Chapter 393: You’re Finally Willing to Come Out, Hou

They had followed Xie Mingzhi through many battles, defeating countless enemies who had seemed invincible.

But never had they faced an opponent like this—one who was so suffocatingly terrifying from beginning to end.

Even by combining the strength of over forty Fire Cloud Personal Guards with Marshal Ming wielding the ring, all their efforts could only inflict a tiny, inch-long wound.

Yet, to Fu Juemin, the fact that they could even do that was already quite remarkable.

The cut on his finger was imbued with the aura of Dharma. Even with his Pharmacist Skill at Perfection, or even using Innate Primordial Liquid, it refused to heal quickly. It was still bleeding now.

Around Celestial Waterfall Peak, the scattered clouds swirled back, and rainbows reconnected. Amidst the roar of the silver waterfall crashing down like a bolt of white silk, Fu Juemin walked toward Xie Mingzhi, stepping on shattered light.

“The last time in Yingjing, you used the unsealing Dharma of the Exorcism Saber to buy back your life…”

Fu Juemin spoke nonchalantly to Xie Mingzhi as he walked. “This time, what do you plan to use?”

“*Cough, cough…*”

Leaning on the Winged Ring, Xie Mingzhi coughed violently, spattering the ground before him with blood. He looked as if he could die at any second.

Xie Mingzhi coughed for a while, then seemed to feel a bit better and slowly raised his head.

He looked at Fu Juemin, but his face showed none of the tension, defeat, despair, or terror one would expect. Instead, he was unusually calm.

“I am not the one who needs to consider that question.”

A faint trace of pity showed in Xie Mingzhi’s eyes as he said, word by word, “You are.”

The moment Xie Mingzhi’s last word was spoken, it was as if all sound between heaven and earth suddenly vanished. The waterfall, the mountain wind, the birdsong… all the sounds of nature abruptly faded away.

Fu Juemin stopped in his tracks, his clothes gently lifting in a sudden, inexplicable gust of hot wind.

The light from the sky above seemed to be blocked by something. A shadow was expanding rapidly, in the blink of an eye.

Fu Juemin spun around and looked up.

In that instant, his expression froze, a look of utter bewilderment and astonishment filling his eyes…

The next second—

“ROAR—!!!”

A sound like a lion and a tiger, like thousands of rolling thunders detonating at once, exploded at the base of Celestial Waterfall Peak!

Amidst the endless spray of mist and the countless vibrating, levitating shards of rock, a colossal, golden-red beastly shadow, as large as a small mountain, descended from the sky. With one swift bite, it swallowed Fu Juemin whole!

“BOOM!”

A terrifying shockwave of sound and heat erupted outward. Under this sudden impact, the entire Celestial Waterfall Peak seemed to tremble and shake.

The rainbows in the sky were torn to shreds. Everyone present was shaken into a daze, their vision blurring, their ears filled with nothing but a deafening ringing.

Only Xie Mingzhi, a smile on his face, slowly rose to his feet, bit by bit.

After the beast’s shadow appeared, Xie Mingzhi’s entire appearance rapidly began to grow younger.

His bent spine straightened, his withered body filled out… In just a few breaths, he had completely returned to the prime of his life, his condition restored to its absolute peak.

As for the Fire Cloud Army guards collapsed on the ground, the “faith” that had been all but shattered by Fu Juemin was now reforged. They stared with feverish expressions at the spot where the beast’s shadow had appeared, shouting excitedly, “Marshal Huo!!”

This beastly shadow that had so abruptly appeared, hailed “Marshal Huo” by the Fire Cloud Army, was a ferocious Great Demon nearly half the size of Celestial Waterfall Peak itself.

It had the form of a lion-tiger, its entire body covered in dark gold, copper-coin-shaped scales with razor-sharp edges. A mane of fiery red fur grew around its chest, abdomen, and neck.

Its skull was broader than any tiger’s or lion’s, with a high, bulging forehead. A striking black stripe ran from the crown of its head down its spine to the tip of its hammer-like tail.

A pair of short, thick, pointed horns grew from the sides of its forehead. Though massive, its body was not the least bit bloated, instead possessing a streamlined form that radiated explosive power.

A distorted, surging wave of fire radiated from its body, evaporating and dispelling all the mist that permeated the base of the peak.

The rainbows on the horizon fell upon its body, making it look like a colossal, solidified mass of sunset afterglow!

Ferocious, mysterious, majestic, and magnificent!

Around the Demon Beast’s neck was a massive ring the color of Cyan Jade, worn like a collar. It formed a pair with the Red Ring in Xie Mingzhi’s hand—clearly, it was the other half of the Winged Double Rings.

Seeing the Demon Beast appear, Xie Mingzhi relaxed completely.

In this world, those who cultivated the Military Martial Dao would lose eighty percent of their strength when far from an army formation.

He, Xie Mingzhi, was the sole exception.

Because he had a heaven-sent “Ba” beast as his companion. The Winged Double Rings were one of life, one of death. He held the Death Ring; the “Ba” wore the Life Ring.

Through their contractual bond, he could enjoy the support of the beast’s vast, ocean-like Vitality. No matter how much of his own life force he expended, it could be rapidly replenished in a short time. His lifespan was equal to that of a Demon!

And not long ago, his “Ba” had completely shed its “Ba” body. Now, it should be called… a “Hou”!

‘The world is full of countless heroes…’

Xie Mingzhi held the Red Ring and walked slowly toward where the Hou stood.

‘The tables have turned. There are some things that are now my turn to say.’

“I admit, your talent far exceeds mine…”

Xie Mingzhi gazed at the Hou Beast’s massive, ferocious, and majestic Demon Body and sighed softly. “Unfortunately…”

“RUMBLE!”

