Yang Zhen stroked his long beard beneath his chin, let out a chuckle, and said,
“It’s just a stray cat that’s learned to take human form. Where does your confidence come from? What ability do you think you have that could possibly harm me?”
He was only giving it one last try at negotiation, to see if the other party might hand Lin Xue over to him.
Since that wasn’t going to happen, he was already preparing to withdraw.
As for the matter of the Foundation-building Pill, he would have to come up with another plan later.
After all, this was the Beast Territory, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty.
But the red-robed female demon across from him spoke so wildly, wanting to keep him here—she clearly didn’t know her place.
Although Jindan-level great demons were about equal to human Foundation Establishment cultivators, demons rarely had sects or family inheritance, most were wild types, and when fighting tended to rely mainly on brute strength.
Even if there were three Jindan great demons on the other side, in his eyes they were nothing but three Mountain Barbarians.
He was confident he could leave at his leisure.
“How dare you!”
“Such impudence!”
“Arrogant old human, do not be disrespectful to our Demon Princess!”
The little demons were all furious, brandishing their weapons and cursing loudly, but they all just stood in place—none dared approach.
The feminine-looking man beside the red-robed demoness snapped his fan closed with a “swish,” turned to her and smiled,
“Yan Zhi, this old human dares to spout such wild talk—he truly does not know the height of the heavens. No need for you to lift a finger. Allow me, Lang Buping, to teach him a lesson for you, so you can just watch me vent your anger.”
The Black Bear Spirit next to him was not about to be outdone.
Stepping forward, he said in a loud voice, “Yan Zhi, that Weasel Spirit Lang Buping is useless! Look at his skinny arms and legs—what strength could he possibly have? Just watch me! I, Xiong Ba, will go and smash that old human for you right now!”
Lin Xue, hearing the Black Bear Spirit expose the effeminate man, realized that this Lang Buping was actually a transformed Weasel Spirit.
That Weasel Spirit’s transformation was quite flawless; nothing betrayed his origins.
Lang Buping’s face darkened with anger. “You plague bear, what use are you besides brute strength? You’re nothing but a clumsy lout!”
The Black Bear Spirit shot back, “And you, stinking Weasel, what can you do? A few paltry tricks, and when you can’t win you just let out a stink—if you’ve got the guts, quit farting around and fight me head-on, fist to fist! Dare you?”
The two demons glared furiously at each other.
The red-robed demoness known as Yan Zhi smiled lightly and said, “Don’t fight, brothers. Didn’t you both want to marry me? How about this—go at him together, teach this old man a lesson. Whoever contributes the most, I’ll consider marrying.”
The Black Bear Spirit was instantly overjoyed at her words.
He forgot all about bickering with Lang Buping. His bear face broke into a huge grin, and he asked, “Yan Zhi, do you mean it?”
Lang Buping also looked eager and ready to go.
The red-robed demoness smiled, “Of course I mean it.”
The Black Bear Spirit burst out laughing. “Good! Yan Zhi, just watch your Xiong Ba in action!”
He immediately shoved aside the little demons in front of him, bellowed, and charged at Yang Zhen with his two massive legs pounding the earth, leaving basin-sized pits with every step.
Lin Xue could feel the ground shuddering with each heavy footfall.
Xiong Ba rushed past Lin Xue, stomped down hard, and the ground instantly cracked open beneath him.
Using the force of that stomp, Xiong Ba leapt up, soaring several zhang into the air.
In mid-air, he clenched his fists—his huge bear paws came together like a giant hammer, raised above his head, and with a howling wind, he smashed down at Yang Zhen on the ground below.
“Take a smash from your Grandpa Bear!”
His arm muscles bulged with terrifying strength—this single blow seemed to carry the force of a thousand tons.
If it were an ordinary person, they’d be pounded into a pulp on the spot.
Even smashing into the ground would shake the earth.
Lin Xue watched this attack, which felt like Mount Tai crashing down, and thought that if it were her taking this blow, she could never withstand it and would definitely have to use the Paper Substitute Technique.
This Black Bear Spirit certainly was brimming with brute strength.
Yang Zhen looked at Xiong Ba, who seemed like a giant, hammering down toward him, and a cold smile appeared on his face.
He had actually been about to turn and flee, but seeing how these demons were showing off, he stopped in his tracks.
The effect of the Bone-Eroding Pill he’d taken was still present.
The years of lost lifespan were already irrecoverable, so while the medicinal strength still remained, he might as well teach these ignorant demons a lesson and let them see the true power of a human cultivator!
