Otherworldly Heavenly Demon

Rumble...

Dark clouds filled the sky, lightning flashed, and thunder roared.

The battle between Xiluo, the flying sword, and the Malign Baleful Intents had only just begun, yet the beast tide in the Hundred Lands Mountain Range had already taken shape.

The roars of wild beasts spread throughout the mountain forests.

Every household among the nearby mountain folk had raised their fences and taken up knives and pitchforks, standing tense guard at their village entrances.

This was thanks to the efforts of the brothers Li Er and Li Chengfeng, who had been traveling from place to place some time earlier.

The small villages near Li Household Village had, in fact, long since prepared for the beast tide.

"Get lost! Don't come this way!"

Amid the overwhelming sweep of this terrifying beast tide, Panhu stood out brilliantly as he traveled alone against its flow.

In truth, Panhu had not slaughtered those wild beasts.

He merely guided and drove them toward other, safer areas, preventing clashes between them and the mountain folk.

When he occasionally encountered one or two powerful spirit beasts, the intimidating might Panhu displayed was enough to make them take a detour.

After all, spirit beasts were different from ordinary wild animals.

Every one of them possessed intelligence on par with humans and knew to seek fortune and avoid disaster.

"Is that the culprit behind all this?"

Since dispersing the nearby beast tide had taken considerable time, by the time Panhu reached the battlefield near Black Cloud Marsh, the battle between Xiluo, the flying sword, and the Malign Baleful Intents had already reached a stalemate.

Whoosh!

Without the slightest hesitation, Panhu swung the millstone-sized axe in his hands and joined the battle.

By this point, Xiluo and the flying sword had already worked together to cut down several Malign Baleful Intents.

Even the two natural enemies that specifically countered them had been routed more than once through their seamless cooperation.

But frustratingly, such damage meant absolutely nothing to those Malign Baleful Intents.

No matter what methods Xiluo and Li Boyang employed, they could never truly destroy those Malign Baleful Intents.

These Malign Baleful Intents were different from Black Baleful Intent, who had yet to fully form.

They had long since become one with the Ghost King, sharing a single life.

-As long as the Ghost King lived, the Malign Baleful Intents would never perish.

"Hm?"

In a single exchange, Panhu cleaved apart a mountain fiend charging at him.

But in the very next second, the mountain fiend reassembled its body within the black mist, without even the slightest sign of damage to its soul.

"These Malign Baleful Intents can't be killed by normal means?"

At the sight, Panhu instantly realized where the problem lay.

"Only pure yang blood can counter them..."

"Or pure righteous conviction can temporarily disperse them!"

Raising his voice abruptly to warn them, Panhu swiftly cut his palm and smeared his five-colored blood along the edge of his millstone-sized axe.

Whoosh!

This time, the mountain fiend Panhu cleaved apart let out an agonized wail.

As the Five-Colored Hound King, Panhu's blood was the natural bane of these Malign Baleful Intents.

Whether pure yang Qi or pure righteous conviction, both were qualities Panhu had possessed since birth.

Whoosh!

The golden Sword Pill was still darting through the black mist, fighting fiercely.

Yet Li Boyang's main body, far away in Li Household Village, heard Panhu's warning in time.

Pure yang blood? Pure righteous conviction?

As that thought flashed through his mind, the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron in Li Boyang's hands swiftly rendered its judgment.

Panhu was right. Pure yang blood and pure yang righteous conviction were precisely the natural bane of those baleful ghosts.

Even his Sword Pill's ability to slay Black Baleful Intent earlier had been possible for the same reason.

When it was first forged, its maker had imbued it with a certain steadfast righteous conviction.

Unfortunately, whether because the old man had refined it or because Li Boyang had replaced that righteous conviction as the Sword Pill's sword soul, he did not know.

The remaining righteous conviction could only destroy Malign Baleful Intents like Black Baleful Intent that had yet to fully form.

Against this Ghost King formed from countless Malign Baleful Intents, the Sword Pill's countering properties fell short.

"Son?"

She held Li Boyang tightly in her arms.

Chen Yun watched the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron spinning on its own, her face uneasy.

The earlier sight of the shadow turning into a heart demon had truly terrified this mortal woman who had seen little of the world.

"Mother, it's all right."

"Get some sleep. When you wake up, everything will be over."

Still speaking in that indistinct, childish voice, Li Boyang comforted her softly.

Immediately afterward, a sleepy bug flew out of Li Boyang's mouth and burrowed into Chen Yun's ear.

Although this red sleepy bug had been affected by Sha Qi and become extremely aggressive, it had not lost its most basic ability.

It sent Chen Yun into a deep sleep in an instant.

"Come out!"

"I've already spotted you."

The third eye between his brows shone brightly as Li Boyang stared into the darkness outside the door and called out in a low voice.

Through his vertical eye, a mass of Malign Baleful Intent that approached "nothingness" was wandering through the village outside.

Its presence was so faint as to be utterly insignificant compared with the other Malign Baleful Intents, which was why Li Boyang had failed to notice its existence at first.

Only when his own heart demon turned into a hideous ghost under its influence did Li Boyang suddenly become aware of its methods.

"You certainly care about that mortal."

Without a sound, faint Sha Qi gathered into the figure of an old man.

Li Boyang recognized him at a glance. He was the strange old man who had refined Li Boyang's soul into the Sword Pill, only to be slain by Li Boyang in the end.

"Don't tell me you really think of her as your mother?"

With undisguised mockery on his face, the old man seemed to be trying to provoke Li Boyang.

"You're an otherworldly heavenly demon, the sword soul of the Divine Firmament Sword. Surely you haven't forgotten even that?"

"A demonic heretic like you actually considers some village woman from the mountains his mother?"

"Have I gone mad, or have you?"

Hearing this, Li Boyang remained calm.

Compared with those Zaun brothers from his previous life, the old man's insults were far too mild.

"Getting anxious?"

"Is it because my actions have already become a threat to you?"

"To eliminate me as a threat, you were even willing to expose yourself..."

After a slight pause, Li Boyang continued without waiting for the old man to answer.

"Your feint to the east and strike to the west succeeded. You've now lured both Xiluo and the Divine Firmament Sword away."

"But the problem is, that also exposed your own weakness."

"You're afraid of Xiluo, afraid of the Divine Firmament Sword, and even afraid of me..."

As he spoke that last sentence, Li Boyang's voice was filled with certainty, with even a trace of disdain mixed into it.

"Utter nonsense!"

"I've already pinned down that mountain god and the Divine Firmament Sword..."

"You're nothing but mortal flesh now. What right do you have to make me afraid!"

Li Boyang had clearly hit a sore spot.

The old man's face immediately darkened, and his originally illusory body grew somewhat more substantial through resentment.

This was the Ghost King's ability, as well as the essence of Malign Baleful Intent.

They were affected by their own resentment: the deeper the resentment, the greater their strength, and vice versa.