Tamu Town was as silent as the grave.
Zhao Changfeng shuddered.
Chen Jian had yet to force the couple to reveal any sign of colluding with Demon Spirits. They still had room to maneuver, yet Zhou Jin's words amounted to an admission of her own.
Why?
Naturally, she had absolute confidence that she need not fear anyone present.
That also meant the fighting strength currently gathered in Tamu Town probably meant nothing to the couple.
Zhao Changfeng's vile act of maliciously smearing his master and his master's wife had actually been vindicated by a single sentence from Zhou Jin, but no one spared a thought for his feelings.
"Colluding with Demon Spirits deserves ten thousand deaths!"
Cui Pinyuan barked out the accusation and suddenly flew through the air from the tower.
A miniature tower ship forged from refined gold blazed with the searing radiance of a red sun, flying toward Song Zejun and his wife ahead of him.
The ship stood three stories tall and was constructed from various rare metals. Masts, sails, rudder, and oars-it had them all. Even the wood grain on its deck was clearly visible.
Its tiny sail bore the image of a great sun rising, and that image was what released the blazing sunlight.
"Blazing Sun Demon Art!"
A Rogue Cultivator cried out in surprise. Clearly aware of how extraordinary Cui Pinyuan's Demonic Cultivation Art was, his eyes brimmed with envy.
Most Rogue Cultivators had lacked the qualifications to join established Demon Dao Great Sects. They obtained cultivation methods either through ancestral inheritance or various other channels, thus setting foot on cultivation's road of no return.
The Demonic Cultivation Arts they cultivated either lacked crucial sections or had proven flaws. Very few possessed complete demonic cultivation methods.
The Blazing Sun Demon Art was different. It was a foundational cultivation method from the Blazing Flame Demon Cavern in the Chixia Realm. No one knew how Cui Pinyuan had obtained it.
Shen Yanrong and Qin Hui had been about to join the attack, but as the ship sailed through the air, seemingly accompanied by a great sun slowly rising, even these two young talents from Heavenly Shield City felt secretly alarmed.
An unusual gleam appeared in Chen Jian's eyes. Seeing that Cui Pinyuan was finally willing to shoulder the burden, he prepared to hold some strength in reserve.
"Changfeng, you truly are a fine disciple of ours."
Holding her embroidered parasol, Zhou Jin faced the majestic onslaught of the ship and its great sun, yet turned her gaze toward Zhao Changfeng. She said softly, "You're still alive... good."
Song Zejun smiled gently.
Zhou Jin suddenly gave the parasol's handle a light twist.
As the large white parasol embroidered with red flowers turned, the strangely alluring blossoms on its canopy vanished one by one.
A terrifying shriek, sharp as a blade, abruptly rang out!
The warhorses' frantic whinnies erupted almost simultaneously.
The armored warhorses were merely ordinary beasts. Blood poured from their mouths and nostrils at the shriek, and in an instant, every last one was dead.
Cultivators below the Yuanqi Stage also clutched their ears and screamed in terror amid the shrieking. Those with weak resolve and shallow cultivation likewise bled incessantly from their ears and nostrils.
Ling Mei, who had once given Zhao Changfeng a fake Spiritual Qi Pill, covered her ears with both hands, but blood seeped between her fingers.
"Demon Spirits!"
"They really are Demon Spirits!"
"That woman hid Demon Spirits in her parasol!"
Everyone panicked, staring at Song Zejun and his wife in fear while cautiously guarding against the Demon Spirits' invasion.
Demon Spirits were invisible and formless. Only experts in the Primordial Spirit Realm could see them.
Once a Demon Spirit invaded someone's body, anyone unable to withstand its ferocious assault would instantly become Soul Food for it.
No one wanted to become soul food for a Demon Spirit. Those unable to see them held fast within their hearts, resisting.
Everyone in Tamu Town feared for their own safety, yet people continued to die.
Screams, wails, and cries for help came from every corner and the leaking houses, accompanied by the sounds of comrades turning their weapons on one another.
Some Demon Spirits, after Soul Devouring, had begun directing those they killed to attack their companions.
Zhao Changfeng's body shook violently. Unable to remain standing, he dropped onto the muddy street.
Not only had he failed to escape, he had been the first target of a Demon Spirit.
At that very moment!
A long, worm-shaped Demon Spirit was rampaging inside him. The instant the invisible, formless spirit slipped into his body, he could see its true appearance.
Zhao Changfeng mixed his spiritual power with his blood and qi, condensing them into a blood shadow that pursued the worm-shaped Demon Spirit darting through his body with all its might.
Wherever the Demon Spirit passed, his flesh and limbs hurt as though slashed by knives.
Under Zhao Changfeng's control, the blood shadow relentlessly pursued it, fighting the Demon Spirit amid his flesh and bones to prevent it from invading his vital organs.
At the same time, an utterly evil thought bent on extinguishing life seemed to gnaw at Zhao Changfeng's nerves. He also had to hold firm within his heart and struggle to resist it.
The tangible Demon Spirit killed the body; the intangible evil thought killed the soul.
Only after personally experiencing possession did Zhao Changfeng understand the terror of Demon Spirits. In mere moments, he was exhausted in body and mind.
Demon Spirit!
Zhao Changfeng struggled desperately to resist.
Seeing that the blood shadow controlled by his mind could not gain the upper hand against the worm-shaped Demon Spirit through refined spiritual power and blood and qi alone, he immediately tried merging willpower into it.
A strand of willpower slipped into the blood shadow. It seemed to gain life and a soul in an instant, and its presence changed abruptly.
