Qi Devourer

But this method definitely wasn't safe enough. Li Ye couldn't gamble on it.

"What else do you have?"

"Just one normal magazine."

Huang Qingyi raised the pistol and took a normal magazine from his waist pouch, swapping it in.

Li Ye nodded. "Gunpowder drives away evil, qi and blood break evil. They work on any demon or monster, but you can't kill it."

All demons and monsters feared such things. Even primer-fired bullets could harm them, but the Five Plagues Ghost couldn't be dealt with that way.

"Three minutes. I don't care what state you're in or what method you use—gun, sword, whatever. Wound it, don't kill it. If you kill it, we're finished. We need to weaken it as much as possible. And protect me. Don't let it rush into the kitchen, understand?"

Huang Qingyi gripped his sword tightly and faced the Five Plagues Ghost, whose flames had dwindled further. "Mission guaranteed!"

The instant Huang Qingyi agreed, Li Ye dashed toward the kitchen. He dug a stainless-steel basin out of the piled-up garbage, then pulled out several half-empty bottles of baijiu Old Man Zhao had collected. Along with the high-proof alcohol from the Molotov Cocktail, he dumped everything into the basin in one go.

Whoosh!

He twisted the switch and turned the stove flame to its highest setting, heating the alcohol in the basin.

At the same time, the flames on the Five Plagues Ghost's body flickered out. Its body was now completely charred black, yet it looked more like burnt syrup, flowing like soft mud.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" The Five Plagues Ghost let out a hoarse roar. With its arms spread wide, it first staggered forward two steps, then suddenly pounced at Huang Qingyi.

"Wind Shuttle Thread!"

Huang Qingyi clenched the sword hilt. His thrust flashed with cold light, and the swift, nimble blade instantly plunged into the Five Plagues Ghost's chest.

As he attacked, Li Ye dismantled the Salt Bullet Gun in the kitchen and poured all the remaining concentrated saltwater into it.

Bang! Bang!

After the sword struck home, Huang Qingyi raised his hand and fired two shots into the Five Plagues Ghost's knees, forcing it to kneel. But in that instant, it opened its mouth again and shot out its bright-red tongue.

Huang Qingyi had been prepared this time. The moment it opened its mouth, he spun at high speed and leaped into the air. His body flipped lightly upside down, head below and feet above, while the sword in his hand spilled eight arcs of sword light downward, stabbing straight at the Five Plagues Ghost.

"Spider Nest Hanging Silk!"

Eight attacks punched several holes through the humanoid body and destroyed the joints supporting it, making the Five Plagues Ghost collapse to the ground.

Li Ye found the white vinegar then. He unscrewed the bottle, took a deep breath, poured the entire bottle into the basin, and waited silently.

The fallen Five Plagues Ghost swiftly raised half its body again, moving without relying on its joints at all. Its claws dragged its body forward, and with a leap, it pounced at the descending Huang Qingyi.

Huang Qingyi had no time to change moves. Seeing the demon pounce, his eyes turned fierce. His arm vibrated rapidly, making even the blade shake into starlike points as a strange cloud of mist erupted and churned straight toward the Five Plagues Ghost.

"Firefly Severing Rain!"

Screech!!

The blade shredded the Five Plagues Ghost's hands directly into minced flesh. It was clearly in pain and let out a hoarse cry, but with its hands blocking the way, it managed to open its mouth and spit out its long tongue.

Pfft!

Huang Qingyi let out a muffled groan and fell backward, rolling several times across the floor.

A hole had been punched through his shoulder by the long tongue.

Then a strange scent drifted out from the kitchen, the evaporating odors of alcohol and vinegar mingling as they spread through the entire room.

Like a shark smelling blood, the Five Plagues Ghost, which had been knocked backward, rose with its limbs twisted grotesquely and crawled toward the kitchen.

It liked vinegar. Once it smelled that scent, it would definitely come over!

"Stop it!" Li Ye roared. "A minute and a half!"

"Broken String Startled Sparrow!"

Huang Qingyi gritted his teeth fiercely and snapped his sword against the ground. As the blade bent, its springy force launched his fallen body forward. While flying through the air, he swept his sword horizontally, dragging a broad swath of fleeting light as he slashed across the Five Plagues Ghost's waist.

As the strike landed, Huang Qingyi crashed heavily to the ground. Yet borrowing the momentum, he strained to lift his sword sideways, forcibly pushing the Five Plagues Ghost back and placing himself directly in front of the kitchen.

That strike hadn't bisected it. Beneath its syrupy surface, the blade had only sunk in, though it still tore open a massive gash.

