Chapter 10: The Demonic Porcupine King

The old man in the black robe slapped his storage bag, and a golden flying sword flew out. The sword, only a few inches long, expanded rapidly in the wind, becoming several feet in size in the blink of an eye.

"Go!" The old man in the black robe formed sword seals with both hands, pressed his left index and middle fingers together, and pointed forward.

The golden flying sword flashed with light and flew toward the Demon Boar King.

The Demon Boar King swung its head, its two tusks colliding with the golden flying sword with a crisp *clang*. The Demon Boar King let out a triumphant cry, kicked its four hooves, and charged wildly toward the old man in the black robe.

"This Demon Boar King is actually this powerful!" The expressions of the bearded man and the others changed drastically. The sharpness of the old man's golden flying sword was clear to everyone present, yet the boar king had knocked the golden sword away with a mere swing of its head, its movements completely unaffected.

"Bearded one, help me!" A trace of fear flashed across the old man's face as he shouted.

"Retreat quickly!" The bearded man yelled. Among the four, he was an earth-element cultivator with the strongest defense; only he could block the Demon Boar King's charge.

The bearded man chanted a few incantations, and an earthen wall, a zhang high and over a foot thick, appeared just in front of the old man in the black robe.

*Bang!*

The Demon Boar King slammed into the earthen wall. The massive sound was deafening, and dust splattered everywhere.

*Snort, snort!* The Demon Boar King breathed heavily. The earthen wall did not make it give up; after its charge was blocked, the demon boar snorted angrily and rammed the wall again.

*Bang, bang!*

Once, twice, three times.

With the Demon Boar King's impacts, cracks began to appear across the massive earthen wall.

"This beast is incredibly fierce! Everyone, stop holding back. Put in some effort—to catch the bandits, one must first catch the ringleader. Let’s join forces to kill this wicked beast, and the remaining demon boars will naturally scatter! Otherwise, we will be exhausted to death by these demon boars sooner or later!" the old man in the black robe exclaimed.

"I need a few breaths of time to unleash my strongest attack," the bearded man said, panting heavily after cleaving a demon boar in front of him. Although these demon boars lacked high intelligence, they were full of wild ferocity; once they engaged an enemy, they would charge relentlessly. While their attack methods were simple, the sheer number of them had left the group in a state of chaos. Furthermore, there was a third-rank Demon Boar King whose defensive power was several times greater than theirs.

Even though they were all in the late stage of Qi Refining, and the old man in the black robe was at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, they were in a sorry state after killing nearly ten demon boars earlier.

"I will trap this Demon Boar King. I can buy five breaths of time; you all hurry," the young woman in the green dress said, swinging her purple silk ribbon to knock away another demon boar as she realized the severity of the situation.

"Blood Dwarf, you block the other demon boars! Five breaths—that’s enough to kill this wicked beast!" the old man in the black robe gave a sinister smile.

*Bang!* The Earth Wall technique cast by the bearded man ultimately could not hold the Demon Boar King for long and was smashed to pieces. Dirt flew everywhere, and the area was filled with dust.

The Demon Boar King burst out of the dust, triumphantly flicking its tail as it charged at the old man in the black robe again. This man had hit its teeth with his flying sword earlier, causing a sharp, aching pain—how could it not take revenge?

Just then, the young woman in the green dress retracted her purple silk and threw something with her left hand. A black sphere flew above the Demon Boar King and burst open with a *poof*, casting a large black net down from the air.

"Tighten!" the young woman in the green dress shouted softly. The falling black net bound the Demon Boar King perfectly.

*Snort, snort.*

The Demon Boar King was incredibly annoyed. It had just smashed through an earthen wall, only to be bound by a net. The Demon Boar King screamed and struggled violently.

"This boar king has immense strength! Hurry, I can't hold it much longer!" As the boar king struggled fiercely, the young woman in the green dress turned pale. After shouting, she dared not lose focus and continued to pour spiritual power into the black net.

*Poof!* As the Demon Boar shook its head and kicked its hooves, it tore a foot-long hole in the black net. It looked as if it were about to break free.

The Blood Dwarf brandished his twin wheels, slaughtering the few demon boars that had gotten closest, and looked anxiously toward the old man in the black robe and the others.

The old man in the black robe let out a sharp cry, bit the tip of his tongue, and reached out to touch the blood that emerged. He then changed his sword seals in rapid succession and shouted, "Swift!"

The golden flying sword that had been knocked away by the demon boar expanded to nearly double its size. Golden light erupted, and the enlarged sword shot straight toward the Demon Boar King's head.

The bearded man let out a fierce shout, swung his great axe with both hands, and hacked down hard at the boar king, which was just about to break free from the net.

*Splat!* The golden flying sword pierced directly into the Demon Boar King's skull. At the same time, the bearded man's sharp axe struck its abdomen, carving out a massive, bone-deep wound. The Demon Boar King's intestines and internal organs spilled out along with its blood.

The Demon Boar King let out a shrill, miserable scream. The immense force it exerted before death caused the tattered black net to burst into dozens of pieces. The young woman in the green dress turned pale and spat out a mouthful of blood. Her spiritual artifact had been destroyed, and her divine sense had suffered some damage.

Having suffered fatal wounds, the thousand-pound body of the Demon Boar King crashed to the ground.

A pungent smell of blood filled the air. With the Demon Boar King dead, the other demon boars—most of which were only first-rank beasts—saw their leader killed. Terrified, the remaining dozens of demon boars scattered in all directions.

"This beast is truly fierce. If I had run into it alone, I fear I would not have been its match. The fur on this Demon Boar King, along with this pair of sharp tusks, would be worth quite a few spirit stones if we could trade them with other cultivators at the market. It’s a pity we’re stuck here; they’re of little use in our hands right now."

The bearded man put away his axe and panted heavily; this intense battle had consumed a great deal of his spiritual power.

The old man in the black robe beckoned, and the golden flying sword shrank back to a few inches in size. However, the golden luster on its surface had dimmed significantly, and the old man immediately wore a pained expression.

"Eh, look, there’s a change!" The Blood Dwarf, who had expended the least in this battle, felt secretly pleased and was the first to notice the change in the surrounding environment.

The young woman in the green dress wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. Ignoring her annoyance over the destroyed net, she saw the surrounding mist sweeping toward the northwest at an astonishing speed and said with a face full of shock, "A drastic change in celestial phenomena—could it be that a rare treasure has appeared?"

The Blood Dwarf and the others immediately perked up. The four of them had joined forces to venture into the canyon precisely for the spiritual items and potential treasures hidden within. What kind of rare treasure could cause such an astonishing phenomenon?

They watched as the spiritual mist throughout the entire canyon surged crazily in one direction. The canyon, which had been shrouded in mist and impossible to see through with the naked eye, began to clear up as the mist vanished.

"The maze formation seems to have disappeared!" the Blood Dwarf discovered with pleasant surprise that the surrounding environment was no longer shifting. Having been trapped in the formation for months, he was nearly driven mad.

The young woman in the green dress also cheered, "Yes, this damned formation has really disappeared."