In the instant that unfamiliar demonic power burst out across the heavens, a measure of confusion rose in the single-horned tiger demon’s heart. Apart from the Thousand Demon Den — could it be some other wild demon had entered the estate as well?

But it was only an instant. Its expression changed abruptly. That surging killing intent was, of all things, aimed at itself!

“The nerve!”

Without the slightest hesitation, the golden horn on the single-horned tiger demon’s brow turned to streaming light and gathered into its right palm, condensing into a domineering golden saber. It swung the blade abruptly, chopping up toward the sky.

For demons, refining some marvelous part of themselves into a weapon was a fairly common technique. This tiger demon’s single horn was of fearsome renown, no less than a treasure in its own right. There was no telling how many departed souls it had cut down to earn the fine title of Golden-Saber Demon King.

Clang—

The black mist across the long saber Deep Abyss abruptly scattered apart. The golden saber, by contrast, burst into radiance, its might vast and imposing — enough to leave a few cracks upon that ink-black blade.

Superior and inferior were judged at a glance.

But unlike the weapons, the tiger demon gripping the golden saber, its arms swelling like small hills, let out a crack of splitting bone. Not even a single breath had it held out before the boundless, mighty force pressed it straight to its knees!

Its knees slammed into the ground with a roar, terrifying cracks instantly spreading across the earth, until the surrounding peaks seemed to tremble.

And the scene revealed to the crowd’s eyes was more chilling still. The handsome young man held the saber one-handed — while in his other hand he was, of all things, dangling a scholar whose face was frozen in a daze.

One hand alone could press a demon king down so it couldn’t rise?! What manner of terrifying strength was this.

Right after, the young man tossed the scholar toward Chen Zhong in passing. His gaze fell on the faintly cracked Deep Abyss, then turned toward the tiger demon. The body beneath the ink-black robe erupted once more with crimson radiance.

Only now did the tiger demon grasp where that demon qi had come from.

Condensing a path infant with demonic power… What kind of murderous freak was this.

The domineering golden saber sank a great deal lower in an instant, the spine of the blade pressing straight down onto its throat, leaving it drenched in sweat and able only to let out a whimper of appeal for help.

“Go!”

Of the two figures beside the tiger demon, one — a rat demon — opened its mouth and spat out a foul-stinking gray mist, flecks of firelight dancing within it, shooting toward the young man’s face like a wicked arrow.

Shen Yi twisted aside to dodge, but a burning sensation still welled in his eyes. Red mist rose in his black pupils.

He abruptly drew the saber, and in the very instant the tiger demon had just let out a breath of relief, the keen blade had already stabbed into its neck.

Squelch!

A wave of rank, stinking blood spattered out.

On the other side, a black-faced man struck a palm out. Shen Yi’s left hand slapped out likewise. Bare palm against bare palm — with a crisp crack, crack, the black-faced man’s whole arm split open flesh and skin, exposing the jagged broken bone within.

But the palm-strike was only a feint. The scorpion tail bursting out from behind it was the killing move!

The stinger glinted with an eerie light as it drove, hiss, into Shen Yi’s shoulder.

The black-faced man’s features contorted with pain, yet his eyes still fixed hard on the young man’s shoulder, a flush of delight rising in them.

But it was only an instant. That delight turned to shock. His ever-victorious scorpion stinger, and with all his strength behind it besides — had, of all things, broken only the skin.

The stinger held a virulent poison that even a path infant couldn’t withstand. Yet it couldn’t reach the path infant at all.

“What in the world is this thing!”

Seeing the man’s palm already reaching toward its tail, the scorpion demon hurriedly pulled back a dozen-odd zhang, abandoning this attempt at a kill.

The path infant might be a Mixed Origin Grandmaster’s true body, but short of the direst extremity, no one was willing to give up the mortal frame. And besides, the other was only entry-level Mixed Origin; his path infant was nowhere near the stage of being able to leave the body and act independently. The venom had already seeped into his body — a single breath’s time and it would leave his whole frame numb and unable to move. At least it counted as having rescued the Golden-Saber Demon King.

