The Dauntless monk became cautious. The world that demonfolk lived in was filled with brutality and slaughter. The cultivation of Demon Generals was only equivalent to Foundation Establishment, but they were much stronger than Foundation Establishment cultivators in battle.
Under the control of their demon hearts, they possessed very few vital points on their bodies. Even disciples of the school of the Military who practised both qi and the body paled in comparison. The inner courtyard disciples of the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga would often suffer against them during their trials. As a matter of fact, some of them had even been slain in the past from a moment of carelessness.
He thought, One Will possesses extraordinary talent and a great understanding of the buddhist dharma, but she’s still young after all. She might not necessarily be this Demon General’s opponent.
Within the Demon Suppression Hall, even a Monk King like the Dauntless monk was bound by its rules. He was forced to descend floor by floor too. If Xiao An encountered any danger, he was afraid he could not rescue her in time.
However, life-threatening danger like this provided the best opportunity to observe a person’s disposition. Whether they were courageous or cowardly, calm or fear-stricken, none of their emotions could be hidden.
As a result, he observed patiently. “One Will, don’t leave me disappointed.”
……
“Did you come down from above?” the demonfolk extended his forked tongue and licked around his face as he asked with ill intention.
“I didn’t think the humans would have such a beautiful woman.” A demonfolk drooled.
“Hmph, look at how soft and tender her flesh is. She must taste nice.” The female demonfolk on the throne of white bone snorted coldly, filled with envy.
“That’ll be quite a pity. We’re obviously going to eat her once we’ve had enough fun! Hahaha!”
There was lust, envy, and evil snickers. Xiao An’s expression remained as blank as ever as she was surrounded by the leering demons. She gazed ahead hollowly with her eyes, ignoring everything. She turned around and made her way towards the exit, which made the demons even more complacent.
“You want to leave?” An extremely tall and large demonfolk blocked Xiao An’s way like a wall. Xiao An’s footsteps did not slow down at all. The moment she collided with the demonfolk, there was a flash of golden light, and a bloody door opened in this “wall”.
The huge demonfolk widened his eyes, lowering his head and gazing at the gaping hole in his body in disbelief. A gleam of light flashed through the eyes of the Demon General, but before he could even do anything, Xiao An took out an object without even looking back and lifted it high into the air. It was shaped like a wheel above and like a stand below, glistening with golden light. It was the Wheel of the Wisdom King’s Glare that the Annihilum Light Chan Master had given her.
The closed eye in the centre of the Wheel of the Wisdom King’s Glare suddenly opened, emitting a beam of golden light that pierced the Demon General’s chest.
The Unraging monk laughed. “So Annihilum Light already gave the Wheel of the Wisdom King’s Glare to her. You don’t have to worry then, senior brother.”
As a purely-offensive arcane artifact, the Wheel of the Wisdom King’s Glare possessed extremely great destructive power. The golden light it had emitted could basically pierce through everything.
The Dauntless monk shook his head. “If she becomes careless because of this, it won’t do her any good.”
The Demon General lowered his head in some surprise as if he had never expected her to possess such a powerful weapon. He snickered inside, Do you really think you can kill me like this? I’ve seen plenty of foolish monks like that.
Right when he was about to lunge over and catch her off-guard, the beam of golden light suddenly separated, multiplied from one to ten, then to one hundred. At the same time, the light spun rapidly, cutting through the Demon General’s body like it was paper. It revolved around in the centre for a while before dispersing.
“You…”
The Demon General took another step forward before collapsing completely and falling apart as a pile of flesh. Some of it continued to writhe, but no matter how great his life force was, he was unable to assemble himself.
The other demonfolk were all taken aback. Their faces were still frozen with greed and lustful smiles before plopping onto the ground as pieces.
The nest of demonfolk immediately fell silent, without a single trace of life. Blood flowed, and the sanguine smell filled the surroundings.
Xiao An’s steps had not become flustered at all. The throne assembled from white bones behind her collapsed loudly.
The Dauntless monk was mildly taken aback, but it was not by the power that Xiao An had demonstrated. Instead, he was surprised over how she could actually use the Wheel of the Wisdom King’s Glare to such a level!
With her cultivation, unleashing the full power of the arcane artifact was already very difficult, yet she easily managed to split one beam into a hundred, and every single beam was so accurate and effective.
The Unraging monk sighed. “With that move alone, there are no demonfolk on the second floor of the Demon Suppression hall that can touch her.”
Xiao An arrived in the corridor. There were seven paths that extended off in different directions.
It was completely impossible to find one’s bearings in the Demon Suppression hall. The concept behind its design was not for its prisoners to find their direction easier either. Sometimes, even if they chose the correct direction, it was very likely for the path to come to a dead end. Without any directions, it was truly a maze.
However, Xiao An simply glanced around and chose the correct path leading to the statue room. Her right foot halted, and she whistled off into the air.
Although the structure of the first and second floors were completely different, she had already grasped their pattern. Her sharp deductions and reasoning left the two monks gasping in admiration.
Soon after Xiao An had left, a nimble, black figure arrived in the hall. Having completely demonified, Duoge was attracted by the heavy smell of blood, so he found his way over.
His body had become even larger as bone spikes extended from all over him. He threw himself onto the segmented Demon General first, extending his long, red tongue that curled across the ground. He swept up the fragmented flesh into his mouth and swallowed it all.
