Outside the ancestral hall, blood mist lingered in the air, the ground soaked with blood and scattered with severed limbs and broken bodies. Most of the villagers were already dead or severely injured.
Yang Yuhai’s face was ashen, his hands gripping Zhanfeng tightly as he trembled within a transparent Wind Shield.
The Protective Jade Talisman hanging from his neck had been drained of its spiritual power after multiple attacks from the Blood Fiend, no longer able to protect him.
The Zhanfeng blade in his hands was imbued with three layers of enchantments:
The first layer, Clearwind, could disperse any fog.
The second layer, Wind Blade, could release multiple sharp wind blades to slice through enemies.
Although these two enchantments could be used unlimited times, they consumed a tremendous amount of spiritual energy.
Especially the Wind Blade, which was the most draining.
With only his Qi Refining Second Level cultivation, Yang Yuhai’s spiritual energy was too weak to use these spells more than a few times.
Fortunately, the Zhanfeng blade itself stored a large reserve of spiritual energy for him to draw upon.
But after repeatedly unleashing the Wind Blades just now, most of the energy stored in Zhanfeng had been depleted.
The third enchantment he was currently using was the Wind Shield, which conjured a shield made of wind to block attacks. It could only be activated once every two hours.
He had just taken out a Mid-grade Spirit Stone and borrowed the spiritual energy within to forcefully maintain the shield around him.
A Mid-grade Spirit Stone was worth as much as a hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones, roughly equivalent to half a year’s pay.
But for the sake of survival, he no longer cared about the cost.
This Wind Shield was now his only means of self-defense.
Yet, under the relentless assault of that female demon’s Blood Fiend, it was on the verge of shattering.
He would soon be drained of blood and flesh by the Blood Fiend Demon Blade, becoming nothing more than a dried corpse like those lying on the ground.
Yang Yuhai was in utter despair, filled with deep regret.
He shouldn’t have come here today.
As a direct descendant of the Yang Family of Qinghe, holding the position of Subjugating Demon Commandant at the Hengqiao Post of the Demon-Slaying Bureau was an easy life.
Usually, he was a lazy official, doing little but eating, drinking, and playing around.
Whenever there was work, he’d pass it off to the Demon Slaying Division Officers, only showing up to collect his pay and training resources.
The quiet town of Hengqiao was remote, rarely troubled by demons or evil cultivators.
Cases reported to the Demon-Slaying Bureau here were usually just petty Rogue Cultivators pretending to be demons to scam villagers or Minor Demon Beasts that had just formed consciousness and injured a few people—nothing serious that couldn’t be handled by a few officers.
Today, he was simply bored and decided to come out.
Upon returning to the post, he happened to meet an Itinerant Peddler reporting that two Evil Daoists were terrorizing the villagers of Li Family Hollow.
Yang Yuhai thought it was just another pair of charlatans, so on a whim, he decided to personally lead a team to flaunt his official power and earn some credit.
He never expected to hit a brick wall, encountering such formidable opponents.
Now trapped in a dire situation, he had managed to send a Spirit Paper Crane to his family for help.
But the remote mountain village was far from his family’s base. It was unlikely he would hold out until reinforcements arrived.
He even thought sadly of his eighteenth concubine—young and beautiful—whom he had just taken in half a month ago.
Facing the Daoist Immortal Lady preparing to strike his faltering Wind Shield again, Yang Yuhai reflected on his brief, dissipated life.
Like a bereaved father mourning his child, his heart sank into hopelessness.
Tears streamed down his face.
Just as he was lost in sorrow, his eyes suddenly widened.
In the moonlight, he saw a graceful, radiant young woman emerge from the ancestral hall behind that female demon.
She casually wore a Daoist robe, her long hair draped over her shoulders, eyes sparkling with life.
She held an iron sword in her hand and moved with the elegance of a lotus blossom, her slender jade feet barely making a sound on the ground.
She was as if a celestial Immortal Master descended to the mortal world.
