Ancient Spring Town (Part 2)

A creature appeared suddenly, its entire body crimson as if dripping with blood.

Ning Ye had already recognized it: "It's a low-level Blood Demon, be careful!"

Blood Demons were bloodthirsty, and their methods were primarily centered around blood.

At this moment, the Blood Demon sneered: "What kind of 'Immortal' nonsense is this? You are all just hypocrites with ugly hearts; even my demonic kind feels ashamed to compare."

"Die!" Yue Xiuxiu had already thrust her sword forward.

She was a disciple of Young Master Five-Sheep, practicing the Pure Maiden Clear Qi and the Water Cloud Sword Art, and she held a magical treasure sword in her hand. As she unleashed her technique, clear, misty sword qi rippled out, enveloping the Blood Demon within the sword light.

The Blood Demon let out a long laugh and spat out a stream of blood energy. The blood energy moved like a living thing, manifesting hideous, bright red claws that met the clear sword qi. Wherever the blood light passed, the sword light dimmed. The clear qi and blood energy clashed, remaining evenly matched for the moment.

Yue Xiuxiu felt a pang of distress for her magical sword and shouted: "Are you not going to make a move?"

Ning Ye stood unmoved: "This is not my mission; it is Junior Sister's mission."

His goal was to seek opportunities, not to work for Yue Xiuxiu.

Hearing him say this, Yue Xiuxiu felt angry but helpless. Although she was under the Five-Sheep Sect, there were many female disciples, and she was not the most favored. If it weren't for that, she wouldn't have to come down the mountain to perform missions—wouldn't it be better to just whisper sweet nothings in someone's ear?

Both were disciples of the Human Demon, and Ning Ye's status and seniority were no less than hers. If he didn't help, she had absolutely no way to handle this, so she had to resort to acting like a spoiled girl: "You said you would help me."

Ning Ye nodded: "I will, but this is just one Blood Demon; you can handle it. When a new one appears, I will help you solve it."

"There are more?" Yue Xiuxiu was startled.

Ning Ye nodded: "Yes, there are."

The Blood Demon laughed out loud: "They've already figured it out, Second Brother, why are you still hiding?"

A black shadow suddenly appeared in the sky, swooping down directly toward the top of Yue Xiuxiu's head.

There really were more!

Yue Xiuxiu was shocked. At this moment, she was entangled with the Blood Demon and could not spare any effort. Seeing the attacker arrive, she was panicking when she heard a boom. A massive claw grazed past her and slammed into the ground. The attacker let out a strange cry and flew back, landing on the ground. It turned out to be an Eagle Demon with a massive body and a wingspan of about three zhang. Its giant eagle beak was like a sickle, but there was a gruesome blade mark on its chest—left by Ning Ye.

The Eagle Demon glared at Ning Ye: "It's you!"

Ning Ye spread his hands: "I already said, if another one comes, I'll make a move. Is your brain not working? You didn't even prepare."

"Damn it, then why didn't you move earlier?" the Eagle Demon roared.

It wasn't that its brain wasn't working, but it knew the importance of killing one person first, so it wanted to catch Ning Ye off guard and finish off Yue Xiuxiu.

It hadn't expected Ning Ye to use Yue Xiuxiu as bait and strike at the critical moment.

Having been injured by the blow, the Eagle Demon was fortunate to have a sturdy body, so the problem wasn't too severe. It spread its wings and charged at Ning Ye with extreme speed.

Ning Ye did not dodge. He leaned into the Eagle Demon, his hands forming blade glows that collided with the eagle's beak, producing a crisp, metallic clanging sound. At the same time, he split his elbows to strike the wings and followed up with a series of kicks, unleashing a flurry of sharp blade light in an instant.

"Body Killing Blade?" The Eagle Demon was quite knowledgeable and exclaimed.

Ning Ye replied: "Corpse-Eating Eagle?"

