The Road Ends in Demonic Transformation, Demons Appear in Despair

"Lu Jue, use that move!" In the distance, the badly wounded Qian Yikang lay collapsed on the ground and said in a low voice.

Lu Jue was drenched in blood. He struggled up from the ground, the expression on his face already turning savage and twisted.

He had never imagined that a mere martial artist who had only just entered the Xiantian Realm would actually force him to such a point!

Threads and wisps of Black Qi rose from beneath his feet, and an extremely dense stench of rot and blood spread across the entire street in the blink of an eye.

With every step Lu Jue took, he left behind a sticky, rotting black footprint on the ground.

Puff, puff, puff!

Thick black fur burst through his official robes and grew out from his skin.

At some point, his pupils had turned a dark yellow filled with brutal malice. Sharp claws and fangs extended outward, giving off a metallic sheen.

"Ah?!"

"How could this be?!"

"How did the County Lieutenant become a monster?!"

An uproar rose all around.

"Another demonized monster." Lu Yang's gaze swept over the small black bottle Lu Jue had casually tossed onto the ground, a few traces of doubt showing in his pitch-black eyes.

His line of sight passed over Lu Jue and landed on Qian Yikang. He said coldly, "Why aren't you transforming? Is it that you don't want to? Or that you can't?"

Qian Yikang pressed his lips tightly together, his expression ugly, and did not answer.

His gaze occasionally swept toward the clamoring soldiers and yamen runners around them, revealing a hint of ruthlessness.

Off to the other side, faintly, Lu Yang sensed some kind of familiar aura from Lu Jue.

But that feeling quickly vanished.

"Roar, roar!"

"Die!"

After demonizing, Lu Jue's injuries had nearly healed, and his strength rose another notch.

His transformed, powerful figure shuttled back and forth through the endless black fog, so fast he was like a ghostly specter.

Whoosh, whoosh!

Accompanied by a burst of wind-tearing sounds, dozens of claw shadows drilled out of the black fog and closed in on Lu Yang from every direction.

As for Lu Jue's true body, it was hidden within the black fog, constantly roaming, drifting unpredictably and hard to grasp.

Lu Yang, meanwhile, continuously used the Tablet Smashing Hand, striking out dozens of tablet shadows in succession and dissolving those claw shadows one by one.

Bang, bang, bang!

Behind him, a black shadow swept out of the black fog, a pair of sharp claws wrapped in foul-smelling demonic qi as they pounced straight at Lu Yang.

"Heh, I've been waiting for you!" Lu Yang's ear twitched. Without even turning his head, his right hand, which had been gathering power for a long time, abruptly slapped behind him.

"Thunderclap Style!"

Boom, boom, boom!

With one palm strike, the demonic qi within several dozen zhang melted like spring sun on snow and vanished without a trace.

Boom-crack!

The sound of thunder resounded through the entire market ward. Lu Jue was instantly sent flying by this palm strike, the bones in his arm shattered, the demonic qi around him swept completely away.

Lu Jue's demonization had only just begun before Lu Yang forcibly scattered it!

"Cough, cough, cough! Haha! Cough, cough! You think you've won? Haha, cough! Fool! You'll be coming down to keep me company soon enough!" The black fur all over Lu Jue's body receded like the tide, returning him to his original appearance, but he seemed to have been struck by deadly poison. His eyes were bloodshot, his face dark purple, and he fell straight down.

"Heh, the aftereffects of demonization?" Lu Yang smiled contemptuously.

"Ding! Congratulations to the host for slaying one third-rank fifth-level Tiger Demon. Obtained 5000 Experience Points."

Lu Yang checked the system.

[Host: Lu Yang]

[Realm: Xiantian Realm First Level (666/2000)]

[Martial Arts: Tablet Smashing Hand (Perfection: 900/900) Demon Subduing Saber Art (Great Perfection: 310/310) Mountain Splitting Saber Art (Great Perfection: (50/50)]

[Experience Points: 5024]

"It really was a demon? How could the County Lieutenant turn into a demon?"

"Could it be that Lu Yang wasn't lying, and the County Lieutenant and the others really did collude with the Demon Race?"

