Gao Fei heard Second Uncle's shout from the city wall and glanced at the two tallest dog demons ahead.
They were mingling within the ranks, slowly drawing closer.
One of the dog demons suddenly opened its mouth and spat out a translucent wind blade.
"Gus Dog!"
With a slight lift of his spear, Gao Fei struck with its tip and scattered the wind blade.
His hand trembled faintly. It was fast, but not very powerful; Gao Fei felt he could withstand it with his bare body.
This time, he did not dare throw his spear. If a dog demon picked it up and used it against him, that would be downright stupid.
One dog demon, seemingly at the Spirit-Absorption Realm, appeared at Gao Fei's side.
The moment Gao Fei thrust his spear, it suddenly accelerated and slipped inside the spear's range. A trace of a smile could be seen on its doglike face.
Gao Fei had noticed it long ago. Turning sideways, he punched it in the chest, Dark Force surging forth.
This time, he used his full strength. The Spirit-Absorption Realm dog demon's front was intact, but a conical hole appeared in its back.
Its heart shattered directly, spraying out through the hole.
Spotting the dog demon that had just spat the wind blade, Gao Fei became one with his spear. Ignoring the fists, kicks, clubs, and staffs of the other dog demons around him, he charged straight at it.
After it dodged his direct thrust, he drew back his spear and brought it down with Mount Tai Crashes Down, the spear tip smashing viciously into the dog demon's head.
He used tremendous force. The surrounding dog demons were blown back a step by the fierce gust, and it collapsed to the ground on the spot.
There were only around fifty Minor Monsters left after the others retreated. There was still a large group of those with Unawakened Intelligence, and not many had died.
Yet they had lost the courage to keep fighting. They slowly backed away, then turned and ran.
Cheers of victory erupted from atop the city wall.
People were already running down from the wall, shouting, "Open the city gates!"
Gao Fei did not pursue the demons or pay attention to the cheers from the wall. He dug out the two Beast Cores and put them away.
He walked over to Zhang Constable's corpse, gently lifted him into his arms, and headed into the city.
"You really died for nothing!"
The people who had been cheering began to quiet down at the sight.
The hero of the event did not accept their cheers.
When he reached the city gate, it had already been opened.
Second Uncle's family was waiting there.
Lu Xiaoliu hurried over with several others and took Zhang Constable away.
Everyone around him wore smiling faces and fussed over him with concern. There was none of the disgust they had once shown when avoiding him.
"I knew this kid was extraordinary ever since he wore split-crotch pants. Looks like I was right."
"Yeah, yeah. It doesn't matter if he never pays back the money he borrowed from me."
"He owes me money too!"
"And me..."
"The dog demons are back!"
"No, there are rat demons too."
Cries of panic from fleeing people rang out.
Gao Fei turned around. The dog demons that had just fled were fleeing back again.
Rat demons followed behind them, along with one carrying an open sedan chair. A Yellow Weasel sat inside it.
There were more than half fewer rat demons than the ones Gao Fei had encountered last time.
"Yellow Great Immortal at Spirit-Absorption Realm, Perfected. Go, get into the city!"
Gao Linyue recognized the demon sitting in the sedan chair and pulled Gao Fei toward the city.
Only after they entered the crowd did he continue, "The city wall can't stop it. Go hide in the city."
Gao Linyue put away his spear, glanced outside, and began urging his Household to flee.
Gao Fei did not stop them. He had long since verified that against little things like rat demons, unless he could not break their defenses, a saber worked better than a spear.
And his fists and kicks, combined with Dark Force, worked even better than a saber.
He looked at his remaining Merit Points: 525. He held two dog demon cores in his hand.
He could not sit around waiting for death. He would use them first. Merit Points could still be earned, but he only had one life. There was no need to take such a risk.
"System, add 525 Merit Points to the Golden Body Art." ... In the first hundred years, you used the resonance tempering method to temper your body as though there were no limit. Your physical strength and reaction speed more than doubled, yet the panel still showed First Transformation, Beginner. In the third hundred years, you began to suspect that you had trained incorrectly, or that the system had malfunctioned. Your physical strength increased again, along with your flexibility and toughness, but the system panel still showed the Golden Body Art at First Transformation, Beginner. In the four hundred and twentieth year, the Demon Core's spiritual energy was exhausted. You persisted in absorbing the spiritual energy of the outside world to temper your body, and the system panel finally changed. The Golden Body Art entered First Transformation, Initial Stage. ... In the five hundred and twenty-fifth year, your physical body underwent a major increase. ...
