The thick red mist was brutally forced apart. The Blood Baleful Intent Demon Corpse turned its enormous head, its dark red pupils locking onto Su Yu.
The pressure of the Mortal Realm Sixth Stage poured out without restraint.
Tang Shan, who had retreated to the tunnel entrance, went weak at the knees and crashed heavily onto the rubble.
The surrounding air was completely driven out by the violent Sha Qi. He opened his mouth wide but could not utter a single syllable.
Su Yu stood ramrod straight, the Prison-Suppressing Demon-Subduing Art circulating madly within him as he resisted the oppressive pressure.
If I retreat into the tunnel, I'll be trapped.
If I turn and flee, I'll certainly die.
The only way is to kill.
The demon corpse lunged, closing the hundred-foot gap in an instant.
Its massive dark red body swept forward on a reeking wind. Its thick right arm swung half a broken refined-steel chain down at his head.
The tendons in Su Yu's legs instantly went taut.
The bluestone beneath his feet exploded into powder. Gripping his saber with both hands, he charged straight into it.
The black-and-gold saber swept diagonally upward, striking refined steel.
A deafening blast echoed through the cavern.
The tremendous recoil compounded in waves, savagely wrenching Su Yu's arms.
The webs of his hands split, and blood slid down the blade. Su Yu used the force to sidestep, evading the chain's second sweeping strike.
Bang!
The chain lashed into the stone wall, instantly carving a half-foot-deep trench. Broken stones flew everywhere.
Su Yu used his momentum to turn, his saber carrying a fierce wind as it chopped into the demon corpse's flank.
Sparks sprayed.
The dark red flesh sank only an inch before a violent counterforce sent the saber bouncing away.
A sixth-level demon corpse-its physical defense was nearly invincible.
The demon corpse's left claw curled upward, heading straight for Su Yu's throat.
Su Yu bent sharply backward. The sharp claw tips sliced through the long hair over his forehead.
Its strike missed, and the demon corpse followed through by driving its thick right knee straight toward Su Yu's chest and abdomen.
There was no way to dodge.
Su Yu held his saber across his chest. A dull impact burst out.
Bang!
The savage force punched through the blade.
Su Yu flew off the ground, smashing through two stalactite pillars in succession before crashing into a pool of water.
Two ribs on his left side broke, and his internal organs suffered a powerful shock.
The system panel flashed across his vision.
[Current Slaughter Points: 90]
His eyes flickered. Su Yu chose to put all his Slaughter Points into Vajra Fist.
[Consume all Slaughter Points to extrapolate Vajra Fist] [Extrapolation complete: Vajra Fist has reached minute mastery. Ultimate realm killing move comprehended: Vajra Demon-Subduing Fist]
Scorching currents instantly flooded every limb and bone.
Countless punching movements surfaced in his mind, as though he had practiced the fist art for more than a decade.
At the same time, the demon corpse's enormous shadow completely engulfed the pool.
Its clenched fists smashed straight down like heavy hammers.
Su Yu slapped the ground with one hand and rolled sideways, his body skimming the water.
Boom!
Muddy water erupted.
A massive crater half a meter deep was hammered into the spot where he had been.
Su Yu rolled to his feet. The Spiritual Qi within him erupted in full, and he resisted the Blood Baleful Intent Demon Corpse's attacks with his saber in his right hand and his left hand clenched into a fist.
At the edge of the tunnel.
Tang Shan bit through the tip of his tongue, the intense pain buying him a moment of clarity.
His gaze swept around, and a gleam flashed in his eyes.
He tore two jars of fierce-burning oil from his waist and hurled them at the demon corpse with all his strength.
The earthenware jars traced arcs through the air.
The demon corpse swung its chain backhanded, shattering them. In an instant, dark brown oil cascaded down, pouring precisely into its hollow eye sockets.
The pungent liquid savagely corroded the fragile tissue.
The demon corpse let out a piercing howl. Its hands flailed wildly without order, and it instinctively tilted its head back.
A cold light flared in Su Yu's eyes.
At the very center of the demon corpse's chest, a bulge the size of an infant's fist lay completely unguarded.
Dark red light flickered rapidly beneath its flesh, accompanied by dull pulsations.
The blood core.
Su Yu decisively abandoned his saber with its rolled edge, squeezing out every last bit of spiritual power in his body and driving it madly into his right arm.
His muscles swelled, his veins bulging like furious dragons.
His Qi and blood surged out of his body, the terrifying heat thoroughly distorting the surrounding light.
It was precisely the ultimate realm killing move he had just comprehended.
Vajra Demon-Subduing Fist.
Su Yu left an afterimage behind as he braved the wildly whipping chain and rammed bodily into the demon corpse's chest.
The chain grazed his left shoulder.
A large swath of flesh was mercilessly stripped away, exposing stark white bone.
