His gaze passed over the three demons and fell into the deeper darkness of the great hall.
There, vague shadows seemed to conceal something.
By the dim candlelight, he saw clearly.
They were enormous iron cages.
Inside the cages were curled-up figures.
They wore plain cloth garments and looked utterly dispirited. They were the young people who had vanished from Inkstone Town and the surrounding villages.
Then the next sight made Shen Che's heart sink.
The people in several of the cages were not quite right.
A young man had actually grown a pair of small, curved horns from his forehead.
Fine green scales had emerged across another girl's cheeks and arms.
They were being demonized!
A weak voice came from an iron cage in the corner.
"Shen... Shen Che?"
Shen Che looked toward the sound.
Inside that cage, a young man in a tattered constable's uniform was struggling to raise his head.
His face was as pale as paper, but Shen Che recognized it.
It was Liu Hua.
He was still alive.
"Don't come over!" Seeing Shen Che, Liu Hua showed no joy at surviving a disaster. Instead, he exhausted all his strength to roar, "They're using us for experiments! These demons are powerful—run!"
Experiments.
Shen Che looked at those whose bodies had already begun to mutate, and the suspicions in his heart were confirmed.
"Hehe, run?"
The black-robed elder, Yan Hong, let out a grating laugh.
"Young friend from the Demon Suppression Division, since you're here, why not stay and join our great undertaking?"
He spread his arms, his expression fanatical.
"Don't you think the Human Race's frail bodies are a kind of shackle? Birth, aging, sickness, death, the seven emotions and six desires—how pitiful."
"But demons are born powerful and live long lives. Transforming humans into demons is evolution. It is a gift!"
Yan Hong pointed at the wailing people in the cages.
"Look. Before long, they will cast off the shackles of mortal men and gain new life."
Shen Che ignored the madman.
He turned and looked at Feng Changkong, who was trembling beside him.
"You think so too?"
That calm gaze pinned Feng Changkong in place, and his whole body shuddered.
He felt killing intent even more terrifying than that earlier punch.
"I... I..." Feng Changkong's lips trembled. "What did I do wrong? I only wanted to live longer and become stronger! They gave me this chance!"
He pointed at the three inside, as though clutching at a lifeline.
"What's wrong with becoming a demon? Why should your Demon Suppression Division wipe us all out?"
Shen Che listened to his defense.
Then he raised his hand.
"Helping a tyrant commit evil, slaughtering your own kind, and you still ask why."
"In your next life, be a good man."
As his words fell, he struck with his palm.
There was no earth-shaking spectacle, only an utterly ordinary palm pressing down on Feng Changkong's crown.
A dull crack rang out, like a watermelon being smashed open.
Feng Changkong's head exploded completely, red and white splattering across the ground.
The headless corpse swayed, then crumpled limply to the floor.
[Killed a Primordial Qi Realm martial artist, Time Value +1500] [Time Value: 1500]
Liu Hua's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
That was Feng Changkong!
A Primordial Qi Realm expert who had been famous in Qingfeng City for ten years, and he had just... been slapped to death?
It was even more shocking than crushing a divine weapon barehanded or punching through a shoulder.
Was this really the Shen Che he knew?
In the short time Shen Che had been away from Inkstone Town, what exactly had he experienced?
"Trash."
The black-robed elder showed not the slightest ripple at Feng Changkong's death.
He merely spat out those two words with contempt.
"Wang Bing, Wang Yan, take him down."
Yan Hong ordered the two burly men behind him.
"Perfect. The Demon Transformation Pill is still lacking one main ingredient. A Demon Queller Envoy with such vigorous blood and qi should surely produce a top-grade pill."
"Yes, Lord Yan Hong!"
Wang Bing and Wang Yan bowed to accept the order.
Yan Hong.
The moment that name entered his ears, Shen Che's heart stirred.
He remembered.
On the Demon Suppression Division's wanted list, there was a demon with an extremely high bounty named Yan Hong.
One night, this demon had poured deadly poison into the lower reaches of the Changhuai River, poisoning several villages and towns along both banks and killing thousands of residents.
Every victim's flesh and blood had dissolved, leaving not even bones behind. Their deaths had been unimaginably gruesome.
Because his methods were too vile, the Demon Suppression Division had listed him as a Class A wanted criminal.
Who would have thought that investigating a mere disappearance case would hook such a big fish from the wanted list?
This truly was buy one, get one free.
"Kid, you dared kill someone Lord Yan Hong had his eye on. Prepare to become a puddle of blood!"
Wang Bing grinned savagely and stepped forward.
The black robe around him stirred without wind.
Boom!
A vast surge of demonic power shot skyward from within his body.
Riiip!
The black robe on his body was stretched apart and torn to pieces.
His body swelled and mutated at a visible speed.
Sheets of ice-blue scales burst from his skin, radiating bone-piercing cold.
On the other side, Wang Yan erupted at the same time.
Crimson scales covered his whole body, and the air around him warped from the intense heat, like red-hot iron burning in a furnace.
In the blink of an eye, the two tall, brawny men had turned into two humanoid demons nearly a zhang tall, with blue faces and savage fangs.
Within the underground hall, there was nothing but piercing cold and scorching waves of heat.
The young people in the iron cages who still retained their senses had never seen such a horrifying sight.
One by one, they shrank into the corners in terror, trembling like sieves, unable even to scream.
"C-Commander-level Demonic Beasts!"
Feeling those two utterly different yet terrifying auras, Liu Hua's teeth chattered.
The pressure of these two demons was more terrifying than any record he had ever seen in the Demon Suppression Division archives.
They were absolutely Commander-level great demons comparable to Primordial Qi Realm martial artists!
And there were two of them at once.
"Kid, you're quite strong, to be able to slap that trash Feng Changkong to death."
Wang Bing, now transformed into an ice-blue demon, spoke in a voice like grinding metal, piercing and unpleasant.
"But we brothers are not that kind of worthless trash."
Wang Yan, transformed into a crimson demon, took over, his voice carrying the explosive crackle of flames.
"To show you our respect, we've decided to attack together."
The twin demons worked together with remarkable coordination.
They had sensed that Shen Che would not be easy to deal with. Without the slightest carelessness, they chose to join forces immediately.
Before the words had faded, Wang Bing made the first move.
Mysterious Ice Demon Palm!
He thrust out a huge palm covered in ice-blue scales. From its center, a visible white torrent of cold burst forth.
Wherever it passed, thick frost condensed across the ground, and even the air seemed about to freeze.
At the same time, Wang Yan moved.
Blazing Flame Demon Palm!
The same technique produced an entirely different sight in his hands.
A gigantic palm blazing with raging flames came from the other direction, carrying heat capable of burning mountains and boiling seas, sealing off every path of retreat for Shen Che.
One ice, one fire.
One left, one right.
The two forces converged within the cramped underground space, forming a fatal killing formation of ice and fire.
"Shen Che! Be careful!"
Liu Hua's heart leaped into his throat, and he could not help shouting a warning.
Facing this pincer attack that would have driven any Primordial Qi Realm martial artist to despair, Shen Che's face showed not the slightest fear.
Not only did he not retreat, he stepped forward instead.
A fighting spirit suppressed for far too long erupted thunderously within his chest.
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