Slaying the Demon Together (Please Bookmark, Please Vote)

With just a few words, the two swiftly formed an alliance. The distance between them also narrowed somewhat as they united their front.

Though allied, they still remained wary of one another, keeping more than ten zhang between them.

Ling Pengyun continuously formed hand seals and cast spells. He first summoned two Water Shields, which, together with the Water Shield he had previously summoned with a spirit talisman, defended him from all sides.

Only then did he cast offensive spells, summoning a full five Water Spikes and three Water Arrows.

Meanwhile, Shen Hu retrieved the flying needles that Ling Pengyun had earlier knocked away with the Black Iron Shield. He infused them with spiritual power, ready to launch them at any moment, while also forming hand seals and casting spells like Ling Pengyun.

It was only that his spellcasting speed was nowhere near Ling Pengyun's.

When he noticed that Ling Pengyun in the distance was already surrounded by spells, his expression immediately changed in shock. He muttered inwardly, Could this man be a spell cultivator?

It seemed that when he fought me earlier, he had held back a backup plan!

After sighing inwardly, he quickly regained his composure and continued forming hand seals and casting spells, awaiting the demonic cultivator who was about to attack.

A distance of one li took the demonic cultivator, with his Demonic Item Flying Boat, merely twenty breaths to cross.

Just as the demonic cultivator came within a hundred zhang of Ling Pengyun and Shen Hu, the two unleashed the attacks they had long prepared.

The Black Iron Sword, the Golden Flying Sword, and more than ten torrents of spells all blasted toward the demonic cultivator aboard the Demonic Item Flying Boat dozens of zhang away.

The demonic cultivator had long seen Ling Pengyun and Shen Hu casting spells. When those spells came hurtling over, he immediately leaped from the demon boat, put it away to free up his divine sense, and prepared to attack.

The moment he landed, he swiftly threw out a Magic Tool Round Shield to block in front of him. At the same time, he waved the demonic banner in his hand, releasing the nine Qi Training Middle Stage evil ghosts within.

Five of them charged at the stronger Shen Hu, while four attacked the weaker Ling Pengyun.

The Magic Tool Round Shield in the demonic cultivator's hand possessed extremely powerful defenses. It withstood more than ten spells Ling Pengyun and Shen Hu had prepared for so long without suffering much damage, though several cracks appeared across its surface.

Yet the sight of this made the demonic cultivator furious.

To repair the cracks on this round shield, he would likely need the full blood of a Qi Training Middle Stage cultivator.

His desire to kill the two grew even stronger. No longer holding back, he slapped his Storage Bag and summoned a Blood-Red Shuttle from within.

The instant the shuttle emerged, it shot forth, turning into a streak of red light as it sped toward the stronger Shen Hu.

Shen Hu had already taken out a dharma shield to defend himself when the five evil ghosts pounced.

However, the dharma shield was covered in cracks, clearly an old item.

Under the bombardment of five Qi Training Middle Stage evil ghosts and the Blood-Red Shuttle, the cracks on the dharma shield continued to multiply, and Shen Hu's face darkened further and further.

On the other side,

Ling Pengyun's situation was no better. Though the four Qi Training Middle Stage evil ghosts attacking him possessed only about half the strength of cultivators at the same level due to being refined through a secret art, there were simply too many of them.

As they lunged and fed upon him, Ling Pengyun could only passively defend himself with the three Water Shields arranged around him.

Knowing that defense alone was no solution, Ling Pengyun made a prompt decision. With a wave of his hand, he drew out the three Fire Arrow Talismans he had only recently purchased, infused them with spiritual power, transformed them into three foot-long fire arrows, and fired them simultaneously at one Qi Training Middle Stage evil ghost.

Ling Pengyun knew the power of these mid-grade Fire Arrow Talismans well. Killing a Qi Training Middle Stage evil ghost with a single one was utterly impossible.

The power of one fire arrow was not especially great, but when three became one, their force was immense. Under the bombardment, they directly blasted a Qi Training Middle Stage evil ghost apart.

With one less Qi Training Middle Stage evil ghost suppressing him, Ling Pengyun's pressure eased somewhat.

Seeing the Fire Arrow Talismans achieve results, Ling Pengyun no longer held back. He fired the remaining two Fire Arrow Talismans in his hand at the leftmost of the three remaining evil ghosts.

Though the two fire arrows did not kill that evil ghost, they scattered a great deal of the yin energy within it.

Afterward, several Water Spikes Ling Pengyun cast in rapid succession bombarded it and scattered the evil ghost as well.

In a mere ten breaths, Ling Pengyun had slain two Qi Training Middle Stage evil ghosts. This also surprised the demonic cultivator dozens of zhang away, and his expression turned exceedingly ugly.