Afterwards, he lunged towards the remains of the other demonfolk. In the blink of an eye, he had cleaned out the demonfolk nest, which obviously included several dozen demon hearts.
His black demon qi grew even thicker, coiling around his body. With the sound of stretching bones, his body swelled and grew larger once again. The demon heart in his body had become extremely large, thumping like a great drum. Suddenly, he crossed a boundary and raised his head, letting out a roar.
Boom!
With a clap of thunder, a bolt of lightning pierced through space and struck Duoge.
Electricity crackled as the golden hall trembled gently.
The Unraging monk said, “The little demonfolk is undergoing the tribulation. He’s quite fortunate.”
The Dauntless monk said, “He’ll die from madness in the end anyway, so how can you call that fortunate?”
“Heavenly tribulations” were the supreme laws of the world and an invisible examiner. They were present everywhere, and they tested all creatures that wanted to escape mortality and obtain eternal life. Whether it were gods, demons, humans, or daemons, no one could escape its judgement.
Lightning writhed like dragons and snakes, coiling around Duoge’s body and punching holes through him. Duoge let out a violent, painful roar as his demon qi immediately weakened.
So painful!
Under the violent lashing of lightning, a sliver of clarity appeared in Duoge’s head. The Demon Suppression statue appeared in his mind again, and its painful posture seemed to align with his current situation.
Deep within the corridors, Xiao An stopped and glanced back before stepping over a pile of flesh and continuing on her way.
“What is this sound? It’s thunder. There’s obviously no thunder here. Is someone undergoing a tribulation?”
Li Qingshan listened closely before turning around and facing the male demonfolk before him. “When demonfolk undergo the heavenly tribulation, they become Demon Generals like you, right?”
“Which race’s Demon General are you? Why have I never seen you before?”
The Demon General carried two blades on his waist and another two on his back as he studied Li Qingshan cautiously.
“I never answer questions from corpses.”
After replying with this classical line, Li Qingshan became like a child who had just been given a new toy. He raised his hand in great interest and enveloped the Demon General with his fingers. With this move alone, he had already crushed over a hundred demonfolk throughout his journey here.
The feeling was truly similar to crushing ants during his youth, except the effect was much more satisfying. Standing right before him was an oversized ant, the type that could bring him exceptional pleasure when he crushed him.
The Unraging monk asked in confusion, “Why does this kid’s demonic nature seem to have strengthened after practising the Demon Suppression Statuary?”
When it came to things like killing intent and malice, Li Qingshan was much more powerful than these demonfolk. Normally, he kept it under control and refused to unleash it. Now that an opportunity had presented itself to him, he might as well just do what he wanted. What was wrong with using the demonic path against demonfolk?
“What did you do?” The Demon General’s expression changed. He clutched his chest, taking a step back. He felt like a boulder was weighing on his body, and the aura within him was being stretched and pulled apart.
“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Li Qingshan said impatiently before pulling back his hand and murmuring to himself, “Looks like the effect on Demon Generals is limited.”
“Why? Even if you kill me, it won’t bring you any benefits.”
Wave Treading Form!
Li Qingshan stopped blabbering. Waves rose up beneath his feet as his fingers curved like the claws of a tiger, reaching over towards the Demon General’s head.
The Demon General let out a furious roar and another two arms extended out from his back, drawing the four blades and swinging them in a flurry.
Tsunami Form!
Li Qingshan shifted his hands from claws to open palms. Surging spiritual qi turned into a colossal tsunami, filling the wide corridor and slamming against the flurry of blades.
The flurry and tsunami vanished at the same time. Li Qingshan’s palm pressed against the Demon General’s chest gently, no longer possessing any power. With the four-armed Demon General’s powerful body, he had not even sustained a scratch.
However, the four-armed Demon General’s flesh began to surge, rising and falling and fluctuating. In the end, he exploded with a thump.
“Taste my fist of justice!”
Li Qingshan sniggered. The Demon Suppression Statuary sure was interesting. Right now, he was completely the embodiment of justice. He did not have to worry about what was right or wrong at all. He only had to throw a punch over. If you’re a good person, you’d obviously be fine, but you can go die if you’re a bad person!
Li Qingshan continued on his way towards the second Demon Suppression statue. There should be even more and stronger Demon Generals there!
He did not have Xiao An’s level of judgement, but after learning the first form of the Demon Suppression Statuary, it had suppressed the ox demon and tiger demon to a certain degree. As such, the spirit turtle’s predictive ability had recovered by a lot. With a clear destination in mind, finding the correct path was no issue.
A while later, Li Qingshan pushed through the gilded doors rather eagerly, only to be mildly surprised. He sighed with a smile. “Sure enough, you’re still faster!”
Xiao An currently stood before the second Demon Suppression statue as she wielded the Wheel of the Wisdom King’s Glare. Her surroundings were strewn with remains.
Li Qingshan arrived beside Xiao An and asked, “Have you seen Duoge?”
“Perhaps he’s undergoing the tribulation.”
“Don’t tell me the thunder earlier was from him!?”
In the golden hall, Duoge laid on the ground. Most of his body had become charred black, but his chest rose and fell, still breathing.
The tumour-like demon heart in his body had become extremely small and firm like a rock. It constantly emitted demon qi. The charred black flaked off his body piece by piece as his wounds slowly recovered. Suddenly, he leapt to his feet, becoming ten times more nimble than before. He had become a Demon General.
