Demon

"Plop!"

Baili Qingfeng had just killed the Iron Sword Sect warrior when he heard a splash.

The last man seemed to know he could not escape Baili Qingfeng's pursuit, so he jumped straight into the pond.

He was clearly skilled in the water. The moment he entered the pond, he dove and swiftly swam more than twenty meters away.

Once he felt he was safe, he glared viciously at Baili Qingfeng. "You're dead! You're dead! Baili Qingfeng, you killed our Sect Leader, killed our elders, and even killed the four greatest experts of our Iron Sword Sect! Our Iron Sword Sect will never let you off! Once Elder Wang and his friends return, it will be your day of reckoning. Thirty-nine experts from our Iron Sword Sect will hunt you to the ends of the earth! ...Oh, I forgot. You used the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Art, so you won't live until then. But blood debts can only be repaid with blood. When the time comes, your entire family—even your nine clans—will have to be buried with you for your audacity in offending our Iron Sword Sect!"

"If you have a grudge against me, come at me! Why do you have to kill my entire family and wipe out my nine clans at the drop of a hat!? Why are every one of you so vicious and malicious!? Don't your consciences hurt at all!?"

"Hahaha, conscience? Haven't you heard the saying, 'Once you enter the jianghu, it is deeper than the sea; from then on, conscience becomes a stranger on the road'? The moment you step into the jianghu, you need to have that kind of ideological awareness!"

"I'm not a jianghu man. I'm not a martial artist. I'm just a student, an Outstanding Student with good grades and well-rounded moral, intellectual, and physical development at Xia'er University! If your Iron Sword Sect hadn't pressured me relentlessly and refused to let up, how could I have dared offend a major sect like yours!?"

Although the Iron Sword Sect expert in the pond vaguely felt that something was off about Baili Qingfeng's words, seeing his shocked and enraged appearance filled him with indescribable pleasure. "Hmph, now that things have come to this, even kneeling and begging for mercy won't help. Our Iron Sword Sect..."

Before he could finish, he saw Baili Qingfeng pick up the pistol abandoned by the Iron Sword Sect warrior from earlier and aim it at him...

In an instant...

The expression of the Iron Sword Sect expert, who had thought hiding in the pond would let him safely outlast Baili Qingfeng, froze on his face.

A gun...

Baili Qingfeng actually had a gun!?

Wait a minute...

It seemed this gun had been brought by their own Iron Sword Sect expert?

A core expert of the mighty Iron Sword Sect, a practitioner of Qi Nurturing and Blood Exchange, yet instead of properly practicing the Iron Sword Sect's inherited Tiger's Roar Fist, Dragon Crane Eight Forms, and Song Mountain Fist, he had actually brought a gun!?

What a disgrace! What a disgrace!

Bai Yang had originally had a chance to outlast Baili Qingfeng, but now he was going to be killed by his own man!

"No! Stop! I was joking just now..."

"Bang!"

The gunshot rang out!

At that moment, Bai Yang's breathing seemed to stop. He had never felt death come so close.

And then...

Nothing happened!

Had he missed!?

From the clumsy way Baili Qingfeng handled the gun, it was obvious this was his first time using one!

Realizing this, Bai Yang's desire to survive became stronger than ever. He swam violently, heading toward the center of the pond at top speed.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Baili Qingfeng fired six shots in succession.

Although a martial artist's sharp senses seemed to be making his aim increasingly accurate, this was still the first time in both his lives that he had fired a handgun. Hitting someone who had already swum thirty meters away in the darkness...

Really was not easy.

But if it was not easy for him, it was even harder for Bai Yang.

How immense was the psychological pressure of being targeted again and again, yet never hit?

It was so great that even the steely resolve of this veteran martial artist nearly collapsed.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

At last, blood sprayed into the air.

Baili Qingfeng fired three more shots in a row and finally hit him once, staining the pond red.

But the shot had not struck a vital point, and Baili Qingfeng...

"Out of bullets! Hahahaha, you're out of bullets! Heaven is on my side! Once the aftereffects of the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Art kick in, let's see how you'll die!"

Bai Yang, still in the pond, let out a wild laugh as though he had escaped certain death. His entire body seemed to have gone mad.

And Baili Qingfeng...

He withdrew the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Art, sat down on a rock, and panted lightly.

