Demon Qi

As expected of a great demon, its physical body was remarkably resilient. The bizarre scales on its skin, glistening with an uncanny power, had prevented even the star conch from killing it. Naturally, Qin Sang would not stop there. Pressing his advantage without mercy, he recalled the star conch and flickered forward in a blur, closing in on the fish demon’s maimed body. The two-headed hou cut off the fish demon’s retreat. In the final moment, the fish demon’s eyes turned crimson with venomous hatred. Employing some unknown secret technique, it detonated its demon body! The flesh exploded into a cloud of bloody mist, unleashing a sweeping shockwave of crimson energy. The blast not only carried terrifying force, but also seemed imbued with a corrosive power. Qin Sang’s expression shifted slightly. Halting abruptly, he hastily channeled his ebony sword to slash out a curtain of sword light to weather the brunt of the shockwave. An immense force slammed into him, shredding the sword curtain. Qin Sang rode the momentum and fell back, forced to evade. The two-headed hou was too close to dodge in time. Letting out an enraged roar, it retreated while unleashing its divine ability, cloaking itself in azure qi to ward off the bloody mist. Fortunately, the fish demon had already been severely injured, greatly diminishing the power of its self-detonation. The two-headed hou had also reacted swiftly enough that the moment the blood mist surged toward it, the azure qi blocked the brunt of the assault. The hou’s fur ended up patchy and corroded by the mist, leaving it looking rather disheveled, but thankfully it suffered no actual wounds. Yet the blood mist was exceedingly sinister. A portion of it managed to seep into the azure qi, tingeing the shroud with red and relentlessly attempting to bore into its flesh. The two-headed hou focused all its strength on purging the mist. While it halted further encroachment, thoroughly eradicating it proved difficult. Just as Qin Sang and the two-headed hou were evading, a streak of crimson light suddenly shot out from the blood mist. Moving at astonishing speed, it darted into the beast horde and fled for its life. “A demon core?” Qin Sang’s expression darkened. The fish demon was not dead; it had merely sacrificed its physical body, allowing its demon core to escape. By now, it was already too late to intercept it. Nor did Qin Sang attempt to give chase. His most pressing priority was to break free, as several powerful auras were rapidly closing in. A fish demon stripped of its physical body posed little threat. Qin Sang merely cast a glance at the streak of crimson light before ignoring it, flashing over to the two-headed hou’s side to check its condition. The blood mist was not dangerous enough to be fatal, but it clung like maggots to bone, proving difficult to purge quickly. Qin Sang worried that the mist retained the fish demon’s power, potentially allowing it to track them. If the fish demon rallied a swarm of demon beasts to hunt them down, it would cause no end of trouble. With that in mind, Qin Sang’s thoughts stirred, and he summoned the Nine Nether Demonic Fire. Sure enough, the blood mist could not withstand the demonic flame. As it burned away under the fire, a foul stench filled the air. “Kill them! Kill them! This king will eat their flesh and drink their blood!” Having narrowly escaped death, the fish demon howled madly from within the beast horde, harboring bone-deep hatred toward the culprit who had destroyed its body. Spurred by the fish demon’s shrieks, the other demon beasts whipped themselves into a near frenzy, lunging toward Qin Sang. With the blood mist finally expunged, Qin Sang strode side by side with the two-headed hou, carving a bloody path through the horde with his ebony sword! Before the great demons arrived, these lesser beasts could not hope to impede Qin Sang and the two-headed hou. Those powerful auras approaching from a distance were evidently shaken after sensing the fish demon nearly get slain. Their hesitation caused them to miss the prime opportunity to strike. Having lost its body, the fish demon could barely protect itself and dared not give chase on its own. It could only watch helplessly as Qin Sang tore through the ranks like splitting bamboo, drawing farther and farther away, its shrieks growing increasingly shrill and furious. Qin Sang bolted outward. After putting some distance between them, he flicked his wrist upward and hurled out a painted scroll. Drifting petals formed an illusion, confusing the nearby lesser beasts and causing them to lose their quarry. In the chaos of a beast tide, such an illusion would not hold for long and could easily be shattered. For Qin Sang, however, it provided ample cover. He recalled the two-headed hou and activated the Heavenly Demon Transformation! *Whoosh!