Chapter 597 517: Whoever Touches Brother Pei, Dies

Deep in the dark forest.

Pei Yuhang and his three companions darted swiftly through the trees. Every so often, misshapen Demon Fiends would lunge at them, but before they could even make a sound to give away their position, Nangong Jin would cut them down with a strand of Sword Qi as fine as a silk thread.

"Brother Pei, the trees on Ghost-Back Mountain are too dense, and this miasma is blocking our Perception. We've lost our sense of direction and can't find our way out."

Nangong Jin sliced through several Demon Fiends as if she were cutting vegetables, but the worry on her beautiful face did not fade.

"I have a way!"

Qing Yueqiu drew her Luminous Shadow Sword and said softly, "My sword has an extremely strong perception of Moonlight. Before we even set foot on Ghost-Back Mountain, I was thinking ahead. Because of Junior Martial Uncle Nangong's concerns about an ambush and Master's worries about the demonic miasma blocking our senses, I took a precaution and left a Moonlight Stone just outside the mountain's edge.

"As long as that Moonlight Stone is there, Luminous can guide us out of these mountains. And once we're clear, we can contact the human experts in Lan City for reinforcements!"

"Yueqiu, that's brilliant!"

Pei Yuhang hadn't expected Yueqiu to be so mature now. 'To think she had the foresight to prepare a backup plan like this.'

"It was nothing, really. Junior Martial Uncle Nangong is the truly amazing one..."

Although Qing Yueqiu was thrilled to be praised by her master, she still made a point to emphasize Junior Martial Uncle Nangong's contribution.

'After all, Junior Martial Uncle Nangong is the strongest fighter among the four of them, and Master is being so stingy he hasn't said a single word of praise to her!'

"This..."

Pei Yuhang glanced at Nangong Jin, who was leading the charge, and pressed his lips together, feeling a little lost.

'He'd always admired this junior sister of his, with her exceptional talent and unrivaled combat strength. He always felt that she, who seemed sharper than a sword's edge, didn't need his praise...'

'Junior Sister Nangong and Yueqiu... they're different...'

Just as Pei Yuhang fell silent, a tremendous crash suddenly erupted from up ahead.

A bloated giant woven from decaying tree roots and a centipede of flesh and blood pieced together from countless grotesque arms came screeching and surging toward them.

'We've been found?'

Pei Yuhang frowned slightly. Without hesitation, he placed his hand on Nangong Jin's back and poured a vast, surging torrent of Spiritual Qi into her body.

After receiving this massive buff from her personal "Brother Pei power bank," Nangong Jin acted in perfect concert, raising her Celestial Extinction Sword.

Amidst a vast golden radiance, the Sword Qi swelled to a hundred meters in length. Disregarding the consumption of Spiritual Qi, she unleashed a dazzling dragon of light that soared toward the demons ahead.

'Damn it! I almost forgot—the first one to get in their way has to tank the most damage! No wonder those old bastards suddenly slowed down!'

The decaying Giant Tree Man cursed inwardly.

Roots erupted from beneath its feet, surging out to impale all the demon soldiers within a several-hundred-meter radius. It then wove their flesh and blood together with its own power of giant wood, forming a towering wall before it.

BOOM—!!

The golden Sword Qi cut through the wall of wood and flesh like a hot knife through butter, shattering half of the decaying Giant Tree Man's and the Multi-armed Centipede's bodies.

The decaying Giant Tree Man had taken the brunt of the Sword Qi's damage. Before its remaining half could even begin to regenerate, the residual, surging Sword Qi clinging to its body devoured it, grinding it to dust.

"Impossible... To think I was almost taken out by a single strike—"

The Multi-armed Centipede, however, reacted much faster than the Giant Tree Man. It instantly tore off its own limbs that had been wounded by the Sword Qi, preventing the residual energy from spreading throughout its body.

Then, it tore the severed limbs from the surrounding demon soldiers and spliced them onto its own shattered body. In a short time, thanks to its bizarre physiology, it had already restored its aura to its peak.

"Nangong Jin was already a handful, but I never expected you, a mere human, to possess the Giant Sun Saint Body, said to hold the most Spiritual Qi!

"If I don't kill you, there's no way to exhaust Nangong Jin. So I'll slaughter you first!"

The thousands of hands covering the Multi-armed Centipede's body flexed in unison as it lunged forward with terrifying speed.

Nangong Jin tried to block the attack for Brother Pei, but several pale Bone Spikes shot toward her like bolts from a giant crossbow. At the same moment, the Crocodile Ghost and several other Void Refining Demon Fiends closed in for the kill.

"Junior Sister Nangong, you focus on holding off the others. Leave this centipede to me!"

"Yueqiu, go and help ease the pressure on Junior Sister Nangong."

"Bei Lingyin, you hold back the demons below the Void Refining realm. Don't let them get in and disrupt things!"

Amid the slaughter of the battlefield, Pei Yuhang acted as the team's anchor, preventing the four of them from falling into disarray and being surrounded and killed one by one.

When the Multi-armed Centipede saw Pei Yuhang deliberately walking toward it, it froze for a moment. Then, its hideous mandibles parted in a piercing, maniacal laugh.

"You haven't lifted a finger since this started, content to just hide behind women. And now you have the gall to face me?"

As the Multi-armed Centipede spoke, its beady little eyes suddenly focused on Pei Yuhang's fair, slender, and elegant hands. A sharp glint shone within them.

"Those hands of yours are quite beautiful, even more perfect than any of the Fairies I've torn apart!

"I'm going to tear your hands off and add them to my body—the most perfect additions to my collection~!"

The countless arms on the monster's body writhed with excitement, as if it couldn't wait to claim the world's most perfect hands for itself.

Pei Yuhang snorted coldly. He casually snapped off a relatively straight tree branch and held it before him, his voice low.

"My hands on a monster like you? That would be utterly disgusting."

"You're courting death!!"

The Multi-armed Centipede flew into a rage. Its seemingly massive body, coordinated by its countless arms, was both swift and agile. In an instant, it was right in front of Pei Yuhang.

"You look like a human Sword Cultivator, but I'm guessing your Lifebound Spirit Sword isn't with you, is it? To think you'd try to use a tree branch as a sword... What a lunatic, courting death! Hahaha~!"