A Great Amount of Merit

Wang Ding shattered the illusion and looked up. At some unknown point, a massive lump of flesh had arrived several hundred meters away and was struggling to crawl toward the four of them. The lump was as large as an elephant. A huge mouth grew on it, along with a pair of small jade-green eyes that radiated a strange light, carrying a demonic power that could seize the soul.

The moment Wang Ding saw it, he knew the illusion just now had most likely been its doing. What Wang Ding and the others did not know was that the lumps of flesh they had encountered were juvenile Free Heavenly Demons. At present, they did not have much in the way of divine abilities, but once they matured, they would directly possess the power of heavenly immortals, transforming from tangible forms into shadowless, formless Free Heavenly Demons. They could manipulate small worlds, weave endless illusions, stir up a cultivator's heart demons, and make people sink into them unable to extricate themselves, suffering qi deviation before having their essence sucked dry and dying. They were the natural enemies of Dao cultivators.

Wang Ding and the others were very lucky. What they had encountered were only juveniles, whose illusion-demon power was insufficient and could only weave some hallucinations to blind cultivators. As long as one's will was firm, however, one would not be **. If they had encountered a growing Free Heavenly Demon, a single thought from it would have turned all four of them into walking corpses, losing themselves and becoming nourishment for the Heavenly Demon.

Seeing that sturdy juvenile Free Heavenly Demon, Wang Ding did not waste a word and blasted out two top-grade Magic Tools. In an instant, he smashed the Free Heavenly Demon into meat paste. Then Wang Ding saw twenty points of Heavenly Merit appear out of thin air and rush into his body. Although Wang Ding knew that slaying the Heavenly Demons here would bring a great deal of merit, he had not expected there to be this much. He immediately drove his Magic Tools harder, killing toward the Heavenly Demons that kept surging in.

The four of them slaughtered with abandon. About half an hour later, they had wiped out all the juvenile Heavenly Demons in the surrounding area. Huang Tutian said smugly, "These Demonic Beasts are too weak. They're purely here to deliver themselves on a platter. They only have the strength of the Innate Stage, the power of five flying dragons. Only that ability to create illusions is somewhat usable. Oh right, Senior Brother Wang Ding, how much merit did we get?"

Hearing this, the other two also pricked up their ears and looked toward Wang Ding. After Wang Ding told Long Lingyu and the other two how he measured merit, he said, "You probably won't believe it, but in this short half hour, we gained a full two thousand points of merit. The merit gained from the Heavenly Demons here is very high. Each one is worth eleven or twelve points of merit."

Long Lingyu and the other two were immediately shocked when they heard this. They had not expected to gain so much. Wang Ding continued, "This place is a treasure land. We've already gone a day without rest. Now hurry and take pills to recover your strength and true qi. Next will be our time to earn merit in great quantities. Miss this village, and there won't be this shop. Merit is not easy to earn outside."

After hearing Wang Ding's words, the three of them did not dare waste any more time. Each sat cross-legged and began taking pills and meditating, striving to adjust their bodies to their best condition.

Wang Ding had never had a weapon that suited him well. At this moment, he took out the golden halberd taken from Ice Prince and said to the others, "You three, this golden halberd suits me very well, so I'll use it for now. Once we're safe, we can divide the treasures we obtained this time. How about it?"

Long Lingyu and the other two naturally had no objections.

Then Wang Ding handed the other Spirit Tool, the Blue Ancient Mirror, to Dongfang Riyue for refinement. "Junior Brother Dongfang, you don't have any offensive Spirit Tools. Make do with this ancient mirror for now."

In fact, there was a reason Wang Ding and the other three could obtain so much merit. The place where Heavenly Void was located was where this universe connected with the Outer Demon Realm, and it had already been occupied by extraterritorial Heavenly Demons. However, for certain reasons, the highest cultivation of the Heavenly Demons here was only at the Spirit Transformation stage, and they were all in the deepest parts of Heavenly Void. Among them, the greatest threat to this universe was the Free Heavenly Demon. Free Heavenly Demons could stir up a cultivator's heart demons and thereby absorb all of a cultivator's essence. Heavenly Demons were things from beyond the domain; when they absorbed the essence qi of this universe, they would cause a loss of the universe's vital energy and disrupt the universe's cycle. The great calamity would then descend.

