Chapter 536: Black Heart Like a Demon (Second Update!)
"You ran the slowest, and you came through the air, landing here, exposing your position—of course you'd attract a hunter."
That demonic expert warily eyed the broken stones on the ground, yet his expression remained leisurely: "Besides, you look like the easiest target among everyone here, so how could I not come? But your strength truly surprised me..."
He looked at the rubble scattered across the ground, his pupils slightly contracting, his aura slowly unfolding: "You look easy to bully, but your strength is extremely formidable. You may not have the talent of a true god, but your power has reached that level. Your strength won't be weaker than Thục Dao, Hoàng Việt, or the others. I'm very curious—after your battle with Thạch Tuyền Tùng, how much strength do you have left? Is this peach of mine easy to pluck?"
Flying swords floated up gently from the ground one by one. Tần Mục straightened his waist, panting heavily, then suddenly his breathing steadied, and he broke into a smile: "Ever since I, Tần, became the Demon Sect Leader, it's been a long time since anyone dared say I look easy to bully. If you want to pluck this peach, why don't you come try it yourself?"
Just moments ago he was panting like an ox, but now he looked as if nothing had happened.
The demonic expert smiled: "Thạch Tuyền Tùng's strength is formidable—even I have to be wary of him. After your life-or-death struggle with him, your injuries can't be light. You're suppressing your aura, but you can't hide your wounds. But don't worry—if your strength is still great and you have the power to hurt me, I'll turn and leave, and go find someone else."
He surveyed his surroundings, saying leisurely: "After all, who knows how many opponents are still hidden in these mountains. I need to conserve my strength to deal with others, right?"
His voice carried a seductive demonic tone, like a kind neighbor brother, seemingly genuinely concerned for Tần Mục's well-being—but Tần Mục's mind remained clear.
He himself was the Demon Sect Leader. Though he often called himself the Heavenly Sage Sect Leader, the Demon Sect still had many great experts who delved deeply into the demonic path. The Great Nurturing Demon Scripture was extremely bizarre, changing with the heart—if demonic nature arose in the heart, the scripture became demonic arts; if divine nature arose, it became upright and righteous.
As the Demon Sect Leader, Tần Mục wouldn't be fooled by his demonic voice.
He didn't believe a single word this demonic expert said!
The words he'd spoken just now were only meant to make Tần Mục lower his guard—what "turn and leave," what "who knows how many hidden opponents"—if he believed that, he'd be dead!
Tần Mục stood there motionless, eight thousand swords scattered and floating around him, the formation of Sword Traversing Mountains and Rivers poised to strike.
The demonic expert suddenly moved, charging straight at Tần Mục. The energy unleashed by his young true-god-like physique was terrifying. The moment Tần Mục's Sword Traversing Mountains and Rivers power bloomed, he was already about to burst through it.
Tần Mục roared, and Sword Traversing Mountains and Rivers locked onto his figure—but at that moment, the demonic expert pulled out a large banner and swept it against the sword light. A large chunk of the mountain-river diagram vanished.
"A formation master!"
Tần Mục's heart jolted. The banner stabbed into the ground, its surface unfurling to reveal countless demonic patterns. The patterns spun, forming an eye.
The demonic expert retreated, leaping into the demonic eye and disappearing. The power of Sword Traversing Mountains and Rivers erupted, but it couldn't harm the demonic banner—clearly it was a rare treasure.
Tần Mục was about to summon the Carefree Sword to cut down the banner when the demonic expert appeared behind him. Tần Mục swung his sword backward—another banner appeared, and the demonic expert leaped into it again, vanishing, leaving Tần Mục stabbing empty air with only a banner stuck in the ground.
This repeated several times. Around Tần Mục, eight banners now stood on the ground, their surfaces unfurled, each connected to the pole of another banner, forming a regular octagonal formation covering about a mu of ground. At the center of each banner was a wide-open demonic eye.
