“Bang!”
The precious, exquisitely crafted rosewood desk shattered under Yang Deguang’s palm, splinters and wood chips flying everywhere.
The maid behind him, along with several Yang Family juniors in the room who had taken turns controlling the Bird Demon, all jumped in fright.
They stared at Yang Deguang, whose face was twisted in fury, each of them holding their breath, not daring to utter a sound, nor to ask what had happened.
Yang Deguang’s face was flushed with anger as he paced swiftly back and forth in the room, cursing under his breath,
“Outrageous, simply outrageous! How could that demon girl have something like the Fuyao Wang on her?”
Everyone in the room, seeing his appearance, already understood: that demon girl had likely escaped yet another pursuit.
The plan to rent a Spiritual Bird from the Beast Taming Sect and venture deep into the Beast Territory to reclaim the Foundation-building Pill now seemed doomed to fail.
The last junior who had controlled the Bird Demon felt a surge of relief in his heart: luckily, he’d noticed that the demon girl left the cave just in time and had handed over control of the Crow Demon to Yang Deguang.
Otherwise, if things had gone wrong while he was in charge, he couldn’t even imagine how harshly Yang Deguang would punish him.
Everyone in the room remained silent, watching Yang Deguang rage helplessly.
An old man in yellow robes walked into the room.
On his chest were embroidered the small characters “Beast Taming Sect.”
With a cold face, he looked at Yang Deguang and said, “Patriarch Yang, why do I suddenly feel my Crow has severed its Soul Connection with me?”
Yang Deguang’s face went from red to pale, showing an awkward expression.
He sighed and said, “Brother Li, I never expected that demon girl to be so cunning. She actually hid a Fuyao Wang on her, and I fell for her trick in a moment of carelessness. I’m afraid your Crow is unlikely to have survived.”
The Beast Taming Sect disciple surnamed Li immediately looked displeased.
He said, “Patriarch Yang, this Crow has followed me for many years and its cultivation has already reached the Body Tempering Peak, just a step away from Jindan and becoming a Grand Demon. I’ve spent a fortune in resources to raise it.”
“We agreed beforehand that if my Crow suffered any damage, your Yang Family would compensate. Now that it’s been lost in your hands, I ask that you prepare the compensation as agreed, so I can collect it and return to the Sect to report.”
Yang Deguang wore a bitter face and said,
“Brother Li, rest assured, the compensation owed by our Yang Family will not fall short. But since the Bird Demon was killed by that demon girl and its corpse is left in Luoyun Cave, if the cave’s master discovers it’s a Spiritual Bird from the Beast Taming Sect, I’m afraid there’ll be trouble. Do you have any means to deal with this aftermath?”
The Beast Taming Sect disciple surnamed Li snorted coldly and said,
“You needn’t worry, Patriarch Yang. Our Beast Taming Sect has long prepared for this. My Crow has a Sealing Technique within its body—if it dies, it will Burst, leaving no traces. Luoyun Cave will find nothing.”
Yang Deguang finally breathed a slight sigh of relief and nodded. “That’s good, that’s good.”
In his heart, he ground his teeth and cursed, “A Burst, fine—may it blow up that damned Serpent Demon and that Constable who was with her! Avenge my son Yuting!”
Unfortunately, the Foundation-building Pill was hopelessly lost.
Back Mountain of Xixia Mountain, Zhang Zongnian stabbed again and again at the throat of the Crow Demon caught in the net.
The Crow Demon’s cultivation was near the Body Tempering Peak; its thick feathers made for formidable defense.
Zhang Zongnian spent all his strength before he managed to drive the blade into its neck.
The Crow Demon, with all its cultivation, was suppressed by the Fuyao Wang and could neither move nor fight back.
It could only watch, eyes wide, as Zhang Zongnian, merely at Qi Refinement Third Level Complete, stabbed it to death, blow by blow.
Its beak hung open, its bird eyes growing dim and losing their light, blood pooling beneath it, slowly revealing its true form—a fat, plump crow.
Not reassured, Zhang Zongnian gritted his teeth and stabbed the crow many more times, only stopping when he was certain it was utterly, irreversibly dead.
Letting out a long breath, Zhang Zongnian dropped his blade and lifted the Fuyao Wang, releasing Lin Xue.
Lin Xue sprang up from the ground nimbly, like a carp leaping from water.
She stowed the Fuyao Wang back into her Storage Pouch, grateful that after killing Yang Yuhai that day, she had taken this treasure.
She’d been captured by Yang Yuhai with this net and knew its formidable power.
It had a strong suppressive effect on minor demons at the Body Tempering stage, so she kept it on her, thinking it might come in handy someday.
Unexpectedly, today was the day.
If not for this net, she and Zhang Zongnian would have died beneath the Crow Demon’s blade.
Lin Xue and Zhang Zongnian exchanged a glance, both their eyes gleaming with the excitement of imminent freedom.
With no more enemies, they could finally escape atop the Paper Crane.
Lin Xue looked at the Crow Demon’s corpse on the ground, remembering that the set of Fei Zhen was stored in the Storage Pouch hanging from its neck.
She hesitated, unsure whether to snatch the Storage Pouch from the Crow Demon’s neck, break it open, and retrieve the Fei Zhen.
The Fei Zhen was extremely powerful. Paired with Qian Ji Zhi Meng, it was a formidable tool for area attacks.
