24: Kill the Black Mountain Demon's offspring

“What kind of demon is this, to actually devour an existence close to True Core in one gulp…”

Gu Changsheng was shocked.

This demon was clearly a trap, waiting for Cultivators to deliver themselves as food.

His recent battle had evidently triggered the demon’s awakening.

The power it exuded, even unawakened, surpassed that of the City God's strangeness from last time.

True Core? Profound Cave… or even stronger?

I must escape!

Blood Burn!

Activating the sixth-tier Blood Shadow Art to its limit, Gu Changsheng transformed into a bloody rainbow, speeding through the valley.

“Three breaths… at most three breaths, and the valley will completely close… I must escape within three breaths.”

The valley was the demon’s mouth.

Once it closed, Gu Changsheng didn’t believe he had the confidence to break through the barrier and escape.

Roar—

The earth shook, and a terrifying sound wave emanated from deep underground, as if from the netherworld, reverberating from afar and causing blood to flow from Gu Changsheng’s seven orifices.

At this moment, the heavens and earth were dim, and the two sides of the valley were only a sliver away from closing, allowing a thin line of daylight from the outside to pierce through.

“Explode for me!”

Gu Changsheng’s neck veins bulged, and his eyes turned bloodshot.

Blood Burn!

Blood Dragon, explode!

Inside his body, the Blood Dragon in his spine let out a long cry, then shattered with a boom, and surging Qi and Blood energy flowed through his Meridians, circulating throughout his entire body.

In this critical moment, he couldn’t care about the trump card he had nurtured for a year.

Whoosh—

A blood-red sphere, moving at its extreme speed, flew out of the valley, shooting thirty li away in a single breath.

Pfft—

Gu Changsheng’s face was extremely pale. He leaned against a bluestone, suddenly spitting out a mouthful of blood, which dripped from the bluestone onto the ground.

The extremely fast speed brought an immense physical burden, one that even the Asura Golden Body couldn’t endure.

At this moment, he felt as if his internal organs were churning, and his body was being torn into eighteen pieces.

Gu Changsheng felt a bit dejected, and said with a wry smile, “Finally… I escaped… but this trip really cost me a lot.”

The Qi and Blood accumulated over a year were instantly depleted.

The Blood Dragon nurtured in his spine was left with only a trace of free-floating Qi and Blood energy, barely maintaining its Dragon form, drawing Qi and Blood from various parts of his body.

“Damn divination, the hexagram clearly showed good fortune with a touch of bad, with good being primary and bad secondary.

Yet I almost died there just now.

This turtle shell divination is indeed unreliable.”

Gu Changsheng cursed.

Fortunately, after his Golden Body condensed, his body’s recovery ability greatly increased.

After a few breaths, the injuries to his internal organs improved, and his Qi and Blood slowly recovered.

Gu Changsheng looked solemnly at the distant black mountain.

Surging black Qi swept across the heavens and earth, turning an area of nearly a hundred li into Chaos.

Where the black mountain once stood, a city rose from the ground.

Rows of headless corpses hung around the city walls, swaying in the wind.

At the foot of the city, piles of white skulls formed small mountains, constantly making creaking sounds from their mouths.

And in the very center of the city gate, the three large characters ‘Yinshan City’ were boldly written.

Suddenly, the city gate opened wide, and an enormous long tongue extended out, piercing into the clouds.

In an instant, wind and thunder roared, lightning flashed, and countless silver patterns emerged in the Void Realm, yet despite the earth-shattering movements of Yinshan City, it could not break through the defense line.

Purple heavenly lightning descended, striking the long tongue, immediately eliciting terrifying wails and cries of agony.

“This Yinshan City… should be the demon’s true form.

Such an enormous size… it’s truly outrageous.

Its aura is thousands of times stronger than mine, if not more.

It’s at least a Great Demon of the Profound Cave Realm.

Even so, it’s still bound by the silver patterns and purple heavenly lightning, unable to move a single step from its original spot.

Such methods are simply incredible.”

Gu Changsheng watched from afar, muttering.

At this moment, the Void Realm trembled, and a terrifyingly ear-piercing demonic sound came through.

“Long-brow… you won’t… bind this Venerable One…”

Sizzle… sizzle.

A sesame-sized black flesh ball detached from the black mountain, piercing through the thousands of silver patterns surrounding the black mountain’s Void Realm, and shot out as a black line.

Its direction was precise, heading straight for Gu Changsheng’s location.

“Damn it, it can even target me!”

Gu Changsheng’s hair stood on end.