For Wang Ding and the others to slay large numbers of Free Heavenly Demons was equivalent to helping Heaven and Earth clear away the borers parasitizing its body. Heaven and Earth would then grant a reward—merit. And depending on how great the harm caused by a Heavenly Demon was, the merit obtained would also differ.

After Wang Ding and the other three regulated their breathing for an hour, waves of tremors came from far away. The four of them knew the Heavenly Demons had arrived, so each stopped meditating, rose, and looked into the distance.

By now, Wang Ding had successfully refined the golden halberd seized from Ice Prince. From the inscriptions on the halberd's body, he learned that this golden halberd was named King Slayer.

At this moment, Wang Ding stood at the very front of the three, holding King Slayer in his right hand. He stood ramrod straight, his entire body radiating a surging fighting intent.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a large swarm of Heavenly Demons had already arrived a hundred meters away. There were no fewer than a thousand Heavenly Demons in this swarm, each as large as an elephant. Judging from their cultivation, all of them were existences at the peak of Innate, possessing at least the power of six or seven flying dragons.

At this moment, Wang Ding's heart was filled with excitement, and brilliant light flashed in his eyes. In his eyes, these Heavenly Demons were so adorable. Each one was a moving storehouse of merit. Innate Qi flowed through his entire body, and Wang Ding had already adjusted himself to his optimal state. He said to the three behind him, "Everyone, get ready. Once I give the order, release your Spirit Tools together. Stay alert. No matter what illusion appears later, remember one word for me: blast. Keep blasting."

After Wang Ding finished speaking, he began gathering power. When the Heavenly Demons reached fifty meters in front of the four of them, Wang Ding let out a fierce shout, "Attack!" Wielding King Slayer, he slashed toward the Heavenly Demons. A phantom of an Ancient Halberd instantly charged toward them.

Under Wang Ding's lead, four streaks of light, mixed with the phantom images of more than eighty flying dragons, blasted toward the charging Heavenly Demons. With explosive rumbles of boom, boom, a shockwave swept out. Flesh and blood flew everywhere, and the sky was filled with the corpses of Heavenly Demons blasted into the air.

After that one strike, the ground had been blasted into a huge pit several dozen zhang wide and three zhang deep. The four of them were also stunned. They had not expected that four Spirit Tools attacking together would actually have such power. This single strike had killed at least two hundred Heavenly Demons. However, the four of them had also consumed a great deal, fully one quarter of their true qi. Fortunately, the four of them had prepared pills long ago and immediately swallowed them to recover their magic power. At this moment, Wang Ding saw countless amounts of merit being born out of thin air, flying toward the four of them and entering their bodies. His heart immediately blossomed with joy, and he told the other three this news.

The reason Wang Ding and the other three achieved such results this time was merely that these Heavenly Demons had not developed much spiritual intelligence yet. They only possessed intelligence equivalent to that of three- or four-year-old children and had been drawn here by instinct. Although the four of them had killed and wounded a large swath of them, the blood and flesh covering the ground stirred up their savagery even more, and all of them pounced toward the four. This time, however, they had also learned to be clever. They united and continuously created countless illusions to confuse the four of them: gold and silver treasures, fine wine and beautiful women, eternal youth, immortality and indestructibility, control over the universe. Countless ** came rushing at them head-on, and the aura of desire drowned Wang Ding and the other three on the spot.

Wang Ding and the other three had still underestimated how terrifying Heavenly Demons were. Although these Heavenly Demons were juveniles, once their numbers increased, by concentrating large amounts of demonic illusion power, they could still pose an enormous threat to cultivators.