"Haha, exactly!" the Eagle Demon shouted. It spread its wings again, and a demonic wind rose as it flew into the sky.

Disciples in the Cang Xiang Realm could not fly without practicing specialized flight spells, and the Seven Kill Blade was primarily focused on close-quarters combat.

This Eagle Demon had a natural talent for flight and excelled in demonic arts. Knowing Ning Ye was powerful in melee, it simply opened up the distance, clearly intending to play a kite-fighting tactic against the human.

Ning Ye just chuckled. A talisman flew from his hand and landed on the Eagle Demon, which immediately felt its body grow heavy and found it couldn't fly.

"Thousand-Jun Talisman?"

"And a Blazing Flame Talisman."

Another talisman flew out, this time igniting flames directly on the Eagle Demon.

The Eagle Demon wailed, the demonic wind swirling to quickly extinguish the flames on its body, but Ning Ye had already closed the distance again, his Body Killing Blade slashing down mercilessly.

He had only just begun practicing the Body Killing Blade, so its power was average, but he had applied a Sharp Metal Talisman and a Divine Strength Talisman to himself, using the talisman power to compensate for his lack of attack, making every strike agonizing for the Eagle Demon.

If Zhang Liekuang were here, he would surely curse Ning Ye for taking shortcuts. The so-called Seven Kill Blade was meant to grow stronger against stronger foes, requiring a bitter battle to stimulate one's potential and explode with power to kill the enemy. By using the Talisman Dao to crush the opponent like this, what kind of potential could he possibly explode?

But this was Ning Ye. He had his own plans. Stimulating oneself to improve strength was good, but it would also leave one covered in wounds, lacking follow-up power, or even suffering from hidden injuries. He had his own plans and had no intention of exhausting himself for Yue Xiuxiu's goal.

This was a standard battle, not the final showdown!

As the man and the demon fought, the Eagle Demon realized it was being completely suppressed by Ning Ye and was so angry it shrieked.

Ning Ye said: "Aren't you going to call out your helper?"

What? There was another helper?

The Blood Demon, the Eagle Demon, and Yue Xiuxiu were all stunned.

The Blood Demon shouted: "How did you know?"

Ning Ye replied: "Demons drink blood, monsters eat meat, and ghosts absorb spirits. The people in this town were killed by you; their flesh and blood are gone, and their souls are annihilated. You only need to look at the data to know—did you really think it required much thought?"

Yue Xiuxiu blushed. She was the one who had given the data to Ning Ye, but she had only skimmed through it herself. She hadn't expected that Ning Ye could analyze so much information from a casual glance.

"No wonder you use the Body Killing Blade while also using talismans; so you're one with a brain," a shrill voice came.

Following the voice, another black shadow appeared not far away. It had green skin, a white face, and bulging eyes—it was a Green Ghost.

There are still more?

Seeing this, Yue Xiuxiu was greatly alarmed.

Ning Ye also frowned.

He frowned because he had not expected his opponent to be a Void Ghost. Ghosts are divided into solid and void forms; void ghosts are elusive, best suited for entanglement, and because their bodies are intangible, the Body Killing Blade, which acts upon physical flesh, would have negligible effect on them.

As for using talismans, while they would be effective, they were expensive.

Using a few talismans was one thing, but to burn through them to kill a ghost for the sake of Yue Xiuxiu's mission would be too costly.

The most critical question was: would Yue Xiuxiu reimburse him?

Ning Ye did not want to make friends in the Black and White Divine Palace, and naturally, he had no intention of pandering to Yue Xiuxiu, so his mind raced and he quickly made a decision.

He charged!

He pushed the Eagle Demon forward with him, leaving the battlefield and leaving the Green Ghost to Yue Xiuxiu.

Yue Xiuxiu was shocked. She was already struggling to deal with the Blood Demon alone; how could she possibly hold on while facing a Green Ghost as well? She shouted, "Hold that ghost back! Wait until I finish off this Blood Demon, then I will come to help you."

