The Demon's Heart

"Looks like we can only trust Jiang Chen. He's our last hope of surviving!"

Someone watched Jiang Chen fighting the demon and spoke up.

"The barrier was triggered over here. The teachers should be here soon, right?" someone asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid not," a tall boy replied. "The barrier was triggered a while ago, but no one's come. Someone must have tampered with it."

Who else could have tampered with it besides the demon?

A girl with chubby cheeks voiced the question on her mind. "How did this demon get into the school? Isn't this supposed to be the safest place?"

It was. The school was the safest place, protected by a powerful barrier, which was why they could feel at ease here.

If even the school wasn't safe, then where could be?

"Don't panic, everyone. Only S-rank demons can take human form and live in the human world. They can't use the demonic energy inside them without triggering the barrier, so they're basically no different from ordinary people."

"Isn't the barrier protecting us right now?"

Hearing someone explain it, everyone felt a little more at ease.

All they could do now was pray that Jiang Chen could defeat the demon.

Outside the barrier, Jiang Chen and Nie Xiaoqian were fighting.

Jiang Chen could barely suppress the Fox Fire on Nie Xiaoqian's body.

He'd originally planned to use Lapis Lazuli Infernal Fire, the technique he'd fought with most often.

But in that instant, he seemed to hear Sode no Shirayuki calling to him.

So he switched to using Sode no Shirayuki.

This was his first time fighting with Sode no Shirayuki.

Bankai was Sode no Shirayuki's second release state.

It consumed a great deal of soul power.

Jiang Chen used his last Restoration Potion to replenish his depleted soul power.

Thank goodness he had a Restoration Potion. Otherwise, he'd have been the one to die today.

Nie Xiaoqian truly lived up to her thousand years of cultivation.

Her strength was no ordinary thing.

She was on a completely different level from him.

At that moment, Nie Xiaoqian had only one thought: kill Jiang Chen. Kill him!

Nine tails appeared behind her!

Each tail possessed a hundred years of cultivation.

Fox demons could have no more than nine tails.

After nine hundred years of cultivation, they spent another hundred years transforming into human form through sheer obsession.

After that, their cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.

When the people in the stands saw that Nie Xiaoqian had nine tails,

they thought Jiang Chen was doomed—and so were they.

This fox demon was no ordinary fox demon. The nine snow-white tails behind her said it all.

She was the legendary Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox.

A legendary demon, born with a hundred years of demonic power. How could ordinary people like them possibly fight her?

"Waaah, what do we do? Are we going to die?" a young girl cried.

"That's a Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox, a mutant species described in the Monster Handbook."

"They're ten, even a hundred times stronger than ordinary demons."

The fat boy had seen it all too. His feelings were complicated. He knew that, with Jiang Chen's strength, even if he couldn't win, he could escape without much trouble.

Was he staying because he wanted to protect them?

But against such a powerful demon, did Brother Chen even have a chance?

"Fatty, don't give me that long face. I'm not dead yet."

Jiang Chen had been keeping an eye on Fatty. He was worried Fatty might still be under the influence of the demon's Bewitchment Technique and do something strange.

After all, this fox demon was no ordinary demon.

Her strength had exceeded his expectations by quite a bit.

After watching him for a while and seeing that Fatty was fine, Jiang Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

"Heh. Jiang Chen, you should worry about your own life. And here you are, fretting over someone else!"

Crash!

With a deafening sound,

the ice around Nie Xiaoqian shattered.

She stood before Jiang Chen completely unharmed.

Her demonic power was now ten times greater than before.

Nie Xiaoqian curled her lips like flames and smiled coldly. "Jiang Chen, you're the only human in a thousand years to force me to reveal my true form."

"As a reward, I'll leave your corpse intact!"

"A demon who kills people at the drop of a hat. No wonder you were abandoned—you don't have a shred of kindness in you!"

Those words seemed to hit a sore spot. Nie Xiaoqian's expression darkened, and she snarled, "Shut up!"

"Being abandoned isn't shameful. There are plenty of scumbag men in this world. But Nie Xiaoqian, with that ugly face of yours, who'd ever want you?"

"You're asking for death!"

Nie Xiaoqian turned her hand into a fist and surged forward in a gale of demonic wind, aiming a heavy blow at Jiang Chen's chest.

[ Ding! Congratulations, Host, on completing the task of angering Nie Xiaoqian. You have received a special reward: the Kido skill Six Rods Prison of Light! ]

"Six Rods Prison of Light!"

Just as Nie Xiaoqian's fist was about to strike Jiang Chen's heart,

Jiang Chen began chanting loudly into the air.

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

"What is this thing? I can't break free!"

Nie Xiaoqian tried to use her demonic power to escape the Six Rods Prison of Light.

But the more she struggled, the tighter the restraints became.

She let out a scream.

Seeing Nie Xiaoqian bound and unable to move,

Fatty's heart leaped into his throat. Had Brother Chen won?

Jiang Chen raised the Zanpakuto in his hand and shouted, "Sode no Shirayuki!"

At Jiang Chen's call, Sode no Shirayuki transformed in midair into countless blades. They were transparent, barely visible except when the sunlight refracted off them.

Jiang Chen drew a circle with his blade at its center and shouted, "Bankai—Snow Dance!"

Countless blades, carrying the power to destroy heaven and earth, surged toward Nie Xiaoqian as Jiang Chen's voice fell.

"I'm just a lowly human. You think you can kill me? Dream on!"

Feeling the power contained in the countless blades, Nie Xiaoqian steeled herself. "I'll unleash all my demonic power!"

"Too late to unleash it now!"

"Sode no Shirayuki, freeze her demonic power!"

Demonic power could be frozen? How was that possible!

Nie Xiaoqian didn't believe it at first.

But then she saw a layer of Frost that was nearly impossible to melt covering her demonic power.

Her power grew weaker and weaker.

It was gradually being sealed.

How could this be...

Nie Xiaoqian couldn't believe what she was seeing.

A human had used an ice ability to freeze her thousand-year-old demonic power.

With her demonic power sealed, she was no different from an ordinary person.

Jiang Chen could seal demonic power. Wasn't that beyond the limits of human ability?

At that moment, Nie Xiaoqian felt afraid. She truly believed this human could kill her.

Before, she'd only been wary of him. She hadn't thought Jiang Chen could pose much of a threat.

But now...

When Jiang Chen showed he had the strength to kill her, Nie Xiaoqian was frightened.

"Don't kill me!"

Faced with death, Nie Xiaoqian desperately wanted to live.

She still had an obsession she hadn't resolved.

She couldn't die!

"If I spare you, will you let me go?"

Jiang Chen stated the obvious. "From the start, only one of us was ever going to survive."

"Where is Ning Caichen?"

"You said his name. You must know where he is?"

How would Jiang Chen know where Ning Caichen was? He'd read Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio back on Earth and knew the story of Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caichen.

But the Nie Xiaoqian before him was clearly someone else, with no connection to Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.

Jiang Chen didn't know where the Ning Caichen she was talking about could be.

Omniscient had told him that if he said the name "Ning Caichen," she would reveal herself.

As for where Ning Caichen was, did Jiang Chen really need to know?

"If you tell me where Ning Caichen is, I'll tell you where the Demon's Heart is. How about it..."