Exorcising Demons

Snap.

The dried corpse seemed to be somewhat enraged, and it suddenly turned and swept its gaze. Sun Wang hastily drew his sword to block, but he still couldn't deflect the violent immense force. He was sent flying, his back slamming heavily against the courtyard wall several yards away.

After Sun Wang's sword was drawn, a trace of crimson bloodstain remained on the dried corpse's chest. Inside the wound, there was a mass of hazy, terrifying black energy, exuding an extremely violent and evil aura.

"As expected."

Hu Yong's eyes flickered.

Although today was the so-called Yin-extreme hour, ordinary ghosts and spirits couldn't possibly steal a person's body, devour their essence and blood, and manifest as a dried corpse. Only the legendary evil spirit energy could achieve this.

Clearly, this dried corpse was some unfortunate soul who had been invaded by evil spirit energy, their soul and essence devoured. Afterward, this evil spirit had followed the trail to Chen's Apothecary. Hu Yong guessed it was highly likely due to the newly arrived "Bloodgrass Tea" in the main hall, which contained a rich demonic blood energy, attracting this evil spirit.

"Ma Liu, strike quickly."

Seeing that the dried corpse was still attempting to charge into the main hall, Hu Yong's expression sank, and he spoke in a low voice.

There was a lot of Bloodgrass Tea in the main hall, and even some other things. He didn't know what would happen if this evil spirit devoured them, but it certainly wouldn't be good. Wu Ming was nowhere to be found, possibly encountering malevolent spirits outside. Regardless, he couldn't afford to worry about that now; he had to deal with this evil spirit first.

This thing was difficult to damage with metal, possessed immense strength, but its movements were clumsy and lacked any discernible technique, its flaws extremely obvious.

"Alright."

Ma Liu also let out a deep roar and moved fiercely, attacking from the left and right with Hu Yong.

He also wielded a saber technique, a heavy Zhanma Blade. As he swung the Zhanma Blade, a cold glint flashed in his eyes. He bit his tongue, spitting out a mouthful of vital blood onto the blade.

Snap!!!

Both Ma Liu and Hu Yong's sabers, imbued with Pure Yang True Blood on their edges, slashed horizontally across the dried corpse's neck from the left and right during a gap in its movements. Accompanied by a snap sound, as if metal were shattering, the dried corpse's head flew into the air.

Having expended their vital blood, both Ma Liu and Hu Yong's auras visibly weakened. However, after their combined strike severed the dried corpse's head, its movements halted. wisps of black demonic energy surged from the severed neck.

Whoosh.

In the very next instant, the demonic energy surged out from the dried corpse's severed neck, transforming into a mass of black mist. Instead of charging towards the main hall, it suddenly turned back and lunged towards Sun Wang, who had fallen to the corner of the wall, injured!

"Not good."

"Watch out!"

Hu Yong and Ma Liu's expressions changed drastically upon seeing this, and they tried to rush forward to assist, but it was too late.

Sun Wang was also startled. This was actually his first time encountering an evil spirit, but he had heard some things about them. Once this black energy invaded the body, it would often seize the soul and blood, turning the victim into a dried corpse.

Sun Wang immediately tried to circulate his blood energy to resist the demonic energy's invasion, but he had expended his blood energy to unleash that sword strike earlier, and his blood energy was now weak. He struggled to mobilize it in his haste.

The situation was critical.

Bang.

A figure from outside the courtyard rushed in. Holding a Crimson Serpent Spear, they flashed a cold glint in the dark night, blocking in front of Sun Wang. With a forceful thrust forward, the spear pierced through the mass of malevolent demonic energy.

"Careful!"

"It's an evil spirit, you need vital blood!"

Seeing Wu Ming appear and save Sun Wang, Hu Yong couldn't relax and hurriedly shouted a reminder.

But just as Hu Yong finished speaking, he saw that the pitch-black demonic energy, after being pierced by Wu Ming, seemed unharmed. It rapidly spread up the spear, engulfing Wu Ming entirely.

As the rolling black energy surged, it was about to pour into Wu Ming's body, but then it suddenly jolted, as if encountering something terrifying. It emitted a sizzling sound and dissipated by more than half. The remaining bit even tried to distance itself from Wu Ming.

Whoosh.

Wu Ming's figure emerged from the demonic energy. His aura was somewhat weak, as if he had lost some vital blood, but his expression remained unchanged. He swept his spear horizontally, and the residual demonic energy was quickly scattered and destroyed by his spear, disappearing without a trace.

Seeing Wu Ming eliminate the demonic energy, Hu Yong and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief. They exchanged glances, seeing a hint of relief in each other's eyes. They hadn't anticipated that tonight would be so perilous, with evil spirits appearing during the Yin-extreme hour.

"Brother Wu, you've returned just in time."

Sun Wang propped himself up, looked at Wu Ming, and let out a long breath.

Wu Ming had suddenly gone out to patrol earlier, likely sensing some signs of the evil spirit's disturbance, or perhaps falling for a diversionary tactic by the evil spirit. Fortunately, he had returned in time.

