31: Kill Fengti, pass the test

"It's over."

"This demon is simply not something we can handle."

"We're dead for sure."

Looking up at the giant maw overhead that resembled an abyss, many soldiers collapsed to the ground, fear etched on their faces as they awaited the arrival of death.

At this moment, a figure streaked into the void, darting into Fenghu's mouth like a meteor.

"Demon, die!"

Yue Lou's body was covered in cracks, his eyes filled with determination as a massive amount of qi of heaven and earth gestated within his body.

The next moment, a dazzling white light filled the heavens and earth, accompanied by a thunderous boom. Fenghu's abyss-like giant maw was blasted apart by more than half, emitting black smoke and revealing the squirming dark red flesh walls inside.

The self-destruct attack of a Martial Artist at the Peak of the Aperture Opening Realm had even evaporated all the nearby demons.

However, this merely interrupted Fenghu from refining Cangyuan City. The flesh walls churned, and Fenghu's aura was rapidly recovering.

Seeing this, Li Jiangchen tossed the child with pigtails to Chen Yanran: "Watch him."

Before Chen Yanran could react, Li Jiangchen flashed through the air repeatedly, actually darting into Fenghu's mouth.

A moment later.

Inside the demon Fenghu.

The interior was vast, resembling a giant cave.

The ground and walls were all dark red flesh, riddled with holes, constantly squirming and inhaling/exhaling the qi of heaven and earth.

'This is just Fenghu's outer shell; I must find its true body to slay it...' Li Jiangchen thought to himself.

Suddenly, rustling noises came from the holes ahead. Ice Demons crawled out one by one, darting to the outside world and converging into a torrent of demons.

Li Jiangchen leaned against the back of a flesh wall, his body transforming into the appearance of an Ice Demon. Under the suppression of the Withered and Flourishing Sword Intent, not a shred of aura leaked out.

'That was close.'

He stood up and stepped into a hole. Inside, it was still cave-like flesh walls riddled with holes, with demons constantly entering and exiting.

This place was practically a maze; wanting to rely on luck to find where Fenghu's true body was located was wishful thinking.

At this moment, Li Jiangchen spread his palm, and a ball of light shaped like a lump of meat appeared within his Demon Kingdom in the Palm. It was precisely the remnant soul of Fenghu gathered from clearing out the demon cave several days ago.

This remnant soul had extremely low intelligence and zero combat strength.

However, as he approached the interior of Fenghu, the temperature gradually rose.

"Sure enough, approaching Fenghu's true body causes special changes. Temperature, is it..." Li Jiangchen darted into a hole, constantly exploring deeper inside.

With Fenghu's remnant soul in hand, he could continuously filter for the correct entrance based on the temperature changes, moving closer to Fenghu's true body.

A few breaths later.

Deep within the dark red flesh cave, a giant, wrinkled dark red brain was soaking in a pool of blood, surrounded by countless blood vessels connecting and extending to the dark red flesh walls.

The battlefield slaughter, Yue Lou's self-destruction, a figure darting into the hole... massive amounts of images poured into the dark red brain along the blood vessels.

The dark red brain flashed with light, and a series of bubbles emerged from the blood pool. The water level dropped at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the flesh wall in front quickly differentiated, from which walked out three Tiger-Bee Mantis demons with wings on their backs.

Their silver wings trembled, and Saber Qi slashed onto the flesh wall, leaving deep marks.

They were actually three Great Demons.

"Intruder, kill!" A cold female voice rang out in the void.

"Yes, Mother."

The Tiger-Bee Mantises left, and the aura of Fenghu's true body decreased.

Obviously, continuously gestating Great Demons consumed a lot of its energy.

"A little insect has broken in... For safety's sake, I should seal it off."

As soon as the words fell, the flesh walls squirmed, moving closer to each other and converging into a giant door of dark red flesh, covered in peculiar Restriction patterns.

On the other side, peculiar insect chirping sounds came through the holes, and Li Jiangchen felt a vague sense of unease.

"The aura of three Great Demons; was I discovered so quickly..."

The next moment, overwhelming numbers of demons crawled out from the holes, and the three Tiger-Bee Mantises blocked his path of retreat, closing in on Li Jiangchen.

"Intruder, kill!"

Their massive compound eyes flashed with cold light, their silver wings trembled, and brilliant Saber Qi attacked Li Jiangchen like rain.

Li Jiangchen's palm held life and death, and the Demon Kingdom in the Palm expanded. A ghastly white giant club protruded from the black mist; the Bloodthirsty Ox Demon swung the giant club like the wind, blocking the front and smashing the incoming saber light one by one.

Accompanied by roars, the remnant souls of three Great Demons darted out from within.

