Raining Crystals Across the Sky, Slashing the Painted Skin!

That demonic aura was more than ten times stronger than Assistant Magistrate Wang's just now. It was even comparable to the Liquid Condensation Early Stage Straw-Cloak Ghost he had encountered by the river yesterday!

Yang Xiao's expression darkened.

"As expected, it has already broken through to the Liquid Condensation Realm."

The wooden door was pushed fully open by an invisible force.

A new figure appeared in the doorway.

She wore a plain white dress, her long hair draped over her shoulders. She had attractive features and looked like a beautiful woman in her thirties.

But half her cheek had peeled away, revealing a terrifying half-worn human skin mask and the bloody, mangled flesh beneath it.

Chen Bonian slumped onto the floor, his face as pale as paper. His lips trembled, but he could not get a word out.

"You... you..."

The Painted Skin Demon ignored Chen Bonian. Its white vertical pupils turned toward Yang Xiao and Xu Qingshan, while the corners of its mouth twisted into an eerie smile.

"Such handsome faces. Much easier on the eyes than the previous two. My decision to reveal myself wasn't wasted. I can finally taste the skin of the imperial hounds."

It licked its lips, and the greed in its eyes deepened.

Yang Xiao placed a hand on his saber hilt and pressed his thumb against the guard. With a gentle push, the blade flashed coldly beneath the sunlight.

"Changing skins?" His voice was calm. "You should worry about keeping your own skin first."

The maid in the pink ruqun stood in the doorway, still wearing a terrified expression.

But in the next instant, the corners of her mouth began to twitch, as if something inside was trying to burst through.

"Riiip—"

With a crisp sound, the maid's facial skin split from the corners of her mouth. The tear extended backward along her jawline, leaving strings of drool dripping behind.

"Lord Chen, I've admired you for so long..."

The Painted-Skin Ghost Clone let out a shrill voice and launched itself at Chen Bonian, who was sitting collapsed on the floor!

"Lord Chen, run!"

Xu Qingshan drew his sword. The sword light swept across like a bolt of silk, cleaving the Painted-Skin Ghost Clone in half!

Gray-green mucus gushed out. The Painted-Skin Ghost Clone shrieked as its body rapidly withered, shrinking into a lump of gray-green dried skin.

Chen Bonian trembled all over in terror, curling up in the corner. His lips quivered, but he could not speak.

"Th... thank you, Lord Xu..."

Xu Qingshan did not answer. He held his sword horizontally before him, his eyes fixed on the beautiful woman in the plain white dress standing in the doorway.

"Riiip—"

The County Magistrate's wife's skin split open from her forehead. The tear ran down along the bridge of her nose, all the way to her chin and chest.

A deathly pale, slick face crawled out through the opening. Folds covered its gray-green skin. Its mouth split all the way to its ears, packed full of teeth as dense and jagged as a carpenter's saw.

"Aaooo—!!!"

The Painted-Skin Demon let out a piercing shriek.

The sound was so sharp it nearly pierced the eardrums, carrying some strange power that instantly spread throughout the entire County Yamen!

The front courtyard, the corridors, the rooftops, the corners of the walls...

"Riiip, riiip, riiip—"

A chain of sounds like silk tearing came from every direction!

Xu Qingshan's expression changed drastically. "It's summoning its companions!"

As soon as he spoke, figures throughout the County Yamen began to twist and transform.

The Yamen Runners patrolling the front courtyard, the servants sweeping beneath the corridors, the craftsmen repairing the rooftops, the maids watering flowers by the walls...

One after another, their skins split open from the forehead, revealing the pale, slick demonic bodies within!

The missing Zhao Peng, Yamen Runner Liu, and the other guards and maids—more than twenty human skins split open simultaneously, and Painted-Skin Demons crawled out from within!

They surged in from every direction, surrounding the small courtyard where Yang Xiao and Xu Qingshan stood!

"Heeheehee... hounds of the Demon Suppression Division..."

"Kill them... strip off their skins..."

"Fresh skins... perfect for changing into new clothes..."

More than twenty Painted-Skin Ghosts shrieked with laughter, their gray-white vertical pupils brimming with greed and madness.

Chen Bonian's face turned deathly pale with terror as he curled up and shivered in the corner.

Xu Qingshan held his sword before him, standing in front of Chen Bonian as a shield. His expression was grim.

"Brother Yang..."

Yang Xiao rested his hand on his saber hilt and swept his gaze over the encircling Painted-Skin Ghosts. Instead, the corners of his mouth curled into a cold smile.

"Perfect timing."

He raised his left hand, palm facing upward.

Pale blue spiritual energy gathered in his palm, growing brighter and denser by the moment.