Tần Mục frowned. Suddenly, beams of demonic energy shot out from each eye, blasting toward him.
His primordial energy surged around him, instantly condensing into a faintly visible great bell. The bell's walls were covered in countless interlocking thunder patterns—the Five Thunder Heaven-Supporting Bell of the Five Ancestors' Human Sovereign!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A series of thunderous sounds rang out. Tần Mục attacked from within the bell, clashing against those beams of demonic energy. The Five Thunder Heaven-Supporting Bell expanded and contracted, its power surging and ebbing, while the demonic banners spun around him continuously. The demonic energy from the eyes also thickened and thinned, its power rising and falling, pounding the bell with clanging sounds that shook his blood and qi into turmoil.
Tần Mục shifted his steps, and the Five Thunder Heaven-Supporting Bell moved with him—but the demonic banners outside moved with him too.
The Five Thunder Heaven-Supporting Bell was the Five Ancestors' Human Sovereign's ultimate technique. It was a physical divine art mixed with thunder arts. The five thunders were the five directional cloud thunders, driven by a powerful physique to activate the five directional cloud thunders, forming bell patterns. With every punch thrown, every kick delivered, the five thunders vibrated, the bell contracted then expanded, and the power of the five cloud thunders surged—perfect for breaking demonic arts.
But now, Tần Mục couldn't break this demonic expert's technique.
Suddenly, Tần Mục's form shifted, transforming into the human-headed, serpent-bodied form of the Star Lord of the Town Star. Behind him, the Gate of Heaven's Succession materialized. He spun in a full circle, sweeping the Gate of Heaven's Succession through the eight banners—only for it to be blasted to pieces by beams of demonic energy.
The Gate of Heaven's Succession failed to force the demonic expert's true body out.
"Open Eyes!"
Tần Mục's eyes spun with layers of formation patterns, sweeping in all directions, but he still couldn't locate the demonic expert's position. He could only see figures darting rapidly between the banners like ghosts.
And within the formation, the demonic energy that had struck the bell didn't fully dissipate—instead, it formed countless invisible threads. These threads wove through the space, dividing it into many segments. Within each cubic segment of space, demonic dao runes were constantly forming.
This was a formation master. The attacks just now were only a diversion—his true goal was to trap Tần Mục in his killing formation and refine him!
That way, he could conserve his strength to deal with others.
He planned to use minimal expenditure to kill Tần Mục.
Tần Mục's magical power far exceeded his peers, and his divine arts were fierce and overbearing. Few could force Tần Mục onto the defensive—only the First Ancestor Human Sovereign, the Village Chief, and a handful of other strong experts could suppress him at the same cultivation level. Yet this demonic expert was also one of them.
The First Ancestor and the Village Chief were dao-enterers, so their ability to do so wasn't surprising—but this demonic expert was a young member of the demon race. Just that alone showed how profound his formation mastery was.
"Formations, is it?"
Tần Mục suddenly dispersed the Five Thunder Heaven-Supporting Bell, reached out to grab the sword pellet, and squeezed it hard. Countless fine flying swords flowed like water, merging into a great spear.
Looking closely at this silver spear, it was actually composed of countless hair-thin flying swords. The fine swords flowed continuously, each executing the sword-wrapping technique, while the spear tip was the Carefree Sword—razor sharp.
At the same time, various runes appeared around Tần Mục. These weren't powerful divine art imprints, but mathematical and numerical symbols—the Limitless Diagram, the Taiji Diagram, sun-moon-human runes, five-element runes, six-harmony arrays, eight-trigram arrays, sixty-four hexagram symbols—all constantly evolving and shifting, constructing a system for calculating heterogeneous spatial structures.
The runes shifted and changed at lightning speed, computing the structure of this eight-banner formation. Countless runes leaped about, their calculation speed so fast it was dizzying.
