Phantom Demon

In the dark, empty expanse of space, a mass of shadow enveloped the spaceship Li Ming was aboard.

Babas stared at the scene outside the spaceship and cried out in alarm, "What is that thing?!"

"Tch! Kainsen, do you know what that is?"

His hands flew across the spaceship's intelligent control interface. Kainsen quickly pulled up the relevant information, then looked at Li Ming and said, "Sir, this is a creature from the Demon Realm. Unless someone deliberately opened a passage to the Demon Realm, it should be impossible for it to appear here."

Li Ming's pupils contracted at once as he thought of Bafiel. Wasn't that guy's ability to control those who possessed dark hearts?

The Demon Realm was undoubtedly the most suitable place for their dark magic. It was the lowest level of the entire universe, where all negativity and darkness gathered.

The upper levels of the universe were where the Kais resided. Layer upon layer, according to divine rank, they extended all the way to the Supreme Kai Realm and the God of Destruction Realm at the very peak of the universe—the two highest realms.

That did not mean the Demon Realm was the weakest. Quite the opposite: because of its extraordinarily harsh environment, no true Demon Realm creature was weak. Anything too weak had long since died!

The most obvious example was Dabura, the king of the Demon Realm. Though controlled by Babidi, his strength was beyond doubt. Coupled with saliva that could petrify other creatures, he was only slightly weaker than Super Saiyan 2.

Roar!

The giant beast before them had a savage head, with ghostly gleams shining from the fangs in its mouth. Its diameter exceeded a hundred meters, and even the upper half of its body alone was nearly as large as the spaceship!

This was a medium-sized spaceship capable of carrying over a hundred people!

This sort of monster from the Demon Realm had a name: Phantom Demon!

Massive amounts of black energy poured from its body, wrapping tightly around the spaceship. Even with the engines pushed to maximum power, they could not break free!

"Kainsen! Activate the shield." Li Ming changed into his combat suit and tucked two Senzu Beans onto his person. This monster gave him a dangerous feeling. Its aura was so immense that it was no less formidable than Slug's!

If they fought in space, he was not confident he could kill it. He had to lure it onto a planet, and he also had to ensure the spaceship was not damaged.

"Yes!"

Buzz!

The Phantom Demon grabbed hold of the spaceship, but a powerful barrier immediately expanded around it, forcibly shoving the creature back a considerable distance.

Whoosh!

Just as the Phantom Demon charged again, Li Ming used Instant Transmission and appeared directly in space. With no time to think, his immense ki burst forth from his body!

Terrifying radiating energy rippled outward continuously. Li Ming placed both hands at his waist, taking the opening stance of the Kamehameha.

He could not fight here. It was simply too disadvantageous for him. He had to leave first.

"Kamehameha!"

The instant blue-white energy erupted violently from between his hands, a flash of lightning vanished before his eyes—twentyfold Berserk Enhancement!

After constant refinement, the backlash from this move had been brought fully within a range he could endure!

Boom!

The terrifying energy swallowed the Phantom Demon whole, while Li Ming took the opportunity to propel the spaceship behind him out of the dark space in an instant!

These dark auras were far too strange. Without forcibly breaking through with sheer strength, there was no way to escape.

Accompanied by a blue-white Kamehameha, the spaceship shot out in an instant. Li Ming then gritted his teeth and erupted with even stronger ki once more!

Crackle!

Violent currents surged forth again, only to be swiftly drawn back into his body. The blue-white shockwave abruptly turned white, and in that instant, an aura of destruction rushed forward!

Frenzied Thunder Flash!

Judging by aura alone, this attack could not kill the Phantom Demon. But how could Li Ming accept that without trying? Even if it did not kill the creature, he would make it shed a layer of skin!

A brilliant flash of light suddenly erupted at the center of the region shrouded in darkness. Though it quickly faded, the Phantom Demon's aura within had weakened somewhat. Clearly, it had not emerged from that attack unscathed.

Whoosh!

The next moment, Li Ming used Instant Transmission again and appeared inside the spaceship. He took several deep breaths before finally feeling somewhat better. The real reason Saiyans could not survive in space was not the harsh environment, but their inability to breathe.

