Chapter 570: Fighting a Fifth Grade

BOOM!

The carriage shattered.

Ming Nianwei’s figure appeared several dozen feet away. Her Fuyao Sword swayed gently, scattering motes of Spiritual Light around her.

Not far away.

An Ape Demon holding a pitch-black club stood in the middle of the long street, its eyes wide with surprise as it looked at her.

“A Sixth-Grade Mage?”

‘A place this small actually has a Sixth-Grade Mage?’

“A Fifth-Grade Great Demon.”

Ming Nianwei’s lips felt dry, her beautiful eyes flickering.

“Just my luck!”

Facing the Fifth-Grade Great Demon, she had a very strange feeling. She felt that her opponent was both incredibly powerful and pathetically weak.

This was clearly the influence of Li Chengxia’s memories.

In Li Chengxia’s eyes, a Great Demon below the Fifth Grade wasn’t even worth a second glance; one could crush it with a single finger.

But to Ming Nianwei’s senses, the opponent’s Qi Blood was as vast as a sea of smoke, pressing down on her so heavily she could barely breathe. Even her thoughts slowed, and her control over the Fuyao Sword felt sluggish.

“HO HO…”

The Ape Demon growled.

“What good luck. Cultivators care more about external items than Martial Artists. You must be covered in good stuff.”

“Killing you will make me rich!”

Before its voice had even faded, its figure vanished, crossing the dozen-meter distance in an instant.

The pitch-black club, wrapped in terrifying Giant Power, slammed down, kicking up a howling gale before it even landed.

BOOM!

The Powerful Qi in the gale swept through the long street, and the stone walls on either side crumbled like tofu.

Fifth Grade!

Their every move could make the world tremble.

The club twisted in mid-air like a Flood Dragon churning the water, sending countless afterimages expanding in all directions.

The ground caved in and cracked. Walls and houses collapsed. The fierce wind sent dirt and stone flying.

In the chaos.

A shimmering Flying Sword flickered rapidly, weaving through the countless shadows of the club, stabbing wildly.

CLINK…

CLINK! CLANG! CLINK!

Sparks flew. The Fuyao Sword let out a mournful, unwilling cry as its Sword Light dimmed, and it dove into the ground.

“Found you!”

The Ape Demon suddenly whipped its head around and jabbed with its club.

BANG!

Its extreme speed made the air ripple visibly, pushing it aside in layers.

Ming Nianwei, hidden in the void, was forced out by this Invisible Power.

Surprise and astonishment showed on her face, but not panic. She simply took a step back, vacating her position.

WHOOSH…

A figure appeared where she had just stood, his heavy armor gleaming with a dark luster.

Giant Spirit Fist!

Strength!

Zhu Ju leaned forward, striking like a heavy hammer. His gauntleted fist collided with the incoming club.

BANG!

Powerful Qi erupted from the point of contact. The ground for several dozen feet around them sank, and countless streams of Powerful Qi wildly slashed in all directions.

“A Human Race expert?”

The Ape Demon’s eyes narrowed. It dug into its ear with its left hand and flung a black something straight at him.

At the same time, it brandished its club with its right hand, and a sky full of club shadows rained down once more.

“Die!”

BZZZZ…

The black something it had thrown abruptly scattered, transforming into thousands of tiny flying insects that swarmed forward.

The Ape Demon carried a type of parasitic insect that had also transformed into Demons, capable of sucking Essence and blood.

This was its trump card. Even a Fifth-Grade Great Demon, if swarmed by these insects for just a moment, would be sucked into a dried-up corpse. And with the Ape Demon tying up the target, it was effectively a two-on-one fight.

BANG!

The two clashed again, an even match, but the black insects had already reached Zhu Ju.

The insects searched for gaps in his armor, wriggling inside with astonishing speed. In an instant, he felt an itching, numbing, tingling sensation.

“Hmph…”

Zhu Ju frowned slightly. He retracted his hands, and his body suddenly shook like a soft strip of cloth.

White Python Shaking Scales!

CRACKLE…

A violent force erupted from the surface of his body, like countless millstones grinding over his Skin and Flesh.

Instantly.

Countless black insects fell, rustling to the ground.

This kind of technique required complete mastery over one’s own Strength and Physical Body. Clearly, he had achieved that.

ROAR!

The Ape Demon roared in fury. It had lived with these black insects since it was young; they were practically connected by blood.

The sharp pain in its heart drove it berserk. It swung its club wildly, smashing down toward Zhu Ju.

SWOOSH!

A palm-sized stone appeared out of thin air, instantly swelling to the size of a house and descending with a Five-Colored Divine Light.

Five Elements Mountain!

This treasure was so powerful that even the Fifth-Grade Great Demon’s movements faltered for a moment.

Zhu Ju seized the opportunity to close in, his twin fists striking out in a blur of afterimages, all of which landed on the Ape Demon’s chest.

PFFT!