The Green-Scaled Fish Demon and the Purple Sun Poison Scorpion occupied Li Jiangchen's left and right, while a Human-Faced Owl flew above his head.

At the same time, the demon remnant souls accumulated from days of slaughter all darted out, instantly filling the cave.

They conversely surrounded the three Tiger-Bee Mantises and the insect demon tribe.

"In terms of numbers, I still have the upper hand."

The Demon Kingdom in the Palm captures demon souls, so their strength is naturally not as good as when they were alive.

However, when inside the Demon Kingdom in the Palm, enemies are suppressed and allies have their combat strength boosted. With this ebb and flow, the strength of the Great Demon remnant souls was not much different from their Peak period.

"Kill!"

The demon souls attacked in unison, like a meat grinder, and the scent of blood permeated the cave.

A moment later, the three heads of the Tiger-Bee Mantises fell to the ground and were crushed by Li Jiangchen with one foot.

Behind him, the four Great Demon remnant souls had tattered bodies, covered in injuries.

Among them, the Green-Scaled Fish Demon was the most miserable, its body almost slashed in two.

If it weren't for being a demon soul, it would have died long ago.

The black mist washed over, and three demon souls were captured from the corpses, but a faint sense of repulsion came from them.

"Sure enough, have I reached the limit?" Li Jiangchen frowned slightly.

Even though the Demon Kingdom in the Palm is a Peerless Grade Dao technique, it cannot contain demon souls without limit, especially Great Demon remnant souls, whose Realm is one major Realm higher than Li Jiangchen's, placing a huge burden on his Divine Soul.

In his perception, as soon as he enslaved the fifth Great Demon, his Divine Soul felt a wave of fatigue.

The Tiger-Bee Mantis demon souls were intact and their own combat strength was not bad. Most importantly, the three demons were of the same origin, and just now they even displayed a combined attack method; their combat strength was even above that of three ordinary Great Demons.

Li Jiangchen naturally did not want to give up.

With a thought, the most miserable Green-Scaled Fish Demon and Purple Sun Poison Scorpion wailed and dissipated, their demon souls turning into points of light.

At the same time, the three Tiger-Bee Mantises were born from the black mist.

Putting away the Demon Kingdom in the Palm, Li Jiangchen held Fenghu's remnant soul in his palm and darted inside at high speed.

"Getting closer and closer..."

A moment later, Li Jiangchen appeared in front of a giant door of dark red flesh.

"Is it right behind the door?"

On his palm, Fenghu's remnant soul was burning hot like fire.

Li Jiangchen swung his sword, and a thick Sword Qi turned into a white ribbon, landing on the giant flesh door.

Clang—

The giant flesh door split open a three-foot-long gash, and immediately after, the flesh squirmed and actually recovered rapidly.

"The attack power is not enough..."

Li Jiangchen opened the Demon Kingdom in the Palm and summoned the three Tiger-Bee Mantises.

"Use the combined attack technique and attack one point with full force."

The Tiger-Bee Mantises positioned themselves in a triad formation, their silver wings trembling behind them, and three Saber Qi phantoms appeared behind them, actually slowly converging into one, transforming into a giant silver blade.

Boom—

The giant blade slashed out, and the intense wind swept through the void. The tip of the Saber Qi struck the surface of the giant flesh door, piercing in violently and leaving a three-foot-long crack, through which the scene inside could be vaguely seen.

Now is the time!

Li Jiangchen cast the Spirit Fox Illusion Technique, his body ethereal like smoke and dust, and instantly squeezed through the crack into behind the door.

The moment he entered, the giant flesh door closed, recovering as before.

"That is Fenghu's true body... Not good!"

Ancient Spirit's voice rang out in his mind.

Li Jiangchen looked at the dark red brain soaking in the blood pool ahead, and only felt a strong mental shock rushing towards him.

In an instant, his Divine Soul felt intense pain, blood flowed from his nostrils, and his head felt like it was about to explode.

"Immortal Sword Intent, suppress!"

In his mind, the golden Immortal Sword Intent transformed into a giant shield, stabilizing his Divine Soul.

At the same time, Li Jiangchen crushed the remaining half of the cyan jade pendant, and countless Soul Threads were drawn out, landing on the dark red brain.

Immediately, that mental storm became sluggish, and an emotion mixed with anger, hatred, and terror was transmitted along the Soul Threads.

"Kill."

A greyish-white Sword Light flashed by, instantly slicing the dark red brain in two.

Within a few breaths, the brain withered, and Fenghu's aura rapidly extinguished.

In an instant, a sound reached the ears of all the examinees.

[Mysterious Grade Earth Vein Illusion — Xuan Yi 167, passed.]