Although the black ball appeared to be only the size of a speck of dust, it was an existence that had detached from the Great Demon’s main body, so how could it be treated lightly?

Escape!

Gu Changsheng ran at full speed, his body a blur, constantly trying to change direction to shake off the black ball behind him.

However, to his shock, countless black threads shot out from the black ball’s body, continuously devouring the surrounding living beings, and its size rapidly grew from sesame-sized to soybean-sized.

Its aura also increased accordingly.

Most importantly, it was still closely following behind him.

“It really is coming for me… Is it that vengeful… I only collapsed a few mountain sections and shattered a few large rocks.

Based on the injury, it’s at most a mouth ulcer.

Is it really necessary…?”

Gu Changsheng was feeling depressed when his eyes suddenly lit up, and his mind connected to a faint, ethereal link.

This was his mental link with the Sword Spirit.

“Unknowingly, have I already fled within thirty li of Chenping County?

If I retreat further, it will be the people of an entire county…”

Gu Changsheng stopped, his expression solemn, looking at the twisting and struggling black ball ten li away.

After devouring a large number of living beings along the way, its size had already expanded to that of a fist.

At this moment, like a spherical mass of expired black milk, it writhed its body, and drops of black liquid dripped to the ground, emitting sizzling corrosive sounds.

Perceiving that Gu Changsheng was no longer fleeing, the black ball slowed down, its body rapidly swelled, transforming into its hideous demonic true form.

Its single eye was crimson, and it stuck out a pitch-black long tongue, a dense maliciousness washing over him.

“It seems an unavoidable fight… Fortunately, it’s not a full Realm higher than me… If this drags on, it’ll be hard to say.”

Gu Changsheng raised his right hand high, his palm cupped, and suddenly shouted into the air, “Sword, come!”

In an instant, thunder struck on flat ground.

A green sword shadow flew out from a courtyard, transforming into an Azure Dragon phantom that pierced through the Void Realm, flying over at extreme speed.

Three breaths later, a small Azure Dragon entered his hand, transforming into a sharp treasured longquan sword.

The blade was greenish-white, gleaming with a cold light.

An Azure Dragon phantom lay coiled on it, spitting out Sword Qi from its mouth.

As soon as it entered his hand, a feeling of Bloodline connection arose from the bottom of his heart, and the essence of Yi Wood flowed into Gu Changsheng’s body along the sword hilt, repairing the damage to his internal organs.

“Three years of nurturing this sword, and today it finally unsheathes.

Azure Dragon, you’ve been yearning for this for a long time, haven’t you?”

Clang clang—

The sword hummed softly, as if responding to Gu Changsheng’s words.

“Good, today will be your first battle.

Let the blood of this demon be your whetting!”

Whoosh—

The familiar Qingfeng Swordplay was unleashed, and in an instant, dense Sword Qi enveloped the Void Realm, layer upon layer, strangling the demon’s true form.

Qingfeng Swordplay was merely a mortal Martial Skill, but having been elevated to the sixth-tier by Gu Changsheng, it had long since transcended the mundane and contained the profound mysteries of the Dao.

With this single move, even the Ancestral Master who created Qingfeng Swordplay would surely not recognize it if he were present.

Bang bang bang—

Sword Qi struck the demon’s body, splashing countless sparks.

The black mountain demon’s body was extremely tough, yet Gu Changsheng still noticed its aura weaken by a fraction.

Approximately one-thousandth.

“The sub-entity of a Great Demon is indeed extraordinary.

Just the toughness of this body alone could easily kill the White Lotus Sect’s Holy Emissary with a single slap.

Too bad… it ran into me.”

Gu Changsheng swung his sword like rain, Sword Qi as thick as a finger gushing out as if it cost nothing.

Half an hour later, the black mountain demon’s true form’s aura weakened, to less than thirty percent of its original strength.

The more this happened, the more vigilant Gu Changsheng became.

Who knew what other trump cards the Great Demon’s sub-entity might have hidden?

Sure enough, the black mountain demon’s true form let out a roar in the air, a silver light burst from its crimson single eye, and a suffocating oppressive force crushed down, almost making Gu Changsheng unable to hold the longquan sword in his hand.

“This is… Yuanci force…”

Gu Changsheng forcefully raised his Qi and Blood, golden light surged from his body, and his aura connected with the boundless Evil Qi hidden deep within the longquan sword.

“Slay!”

A blood-red thin line streaked across the sky, and the black mountain demon shattered into pieces, falling to the ground and spilling a pool of black foul blood.

Within this foul blood, a hint of purplish-red was revealed.

It was a thumb-sized bead.