy tradeoff.

"You alright?" Meng Qi asked in concern.

Jiang Zhiwei exhaled and shook her head. "I'm fine."

"We already have five Demonic Crystals. Even if Bluecloud Progenitor only gets one, we have enough to blast the channel apart. Why don't we turn around now and hide near the entrance? If we encounter a powerful evil spirit, we can directly return to the palace. They wouldn't be able to follow us through the unstable channel," Meng Qi suggested.

"Okay." Ruan Yushu didn't say much and Qi Zhengyan only nodded.

Jiang Zhiwei gently nodded. "On our way back, let's try to kill another evil spirit below the Exterior level."

"I hope Bluecloud Progenitor won't let us down." Zhao Heng sighed. Bluecloud Progenitor was on the Exterior level, so killing evil spirits on the Half-step level and below was nothing to her. It would be easy for her to obtain another Demonic Crystal. He was just worried that greed would blind her and she would only focus on going deeper into the channel.

They retraced their steps along the river of blood and soon saw the faint void of gloom and darkness.

Out of the blue, a demonic roar erupted over the zen chants from the core suppressed by the Swastikas Seal. Black tornadoes emerged from the core and began spreading everywhere.