Chapter 840: Demonic Qi

As expected of a great demon, its body was incredibly resilient. The strange scales covering it gleamed with a peculiar power, and even the star turban had failed to kill it outright.

Naturally, Qin Sang did not intend to stop there. Pressing his advantage, he recalled the star turban, his figure flashing forward in rapid succession until he was right upon the fish demon’s mangled body.

The Two-Headed Hou cut off its retreat.

At the final moment, the fish demon’s eyes blazed red. It cast a look of bitter hatred at them, then, using some unknown secret art, detonated its own body.

Its flesh exploded into a cloud of blood mist, the crimson wave sweeping outward.

Within that wave was not only immense force, but also a corrosive power.

Qin Sang’s face tightened. He halted abruptly and hastily drove the ebony sword to slash out a curtain of sword light, meeting the oncoming force head-on.

A tremendous impact slammed into him, shredding the sword curtain. Qin Sang used the momentum to retreat, evading the worst of it.

The Two-Headed Hou, far closer to the fish demon, had no time to withdraw. It let out a furious roar, retreating while releasing its supernatural ability. Azure qi surged over its body, blocking the blood mist.

Fortunately, the fish demon had already been grievously wounded, greatly reducing the power of its self-detonation. The Two-Headed Hou had reacted quickly, stopping the blood mist with its azure qi.

Its fur was mottled and ragged from the corrosive mist, giving it a battered appearance, though it was unharmed.

The mist was strange. A portion of it seeped into the azure qi, staining it with streaks of red and still trying to burrow into its body.

The Two-Headed Hou worked furiously to purge it. While it managed to halt the further spread, eliminating the residue completely proved difficult.

As it moved to evade, a streak of blood-red light burst from the mist at astonishing speed, shooting into the horde and fleeing.

"A demonic core?"

Qin Sang’s face shifted. The fish demon had not died but had only destroyed its body, leaving its demonic core to escape.

It was too late to stop it now.

Nor did Qin Sang give chase. The most important thing was to get clear. Those powerful auras were already very close.

Without a body, the fish demon was far less threatening. Qin Sang merely glanced at the fleeing blood-red light before turning his focus to the Two-Headed Hou, checking its condition.

The mist could not directly injure, but it clung like a parasite to bone, refusing to disperse.

Qin Sang feared the mist carried the fish demon’s lingering power, enabling it to track them. If that thing came after them with a pack of beasts in tow, it would be a major problem.

With that thought, Qin Sang summoned the Devilish Flames of Nine Hells.

As soon as the flames touched the mist, it burned away without resistance, releasing a foul stench.

"Kill! Kill them! I want to eat their flesh and drink their blood!"

The fish demon, barely surviving, was shrieking madly from within the horde, its hatred toward the one who had destroyed its body boiling over.

At its call, the surrounding demonic beasts went into a frenzy, surging toward Qin Sang.

Once the blood mist was gone, Qin Sang and the Two-Headed Hou charged side by side, the ebony sword blazing a path as they carved a bloody trail through the horde.

Without the presence of a great demon, the lesser beasts were no match for them.

The powerful auras in the distance, realizing the fish demon had nearly been slain, seemed to hesitate in fear. They missed their best chance to intercept.

Without its body, the fish demon could not pursue. It could only watch in rage as Qin Sang tore forward, its screams turning more furious and desperate.

Qin Sang raced outward. After covering some distance, he flung a scroll into the air.

Blossoms swirled from it, weaving an illusory realm. The lesser beasts nearby were drawn into the illusion, losing track of him.

In the chaos of a beast tide, such illusions could be broken quickly but they only needed to serve as a brief cover.

He recalled the Two-Headed Hou and activated the Heavenly Demon Transformation.

Swoosh!

A pair of phoenix wings unfurled behind him, and Qin Sang’s aura shifted. The demonic qi rolling off his body thickened at once.

This was a peculiar change he had discovered after cultivating the

Heavenly Demon Body Refinement.

Even before learning the Heavenly Demon Transformation, subtle changes had been occurring.

In the past, to disguise himself as weaker prey, he had deliberately taken a Malevolent Demonic Pill, leaving him with a faint trace of demonic qi.

At first, he had not noticed the difference.

It was only after breaking through to the second stage of the

Heavenly Demon Body Refinement

that he realized his demonic qi had grown stronger.

When he finally learned the Heavenly Demon Transformation, he was astonished to find that in this form, his demonic qi rivaled that of a Demonic Spirit Realm beast.

The abnormality had worried him for some time. He feared that cultivating the art might turn him into a beast entirely.

Eventually, he confirmed that aside from the demonic qi, nothing else in his body had changed. He suspected the wings were the cause.

With demonic qi and those magnificent wings resembling those of an Azure Luan, he thought he could almost pass for a transformed great demon.

Caught in the beast tide, he had wondered if the transformation could confuse the lesser beasts and allow him to slip away.

He had only reached the second stage of the art, and the transformation still held many flaws. It could not fool true great demons but it might be enough to deceive the duller beasts.

The fish demon’s interference had closed the paths carved by the golden light, so he could only rely on himself.

As expected, the illusion from the scroll was quickly shattered.

The next moment, Qin Sang and the Two-Headed Hou vanished from sight.

With his wings folding around him, he melted into the tide. When he emerged again, he was pleased to find the nearby beasts far less hostile toward him.

The demonic qi truly fooled their senses.

Seeing him as kin, they no longer pressed in. His movements stirred little attention amid the chaos.

By the time the fish demon arrived with its underlings, Qin Sang was already gone.

Even the sharpest-nosed great demon sniffed in vain. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.

The fish demon raged, but with no solution, it abandoned the idea of keeping the treasure for itself and hurried to contact the panther demon.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Free of pursuit, Qin Sang’s heart eased. Weaving nimbly through the tide, he finally reached its edge and caught sight of the night sky and distant stars.

He did not realize that his transformed aura had, by sheer coincidence, spared him from a great calamity.

***

While Qin Sang escaped, the merchant alliance’s group was locked in a fierce battle.

They were surrounded by a group of great demons, some, like the crane demon, were beings with awakened intelligence and terrifying strength.

These demonic beasts fought with both ferocity and coordination, making them hard to deal with. Even the strongest human experts could not hold back such an onslaught for long, and the group was soon struggling.

Madam Liu and Jin Ying deeply regretted not choosing to leave with Qin Sang.

They did not yet know that it was precisely Qin Sang’s presence that had drawn this trouble to them.