“…”

Shen Yi released the saber-hilt cleanly.

The Golden-Saber Demon King now gripped the ink-black blade’s edge tight in its two enormous tiger paws and finally pulled it from its throat, just making ready to gather its strength and retreat — when it saw the young man before it raise a hand and smash down a fist.

“Aroo!”

It let out a muffled, furious roar. The golden saber fallen to the ground turned to streaming light and returned to its brow, becoming the single horn once more. With that resplendent golden horn, it viciously rammed forward.

However strong a body, it was only flesh and blood in the end — how could it stand against this golden horn tempered over ten thousand years?

Just then, it suddenly felt a thread of chill sweeping toward its face.

Between Shen Yi’s fair-skinned palms, cold, frigid qi abruptly welled up. In an instant, the surroundings seemed to plunge into an ice cellar. Even the several Mixed Origin Grandmasters far off felt, of all things, their very path infants beginning to stagnate.

And the tiger demon, facing this fist head-on, now had its two eyes bulging wide, as though even the scalding demon blood within it had been frozen.

Bang!

Shen Yi’s fist smashed into the single horn.

Under that shroud of frost, the horn’s radiance swiftly dimmed, and then, beneath the boundless smashing force, it abruptly cracked apart, the surging power pouring entirely into the tiger demon’s brow!

Crk! Crk! Crk!

The Golden-Saber Demon King’s whole body was blasted flying. The rat demon tried to steady its form, only to be violently knocked sprawling to the ground, unable for a moment to catch its breath, spewing out crimson blood-plasma.

Amid the enormous thunderous roar, the tiger demon’s golden horn snapped, the bone of its brow shattered, its whole body like stone cracked apart by frost, limbs twitching — it couldn’t even manage the simplest act of rising.

“…”

One saber, one palm, one fist.

From beginning to end, no more than twenty breaths’ time. And there, before the faces of two upper-tier demon kings, he’d cleanly and decisively crippled the Golden-Saber Demon King.

Never mind the other Mixed Origin Grandmasters — even Chen Zhong and Zheng Zisheng, highest in realm, felt a touch of horror. Strength like this could likely only be matched by those extreme-peak experts who’d stored up many years within the Mixed Origin realm.

The still-dazed scholar rubbed his waist miserably and swept a glance around. His gaze paused an instant on the long robe worn by Zheng Zisheng. A trace of something odd rose in his eyes. Then he hurriedly withdrew his gaze and honestly took his place beside Chen Zhong.

Grandmaster Shen had tossed him over to this man’s side earlier, which meant the old man was worthy of trust.

“Hoo.”

Shen Yi let out a breath of turbid air and glanced sidelong at his shoulder. The scorpion stinger’s virulent poison had already been mostly devoured by the toad lord. Some pain, but little effect.

He gave Qinghua an order. She picked up Deep Abyss and swept toward the tiger demon, then with a single horizontal slash took its head.

【Slain: Mixed Origin single-horned tiger demon. Total lifespan sixteen thousand seven hundred years; remaining lifespan six thousand three hundred years. Absorption complete.】

“That—”

The other Grandmasters watched the long saber return to its sheath, and felt another jolt of alarm.

In so short a time the man had displayed at least two treasures, and this young besides — which great power’s young master was this, out traveling the world? It certainly couldn’t be the War Temple or Xuanguang Cave. They quietly stole a look at those two.

Chen Zhong’s brows were tightly knit as he stared at the ink-black saber at the young man’s waist, doubt rising in his eyes. Why did this look so very much like a divine spirit’s doing?

But recalling the earlier scene of the young man descending from the heavens and battling the Golden-Saber Demon King by force, he mockingly dismissed the notion. The path infant had been laid bare — how could it possibly be any divine spirit?

(End of Chapter 262)