The Heavenly Fiend True Demon Art

The elder stared at the painting scroll, his face turning deathly pale. What he held in his hands was now riddled with holes, as full of gaps as a sieve. It was clearly damaged beyond repair.

“What a pity! If Fellow Daoist Kuyao had not been so eager to emerge and had held on a little longer inside without channeling his fire spiritual power, that cultivator would most likely have been forced to withdraw the formation diagram due to depleted mana. As it stands, Fellow Daoist Kuyao has also lost a fair bit of origin energy. Neither side can claim the upper hand now,” the black-robed man said with some regret.

The tall, gaunt Dharma Warrior was startled by this. He glanced downward, a look of dawning realization on his face.

The horse-faced Ma elder’s complexion cycled through pale and green several times. In the end, he still could not bear to discard the scroll in his hand and instead tucked it back into his storage pouch. Then he glared viciously at the Kuyao across from him.

Seeing the elder’s expression, Kuyao snorted coldly. He stomped on the fire serpent beneath his feet, and flames rolled over his body once more as red light flared up again.

“Master Kuyao, stop. How about we call this battle a draw between the two of you? Both of you have expended too much mana. Fighting any further will not yield any results,” the tall, gaunt cultivator suddenly called out from high in the sky, halting Kuyao’s actions. The latter part of his words were directed toward the bald-browed giant and the other Heavenly South cultivators.

The bald-browed giant was somewhat surprised by this, but he exchanged a glance with Gu Shuangpu and then nodded in agreement.

“Fine. This match ends here.”

Hearing the words of the tall, gaunt Dharma Warrior and the bald-browed giant, the Ma elder knew that continuing the fight would be futile, even if he was unwilling. He could only helplessly fly back.

Kuyao, on the other side, was equally frustrated. He retracted the fire serpent beneath his feet and flew back to his own side with resentment.

Once the Ma elder returned, the bald-browed giant naturally offered a few words of comfort, which finally managed to ease the elder’s expression slightly.

But just then, on the Dharma Warrior side, the black-robed man and the tall, gaunt elder whispered a few words to each other. As a result, the black-robed man lightly floated down from the sky, stopping at the site of the recent battle. He then swept his grim gaze across the assembled cultivators.

“Your opponent for this next match is me. Let me say this in advance. This battle will be fought to the death. Do not fantasize that someone will suddenly step in to stop it halfway,” the black-robed man said in a hoarse, muffled voice, a flicker of contempt flashing through his eyes.

The black-robed man’s arrogant words made the bald-browed giant and Gu Shuangpu’s expressions change. Anger flickered in their eyes, but neither of them dared to recklessly jump out and accept the challenge.

After all, they both knew that the two Nascent Soul cultivators who had died in the previous battles had fallen to this unfamiliar Dharma Warrior. As proud as they were, when their own lives were on the line, they could not help but hesitate.

“Let me test him out,” Han Li suddenly said calmly.

“Ah, Fellow Daoist wishes to go…! Fellow Daoist Han, you must be careful. If anything seems amiss, the three of us will naturally come to your aid,” the bald-browed giant said, startled for a moment by Han Li’s voluntary request. However, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief, though he naturally put on a show of earnest caution on the surface.

Hearing this, Han Li only gave a faint smile and said nothing more. Azure light swirled around his body, and he transformed into a streak of azure light, shooting into the sky.

In the blink of an eye, the azure rainbow arrived near the black-robed man. The light converged, and Han Li stood there with his hands behind his back, his face utterly expressionless.

The black-robed man’s eyes flickered as he scrutinized Han Li from head to toe. His gaze gradually turned icy cold, and his pupils began to shift from black to green, an extremely eerie sight.

Han Li’s eyes narrowed slightly. Suddenly, he spoke up and asked:

“Are you a demon or a ghost?”

“Heh heh! Do you think I don’t look human?” the black-robed man across from him replied, not angered by Han Li’s question, but sneering instead. At the same time, wisps of ink-black qi began to emanate from his body. The sound of ghostly wailing rose sharply in volume. In an instant, a chilling wind swept through the area on the opposite side, making it feel like a ghostly realm.

“So you are human. That’s good. It seems you are a heretic cultivator who practices the way of demons and ghosts,” Han Li said with a light exhale, his expression unchanged.

“Hmph! Brat, you really talk a lot. There’s no need to keep probing my background. After I destroy you, you won’t have to worry about anything anymore,” the black-robed man said hoarsely. At the same time, the black qi on his body suddenly swelled, his figure becoming indistinct within the dark mist.

“I don’t have the patience to dawdle with you. Hand over your life now.” The black-robed man let out a sinister laugh from within the black qi, formed a hand seal, and his body suddenly swelled to twice its size, transforming from an ordinary-looking person into a giant over two zhang tall. Although his form was obscured by the Yin energy, the black-robed man, whose clothes had burst, now vaguely appeared to have horns growing from his head and fangs protruding from his mouth. No wonder so many cultivators believed these unfamiliar Dharma Warriors were all transformed non-humans.