The others were walking ahead.
When Gao Fei's consciousness returned, he hurried after them. If my physical strength had not kept increasing, I might have given up.
He casually tossed away the depleted Beast Cores in his hand.
They were still inside the gate passage and had only just emerged.
Before Gao Linyue could react, Gao Fei had already drawn his saber and slashed forward.
Clang!
The metallic rasp of a saber leaving its sheath and the sound of weapons striking each other rang out almost simultaneously.
The largest Yellow Great Immortal had already exchanged a slash with Gao Fei.
Both were knocked back by the rebounding force.
Gao Fei used the ground to dissipate the force and retreated three steps. Yellow Great Immortal, suspended in midair with nothing to borrow strength from, was pushed back a full zhang before swiftly charging back.
When the two tangled together again, there was no sound of a saber colliding with a short blade.
Only the sound of cloth being cut and flesh being sliced could be heard.
Clang!
When they halted after another clash, a thin layer of protective spiritual energy appeared over Yellow Great Immortal's body.
Gao Fei's clothes were covered in slashes, exposing the golden skin beneath.
More than ten cuts had appeared across his body, splitting skin and flesh. He controlled the muscles, tendons, bones, and blood vessels around the wounds to contract, yet still could not completely stop the bleeding.
Only after the blood had soaked patches of his clothes the size of palms did it slowly stop.
When Yellow Great Immortal's short blade came at him, Gao Fei had thought he was certain to die. He had not expected his physical body to be so tough; the wounds were not deep.
Every strike from the other side carried spiritual power on the blade.
This physical body was worth all those Merit Points. The only problem was that the enemy's movements were completely unpredictable, and it dodged quickly. He kept getting cut.
This could not continue. He did not have that much blood to lose.
Seeing the man and demon locked in battle, Gao Linyue exchanged looks with the people around him.
He had everyone move deeper into the city together. They did not dare make too much noise, afraid of alerting Yellow Great Immortal and having it intercept and kill them.
Yellow Great Immortal was equally shocked. He had heard from the Fox Demon that some of the Demon Race were born with exceptionally powerful bodies. Could Gao Fei be the descendant of some demon king and a human?
He had never heard of humans possessing such tyrannical physical bodies.
"Where did you, human-demon, come from? Can you tell me your clan?"
He looked at the Tang Saber in his hand, which was full of chips.
Then at the people secretly fleeing in the distance, the villagers who had not yet left the city gate passage.
Gao Fei was not angered by being called a human-demon. In his impression, rhinoceroses had exceptionally good defenses.
After thinking it over, he placed both hands against his forehead and spread his palms. A single horn swiftly grew from his forehead. Once he confirmed that Yellow Great Immortal had seen it, he withdrew it again.
After mastering the Golden Body Art, Gao Fei could manipulate his physical body to transform into any person or animal no larger than half his own size.
"Archaic Rhinoceros Hybrid..."
The moment the other side called out the name, Gao Fei made a shushing gesture. He stepped several paces closer, as though preparing to whisper a secret.
He had arrived precisely within the ideal range for fist and kick attacks.
"You insult me, and you still want to cozy up to me!"
He stepped half a pace forward at close range, his rear leg violently kicking against the ground as he unleashed all his force. Tiger-Leopard Thunder Roar boomed from his abdomen.
Half-Step Collapse Fist.
His right fist shot straight at Yellow Great Immortal's chest.
The unexpected sneak attack gave it no chance to evade.
Protective spiritual power emerged, and a thin membrane covered Yellow Great Immortal's body.
Gao Fei's fist struck the protective spiritual power. Dark Force surged out, passed through the protective spiritual power, and struck directly at its body.
Yellow Great Immortal was instantly sent flying backward. It pierced through a wall and vanished into the hole, its landing place nowhere in sight.
He had seen the attack clearly. It had not struck the physical body, and he had not received any Merit Points from the system.
Seeing Gao Linyue still wanting to come over and help, he hurriedly shouted, "You go first. I'll catch up soon."
Before you continue