“Chi chi chi.”
The Pure Yang sword shot straight at the Profound Heart Demon. Countless strands of demonic qi in its path dissolved into nothing. The long sword reached the demon’s face in a blink.
“Clang!”
The Pure Yang sword was parried. A pitch-black bone spur had sprouted from the man’s palm.
Yet in that single clash, a notch appeared on the bone spur. Black demonic qi surged, and it healed almost instantly.
Lin Yi narrowed his eyes. He had gauged the Profound Heart Demon’s strength.
Formidable. Alone, Lin Yi might not subdue him. But now there were four of comparable power.
“Amitabha!”
Jinye Zen Master intoned. A Tathagata dharma image formed behind him.
One finger pointed to heaven, one to earth. Golden light burst forth, resonating with the sun overhead. Boundless Great Sun golden light flooded the sky, merging with the surrounding Pure Yang sword qi. Like a tidal wave, it pressed toward the Profound Heart Demon.
Great Sun Buddhist light and Pure Yang sword qi were natural counters to demons. The Profound Heart Demon dared not linger. He swung his bone spur, deflecting the Pure Yang sword again, then fled east.
East was where the strongest of the four, Liu Zong, waited.
He had no choice. Fleeing elsewhere risked encountering another hidden expert in Great Jing’s vast lands. This time he might truly perish.
“Break!”
In flight, the Profound Heart Demon revealed his true form.
His body swelled to over ten feet. Jagged bone horns protruded. Eyes like bronze bells. Mouth a bloody maw. Pupils gleamed blood-red within black. Most crucially…
Two extra arms sprouted from his back. All four arms wielded weapons, striking at Liu Zong.
“Four-Armed Rakshasa?”
Liu Zong’s eyes glinted. He sneered, waved a hand, and countless golden sparks flew forth.
The sparks streaked like meteors, exploding on impact. Shaoyang divine thunders blanketed the sky.
Each thunder carried Shaoyang spiritual qi. After detonation, fine strands clung to the Profound Heart Demon, burning like acid against his flesh.
“Aaah!”
His face contorted. The four arms moved in concert. One palm sprouted a bone spur. One held a black banner. One gripped a bronze bell. One formed razor claws.
He shook the banner. Black smoke billowed. Demonic qi clouded heaven and earth.
He rang the bell. Seductive demonic tones pierced the mind, tempting the heart.
These two artefacts stalled the pursuit of the three behind him. Freed, he focused on breaking through Liu Zong.
Enduring the barrage of Shaoyang thunders, he thrust the bone spur at Liu Zong’s throat while clawing at his heart.
“Insolent!”
Liu Zong shouted. He slapped outward. A massive, solid hand seal materialised, descending upon the demon’s head.
“Boom!”
The impact halted the demon’s charge. Sharp spur and claws failed to pierce the magical seal.
He had struck iron.
“Amitabha!”
Xingfeng Zen Master acted. He tossed his prayer beads. The eighteen beads scattered, circled the demon, then blazed with Buddhist light and resonant chants, drowning the demonic bell’s influence.
“As though others lack treasures,” Xingfeng said calmly.
The Pure Yang sword streaked in. The demon dared not meet it bodily. He spun, parrying.
Endless Pure Yang sword qi and Great Sun Buddhist light closed from all sides, seeking to cage and grind him slowly.
“Dream on!”
“To slay me, you would need Lingkun the Daoist or Dejie the monk. You four think yourselves enough?”
The Profound Heart Demon glanced around. His savage mouth twisted in a sneer. Instead of fleeing outward, he plunged downward. Countless demonic qi arrows rained like meteors toward Wei Province capital below.
Yet the four, fighting so near the city, were prepared.
As the demonic streams fell, Jinye Zen Master’s Buddhist light had already formed a thick barrier beneath, dissolving most.
But the demon had a second layer. Black demonic flames burned within the qi streams.
The qi dissolved, but flames pierced downward, breaking through the light toward the city.
Yet upon touching sunlight, golden flames ignited upon them. Fire met fire. The black flames flared, then consumed themselves, turning to wisps of smoke that scattered.
“Pure Yang true fire?”
The demon glared, unprepared for this counter.
“How novel. Could a Pure Yang Palace cultivator lack Pure Yang true fire?”
Lin Yi pointed. The Pure Yang sword arced across the sky. Golden radiance surged. Boundless sword qi erupted. The tip locked on the demon’s brow, pricking with distant pain.
“Go!”
With a soft command, the sword became a streak of light, piercing toward the Profound Heart Demon.
“Trap!”
Xingfeng intoned. The eighteen beads linked into a net of eighteen walls, binding the demon’s movement.
“What?”
Shocked, the demon gathered force to shatter the binding. But Liu Zong had closed silently.
“Three Pure Ones decree, freeze!”
Body-binding curse.
Though profound in cultivation, entangled by Jinye and Xingfeng, the demon fell to Liu Zong’s full-powered ambush.
Success.
The demon’s pupils shrank. He broke the curse in an instant, but the beads’ Buddhist light pressed heavier.
“Chi.”
The Pure Yang sword pierced his protective qi, transfixing his brow, boring a cavernous hole through his skull.
“Aaah!”
He roared in torment. Pure Yang sword qi ravaged within. Pure Yang true fire blazed inside his cranium. Golden flames enveloped his head.
Yet he lived.
And roared loudly.
He mobilised internal demonic qi, desperately expelling the sword qi and true fire threatening his spirit sea. Simultaneously, he shook the banner wildly, rang the bell furiously. Demonic qi surged without limit. Bell tones shook heaven and earth.
Jinye Zen Master blocked it all with Great Sun light, sparing the city below.
With Jinye holding the perimeter, Lin Yi, Liu Zong, and Xingfeng attacked unrestrained. Sword qi, divine thunders, Buddhist chants crashed like tides upon the demon.
His demonic frame, though mighty, could not endure their combined fury.
Moments later, sword qi pierced, thunders shattered, Buddhist light purified. The body dispersed into black smoke between heaven and earth. Only a core of divine sense demonic spirit remained, shielded by concentrated demonic qi, clinging to life.
But then, abrupt change. An utterly pure demonic intent rose from the spirit core, enveloping the field. The four paused as one, momentarily suppressed.
“Great Black Heaven Unintentional True Desire Demon Ancestor’s intent prohibition?” Liu Zong’s eyes widened, straining against the pressure.
Now the Profound Heart Demon’s spirit expelled the lingering Pure Yang sword qi and true fire. It became black light, poised to flee.
Yet at that instant, a beam of mirror light shot upward from below, enveloping the black light completely.
