Liu Chen had begun training in martial arts at the age of five, practicing through the coldest days of winter and the hottest days of summer, never daring to slacken in the slightest over twenty years.
At eighteen, he had been chosen by the Demon Suppression Office and had believed himself to be one of the finest among men.
Yet just now, beneath the Pig Demon's all-encompassing blood-mist divine art, he had realized that he was merely a frog at the bottom of a well.
But...
Liu Chen raised his head and looked at the girl bathed in the bloody light of the tiger's shadow, his heart churning like storm-tossed seas.
That figure was slender, and she looked several years younger than him.
But she...
How had she dared?
How had she dared to face a Bone-Chiming Great Demon alone?
It was not just him. Even Xu Nian, who was struggling to hold on nearby, wore a face full of disbelief.
Yet his attention was not on the girl herself.
It was on the saber at her waist.
The Pig Demon stared fixedly at the approaching figure, all its earlier arrogance and savagery vanishing without a trace.
It scrutinized Jiang Yuechu closely, from top to bottom, as though it wished to see straight through her.
There was something vaguely familiar about this girl...
Wait...
As it realized something, its eyes suddenly flew wide open.
"It's you!!!"
"It's you who killed my children!"
Clang—
There was not the slightest probing, nor a single wasted word.
The blade rose, and the crimson tiger phantom behind her roared in response.
The blood and qi within her body surged thunderously, pouring in full into the blade.
Fierce Tiger Swift Blade, supreme realm!
The next instant, a shrill crimson blade light descended like a tiger coming down the mountain, carrying the force of ten thousand jun, and slashed fiercely toward Zhu Yan's neck!
In its instinctive struggle for life and death, the countless crimson tentacles abruptly contracted into a mass, instantly condensing into a thick, sticky shield of flesh before Zhu Yan.
Boom—
The crimson blade light collided head-on with the blood-mist tentacles.
A dull, teeth-grating sound rang out, as though the blade had sunk into some viscous gelatin.
With the supreme realm of Fierce Tiger Swift Blade bolstered by [Yin Law Granted by Heaven], even ordinary rock should have been cleaved in two.
Yet when it struck those crimson tentacles, it did not cut through them like melons and vegetables as she had imagined.
A massive rebounding force traveled up from the blade, making Jiang Yuechu stagger back several steps before she barely managed to stop.
Her brows knit slightly. Her palm was numb, and a flash of surprise crossed her eyes.
This was the first time she had encountered such a bizarre method.
But the moment she saw this Pig Demon, she knew.
The Pig Demon before her had to be the father the two idiots had mentioned before.
Though it had not been present when she killed those two little demons.
Who knew whether demons possessed some strange means of tracking down their enemies?
Her identity remained unresolved as it was. Not only did she need to evade the authorities' pursuit, she had no desire to be targeted by a great demon whose sons had died.
The blood-mist tentacles slowly unfurled, revealing the completely unharmed Pig Demon's true body.
"Such methods... such blade techniques..."
"So it was you... who killed my sons this way."
Jiang Yuechu silently raised her blade a little higher toward Gao.
Silence was the best answer.
"Good..."
"Good!!!"
Zhu Yan threw back its head and roared. Its already bloated body swelled again, as though countless flesh worms were writhing madly beneath its skin.
The surrounding blood-mist tentacles surged in size at a rate visible to the naked eye.
In an instant.
Blood mist flooded the long street.
Countless scarlet tentacles shot toward Jiang Yuechu from every direction like crazed pythons bursting from their dens!
The few surviving Demon Suppression Office riders had already turned deathly pale with fright.
With a spectacle like this, even if there were ten more of them, they would only add a few more dishes to this demon's drinking feast.
But in the next instant.
Xu Nian gritted his teeth, a trace of determination flashing through his eyes.
He suddenly shoved the injured Liu Chen beside him away. Rather than retreating, he advanced, charging fiercely toward the Pig Demon that had already gone mad!
"Lord Xu!"
Liu Chen was horrified.
But Xu Nian did not hear him.