Before he could finish, a sound like rolling, muffled thunder came from overhead.

A familiar tremor rose in his heart. Xie Mingzhi looked up and was slightly stunned by the sight of vast dark clouds gathering in the sky, faintly forming a swirling vortex.

“A Great Demon’s tribulation?!”

He was bewildered and subconsciously glanced at the Hou Beast’s neck.

When he saw the Cyan Jade Ring was still securely worn there, his expression grew even more astonished.

‘With the protection of the Life Ring, why would it still trigger a Demon Calamity?’

Xie Mingzhi’s brow furrowed slightly. He couldn’t figure it out.

In truth, the greatest function of the Winged Double Rings for him was not their legendary power, but their ability to conceal the Hou Beast’s aura, allowing it to move about freely with him.

Otherwise, the Ba, having been promoted to a “Hou,” would have had to hide away like the few Sin Level Great Demons raised by the Yingjing Nine Banners, not daring to move about casually.

The dark clouds gathered with extreme speed, and in the blink of an eye, the massive vortex took shape.

Just as Xie Mingzhi’s brow was locked in a frown, utterly perplexed, he suddenly heard the nearby Hou let out a series of frantic, uneasy growls from deep in its throat.

“CRACK… CRACK… CRACK…”

Xie Mingzhi heard a strange, grating sound, as if something heavy was slowly being pried open bit by bit.

Mixed within it, there seemed to be the sound of a low, muted chuckle.

“ROAR!”

The massive Hou Beast grew even more frantic, growling repeatedly.

Xie Mingzhi was standing near the Hou Beast’s tail. For some reason, a sense of inexplicable unease welled up inside him.

He subconsciously quickened his pace, trying to circle around to the front of the Hou Beast to get a clear look.

The chuckling and the prying sound grew clearer and more distinct.

When Xie Mingzhi finally made it to the side and got a completely clear view of the scene right in front of the Hou Beast’s face, he froze on the spot, utterly stunned!

—In a blind spot for most onlookers, a figure over four meters tall, covered head-to-toe in black Crystal Clusters like armor and with layered Fire Centipede Steps sprouting from its back, stood like a Demon Fiend. With its hands braced top and bottom against the four rows of interlocking fangs in the Hou Beast’s gaping, bloody maw, it was slowly, forcefully, prying the beast’s mouth open.

As if sensing Xie Mingzhi’s gaze, the figure turned its head to look at him.

His eyes met a pair of molten gold pupils, and Xie Mingzhi’s mind exploded with a deafening “BOOM”!

Even though the face had become incomparably demonic and fiendish, Xie Mingzhi recognized it in a single glance—it was the face of Fu Juemin, the man he had just been fighting!

“Impossible… This is impossible…”

Xie Mingzhi’s eyes were vacant as he stumbled back two steps. He looked up at the sky again, his expression turning dazed.

“This is… your Sin Level Demon Calamity?!”

Xie Mingzhi’s voice trembled with a level of shocked disbelief he had never heard from himself before.

“You… you were never human at all?!!”

“BOOM!”

As he spoke, a terrifying blast of air erupted from the center of the field.

The man and the Demon, who had been locked in a stalemate, were thrown apart by the force!

A violent gale swept across Celestial Waterfall Peak, and everyone still on the field saw—

—beneath the massive, swirling black clouds pregnant with thunder, Fu Juemin had shed his appearance as a worldly Young Master. He now floated mid-air in the form of a new Great Demon, looking down upon the crowd below.

Compared to the mountain-sized Hou Beast below, his physical form was far smaller, but his aura and Force Field were in no way inferior, rivaling it completely…

In the sky, with the vortex swirling above his head, Fu Juemin slowly rolled his neck, stretching his Demon Body.

The Crystal Clusters on his body made soft, grinding sounds as they rubbed together. The Fire Centipede Steps on his back unfurled, layer by layer, like a Demon Fiend spreading its wings.

He looked down at the Hou Beast, its ferocity on full display, and spoke in a flat tone, “I’ve waited so long. You’ve finally deigned to come out.”

“ROAR!”

The Hou Beast responded with a roar that could pierce clouds and shatter stone.

A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the world in a deathly white!

In an instant, both man and beast vanished from everyone’s sight almost simultaneously.

Immediately after.

“BOOM—!”

A terrifying blast of air, more than ten times stronger than the one from his fight with Xie Mingzhi, suddenly exploded!

Under the earth-shattering boom and the peak-quaking impact, everyone at the base of Celestial Waterfall Peak felt their minds descend into utter chaos.

In an inconspicuous corner, Wei Jie, who had been staring blankly at the sky, suddenly snapped back to his senses.

He suddenly pointed at the clashing figures in mid-air, his voice trembling with emotion as he muttered to himself, “It’s you! The Second Grade Great Demon that shook the Nine Banners and caused the Yingjing Demon Calamity a while back—it was you all along!..”

“No… I have to report this news back to Yingjing immediately, tell everyone in the Nine Banners!!”

As if he had discovered some earth-shattering secret, Wei Jie’s face flushed with excitement. Trembling all over, he began to look for a path down the mountain.

But before he could even turn around, suddenly—

“SQUELCH!”

A bloody hand suddenly burst through his body, emerging from his chest.

“Ugh…”

Caught completely off guard, Wei Jie froze, staring dumbly at the hand protruding from his chest, not yet fully processing what had happened.

A tall figure rapidly closed in from behind him.

Hong Huan, whose injuries had been mostly healed by a sliver of Fu Juemin’s Innate Primordial Liquid, wiped the bloodstains from his face. With a savage grin, he leaned close to Wei Jie’s ear and whispered, “Young Master Wei, you know… far too much.”

With that, Hong Huan grabbed Wei Jie by the neck and quickly dragged him into the darkness behind them…