Three Spear Strikes

Perhaps it was the Mysterious Yin Devil Moon that Hu Mang had comprehended, or perhaps he had entered Unity of Heaven and Man once again in this special environment. It might also have been his deep mastery of the Immortal Weapon Shattered Star.

It might even have been because of that cat.

But whatever the reason, Hu Mang had obtained the qualifications of a Divine Dao Law Enforcer ahead of time during the assessment.

Stirred by that presence, the entire formation suddenly grew violent.

Fierce devil-subduing flames surged up from every direction, blazing as though they would burn every devil to ashes.

Besides the four trigrams Kan, Kun, Zhen, and Xun from before, the formation manifestations of the four remaining Later Heaven trigrams had all been activated at once.

The Scorched Tail Fire of the Li trigram

The Shattered Mirror Wall of the Dui trigram

The Feigning Sleep Acupoint of the Gen trigram

The Golden Pupil Formation of the Qian trigram

In an instant, besides the Calamity House transforming into the Fire House, all four remaining trigrams had activated.

The danger shot straight up to the formation's limit.

Even the cats outside let out ear-splitting shrieks, as though some terrifying being were about to emerge into the world.

Old Chen Sheng had stopped touching up the corpse's makeup and was calculating the changes in the formation with a solemn expression.

Throughout Demon-Subduing City, the madmen who had received a divine official's inheritance sensed the commotion in the Cat Garden at almost the same time.

Some stared with burning eyes, while others broke into wide grins.

"A Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier? Has the moment for it to emerge finally come?"

"Didn't I hear nobody could take on that madwoman's inheritance? Never mind being half-mad-even someone completely mad couldn't withstand it, right?"

"Among the civil officials, the Thunder Official and the Prison-Subduing Official, and among the martial officials, the Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier and the Devil-Slaying Bladesman, are the four strongest of all the divine offices. But in terms of martial power alone, the Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier and the Devil-Slaying Bladesman have the edge. They're the strongest in the city."

"I just don't know whether this person can take on the inheritance."

"Huh? That Saber Madman has made a move!"

"This is bad! Why has that guy come?"

Just as good and evil could sense one another, the remnants of the Divine Dynasty in the city could sense one another as well, and far more clearly at that.

At this very moment, they could clearly sense that the Devil-Slaying Bladesman, who ranked among the top three Divine Dynasty remnants in overall strength—the Saber Madman, as the others called him—was charging toward the Cat Garden at an astonishing speed.

"That Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier is finished. Even if he succeeds in advancing, facing that monster right after breaking through, he'll be killed for certain!"

"Why did that monster go over there? Is it a clash between the two divine offices?"

"The Yin Saber against the Yang Spear. The Yin Saber has reached full mastery; I wonder how much of that person's skill the Yang Spear has cultivated."

"I entered Demon-Subduing City at the same time as that fellow surnamed Jiang. As I recall, he wasn't that strong at first. In fact, he was very weak."

"That fellow surnamed Jiang isn't like us. We came looking for treasure; he came to escape enemies hunting him down. And I heard that before he entered this city, his whole family, young and old, and even his entire sect were wiped out."

"No wonder he could master saber arts so ruthless they'd spare not even his own kin."

"No, it's more likely that we merely inherited our divine offices, while he sacrificed himself, offering his body as fodder to nourish the saber and slay devils."

"Possession?"

"Hiss—so what he's facing is the real saber wielder of the previous generation? One of those madmen who dared to take up a saber and charge into the demonic path's headquarters?!"

Hu Mang knew nothing of the changes outside.

Inside the Fire House, however, the flames were growing ever more terrifying.

The flames here seemed to have gained a life and will of their own, becoming a viscous, nearly liquid mass of searing white and orange-red.

They were no longer tongues of fire leaping upward. Like churning lava, or countless raging fire snakes, they darted madly along the walls, pillars and beams, and even through the void, twisting together and converging.

Hu Mang's flesh visibly began to give off a scorched smell.

The Dui trigram's Shattered Mirror Wall, a small world made up of countless mirrors, also crashed toward Hu Mang.

Within the mirrors suspended at every angle, the eyes of one "Hu Mang" after another slowly opened, the Shattered Star in their hands ready to strike.

At the same time, the vicious cat on Hu Mang's shoulder rose with a hiss, its eyes shining and its back arched as though it were about to pounce on prey.

As the red fur on the devil-subduing cat's body bristled and settled, the vicious cat leaped into the air and threw its mouth wide open. In the next instant, like a great whale drawing in water, it sucked up every last trace of the terrifying devil-subduing fire in the Fire House.

The moment the Fire House dimmed, Hu Mang moved.

This time, however, there was no earth-shaking force. He moved like a wisp of wind.

Dragon-Subduing Pile Method-Meridian-Severing Dragon-Cutting Technique

The instant each "Hu Mang" opened his eyes and his Qi flared, fiery red spearheads blossomed like flowers on their foreheads.

The sound of shattering mirrors rang out without end. One "Hu Mang" after another appeared and broke into pieces, the two happening almost simultaneously.

When the last "Hu Mang" was blasted apart, the newly appointed Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier had fought his way clean through the Dui trigram's formation.

On the Shattered Star Spear itself, Innate Thunder Patterns lit up one after another, climbing from nine to eighteen.

Then the entire Immortal Weapon turned red-hot like a branding iron, thick smoke rolling off it.

Yang Spear!

