Stone Carving (Continued)

Murong Qing suddenly spoke up, saying that among everyone, her spiritual sense range was the widest—although Si Ming's strength was far superior, the range of spiritual sense had nothing to do with Jing Essence, but with Spirit Essence Qi Essence. The Blazing Yang Battle Art was good at combat, but in other aspects it was far inferior to the Glacier Divine Art.

Si Ming and He Qichang quickly gathered their True Qi and focused their gaze, discovering that a group of animals with mechanical parts on their bodies were indeed besieging the village. Dozens of villagers were forming a defensive formation and resisting. They seemed to have rich combat experience and were fighting the monsters to a standstill. If this continued, even without outside help, they could achieve final victory, although they would inevitably suffer casualties.

Murong Qing immediately said to Si Ming, "Put me down and hurry to save them."

Si Ming nodded. Whether it was to save people or to gain favor, it was necessary. He immediately loosened his intertwined fingers and sped away. He Qichang also urged his Demon Power to catch up.

"Dragon-Elephant Stomp!"

As he approached the monster horde, Si Ming leaped high into the air and then slammed down. The force of his impact reverberated across the ground, turning it into a trampoline. All the monsters caught in the blast lost their balance and were even thrown back into the air.

"Demon Blade - Gale!"

He Qichang immediately merged with his sword, transforming into a fierce blade of wind that charged into the demon horde. The blade of wind struck the monsters' mechanical bodies, producing flying sparks. Although he successfully cleaved them in two, the hard bodies still slowed He Qichang's speed, causing his Demon Blade: Gale Form to fail midway and fail to unleash its full power. He only managed to kill three monsters that looked like wolves before being forced to exit the state of merging with his sword.

Perhaps due to their semi-mechanized bodies, the monsters, upon landing, did not lie on the ground, stunned for half a minute, like the enemies Si Ming had previously bullied with his Dragon-Elephant Stomp. Instead, they immediately got up and launched a counterattack, with He Qichang had suffered an initial defeat, becoming the perfect target.

A cheetah with a mechanized upper body pounced on He Qichang, opening its mouth to reveal two sharp teeth like those of a saber-toothed tiger, aiming for his neck. But just as it pounced into the air, Si Ming grabbed its tail.

"Come back here!"

Si Ming pulled the cheetah back and threw a punch, smashing its upper body into a shower of flying machine parts.

Thanks.

Having escaped danger He Qichang quickly devised a way to deal with these cyborg monsters. He immediately changed his moves, his sword condensing a sinister and ghostly intent.

"Demon Blade: Moon Eclipse!"

This is a move that strikes at the spirit, bypassing physical defenses and directly attacking the soul. However, in actual combat against a martial artist of the same level, its effect is merely to cause a "headache" and slightly injure the opponent's soul; it cannot be used as a decisive killing move.

However, the human spirit is much stronger than that of beasts, and the will of a martial artist is more resolute than that of an ordinary person. What is merely a minor injury to a martial artist becomes an irresistible and deadly move when used against these monsters.

With a single, silent strike, the strange, unpredictable force of the blade struck the mechanical monster, ignoring its physical defenses and directly severing its soul. The monster stiffened, then collapsed to the ground, ceasing its breathing.

Seeing that the move was effective, He Qichang used his light footwork to dodge the attack while quickly unleashing the Demon Blade Moon Eclipse Form. Although this move consumed a lot of Demon Power, the Yao Qi here was plentiful and could be replenished in time, so there was no worry about exhaustion in the short term.

Thus, a bizarre scene unfolded on the battlefield: every time He Qichang slashed at the air, a mechanical monster would fall down. The sight was quite eerie, like a deadly grim reaper directly taking the soul of its prey without leaving a single wound on the corpse.

In contrast, Si Ming's fighting style was much simpler and more brutal. In short, he would find his target and throw a punch.

Whether the impact hits flesh or machinery, the outcome is the same. However, the sight of flesh exploding into a cloud of bloody foam is quite gruesome, and the figure that moves freely in the blood mist, ignoring enemy attacks, seems more like a villain than a mechanical monster.

Even mechanical claws wouldn't leave a mark on Si Ming; instead, they would be broken by the recoil. For example, if a steel lion opened its blood-red maw to bite Si Ming, it would be its head that would explode from the shock.

These semi-mechanized monsters still retained their biological instincts and were not mindless robots. Upon discovering that the two new intruders were "real monsters" they could not resist, they immediately scattered like birds and beasts, fleeing with their tails between their legs.

"Honestly, it's over before we even warmed up," Si Ming said, still feeling unsatisfied.

At this moment, Murong Qing and Xu Zhengyi had just arrived, and the latter looked at the two with a burning thirst for knowledge.

Xu Zhengyi really wanted to ask for guidance, but he felt it would be too shameless. He had been saved by someone else's life, and he couldn't bring himself to ask to learn their secret teachings. He also worried that he had no special skills and that his request to become a disciple would not be accepted.