The blood shadow suddenly brimmed with a twisting, tearing force. Its speed within his body multiplied, and it seized the worm-shaped Demon Spirit in one move, pulling fiercely.
Rip!
Zhao Changfeng clearly heard something tear.
The worm-shaped Demon Spirit truly broke apart. The instant it snapped, its body exploded into specks of unknown light that gathered together again.
Willpower can kill Demon Spirits!
Zhao Changfeng's spirits soared. His thoughts immediately branched toward another possibility. If willpower works so well, then could...
He activated the Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding Art. Above his sea of spiritual qi, the second Azure Small Cauldron slowly rotated in response to his shifting thoughts.
A suction force abruptly arose.
The evil thought the Demon Spirit used to invade his mind and will suddenly poured out through the crown of his head like a river plunging a thousand miles, forcibly dragged into the Small Cauldron.
Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding! Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding! Even Demon Spirits can be seeded!
Zhao Changfeng spread his lips in a strange grin.
From within the second Small Cauldron, he sensed a hatred for all things and all living beings. That hatred arose from biological instinct, as though branded into it from birth.
This Heart-Demon Obsession from the Demon Spirit failed to form any concrete images. Presumably, the Demon Spirit had little experience.
Soon, a faint new strand of willpower arose within the second Small Cauldron, while the Demon Spirit's evil thought that had been sucked inside vanished completely in an instant.
The Demon Spirit's Heart-Demon Obsession was too weak to withstand the Small Cauldron's continuous squeezing. It had actually been refined away in an instant.
Heh, so this is a Demon Spirit?
Zhao Changfeng felt as delighted as if he had found a priceless treasure.
The Demon Spirits of the Three Great Ruins had to be the same species as the alien beings in the void Beyond the Heavens. One merely possessed a flesh-and-blood body, while the other existed purely as a soul.
That real Bronze Cauldron was hunting their flesh-and-blood kin Beyond the Heavens, while Zhao Changfeng remained on the ground, hunting them with his illusory Small Cauldron.
If you and I work together, the day will come when we meet.
As Zhao Changfeng silently thought this, intense nausea suddenly rose within him. He could not help lowering his head and retching, then vomited out a foreign object the size of his little fingertip.
It resembled a black walnut, with faint markings across its surface and a texture as hard as iron or stone.
Focusing his senses, Zhao Changfeng realized that it had formed from the scattered specks of light gathering after the worm-shaped Demon Spirit exploded.
He did not know what use it had. Just as he was about to investigate further, he suddenly noticed Ruan Meizhen beside him, suffering as terribly as he had earlier. Clearly, she too was being invaded by a Demon Spirit.
I can kill and refine the Demon Spirit inside me with Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding. What about hers?
As soon as the thought arose, Zhao Changfeng began testing it, lightly touching a finger to Ruan Meizhen's forehead, where glistening beads of sweat had formed.
Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding!
Zhao Changfeng silently uttered the command.
He immediately sensed a winged, bat-shaped Demon Spirit being pulled by his power straight from Ruan Meizhen's brain into his sea of spiritual qi.
Within the illusory Small Cauldron, the Demon Spirit's hatred for all things and living beings reappeared, then swiftly faded away.
A fresh strand of willpower formed.
After absorbing and refining two Demon Spirits, the Small Cauldron became slightly more solid. He could faintly make out markings appearing on its surface.
The second part of Heavenly Heart Demon-Seeding should be on this cauldron's surface. With some effort, I might be able to reveal it.
Zhao Changfeng felt he had something to look forward to.
Now that Song Zejun and his wife had exposed their identities, Cui Pinyuan's ship was so powerful, and Chen Jian's cultivation was unfathomable, with two Primordial Spirit Realm cultivators from Heavenly Shield City assisting, they should be able to send the couple away empty-handed.
Thinking this, he raised his head toward the fiercest battlefield. The joy that had just welled up vanished without a trace.
Zhou Jin held her white parasol, now devoid of red flowers, while his nominal master carried the Spirit Firmament Sword. Fighting four opponents between them, the couple remained entirely at ease and had already strolled out of Tamu Town.
Cui Pinyuan and the others actually watched the couple recede into the distance, showing no intention of pursuing them relentlessly.
"Cough, cough!"
Ruan Meizhen retched and spat out the foreign object inside her. Her incomparably beautiful face was filled with lingering fright as she held the object and looked at Zhao Changfeng.
She had nearly failed to resist the Demon Spirit's invasion!
Had Zhao Changfeng not saved her with a touch of his finger, she would probably still be locked in a bitter struggle with the Demon Spirit inside her. Victory or defeat... would have been uncertain.
He... he drew the Demon Spirit inside me into his own body? And he... he had already destroyed one himself!
Ruan Meizhen saw the demon core Zhao Changfeng held. She knew what having a demon core in hand meant, and endless questions arose within her.
How exactly had Zhao Changfeng done it?
The facts proved Zhao Changfeng had spoken the truth. Song Zejun and his wife truly were involved with Demon Spirits, which meant Zhao Changfeng had not lied to her.
Since Song Zejun colluded with Demon Spirits, his daughter, his final disciple, and those so-called disciples of his might also have murky ties to them.
Then, by exposing Song Zejun and his wife and killing those fellow disciples, had Zhao Changfeng not rid the world of a scourge?
At that thought, Ruan Meizhen's heart tangled like a skein of thread. She felt she did not understand Zhao Changfeng at all.
Then she saw something that overturned her understanding even further.
Zhao Changfeng rushed to and fro, offering his own body to the demons as he went around saving those invaded by Demon Spirits.