* A pair of phoenix wings unfurled from his back. Qin Sang’s aura shifted dramatically as the demon qi around him suddenly intensified. This was a peculiar change he had discovered after practicing this cultivation method. From the moment he began cultivating the *Heavenly Demon Form Refining*, even before he learned the Heavenly Demon Transformation, the transformation had begun to take place imperceptibly. To feign weakness and disguise himself, he had previously consumed a Fiend Demon Pill, which had already left him with a faint trace of demon qi. Consequently, he had not noticed the change in himself at first. It was only when he broke through to the second layer of the *Heavenly Demon Form Refining* that he realized his demon qi had grown noticeably thicker. And when he mastered the Heavenly Demon Transformation and unleashed this divine ability, he was startled to find that his demon qi was nearly on par with that of a Demon Spirit stage beast. This eerie transformation had genuinely unnerved Qin Sang for a time, leaving him anxious that cultivating this technique might turn him into an actual demon beast. Only after a long while, when he confirmed that his body had undergone no other changes aside from the demon qi, did he put his mind at ease. He suspected that the change likely stemmed from the phoenix wings upon his back. With a body cloaked in demon qi and the resplendent wings resembling those of a qingluan, Qin Sang felt he could practically pass for a Transformation stage great demon. After falling into the beast tide, Qin Sang had wondered whether activating the Heavenly Demon Transformation might confound the beasts and allow him to escape. He had only reached the second layer of the *Heavenly Demon Form Refining*, so the Heavenly Demon Transformation still had many flaws—naturally incapable of deceiving the eyes of great demons. Against low-intelligence lesser beasts, however, it ought to hold some effect. Delayed for so long by the fish demon, the path forged by the golden light had already closed up; Qin Sang had no choice but to carve his own way through. Sure enough, no sooner had the illusion manifested than it was trampled apart by the beast tide. In the next instant, Qin Sang and the two-headed hou vanished into thin air. Wrapping the phoenix wings tightly around himself, he melded into the beast tide. Upon quietly revealing his presence, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the surrounding demon beasts showed far less hostility toward him. The demon qi produced by the Heavenly Demon Transformation could truly deceive the senses of these demon beasts! Viewing him as one of their own, their resistance diminished, allowing Qin Sang to push through with minimal disturbance—drawing virtually no attention amid the pandemonium of the beast tide. By the time the fish demon rallied its subordinates and caught up, it discovered to its shock and fury that they had completely lost Qin Sang’s trail. Even the great demon with the keenest sense of smell sniffed in every direction to no avail. The human seemed to have vanished into thin air. The fish demon was beside itself with rage, yet unable to devise a solution, it had no choice but to abandon the thought of keeping the treasure for itself and urgently contacted the leopard demon. Having shaken off his pursuers, Qin Sang breathed a sigh of relief. He wove nimbly through the pack of beasts and finally broke out to the fringes of the beast tide, where the distant night sky and sea of stars came into view. Little did he know that, by an ironic twist of fate, the shift in his aura caused by the Heavenly Demon Transformation had spared him from a catastrophic ordeal. *** While Qin Sang made his escape, the members of the Business Alliance were locked in a grueling battle. They were besieged by a large pack of great demons, including fearsome creatures that had developed intelligence, such as the crane demon. Not only were these great demons formidable, but they also fought with orderly discipline, making them exceptionally difficult to deal with. No matter how many experts the alliance had, they could not withstand such a ferocious onslaught and soon found themselves in dire straits. Madam Liu and Jin Ying were filled with profound regret for not choosing to flee alongside Qin Sang. They had no idea that it was Qin Sang who had unwittingly brought this calamity upon them.