“Killed you,” Xiao An said indifferently. Her clothes drifted as she flickered about, avoiding the furious, incoming tendrils. She drew out her blade and retreated. The Buddha Slaying sword in her hand was shiny and bone-white just like before. It did not have a lot of power for show, but the damage it caused was even more life-threatening than a swing from Ye Duanhai.
In terms of quality, the current Buddha Slaying sword could not rival the Sea-splitting sword that Ye Duanhai had spent many years further refining. It could not produce such magnificent slashes, nor was it as flexible in terms of abilities. It was only particularly tough and sharp. Only after piercing the enemy’s flesh could its powers manifest.
Even a tiny scratch could turn into a lethal wound.
Li Qingshan had confronted the Thousand Tendrils King openly to draw away his attention, while Xiao An had used the opportunity to launch a sneak attack and deliver a lethal blow. This was the combination and teamwork they already possessed back then when they roamed the jianghu. Now that they were against a Demon King, it was just as effective.
“Nicely said!” Li Qingshan brought his hands together as hard as possible, and the power of tremors emerged. Illusionary black cracks immediately appeared around his hands. The tendrils were severed wherever the cracks reached.
The Thousand Tendrils King rapidly shrank in size, unable to regenerate his severed tendrils anymore. Not only did he have to suppress the terrifying sword wound, but he also had to contend with Li Qingshan’s terrifying powers of the ox demon.
“Aaaaaargh!”
A crack suddenly appeared in the huge ball of flesh, just like a mouth. There was even a tongue in there. He let out a sharp yet soundless scream at Li Qingshan as pulses of demonic thoughts emanated in all directions.
The demonfolk on the barren mountain all collapsed. Their souls had been forcefully torn to pieces. Within the surrounding jungle, the demonic monkeys all fell from the tree branches. All life within several dozen kilometers died on the spot.
Even Ye Duanhai felt a violent impact on his soul, making him guard his mind in a hurry. The Thousand Tendrils King sensed life-threatening danger. He was getting desperate now.
Li Qingshan felt his head ring. His ears deafened as his soul swayed.
The Thousand Tendrils King used this opportunity to extend his huge tongue, licking Li Qingshan’s face viciously. Half of his face vanished with that lick, revealing his fearsome skull.
“What delicious flesh. I’ve remembered your taste. You’re called Li Qingshan. Don’t worry, I won’t forget about this. I’ll make you watch as everyone close to you dies horrifically right before your eyes!”
The Thousand Tendrils King cursed viciously as he rapidly dropped towards the demon cavern. In the blink of an eye, he had mostly vanished into the cavern.
“You think you can run?” Li Qingshan slammed his fist down. His rolling daemon qi turned into the power of tremors, slamming against the space there. Cracks darted off into the surroundings like black lightning. As if a painting had shattered, even the moonlight was split to pieces.
“How’s that possible!?” The Thousand Tendrils King was frightened. Even among Demon Kings, the power to shatter space was extremely rare, so how could a person that had not even undergone the third heavenly tribulation achieve this!? Filled with disbelief, his body was shattered into countless parts.
As it turned out, Li Qingshan still did not possess the ability to shatter space. Even if he underwent another heavenly tribulation, all he could do was concentrate the illusionary spatial cracks a little more, as this world was extremely stable. If it could shatter that easily, the world would have broken up into pieces a long time ago.
Most importantly, the demon cavern was the passageway that connected two worlds. The space was extremely unstable there. Li Qingshan had once used this move to kill a Corpse King from the Hungry Ghost realm. He was merely repeating the same trick right now.
“Haha, great strength creates miracles!” Li Qingshan was extremely satisfied with the results of the punch. Even he dared not touch the black spatial cracks.
“You can’t kill me! I will be back!” Every single piece of the Thousand Tendrils King turned into a new ball of flesh. Several hundred eyes opened up and stared at Li Qingshan viciously as he spoke from several hundred mouths at the same time. He was about to cross through the shattered demon cavern and flee back to the demon cavern.