Since ancient times, how could the Demon Suppression Office stand by while a jianghu wanderer faced a demon alone?
With no subordinates left for him to protect, Xu Nian no longer had the slightest restraint.
The blood and qi within him burned madly at an unprecedented rate. The ringing of the bones throughout his body joined into one, clear and resonant as a bell!
"Come die!"
This strike poured out every bit of his Bone-Chiming Realm cultivation, determined to defeat the enemy in a single blow.
Golden blade light rose again.
This mad act was also a warning to everyone.
If he could kill this Pig Demon, then all would be well.
But if he could not...
He only hoped this girl and young Liu Chen would be smart enough to seize the chance and flee for their lives.
Blade light flashed like racing thunder, cleaving straight toward the Pig Demon's face.
Zhu Yan merely gave a sinister grin, splitting off dozens of crimson tentacles that spread like a great net to meet the golden blade light.
Clang!
Zhu Yan's eyes brimmed with contempt. Before Xu Nian could react, it raised a thick leg and struck later despite moving first.
Bang!
A muffled impact rang out.
Xu Nian flew backward as though struck by a heavy hammer.
But in that brief opening.
Jiang Yuechu moved.
She drove force through her feet and shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, leaving an afterimage across the long street.
Then she kicked off hard, soaring toward Gao high into the air. In midair, she gripped the saber hilt with both hands and raised it overhead toward Gao.
"Die!"
She gave a sharp cry.
This strike descended from above, carrying the force of thunder and ten thousand jun as it slashed straight toward the Pig Demon's neck!
Zhu Yan clearly had not expected this woman's speed to be so terrifyingly fast. In its haste, it only had time to twist its neck.
Splurt!
Blood light burst forth.
Dozens of crimson tentacles were severed at once. The blade's remaining force did not diminish, and it chopped deeply into Zhu Yan's bloated neck!
"Roar—"
The agonizing pain drew an earthshaking howl from Zhu Yan.
But there was not the slightest joy on Jiang Yuechu's face.
The blade had entered flesh, only to become firmly stuck!
The muscles and sinews around the Pig Demon's neck suddenly clamped down, making it impossible for her blade to advance another inch!
Pain only made the vicious light in Zhu Yan's eyes fiercer. Completely ignoring the blade lodged in its neck, it swung its fist, stirring up a foul gale as it smashed straight toward Jiang Yuechu's face!
Jiang Yuechu's pupils contracted.
She had no time to pull out her blade. She simply released one hand, while her other hand pressed fiercely down on the hilt. Borrowing that force, she lifted her foot and kicked Zhu Yan hard in the pig face.
Bang!
Using the rebound, she flipped backward through the air, twisted around midflight, and barely landed on her feet.
Damn it!
Jiang Yuechu steadied herself and looked at the Pig Demon with her saber embedded in its neck, its ferocity still undiminished. She cursed inwardly.
This Pig Demon not only possessed bizarre methods, its physical body was also tough to such an outrageous degree!
Even her all-out strike had failed to sever its neck!
Liu Chen endured the agony wracking his body and crawled, half rolling and half scrambling, to Xu Nian's side.
"Lord Xu! Lord Xu!"
There was a bloody, mangled hole in Xu Nian's chest. He took in more air than he let out, and every breath sent bloody foam spilling from his mouth and nose.
He laboriously opened his eyes and looked at the frenzied Pig Demon. "Retreat..."
"My lord!"
"Take the brothers... retreat!"
An immense feeling of powerlessness swallowed Liu Chen whole.
If only...
If only he had been stronger.
If only, at this very moment, he could share even a fraction of Lord Xu's burden...
"Ahhhhh—"
Beneath the warm sunlight.
He raised his head and let out a grief-stricken roar, smashing his fist heavily into the ground. At last, he could hold on no longer. His knees gave way, and he collapsed to them.
Not far away.
The girl slowly propped herself up, spat out a mouthful of foul breath tinged with blood, and straightened her body.
In a daze.
Several terrified Demon Suppression Office riders saw.
A tiger's claw emerge from thin air and interlock its fingers with the girl's hand.
Zhu Yan
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