Clear Out the Human Traitors! Twelfth Qi Gathering Orifice Perfection!

Under the Ape Demon's terrified gaze, Yang Xiao became a blur, closing the distance between them in an instant.

The Ape Demon's pupils contracted. He instinctively tried to pull Li Tie in front of him as a shield.

But Yang Xiao's fist was faster!

His punch slammed into the Ape Demon's right shoulder, shattering the shoulder blade with a crack!

The Ape Demon screamed, his grip on Li Tie loosening involuntarily.

Li Tie fell to the ground, gasping for air. A ring of livid bruises marked his neck.

But Yang Xiao did not spare him a glance.

His eyes stayed locked on the Ape Demon.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Every punch struck flesh. Every punch struck bone!

Yang Xiao's fists hammered the Ape Demon relentlessly. Each blow carried the penetrating force of Mountain-Opening Force, smashing his bones one by one!

The Ape Demon's screams grew weaker and weaker. Yang Xiao held him like a ragged sack and pounded him with one punch after another!

Blood sprayed across Yang Xiao's fists, arms, and face.

Bones cracked. Flesh tore. Screams rang out—

The entire main hall seemed to have become a beast-fighting pit inside an octagonal cage, where the fight would not stop until one side stopped breathing.

The Ape Demon's chest caved in, his limbs twisted. Blood soaked his dark brown fur, turning it a deep red.

His eyes still moved, and his mouth still opened and closed soundlessly, but he could no longer make a sound.

Yang Xiao's final punch struck the crown of his skull.

The Ape Demon's head burst like a rotten watermelon, spraying blood and brains everywhere!

A scarlet mist filled the main hall. The stench of blood was almost suffocating.

Yang Xiao let go. The Ape Demon's corpse crashed to the floor, utterly lifeless.

The entire main hall was a wreck. Horrifying smears of blood and scraps of flesh covered the walls, floor, and pillars.

Yang Xiao stood in a pool of blood, drenched from head to toe, his face expressionless.

His breathing was steady, as though he had not just fought a great demon at Qi Gathering Five Apertures, but merely swatted a fly.

"Spare... spare me..."

A voice trembling uncontrollably came from the corner.

Li Tie knelt on the floor, shaking like a sieve.

He had watched Yang Xiao beat the Ape Demon to death with his bare hands.

It had taken only a dozen breaths.

But every breath had been carved into his mind like a knife.

The crack of the Ape Demon's bones, his screams, the brains that had sprayed out when his skull burst...

And Yang Xiao's expression.

From beginning to end, Yang Xiao's expression had not changed in the slightest. It was as though he were smashing a stone or chopping a log.

Those were the eyes of a butcher looking at livestock.

Li Tie had never been so afraid.

He had colluded with Demons, thinking himself clever, thinking he could win favor with the great demons while securing a foothold in the County Yamen, profiting from both sides.

But now he realized that the Pig Demon could humiliate him at will, while the Ape Demon had used him as a hostage and could have crushed him at any moment.

And Yang Xiao did not care whether he lived or died!

"Yang... Yang Xiao..."

Li Tie knelt on the floor and slammed his forehead against the broken bricks, again and again.

"I was wrong! I was wrong!"

"I shouldn't have colluded with Demons! I shouldn't have harmed anyone!"

"Please spare my life! Please!"

"I can testify! I can identify Three-Demon Mountain! I can tell you everything about the Bull Demon!"

"Please... don't kill me..."

His voice was hoarse and choked with tears. He had completely broken down.

Yang Xiao looked down at him without a trace of pity in his eyes.

"Were you the one who delivered all those missing villagers to the Demons?"

Li Tie went rigid, unable to speak.

Yang Xiao crouched and reached into the Ape Demon's corpse. After feeling around in the mangled chest cavity, he pulled out a dark red Demon Core the size of a fist.

Yang Xiao tucked the Demon Core into his robe, then stood.

His gaze fell on Li Tie once more.

Li Tie saw the look in Yang Xiao's eyes, and his pupils widened.