He stared without blinking, his body moving with the spear. The spear thrust out like a dragon, silver light dancing all around him like silver flood dragons weaving back and forth through the eight-banner formation. Beams of demonic energy were struck by his silver spear and shattered with booming crashes.
Suddenly, the eight banners shook and retracted. The demonic expert's formation was broken, his true body revealed. He rolled up his banners and fled, laughing: "Rare to meet an expert in mathematical calculations! Your strength is impressive—farewell!"
The banner wrapped around him, and the demonic expert vanished.
Tần Mục planted his spear on the ground, his bearing unmatched—yet he didn't relax in the slightest. After a moment, his aura suddenly plummeted. He coughed up blood repeatedly, panting heavily, and plopped down to sit on the ground.
At that moment, the demonic expert appeared behind him like a ghost, stabbing his banner at Tần Mục like a spear, laughing: "You really are out of strength, so I came back!"
A sinister smile spread across Tần Mục's face. Still sitting on the ground with his back to him, his great spear split in two, becoming two large sabers. He held one in each hand, one reversed and one forward—one saber hidden behind his back, which happened to block the stabbing banner, and one hidden at his chest.
Tần Mục spun around while sitting, and the saber hidden at his chest sliced across the demonic expert's banner pole with a clang.
The demonic expert's heart jolted. The banner pole in his hand vibrated with a hum, numbing both his arms.
"Do you know the killing technique of the combat style school?"
The two stood back to back, and the demonic expert heard Tần Mục's voice at his ear. Tần Mục's feet never touched the ground, still crossed in a seated position, as if he were being carried on the demonic expert's back.
This was the trick the Butcher used to play with Tần Mục when he had no legs—to test Tần Mục's "Drawing the Blade to Exit the Forbidden" technique.
Drawing the Blade to Exit the Forbidden was the most dangerous move in the Butcher's saber arts!
The demonic expert's steps crossed rapidly, his body moving like a ghost at incredible speed—but he couldn't shake Tần Mục off. His speed was indeed faster than Tần Mục's, but with Tần Mục stuck to his back, his body seemed glued to the demonic expert's, impossible to dislodge.
The demonic expert's form shifted continuously, his movement arts truly bizarre and unpredictable. Finally, he managed to fling Tần Mục off his back, and his heart filled with joy—at last, he was face to face with Tần Mục.
Then Tần Mục's voice came to his ear: "What's your name?"
"My name is—"
The saber light flashed. Tần Mục raised his saber in a reverse grip, and before the demonic expert could finish his sentence, the power of Drawing the Blade to Exit the Forbidden had already erupted.
"Sorry, I couldn't let you finish."
Tần Mục sheathed his saber. The two great sabers in his hands flowed like quicksand, condensing back into a sword pellet clutched in his palm.
The demonic expert was split open from chest to belly by that single strike, his corpse collapsing to the ground.
Tần Mục let out a turbid breath and shook his head: "If one more expert comes, I'm dead."
He tilted his ear to listen. Not a sound came from the surrounding mountains. After another moment, Tần Mục said weakly: "If one more expert comes, I'm dead."
The mountains stood tall and silent. Still no movement.
Gah—
Tần Mục spat out a spray of blood, collapsed to the ground, struggled twice, kicked his legs, and went still.
The surrounding mountains remained silent. Still no movement.
Tần Mục's face had turned blue, his body stiff, his flesh hardening. Still no movement around him. After a moment, he flipped over and climbed back up, expression unchanged, and walked to the fire wall to hammer away at his flying swords.
A demonic woman raised her head from atop a mountain, stealing a glance at him. Her figure suddenly retreated, walking away without looking back.
"That blacksmith kid is more of a demon than I am—can't afford to provoke him!" She sped off into the distance.
At that moment, deep in the mountains, Hoàng Việt stopped in his tracks and looked up at the mountaintop. There stood a figure with a long saber strapped to his back.
"Triết Hoa Lê!"
—Second update here! Happy Lantern Festival, everyone~