Chapter 59: Burning

His breath suddenly stopped, and Zou Zhengze subconsciously grabbed his neck with his left hand, swinging a desperate right hook towards Li Ang's head.

Li Ang twisted his body to the left to dodge the punch, and as he kicked off the wall, his right underhand punch hammered into the demon's lower abdomen.

Ripple Energy spread wantonly, permeating from the external oblique to the inside, through the rectus abdominis, the transverse abdominis, the omentum, the ileum, the jejunum, until it reached the lumbar vertebrae at the back!

Zou Zhengze only felt numbness in his lower abdomen and no sensation in his back; he barely mustered the strength to kick with his left leg towards Li Ang's chest, but Li Ang moved backward and blocked the incoming leg with his left arm. At the same time, he stepped forward with his left foot and continued to pound the demon's chest and abdomen with his right fist, caving them in.

Thud, thud, thud—

Punch after punch, Li Ang hammered the demon's head emotionlessly like a pile driver, forcing the entire head into the sunken chest cavity.

"It hurts so bad...."

With his head tucked inside the chest cavity, Zou Zhengze mumbled unclearly, "It really hurts so much..."

Black Demonic Qi visibly spread over his body.

Li Ang felt the hair on his body stand on end as he whipped up the Ripple to destroy his opponent's limbs and joints, while simultaneously activating Cat's Eye to release an Illusion Technique and rapidly retreated.

"...It hurts."

A mass of flesh, unaffected by the Illusion Technique, contorted and "stood up" in a position completely inconsistent with human biomechanics.

Where his head should have been was replaced by a grotesque, writhing mass of blood plasma, muscle, and bones.

————

Chai Cuiqiao, who was above the slum guiding souls back to their place, suddenly realized that the black vortex binding the surrounding souls had silently dissipated, and her actions were no longer hindered.

This was not a good sign, as all the Demonic Qi of the heavens converged into a dragon, rushing straight down through the huge gap in the rooftop, pouring entirely into Zou Zhengze's "head."

This action signified that Zou Zhengze had completely given up on the plan to devour the souls of the residents of the slum, and it also meant that what Li Ang was facing now was a complete, unreserved demon...

Chai Cuiqiao, unobstructed by the black vortex, bit her lip, kicked each soul one by one back into their bodies as swiftly as kicking footballs, then with a flick of her long skirt, flew straight toward the building where Li Ang was.

"I'm asking you, why the hell are you running?"

The demon with a grotesque mass for a head staggered down the hallway, its gait as unsteady as that of an infant learning to walk.

Red and black runes on his skin flickered uncontrollably, twitching, morphing, shaking, trembling, like glitched code on a frozen computer.

Bone spurs covering his body grew and retracted erratically, sometimes dissolving into hollow cavities gushing red and white marrow, sometimes sprouting squid-tentacle-like pink fleshy protrusions that drooped naturally.

This thing could no longer be called human, but in the System interface, it was still marked as a player who practiced the Heavenly Devil Skill.

Prince Legend is a world of high martial arts, and the Heavenly Devil Skill is among the top techniques even within Prince Legend. Zou Zhengze, although a seasoned player, his martial will and level of cultivation were still insufficient to fully control this technique.

The fact that he usually maintained an independent and complete personal will was entirely due to the counteracting effects of another skill, the Ice Heart Mantra, against the negative impact of the Heavenly Devil Skill's Yin and Yang Polar Demonic Path.

[Skill Name: Ice Heart Mantra]

[Type: Universal]

[Special Effect: Passively calms the heart, keeps the mind as still as an ancient well, negates illusions and Illusion Techniques]

[Consume: None]

[Learning Requirement: Intelligence Attribute equal to or higher than 10]

[Note: With a heart clear as ice, the falling sky does not alarm; despite myriad changes, remain calm, with a tranquil spirit and serene energy.]

The Ice Heart Mantra was not as formidable as the Heavenly Devil Skill, and now with the overwhelming Demonic Qi entering his body, the mantra was completely overwhelmed, leaving Zou Zhengze's mind to be invaded by the pure malice brought by the Yin and Yang Polar Demonic Path.

It could even be said that Zou Zhengze was no longer himself, but had become a demon driven by savage instinct and cunning nature.

Li Ang silently shifted backward step by step, while the blood dripping from Zou Zhengze trailed down his gloves, drawing a long red line on the dusty corridor floor.