The Ape Demon coughed up blood and flew backward. While it was still in mid-air, a flash of Sword Light passed, and its head tumbled to the ground.

Ming Nianwei, who had been biding her time, delivered the finishing blow.

“Whew…” Zhu Ju let out a long, turbid breath and put away the Five Elements Mountain, a hint of exhaustion on his face.

“A Fifth Grade… That was still a bit of a stretch.”

“My Lord,” Ming Nianwei said, shaking her head gently, her voice filled with admiration.

“You are only Seventh Grade, two full grades below a Fifth-Grade Great Demon, yet you still held the upper hand. That’s unbelievable. I doubt even the Core True Inheritance disciples of a top Sect could do that.”

Even if she hadn’t acted, given the situation just now, Zhu Ju could have still finished off the Ape Demon on his own.

And this Ape Demon was no newly-minted Fifth Grade.

“Mm.”

Zhu Ju nodded.

“To the City Lord’s Mansion!”

“We’re not going back?” Ming Nianwei froze for a moment, then came to her senses.

“Of course. Only the City Lord’s Mansion will know the current situation, and it’s closer to us.”

“Let’s go!”

Zhu Ju put away his Bright Armor and strode forward.

“I can sense the auras of at least ten Fifth-Grade Great Demons in Taiyuan Prefecture. If the City Lord’s Mansion can’t hold…”

“Then we run!”

*

*

*

CRASH…

A figure crashed through tables and chairs, rolling several meters across the ground.

“City Lord!”

“Lord Yann!”

The people nearby roared when they saw this, but they were all occupied with their own opponents and couldn’t spare a hand to help.

“Fifth Grade?”

The woman, dressed in white silk that revealed her exquisite figure, raised an eyebrow and giggled.

“A Pseudo Fifth-Grade, that’s all.”

“Demon,” Yann Ji snarled as he struggled up from the ground, his eyes filled with viciousness.

“You forced my hand!”

“Do it!”

The moment he spoke, the woman’s expression changed drastically. Her figure dissolved into a wisp of green smoke and vanished.

THWANG!

An arrow as thick as a grown man’s thigh appeared where the woman had been standing, buried deep in the ground.

“A Demon-Suppressing Arrow!”

“It’s the Demon-Suppressing Crossbow!”

Cries of surprise, tinged with ecstatic joy, rose from the crowd.

“Fire!”

A look of reluctance crossed Yann Ji’s face, and his eyelids twitched as he swung his hand down.

THWANG!

THWANG…

The vibrating twang of bowstrings sounded one after another as a dozen black bolts of light descended from the sky. Each bolt pinned at least one Demon, whether it was a Sixth-Grade Great Demon or a Ninth-Grade Little Demon.

Those in the know were equally astonished.

The Demon-Suppressing Crossbow was a standard-issue Powerful Crossbow of the Divine Dynasty’s military, terrifyingly potent. It wasn’t surprising that Taiyuan Prefecture had a few. The strange thing was, why was a superweapon that should have been mounted on the city walls set up in the courtyard of the City Lord’s Mansion?

As for the pained look on Yann Ji’s face, that was also easy to understand. Each of those Crossbow Arrows was worth more than a thousand gold pieces.

That last volley must have burned through an untold amount of gold and silver—at least two years’ worth of tax silver for Taiyuan Prefecture.

But the results were just as astonishing.

Nearly all the Great Demons of Seventh Grade and above on the field had been exterminated. The Fox Demon who had been fighting Yann Ji had also been injured and fled. The situation was reversed in an instant.

“A brilliant plan, Lord City Lord! You knew the Demons would target the City Lord’s Mansion, so you prepared the Demon-Suppressing Crossbows in advance and caught them completely off guard.”

Someone’s eyes darted about as they offered the flattery.

“Preventing the Demons from breaching the city will surely be a Great Merit!”

“Hmph!” Yann Ji grunted, the worry on his brow not lessening in the slightest as he asked,

“What is the situation in the city now?”

“Reporting to the City Lord,” a Seventh-Grade Mage stepped forward and cupped his hands. “The number of Demons that descended from the sky was limited, and most are concentrated at the Sanhe Gang’s headquarters. The Nie Mansion’s guards have formed a Battle Array, a senior from the Zhou Mansion has come out of seclusion, and along with the disciples of the Wenda Sect, they have stabilized the situation. But as for the Sanhe Gang…”

“The Sanhe Gang?” Yann Ji’s eyes flickered as he gave a quick command.

“Help the Nie Family first, then the Zhou Family. It’s better to cut off one finger than to injure all ten. We’ll secure the upper hand first, then rescue the Sanhe Gang.”

“Hmph!”

“The city gates are sealed, and reinforcements can’t get here. Victory is ours!”

Amidst the chaotic crowd, Zhu Ju and Ming Nianwei exchanged a look, and the tension on their faces eased.

It seemed the situation was not as dire as they had imagined.