Chapter 354

SHRAAAK!

With a skin-crawling sound, the demonic practitioners in the first line were sliced apart as cleanly as bundles of straw.

FLASH!

White light flared again. This time, the men in the second line were cut apart as easily as bundles of chives and came tumbling down in pieces.

Only then did Blood-Axe Mad Demon see lightning erupting from the Blue-Steel Sword as Cave Hermit Taoist spun a full circle with the speed of a top and swept his blade outward.

FLASH!

The lightning spread in a circle like ripples across the surface of water, passing through the demonic practitioners in the third line.

SPLAAAT!

It had been nothing more than a momentary flash of lightning.

So how could it have produced such a gruesome sound of flesh being torn apart?

THUD-THUD-THUD!

The third-line practitioners fell to the ground in pieces like chives cut down by a sickle. Clearly, that lightning had not been mere light.

What in the world? How is that even possible?

The sword aura Cave Hermit Taoist had produced extended only about half a zhang.

Yet the men in the third line had been nearly two zhang away.

While Blood-Axe Mad Demon stared in disbelief, another bolt of lightning burst from Cave Hermit Taoist’s Blue-Steel Sword.

FLASH!

KRA-KRA-KRAANG!

THUD! THUD! BANG!

With sounds like leather drums bursting, the torsos of the fourth-line practitioners three zhang away exploded.

Perhaps because there had actually been noise this time, this fourth bolt at least seemed like a martial art that could have been performed by a human being.

That was how utterly shocking the previous three flashes had been.

A divine martial art that could scarcely be believed to have come from human hands.

Only then did Blood-Axe Mad Demon fully understand what Cave Hermit Taoist had meant earlier.

He had said that they were the ones who had entered the cage.

Cave Hermit Taoist wasn't a tiger. He was a dragon! A ferocious dragon so savage that even the Heavenly Devas would hesitate to approach it!

A tiger was a creature of the mortal world. No matter how formidable it was, there was still some way to deal with it.

But a dragon was a divine beast of the celestial realm. Human skill could not contend with such a thing.

The best one could do was avoid it and flee.

Yet they had attacked without realizing that Cave Hermit Taoist was such a dragon. Just as he had said, they had crawled into the cage of their own accord.

So that was why Cave Hermit Taoist stood there in the middle of the official road without moving. He was drawing every last one of us into the range of his divine martial art!

The farther Cave Hermit Taoist’s attack traveled, the rougher and louder it became.

That only made Blood-Axe Mad Demon more certain of his conclusion.

The instant his thoughts reached that point, the shock that had left him frozen finally broke, and reality came rushing back.

His divine martial art can't reach this far.

Everything within three zhang of Cave Hermit Taoist had been utterly devastated. The road was slick with the blood and chunks of flesh left by his men.

Blood-Axe Mad Demon had survived only because there were more than four zhang between them.

I still have a chance to live!

His mind screamed at him to turn around and run.

His body refused to obey.

The terror was so overwhelming that mind and body seemed to have momentarily separated.

Blood-Axe Mad Demon desperately circulated his true qi, struggling to regain control of himself.

Please...

Then Kwak Yeon entered his field of vision, walking across the sea of blood toward him.

Too late!

Blood-Axe Mad Demon realized there was no longer any chance of escape and forced the Blood Axe upward with every scrap of strength he possessed.

He's still a man made of flesh and blood. He's used a divine martial art like that four times in a row. He has to have reached his limit.

That desperate reassurance gave him courage, and his inner power surged.

SSSSS.

Blood-Axe Mad Demon raised the Blood Axe high, demonic qi rippling around it.

The instant Kwak came within reach, he would strike and settle everything with a single blow.

SWISH.

Yet even when Kwak Yeon glided past him, Blood-Axe Mad Demon could not swing the axe.

In his mind, he had already brought the Blood Axe crashing down on Kwak’s skull.

CRRACK.

Instead, he heard something tearing inside his own body.

His upper body had shifted away from his lower body at the waist, the two halves beginning to separate.

When...?

Blood-Axe Mad Demon remembered the slight flick of Kwak Yeon’s sword as he crossed the sea of blood.

A faint cluster of white light had flashed then, but it had vanished without a trace, so he had assumed it was merely sunlight reflecting from the blade.

After all, they had been more than four zhang apart. He had believed the power of that divine martial art could not possibly reach him.