But the Fei Zhen, along with the Zhanfeng lying on the ground and the Jade Pendant, were all Yang Family artifacts.
She worried that escaping with these items would allow the Yang Family to track her down again.
After a moment’s consideration, Lin Xue decided to abandon the Fei Zhen.
After all, it was only a magical artifact—the important thing was Qian Ji Zhi Meng, the Skill itself.
With the Skill, she could always find another set of needle-type magical artifacts later.
There was no need to run everywhere with a set of Yang Family artifacts that could give away her position.
Similarly, she had no intention of taking Zhanfeng from the ground.
She decided to make a clean getaway!
Lin Xue immediately took out the Paper Crane from her Storage Pouch and infused it with spiritual power.
The Paper Crane transformed into a lifelike Immortal Crane.
The spirit stone in the crane’s eye had already been replaced by Zhang Zongnian earlier, so the Immortal Crane was ready to fly at any time.
Lin Xue could already feel freedom waving at her.
Unable to wait any longer, she jumped onto the back of the Immortal Crane and called out to Zhang Zongnian, “Brother Zhang, let’s go!”
But Zhang Zongnian picked up Zhanfeng from the ground and reached for the Crow Demon’s corpse.
He said, “Miss Lin, wait a moment. I’ll just get a few Serpent Cores, and then we’ll go.”
He’d already memorized both the Heavenly Demon Transformation Art and the Beast Refinement Codex.
Next, he only needed to prepare a Serpent Core, then find a Spirit Beast or Spiritual Bird with a Spiritual Vein, possess it, swallow the Serpent Core, and, with Lin Xue’s help in digesting the core, he could transform back into a complete human form and resume cultivation.
Serpent Cores in the Bazaar were incredibly expensive—he couldn’t afford one.
But right now, there were ten late Body Tempering demon corpses here, with ten Serpent Cores—he would be a fool not to take them.
Lin Xue was anxious and tried to persuade him, “I’ll help you find Serpent Cores later. Let’s just leave now—before that tigress comes after us.”
But Zhang Zongnian had already grabbed the crow’s corpse and plunged his blade into its abdomen.
While gutting the crow, he said, “Then I’ll just take this one. It’ll only take a second.”
He was just about to reach into the crow’s body for the Serpent Core when suddenly, the corpse began to swell rapidly.
At the sight, every hair on Lin Xue’s body stood on end, a chill running from head to toe—her soul nearly fled in terror!
She had seen this happen before, on the dying Yang Yuting.
She recognized it—the crow was about to Burst!
“Watch out!” she cried out.
Zhang Zongnian also sensed something was wrong the moment the crow’s corpse began to swell.
Immediately, he flung the corpse far away and turned to run desperately toward the Immortal Crane.
The crow’s body soared through the air, swelling into a giant ball just a few meters away.
Lin Xue swiftly leapt off the crane, grabbed Zhang Zongnian, and they both hid behind the Immortal Crane.
She snatched Zhanfeng from Zhang Zongnian’s hand and activated Wind Shield, throwing herself in front of Zhang Zongnian.
She thought to herself: Zhang Zongnian had no protection, but she was wearing the Demon-Suppressing Robe, now fully charged with defensive energy.
She could withstand a bit more than he could, so she instinctively shielded him.
A thick Wind Shield enveloped them both.
“Bang—!” With a thunderous roar.
The swollen crow corpse hadn’t even hit the ground before it exploded violently in mid-air.
A crater radiating outwards appeared instantly on the ground.
A powerful shockwave blasted out in all directions.
Outside the Wind Shield, the Immortal Crane was immediately blown to dust, scattering into a cloud of paper scraps.
The Wind Shield shattered as well.
Lin Xue’s Demon-Suppressing Robe flickered with spiritual light, blocking part of the shockwave for her.
But some of the tremendous force still slammed into her delicate body.
It felt as though a solid wall had flown at her, striking her fiercely.
She cried out in pain, her vision going black, and was hurled into Zhang Zongnian’s arms.
The two of them tumbled together, rolling over and over across the ground.
Zhang Zongnian scrambled to his feet.
Thanks to the Wind Shield and Lin Xue’s protection, most of the blast had been blocked—he was nearly unharmed.
He looked to Lin Xue lying motionless nearby.
Panic flooded Zhang Zongnian’s heart.
He staggered over, scooping Lin Xue into his arms.
Her eyes were shut tight, a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth.
Zhang Zongnian was filled with remorse, wishing he could slap himself hard.
If only he hadn’t been greedy for that Serpent Core, if only he’d left with Lin Xue immediately—she wouldn’t have been hurt shielding him from the Crow Demon’s Burst.
Now their only hope of escape—the Paper Crane—had also been destroyed by the explosion, and Lin Xue lay injured and unconscious.
Escape was almost a hopeless dream.
And with such a massive Burst, all the demons in the cave were sure to have heard.
They’d soon come to investigate.
Then, they’d discover that Hong Huzhi and his followers had also died here.
Who knew how furious Hong Lao San and Hong Yanzhi would be.
Many minor demons had seen Hong Huzhi leading Lin Xue and him out—now that they were dead, there was no way for him and Lin Xue to deny involvement.
The freedom that was within reach had now been ruined by his momentary greed.
Holding Lin Xue, Zhang Zongnian was overcome by boundless remorse and a deep sense of despair.