[Demons and Monsters]

At the sight of this, Shen Xiu cursed inwardly without restraint. Even Cao Hongzhuo, who had witnessed the same scene, was utterly shocked.

Heaven knew he had only said it casually. He had never expected that terrifying red figure to switch targets just like that.

At that moment, he wondered whether he should call that terrifying figure back again. But when the words reached his lips, he honestly chickened out.

The feeling of being chased by that terrifying figure was simply too horrifying—more horrifying than his mother chasing after him and demanding that he go home to inherit a fortune of a million.

He cowered thoroughly, his fat head nearly shrinking into his belly as he lowered it and charged forward at full tilt.

All he could do was offer Shen Xiu spiritual support from ahead; Shen Xiu was in better shape and ran even faster than him.

Though Shen Xiu was cursing inwardly, he naturally did not truly believe that the red figure had switched targets solely because of that fatty.

Rather, from beginning to end, he had felt that thing's gaze lingering on him more than on anyone else.

It seemed that its pursuit of the others all along had merely been casual play, something done in passing.

But even if it had been done in passing, the few deaths were enough to make his heart tremble with fear.

Shen Xiu even began to suspect that he possessed some kind of trouble-magnet physique. Otherwise, why did something always come out to cause trouble whenever he made a big move?

The red figure behind him

briefly floated above the ground, its body shifting and turning without any visible support like a phantom, skimming over the grass toward him.

At such speed,

the distance between them rapidly closed at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Shen Xiu was several times faster than an ordinary person. Light as a swallow, every stride carried him several meters away.

Sweat drenched his back, and every muscle in his body was stretched taut. Yet the faint, chilling aura behind him clung to his body like maggots to the bone.

Nor did he dare relax in the slightest. He gripped the Hundred Refinements Saber so tightly that it nearly sank into his flesh.

As the red figure drew close, Shen Xiu clearly sensed an extremely icy chill spreading along the ground and into the soles of his feet.

Like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, it gradually wound its way around his body.

A shudder ran through his entire body. The aura at his back nearly plunged him into ten-thousand-year ice.

Then wind whistled past behind him, and that figure closed in by several more degrees. His heart instantly clenched.

Feeling that almost body-hugging aura, Shen Xiu gritted his teeth.

At the same time, his previously ordinary right arm suddenly swelled without warning. Like an inflated balloon, it filled the entire sleeve in the blink of an eye.

At this moment,

the Dragon Subduing Strength within him was driven to its utmost limit!

Immediately afterward, the robe around his body visibly bulged outward, swelling until it reached its final limit.

Several tearing sounds rang out. The once-intact sleeve split open with countless cracks in an instant, turning into several narrow strips of cloth of varying lengths.

The cloth strips drifted lightly down, then rose again with a gust of wind, fluttering wildly and wantonly.

His speed increased by another thirty percent.

He glanced back at that vivid red figure.

Only under such circumstances did Shen Xiu finally see the red figure's true appearance clearly.

Its entire body was made of red bones, skin wrapped around bone—except it did not even have skin. It was nothing but an exposed skeleton.

The skeletal frame was fiery red, as though blood shone through the surface of its bones.

Within the skeleton was a reddish-brown body, not a color belonging to anything human. It resembled the dark soil on the ground, as though it had rolled through mud and still seeped some unknown kind of tissue fluid.

Yet even as fear chilled Shen Xiu's heart, his gaze inevitably fell upon the red skeleton's eyes—those drifting hollows, flickering with black ghostfire.

The entire wilderness vanished.

Two black, bottomless hollows enlarged in his vision. The scene became an endless tide, carrying an overwhelming chill as it crashed straight toward his face.

Sensing danger, Shen Xiu forcibly wrenched his head aside, as if he were about to snap his own neck, avoiding that gaze that seemed ready to drown him to death.

The boundless crimson tide vanished, and the wilderness returned to his sight.

Yet just then, a figure flashed through the corner of his eye. A fierce gust swept past, and the red skeleton had appeared directly before him in an instant.

Its aura bore down on him, nearly suffocating him.

Within arm's reach!

Right before his eyes!

The immense sense of crisis made him slash out with the Hundred-Refined Saber almost instinctively.

With several times his usual strength empowering him, the Dragon Subduing Strength raged madly. His taut muscles were like drawn bowstrings, squeezing out the tremendous power of a savage beast.

The blade let out a terrifying boom!

As if intending to cleave through everything, it crashed without restraint toward the red skeleton's chest.

Clang!

A shattering sound that pierced the eardrums erupted abruptly!

Airwaves burst forth, nearly sweeping aside all the slender weeds in the endless wilderness.

The red skeleton halted abruptly, pausing for a beat. Shen Xiu was violently thrown back by the rebounding force, flying stiffly several meters away.

Again!

Shen Xiu shot forward.

The Hundred Refinements Saber's whistles through the air came one after another, followed by continuous explosive clangs of metal striking metal.

Using the recoil from each slash, he retreated again and again.

In the span of a few breaths, Shen Xiu did not know how many times he had slashed, yet he had only added a few scratches to the red skeleton's bones.

Shen Xiu immediately frowned!

Cao Hongzhuo, watching everything from afar, was likewise stunned beyond measure.

He was shocked not only by the red skeleton's terrifying speed and strength, but also by Shen Xiu's transformation.

"That kid is so fierce! Uncle Chen, should we help him? That kid has limitless potential!"

As Cao Hongzhuo sprinted, he shook his head and let out an incredulous cry.

Steward Chen, who had also noticed Shen Xiu's abnormality, heard Cao Hongzhuo's words and veins bulged on his hand. He nearly wanted to chop the idiot beside him to death with a single slash.

With such extraordinary changes, even a ghost would know that was a Martial Artist of the Second Realm!

Did he need help? A teenage Second Realm martial cultivator—he had seen them before. What need was there to offer assistance?

Could that person possibly be of use to the Sifang Medicine Workshop in the future?

The situation had finally taken a turn for the better. He did not want to sit by and watch, only to become part of the show in the next moment.

His foremost task was to ensure that Cao Hongzhuo stayed alive. Otherwise, the Workshop Master would never spare him.

As for whether that youth lived or died, it had nothing to do with him. Better a dead fellow cultivator than a dead poor Daoist—what did it have to do with him?

With a dark expression, Steward Chen shoved Cao Hongzhuo again.

He did not want to interfere, and even if he did, he could not.

He recognized that thing. It likely did not even belong among demonic beasts, but was truly one of the demons and monsters.

Its origins could not be traced.

All that was known was that it was a bloodthirsty creature that absorbed demonic qi or devoured the essence and blood of other races to strengthen its body and advance its abilities.

It was powerful in itself and difficult to kill.

Every appearance meant a region drenched in blood. Only the Night Watchers of Great Jing's Suspended Sword Division possessed specialized methods for dealing with them.