Hunting Yakshas

Fang Xuan grinned, his eight exposed teeth like the gaping maw of an ancient beast.

Whoosh~

A sword flashed before the eyes.

The sword tip pierced its brain.

The yaksha only felt darkness fall before its eyes before its corpse hit the ground with a thud.

Having killed his enemy in one move, Fang Xuan did not pause. His body flickered again as he took several steps away, dodging outward.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Several Steel Forks stabbed into the spot where he had just stood. Had he dodged any slower, he would have been skewered like barbecue. The immense force behind those Steel Forks was enough to pierce his Dharma robe and wound his body.

"Kill him."

"Tear him apart."

The remaining four yakshas roared, their Steel Forks stabbing through the air with tremendous force and heavy strikes, determined to put Fang Xuan to death!

These yakshas were equivalent to humans in the Divine Courage Realm, but Fang Xuan had a profound foundation and unmatched brute strength. While still in the Internal Fortification Realm, he possessed the strength of seven horses. Even ordinary Divine Courage Realm cultivators could not compare to him in raw power.

Take Fang Qingxue, for example. Even after entering the Divine Courage Realm, she possessed only the strength of five horses.

Facing the four yakshas' combined assault, Fang Xuan snorted and directly tossed aside the Demon Slaying Sword.

These yakshas were far fiercer than blood wolves, and their bodies were covered in thick scales. The Demon Slaying Sword met great resistance when cutting them and could easily get stuck. His fists were much more satisfying.

"Flying Spirit Nine Revolutions."

"Carp Pierces Waves."

He unleashed the Flying Spirit Supple Bone Body, twisting and evading in an extremely strange posture. At the same time, he stepped with the Dragon Form Flying Tiger Step, crossing several yards in a single stride like the roar of dragons and tigers.

His five fingers formed a claw as he grabbed at the yaksha before him.

"Human, you're courting death."

That yaksha revealed a savage grin as well. It looked upon Fang Xuan's claw with utter disdain and likewise stretched out its angular arm to grab him.

Crack~

The yaksha stared blankly at its twisted arm, its face full of disbelief. No matter how it thought about it, it could not understand how this thin, weak-looking human possessed even greater strength than it did.

"Die!"

His hand seized the yaksha's throat and yanked hard. Amid a scream, he tore its bloody throat straight out of its body.

Blood splattered everywhere, and its scream was shrill and miserable, like a night cat wailing at a funeral.

Standing there, Fang Xuan looked like a demon god descended into the world.

"That was satisfying. Again!" Fang Xuan laughed heartily.

His figure flashed through the air once more. With a slight twist of his body, he evaded the Steel Forks wielded by the remaining three yakshas.

Underground Demons possessed immense strength, but their martial techniques were extremely crude, nowhere near as refined as humanity's techniques forged through countless trials.

As one of the Ten Immortal Sects, even the basic cultivation arts used by the Yuhua Sect's Outer Sect Disciples were far more exquisite than anything they had figured out on their own.

"Crane Claw Imprints Sand."

Crack~

One yaksha let out a piercing scream, while the others roared and retreated.

"Why are you running? Come again."

He exerted force once more, drawing his fist back like a bow. When it shot forth, it was like an arrow, like a cannon.

Boom~

With a muffled blast, the yaksha protected from head to toe by scales had its chest smashed inward by Fang Xuan's punch, blood pouring from its seven orifices.

"Two left. Die."

"Snake Crane Clash."

His body soared into the air, his blood and qi surging throughout him. In that instant, his right thigh abruptly doubled in size. As he kicked out, the air around him was squeezed away, seemingly creating a brief vacuum.

The force of that kick was terrifyingly fierce.

Boom~

Feeling this despairing sight, the two yakshas threw back their heads and roared, brandishing their Steel Forks as they charged at Fang Xuan.

Rip~

Fang Xuan landed from the air and glanced at the yakshas that had been kicked into piles of mangled flesh.