Hu Yong also took a breath, steadied himself, and walked over. Just as he was about to ask Wu Ming what he had encountered when he went out, he suddenly heard movement from a distance again. A group of people was rapidly approaching their location.

Instantly, the atmosphere in the courtyard tensed.

Fortunately, after a few breaths, a voice came from outside the courtyard.

"Cautious Punishment Division patrol!"

Swish!

As the voice fell, several night patrollers from the Cautious Punishment Division flooded into the courtyard from outside.

The person in the lead wore a dark green flying fish uniform and was Zhou Huaian, a seventh-rank inspector of the Cautious Punishment Division. His gaze swept across the entire courtyard, taking in the mess, and he said in a deep voice:

"What happened here?"

The inspectors of the Cautious Punishment Division were all at the Third Blood Forging stage, powerful figures who wielded authority through their martial prowess.

Hu Yong and the others dared not delay. They all paid their respects accordingly, and then Hu Yong stepped forward, recounting what had just transpired.

After listening.

Zhou Huaian's brow furrowed slightly as his gaze swept across the surroundings.

He had already dealt with an evil spirit tonight, and knew that while these residual evil spirit thoughts weren't particularly potent, they might be manageable for anyone below the Third Blood Forging stage. However, completely eradicating them wouldn't be easy.

Still, the evil spirit might not have been strong enough before, having absorbed insufficient blood energy and souls. This could explain its weak demonic energy. Coupled with Hu Yong and the others exhausting their own blood energy and using their pure yang blood energy to clash with it head-on, it was indeed possible to destroy it.

Zhou Huaian immediately looked at the night patrolmen under his command and said in a deep voice, "Zhao Hu, Feng Yong, you two stay here and don't slack off! The rest of you, follow me and continue patrolling. Dawn is at most fifteen minutes away!"

With that said.

After leaving the two to stand guard, Zhou Huaian led the others away quickly, plunging back into the darkness.

Seeing Zhou Huaian and the others depart, Hu Yong also breathed a sigh of relief. Although he hadn't committed any crimes, facing a seventh-rank inspector from the Cautious Punishment Division inevitably put him under some pressure.

After a moment to compose himself, Hu Yong cautiously looked at a night patrolman and asked in a low voice, "Brother Zhao, why did an evil spirit appear in the city tonight?"

"Don't ask!"

Zhao Hu's gaze was sharp, and his attitude was far from polite. He then turned his attention to Sun Wang, Ma Liu, and Wu Ming, saying, "None of you are to speak of tonight's events tomorrow! Otherwise, you will be charged with sedition!"

"Yes."

Sun Wang, Ma Liu, and the others immediately felt a chill in their hearts.

Wu Ming leaned against the wall, standing with the Crimson Serpent Spear in hand. He appeared weak and his blood energy was depleted, similar to Hu Yong and Sun Wang's condition. He didn't stand out.

No one noticed that Wu Ming's eyes were flashing with a faint, flickering light.

Hu Yong and the others had depleted their blood energy from fighting that evil spirit. However, Wu Ming's situation was different. His blood energy had been depleted because the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram had suppressed the demonic energy at that moment, producing an effect that naturally consumed a portion of his blood energy. In its place, his soul power had been further strengthened!

"As expected, this Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram can suppress residual evil spirit thoughts and use them to refine blood energy to nourish the soul."

Wu Ming's understanding was now crystal clear.

This had happened once before, but at that time, his consciousness couldn't withstand the impact, and he had directly fainted. This time, however, he had witnessed the entire process and seen the operation of the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram.

Currently, the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram exhibited two abilities. One was to absorb Yin Sha energy. Once a certain level was reached, it could manifest true word secret patterns for him to comprehend and master. These secret patterns were also methods for controlling soul power.

The second ability was to suppress demonic thoughts, subdue demons, and refine souls, turning demonic thoughts into one's own power to refine blood energy, thereby nourishing and strengthening the soul.

Although he had lost a significant amount of blood energy just now, all the blood energy accumulated from his martial arts practice during this period was exhausted. In its place, his soul power had undergone a further transformation, and it even seemed to have broken through a certain boundary.

"My soul power has grown much stronger than before. It feels like I can leave my body with a single thought. If my soul were to leave my body, it would likely be much stronger than those wandering souls."

Wu Ming carefully felt the changes within himself.

His soul power was far stronger than the unconscious wandering souls generated by Yin Sha energy. If he were to attempt to leave his body and wander around, it would be easy to confuse an ordinary person.

And if he activated the 'Lin' secret technique to stabilize his mind and condense his soul, even a Blood Forging martial artist might be intimidated by his spirit!

"I wonder how this move would work when used on a person."

Wu Ming pondered.

Mere intimidation was meaningless. But if a martial artist were in close combat and suddenly received such a blow, as long as their movements paused for even a moment, their vital points would likely be pierced by his spear!