Chapter 39: 39-Second Kill

Chapter 39: One-Shot Kill

The sheep demon did not hesitate and began to flee in panic.

Ning Xuan and Fairy Yaozhen followed close behind.

The midnight moon cast its light upon the black mist, and the howling winds roared like someone wielding a giant brush to splash ink across the void. The further they ventured, the more the environment felt as if it no longer belonged to the mortal realm.

Fairy Yaozhen suddenly mused, "Why not just capture the sheep demon and interrogate it directly? Isn't rushing deep into this too reckless?"

Ning Xuan asked, "You're from the Imperial Capital, dedicated solely to cultivation, right?"

Fairy Yaozhen replied, "I also assist martial artists in demon suppression operations."

Ning Xuan said, "Then stop talking nonsense and just follow me."

Fairy Yaozhen argued, "Your experience in demon suppression isn't even as rich as mine."

Ning Xuan replied, "Either stop talking nonsense, or go back to where you came from."

He was growing impatient.

He was currently in an extremely tense state—a state of "I must kill the target at all costs." Yet, no matter what he said, this annoying woman beside him had to mutter some contrary opinion.

His principles were flexible. Currently, he lacked much information but was forced to press forward regardless. Despite the fact that he was currently chasing a demon, he might turn around and flee at any moment; and if he felt he could turn back after fleeing, he wouldn't mind immediately returning to deliver a fatal blow. All his actions were dictated by the moment, yet this woman insisted on setting rigid rules and prattling on about "experience."

Fairy Yaozhen said, "I am your partner; I won't leave you here alone."

Ning Xuan said, "If you want to follow me, follow. If you want to act on your own, do so."

Having said that, he acted as if she didn't exist.

Fairy Yaozhen was also somewhat angry.

She had never been this angry before.

Her peace of mind had been almost entirely destroyed by this partner.

For some reason, whenever this general spoke, she felt the urge to snap back, even though she knew now was not the time for arguing.

She took a deep breath, silently chanting, *"Great Pure Celestial, calm my wrathful heart,"* and then said, "This poor Daoist will not contend with you."

But Ning Xuan truly ignored her.

Aside from locking onto the limping, fleeing sheep demon, Ning Xuan was desperately observing his surroundings.

Suddenly, a blue light flashed in his chest.

Simultaneously, a bloody hole appeared in the body of the fleeing sheep demon ahead.

Ning Xuan said, "Stop running in circles. Go find a demon that can save you."

Clutching its wound, the sheep demon stopped jumping, dropped its forelimbs, and began to run at full speed.

Ning Xuan continued to shadow it closely.

A clanging sound grew louder around him, as if ink droplets were falling into his body and spreading into ink patterns.

He scanned the surroundings warily.

The forest grew narrower and narrower.

There were mountains on both sides.

Dark, heavy mountains.

"Go up the mountain. Take the ridge," Ning Xuan dictated the escape route to the sheep demon. The sheep demon had the right to refuse, and he had the right to strike it again, but the sheep demon would still have to comply.

Helpless, the sheep demon's hooves dug into the hard rock on the side, and it began to climb vertically.

Ning Xuan was also highly skilled at rock climbing. Without a word, he drove his fingers into the rock, his arms acting like drawn bowstrings. With a sudden release, his body leaped several yards upward.

Fairy Yaozhen was relatively considerate; she maintained a golden sphere of light around her and flew through the air, staying close to Ning Xuan's side as if acting as his lookout.

Just as the two had climbed halfway, all movement in the world abruptly ceased.

The sheep demon suddenly turned its head, letting out a bizarre, hideous laugh toward Ning Xuan.

A blue light flashed from Ning Xuan's chest, one-shotting the sheep demon.

The sheep demon's smile froze, and its body plummeted from mid-air.

It was still falling.

Its pupils remained wide open.

Those wide eyes reflected the dark, heavy sky and a green lotus snail-shell crown emerging from the edge of the cliff. A massive Bodhisattva face then revealed itself. As it peered out, a giant golden hand reached down from above toward Ning Xuan, who was suspended in mid-air, neither in heaven nor on earth.

Its eyes gleamed with greed, and its mouth dripped with saliva...

Fairy Yaozhen was startled and hurriedly cast a spell, thinking to herself, *'An Incense-Gold Body Demon has appeared! Run first!'*

But a whisper suddenly reached her ear: "Yaozhen, smash it."