This was the Immortal Weapon's Divine Ability, automatically activated after eighteen thunder patterns on the Shattered Star Spear lit up.

If a demon, devil, ghost, or monster was struck by a sweep of the spear's shaft or tip, it would suffer damage equivalent to one-third that of Evil-Subduing Divine Thunder.

Hu Mang opened his eyes. Besides the Evil-Subduing Patterns lighting up in their depths, a Devil-Subduing Pattern had appeared on his forehead.

But Hu Mang felt no joy at all. The vicious cat, which had landed back on his shoulder, shrieked even more piercingly.

Devil-subduing fire blazed up from the darkness once more. This time, however, it did not burn in the darkness, but on a person.

The person slowly emerged from the darkness, clad in silver-white armor that looked somewhat familiar to Hu Mang and carrying a Shattered Star Spear. Its shaft was likewise smoking with heat. With a light sweep of its tip, she drew the Li trigram's Scorched Tail Fire onto her long black hair. Beneath that head of flaming hair appeared a sharply boned face, but more striking still was her blade-like sharpness and chill.

A clear look of longing appeared in the vicious cat's pitch-black eyes.

"Oh, she's a mature beauty."

Hu Mang spoke softly.

He knew the greatest trial had arrived.

The Shattered Star Spear's original owner, the true Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier.

And the threat she posed to him was even greater than that of the Mysterious Yin Old Daoist he had encountered at the beginning.

"So, three spear strikes or four?"

A resurrection like this couldn't be unlimited, so the greatest possibility was that the number of attacks she could make was limited.

Hu Mang closed his eyes, raising his Mysterious Yin Devil Moon State of Mind to its highest level and sending out his divine sense. For a moment, he felt as though he had returned to that black sea.

The silver-armored figure moved.

Without gathering momentum or giving any warning, she simply thrust the Shattered Star Spear forward.

A point of cold light at the spear tip, like the last star falling from the galaxy, struck toward the space between Hu Mang's brows, carrying heat that could burn all things to ash and a resolve that would pierce heaven and earth.

Before the spear arrived, its intent was already upon him.

A scorching, razor-sharp Qi, bearing the majestic pressure of heavenly punishment, struck first like an invisible spearhead.

This Qi collided fiercely with the Heavenly Soldier's presence surrounding Hu Mang, producing a soundless blast that violently warped the air.

The black sea instantly surged with waves.

Yet the bright moon above the sea remained as clear as a mirror.

Hu Mang's spear tip traced a tiny, precise arc through the air. Like a wisp of the Mysterious Yin Devil Moon's soft radiance, it silently adhered to the side of that cold Shattered Star light.

"Ding-"

There was none of the violent impact he had imagined. The strand of Mysterious Yin force at Hu Mang's spear tip flowed like invisible water, instantly wrapping around, penetrating, and dispersing the explosive force of her spear.

The Heavenly Soldier beauty opposite him whipped her head around, sending her flaming hair rushing at his face.

At the same time, however, the vicious fire cat opened its mouth and spewed forth a torrent of devil-subduing fire. The two flames collided, neither gaining the upper hand for the moment.

Before the probing first strike had even finished reverberating, the second arrived.

This time, the silver-armored figure flicked her wrist. Rather than thrusting straight ahead, her spear became a blaze of spear shadows, fierce and unrestrained, like a prairie fire sweeping across the sky!

Countless blazing spear lights, like scorching feathers shaken loose by a phoenix spreading its wings, covered heaven and earth as they descended on Hu Mang, sealing off every avenue of escape.

This time, Hu Mang finally opened his eyes, his murky yellow eyes lighting up like light bulbs.

The Crimson Moon Fox bloodline was roused, and Hu Mang's body was cloaked in a layer of silver-white moonlight.

A closer look, however, revealed that the moonlight was woven from countless moons of different sizes: waxing moons, waning moons, crescent moons, and full moons.

And these moons, large and small, were drawn by countless circles of his spear.

Qingqiu's severed tail, moon arcs linking life.

He had learned more than half of his mother's signature art, the Moon Arc Linking Life Instruction. Apart from the final crucial Method Formula, which he hadn't learned, he had mastered practically all of it.

One fox tail burned away to nothing.

Beneath the cover of moonlight, Hu Mang also slipped out of range of her spear art.

Though he was in sorry shape, half his body felt scorched, and an itching pain spread throughout him, assailing his mind.

He had stopped it in the end!

"Fuck, this woman was definitely at the level of a top-tier Golden Core—not a counterfeit Golden Core like that blond guy, but the very best kind!"

Hu Mang ground his white teeth and stared fixedly at her. Though her figure had already grown translucent, her final spear strike would be terrifying!

For the flames burning around the silver-armored figure, along with her entire head of flaming hair, suddenly drew sharply inward, gathering completely upon the Shattered Star Spear in her hand.

The shaft turned dark red, as though lava flowed within it, while the point of cold light at the tip shone too brightly to look at.

This was an advanced variation at the Yang Spear level.

And Hu Mang had a premonition: there was more than a fifty percent chance that this strike would skewer him to death.

Even his life-saving cat tails might not be able to save him!

Just as the situation was about to spiral out of control, however, the Heavenly Soldier beauty suddenly paused. Her cold eyes fell on the fire cat, and the corner of her mouth lifted as she beckoned lightly.

In the next instant, the ugly, vicious big cat gave an affectionate meow and leaped straight over to her.