Iron Clothes Senior

In the dim forest, a bloody and horrific scene was unfolding. Before the blood-soaked, Armored Monster lay a headless corpse, and in his hand, a head, along with a section of its spine, drooped limply.

The Armored Monster suddenly tightened its grip, and the head exploded, scattering brain matter, flesh, and bone fragments everywhere. The Armored Monster, however, paid no attention to any of this, simply holding a fleshy worm about the size of a thumb close to its eyes, as if admiring some exquisite work of art.

"So that's how it is..." The Armored Monster's voice echoed inside the helmet, carrying a terrifying ethereal quality. Combined with the scene that resembled a scroll painting of hell, anyone who saw him would mistake him for an unparalleled demon.

At that very moment, a five-person squad, drawn by the sounds of battle, arrived at the location.

However, the battle did not begin; the leader even respectfully bowed and said:

"This junior, Chu Chuan, Sword Wielder of the Demon Eradication Department, greets Iron Clothes Senior."

"Is something the matter? A Gu Cultivator just died here, and I don't know if there are any Gu eggs around." The Armored Monster exerted force with his fingers, crushing the still writhing worm into a pile of rotten flesh, then took out a match and lit the corpse in front of him.

Upon hearing the advice from "Iron Clothes Senior," the five immediately retreated slightly. However, this was merely an instinctive reaction, as they maintained the circulation of Body Protection Gang Qi within their bodies.

Chu Chuan, who claimed to Sword Wielder, seemed to realize his lapse in composure, a look of shame appearing on his face, but he still respectfully said:

"Traces of Evil Cultivator have appeared near Qingsong Town, and I heard you've been searching for them recently..."

"Understood." The Armored Monster didn't wait for him to finish speaking before replying, grabbing the "Strange Shaped Flow Horse" leaning against a nearby tree, and disappearing into the distance...

"Boss, that guy looked really strong. Which sect's senior was he?" Seeing the senior ride away on his flowing horse, the team member finally asked. Chu Chuan's expression gradually turned serious as he replied:

"I don't know either. Iron Clothes Senior appeared about two months ago. Because he was always wearing that armor when we met him, everyone called him Ironclad, and he didn't object. So we just called him that."

"Two months ago? Wasn't that when we just graduated? Could he be some genius who just came down from the mountain from some sect?" a young man with a square head and big ears muttered, but Chu Chuan glared at him and said:

"Don't talk nonsense. Iron Clothes Senior is Learned Scholar of Heaven and Man. Not only does he possess Peerless Martial Art, but he also has extremely high attainments in Mechanical Arts and Medical Arts. Half a month ago, when the supply team heading to Tiantong Town was besieged by more than a dozen Monster Cultivator, he suppressed them all with just one punch. We checked the sect registers of recent years but found no trace of him. The higher-ups suspect that he may be the successor of the 'Mechanical Palace,' which has disappeared for more than 300 years."

"More than three hundred years ago? The Demonic Cult Demonic Person hadn't appeared yet, right?" The team members gasped in astonishment, and Chu Chuan nodded in agreement.

"That's right, but the reason I respect him so much is because he invented a cultivation technique that can completely expel demonic energy from the body!"

"What?" The team members exclaimed in surprise, but their training allowed them to quickly compose themselves. As they left the woods, they asked in hushed tones:

"How come there's been no news about something this big?"

"Don't you even use your brain? Someone who won't even show their true face gives you a cultivation manual, telling you it can dispel demonic energy. Would you dare practice it? What if it's a trap set by Demonic Cult Demonic Person?" Another member of the team rolled his eyes at the square-headed, big-eared man before looking at Chu Chuan.

"Boss, do you have some inside information?"

"It's not exactly inside information. We just received the news yesterday. Senior Qin Hu, who volunteered for the experiment, has completely shaken off the influence of the demonic energy. It's just that the deformity in his left hand cannot be cured."

"This is already very good. If it can be popularized, we won't have to worry about being corrupted by demonic energy!" The good news cheered the team, but Chu Chuan poured cold water on their enthusiasm, saying:

"It's not that easy. This cultivation method has very high requirements for Internal Force. Even ordinary grandmasters may not be able to meet the standard. Moreover, it's still uncertain whether it's harmful. Those few experts who have started practicing this method are still under close monitoring. Only after they are confirmed to be free of problems will it be promoted on a small scale! Alright, these things are not exactly secrets, but just listen to them and don't spread them around."

