Subduing Demons

As night fell.

With the sun's last rays disappearing into the earth, the cold winter night descended upon the remote Wu Village.

Every household had long since locked their doors and windows, retreating indoors to wrap themselves in their bedding. The entire village was silent, not a single spark of light visible. Here, besides Clan Head Wu Qu's family, hardly any homes could afford to burn charcoal for warmth, and even Wu Qu's family rarely indulged in such luxury.

After helping his mother, Liu Shi, settle in, Wu Ming returned to his own room. He took off his old clothes and wrapped himself in his bedding. The cotton in the bedding wasn't plentiful and wasn't particularly thick, so even after wrapping himself up, he could still feel a chill in the cold night.

"If I could cultivate a strand of pure yang blood energy, I wouldn't have to endure this cold."

Wu Ming exhaled as he lay in his bedding, then settled down to sleep.

In a hazy daze, After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly heard someone calling his name.

"Brother Wu Ming, Brother Wu Ming..."

Wu Ming stirred groggily, feeling the voice grow clearer and clearer. His consciousness quickly sharpened, and his expression tightened slightly. He was very familiar with the voice and immediately recognized it.

Wu Zhong?

What was he doing here in the middle of the night?

Almost no one would venture out on a cold winter night, especially since it was likely deep into the night. Wu Zhong coming to find him at this hour was very unusual. Anything unusual meant trouble, so Wu Ming subtly reached for the woodcutter's axe under his bed, his body tensing.

Wu Ming initially didn't want to respond, but after calling out a couple of times, the voice at the door began to shake the door. Although the door was propped shut from the inside with wood, the old wooden door couldn't stop much; even an eighty-year-old grandmother could get in.

"Wu Zhong, what are you doing!"

Hearing the commotion, Wu Ming finally spoke in a low, stern voice.

"Brother Wu Ming, you're awake."

Wu Zhong's voice came from outside the door, filled with relief. He continued, "Get up quickly, Brother Wu Ming! A roe deer sneaked into the village. I can't catch it alone. Brother Wu Ming, come with me to corner it, and we'll have meat tomorrow!"

Hearing Wu Zhong's familiar tone and voice, and seeing no abnormality, Wu Ming's heart eased slightly, but he still held the woodcutter's axe tightly and asked in a low voice, "Tell me first, how old were you when you still wet your pants?"

"Brother Wu Ming, why are you asking this?!"

Wu Zhong's astonished voice came from outside the door.

"Speak quickly."

"E-eight... eight years old."

Wu Zhong's voice was slow and hesitant, as if embarrassed, but he still responded in a small voice.

Hearing Wu Zhong's answer, Wu Ming's heart finally relaxed. He went to the door and peered out through the crack. In the moonlight, everything outside was a silvery white. Wu Zhong stood outside the door, appearing normal.

"It snowed a few days ago. That foolish roe deer must have run into the village because it couldn't find food in the mountains,"

Wu Zhong continued.

Wu Ming finally opened the door, casually hiding the woodcutter's axe behind his back, and asked in a low voice:

"Where is the roe deer?"

"It's... it's... right here!"

Wu Zhong stood in the silvery white courtyard. Upon seeing Wu Ming open the door, his honest face suddenly began to twist and deform in the moonlight. His entire body rapidly shriveled, as if all its moisture had been drained away.

He gnashed his dry skin, his mouth splitting open to the sides, and lunged at Wu Ming.

Wu Ming reacted extremely quickly, stepping back immediately and slamming the door shut, blocking Wu Zhong outside. But with a thud, Wu Zhong crashed against the door, his entire shriveled body breaking apart and falling.

At the same time.

A surge of black energy erupted from the top of Wu Zhong's head, piercing through the old wooden door and enveloping Wu Ming.

"What the hell is this!"

Wu Ming's face showed a hint of horror. Although he had seen the tragic state of people attacked by demons and heard Wu Qu recount tales of demons, in Wu Qu's descriptions, those monsters were merely beasts with stronger bodies.

This thing, disguised as Wu Zhong, that suddenly transformed and spewed out eerie black mist, was truly beyond his understanding.

Swish.

Although it happened suddenly, Wu Ming's movements were still swift. He immediately abandoned propping the door and retreated, drawing his woodcutter's axe and swinging it wildly forward.

However, his woodcutter's axe was useless against the black energy. As he swung, the black energy continued to surge towards him unimpeded, as if trying to burrow into his body.

In a moment of peril, Numerous thoughts flashed through Wu Ming's mind. At the brink of life and death, he fiercely channeled the blood energy throughout his body, bit his tongue, and sprayed a mouthful of fresh blood forward.

"Pure Yang subdues demons, breaks evil and dispels delusion!"

He vaguely recalled Wu Qu saying that although demons and monsters ran rampant in this world, the Pure Yang martial path could indeed slay all of them, and pure yang blood energy was the nemesis of demons and spirits.