There was no hesitation in that gaze, no struggle. Only cold killing intent.

"No—"

Li Tie tried to retreat, but his legs had gone too weak to move.

Yang Xiao's fist fell.

The first punch struck Li Tie squarely in the face. His head snapped back, his nose collapsed, and blood gushed out.

The second punch struck his chest. Broken ribs pierced his lungs, and blood poured from his mouth.

The third punch slammed into the crown of his skull.

Li Tie's body crashed to the floor and fell silent.

His eyes remained open, his pupils unfocused, fear and pleading still etched on his face.

Yang Xiao withdrew his fist and looked down at his bloodied, mangled hands.

Blood dripped between his fingers and pooled on the bluestone floor.

He took a deep breath and turned toward the main hall's entrance.

He pushed open the battered doors. The evening breeze swept in, dispersing the thick stench of blood.

In the courtyard, a gray-haired physician bent over Zhang Hu, examining him while calling his name into his ear.

Beside them, the physician's apprentice knelt on the ground, frantically searching through his medicine chest.

Little Liu, who had brought the physician, stood guard over the three of them. When he saw Yang Xiao emerge from the hall, all strength left him, and he collapsed to the ground as though the breath had gone out of him.

The sounds from the hall had been terrifying: the Demons' ear-splitting cries, the crashes, and someone begging for mercy.

For a moment, he had thought the world was ending.

But now Head Constable Yang had walked out unharmed. Thank goodness!

Yang Xiao's eyes fell on Zhang Hu, lying in a pool of blood in the courtyard, and he hurried over.

Zhang Hu's breath was barely a thread. He looked as though he might die at any moment.

"Uncle Zhang, don't die."

Yang Xiao spoke softly, afraid that raising his voice might disturb Zhang Hu's breathing.

The next moment, Zhang Hu's tightly shut eyes opened. He stared at Yang Xiao, stunned and delighted, and forced the corners of his mouth into a smile.

"I... won't die."

Only after hearing his reply did Yang Xiao relax. He went out to rally the people at the County Yamen and take charge.

Zhang Hu was gravely wounded, Li Tie was dead, and Third Constable Wang Dagui had not yet returned to his post. Yang Xiao had suddenly become the man in charge.

He counted the dead and wounded, summoned the off-duty Yamen Runners, and found craftsmen to repair the damage and handle the aftermath...

Fortunately, the County Magistrate had been away that afternoon. Otherwise, he might have been killed too.

After handing the County Yamen's remaining work over to the County Magistrate, Yang Xiao finally had time to eat and return to his small courtyard. By then, the moon was high overhead.

The blood on his body had dried into a crust. The rank stench rolling off him was enough to send stray dogs fleeing, and he could no longer stand it.

He spent nearly half an hour washing up at the water vat in the courtyard.

Then Yang Xiao sat on the bluestone steps and took out the Ape Demon's Inner Core he had obtained that day.

[Usable equipment detected: Qi Gathering Demonic Core (single-use consumable)]

[Effect One: Replenishes the spiritual energy of five Apertures.]

[Effect Two: Gain the trait (green) Howling Shriek: Release an ear-piercing shriek that assaults the soul, briefly blurring sight and perception.]

[Equip "Qi Gathering Demonic Core" to the Equipment Slot?]

"Five more Apertures... Perhaps I can finally reach Twelfth Qi Gathering Orifice Perfection."

Yang Xiao considered it, then equipped the core without hesitation.

A vast surge of demonic power poured from the Inner Core into Yang Xiao's body.

He sat cross-legged and circulated the Origin-Guiding Qi Gathering Art, guiding the demonic power through his meridians.

Spaces for new Apertures opened along his meridians, and he greedily drew in the spiritual energy from the Ape Demon's Inner Core.

An hour later.

Yang Xiao opened his eyes. A sharp gleam flashed through them.

All twelve Apertures had opened. His body was filled to the brim with spiritual energy, unable to hold even a trace more.

Twelfth Qi Gathering Orifice Perfection!