Ning Ye ignored her. What a joke, what are you going to finish it off with? Better to wait for me to finish off this Eagle Demon and come help you.

He said nothing, but his Body Killing Blade fell upon the Eagle Demon with increasing ferocity, causing it to wail incessantly.

This Green Ghost was also cunning. It didn't fear the Body Killing Blade, but the talismans in the opponent's hand looked plentiful, and its own constitution wasn't as tough as the Eagle Demon's. If it went over, it feared it would be the first to suffer, so it shouted, "Second brother, hold on!"

It then lunged toward Yue Xiuxiu.

It was picking the softest fruit to eat first.

In an instant, both Yue Xiuxiu and the Eagle Demon were in danger.

Yue Xiuxiu grew desperate. Seeing she was outmatched, she took out an item and activated it. It was a multicolored bead that erupted with light, actually shrouding both the Blood Demon and the Green Ghost.

This was a defensive treasure given to her by Gongsun Ye. It wasn't anything spectacular and could only be used once. Watching the treasure's light gradually dim, Yue Xiuxiu felt a pang of heartache, and her resentment toward Ning Ye grew, as if Ning Ye were obligated to sacrifice himself for her.

Fortunately, Ning Ye finally unleashed his trump card at this moment.

Three consecutive Explosive Talismans combined with four strikes of the Body Killing Blade landed on the Eagle Demon, finally blowing it to pieces.

The next moment, Ning Ye charged over, turning his attention to the Blood Demon.

This Blood Demon had been fighting Yue Xiuxiu for a long time and had already sustained heavy injuries.

With only the Green Ghost left, Yue Xiuxiu finally felt much more at ease.

A moment later, the battle ended. The demon, the fiend, and the ghost were all annihilated. Yue Xiuxiu was left with disheveled hair and several wounds on her body, while Ning Ye, by contrast, was completely unscathed.

Yue Xiuxiu glared at Ning Ye with resentment, still blaming him for dumping the Green Ghost on her.

Ning Ye couldn't be bothered to argue with Yue Xiuxiu. He went to collect the remains of the Eagle Demon and the Blood Demon. Demons had demon cores and fiends had Demon Beads; although the loot from such minor creatures wasn't worth much, it would at least compensate for his talisman consumption.

Over there, Yue Xiuxiu also collected the Ghost Essence and walked over, saying, "You should at least share some of your gains with me, right? If I hadn't been pinning them down, you wouldn't have succeeded so easily."

If it weren't for you, I could have handled all three of these alone without even using my hidden techniques. Most importantly, this is your mission!

This woman was so ungrateful that Ning Ye felt even more disgust toward her, but he didn't want to openly create an enemy, so he simply said, "If Junior Sister wants it, take it."

As he spoke, he tossed the Demon Bead to Yue Xiuxiu. Yue Xiuxiu took the bead, not forgetting to glare at Ning Ye once more.

Seeing her act this way, Ning Ye sneered inwardly.

If Ancient Spring Town weren't Yue Xiuxiu's mission, and if there weren't so many mortals around, Ning Ye might have just killed her to end the trouble once and for all. After all, anyone from the Black and White Divine Palace deserved to die.

Just then, Ning Ye suddenly noticed the stone lion nearby.

The stone lion was a guardian object in front of the residence and was nothing out of the ordinary, but the Blood Demon's blood had just splashed onto the stone.

Ning Ye took note because he discovered that the blood seemed to be seeping into the stone lion.

What was going on? Ning Ye watched in astonishment, and then a scene that shocked him occurred.

He actually saw the stone lion's eyes rotate suddenly.

It was only for a second, but he locked eyes with the stone lion, and in that moment, both sides seemed to freeze in surprise.

The next moment, Ning Ye knew something was wrong and retreated urgently.

This retreat left Yue Xiuxiu completely exposed.

He watched as the stone lion opened its massive maw and bit down.

"Monster?" Yue Xiuxiu screamed in terror.