Su Yu did not slow in the slightest. His right fist locked onto the blood core.
His spiritual power and violent Qi and blood combined to their limit as he slammed into the bulge on the demon corpse's chest.
Boom!
The dull cracking sound was painfully piercing within the cavern. A single punch broke through the indestructible dark red hide.
Su Yu's right arm drove straight in, his entire hand plunging into the demon corpse's scalding chest cavity.
His five fingers spread, clamping tightly around the violently beating blood core.
He clenched them.
Crushed it.
Bang!
A deafening, muffled blast erupted inside the demon corpse.
The uncontrolled, violent power rampaged wildly, instantly destroying every trace of life in the demon corpse.
Its massive body convulsed violently, the dark red light rapidly fading. Su Yu pulled his right arm free and stepped half a pace back.
The demon corpse's knees crashed into the ground. Its enormous body toppled forward, reduced entirely to a heap of dead flesh.
A mechanical voice sounded in the depths of his mind.
[Special lifeform slain: Mortal Realm Sixth Stage Blood Baleful Intent Demon Corpse. Slaughter Points gained: 100] [Current Slaughter Points: 100]
Su Yu shook the sticky black blood from his palm.
The wound on his left shoulder had been forcibly sealed with spiritual power and no longer bled.
100 Slaughter Points.
Far more than the black-robed man of the same realm had yielded earlier.
Bracing himself against the stone wall, Tang Shan staggered over, staring fixedly at the enormous thing on the ground, the corners of his eyes twitching wildly.
A Mortal Realm Sixth Stage Blood Baleful Intent Demon Corpse.
Even several human martial artists of the same realm working together would certainly have gained no advantage against it.
Yet this newly appointed squad leader before him had battered it apart with his bare hands.
At that moment, the pride in his heart was completely shattered.
Su Yu did not look at Tang Shan.
He walked straight to the headless black-robed man's corpse and tore open the robes soaked in poisonous blood.
Several banknotes.
A porcelain bottle.
An old, yellowed, thread-bound book.
"Wandering Dragon Steps."
System text appeared at just the right moment.
[Mortal Realm upper-grade martial art discovered: Wandering Dragon Steps] [Trait: explosive speed, short-range maneuvering]
Good stuff.
To establish a connection with the Demon God Cult, the Liu Family had even been willing to give away its lineage's upper-grade movement technique.
Now, though, it would conveniently fill the gap in his close-combat evasion.
Su Yu tucked the spoils securely against his body, picked up the black-and-gold saber from the ground, and slid it back into its sheath.
He turned to glance at Tang Shan, who had barely managed to stand, and gave him a slight nod.
Had Tang Shan not helped create an opening just now, dealing with this Blood Baleful Intent Demon Corpse would have taken him some effort.
"Let's go up."
Following the cramped tunnel, the two returned to the surface.
A faint pallor was spreading across the eastern sky.
In the clearing outside the ancestral hall, Blackwater Village's chief stood hunched over, his eyes fixed intently on the hall.
When his gaze caught sight of Su Yu and Tang Shan, the village chief immediately lowered his head.
The flesh on his aged face twitched wildly. He knew better than anyone what lay hidden in the underground altar.
"Officers... the demon inside..." the village chief asked, despite already knowing the answer.
Su Yu descended the bluestone steps one at a time. In his vision, a faint red light flickered at the back of the village chief's neck.
An exceedingly fine blood-colored thread was giving off a presence of the same origin as the Blood Baleful Intent Demon Corpse.
A blood-thread puppet of the Demon God Cult.
Su Yu pushed the saber's guard with his thumb, abruptly exposing half the black-and-gold blade.
The village chief's body suddenly stiffened. His formerly cloudy eyes instantly became bloodshot, turning entirely scarlet.
His hunched back straightened with incredible speed.
His mouth opened, but what emerged was an extremely shrill woman's voice.
"How ruthless."
"Since when did Nanhe County have..."
Transmitting one's voice across space-the signature method of a Mystic Realm master.
Tang Shan's expression changed drastically, and he instinctively tightened his grip on his saber.
The woman's voice was lofty, carrying a sense of absolute control.
"You destroyed my blood pool and killed my people."
"I'll take that body of yours, brimming with Qi and blood."
"Just wait. Divine punishment will soon..."
Shing!
A bleak, cold flash of saber light cut through the thin morning mist.
It also cut off the woman's clamorous threats. The village chief's head tumbled through the air, flying several meters away.
Pungent black blood sprayed from the headless body before it crashed heavily into the mud.
[Demon God Cult peripheral puppet slain. Slaughter Points gained: 10] [Current Slaughter Points: 110]
Su Yu flicked his wrist, shaking the blood droplets from the blade, and sheathed his saber.
Divine punishment?
Then let's see which is faster-your divine punishment or my saber.