"BOOM!!!"
A deafening crash!
The enormous sludge tentacle slammed squarely into Lu Chen—or rather, into the mountain-thick layer of Protective Qi covering his body!
The ground cracked beneath him, web-like fissures spreading in every direction!
The bluestone slabs under Lu Chen's feet shattered one after another. The tremendous force drove him several feet backward, carving two deep furrows in the earth.
But he was still standing!
His figure was straight as a pine, and the Hundred Refinements Saber in his hand was as steady as a rock. It hadn't even trembled once!
The layer of dark, black Protective Qi had only caved in a fraction before it completely absorbed and deflected the terrifying force, enough to shatter stone and split monuments!
"What?!"
The two strongmen inside the ancestral hall nearly popped their eyes out. Their mouths gaped wide enough to fit a fist.
He... he'd taken that blow head-on?!
A flicker of shock and fury seemed to cross the blurred woman's face on the Vengeful Mother in the Well.
"Wuuu—sob—"
It let out that strange, soul-piercing wail again!
This time, the sound was more mournful than ever, brimming with venomous resentment!
An invisible mental shock swept over them like a tsunami, striking directly at the depths of their souls!
The two strongmen hiding in the ancestral hall bore the brunt of it. It felt as if a heavy hammer had smashed into their heads. Their vision went black, and they clutched their skulls, rolling across the ground and screaming in agony. Thin trails of blood seeped from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths.
Yet the insidious wail, enough to shatter an ordinary martial artist's mind, sounded to Lu Chen like no more than a breeze passing over a hill.
Under the influence of the Ten Thousand Year Black Tortoise Art, his mind had long since settled like a frigid pool untouched for ten thousand years, still as an ancient well.
The mental shock struck his mind like a blow against ice that had endured since time immemorial. It raised no more than a tiny ripple before being completely dissolved and assimilated.
"So mental attacks... don't work either?"
A cold curve tugged at Lu Chen's lips.
This art was the bane of every crooked path!
Its two attacks had failed, and the Vengeful Mother in the Well flew into a complete rage!
Its immense body churned wildly. Dozens of sludge tentacles burst from it at once, blotting out the sky and whipping about like a horde of demons. They sealed off every escape route from every direction, forming a cage of death around Lu Chen!
Lu Chen's gaze sharpened. He knew that if he did nothing but defend, eventually he would be worn down.
He had to strike back!
His eyes swept across the entire battlefield like lightning, finally settling on the ruins of the blasted ancient well.
He keenly sensed that the Water Sha throughout the town was flowing through some invisible channel into the ruins, then pouring into the Vengeful Mother in the Well and supplying it with an endless source of power.
That was its root! Its lifeline!
"There!"
Lu Chen made up his mind in an instant.
He stopped defending passively. His feet shifted, and he pushed his Shadow Step to its limits!
His figure turned fleeting and unpredictable, like a wisp of smoke threading through a rainstorm. He twisted and darted through gaps between the dozens of whipping tentacles at angles and speeds that defied belief.
Each deadly strike landed precisely where his afterimage had just been, smashing huge craters into the ground but failing even to brush his clothes.
"Light it!!!"
As he raced across the battlefield, Lu Chen's voice rang out like thunder, clear inside the ancestral hall.
The two strongmen came to their senses at his shout. Though their heads still felt ready to split, instinct drove them to their feet. Trembling, they hurled their torches at the mound of corpses already soaked in Fire Oil!
"BOOM!!!"
Flames surged into the sky!
The entire mound of corpses and the square around it became a raging sea of fire in an instant!
Hundreds of bodies writhed and howled in the flames. Green corpse-fire mingled with the orange-red flames of an ordinary blaze, lighting up half the night sky as bright as day!
The scorching wave of heat made the Vengeful Mother in the Well falter.
Its body, formed from Water Sha, instinctively loathed and feared flames so fiercely yang and scorching.
Its attention was drawn to the blazing inferno, and its woman's face twisted with fury and pain.
Now!
The instant the Vengeful Mother in the Well was distracted, Lu Chen seized the one fleeting opportunity!
He stopped evading and poured all his internal energy into his legs, becoming a black arrow loosed from its bow.
He didn't charge at the Vengeful Mother in the Well's enormous body. Instead, he circled around it and sprinted straight for the ancient well's ruins at top speed.
The Vengeful Mother in the Well reacted at once and let out a piercing roar, sending several tentacles back to defend its roots.
But it was too late!
Lu Chen's figure appeared atop the ruins like a ghost!
Beneath the shattered bluestone and sludge lay a huge, throbbing mass of flesh, like a heart. Countless women's hair and dark-green flesh twisted together as it dug deep into the earth's veins!
This was the Vengeful Mother in the Well's true body!
"Found you!"
Killing intent flashed in Lu Chen's eyes. Without the slightest hesitation, he gripped the hilt of the Hundred Refinements Saber with both hands and raised it high over his head!
The essence of the mastered Demon Suppressing Saber Technique and every last drop of internal energy from the perfected Ten Thousand Year Black Tortoise Art gathered along the blade!
He seemed to merge with the long saber in his hands, becoming a divine axe capable of cleaving open the heavens and the earth!
"I'LL CUT YOU OFF AT THE ROOT!!!"
He roared and brought his saber down!
SHICK—!!!
The Hundred Refinements Saber's razor-sharp edge, wrapped in a weighty dark blade aura, cleaved through the air and plunged into the enormous heart of flesh!
Everything in its path—flesh, hair, and sinew—was pulverized and annihilated by the overbearing Demon Suppressing Qi and the heavy Mystic Tortoise Internal Energy!
"Aaaah—!!!!!"
A piercing shriek, nothing like a human voice and filled with boundless resentment and despair, erupted from the immense liquid body!
The Vengeful Mother in the Well's enormous body writhed, collapsed, and dissolved like mud with its bones ripped out!
Before it completely disintegrated, its woman's face fixed on Lu Chen, its eyes blazing with resentment and unwillingness enough to freeze a soul.
At last, with a BOOM, it burst apart completely, becoming a foul-smelling downpour of dark-green liquid that rained from the sky.
The Water Sha still being consumed by the flames also lost all vitality the instant its true body died. They became charred skeletons that crumbled to ash in the blaze.
The flames soared, illuminating Lu Chen as he stood with his saber in hand.
He stood atop the ruins of the ancient well, soaked from head to toe in foul corpse water. His chest heaved, but his eyes shone with a terrifying brightness.
[Host has slain the Ranked Demon · Vengeful Mother in the Well and obtained 360 years of Demon Devil Lifespan!] [High-ranked demon slain head-on. Analyzing demon traits...] [Congratulations, host. You have comprehended a new trait from the Vengeful Mother in the Well's source Killing Intent—Water Sha Affinity (Beginner): Resistance in water will be slightly reduced, and you will be able to weakly sense the flow of Killing Intent in water veins.]