The sky had turned pale red, the momentum staggering.
Even Liu Yuchuan — himself at Condensate Perfection — felt the pressure.
The crimson sword collided with the copper bell projection that had erupted again. The sword’s entire body was trembling, while the projection rapidly thinned.
The white-clad man’s expression stayed flat, but the fury in his eyes deepened.
That sword was clearly some form of True Intent method — crude in its way, but brought to Perfection — not something to dismiss.
If he didn’t show some real capability, these people would think he was just another wild demon.
His intent shifted.
Around him, smooth jade pills appeared one by one until twelve hovered in a slow orbit.
Each one radiating Condensate Perfection qi.
The bell projection became impenetrable. The crimson sword held firmly outside.
“Qingqiu’s external pill technique—” Hezhen’s heart lurched. He wanted to move forward and help but had no way to — when did the fight end up in the sky? Couldn’t the General have at least left the bow behind—
No wonder the Qingqiu school’s name carried weight. A single casual technique was enough to leave ordinary practitioners gaping.
Twelve external pills simultaneously pouring their cultivation into a treasured implement. It defied comprehension.
“Soul-Suppressing Bell — bind!”
With reserves now to spare, the white-clad man pressed a palm downward.
Backed by this colossal cultivation, the bell at his waist shot outward, expanding in the wind until it stood a zhang tall, then crashed over the distant young man and sealed him inside.
“Crude practitioner. And yet you dare raise a hand against me.”
He stood on the jade sword, white robes settling, and looked down with a cold smile.
“Young woman — I think I spared you once before. That was Qingzhou’s face. Don’t expect a second time.”
He formed the seal.
“Forge the soul!”
Light moved across the thick green-bronze bell, and then an explosive roar erupted.
Boom—
The force of it made both personal attendants’ expressions change immediately. Lin Baixi’s breath stopped. What was unfolding in the air was already far beyond anything within the Condensate Realm.
The expression on the fox demon hovering above the jade sword also shifted.
That had nothing to do with my seal.
In the same instant — another detonation split the sky.
The thick green-bronze bell body was struck by an enormous force and cracked open. An arm covered in black armor punched out from inside.
Then five fingers hooked into the split edges and tore it apart.
Shen Yi stepped out with a flat expression, became wind, and reappeared directly in front of the fox demon.
The moment the bell cracked, the projection surrounding the white-clad man dissipated simultaneously. He saw the crimson sword coming and hurriedly threw one of the external pills to intercept it — and then the elbow strike coming from the side carried a sense of danger that far exceeded even the sword.
The black-iron arm guard connected with his eye socket.
At that moment, the fox demon understood for the first time what kind of force could shatter his Soul-Suppressing Bell.
The entire skull cracked. The eye exploded. Only half a mouth remained, still working through a seal.
“Jade Immortal Rejuvenation Art—”
Rich, warm white light covered the head. The jade sword carried him rapidly backward to create distance.
Shen Yi drew the blade and cut. The cyan light rose. An invisible wave several zhang long swept through the air and in the same breath took most of the fox demon’s lower body with it.
Without the bell to rely on, the fox’s physical body felt paper-thin against the young man — like it could be torn without effort.
Feeling the agony of severed limbs, genuine terror finally surfaced in the fox demon’s core. Then the wound began to burn — poison eating inward as if it intended to consume everything.
In panic, he flung out a hand.
The remaining eleven external pills launched outward and detonated around Shen Yi in rapid sequence.
The Condensate Perfection cultivation contained in each one erupted simultaneously, shaking heaven and earth.
No time to grieve the pills — the fox demon fled desperately on the jade sword, and from behind him, a wind reeking of blood and killing force rose and swept forward, cutting off the escape route.
The young man hung in the air. Between the black armor’s gleam, the crimson cape spread like a long streak of cloud.
“…”
Looking at that cold figure, the fox demon finally remembered he still had his innate divine ability. Something he hadn’t needed to use in years.
The one remaining eye filled with red light, attempting to enthrall the young man’s mind.
Then the fox demon found himself surrounded by white mist. The space around him went completely dark. In every direction — copies of the young man’s form, inescapable as a persistent nightmare.
Absolute despair crashed in.
The red light in his eye scattered. The pupils lost their focus.
His composure broke entirely. He howled with miserable urgency.
“I’ll leave right now — I’m going immediately — please — I’m getting out—”
Before the words finished — a quiet voice at his ear.
“Who said you were leaving?”
With the words, the fox demon felt a grip at his throat. Before it could even experience suffocation — the neck was casually broken.
【Condensate Perfection Fox Demon slain — Total Lifespan: 5,800 years. Remaining: 4,100 years. Absorbed.】
【Remaining Demon Lifespan: 13,500 years — Condensable】
【Demon Origin: Can be used to reshape a demon soul, to serve at your side, enslaved for eternity, never to transcend, suffering all manner of worldly torment, to protect its master with supreme methods.】
Shen Yi carried the fox demon’s carcass, which had reverted to its original form, with a faint expression of actual surprise.
He’d killed four Condensate Perfection demons. One this young was a first.
As for the new notification — he didn’t bother reading it twice. Demon Crystals were useful enough — at least they helped derive techniques. Spending precious demon lifespan to feed a demon — he’d have to be out of his mind.
Beyond the fox demon, notifications for twenty-four small demons had also passed — old and young, ranging from the first stage of awareness to Threshold Perfection, plus one early Jade Liquid old fox. The lifespans ranged from a few dozen years to four hundred, adding up to over five thousand combined.
An entire family gathered in one place, not running even when Division people showed up — that was uniquely unlikely even by Qingzhou’s standards.
He removed the demon core and placed it in the bell, collected the heart blood qi, and took the jade sword.
He stripped the fox’s clothing and searched carefully, found a small silver-white pouch, and took that too.
Then he came back down to the cliff base and tossed the ruined carcass to the two personal attendants.
“Done. Let’s go.”
He started walking back toward Baiyun County.
Both personal attendants stood with the fox carcass in their arms, heads spinning.
“General Shen — we were supposed to be sending it a warning—”
Could the General’s slender frame actually bear a responsibility this large?
“I warned it.” Shen Yi looked back with genuine puzzlement.
The Solar-Splitting Bow, that kind of force, twenty-some lives taken from its family in one shot — wasn’t that enough for it to realize it should run?
(End of Chapter)