He used it on me!

And at that same moment, he finally understood the principle behind Cave Hermit Taoist’s divine martial art.

Projected sword aura!

When Kwak had faced the demonic practitioners surrounding him, he had spread his power in every direction.

But against Blood-Axe Mad Demon, he had concentrated that projected sword aura into a single point.

Its effective range had increased explosively.

Projected sword aura... Then Cave Hermit Taoist's realm is—

Blood-Axe Mad Demon never finished the thought.

SLICE!

THUD!

His upper body slid free and crashed to the ground.

His consciousness vanished with it.

******

Even while urging on the demonic practitioners embroiled in the melee with the Wudang Taoists, Flame-Saber Divine Demon had kept a close eye on the Soul-Snatching Demon Unit.

He had recently received intelligence confirming that Cave Hermit Taoist had reached at least the middle level of the Flower Realm.

The prospect of earning tremendous merit by capturing a public enemy of the Demonic Eight Divisions was tempting, but after hearing that intelligence, he could not afford to be greedy.

If Cave Hermit Taoist stood at the upper extreme of the Flower Realm, the danger was simply too great.

The entire Soul-Snatching Demon Unit—and perhaps even Blood-Axe Mad Demon himself—could be crushed by Cave Hermit Taoist.

If they managed to inflict severe injuries on him in the process, however, Flame-Saber Divine Demon could step in afterward and claim the great merit for himself.

As he had expected, the Soul-Snatching Demon Unit was annihilated.

Blood-Axe Mad Demon, the last man left standing, died with his torso severed cleanly in two.

There was only one thing Flame-Saber Divine Demon had not expected.

It had all happened in an instant.

Blood-Axe Mad Demon and the Soul-Snatching Demon Unit had failed to endure for even half a quarter-hour against Cave Hermit Taoist.

No.

It would be more accurate to say that the battle had ended almost the instant they clashed.

Quick-witted as ever, Flame-Saber Divine Demon immediately reached a conclusion.

Even the latest intelligence claiming Cave Hermit Taoist was at the middle level of the Flower Realm or above was wrong. He's clearly gone beyond the upper extreme.

That conclusion immediately led to another.

A death god they had no hope of handling had appeared on the battlefield.

One obvious thought entered Flame-Saber Divine Demon’s mind.

This operation is finished!

Now that he had reached a decision, he needed to order his men to retreat at once.

But his blood-crazed subordinates were already completely consumed by the battle.

Unlike ordinary martial artists, practitioners of demonic arts entered a state of extreme excitement at the sight of blood.

Their demonic qi surged, and their fear of battle vanished.

They became blindly aggressive, hurling themselves even at enemies they could never defeat like moths flying into a flame.

They're already lost in their demonic qi. They won't listen even if I give the order.

In truth, their blood frenzy worked to his advantage.

It gave him the opportunity to extract himself from the battlefield and escape.

Still, he needed to bring at least a few of them back alive.

There had to be witnesses who could testify that he had done everything possible and simply faced an enemy beyond their ability to overcome.

If he returned alone, the vicious-tempered Lord of the Gathering Demons Division would not even bother questioning him.

He would simply cut off Flame-Saber Divine Demon’s head and hang it from the city gate as an example.

Fortunately, several of his men seemed to have noticed the annihilation of the Soul-Snatching Demon Unit and were watching him for instructions.

Just then, Kwak Yeon, having bisected Blood-Axe Mad Demon, plunged straight into the melee.

WHOOSH!

“Ghk!”

“Kegh!”

Cave Hermit Taoist cut down two members of the Soul-Severing Mad Demon Unit with a single stroke and shouted Wudang’s battle cry.

“Wudang Upholds Justice!”

The mighty shout, filled with pure inner true qi, thundered across the battlefield.

Kwak Yeon had not shouted merely to announce his arrival to his fellow disciples.

Through the Unhindered Heart Sound of Moonlight Palace’s Solitary Moon Illuminates Without Hindrance Technique, he sought both to bolster the inner true qi of Wudang’s disciples and throw the demonic qi of their enemies into disorder.

The Wudang disciples had just learned that a supreme expert like Kwak Yeon had arrived to aid them, and their depleted inner true qi now stirred with fresh strength as well.

Their courage soared.

They answered as one.

