The pitch-black blade slid from its sheath, gleaming coldly in the sunlight.
Lu Guan looked at the old white ape before him and licked his lips.
"Interesting."
The ape demon froze for a moment, then broke into a cruel smile.
"I wouldn't mind whetting my appetite with you first."
It had seen plenty of martial men who flaunted their ferocity and fought to prove their courage, but without exception, they had all ended up in its belly, ultimately reduced to dung.
Lu Guan said nothing and soon walked right up to the ape demon.
Raising his eyes to its tall, burly frame, he silently aimed his blade at the spot between its brows.
"Hm?" The ape demon flew into a rage.
"How dare you?"
The next instant, a claw covered in white fur pressed toward Lu Guan's head.
The claw was the size of a washbasin, its five fingers spread, its nails gleaming black.
The wind from its palm struck his face, carrying a heavy, foul stench.
The ape demon had learned by chance that some high officials of Great Li enjoyed eating monkey brains.
While the monkey was still alive, they would secure it in the center of a table, crack open its skull, then pour in seasonings and eat.
It had imitated them, capturing humans, cracking their skulls, and eating their brains.
Finding the taste exceptionally good, it would visit the county town at night every so often to abduct someone to eat and satisfy its appetite.
It had kept to this routine for several years.
Zhou Kaishan knew of its existence, but he dared not interfere.
A commandant in the mid True Qi realm was no different from an ant before it.
Now, it wanted to taste the young constable's brains and see just how they tasted.
Shrrrip!
The sound of something hard piercing flesh suddenly rang out.
The ape demon's eyes widened as it stared in disbelief at the long saber piercing its palm, the tip protruding from the back of its hand amid a spray of blood.
A pair of indifferent eyes was reflected in the blade.
They were frighteningly calm, like an ancient well or a deep pool, without a single ripple.
With a shriek, the ape demon suddenly leaped up, and howling black wind swept it into the air.
Drops of blood fell from above.
Looking down from above, the ape demon narrowed its eyes at the youth standing on the ground with his saber in hand. All contempt had vanished from its eyes, replaced by solemn wariness.
With reflexes like that, his cultivation realm could not possibly be lower than its own.
"Who exactly are you?"
This man was an enormous unforeseen variable.
Lu Guan glanced at the ape demon, then wreathed his blade in True Qi and slashed across the distance.
What was wrong with it? Did it have to check his household registration before a fight?
Would you believe me if I said I was your father?
The saber light carried True Qi to the ape demon in an instant.
Lu Guan had not expected an ape demon to be capable of flight.
Coupled with the mysterious properties of that strange black wind, it instantly reminded Lu Guan of the Law Technique [Enlightenment into a Spirit].
If his guess was correct, the black wind the ape demon was wielding was also a Law Technique.
Fortunately, he had learned the Four Symbols Heaven's Will Saber of the Gang Condensation realm ahead of time, giving his circulating True Qi some of the properties of Gang Qi.
It could cling to the blade and be released.
Though it lacked the peerless sharpness of Gang Qi, it was still not to be underestimated.
The ape demon clearly had not expected him to disregard martial ethics and attack outright.
That instant of hesitation left it unable to dodge in time, and a saber wound cut deep enough to expose bone across its chest.
The cut ran diagonally from its left shoulder to its right ribs, its flesh curling outward to reveal stark white ribs.
Blood gushed like a spring, staining the front of its black robe dark red.
It bared its teeth and roared, "Bastard! Didn't your elders teach you any manners?"
It cultivated under the Patriarch, learning human etiquette and adhering to the way of the sages.
In the Patriarch's words, it was "learning the ways of humans to bring humans to heel."
Though it had not learned much, it had at least read a few books and knew to bow when meeting the Patriarch.
Where had this barbarian come from, acting so crudely, without the slightest regard for etiquette?
Lu Guan raised his eyes and arched a brow, a faint trace of bewilderment flashing through his gaze.
This ape demon... was lecturing him on etiquette?
Heaven and earth had truly been turned upside down.
Why would I bother with etiquette when dealing with a demon monkey like you?
"Die!"
The ape demon erupted in fury. In an instant, the black wind howled, turning its surroundings into something like a ghost realm.
The sky abruptly darkened, the sunlight completely blotted out, leaving only a blackish halo.
This was a Law Technique it had learned from the Patriarch, called [Three Baleful Intents Black Wind].
Knowing its own dull aptitude, it had not insisted on learning other Law Techniques, valuing mastery over quantity.
Thus, its learning was not scattered; it knew only Three Baleful Intents Black Wind.
Yet after centuries of honing, it had long since brought it to perfection.
As the saying went, true sincerity could split metal and stone.
After all, Law Techniques were not like some people's hearts, which would never warm no matter how long one held them.
The black wind was like blades, its strands trailing down and slicing across the youth's body.
In the blink of an eye, his flying-fish robe was reduced to tatters, and fine cuts covered his face and arms, seeping with densely clustered beads of blood.
The ape demon lowered its eyes to look, only to freeze.
Not only was there not the slightest fear on the youth's face, but his eyes were astonishingly bright.
Those eyes shone in the black mist like two cold stars.
Why? Why wasn't he afraid?
Didn't he know he was about to die?
Even martial men of the same realm had to give Three Baleful Intents Black Wind a wide berth.
What made this youth think he could stand against it?
The next second, the ape demon stiffened. It rubbed its eyes, staring in disbelief at the sight before it.
The youth wielded his saber, True Qi surging from his entire body and circling around him.
Until...
The faint shape of an azure dragon appeared, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws.
Pale azure light shone all over its body, especially conspicuous amid the black wind.
It coiled around the youth, its head facing outward and its tail wrapped around the saber, rolling and wheeling with the sweeps of the blade.
"A dragon?"
"A dragon..."
"A dragon!!!"
The ape demon's voice trembled.
Its thoughts returned to that night, and its rigid body could not help trembling slightly.
"Impossible. How is this possible?"
A terrifying suspicion had already welled up in its heart.
The person who had unleashed that dragon's cry that night had never left at all. He was standing right before it.
Then its gaze met Lu Guan's raised eyes.
In the youth's eyes, it saw a trace of bewilderment.
As though he were saying... Why aren't you afraid?
A dragon's cry rang out.
Clear and lingering, it echoed between heaven and earth like a bell tolling from antiquity.
An azure dragon charging toward it filled the ape demon's entire vision.
The azure dragon rose from the blade, bearing the youth's True Qi and saber intent as it tore through the air, lunging straight for its face.
This was absolutely beyond the bounds of the True Qi realm. This was the realm it dreamed of attaining.
The might of the Gang Condensation realm!
The ape demon could not understand how a martial man in the True Qi realm could wield martial arts belonging to the Gang Condensation realm.
Why?
Blood blurred its eyes. It shrieked twice, then plummeted straight out of the air.
Its burly body smashed into the yellow earth with a deep, thunderous thud, throwing dust into the sky.
The black wind dispersed, revealing a clear sky, and sunlight spilled down once more.
Lu Guan sheathed his saber and exhaled a breath of turbid air.
That Azure Dragon Form strike had consumed an enormous amount of True Qi.
Though the sea of True Qi within him was vast, that single strike had drained nearly seventy percent of it.
Martial arts of the Gang Condensation realm truly could not be used as a routine measure.