Chapter 308 - 299: Admiral Yin Crow, Demon-Trapping Array

Chapter 308: Chapter 299: Admiral Yin Crow, Demon-Trapping Array

"A... A Transformed Realm Great Demon?..."

Mu Feng froze.

As a member of the Nine Banner Race, who had been raising demons and serving fiends for so many years, he had never even heard of a "Transformed Realm Great Demon Fiend."

’Does it refer to a top-tier Great Demon Fiend that can take human form and switch freely between its Demon Body and a human one?’

Of course, he had no time to ponder the question.

The terrifying aura of the Flame Monarch’s Fire Prison emanating from Fu Juemin was like magma surging from the earth, rolling over him without restraint.

Under the invisible heat wave, the scenery of the surrounding rear garden seemed to twist and distort. His skin burned, and even his thoughts felt as if they were slowly melting.

Instinct drove Mu Feng to turn and run, his mind a complete blank.

Someone was faster than him. The lean Tong Martial Artist standing beside him blurred into an afterimage and shot away in an instant.

But in the next instant—

SWOOSH—

A crimson trajectory suddenly streaked through the air, piercing straight through the afterimage!

BANG!

The fine cobblestone-paved ground exploded.

Mu Feng’s body stopped short, his pupils contracting as he saw it—the Tong Martial Artist who had escaped just a moment before him had been impaled. A long, glossy black leg dripping with crimson flames had pierced through his chest, pinning him mercilessly to the ground.

His body convulsed violently, wisps of black energy escaping from within. Black feathers began to sprout haphazardly from his face and hands... but with a gentle lick from the crimson flames flowing on the leg, his entire body was engulfed in fire.

He struggled for a moment, then went still.

Mu Feng watched, wide-eyed, as the Tong Martial Artist was burned alive into a charred husk. The leg that had impaled him lifted slightly and casually flicked the scorched corpse to the ground as if shaking off a piece of trash.

The man seemed to have glanced his way just before dying. Mu Feng’s mind went BUZZ, as if struck by a colossal, invisible hammer.

The terror that had been building inside him finally reached its peak and erupted into a desperate scream.

"AHHHH!—"

"Why?... Why?... How could this happen?"

Of the three men, only Chen You hadn’t run.

Chen You’s expression was vacant, the flickering flames reflected in his unfocused eyes.

He stood frozen on the spot, his mouth repeating the same few words over and over.

Suddenly, he fell to his knees with a THUD, his face a mask of complete breakdown.

The next second, his head was impaled by a leg with a SQUELCH, and his body slumped to the ground.

Fu Juemin glanced casually at Chen You’s corpse, then looked up, his expression calm as he watched Mu Feng’s back, who was stumbling and desperately trying to flee in the distance.

’Chen You and the Tong Martial Artist could be killed, but Mu Feng, the Patriarch of the Mu Family, can’t die just yet.’

’My reason for coming to the Blue Banner Mu Family this time wasn’t just for a crow.’

"When you’re done eating, remember to come find me."

Fu Juemin turned his head slightly, tossed out the sentence, and then walked away without looking back.

He was speaking to Gu Shouyu, who was behind him.

At that moment, Gu Shouyu was sitting motionlessly at the stone table with a chicken leg in his left hand and a piece of fish in his right, a dazed look on his face.

Only after Fu Juemin, in his Flame Monarch state, had completely disappeared into the distance did he snap out of it as if waking from a dream.

"You... you-you’ve advanced again?!"

Whether it was for compiling the new Demon Monster Grand Ceremony or for his daily research on demons and evil spirits, Fu Juemin was, without a doubt, his most important "research subject."

Now, seeing that Fu Juemin’s Demon Body had undergone another change, Gu Shouyu could no longer be bothered with filling his stomach. He tossed the food aside, wiped his hands haphazardly on his clothes, and was about to jump up, his eyes shining with excitement.

But perhaps because he tried to get up too quickly, he choked on the food still in his mouth and began to cough violently.

Gu Shouyu, forgetting what Fu Juemin had told him earlier, grabbed the wine jug on the table and started chugging from it.

He managed to wash the food down, but before he could take two steps—THUD—

He face-planted straight onto the ground.

An oil-paper umbrella rolled out from his robes. The umbrella moved, and from under its handle, a fair-skinned woman’s arm emerged. Her slender, scallion-like fingers pinched Gu Shouyu’s ear and gave it a hard tug.

"Zzz... Zzz..."

Hearing Gu Shouyu’s contented snores, a helpless, ghostly sigh soon emerged from within the oil-paper umbrella.

"Sigh...."

.....

BANG!—

A figure stumbled out of the rear garden, his face ashen and his expression terrified, as if he were experiencing the most horrifying thing in the world.

"Master!"

A servant hurried to meet him, only to be shoved aside by Mu Feng.

"Get out of my way!"

Mu Feng frantically searched the flower hall, his gaze finally locking onto a vase.

He rushed forward and kicked over the pedestal the vase was on. The vase fell to the floor and shattered.

This revealed a stone, handle-like object behind it.

Mu Feng grabbed the stone handle with both hands and pushed down hard!

RUMBLE—

Behind the walls of the flower hall, it sounded as if a heavy floodgate was being opened.

The sound of gushing water came from beneath the floor, and a thick, bloody stench quickly seeped out from between the floor tiles.