Even becoming a Super Saiyan could not change that.

"Boss, how did it go? Did you take care of that monster?" The others walked over.

After catching his breath, Li Ming stood up and stared solemnly toward the rear of the spaceship. He could clearly sense the Phantom Demon's ki rapidly recovering!

"No..."

This kind of monster seemed to have no intelligence. Rather than a living creature, it was more like an artificial creation, born solely for destruction.

"Keep flying. It would be best if we can escape. If it catches up again, find a planet and land."

Kainsen was controlling the spaceship. Hearing this, he turned and replied, "Yes!"

Although the Phantom Demon was powerful, in everyone's eyes, Li Ming's strength was undoubtedly even more terrifying.

After arranging the plan, Li Ming left directly. He needed to prepare himself. The stamina he had expended during his earlier training had not fully recovered, which was why the Kamehameha and Frenzied Thunder Flash just now had left him feeling somewhat fatigued.

He did not immediately choose to use a Senzu Bean. He could not possibly have the chance to take medicine every time, and relying too heavily on Senzu Beans was not a good thing either. Sooner or later, they would run out.

When dealing with Slug and Frieza before, it had been because of his carelessness that Slug had successfully ambushed him twice. Though the Senzu Beans had saved his life, he would not always be so lucky.

Besides, if he had been more cautious back then, his ability to sense ki would have allowed him to anticipate danger. How could he possibly have been caught off guard by an ambush!?

In the end, Senzu Beans should be one of his last resorts, not capital to squander freely. That would only gradually make him numb and careless.

Watching Li Ming leave, the others gathered to discuss the matter. Kulunxi asked, "What exactly is that monster? Judging by the boss's expression, it seems pretty troublesome."

"Yeah." Babas nodded, then said helplessly, "I've never heard of that kind of monster before. But according to Kainsen, it should be a creature from the Demon Realm. We can ask him about it later."

Pierre seemed to recall something and said, "I think I've heard of that monster. It's probably called a Phantom Demon. Supposedly, it's connected to a group known as Magicians. They used some kind of magic to transform creatures from the Demon Realm into these monsters."

Babas hurriedly asked, "Do you have any specific information?"

"Well, I only heard someone mention it on Tusta Planet. The planet where that claim originated can no longer be traced, so..." By the end, Pierre could only shake his head.

He had only heard these things secondhand. If the Phantom Demon had not left such a deep impression on him, he would not have remembered it at all.

With that, the trail went cold. The others could only go help Kainsen pilot the spaceship and try to shake off the Phantom Demon's pursuit.

Meanwhile, Li Ming was adjusting the ki within his body, trying to recover his stamina as quickly as possible. His recovery was fairly fast, but compared to artificial humans with their monstrous infinite-energy constitutions, living beings still had an obvious disadvantage.

"Hm?" Gradually, Li Ming opened his eyes. Sensing something unusual in his body, he frowned. "My power... has weakened?"

As someone who could sense the strength of ki, Li Ming naturally knew his own power better than anyone. He could detect even the slightest change.

He had not noticed before because he had been training constantly and had paid no attention to it. But after fighting the Phantom Demon and expending some of the ki within him, the change became extraordinarily obvious.

The weakened portion was small, but this should never have happened. It would have been understandable if there had been an issue with a transformation, or if he had neglected his training like Nobi Fan had in the later parts of the original story.

But Li Ming possessed the pure bloodline of a Saiyan!

The battle instincts within his body simply would not allow him even the slightest slackness. Not to mention that, with his abundant vitality, even if he stopped training for a short time, his strength should still have been steadily increasing!

A shadow fell over his heart. Before he figured out what was going on, he had to deal with the Phantom Demon. Otherwise, trouble would arise sooner or later.

Not long after, Kainsen brought Li Ming bad news. "Sir, abnormal spatial fluctuations have been detected. I'm afraid that monster can use some kind of medium to lock onto us. It has already caught up."

"Make an emergency landing on a nearby planet as soon as possible."

"Yes." Kainsen seemed to notice the change in Li Ming's mood. He looked as though he wanted to say something, but in the end, he simply turned and left.