"What a pity. If Fang Han were here, with the Yellow Springs Diagram, he could refine these yakshas into Blood Pills. A single Blood Pill would let someone go three days without food or water while remaining full of strength, and it would make the tendons and membranes within the body tougher. Taking them over a long period could even allow one to rapidly break through realms," Fang Xuan sighed.

What a waste.

These Blood Pills could replace medicinal pills. Pure throughout, they were the finest food for cultivators.

Once cultivators reached the Divine Transformation Realm, ordinary grains and mortal food could only fill their stomachs. If they ate mortal food for too long, impurities would gradually accumulate in their bodies, causing them to age quickly. Not only would they be unable to advance, they would instead regress.

Thus, cultivators generally ate refined medicinal pills, or spirit rice supplied by immortal sects, such as the food from the Yuhua Sect's Jade Cuisine Hall.

However, the food from Jade Cuisine Hall merely contained no impurities and kept the body clean. It could not further increase cultivation, strengthen bones and muscles, or raise the body's limits.

Those True Disciples never ate at Jade Cuisine Hall. Instead, they refined pills on their own mountain peaks, tempering them repeatedly to replenish their vital energy.

Well-connected Inner Sect Disciples would go to the peaks of True Disciples to ask for pills as food. Experts ranked in the top ten of the Mountains and Rivers Ranking also received refined fasting spirit pills from the sect each month.

Shaking his head, he hurried toward Fang Qingxue's location.

At that moment, Fang Qingxue was being besieged by five yakshas and appeared to be in extreme danger.

Yet Fang Xuan instead breathed a sigh of relief and found a large rock to sit on and rest.

With a sweep of Fang Qingxue's Dragon Slaying Sword, the yakshas' Steel Forks snapped one after another like tofu.

A closer look revealed faint purple electrical currents flowing along the Dragon Slaying Sword in Fang Qingxue's hand. They traveled through the Steel Forks, paralyzing all the yakshas where they stood.

"Is this... her innate talent awakening? As expected of the Reincarnation of Lightning Mother," Fang Xuan said with emotion.

"Kill!"

Fang Qingxue gave a light cry, and sword light flashed. The headless yaksha was cut in two at the waist.

"The... the chief won't let you go. You... you'll all die."

"Hmph!"

Fang Qingxue snorted and swept the Dragon Slaying Sword. The yaksha's head was cleaved into two like a watermelon.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Big Sister is mighty!" Fang Xuan cheered.

Looking at Fang Xuan resting atop a black rock nearby, then glancing at the gruesome yaksha corpses not far away, Fang Qingxue somehow felt that his praise was mockery. Her face darkened as she said, "Hurry up and take the Essence Bloodstone."

"Hehe, coming."

On the altar, the Essence Bloodstone floated in the air. The Demon Beast hearts around it had long since shriveled up, all their energy gathered within that blood-red stone.

Fang Qingxue reached out to grab it.

"Wait."

"Hm?"

Fang Xuan swiftly used the Dragon Slaying Sword to cut open the bodies of the twelve yakshas on the ground and remove their hearts.

Fang Qingxue's eyes lit up as well.

"Can't let them go to waste," Fang Xuan said.

He placed the twelve yaksha hearts on the altar. As the strange patterns began to glow, a suction force emerged, continuously drawing the energy and essence blood from the hearts into the Essence Bloodstone.

A crimson glow shone from the Essence Bloodstone, making it look even more alluring. A fragrant scent drifted from it, stirring one's blood and qi upon inhalation and making one want to swallow it whole.

After absorbing the essence blood from those twelve yaksha hearts, the Essence Bloodstone had grown a full circle larger and contained even more energy than before.

Fang Qingxue reached out and took the Essence Bloodstone into her hand, unable to conceal the delight on her face.

"Who is it?"

An enraged roar came from within the altar. The two of them immediately felt dizzy, nauseated, and on the verge of vomiting.