In the distance, the County Yamen constables watching this scene all changed expression drastically. They leaned close to one another, whispering among themselves.

Lu Yang looked around in a circle and said in a clear voice, "Just who colluded with the Demon Race and became the mole—colleagues, you all saw it clearly, didn't you?"

At once, a burly, towering general walked out from the crowd.

It was precisely the commander of the City Guard, Wang Liao, who possessed the cultivation of the Houtian Eighth Level.

"We were blind as bats, bewitched by these two demon-men, and misunderstood Captain Lu. Please forgive us, Captain Lu!" Wang Liao swept a somewhat disgusted glance over the demonic qi still lingering on Lu Jue's corpse, cupped his fists, and said solemnly.

Lu Yang nodded and said, "Lu Jue has already been executed. As for the remnants of the noble families in the city, those surviving rebels who colluded with the Demon Race, we'll still need the general and everyone here to take action and purge them!"

Wang Liao nodded. "Leave it to this lowly general!"

At once, he led the City Guard away to purge the remaining rebels.

Lu Yang, meanwhile, slowly walked over to the heavily injured Qian Yikang. With a kick that secretly carried Xiantian True Qi, he directly stomped one of his legs in two.

"Talk! Why didn't you demonize just now? And what exactly is going on with the County Magistrate's illness?"

By now, Qian Yikang had long since lost his arrogance and contempt from before. All that remained was thick, heavy terror.

"If I tell you, can you spare my life?" Qian Yikang looked at Lu Yang hopefully.

Lu Yang was expressionless. "Colluding with the Demon Race means your nine clans should be executed! At most, after you die, I can help plead for leniency for those of the Qian Family who were not involved in the crime."

Hearing this, Qian Yikang's features relaxed somewhat, and his tone carried a trace of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

"If you had agreed to spare me just now, it would surely have been a deception. I definitely wouldn't have said half a word. Now, I can tell you everything I know."

"Not everyone who swallows demon blood can demonize. Only those with an extremely strong resistance to demonic qi can drink blood and demonize."

"As for the County Magistrate's illness, that is..."

A pitch-black pillar of light descended from the sky. Halfway through Qian Yikang's words, his head was struck as if by a heavy hammer and exploded with a boom like a watermelon!

Sensing danger, Lu Yang instinctively leapt backward.

By the time he reacted, Qian Yikang was already dead beyond any further death, and Lu Yang's second question, in the end, still had no answer.

Following that wisp of demonic qi, Lu Yang's gaze locked onto the mass of shadow at the street corner ahead and to the left.

Demonic qi so dense it felt eerie was constantly fermenting within that shadow.

"Giggle, giggle, giggle!"

A coquettish laugh filled with bewitching allure kept drifting out from within that mass of shadow.

It was as if the jade-green fingers of a young maiden in the bloom of youth were inexplicably plucking at Lu Yang's heartstrings.

"Interesting. This is truly far too interesting."

"I never expected that even Lu Jue and Qian Yikang wouldn't be able to stop you. Your flesh and blood must be very sweet indeed!"

Lu Yang narrowed his eyes and stared at that mass of black fog.

"The County Magistrate's illness was presumably your doing, wasn't it?"

From within the black fog came that seductive, coquettish laugh once more.

"Giggle, giggle. The easiest people in this world to deal with are upright gentlemen. I merely used a small trick, and he fell under my Soul Bewitching Technique."

"Lu Yang, a wise man submits to circumstances. If you're willing to cooperate with my Black Stone Mountain, then the position of Black Mountain County Magistrate may not be impossible for you to sit in someday!"

Dense black qi spread silently across the ground. In the blink of an eye, it had reached Lu Yang's feet.

The Xiantian True Qi around Lu Yang's body condensed without dispersing, repelling the billowing demonic qi outside the few inches around him.

If they killed County Magistrate Du Guinian, the imperial court would send a new county magistrate over. From the perspective of the demons of Black Stone Mountain, making him "fall ill" was undoubtedly the best state of affairs.

As for the appointment and removal of a county magistrate, the Great Jun Dynasty had its own fixed procedures. It was not something the Demon Race could manipulate. The words of that demon within the black fog were clearly an empty promise meant to bewitch people's hearts.