Crack—

Like a nuclear reaction reaching the critical threshold, the demon's form expanded again, a bone armor swiftly yet seemingly slowly covered its thick right arm, forming a bone knife as large as a door panel.

The demon diagonally slashed with the knife, and the raging demonic Qi that spread along the bone knife materialized, extending forward.

The entire corridor and the second floor were split in two by this slash, as the indestructible steel-reinforced concrete crumbled and fell apart like tofu.

The building tilted to one side, dust and smoke obscuring the sky, but Li Ang advanced instead of retreating, bursting forth from the slanted corridor!

His index and middle fingers joined together like a sword, as a special energy known as the Silver Wave Sprint gathered at his fingertips, emitting a blinding, shining silver light.

Silver Wave Sprint!

The demon, devoid of any sense, did not dodge or retreat. Standing on the slanting corridor, it faced Li Ang charging from below and instinctively placed the door-sized bone knife in front of its body.

Boom!!

The fingertips effortlessly pierced through the bone knife, sharp bone fragments shattered and scattered all around.

Still not enough, Li Ang pressed closer, grasping the demon's short, thick neck. Slowly but firmly, he pushed with his finger sword, inch by inch breaking apart the bone knife, stabbing toward the demon's skull, while the demon exerted all its strength to push forward the right arm bearing the bone knife.

The two figures seemed frozen in time, locked in this pure and simple contest of strength.

Finally unable to endure the sense of crisis, the demon's left arm swung from below in an uppercut aiming for Li Ang's waist.

Smack—

Thin and long black hairs surged out from the floor, barely catching the demon's left arm that was aimed at Li Ang. Each moment, strands of hair were being burned by the thick bloody Qi, but in the very next second, even denser hair took their place.

Pale-faced as snow, Chai Cuiqiao crouched on a solitary wall behind the demon like a cat, utterly draining the Yin energy from within her body, summoning endless black hairs that hooked onto the demon's arms and torso and yanked backward.

The deadlock in the contest of strength was finally broken, as the finger sword, flickering with the light of Silver Wave Sprint, plunged into the flesh of the demon's head.

The Ripple Energy, gentle as jade and magnificent in grandeur, released from Li Ang's right fingertips, and like deadly poison to the demons, mercilessly melted flesh and created a hollow cavity in the demon's head.

Li Ang's right palm burrowed into the cavity, reached what seemed to be the mouth, and continued down, prying open the throat.

"Big guy, time for your medicine."

Li Ang tenderly cradled the demon's head, pulling a White Phosphorus Incendiary from his backpack with his left hand, and calmly pushed it down through the head cavity into the demon's throat.

The motion was much like frantically jamming a toilet with a plunger...

The incredibly tenacious demon wasn't dead yet, struggling violently, but Chai Cuiqiao's strands of hair heavily bound it, completely stopping Li Ang's movements.

The incendiary fell through the esophagus straight into the stomach.

He disengaged the safety, pulled out the pin, Li Ang slowly withdrew his blood-soaked arm and together with Chai Cuiqiao, pressed down on the ceaselessly struggling demon.

The White Phosphorus Incendiary began to self-ignite. Thick smoke billowed from the cavity in the demon's head, reminiscent of the days of early steam engines, comically ridiculous.

Without a mouth structure, the demon couldn't say anything, but from its frantic, floundering movements like a live fish, one could vaguely sense the pain of its innards being burnt to a crisp.

The main characteristic of white phosphorus is that it can burn fully in tight or low oxygen spaces, with combustion temperatures reaching over 1000 degrees Celsius. A mere touch can penetrate flesh and burrow into the bone marrow; even dousing with water or burying in soil cannot stop the spread of the flames, only extinguishing when the white phosphorus is exhausted—especially since this incendiary was a specially modified version by Li Ang, with a considerable amount of explosive.

The demon's struggles grew weaker, and as the yellow, searing flame broke through the skin and burst forth from the body, the humanoid creature finally came to an absolute halt.

[You have exterminated the murderer of Zeng Weiming and Wang Fangni 1/1]

[Regular task "The Madman" has been completed]

[Award settlement in progress]

The yellow flame continued to burn, emitting thick smoke. Li Ang let go of the demon's arms he had been pressing down and stood up, waving his hand in front of his nose to disperse the irritating white phosphorus fumes and the faint smell of roasted meat in the air.

In the coming days, Li Ang might not want to eat barbecue...