“Then get back here! Gravity of the Earth!” Li Qingshan spread his arms and used the innate ability.
If the Thousand Tendrils King were still whole, then Li Qingshan might not have been able to draw him over given his colossal size and tough body, but now that he had been divided into several hundred pieces, he stood no chance.
The invisible force drew over the pieces of flesh, making them fly out of the demon cavern again. Now, horror filled every single eye.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Li Qingshan launched a barrage of punches with both hands, shattering the space near the demon cavern even more. He diced the several hundred balls of flesh into thousands.
Xiao An used this opportunity to swing the Blood Sea Banner. A river of blood swept up the pieces of flesh, and the Skull Prayer Beads scattered in the air, turning into skulls that sprayed with Samādhi Flames of White Bone as they cackled away.
The flesh was either swept into the sea of blood, or the Samādhi Flames of White Bone ignited it. The Thousand Tendrils King’s tremendous body, his flesh that was filled with power, became the perfect resource for the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty.
The river of blood surged, and the flames roared, swallowing the countless demonfolk corpses on the mountain.
By the time Xiao An stowed away the Blood Sea Banner, Li Qingshan had already reverted to human form, and the surroundings were clean and tidy, without a single demonfolk in sight. The crescent moon scattered with clear light, landing on the barren mountain. Only the two huge footprints and the countless spatial cracks served as evidence of the battle.
Li Qingshan sucked in a deep breath and swung his arms around. “Demon Kings aren’t that difficult to kill!”
However, he also understood that Ye Duanhai had weakened this great ball of flesh first before Xiao An ambushed it. Finally, the spatial cracks that Li Qingshan produced screwed it over. Its path of escape had become a lethal trap. He had lost out in all aspects of timing, geographic advantage, and teamwork. It would be a miracle if it did survive!
Ye Duanhai was also stunned after witnessing this battle. He had clashed with the Thousand Tendrils King numerous times, yet he had not even managed to force him back into the demon cavern, let alone having the slightest chance of killing him. In the end, Xiao An and Li Qingshan finished him off so quickly and cleanly with their teamwork. He found it a little surreal. He calmed down and imagined that if their sneak attack and pincer attack had caught him off-guard, he would also be in life-threatening danger.
Of course, if Ye Duanhai cast aside everything, without any regard for his life, he could also force the Thousand Tendrils King into dire straits, but the Thousand Tendrils King would definitely pull him down with him on the brink of death. That would be mortal danger then. It was impossible for Ye Duanhai to do something like perish together with him. It was impossible for any cultivator to do that.
The main reason why Li Qingshan was bold enough to directly confront the Thousand Tendrils King was because of the phoenix’s nirvā?a. If you’re bold enough to perish with me, then I’m bold enough to die once with you.
“Alright! That’s one!” Li Qingshan returned to Ye Duanhai and said, “Thank you for weakening this damned ball, pavilion master Ye, which was the only reason why we managed to kill him successfully. Otherwise, just this formation alone would have been a headache.”
“You’re welcome. Even without me, you still would have been able to kill him.”
Ye Duanhai could not help but re-evaluated Li Qingshan and Xiao An. During the battle of Fire Melt mountain, Li Qingshan spent most of his time working together with Gong Yuan, while Xiao An had not fought at all. Although he had played a critical role in achieving victory, only now did he truly demonstrate his strength for good, which forced people to take him seriously.
“Though, I do have a request. I hope that pavilion master Ye can keep the details of tonight a secret. There’s a chance that we still need to use it against the Demon Kings of the other demon caverns.”
“Do you think I’m someone who talks too much?” Ye Duanhai had realised long ago that what Xiao An used was definitely not techniques of buddhism, or in other words, neither of them really resembled buddhist disciples. They had far too many secrets that they wanted to hide. As opposed to hiding it from the demonfolk, they probably wanted to hide it from the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga even more.
“Definitely not. I’ve been the one who’s said too much this time.”