Her appearance transformed the hellish, bloody scene around into a beautiful painting.
Yang Yuhai was dumbfounded, his mind echoing only one thought:
So beautiful! So beautiful!
If he could spend a night with her, he’d die content.
He never imagined such a heavenly beauty could be found in this tiny mountain village.
He wondered whose daughter she could be.
Suddenly, Yang Yuhai recalled the Itinerant Peddler’s report of two Evil Daoists in the village.
This woman wore a Daoist robe. Could she be the other Evil Daoist?
Was she here to kill him too?
His fleeting lust immediately vanished.
……
Yu Honglian gripped the Blood Fiend tightly, her eyes full of contempt as she stared at Yang Yuhai shrinking inside the Wind Shield, ready to attack his weakening barrier.
This useless scion of the Yang family would soon be dead by her hand.
Then, she could use all the bodies here to forge the third layer of enchantment on her Blood Fiend Demon Blade.
Her Blood Fiend already had two layers of enchantments.
The first layer, Ghost Howl, struck directly at the spirit, disturbing the mind and causing those with low cultivation to tremble in fear, collapsing helplessly.
The second layer, Blood Mist, spread a red, blood-scented fog around her, enhancing her movement and attack power within it, allowing her to move swiftly through the mist.
The soon-to-be completed third layer was Corpse Poison.
Building upon the Blood Mist, it would emit poisonous toxins, weakening the defense, movement speed, and attack power of anyone poisoned.
With these three enchantments, the Blood Mist’s range would become her Absolute Domain.
In future battles, even against Qi Refining Late Stage cultivators, she was confident she could hold her ground.
Clenching the Blood Fiend tighter, she prepared to strike at Yang Yuhai again but suddenly saw him staring blankly behind her, his eyes wide and dazed, a foolish expression on his face.
Curious, Yu Honglian quickly turned her head.
She saw an exquisitely beautiful woman holding an iron sword, stepping gracefully under the cold moonlight, slowly approaching her.
The breathtaking sight made Yu Honglian, herself a woman, momentarily dazed.
Then she immediately snapped back to reality.
That was the Demon Snake!
This Demon Snake had broken free from her Binding Immortal Rope and escaped!
A surge of grief and hatred rose in Yu Honglian’s heart.
She had a deep bond with Yu Changfeng and his daughter.
Yu Changfeng’s right eye was damaged, his Foundation Establishment hopes dashed.
Since discovering his daughter, Yu Honglian, had a Spiritual Vein suitable for cultivation, he had poured all his energy and resources into her training.
Her talent was average at best; without her father’s devoted guidance, she wouldn’t have reached the Qi Refining Middle Stage.
Yu Honglian had always held her father in deep respect.
But today, after Yu Changfeng’s Soul Possession of that little snake, he suddenly became strange.
He had always been meticulous about his appearance, keeping multiple sets of clothes and shoes in his Storage Pouch, frequently changing.
But after the Transformation, he hadn’t changed clothes, simply stripping the old Daoist robe from his corpse and draping it casually on himself.
Since his Transformation, he seemed to be deliberately avoiding her, treating her with suspicion and distance, even leaving without a word earlier.
Most tellingly, he couldn’t even recall the name of the Blood Fiend Demon Blade he had personally given her.
At this point, Yu Honglian could no longer deny it.
This Demon Snake was not her father.
Her father had probably failed the Soul Possession, his soul scattered and lost.
Inside this snake’s body was someone else’s soul.
The one person in the world she never had to guard against, who truly cared for her, was gone forever.
Tears glimmered in Yu Honglian’s eyes.
She turned to Lin Xue, her gaze icy as she grit her teeth and said, “You Demon Snake, this Immortal Lady originally planned to deal with these lowly mortals first, then thoroughly interrogate you. But since you’re so eager to come out and die, Immortal Lady will grant your wish.”
“Monster, prepare to die!”
Her figure blurred within the blood mist, becoming a phantom as she swung her blade to stab at Lin Xue.