The two evil ghosts Ling Pengyun had slain had been refined from two Early-Stage Qi Training evil ghosts. The demonic cultivator had spent considerable time gathering the souls of hundreds and thousands of mortals to create them.

Moreover, with those two evil ghosts slain, his dream of upgrading his Evil Ghost Banner into a First Rank High Grade Hundred Ghost Banner would likely have to be postponed indefinitely.

"Damn it!"

The demonic cultivator painfully took a spirit talisman from his Storage Bag and waved it out, summoning three Qi Training Middle Stage evil ghosts.

This talisman was called the Three Ghost Talisman. It sealed three Qi Training Middle Stage evil ghosts, and because its refinement required the souls of three Qi Training Middle Stage cultivators, this demonic cultivator only possessed one.

Though this spirit talisman was somewhat inferior to the Ten Ghost Banner, it could still prove quite useful at critical moments.

The three evil ghosts conjured by the Three Ghost Talisman immediately pounced on Ling Pengyun.

Seeing this perilous situation, Ling Pengyun's brows knit tightly.

There were still two evil ghosts at his side. If the three Qi Training Middle Stage evil ghosts conjured by the Three Ghost Talisman joined them, he would have to face five evil ghosts alone.

At this point, he no longer had any Fire Arrow Talismans that could deal strong damage to evil ghosts.

It seemed I could only use that Flame Blade Talisman!

Ling Pengyun quickly slapped his Storage Bag and summoned a spirit talisman brimming with abundant, pure fire spiritual power.

Though the Flame Blade Talisman on him was First Rank High Grade, it was truly the cream of the crop. Its power was enough to rival the full-force strike of a Qi Training Completion cultivator.

In his early years, Grand Elder Ling Ruda had sought out the Ling Clan's Third Elder, Ling Yunfeng, to refine it specifically. It had been given to Ling Pengyun long ago for the sake of preserving his life.

The moment spiritual power entered the Flame Blade Talisman, Ling Pengyun launched it.

The palm-sized talisman flashed with spiritual light in an instant, bursting forth with vast flames and transforming into a gigantic fire blade two zhang long. It directly sliced the five charging Qi Training Middle Stage evil ghosts in half at the waist.

After this strike, the fire blade's spiritual light merely dimmed, and it still retained thirty percent of its power.

Under Ling Pengyun's divine sense lock, the fire blade carried its remaining force toward the distant demonic cultivator waving his demonic banner.

At the same time, he roared.

"Launch that Armor-Piercing Qi Flying Needle!"

Hearing the loud warning, Shen Hu—who was struggling to fend off five Qi Training Middle Stage evil ghosts and a flying shuttle—was startled to see Ling Pengyun suddenly use such a powerful Flame Blade Talisman.

But he immediately understood. With a flick of his hand, he launched the Armor-Piercing Needle he had long held ready toward the demonic cultivator dozens of zhang away.

Seeing the battle suddenly turn, the demonic cultivator's expression changed drastically. He no longer had the imposing air from before and hurriedly used the round shield in his hand to block in front of him.

The fire blade struck the round shield solidly, letting out a tremendous boom.

Though the round shield blocked the fire blade, the residual force transmitted through it forced the demonic cultivator back several steps.

Seeing this, Ling Pengyun's divine sense stirred, and he silently shouted.

"Thorns!"

"Entangle!"

In an instant, three vines suddenly burst from the ground around the demonic cultivator, swiftly binding the right hand that gripped the round shield.

These three vines had all formed from seeds Ling Pengyun had earlier created with his Natal Spirit Plant, the Thorn Vine.

Earlier, Ling Pengyun had concealed the seeds of those three vines within the Water-based Spells he fired at the demonic cultivator. Those spells had all been blocked by the Magic Tool Round Shield, so the seeds naturally fell around the demonic cultivator.

This was another marvelous use of the Thorn Vine. The vines formed from seeds conjured by the Thorn Vine were incomparably sturdy, several degrees stronger than ordinary Vine Technique.

It was precisely because of this that even the powerful demonic cultivator could not immediately break free from the three vines wrapped around his arm. Naturally, the magic shield in his hand moved a fraction slower when trying to block the incoming flying needle, causing him to miss the best opportunity to stop it.

Shen Hu also seized this opportunity, using his divine sense to control the flying needle and directly pierce through the demonic cultivator's head.

Once the demonic cultivator died, the five Qi Training Middle Stage evil ghosts attacking Shen Hu immediately returned to the demonic banner, while the red flying shuttle fell to the ground.

Seeing that the demonic cultivator was dead and utterly devoid of breath, Ling Pengyun felt a trace of joy in his heart. Yet he did not lower his guard.

Though the demonic cultivator had been eliminated, there was still another "enemy" here.