Cat Demon

He looked at the villagers around him.

Sixteen people.

Ten men and women around twenty years old, while the remaining six were all around ten. The pattern was obvious.

Though they had been untied, they were all still sitting there, too weak to move much.

From the occasional growling of their stomachs, he understood that they were starving.

Gao Fei picked out the corpse of a Blood-Qi Realm dog demon and cut it apart with his knife.

"Use this fire to roast it. Eat first, then carry this corpse back."

The meat of a Spirit-Absorption Realm dog demon was definitely worth a fortune.

He took out the fox demon's nearly depleted Beast Core and the Demon Core he had just obtained, holding them in his hands.

System, use 200 Merit Points to continue tempering my organs.

In the fiftieth year, you completed the tempering of your bladder.

In the one hundred and tenth year, you completed the tempering of your gallbladder.

In the one hundred and eighty-eighth year, you completed the tempering of your triple burner.

Organ Tempering Realm, Perfected. Four-Pillar Pure-Yang Body: 90/100.

Your explosive power increased.

You could control the organs and bones throughout your body, increasing your height.

In the two hundredth year, you discovered that your tempered organs had become excessively tough, losing many subtle functions. You began using your blood qi to nourish their flexibility, only to discover that the same was true of your entire body. You were extremely stiff, and your reaction speed had slowed.

23 Merit Points remained.

The fox demon's Demon Core in his hand had completely turned into a white stone. He casually tossed it away.

These young people were terrified of staying in this place. They had no appetite even for meat, cutting it into small pieces with spearheads, roasting it briefly, then swallowing it whole like jujubes in a gulp.

In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the villagers had finished preparing and looked at Gao Fei.

He swept his gaze around but found no trace of any dog demons. He could not bring others into danger.

"Let's go!"

They had only walked for an hour when more than a dozen dog demons suddenly appeared atop a hill.

Without even looking at them, the demons charged straight in this direction.

The villagers huddled together. The older ones shielded the younger ones, while the younger children had tears streaming down their faces, desperately holding back their sobs.

Gao Fei had already drawn his blade and stood ready.

Yet the dog demons rapidly ran past him, fleeing toward the distant horizon.

Two blind fools charged right at him and were each cut down with a single strike from Gao Fei.

One was at the Skin Tempering Realm, the other at the Blood-Qi Realm.

The rest did not even spare him a glance, racing into the distance at full speed.

Gao Fei looked in the direction from which the dog demons had come, his expression solemn.

"You go first. Don't return to the village. Head straight into the county town."

The villagers hurriedly lifted the Spirit-Absorption Realm dog demon's corpse and departed in the direction of their village.

Only a few breaths after the villagers left.

A white-pawed tabby cat appeared atop the hill. It glanced toward the fleeing dog demons, then toward the villagers.

Finally, it looked at Gao Fei. As it approached, it spoke calmly.

"Human, thank you for helping me stop the dog demons. To thank you, I'll bite your neck clean through and spare you any suffering."

From afar, it had been difficult to tell, but only when it drew close did Gao Fei confirm that this snow-pawed tabby was as large as a cheetah.

As it walked, its waist arched upward like a drawn bow, ready to strike at any moment.

Gao Fei's eyes shifted. The instant he looked toward its tail, the cat demon sprang to his side and swatted at his head.

The cat demon's claws flashed with cold glints, ignoring Gao Fei's raised blade as it slammed down.

Clang! Clang!

Its swipes came one after another, each one powerful and heavy.

In the span of a few breaths, he had taken more than ten blows.

Fortunately, Gao Fei was strong and his defenses were sufficient. He only felt his hands go numb.

At that speed, defense was already meaningless.

He would have to withstand its close-range attacks and prepare to trade injuries for injuries.

An ordinary cat's reaction speed was several times that of a human's. Martial training had narrowed the gap somewhat.

Gao Fei still felt too slow. The moment his hand reached it, the cat demon sprang away and dodged.

Those dozen slaps earlier had been taken for nothing.

At that moment, Gao Fei recalled that on the roads of his former world, cats were among the animals most often killed by cars. A clue began to form in his mind.

If its reactions were fast, he could not attack head-on.

He would have to delay his killing move, lure it into dodging, then counterattack during the opening afterward.

With that thought, Gao Fei charged at it and slashed with his blade.

Normally, a blade posed a greater threat than a fist, so it would surely dodge.

The cat demon did the same, easily evading with a flash.

No matter how Gao Fei swung his blade, it always dodged with ease.

After its initial attacks failed, the cat demon no longer dared attack recklessly either, instead searching for a flaw in Gao Fei.

They fought for the time it took to drink a cup of tea.

When the cat demon dodged backward again, Gao Fei released his longsword, sending it flying directly at its eyes.

He swiftly followed after it, drawing back his right fist and gathering power.

After dodging, the cat demon reversed direction and fled.

It evaded the blade, but Gao Fei's fist descended onto its head.

Dark Force surged forth, turning its brain directly into mush.

It staggered a few steps before collapsing to the ground, twitching.

System notification: You killed an Organ Tempering Realm, Perfected cat demon. Merit Points +20.

"Harder to kill than a Spirit-Absorption Realm dog demon, yet it gave so few Merit Points."

Gao Fei shook his head and pursued the villagers in the direction they had fled.

An hour later.

A tabby cat over three meters long appeared at the site of the battle between man and cat.

Its nose twitched as a familiar scent drifted over. Locking onto the direction, it raced away.

In the grass, more than a dozen dog demons with Unawakened Intelligence were tearing at a cat demon's corpse.

Several afterimages flashed. Before the dog demons could react, they all collapsed.

The dog demons' bites were not strong enough to pierce the dead cat demon's hide.

It was easy to recognize who it was. Tears began to well in its eyes.

"Xiao Si."

"Whoever it was, even if you flee to the ends of the earth, I will kill you."

As it spoke, it ran forward, desperately sniffing the ground.

The scents were chaotic, carrying the aura of dog demons and humans. There was more than one person.

When it sniffed this far, it stopped.

It began running toward the hill where the Spirit-Absorption Realm dog demons had been stationed.

At this moment, the fox demon caught up as well.

Before its body even arrived, its seductive voice came first.

"Don't be angry. The important matter comes first. As long as we capture the Yueyang County Magistrate and extract the Great Wu destiny and Incense and Fire Prayer Power from him, you can break through, switch to the Demon Race's immortal cultivation method, and greatly extend your lifespans."

"What does one dead son amount to? Just have another. Look at Yellow Great Immortal—two of his sons died, and he acts as though nothing happened."

The tabby cat demon turned to look at the fox demon walking on two legs, with a human body and face. A flicker of struggle appeared on its face.

"Your method had better truly work. Otherwise, even if you belong to the Shangqiu Fox Clan, I'll make you pay the price."

The fox demon smoothed the fur on the four fluffy tails behind it, not taking the threat to heart at all.

"Rest assured."

"Fine. Let's check out the dog demons' territory first, find out what happened, and then continue the pursuit."

Half an hour later, the two demons arrived at the hill where the Spirit-Absorption Realm dog demons had been.

The pungent stench made both demons frown.

Seeing the layer of human bones carpeting the ground, the cat demon was somewhat displeased.

"These dog demons really knew how to enjoy themselves, eating so many humans..."

"Hurry up and settle this. As long as we keep the people in the city penned up, that will be enough for us to continue absorbing humanity's incense-fire destiny and accelerate our cultivation..."

Though the stench was pungent, the fox demon still caught a trace of a familiar scent on a white stone.