The Heaven-Piercing Solar-Splitting Bow — a treasure capable of posing lethal threat to core-nurturing demon lords.

Every demon-hunter in Qingzhou had been working toward a complete picture of the region’s major demons. Their best count of core-nurturing demon lords in the area had reached seventeen.

In other words — near Qingzhou, the demons who had nothing to fear from this bow could be counted on one hand. Those who could take one of its arrows and still have a chance of surviving numbered perhaps ten or twenty at the absolute most.

All of this assumed the bow was drawn to full.

For Yan Xingkong to open it to half-moon at all was already staking his life on the draw. Even so, it was enough to drain the color from every face present.

The arrow sang.

White light became a streak across the sky.

“MOVE—!!“

Almost before the sound reached anyone, the old demon erupted two massive wings and drove them downward, vanishing from where he stood.

Kong Jing and the old woman moved the same way. Xiao Qiangwei broke outward at full speed.

In an instant, a thirty-zhang radius centered on the wooden buildings became powder.

BOOM—

The ground fractured and caved. Dust rose like a furious river in every direction. Rocks rained down in sheets.

Three airborne figures didn’t dare stop moving. They wheeled in the sky, looking back at where they’d been standing, then looked toward the distant cliff with open fury.

“Yan Xingkong—!!”

The wrecked, blood-soaked man stared back. Something had left his eyes entirely.

He’d thought of every possible approach, prepared everything that could be prepared.

And an arrow that had emptied everything he had — had missed.

Too slow. The draw was too slow.

Yan Xingkong’s legs gave out. He knelt on the cliff, the bow falling beside him.

The Solar-Splitting Bow hadn’t lost a trace of its light. He no longer had the strength to draw it a second time.

“…”

Xiao Qiangwei struggled upright, dusted ash from her face, and looked up at that figure on the cliff with an expression somewhere between speechless and resigned.

“I want to give him two smacks.” Elder Chunyang spat and cursed. Could this man be any less reliable — crouching there all that time, and for what? To come out and demolish the area?

“That damned fool.” Elder Qingjing was still breathing hard. Everything was clear enough now — all of this, from the beginning, had been getting people here to help him kill the demons. If that arrow had hit the strongest one, today might have actually had some chance.

“Everyone—”

Yan Xingkong’s voice was flat. He had something he wanted to say, and nothing left inside to say it with.

He looked at the people below him, tried to close his hands, and found the palms had split open down the middle. They lay against the stone, unable to move.

Then he noticed something change in the eyes looking up at him. Xiao Qiangwei especially — something had come alive in that gaze.

The sound of steady footsteps. A pair of clean dark boots passed through the edge of his vision.

A loose dark robe caught the mountain wind briefly. A sharp-featured young man bent down and picked up the fallen bow.

“…”

Shen Yi felt the force within the Solar-Splitting Bow and looked down at the people below.

He genuinely hadn’t expected them to be this forthcoming about walking in without him.

The two priests he could understand — but even the woman hadn’t waited.

His exchange with Yan Xingkong had caused a slight delay. When he reached the stone face, something had been immediately off. He just hadn’t seen the others anywhere. That unfamiliar kind of technique gave him some pause — he didn’t want to walk into something he hadn’t heard explained. He waited for a while. No one came. The silver bell’s signals were being blocked by something inside. When he finally sensed movement through the stone, he came through to see what was happening.

Under Shen Yi’s gaze—

Both Daoist priests looked somewhat uncomfortable. They genuinely hadn’t factored the young Commander into their plans when they went through — it hadn’t occurred to them, and in the moment they’d forgotten that he was formally in charge. Though given the urgency of what they’d walked into, quibbling about protocol could wait until after staying alive.

Xiao Qiangwei realized she’d made a mistake of some kind, her pulse picking up, something unsteady moving in her eyes. He’d called her Senior back in Tingyang City, and yet under this particular gaze she’d suddenly found the feeling she used to have when she’d done something wrong and her superior was looking at her.

The sudden appearance drew the three demons’ attention.

They hovered, studying this new figure carefully. From the reactions of the others, this young-seeming person was clearly the center of gravity here.

After a moment, Kong Jing appeared to decide he disliked having someone project this kind of presence. He spread both wings and let out a sharp laugh.

“Father, Mother — let me have this one!”

The voice was still echoing when he launched himself forward.

In full view of everyone—

Shen Yi raised the bow. The motion was slightly unpracticed. He pulled the bowstring, casually.

Yan Xingkong stared.

His pupils contracted sharply.

The Solar-Splitting Bow — the one that had nearly killed him — was now opening, without a sound, to a half-moon.

White light condensed brilliantly at the string.

Both Daoist priests’ mouths fell open. Xiao Qiangwei’s expression had lit up entirely.

Kong Jing put on brakes mid-air and wheeled in panic.

“Father—!”

Shen Yi seemed to want a better feel for what the bow could do. He channeled the Immortal-Demon Nine Transformations into both arms to their limit.

The bowstring opened to seventy percent.

The old demon didn’t spare a fraction of hesitation. In an instant its full form appeared — a blue-green peacock of several dozen zhang, ferocious and enormous, double wings crossed in front of the body in a guard that covered every vital point.

Flinching before the fight had even started.

Shen Yi decided this was probably the limit for now. No need to push further. He released two fingers.

The white arrow dwarfed anything the bow had produced before — it lit the entire valley three shades brighter, the sound of it through the air threatening to rupture everyone’s eardrums. It gave the impression of something that could punch through the sky itself.

Shhk.

“Brother—!” The old woman’s face had gone white — not from emotion. She reached instinctively for the crimson feather.

Then the white light turned and came directly at her.

She couldn’t make sense of it. Going for the strongest first, or the weakest first — either way—

It shouldn’t be her.

When the light hit her, the peacock form was forced out. The formidable demon body looked completely frail against that arrow.

In the thunderclap that followed, the demon was driven into the cliff face with no ability to resist.

Blood fell like rain.

The long neck went slack. In the center of the body — where the heart was — a hole several zhang wide had opened straight through.

A single arrow. A full-core stage demon, dead.

The old man’s peacock form spread its wings again, looking at what was in front of him, the entire body shaking.

He turned sharply to look up at the peak. A devastated, furious shriek tore out of him, and the long cry carried wind across the whole valley.

Up on the cliff, the dark robe stirred around the young man. Hair moving. The frame remained straight.

Something about the noise seemed to bother him.

He raised the bow slowly and pointed it upward.

Then raised an eyebrow slightly.

“…”

The enormous peacock went suddenly silent, wings flapping twice in uncertain confusion.

(End of Chapter)