A flash of blue light flickered in Han Li’s pupils. The giant’s green-faced, fanged appearance was clearly imprinted in his mind’s eye.

“This is…?” After Han Li clearly saw the demonic form the giant had taken, a flicker of surprise appeared on his face for the first time. This giant’s current demonized appearance was exactly the same as one of the phantom projections of the ‘Six Extremes True Demon Art’ wielded by the Six Paths sect’s successor when they had fought that day.

“What is your relationship with the Six Extremes Saint?”

“What Six Extremes Saint? Don’t think that spouting nonsense will buy you time. Die!” The giant was momentarily stunned, but then a vicious grin spread across his face. His large hand suddenly waved within the black qi.

A dark object shot straight toward Han Li. As soon as it left the black qi, it vanished in a flash of black light.

Seeing this, Han Li’s expression darkened. His figure suddenly shot backward several zhang.

At the same time, a huge, emerald-green ghost claw suddenly appeared at his original standing position and grabbed at the air. Naturally, it caught nothing.

“Eh!” The demonic giant let out a soft exclamation of surprise at the missed attack.

“Not bad. Although you aren’t practicing a ghostly cultivation art but a type of demonic technique, your attack methods are very similar to those of a ghost cultivator. If anyone really treated you as a ghost cultivator, they would probably suffer greatly for it,” Han Li said calmly, staring at that ghostly hand.

Upon hearing Han Li’s words, the giant within the black qi froze for a moment, then stared coldly at Han Li without a word.

But just then, Han Li’s brow furrowed slightly. His figure blurred and moved several zhang to the side. Another emerald-green ghost claw silently swept up from beneath where he had just been standing.

This time, the giant in the ghostly qi could no longer maintain his composure. He spoke up to ask:

“You’ve been able to dodge the Ghostly Yin Claw’s attacks repeatedly. Have you encountered a true ghost cultivator before?” The giant’s words finally revealed a trace of information.

“Of course I have. Otherwise, how could I dodge so easily?” Han Li replied with a light, half-truthful laugh.

“Hmph! You are certainly well-traveled. But it doesn’t matter. Even if you know I’m using a demonic technique, so what? Under the power of this Heavenly Fiend True Demon Art of mine, your death is imminent,” the giant said darkly, apparently not intending to continue the conversation. He suddenly raised his head and let out a sharp howl.

The howl was piercingly shrill, as if it could shatter metal and crack stone.

Seeing this, Han Li’s composed expression gradually faded, replaced by a hint of gravity.

At that moment, the black qi on the opposite side began to spin rapidly, like a whirlwind. A powerful and astonishing demonic qi erupted out of thin air. Then, a huge black shadow shot out from the swirling black wind, crossing the distance to Han Li in the blink of an eye, leaving behind a trail of afterimages.

The black shadow’s two arms moved slightly, and a dense array of blue-black claw shadows descended upon Han Li, sealing off all avenues of escape. It seemed intent on using just its pair of claws to slice Han Li into countless pieces of minced meat.

Han Li took a deep breath. With a peculiar expression on his face, he neither dodged nor blocked, but instead rubbed his hands together and raised them.

A clap of thunder rang out. A pale golden net of electricity materialized above Han Li’s head, fearlessly meeting the incoming claw shadows.

The black shadow was startled by this, but he had no time to think. His claws still came down ruthlessly.

In his mind, perhaps ordinary demonic techniques could be suppressed to some extent by lightning-element techniques, but his Heavenly Fiend True Demon Art was no ordinary demonic technique. A mere bit of lightning would not be able to harm him in the slightest. This cultivator in front of him, who seemed to know a few things that made him deeply uncomfortable, would soon be meeting his end.

Before the black shadow could finish this line of thought, he suddenly felt an intense heat on his pair of claws, followed by an indescribably sharp pain emanating from them. Then, a brilliant golden light filled his vision. The net of golden lightning arcs had actually broken through his claw shadows and was now descending upon his head.

“Golden lightning arcs? No! I’ve heard of this somewhere before. Could it be…?” When the massive black shadow was unexpectedly caught by the golden lightning net, he suddenly recalled rumors about golden lightning arcs. Wasn’t this one of the few things that the elder who had taught him the art had repeatedly warned him about—the thing the Heavenly Fiend True Demon Art was most vulnerable to?

Since he had cultivated this demonic art, he had rarely encountered a rival of the same rank, and he had temporarily forgotten this matter!

The black shadow’s face turned purple with shock and fear, but he was not about to just stand there and wait for death. Without a second thought, he let out a great roar. His originally tall frame suddenly began to shrink rapidly amidst a series of explosions, turning into a dwarf just over three chi tall in an instant. This briefly extended the time before the golden net fully enveloped him.

And it was this brief moment that bought him some time.

With a muffled “bang,” a dull explosion rang out.

The dwarf’s body swelled up and then contracted in an instant, violently exploding into countless jet-black, gleaming strands of silk, which shot off in all directions.

(Hehe! Finally finished writing this chapter. Don’t forget to cast your votes, everyone! o)