"Qi Condensation Crystal."

Yang Xiao spread his five fingers. Pale blue Spirit Crystals condensed high in the sky like falling raindrops.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—"

The crystals fell like a torrential downpour, instantly piercing through one Painted-Skin Ghost after another!

"Aaah—!"

"Pffft—!"

"Aaooo—!"

More than a dozen Painted-Skin Ghosts shrieked repeatedly as Spirit Crystals pierced their gray-green bodies and mucus gushed out!

The rear courtyard was blasted into a scene of flesh flying everywhere, with gray-green mucus splattered all over.

The Painted-Skin Ghost Clones were not very strong. Most of them were only at the Body Forging Realm and could not withstand the attacks of the Qi Condensation Crystals at all.

The Qi Condensation Painted-Skin Demon did not join the battle.

It stood in the doorway, a trace of shock and cunning flashing through its white vertical pupils.

The shock on Xu Qingshan's face was no less than that of the Qi Condensation Painted-Skin Demon. He stood to the side, staring dumbfoundedly.

If he remembered correctly, Yang Xiao had only received the "Foundation-Solidifying Qi-Condensing Art" from him yesterday. How had he already mastered such pure Qi Condensation Crystals today, wielding them as easily as his own arm?

And they were not merely extremely pure—the quantity was astonishing as well.

After expending so much, Yang Xiao showed not the slightest sign of weakness or fatigue.

His comprehension of cultivation arts and cultivation speed were simply heaven-defying. What would those Deputy Generals in Qingzhou, who prided themselves on their outstanding talents, think of this?

"Little brat from the Demon Suppression Division... you have some skill..."

Its voice was shrill and cold. Its figure quietly retreated, trying to escape amid the chaos.

Yang Xiao saw through its intentions at a glance.

"Trying to run?"

His figure erupted forward. He stepped out with the Astonishing Swan Steps, his entire body shooting toward the Painted-Skin Demon's true form!

Whoosh—

Yang Xiao caught up to the Painted-Skin Demon in an instant. His Spring Embroidery Saber was wrapped in the sharp radiance of pale blue Spirit Crystals as he brought it down in a slash!

The Painted-Skin Demon's pupils shrank sharply. Its body twisted as it tried to dodge, but Yang Xiao's saber was too fast.

"Pffft—"

A Kasaya Slash cleaved in from the Painted-Skin Demon's left shoulder, cutting away half its body in one clean stroke!

The severed edge was scorched black, and gray-green mucus churned madly but could not heal the wound.

"Aaah—!"

The Painted-Skin Demon's true form shrieked and staggered backward.

In the next instant, the Painted-Skin Demon's true form suddenly lunged forward. Its gray-green body was like a boneless snake, winding around Yang Xiao's body!

"You want to kill me... then I'll replace you first...!"

The Painted-Skin Demon's voice was shrill and crazed. Its body coiled tightly around Yang Xiao, while gray-green mucus flowed from its wound and seeped into his skin.

"Put on your skin... and I'll become you..."

Yang Xiao felt a burst of excruciating pain. The Painted-Skin Demon's mucus seemed alive, peeling away his flesh with the ease of a butcher skinning prey!

The Iron Cloth Technique he had learned earlier seemed to fade after holding out for only a few seconds.

His skin split open, blood gushed out, and in an instant soaked through his clothes.

"Get lost!"

Yang Xiao roared. The green skill tag from the Ape Demon let out a shriek, carrying a power that shook the soul.

The Painted-Skin Demon's body stiffened from the shock, its movements halting for a moment!

The next instant—

Yang Xiao's Spring Embroidery Saber was already descending!

The pale blue Spirit Crystal edge wrapped around the saber's radiance. One slash came down from the top of the Painted-Skin Demon's head, cleaving it in half!

"Aaooo!"

The Painted-Skin Demon let out a shriek as its divided flesh fled agilely in every direction.

Yang Xiao narrowed his eyes slightly and swept out another rain of crystals, washing the ground below until the Painted-Skin Demon's body was blasted into fragments.

But it had not died completely.

The last fragment containing a white vertical pupil stared fixedly at Yang Xiao, the corner of its mouth twisting into an eerie smile.

"Dog of the Demon Suppression Division... you've ruined our plans again and again..."

"The person behind us... won't let you off..."

The voice cut off abruptly.

The Painted-Skin Demon's true form withered completely, shrinking into a lump of gray-green dried skin that gave off a pungent, fishy stench.

Yang Xiao returned his saber to its sheath, his expression gloomy.

Just like the Straw-Cloak Ghost, there was someone behind you too?

He had encountered two monsters in succession with people behind them. Why was there no one behind him?