The Stone-Skinned Soul-Peering Demon saw that its mental attack had no effect. Its massive stone arm swung fiercely, whipping up a terrifying gale that tore through the air as it smashed down at the wavering Ghostly Shadow!
Boom!
The ground was smashed into a huge crater, and broken rocks flew everywhere!
But Lu Chen's figure had already appeared ten zhang away at its side, moving so fast that only a faint afterimage remained.
His Minor Achievement Shadow Demon Trace Steps let him move through the narrow seam between illusion and reality as easily as a fish in water!
"Right here!"
After countless twists and turns, Lu Chen finally found a fleeting opening!
He stopped circling and poured all his inner force into his legs. His whole body became a black bolt of lightning skimming across the ground, darting straight into the Stone-Skinned Soul-Peering Demon's embrace!
The demon's enormous body had instead become its greatest liability!
"Roar!"
The Stone-Skinned Soul-Peering Demon sensed danger. Dozens of eyes all over its body burst with dense black light, and a thick, viscous wave of Yin-Sha Gang Qi erupted, forming an indestructible black shield!
But what greeted it was a blade-light so swift it seemed to reach the very limits of speed—and so cold it seemed to reach the very limits of cold!
Clang—!
The Hundred Refinements Saber left its sheath!
Lu Chen used no fancy moves. He simply swung upward in the simplest, most direct stroke, meeting the Yin-Sha shield.
The Demon Suppressing Saber Technique at Perfect Realm!
Unique Trait—Sha Breaking!
The moment the blade met the shield, there was no earth-shaking boom, nor any dazzling radiance.
There was only a soft crack, like ice splitting.
The Yin-Sha shield, strong enough to withstand ordinary Profound Rank Martial Techniques, was as flimsy as paper before the Hundred Refinements Saber's edge. It was sliced open in an instant, leaving a smooth gash!
The destructive force on the blade, specially attuned to the source of demonic baleful energy, swept through everything in its path!
For the first time, disbelief and terror showed in the Stone-Skinned Soul-Peering Demon's dozens of eyes!
But it was already too late!
Lu Chen had slipped through the opening he had cut, closing in on it!
His target was the two eyes at the very center—the largest and most sinister of them all!
"Die!"
Killing intent blazed in Lu Chen's eyes. With a turn of his wrist, the Hundred Refinements Saber traced a cold arc through the air and pierced the two black eyes precisely, from below upward!
Pfft!
A muffled thud.
It was like a red-hot knife sinking into butter.
The blade disappeared to the hilt!
"Ah—!!!!!"
A silent scream, utterly heartrending and rising from the depths of its soul, burst forth!
The Stone-Skinned Soul-Peering Demon's massive body abruptly stiffened. The dozens of eyes covering it burst all at once like pricked balloons, spilling foul black pus!
Its huge stone arms drooped limply. Its entire body began to weather and crumble at incredible speed, until with a crash, it became nothing but lifeless rocks and dust scattered across the ground.
The illusion array covering the entire valley shattered the instant the demon died.
Daylight spilled down again, the Yin wind howled once more, and everything returned to normal.
The terrifying illusions before Zhao Da Niu, Sun Monkey, and the others vanished in an instant. They stared blankly at the rocks scattered across the ground, and at Lu Chen standing with his saber, a fierce killing aura radiating from him. Their minds went completely blank.
[Host has slain a Ranked Demon, the Stone-Skinned Soul-Peering Demon. Obtained 220 years of Demon Devil Lifespan!] [Detected host has slain a high-rank demon head-on. Analyzing demon traits...] [Congratulations, host! From the source baleful energy of the Stone-Skinned Soul-Peering Demon, you have comprehended a new trait—Eye of Delusion Breaking (Beginner): Your eyes can see through some low-rank illusions and disguises.]
Lu Chen slowly sheathed his saber.
He walked over to the pile of broken rocks, bent down, and picked up two eyes that had lost all their sinister light and now looked like ordinary black obsidian.
[Obtained special material: Annihilation Demon Eyes.]
He turned to look at his five subordinates, who were still completely stunned. His voice was calm, yet carried an unquestionable authority.
"Ghost Face Slope. Patrol complete."
He paused, the corner of his mouth curling into a meaningful smile.
"Go back and tell Steward Wang that the feng shui here... is pretty good."
When Lu Chen and his five men emerged from the deathly silent valley of Ghost Face Slope, safe and sound, the Imperial Guards waiting at the entrance to meet them nearly had their eyeballs fall out of their sockets.
"D-Deputy Commander Liu! They... they made it out!" one Imperial Guard shouted into the Sound Transmission Jade Talisman in his hand, his voice full of disbelieving shock.
The news struck like a massive boulder thrown into a still lake, sending another towering wave crashing through the entire Demon Suppression Division!
Ghost Face Slope!
It was a deathtrap from which even Entry Grade experts had failed to return!
And this "Fortunate General" named Lu Chen had taken five raw recruits in for a stroll and come back without a scratch?!
There was no explaining this as good luck anymore! It was a miracle! Demonic sorcery!
When Lu Chen led his squad through the gates of the Demon Suppression Division, hundreds of gazes met them, filled with awe, fear, curiosity, and fervor.
Imperial Guards sweating through their drills in the training grounds stopped. Clerks hurrying along the corridors halted in their tracks. Even the sentries keeping watch from the towers couldn't help leaning out to look.
Every eye was fixed on the black-clad youth with his straight back and placid expression.
"Is that Lu Chen?"
"My god, his Killing Intent... it's so faint! He's practically no different from an ordinary person! How did he survive Ghost Face Slope?"
"I heard he awakened an ancient bloodline. He can see through illusions and is immune to all evil!"
"Bullshit! I heard he has a rare treasure that can suppress evil spirits!"
The murmurs rolled over them like a tide, but this time there was not the slightest trace of disdain or contempt.
Lu Chen paid them no mind. He led his subordinates, still so frightened they could barely think straight, directly toward the Imperial Guard Camp.
All the Demon Suppression Officers they passed stepped aside and bowed to them, without exception—whether seasoned Imperial Guards or Aristocratic Clan scions with their noses in the air. They all addressed him as Little Banner Lu.
That was the awe earned through strength.
Just as Lu Chen was about to enter his own private courtyard, a figure he least wanted to see—and yet had expected to see—appeared at the corner.
It was Foreman Wang.
He was no longer as arrogant and overbearing as before. He stood there alone, looking utterly isolated. His steward's uniform hung loosely on him, and he seemed to have grown much more haggard.
He looked at Lu Chen and forced a smile so ingratiating and fearful it was more painful than tears.
"L-Little Banner Lu, you... you're back."
Lu Chen stopped and looked at him in silence.
Under Lu Chen's gaze, Foreman Wang shifted uneasily. A fine sheen of cold sweat appeared on his forehead as he shakily pulled a heavy money pouch from his robes and held it out in both hands.
"Little Banner Lu, this... this is just a small token from me. I've offended you many times before. I was blind to Mount Tai, and greed clouded my mind! You're a magnanimous man; please don't hold it against a lowly maggot like me crawling in the mud..."
He was practically on the verge of kneeling.
The Demon Suppression Officers watching from a distance all drew in a sharp breath at the sight.
The steward of the Demon Suppression Division's Corpse Handling Room was bowing and scraping before a newly promoted Squad Leader!