"Yes!"

"The Tag strength has increased again!" As Feng Xue rode her motorcycle across the open field, she felt the increasingly powerful feedback from her [Hidden Sect Disciple Entering the World] Tag. A slight smile crept onto her lips as she continued her search for new prey.

In the past two months, he has studied many samples of so-called Demonic Cult Demonic Person and has gained some understanding of the application mechanism of so-called demonic energy.

To put it simply, this is a special kind of energy that possesses "self-awareness".

They possess a certain "circulation-inducing" function, enabling them to parasitize living organisms, erode a section of meridians, and spontaneously operate a specific circulation of energy, thereby using the host's life force as their own nourishment.

Even among the three types of Demonic Cult Demonic Person that Feng Xue has collected so far, none of them are "masters" of demonic energy. The only difference is that Poison Cultivator use poison as a carrier of demonic energy to reduce its corrosive effect on themselves, while Gu Cultivator use Gu worms as a medium to indirectly use the power of the Demonic Corrupted Gu Worm. Only Monster Cultivator allow demonic energy to corrode their own bodies, thereby directly utilizing the power of demonic energy.

However, their remoteness makes them completely different from those who are truly corrupted by demonic energy. Feng Xue can only make a few guesses, such as "comprehensive corruption," "mild corruption," and "the first generation of spreaders." As for the origin of its ability to induce Flesh and Blood Mutation and even generate delicate organs like eyes out of thin air, Feng Xue is still completely baffled.

However, judging from these results alone, the true master of this so-called demonic energy is probably the "Evil Cultivator" whom Feng Xue has not seen in the past two months.

Of course, whether he meets them or not doesn't really matter. After all, he didn't come here to investigate the truth of the world. Rather than finding out the mastermind, Feng Xue prefers to use the oppressive feeling brought by these Demonic Cult Demonic Person to provide himself with a sufficiently good Supernatural Tale Entry.

Based on the Extremely Yang Extremely Evil characteristics of demonic energy, Feng Xue, referencing the Extremely Yin Extremely Righteous <Taiyin Yiming Jue>, developed a set of mental techniques that can neutralize the corrosiveness of demonic energy, turning it into "ordinary Internal Force" similar to the Mindless Divine Power. Afterward, it can be expelled like normal healing.

The only problem is that this thing is only a half-finished product. After all, the cost-effectiveness of "neutralizing" is too low. It is already very difficult to cultivate new Internal Force without conflicting with one's own Internal Force, let alone having to suppress demonic energy.

In Feng Xue's mind, the most suitable approach is not neutralization, but taming.

But to tame this Extremely Yang Extremely Evil Internal Force, one must have something even more wicked than it.

And Feng Xue actually happened to have one of these things...

Feng Xue is not a protagonist who can calculate everything perfectly, and I am not an omniscient writer, nor is there an optimal solution to a battle.

In real-world combat Martial Arts Master rely more on muscle memory because their brains can't keep up with their reaction speed during actual fighting.

This is even more evident in surreal combat. Take the protagonist for example: with his speed, he can cover a distance of one meter in just 0.036 seconds. In other words, from the moment he throws a punch to when it hits, there are only 0.036 seconds for the opponent to think about whether the punch is a feint or a real one, and whether to block or dodge.

So unless there's a tool like Time Stop Commentary to extend your thinking time, there's simply no time for you to think things through. You can only rely on muscle memory and simple judgment to make a choice that's relatively suitable for the current situation.

There's a saying in the community: if you find a weapon on the ground during combat, you should pretend it doesn't exist. Because once you start thinking about picking it up, you have more options, which slows down your reaction time, and then one slow step leads to many more.

Therefore, when you see a battle, don't think about whether it's the optimal solution, but rather whether it aligns with the current behavioral logic of both sides in the conflict.

The Arrow Protection anticipated the attack, but unaware of its true nature, it chose to dodge.

Upon scouting, I discovered the enemy was everywhere; I attempted an instant-kill attack.

Drawing your spear will remove your Arrow Protection and make it impossible to predict attacks, so choose Stack Armor.

These are undoubtedly logical choices.

As for why they dodged in front and then activated their protective aura later... of course they would dodge if they could, but Arrow Protection failed Stack Armor?

As for the claim that even a powerful aura cannot prevent penetration...

Since we don't know if defense will be effective, we might as well not defend at all?

Have you never been in a fight before?