The instant the stench of rot struck him, Qin He pushed off with his toes and darted diagonally fifteen feet away.
A black claw swept past his waist. The wind blades it stirred sliced through the corner of his outer robe before it struck the spot where he had just stood, sending stone chips flying.
As he landed, he raised his eyes and took his first proper look at the so-called Sky Demon.
It had neither the blue face and fangs depicted in ancient texts nor the hideous flesh and blood of ordinary demonic creatures.
The thing looked more like a tangled mass of black mist. A few bone spikes or half a rotting mouth occasionally surfaced within it, only to sink back in an instant. Even its outline writhed and changed constantly.
Alive, yet not quite alive.
Qin He turned his fingertips, catching three inch-long Corpse Suppressing Nails between them.
These things never failed against sinister corpses. The yang fire sand tempering their tips was made specifically to pierce foul energy.
He flicked his wrist.
Three cold gleams shot straight out.
The instant their tips sank into the black mist, Qin He raised his brows slightly.
There was no resistance from piercing flesh, no tremor from clashing spiritual power. The three nails passed through the creature like wisps of empty smoke, emerged from its back, and embedded themselves in the distant ground without stirring so much as a ripple.
"Incorporeal?"
He murmured to himself, but a crimson flame had already risen in his palm. The flame fire was ordinary fire he had casually condensed, mixed with a strand of primordial yang energy to burn away sinister filth.
The flame left his hand and struck the creature.
"Screee!"
An inhuman shriek exploded through the air. The black mist abruptly curled