At the same time, five phantom figures began bulging out from the Five Plagues Ghost's body as it moved backward.

It was severely wounded, but it was also about to undergo Disaster Transformation.

"One minute. Watch your strength." Li Ye's voice behind him had become calm.

Huang Qingyi nodded heavily. His sword struck repeatedly, entangling the Five Plagues Ghost and keeping it from drawing closer.

But the sword was growing heavier and heavier. Every slash carved out a gash. As the Five Plagues Ghost charged forward, its body became increasingly tattered, while the surrounding phantoms separated farther and farther apart.

Li Ye shouted urgently, "You can't fight like this! You might kill it! Hold back!"

Huang Qingyi's body shuddered. He rushed forward and directly grappled with the demon.

But the Five Plagues Ghost was already advancing relentlessly. Once he was drawn into close combat, he found himself hamstrung.

If he hit too hard, he feared killing it. If he didn't hit hard enough, it feared no death at all, pouncing with bites and claws. Unable to retreat, Huang Qingyi soon gained several more scratches.

That was nothing. The main thing was guarding against that tongue, which could actually hurt him.

Most crucially—

"This won't do either. Its injuries aren't severe enough to be safe!" Li Ye's voice rang out again.

"You weren't this hard to deal with when I got into bed!"

Huang Qingyi roared. He didn't even use his sword anymore, stepping forward to brawl with the Five Plagues Ghost barehanded!

Li Ye stared fixedly at their struggle, while also keeping an eye on the stopwatch he had deliberately opened on his phone.

Three Flavors Plague Extermination didn't need to be brought to a boil. It only needed to be heated to the proper temperature, and that time was exactly three minutes!

"Ten seconds!"

Pfft!

In the midst of the struggle, Huang Qingyi slipped up and the Five Plagues Ghost seized the hand holding his sword. His grip spasmed uncontrollably, and the sword was about to fall.

At the same time, it spat out its tongue again, stabbing almost face-to-face toward Huang Qingyi's forehead.

I'm dead!

Huang Qingyi's eyes widened. A sudden burst of strength surged through him, and the falling sword rose along with his loosely held hand.

Under the threat of life and death, he counterattacked almost on instinct.

"Three!" Li Ye's eyes widened as well.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As Huang Qingyi raised his sword, his other hand also lifted the gun. He fired precisely—two shots to the chest, one to the head—while the rising blade became an afterimage. Li Ye saw only three immense arcs of sword light streak upward.

"Two!"

"Fleeting Light Shadow!"

Screech!!

Three enormous gashes appeared across the demon's body, making it freeze in place and sway on the verge of collapse. The phantoms had nearly detached from its body.

It was about to die! And about to undergo Disaster Transformation!

"One!"

The phantoms leaped from the original body and instantly merged halfway into the air. Once they fully merged, they would become a great disaster.

At that moment, Li Ye's eyes burst with sharp light. Ignoring the scalding heat conducted through the basin, he hurled the basin and its contents at the Five Plagues Ghost.

"Die!"

Li Ye's face twisted savagely. "Taste my Three Flavors Plague Extermination Water!!"

The demon, which had nearly completely broken free to become a great disaster in this place, was drenched from head to toe along with Huang Qingyi standing before it!

"Gah!"

Saltwater and high-proof alcohol flooded his wounds, making Huang Qingyi shudder in pain.

"Ah!!"

An even more miserable cry erupted from the Five Plagues Ghost's body. As the water fell, all the phantoms returned to that body, which began emitting curls of green smoke.

The green smoke swiftly spread through the air, burning hole after hole into the Five Plagues Ghost's body. The foul, strange stench that had pervaded the room gradually dissipated as the holes multiplied.

In the end, the entire body melted away, becoming a wisp of curling green smoke.

Li Ye's body went slack, and he dropped to his knees, gasping for breath.

The taut strain in his mind, along with the contamination symptoms that had gradually worsened from approaching the demon, erupted all at once as the demon was destroyed and he finally relaxed.

Huang Qingyi turned back and asked, "Is it dead?"

Li Ye nodded. "It's done. Nothing will happen."

But before his words had even faded, he suddenly froze, standing utterly still.

He seemed to hear, seemed to see, a message entering his body from somewhere beyond the veil.

The Emperor said: The plague fiends stole rich flesh and fat, spewing pestilential miasma to erode it. Thus were the fiends cleaved and their qi seized, cast into a cauldron to refine a pill catalyst. The pill catalyst consumed smoke as food; nine granaries boiled with smoky cooking, a thousand feasts tempered the palace of entrails, returning nourishment to strengthen essence and blood!

Authority—Qi Devourer!