Sensing Baili Qingfeng's weakness, Bai Yang listened for a moment before laughing arrogantly again. "Hahaha, are you feeling weaker and weaker? It doesn't feel good watching yourself walk toward death bit by bit, does it? Once you're dead, I'll go kill your entire family. I, Bai Yang, always keep my word!"

"Iron Sword Sect! How can you be this rotten!?"

Baili Qingfeng angrily rose to his feet and shouted furiously.

Hearing that Baili Qingfeng sounded weak, yet...

His voice still carried enough force to make it clear he had plenty of breath. Bai Yang's laughter abruptly stopped as if someone had seized him by the throat...

After a long while, he stammered, somewhat trembling, "You... how do you still have the strength to talk?"

Baili Qingfeng sat down again.

He knew that the more critical the moment, the calmer he had to be.

Although that Sect Leader and elder of the Iron Sword Sect earlier seemed...

A little weak?

He had killed them in an instant.

But he estimated that this was probably because he had taken them by surprise. If they had fought head-on, it would absolutely have been a Bloody Battle in which survival was a matter of nine chances to one.

As for the four Iron Sword Sect warriors afterward...

They were weak too...

But he was only a student, a student who merely wanted to study quietly, attend classes, listen to music, and practice his fists.

Killing several Iron Sword Sect members might have looked simple, but it had still been killing. Killing itself was a burden on the soul and an immense strain on the mind. Even though the Iron Sword Sect members had been rotten to the core—scum of the world, heartless and cruel, utterly devoid of conscience, worse than beasts—he was still a morally upright young man. Killing people would inevitably make his conscience condemn him, leaving him anxious, worried, and afraid.

Thus, although he had only scraped a little skin off his left hand when blocking the car door during this Bloody Battle... Oh, it had already recovered—but he still did not dare underestimate disciples of a major sect like the Iron Sword Sect in the slightest. He had faced them as if confronting a great enemy, his nerves taut every moment, never daring to relax.

This kind of mental damage...

Was something ordinary people could never understand.

That was why he had to sit down and recover as quickly as possible, meeting the even greater dangers he might face next in his peak condition!

While Baili Qingfeng sat and rested, Bai Yang's face in the pond gradually turned pale.

He had been shot, and the bleeding still would not stop. He also had to keep moving in the pond, which only accelerated the blood loss. He was already showing signs of losing too much blood.

"Why? Why is he completely fine after using the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Art? Is he a monster? Is there any justice in this world!? No! He's forcing himself to hold on. No one can still have strength after using the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Art. He's putting on a show! Yes, he must be putting on a show. The reason he's sitting there now is because he can't move at all!"

Thinking this, Bai Yang endured the pain and soon swam to the pond's edge, carefully crawling onto the bank.

Seeing that Baili Qingfeng still showed no reaction after he climbed ashore, Bai Yang exhaled in relief. "My guess really was right..."

"Thud!"

Before Bai Yang could finish, Baili Qingfeng, who had been sitting, suddenly sprang to his feet. Power erupted beneath his feet, and the ground shook. Riding that surging, galloping force, he seemed to transform into a hunting leopard. Going from absolute stillness to explosive motion, he unleashed unprecedented speed and pounced at Bai Yang like lightning.

That terrifying speed, and the Qi and Blood power stirred up as he lunged...

"You're telling me this is a martial artist who just used the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Art!?"

"Ah! Why!?"

Bai Yang let out a desperate roar and turned to jump back into the pond. But just as he was about to leap, thunder seemed to roll across the heavens. A fear rooted in the instinct of life made his hands and feet turn cold, freezing him rigid on the spot.

Spirit Refinement Manifestation!

"Move! Move!"

Bai Yang screamed inwardly. Relying on his overwhelmingly powerful survival instinct, he struggled free of the paralyzing effect of Spirit Refinement Manifestation in an extremely short time. But by then...

Baili Qingfeng had already flashed before him like lightning!

"Demon, die!"

With Baili Qingfeng's furious roar, Sword Light tore across his neck in an instant.

"No..."

Amid his shrill, unwilling scream, Bai Yang's head flew high into the air...

"I... I'm a demon!?"

As the world spun, this thought flashed through Bai Yang's mind.

This...

Should be the most serious slander of the century...