Sizzle!

As Wu Ming's mouthful of blood sprayed out and splashed onto the black mist, it finally had some effect. The entire black mist emitted a sizzling sound, like water dripping into a hot oil pan.

"It's effective."

"But... it doesn't seem like enough..."

Wu Ming looked at the scene before him, but felt no joy. In his sight, a mouthful of fresh blood had only caused the black energy to pause for a fleeting moment before it continued to surge towards him as if it were being ignored.

Clearly, the pure yang blood energy could deal with this strange black mist, but his realm was too low, and he hadn't truly condensed the pure yang blood energy. He hadn't even stepped into the first realm of the Martial Path. No matter how he circulated his qi and blood, he couldn't unleash it.

The next instant.

The black mist finally enveloped Wu Ming, drilling into his brow in an instant.

Wu Ming's vision went black, and he instantly lost control of his body. At the same time, in his sight, the entire world drastically changed. As the world turned upside down, he suddenly felt as if he had arrived in a vast void. Before him, a surging black mist appeared, constantly growing stronger, and then transforming into a demon with a green face and fangs!

The demon was immense, its feet treading on the sun and moon. Just a glance at it brought a suffocating sense of pressure, making it almost impossible to muster any thought of resistance. It also caused Wu Ming's thoughts to become extremely sluggish.

"This is bad..."

Wu Ming felt that every thought was becoming incredibly difficult to process. He instinctively realized that this malevolent spirit, transformed from the black energy, was likely going to devour his soul and take over his body, and he was completely powerless to resist.

But, Just as Wu Ming's heart began to sink rapidly, a sudden change occurred.

In the vast, boundless void of consciousness, the colossal demon, which had originally been magnificent and had its feet on the sun and moon, suddenly froze in its ferocious, fanged appearance. Then, a dark sun rose abruptly in the void of consciousness, casting myriad black lights!

"It's it?!"

Wu Ming's consciousness was immobile, but at this moment, he projected his thoughts into the vast nothingness and saw a magnificent and boundless scroll. It blotted out the sky and covered the sun, sweeping through the galaxy, like a curtain of heaven hanging in the firmament.

It was precisely the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram, whose power he had been unable to borrow no matter how he tried!

At this moment, With the invasion of the black energy demon, this painting, which had always rested quietly in the depths of his mind, seemed to have been awakened and finally changed. On the painting, the Black Emperor's divine form, which resembled a god or Buddha, was already lifelike. Now, it was as if it had come alive, imbued with infinite majesty.

Its eyes, hanging high in the nine heavens, suddenly flickered, as if casting their gaze upon the colossal demon in the void.

On the demon's massive face, with its green skin and fangs, an incredibly human-like expression of terror and shock suddenly appeared. Its previous ferocity and violence vanished instantly. It terrifyingly disintegrated, transforming into rolling black energy, attempting to escape from here.

Whoosh!

But in the next moment, ten thousand feet of dark light descended from the Demon Subduing Diagram, enveloping the black energy.

Outside.

In Wu Ming's room.

Swish! Swish!

A figure moved as fast as lightning. With just a few leaps, he landed in the courtyard. It was the Clan Head of Wu Village, Wu Qu. He merely glanced at the situation in the courtyard, and his expression immediately changed. Then, he saw Wu Ming lying stiffly in the room.

"Not good!"

"Pure Yang True Blood, Break Evil and Subdue Demons!"

Wu Qu's face was very grim. With a long roar, his body suddenly trembled. A fierce blood energy surged from his body and flowed into his right palm. His entire right palm immediately enlarged and thickened, turning crimson. Faint traces of blood even seeped from its surface.

Wu Qu flashed and instantly rushed into the room, placing his large hand on Wu Ming's forehead.

Sizzle!!

In an instant, sizzling sounds erupted, and a piercing scream permeated from the void. Visibly, a wisp of black demonic energy rapidly dissipated and was destroyed upon contact with Wu Qu's blood.

"Thank goodness, thank goodness..."

Seeing this, Wu Qu breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Although the malevolent spirit had entered his body, it hadn't been for long. Moreover, Wu Ming had been cultivating the Martial Path. Although he hadn't condensed his blood energy and stepped onto the threshold of being a martial artist, he had been practicing techniques to guide qi and blood, so he wasn't entirely without resistance. He could still be saved.

Then, Wu Qu turned his head and saw Wu Zhong's body outside the door, curled up in a ball, as if his vital essence had been drained, completely shriveled. His expression turned grim again.

Just then, another scream rang out. It was Wu Yu, who, hearing the commotion outside, could no longer resist opening the door to look. She saw the corpse in the snow in front of Wu Ming's door and screamed in terror, finally waking up the entire village.

Under the dark night, Wu Village was in chaos.