He Qichang said, "It's not difficult to deal with one of these monsters one-on-one. Although their steel bodies are hard, they can't withstand the Sword Qi sword energy. But it's troublesome when you encounter a large group of them... Since all the monsters here are of this type, I'm afraid that the domain lord is also a half-machine, half-biological being."

Just as Si Ming was about to speak, an elderly villager strode out, stared at He Qichang, and asked excitedly, "You were using the Demon Blade Art just now, weren't you?"

He Qichang was slightly surprised, not expecting that there were people in this world who recognized the Demon Blade Art. He nodded and said, "It is indeed the Demon Blade Art. May I ask what guidance you have, venerable elder?"

The old man was so moved that he burst into tears on the spot. Turning to the villagers, he said in a choked voice, "Everyone, the chosen one has finally appeared! We are saved!"

The villagers were all taken aback, then stared intently at He Qichang, making him feel a little uneasy. Before He Qichang could react, all the villagers cheered.

Si Ming was puzzled. Why get so excited about meeting someone who knew the Demon Blade Art? I know it too, it's just a common sword technique, isn't it?

Legend has it that the Demon Blade Art was created by a powerful Demon Race, dating back to an extremely early era, possibly even to the ancient times of the martial arts wasteland. In addition, the Demon Blade Art is a very comprehensive sword technique, encompassing the seven attributes of wind, thunder, water, fire, ice, yin and yang, as well as an eighth move that serves as a killing move. It also has great expandability and endless possibilities for variation, so it has spread far and wide. It is said that the Demon Blade Art has been passed down in various parts of the Nine Continents.

Although Si Ming had not specifically studied this sword technique, he could naturally learn it by watching it a lot. Although the Demon Blade Art was a martial art of the Demon Race, it could be activated with True Qi and was not restricted. However, the Demon Blade Art's swordplay was unpredictable and varied, which did not match his own fighting style, so he never used it.

Furthermore, the Demon Blade Art contains seven attributes, but being all-encompassing means being mediocre. In terms of fire attribute, it cannot compare to the True Yang Vermilion Blaze Saber, and in terms of ice attribute, it cannot match the Vast Cold Immortal Sword Art. Its main focus is on the transformation of blade energy, with attributes being secondary.

The villagers were oblivious to Si Ming's inner thoughts. After cheering excitedly for a while, they subtly inquired He Qichang was of mixed race. Upon receiving an affirmative answer, they erupted into another frenzy of cheers. To those unaware of the situation, it would seem as if the entire village was filled with lunatics.

Finally, the same old man who started it all came out and said, "I'm sorry to have made you all laugh. We've been waiting for this day for far too long."

Si Ming and the others could roughly guess what was going on, and repeatedly said they didn't care, but then asked what exactly happened.

"Back then, our village was enveloped by this Spirit Domain. The villagers were unable to leave, and they were no match for the realm lord, so they could only resign themselves to staying here. Our village is mostly inhabited by people with the same surname, and most of our ancestors were related. After several generations, the number of deformed children increased, so we had to find a way to escape. Later, a Soul Warrior accidentally entered the Spirit Domain and was also trapped here. This person's Martial Form were proficient in the art of prophecy, and he prophesied that when a Child of Mixed Blood who could use the Demon Blade Art appeared, our entire village would be able to escape."

The old man, who was also the village chief, explained to the crowd.

He Qichang said with a hint of doubt, "I Non-Self. My companions are much stronger than me." He then pointed at Si Ming.

The village chief glanced at him and shook his head, saying, "He doesn't possess any Yao Qi; only Demon Race martial arts could harm a domain lord."

Upon hearing this, Murong Qing felt puzzled. She knew that Si Ming did indeed know a set of Demon Race martial arts, which she remembered was called "Sea-Upholding Demon Dragon Art." However, he rarely used it because it could only be fully unleashed when combined with Demon Power. It was not impossible to use it with True Qi, but its power would inevitably be reduced.

She immediately thought that if Si Ming wasn't here, He Qichang would indeed be the best choice. Not only did he know the Demon Blade Art, but he also possessed Demon Race blood, allowing him to unleash 120% of his combat power in this environment.

Si Ming didn't voice his doubts. He could roughly guess the reason. Many novels have similar plots where time travelers are often the variables of the world, outside the scope of prophecy, divination, and other such methods.

He Qichang said, "Regardless of whether the prophecy is true or false, we originally wanted to leave this place. We all share the same goal. May I ask, old man, where is the Lord of the Spirit Domain Realm? We will go and destroy him now."

The village chief waved his hand and said, "No rush, no rush. If you go now, you're probably no match for it. You'll need to become stronger first."

He Qichang said, "Of course we want to become stronger, but this isn't something you can achieve just by becoming stronger; it requires accumulated training over time. We can't stay here for too long."

Leaving for three to five days is fine; Si Ming had mentioned the search for the divine skill to Yan Jinghong. But if he didn't return for three to five months, even a fool would know that something must have happened to him.