"Huh?"
An Jing was a little surprised as he pried the jade-black skull free from the vine demon. Black vines crawled out of its eye sockets, twitching and swaying slightly like fleshy buds. They seemed about to transform into a snail or perhaps a hermit crab and crawl away.
The bizarre sight made An Jing pin the skull demon down with his sword. Its limbs writhed like a flailing octopus. Curious, he remarked, "That's pretty unusual, and it's hard, too—the Sha Sword can't even pierce it."
"This is the demon's true body." The Sword Spirit sounded thoughtful. "I see. It wasn't a Spirit Plant that had turned demonic. I was wondering why I couldn't sense demonic energy in those fluorescent grasses... This is the skull of a cultivator who fell to demonic corruption. He was most likely born with a Wood Spirit Root and knew how to control Spirit Plants."
"After falling to demonic corruption, his fleshly body became this skull demon. He controlled the natural 'Spirit Light Vines' in the cave, using them as both his body and his traps to ambush passing creatures."
"Destroy it," the Sword Spirit said calmly. "This is a low-grade Residual Demon. It has no complete sense of self."
"Mm."
An Jing nodded slightly, then drove his sword down, piercing the skull demon through the mouth and pinning it to the ground.
Blood Fiend energy surged. The fleshy vines let out one shrill wail after another, then turned into streaks of black demonic energy and vanished.
Only a faint wisp of pale gray mist remained, drifting in the center of the skull and glowing dimly.
"This is..."
An Jing was puzzled. The Sword Spirit glanced at it and sounded surprised. "It's an Echo. Quite useful."
"What is that?" Having destroyed the demon, An Jing