HUMMM—

Amidst a faint hum, in an inconspicuous corner of the flower hall, the eyes of a red copper Buddha statue holding a lotus mudra suddenly glowed with an eerie red light.

The statue seemed to be connected to something underground, and a vast array hidden beneath the flower hall began to roar to life.

Immediately after, a faint red, gauze-like barrier of light rose rapidly from beneath the threshold at the entrance to the hall, soon sealing off the entire passage connecting to the rear garden.

Seeing the red barrier rise, Mu Feng finally heaved a long sigh of relief.

He found a random chair and plopped down, his trembling hands pulling a handkerchief from his sleeve to gently wipe the beads of sweat from his forehead.

’This array is my last resort. In theory, it should be able to trap our own Admiral Yin Crow for at least three days.’

’But that "Transformed Great Demon Fiend" is terrifyingly powerful, capable of instantly killing the Admiral in a single exchange.’

’It’s hard to say how long it can hold him back....’

THUD!

At the muffled sound, Mu Feng’s hand, which was wiping his sweat, jerked violently.

He snapped his head up, and his face, which had just begun to regain some color, instantly turned deathly pale again.

At the entrance to the hall, behind the faint red barrier that resembled frosted glass, a massive, ferocious, and slender figure, glowing with an orange light, was slowly becoming visible.

Mu Feng leaned forward, his eyes glued to the figure.

Suddenly!

DONG!

Along with a muffled sound, as if something had struck a drumhead, a hole inexplicably appeared on the red barrier at the hall’s entrance.

A glossy black centipede-like leg, dripping with crimson flames, poked through from behind the barrier.

Mu Feng leaped up from his chair, but before he could react further—

DONG! DONG! DONG!—

Following a few more muffled thuds, the number of flaming leg-tips on the frosted red barrier suddenly increased to four.

Immediately after, the four legs began to spread apart, pushing to either side....

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—

The entire light barrier trembled violently.

Finally, with a crisp RRRIP like tearing silk—

The barrier was torn open. A wave of heat swept in, filling the hall. Under the flickering orange light, the ferocious, terrifying figure once again appeared before Mu Feng’s eyes.

In the corner of the hall, the red copper Buddha statue whose eyes had been glowing with an eerie red light suddenly exploded. With a look of shock and disbelief, Mu Feng stumbled backward again and again.

’The Esoteric Array that could trap our Admiral Yin Crow for three days couldn’t even withstand a single exchange with this monster?’

’Wh-wh-what... What kind of abomination is this?!’

Mu Feng retreated, turned, and let out a terrified shriek, "Quick! Go get Honored Hong!"

....

RRRIP—

The shattered light barrier was like a piece of pale red gauze that had been crudely torn. It vanished without a trace with a slight curl of heat.

Fu Juemin looked down, his dark gold eyes flickering as he glanced at the lines and symbols faintly visible between the floor tiles, which were quite similar to those of the Nine Spirits Filth Loading Technique.

’A strange power, capable of hindering a Demon Fiend to some extent.’

’It’s related to the Esoteric Sect. Is this another one of Emperor Qianming’s contraptions?’

’Still, if this array could be equipped on the Demon Hunting Teams, it would be quite useful.’

’I’ll have Gu Shouyu study it later...’

Averting his gaze, Fu Juemin continued forward.

He lowered his head slightly and stepped into the flower hall.

His personal, invisible Fire Prison expanded. All the flowers and plants in the hall withered in an instant. The landscape paintings and calligraphy scrolls hanging on the walls visibly turned a scorched yellow before bursting into flames.

His ears were filled with terrified screams. Every servant of the Mu Mansion who saw him scattered and fled. It was utter chaos, like the apocalypse had arrived.

"Where is Honored Hong?! Hurry and get Honored Hong over here!"

Mu Feng kept shouting, running around and stumbling like a headless chicken, bumping into tables, chairs, and other furniture along the way.

Fu Juemin was in no hurry. He simply locked onto Mu Feng’s back and walked forward at a steady, unhurried pace.

Just as he was about to catch up and leave the flower hall, a powerful, resonant voice called out from the distance.

"Patriarch, do not panic! I, Hong, have arrived!"

Before the voice had even faded, a figure like a hawk crossed a distance of nearly several dozen meters in one breath, "flying" through the air directly over the heads of the chaotic crowd below!

When Mu Feng heard this voice and saw this figure, he paused, a glimmer of hope and anticipation appearing on his face.

However, that glimmer of hope didn’t last long.

The magnificent figure who had just arrived in the flower hall—his body a mass of knotted muscles, wreathed in black feathers and smoke—met Fu Juemin’s casual, indifferent gaze, and his expression changed dramatically.

BANG!

His unusually long and powerful legs kicked hard against a beam in the hall’s ceiling. Using the momentum, he did a 180-degree turn and shot straight back the way he came.

"Patriarch, take care of yourself! Hong will be taking his leave now!"

"Uh..."

Mu Feng stared blankly at the figure who had arrived and departed in the blink of an eye. For a moment, he even forgot to run.

A bright light washed over him, and an invisible wave of heat seared his cheeks.

He slowly turned, tilted his head up... and saw a domineering, malevolent figure standing silently before him, like the Flame Monarch incarnate.

The figure retracted his flames and slowly leaned down. His dark gold eyes fell upon Mu Feng as he spoke softly in a gentle tone, "Shall we... have a little chat?"

Mu Feng, in a daze, nodded.

"O... Okay."