Fairy Yaozhen froze, but she quickly switched her spell. A golden seal hovered above her and crashed down toward the Golden Bodhisattva with a thunderous boom.

Under this pressure, the Golden Bodhisattva staggered; the originally upright golden figure was actually forced into a prostrate position.

Ning Xuan was not surprised.

Although Fairy Yaozhen was a chatterbox, her strength was undeniable.

The 5 Spirit points of the Fragrance-Stealing Rat could not withstand her seal.

In this way, he had added an extra layer of insurance for his one-shot kill of the Fragrance-Stealing Rat; after all, someone was helping him pin the demon down, rendering it immobile.

But at that moment, Ning Xuan felt an incredibly intense sense of restraint. Looking down, he saw a massive, pale, rotting frozen corpse abruptly emerging from the icy mountain he was climbing. The giant corpse's hands were slightly hooked, tightly embracing him. He did not feel overwhelming physical strength, but rather a crushing weight upon his soul.

At this moment, the scene became extremely bizarre.

Fairy Yaozhen had suppressed the Golden Bodhisattva, waiting for Ning Xuan to attack it.

Meanwhile, the mysterious frozen corpse in the mountain suppressed Ning Xuan, waiting for the Golden Bodhisattva to attack.

Both sides were suppressing each other, as if in a mirror image.

Fairy Yaozhen suddenly recalled the sense of familiarity she felt when she first saw the "black mist and the sheep demon." She hadn't thought much of it then, but as that familiarity resurfaced, she understood.

Back then, it was "black mist from human heads" entangling the martial artist and the Celestial Master, and then the sheep demon killed them.

Now, it was the "mysterious frozen corpse" entangling the martial artist and the Celestial Master, and then the demon would kill them.

The demon was imitating them.

Fairy Yaozhen sensed the surroundings slightly and realized there were three or four more frozen corpses rapidly climbing up the mountain slope ahead. These corpses were likely meant to ambush at the end of the canyon, but instead of moving forward, they had chosen to climb the mountain, thus approaching from a distance.

These frozen corpses possessed a power familiar to Fairy Yaozhen.

She sensed it.

She felt it.

Dragon Qi!

There was actually Dragon Qi on the frozen corpses!

Although the Dragon Qi was chaotic and unable to cast any spells, it possessed an extremely powerful soul-suppressing force in its own right.

This sent a chill down Fairy Yaozhen's spine.

Because she had never heard of a demon being able to perform "Soul Suppression"—wasn't that a characteristic of a Celestial Master?

In the next instant, an even more inconceivable thought flashed through her mind: *Could it be that martial artists are learning from demons, while certain special demons are learning from Celestial Masters?*

Fairy Yaozhen glanced at the frozen corpse, then at the Celestial Master Seal she had cast, and then at the other frozen corpses rapidly climbing up the slope.

She made a decisive move. She intended to withdraw the Celestial Master Seal from the Golden Bodhisattva and hurl it back to rescue Ning Xuan.

She didn't care about a mere frozen corpse, even if it possessed a bit of Dragon Qi.

As for how to deal with the Golden Bodhisattva afterward, she hadn't decided yet.

That would have to be dealt with later.

But just then, a whisper reached her ear.

"Don't move."

After Ning Xuan said this, he directly broke free from the frozen corpse.

Though the corpse's strength was great, it was not enough to completely suppress his "5.5" Spirit.

The moment he broke free, his Golden Body surged. A Golden Bodhisattva over ten yards tall appeared on the mountainside. He had to kill the Fragrance-Stealing Rat quickly to avoid reducing his success rate by trying to hide his presence.

A second Golden Bodhisattva had appeared.

The Fragrance-Stealing Rat, pinned by the Celestial Master Seal at the cliff's edge, froze in disbelief, its eyes wide with shock.

Ning Xuan did not pause for a second; his movements were seamless.

The Bodhisattva held a flower, but the flower was a flying knife. Suddenly, a dense, piercing screech filled the air.

He lowered his hand.

A Tide of Swallows!

The flying knives accurately pierced through the stomach of the Golden Bodhisattva at the cliff's edge, bringing out a spray of brilliant blood—it was the Fragrance-Stealing Rat, exploded into a mist of blood.

"Go!"

Ning Xuan lunged toward the sphere of light in mid-air.

Fairy Yaozhen's head was spinning; everything before her felt like a dream. However, after withdrawing the Celestial Master Seal, she instinctively used an "Earth Escape" technique, carrying Ning Xuan away into the distance.