“ROAR!“
The great lion had barely weathered the barrage when it looked up and found the wide crimson sword-intent coming again.
It raised both front paws to block — and felt a chill at the back of its neck.
Shen Yi was standing on its blood-soaked shoulder blade, hand resting on the hilt. The Deep Abyss blade swung out, the black mist trailing from it suddenly stretching long, like a streak of deep ink flung across the air.
Rip—
The blue-faced great lion’s body — which had held against the True Intent and the arrows both — came apart against that blade like soft cloth.
A wave of blood a zhang high rose like a fountain.
Shen Yi drove the cut all the way through, breaking the demon’s strongest defense, which let the cyan light do its full work.
Invisible ripples spread outward, separating muscle from bone.
The Twin-Harmony Dragon-Tiger sword-intent hammered into the body repeatedly — less sharp than the Deep Abyss, but considerably wider, cutting until the torso was nearly split in two.
Then the young man drove the blade into the lion’s forehead, grabbed both hands into the split at the neck — into the mane and flesh — and threw his arms into the effort of tearing the enormous head clean from the body.
The terrifying beast thrashed in desperate struggle.
But the harder it fought, the more the skin and flesh at the connection tore away. The head was moments from complete separation.
Then—
An enormous, hideous face filled the sky overhead. Tangled mane. Deep blue-green creased skin. A wide-open mouth with sharp fangs.
Shen Yi glanced downward.
As expected. The lion demon had broken free of the illusion, expression ferocious. The giant lion-head projection overhead was its doing.
The next moment — the great mouth opened and a wind erupted from inside.
Trees were uprooted. Everything across the mountain ravine was sent flying.
“…”
Shen Yi kept focused on tearing the lion’s head off.
The wind howled — like wailing ghosts. Something cold and strange in it. When it touched the skin, there was no biting physical chill — instead, the qi sea and the major apertures felt as if they’d been half-frozen, the speed at which the inner core could mobilize qi slowing to a fraction of normal.
It bypassed the body and went straight for the qi sea and meridians.
A genuinely unusual method.
Though it didn’t really matter.
He was a body-refinement practitioner. If the inner core wasn’t available — he simply didn’t use it.
“Stop!“
The lion demon had no time to be surprised at why its yin-wind technique was doing nothing to the young man’s movement.
The tall figure was already charging in desperately.
The yin-wind was meant to work in combination with the corrosive rain — the first targeting the qi sea, the second eating through flesh and bone. Both together was the full technique.
If the younger brother actually died at the young man’s hands—
Its own power would be significantly diminished.
The broad beast’s paw closed around a spear roughly a zhang and two in length. Dark red throughout, shaft and tip flowing together in a spiral, like holding a crimson serpent.
That length would be unwieldy for most. In the lion demon’s hand it fit perfectly. Combined with the silver-bright armor — it cut an impressively formidable figure.
It launched into the air and drove the spear forward with dominating force.
Shen Yi released one hand temporarily. Both eyes lit with sharp clarity — with the golden eagle’s vision, the incoming red point slowed to near-stillness in his sight. He slapped out a palm and redirected the spear’s path. It drove straight through the great lion’s spine.
“ROAR!“
The great lion’s last cry. Then Shen Yi tore it apart completely.
Watching his brother die — in a death that ugly — the lion demon’s eyes flooded red. It wrenched the spear back and drove it forward with full force.
No more words needed. Only the blade and what came after.
Shen Yi stepped sideways, drew the Deep Abyss, and swung down just as brutally.
A single metallic ring.
The dark-red spear — a divine weapon given by the Howling Moon Demon King — didn’t last even one breath before the blade cut straight through it.
The blue-faced lion demon’s expression went visibly stunned. Its spear, and this young man’s blade—
It didn’t have time to think about it.
The blade carried its black mist and came straight at the heart without slowing.
The demon grabbed what remained of the spear to block. The already-halved shaft was cut through again. It reached out instinctively to grab the blade with its bare hand — the palm split open cleanly — and the cold blade entered the chest without difficulty.
The reason it didn’t split the demon in two—
It had finally reacted, and locked both arms around the young man’s forearm in a death grip.
“…”
Shen Yi frowned slightly.
Worthy of a demon lord that could dominate the path embryo stage. This strength wasn’t weaker than the sixth transformation — if anything, marginally stronger.
“Don’t struggle.”
“I’m not struggling!” The lion demon nearly snapped its own teeth.
“Let go. I’ll take you to see the rabbit demon.” A quiet suggestion.
“Like I’d believe that!” It worked to push the arm back. With what this young man had shown — Lady White Jade couldn’t possibly still be alive.
Then — at the moment it finally managed to pull the blade slightly out of its chest, before it could take a breath—
It watched the young man’s body fill with dense demonic force.
“…”
The yin-wind had slowed qi mobilization, yes. Not stopped it entirely.
With the demonic force added — the balance between them shattered instantly.
Thp—
Shen Yi cut the demon apart cleanly, and while it hadn’t yet reverted to its original form, took the demon core with a quick, practiced motion.
【Core-Nurturing Blue-Faced Lion Demon slain — Total Lifespan: 8,900 years. Remaining: 3,300 years. Absorbed.】
【Core-Nurturing Blue-Faced Lion Demon slain — Total Lifespan: 8,600 years. Remaining: 3,400 years. Absorbed.】
Only when he saw both notifications did Shen Yi finally let himself settle.
Fighting two core-nurturing demon lords simultaneously — the pressure had been real.
He carefully collected both demons’ blood qi, retrieved the great lion’s core, grabbed a carcass in each hand, and ran the Unfettered Wind-Riding Art again, disappearing from the spot.
With a disturbance this large — if the Howling Moon Demon King actually came — that would be considerably more complicated.
Better to get back into Qingzhou territory first.
Faster than he’d expected, honestly. There might still be time to get back for a late meal.
Lin Baixi had said she had something to tell him. He had no idea what it was.
At the edge of Tingyang Prefecture. The same small stream from before.
He dropped both enormous lion carcasses.
Opened the panel without ceremony.
He’d been planning to push the Heaven-Devouring Art further first — but the lion’s divine ability had been genuinely useful. As material for the seventh transformation, it looked promising.
【Remaining Demon Lifespan: 17,895 years】
He put the demon core in his mouth and began feeding lifespan into the technique.
The moment any demonic technique was involved — even ten thousand-odd years of lifespan suddenly started looking less generous.
(End of Chapter)