He neither dodged nor avoided, but calmly raised his left hand—a giant phantom palm appeared, rising to meet Xiong Ba’s twin fists.
Xiong Ba’s smash landed directly on this phantom palm.
A powerful vibration seemed to ripple through the air.
Yang Zhen’s expression did not change; he simply clenched his left hand.
The phantom palm immediately grasped Xiong Ba’s fists in its grip.
Xiong Ba’s huge paws were caught tightly in the phantom hand.
Landing solidly on the ground, Xiong Ba confidently tried to yank his fists free.
But he could not pull them out.
He was stunned.
He never expected this old human to have so much strength.
He’d always been proud of his natural-born might—on his home mountain, Niu’er Mountain, aside from his father Xiong Pi and his big brother Xiong Zhi, there was no demon stronger than him.
He stood straddling the earth, his massive body towering over the thin Yang Zhen like a giant.
But now, no matter how much strength he used, muscles bulging all over, he could not extract his fists.
His bear paws might as well have been welded into that phantom hand.
Furious, Xiong Ba lifted his tree-trunk-sized leg and aimed a flying kick at Yang Zhen.
His leg was longer than Yang Zhen was tall, and thicker than Yang Zhen’s whole body; his paw was almost half the size of Yang Zhen.
The kick came sweeping in with a howling wind, aimed at Yang Zhen’s head.
But Yang Zhen simply flicked his hand—the phantom palm followed his motion, and before Xiong Ba’s kick could land, the giant hand, still gripping his fists, flung his huge body far away.
Xiong Ba flew a dozen zhang, landing heavily with a crash, raising a cloud of dust and smashing a huge pit into the ground.
Lin Xue could feel the earth trembling.
Lang Buping laughed heartily, fanning himself, and mocked, “I told you, you silly bear, you’re no use at all—just a clumsy brute with nothing but brute force.”
Xiong Ba picked himself up, his pan-shaped black face twisted in fury, and cursed, “You damn weasel, Yan Zhi said we’d both go together—so why did you hide behind me, doing nothing?”
Lang Buping shook his fan, “If two people attack together, how can anyone tell whose ability is greater? You clumsy bear, just squat over there and watch how Young Master Lang deals with this old man.”
He flung his fan at Yang Zhen.
The fan flew into the air and instantly grew larger, opening to reveal its surface.
Painted on the fan was a huge eye.
It looked quite ordinary apart from its size, nothing else special.
The fan, now as big as a hill, swept down at Yang Zhen, trying to swat him like a fly.
Yang Zhen waved his hand, the phantom palm struck out at the fan.
“Pa!”
The air rippled again.
The fan spun as it flew back, rapidly shrinking like a deflating ball, until it returned to its normal size.
Lang Buping’s face darkened with disbelief as he retrieved the fan. “Impossible! Why isn’t my treasure working today?”
Yang Zhen shook his head and sneered.
“As expected, you’re just wild beasts from the mountains, with no real insight. Demons, whatever tricks you have, use them now. I haven’t moved in nearly a hundred years—today, I’ll loosen up these old bones and open your eyes to the means of a human cultivator!”
The demons across from him all showed different expressions.
Lang Buping turned and cupped his hands to the red-robed demoness, saying, “Yan Zhi, I suddenly recall urgent business at home and must take my leave.”
He didn’t wait for a reply. A yellow cloud rose beneath his feet and he flew off without a backward glance.
Xiong Ba, holding his paws, also said to the red-robed demoness, “Yan Zhi, I can’t beat this old man either, so I’ll be going as well.”
He conjured a black cloud and flew off in another direction.
The red-robed demoness called Yan Zhi watched as the two demons suddenly left her side. Her expression flickered.
She shot a venomous look at Yang Zhen, then stamped her foot and ordered, “Let’s go, back home!”
A red cloud rose under her feet, scooping up the dozen little demons, and they flew away at high speed.
All the demons were gone in an instant, leaving only the Snake Spirit and her man.
Yang Zhen looked at them.
The Snake Spirit and her man both looked pale.
The man dropped to his knees with a thud, trembling uncontrollably.
The Snake Spirit prostrated herself, her beautiful form shaking, not daring to lift her head, holding up a red pill in both hands.
It was the Foundation-building Pill from the Yang family!
The Snake Spirit’s voice was filled with fear, “Ancestor, this little one knows her wrongs and is willing to return the Foundation-building Pill. Please, Ancestor, spare our lives.”