“Its Might Shakes the World!”

The answering half of Wudang’s battle cry thundered through the valley.

—Its Might Shakes the World... Its Might Shakes the World... Its Might Shakes the World....

With the momentum of the battle reversing in a single stroke, Flame-Saber Divine Demon had no reason left to hesitate.

At present, their only advantage was numbers, and even that advantage would rapidly disappear.

If I miss this chance, I'll leave my bones here.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Flame-Saber Divine Demon drove back the young Wudang disciple who had stubbornly held him off with strange sword forms wholly unlike Wudang’s usual arts.

Then he whistled.

WHEE! WHEE! WHEEEEE!

Two short whistles followed by one long note.

It was the prearranged retreat signal for his men.

Retreat at all costs!

Flame-Saber Divine Demon watched as several quick-witted demonic practitioners turned and ran.

He wanted to see what Cave Hermit Taoist would do about the fleeing men.

When he saw that Kwak was concentrating solely on saving the Wudang disciples still trapped in the melee, relief washed over him.

Right. Unless that bastard has several bodies, he can't chase the men who are already running.

“You demon bastard! What trick are you pulling?”

The Wudang disciple came at him again with a savage shout.

Flame-Saber Divine Demon threw everything he had into the saber strike he unleashed at the young man.

“Just fucking die this time, you brat!”

CLANG! CLANG! CLAAANG!

Using one of his strongest techniques, Flame-Saber Divine Demon forced his opponent back.

Then he hurled himself away without another moment’s hesitation.

WHOOSH!

Even while retreating, Flame-Saber Divine Demon did not neglect to watch the battlefield.

He was worried Cave Hermit Taoist might recognize who he was and pursue him.

But just as he had hoped, Kwak showed no interest in Flame-Saber Divine Demon as he fled the battlefield.

SWISH!

“Ghk!”

CRUNCH!

“Kehk!”

The demonic practitioners who had lost themselves to bloodlust and charged blindly at Kwak were being carved apart in swaths by his White Astral Qi.

Cave Hermit Taoist seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. Even those who crept up on him from behind were cut down with casual ease.

Every one of his movements looked impossibly simple.

They were dazzlingly fast, yet contained not the slightest wasted motion.

It was as though Cave Hermit Taoist alone had been freed from the constraints of space and time.

Suddenly, Flame-Saber Divine Demon had the feeling that he was watching the very essence of martial technique.

Cave Hermit Taoist was his enemy, yet even he found those movements beautiful.

He might have cultivated demonic arts and become a demon of the martial world, but some small part of him still took pride in being a martial artist who pursued the martial path.

Cave Hermit Taoist... What an extraordinary man.

In any case, Flame-Saber Divine Demon had been lucky.

Blood-Axe Mad Demon’s stupidity had saved his life, and the chaotic melee had allowed him to escape without Cave Hermit Taoist pursuing him.

THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!

Once he was more than ten zhang from the battlefield, Flame-Saber Divine Demon stopped looking back.

He had already opened enough distance that Cave Hermit Taoist would have difficulty catching him.

Together with the six demonic practitioners clever enough to slip away from the battlefield, Flame-Saber Divine Demon raced down the official road.

I definitely saw more of them start moving. And only six made it out.

The others had probably tried to disengage only to be struck down by those Wudang Taoists.

They say those Wudang bastards are some of the most stubborn sons of bitches under heaven... Damn.

Flame-Saber Divine Demon smacked his lips bitterly and pushed his lightness art even harder.

His best chance of evading pursuit by a supreme expert was to put as much distance behind him as possible, then disappear either deep in the mountains or amid the crowded markets of a city.

THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!

After running until his mouth tasted scorched, Flame-Saber Divine Demon spotted two men racing toward them from the opposite direction along the official road.

Both were similarly massive and powerfully built, enough so that they looked like brothers.

Anyone who heard the thunderous sounds of battle echoing through the valley and still came running toward them could hardly be an ordinary man.

Were there ever two brothers that huge in the martial world?

Flame-Saber Divine Demon searched his memory but could not recall any famous pair of martial brothers with builds like theirs.

If I've never heard of them, they can't amount to much.

Then there was nothing to worry about.

Nor did he need to waste time deciding what to do with the pair.

His subordinates, still drunk on blood and brimming with demonic qi, were already drawing their weapons.