Slaying Demons

After silently reciting the incantation, Qiusheng slid forward several steps. He thrust out his right hand, taking a punch from Wencai head-on, then fiercely pressed his palm against Wencai's forehead.

"Palm Thunder!"

As Qiusheng unleashed the only ultimate move he had mastered, Wencai's entire body suddenly shuddered.

The supremely rigid, supremely yang Palm Thunder possessed unimaginable destructive power against both humans and demons or ghosts!

"Hmph!"

As a Palm Thunder struck Wencai, Wencai's final punch also landed on Qiusheng's chest. With a muffled groan, Qiusheng staggered back several steps. His head swam, and his vision went dark.

Wencai, who had taken the Palm Thunder head-on, was in an even more miserable state.

A red light on his body abruptly swelled, then exploded in utter silence.

His black hair stood straight up from the lightning strike, and wisps of smoke rose from his head. He collapsed onto the ground and lost consciousness.

"Ding! Congratulations, Host, on successfully slaying a Demon Spirit. You have received 100 Exorcism Points!"

"Phew..."

Letting out a long breath of foul air, Qiusheng knew that, with the sound of that system notification, his first exorcism mission had finally come to a successful conclusion!

He slowly got to his feet, walked over to Wencai lying on the ground, and casually checked his pulse.

"Mm, not bad. He's not dead."

Qiusheng muttered to himself, then ignored Wencai on the ground and stumbled out of the Banana Grove.

As he ran, he silently recited in his heart.

"Attribute List."

Character: Qiusheng (inner disciple of the Maoshan Sect).

Cultivation: Occultist+ (mid-stage).

Exorcism Points: 100.

Taoist Arts: Talisman Crafting+ (beginner), Shangqing Dongxuan Record+ (introductory), Maoshan Basic Martial Arts+ (intermediate), Palm Thunder+ (introductory).

Lifespan: 60+.

"Hmm?"

As the attribute list unfolded, Qiusheng was immediately puzzled.

Looking at the plus signs after each of his attributes, realization suddenly dawned on him.

It seemed that attributes with a plus sign could currently be enhanced using Exorcism Points.

After thinking silently for a while, Qiusheng tapped the plus sign after the Shangqing Dongxuan Record.

"Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have spent 80 Exorcism Points to raise the Shangqing Dongxuan Record's mastery to beginner level. Cultivation speed has increased by ten percent."

The system notification had barely sounded when Qiusheng's Shangqing Dongxuan Record changed from introductory to beginner.

And with the upgrade to the Shangqing Dongxuan Record, Qiusheng did not know whether it was merely an illusion, but he felt a warm current flowing through his somewhat aching body, constantly soothing the sore places.

However, the change was too faint. To Qiusheng, it was little better than nothing.

Shaking his head to clear away the distracting thoughts in his mind, he focused only on the final line of the system notification.

A ten percent increase in cultivation speed was rather frightening. The Shangqing Dongxuan Record truly deserved to be Maoshan's inherited secret scripture. It had something to it.

While Qiusheng pondered this, he ran toward Wang Village. Just as he reached the village entrance, he happened to encounter Uncle Nine, full and slightly drunk, walking out of Wang Village.

"Qiusheng, why are you in such a hurry? Where's your junior brother Wencai?"

Seeing Uncle Nine before him, his cheeks faintly flushed from drinking, Qiusheng felt a headache coming on.

Earlier, he had thought that his junior brother Wencai was unreliable because of his naturally flawed personality. Now, upon seeing his master, Qiusheng finally understood that it was plainly a case of a crooked upper beam producing a crooked lower beam.

"Master, Junior Brother Wencai was possessed by that Demon Spirit. I struck him in the forehead with Palm Thunder, and he passed out."

Though he silently complained about his master's unreliability, Qiusheng still lowered his head and answered honestly.

To his surprise, the moment Qiusheng finished speaking, Uncle Nine kicked him in the backside.

"What nonsense are you spouting? Demon Spirit possession? Palm Thunder? Why not say your patriarch possessed you instead?"

"Speak plainly!"

Seeing Uncle Nine's expression of utter disbelief, Qiusheng felt helpless.

He immediately dragged his master toward the Banana Grove.

"Master, look. Wencai is right here."

Once they entered the Banana Grove, Qiusheng pointed at Wencai, who was still lying stiffly on the ground.

The moment Uncle Nine entered the Banana Grove, the drunken haze in his eyes vanished, and they immediately became clear.

Looking at the traces left on the ground, his brows furrowed slightly.

As a top Taoist expert whose cultivation had already reached the peak of the Human Master realm, only half a step away from Earth Master, he could tell at a glance that a battle between a human and a demon had indeed taken place here.

Moreover, two of the array foundations of the Three Altars Demon-Subduing Array still stood intact on the ground.

"Hmph. The Three Altars Demon-Subduing Array has such a grand reputation, yet you set it up like this. It's an absolute mess."

Uncle Nine seemed not to see Wencai still lying on the ground at all. He merely circled the remains of the Three Altars Demon-Subduing Array, inspecting it carefully while scolding Qiusheng.

"Master, you only taught me the Three Altars Demon-Subduing Array once. I only managed to set it up like this because I crammed at the last minute and studied it beforehand."

"Sadly, the first array I ever set up in my life was not broken by evil forces, but blown apart when my junior brother stepped on it."

Qiusheng shook his head and sighed.

"Hmph. Didn't you strike your junior brother with Palm Thunder too?"

"If you had put more effort into your usual cultivation, you could have directly forced that Demon Spirit out of your junior brother's body with your mana. Would you have needed to go through all this trouble?"

After being told off by his master, Qiusheng rarely found himself blushing.

His master was right. If he had possessed late-stage Occultist cultivation when he fought that Demon Spirit earlier, he probably could have driven it out of his junior brother's body the moment they met.

Sadly, a difference of one realm in cultivation was like the difference between heaven and earth.

"By the way, Master, are you sure you won't take a look at Junior Brother? I hit him in the head with Palm Thunder."

To stop his master from continuing to lecture him, Qiusheng hurriedly shifted the topic to Wencai.

"Hmph. What's there to check? You used Palm Thunder, not Lightning Bolt Fist. Could it really strike someone dead?"

Though Uncle Nine said that, he still walked over to Wencai, gently placed a hand on his pulse, then lifted his eyelids. After finishing a series of examinations, Uncle Nine turned to glance strangely at Qiusheng, who stood beside him.

Then Qiusheng saw Uncle Nine tear open Wencai's shirt. Looking at the red mark on his chest, he sighed.

"What a disgrace. My eldest disciple is a half-baked fool, and my second disciple actually got possessed by a newborn Demon Spirit. I've completely disgraced the Maoshan Taoist Sect!"