Chapter 118: Demon Slayer

"Wait a minute... could this guy be hiding his cultivation level? Have I been tricked?"

A flicker of doubt crossed Zuo Lie's mind. But as he recalled their journey together, Han Yi's apparent ignorance seemed genuine. Could he actually be telling the truth? Is he really only at the Eighth Layer of Qi Refinement?

An Eighth Layer Qi Refinement cultivator moving faster than a Peak Qi Refinement expert?

Absurd. Utterly absurd.

But they were in the midst of battle, and Zuo Lie couldn't dwell on it. At least I haven't lost anything on this trip.

A few dozen meters away, the girl dragging her sword sent him a gaze as sharp as a blade. Zuo Lie's heart skipped a beat, and he shifted his course another ten meters.

Everyone in Qian Prefecture's cultivation world knew about the Holy Maiden of Jade Capital Mountain: sixteen years old, a Legendary Qi Refinement cultivator with a Heavenly Spirit Root. Her future was assured—she was destined to become one of the most powerful cultivators in history, reaching at least the Golden Core Stage, if not the Nascent Soul Stage.

Most importantly, this female cultivator was a God of Slaughter who killed without blinking an eye.

Get too close, and she'll chop you down without hesitation. You'd have no choice but to grit your teeth and accept it.

Meanwhile, on the other side...

Han Yi's speed surged relentlessly, even overtaking some of the slower Legendary Cultivators.

Suddenly, he leaped aside, narrowly dodging a blurred afterimage too swift for the eye to follow. But it wasn't just an afterimage; it was the arm of a Black Demon.

The Black Demon stood four meters tall, its terrifying physique radiating a chilling, eerie glow from its bare, pitch-black skin.

Roar!

Demonic malice burned in the Black Demon's eyes as it locked onto Han Yi, its murderous intent churning. It had clearly marked him as its prey.

Han Yi took a deep breath.

According to the Demon Race's cultivation system, the taller the body, the greater the strength. He had sized up and slain three-meter-tall demons before, and he'd encountered four-meter-tall ones, only to see them effortlessly dispatched by a Sword Immortal's strike. This one seemed just as formidable.

Time to test my strength, Han Yi thought. If I can't even kill this Black Demon, I have no hope of competing with Legendary Qi Refining cultivators for the Grand Void Token in the inner circle.

"Kill!"

Han Yi's figure blurred as he materialized behind the Black Demon. His fingers danced across his hand, unleashing ten dazzling beams of Spirit Light that struck the demon's back.

The Spirit Void Finger technique erupted.

Now at Peak Perfection, each beam of Spirit Light carried over ten times the power it had at Perfected Purity. Though compressed from the same amount of Spirit Qi, the compression method was now far more intricate and refined.

It was like comparing a nuclear bomb to a kilogram of dirt. The destructive power of the former was unimaginably greater. Han Yi's Spirit Void Finger, refined to absolute perfection, produced an exponential increase in destructive force.

Boom!

The Black Demon staggered forward, its back engulfed in flames. With a swipe of its arm, it extinguished the blaze, but its hands were now stained with black Demon Blood.

The attack unleashed the Black Demon's fury, provoking a furious roar.

Han Yi observed clearly that the blood was merely from superficial wounds, causing no real harm to the creature.

As expected, the four-meter-tall Black Demon possessed defensive capabilities far exceeding those of its three-meter-tall counterpart.

A chill ran down Han Yi's spine, but he had also identified the Black Demon's weakness.

"Kill!"

The Seven Stars Sword moved with sudden purpose.

Starlight flashed as the sword light soared into the air. In a blur, it appeared behind the Black Demon, who had stumbled back a few steps, turned, and glared furiously at Han Yi.

The Seven Stars Sword accelerated further, a faint crimson aura enveloping its blade.

The Li Fire Sword Manual.

Now moving faster than even a Peak Qi Refinement cultivator's reaction speed, the Seven Stars Sword easily outstripped the Black Demon, whose formidable defenses were matched by sluggish reflexes. Thwack.

The Black Demon, head raised and fist poised to strike Han Yi, suddenly froze. A beam of sword light erupted from his chest. Instead of dissipating, the light instantly reversed direction, piercing through the exact same wound with near-teleportational speed.

Despite the gaping hole in his Demonic Body, the Black Demon's eyes showed no sign of death or fear. A vicious grin spread across his face as he unleashed his punch.

This blow, while weaker than Clan Chief Cang's devastating strike at the Ancestral Temple, still sent a violent gust of wind rushing toward Han Yi, triggering his instincts into overdrive.

Fortunately, he had anticipated this. He layered the Fire Shield Technique over the Wind Wall Technique.

Boom! Boom!

The Fire Shield and Wind Wall shattered one after another, completely defying Han Yi's expectations.

Before he could react, the pitch-black fist, imbued with immense force, slammed into his chest. He was sent flying dozens of meters, crashing into a stone hut. A mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips.

"Even with such severe injuries, his attack power remains this strong?" Han Yi muttered, a ruthless glint appearing on his blood-streaked face. He divided his divine sense.

Whoosh!

The Seven Stars Sword, which had just emerged from the Black Demon's back, trembled violently. It then spiraled upward at a sharp angle before plunging back down like a shooting star.

The Black Demon abruptly raised his head, swinging his fist upward to swat away the troublesome longsword—a tactic he had employed countless times against Human Race magic artifacts.

However, this time, the Seven Stars Sword suddenly veered mid-fall, darting toward Han Yi.

Enraged, the Black Demon lowered his gaze to meet Han Yi's, only to see another sword artifact reflected in his pitch-black eyes: the Low-Grade Magic Artifact, Cold Bamboo Sword.

In that split second, Han Yi focused seventy percent of his divided divine sense on this second sword he had brought with him.

The Cold Bamboo Sword pierced straight into the Black Demon's eye, shattering the eyeball. Even the demon's formidable endurance crumbled, and he roared in primal fury.

The Cold Bamboo Sword was merely a Low-Grade Magic Artifact, with only the most basic refinement. Its power was limited; piercing the eyeball had already pushed its capabilities to the limit.

Fortunately, Han Yi had never intended to cleave the Black Demon's skull with this blade. The instant the sword pierced the eye and the Black Demon's arm seized the hilt, a ruthless glint flashed across Han Yi's face dozens of meters away.

"Explode!"

The Cold Bamboo Sword, still embedded in the Black Demon's eye, detonated instantly. Though only a Low-Grade Magic Artifact, its self-destruction carried considerable force—especially when unleashed within the demon's most vulnerable organ.

Boom!

The Black Demon screamed in agony.

But it wasn't over. The Seven Stars Sword, now trailing a faint crimson Sword Light, hurtled back with lightning speed. It pierced through the demon's ruptured eye socket, plunged diagonally into the ground, and vibrated violently.

The Black Demon's body stiffened abruptly, then crashed to the ground with a deafening thud. In one of its massive hands, it still clutched fragments of the self-destructed Cold Bamboo Sword.

Han Yi spat out a mouthful of bloody froth and slowly approached. With a flick of his finger, he retrieved the now-still Seven Stars Sword from the ground. As the sword artifact settled into his palm, he noticed a hairline crack had already appeared on its blade.

The single strike that had pierced the Black Demon's chest and then tunneled through its eye, turning its brain into a pulpy mess, had pushed the Mid-Grade Sword Artifact to its limits.

This was despite Han Yi having cleared a path with his Spirit Void Finger and the Cold Bamboo Sword's self-destruction, weakening the demon's defenses beforehand.

It was a testament to the terrifying resilience of the Demonic Body.