Yang Zhen burst out laughing.
He’d thought that after meeting these three great demons today, there was no way he’d get back the Foundation-building Pill in the Snake Spirit’s hand.
He never expected that just by showing a bit of strength, the three great demons would flee in fright, leaving the Snake Spirit to him.
Demons were still just demons—some cultivation, but ultimately still beasts, how could they compare to human cultivators?
Yang Zhen was delighted. With a flick of his sleeve, he strode toward the Snake Spirit to take back the Foundation-building Pill, intending to kill both her and her man with a single palm strike.
He had only just moved when he suddenly sensed something was wrong.
How could it be so easy?
Was there some kind of problem?
A strong sense of danger suddenly surged up within him.
Before he could identify the source, everything before his eyes suddenly shattered.
There was no Foundation-building Pill. No Snake Spirit kneeling and begging for mercy.
The red-robed demoness was still there, standing not far away with her crowd of little demons, watching.
Lang Buping stood ten zhang away, forming a hand seal and chanting something.
Up in the air, the fan hadn’t swept down. Its surface had opened, and the giant eye on it was staring straight at him.
A massive bear paw was crashing down on him.
The protective Suppressing Talisman on Yang Zhen’s Daoist Robe flashed briefly, then shattered under the bear paw’s strike.
The bear paw landed squarely on his face.
Yang Zhen, teeth shattered, flew through the air and slammed heavily into the ground.
He heard the Weasel Spirit curse furiously, “You damn stupid bear! My Fan Eye was about to completely hypnotize him, and you had to go and wake him up!”
Yang Zhen instantly understood:
He’d fallen under that weasel’s illusion!
There was something wrong with the eye on that fan!
Everything just now was a hallucination.
I should have realized sooner!
His heart was filled with regret.
After establishing Foundation Establishment and becoming the number one cultivator in Xichuan, no one had dared to challenge him for a hundred years.
He’d grown complacent, hadn’t fought anyone in all that time, and let his vigilance drop to this extent—today, he’d actually been fooled by a demon.
Yang Zhen was furious.
A black cloud pressed down from above.
The Black Bear Spirit, once more with Mount Tai-crushing force, was smashing down at him, fists clasped together.
Yang Zhen shed all underestimation for the demons, stifled his anger, transformed into a streak of light, dodged the Black Bear Spirit’s attack, shot up into the sky, and flew at top speed toward Xichuan.
A gentleman’s revenge, even after ten years is not too late.
For now, he would withdraw and plan how to deal with these demons and reclaim the Foundation-building Pill!
Xiong Ba’s heavy blow left a radiating, cracked pit in the earth.
He lifted his head and, baring his bear teeth, roared at the direction Yang Zhen had fled, “Old man! If you’ve got the guts, don’t run! Fight your Grandpa Bear three hundred rounds, fair and square!”
Lang Buping walked over, fanning himself as he watched Yang Zhen’s figure disappear, shaking his head in regret, “It’s all your fault, you plague bear! Otherwise, I really could have kept him here.”
The red-robed demoness clapped her hands and walked over to the two, laughing as she went, “Well done, brothers! You beat that old man so hard his teeth are all over the ground. I’m very pleased.”
The little demons followed at her heels, step by step.
Hearing her praise, both Xiong Ba and Lang Buping were delighted.
Xiong Ba’s bear face almost split with his grin.
Lin Xue saw that Yang Zhen had fled, and with all the demons watching his departing streak of light, no one was paying attention to her.
She quickly poured demon power into the Paper Crane, transforming it into an immortal crane, then grabbed Zhang Zongnian, leaped onto its back, and prepared to take off at once.
The crane flapped its wings and began to run.
But after only a few steps, the Spirit Stone at its eye suddenly shattered, breaking into pieces and falling from the socket.
The crane instantly slowed, then came to a stop.
“The Spirit Stone’s power is depleted. We need to replace it,” Zhang Zongnian said beside her.
Lin Xue’s vision darkened—she nearly spat blood.
Why did the Spirit Stone’s power have to run out at this crucial moment?
Normally, a cultivator would use their own power to keep the artifact flying, then replace the Spirit Stone.
But she was only at mid-Body Tempering; the demon power in her body was not enough to drive the Paper Crane.
There was no time to swap out the Spirit Stone.
The demons all heard the commotion and turned as one to look her way.
The red-robed demoness shot Lin Xue a mocking glance.
She ordered her little demons, “Go, capture those two!”