Chapter 394: The Handsome Scholar! The Ancient Sword! “If You Don’t Want to Die, Stay Right Where You Are!”

Li Yanchu’s face darkened; the thick, choking miasma of resentment and blood rising from the mountain told him just how many lives had been slaughtered here.

A

place like this... and no one’s dealt with it?

He gave a cold snort, killing intent flashing in his eyes.

Following the trail of the densest demonic aura, he soon reached the heart of Mount Hong, where a hideous-looking demon soldier stepped out from the shadows with a spear in hand.

“Where did this Daoist come from?” the creature barked. “How dare you trespass on Mount Hong!”

There were two types of shape-shifting demons: one who relied on illusion and transformation, and one who had truly attained a human form through cultivation, a feat that required immense luck and special techniques. This small demon was clearly the former.

Li Yanchu’s expression stayed cold; he didn’t bother answering.

One after another, more than a dozen brutish demon soldiers appeared, armed with blades, spears, and halberds. They were wolves, leopards, and tigers in humanoid form, each wreathed in heavy resentment and blood qi.

“You damned Daoist! Our boss is talking to you!” shouted the first demon.

Crack

!

A dazzling bolt of lightning tore through the air. Lightning and fire intertwined, engulfing the entire group in blinding light.

Lightning Pool Sand!

When Li Yanchu calmly withdrew the pure yang talisman weapon, all that remained of the demons were ashes scattered by the wind.

The orange cat’s pupils contracted slightly. “This Daoist... is ruthless.”

From deep within Mount Hong, more demons poured out, some with over a century’s worth of cultivation.

Then, a towering man with a lion’s head and human body emerged. His eyes glinted with cold light, his presence radiating overwhelming demonic power.

The orange cat glared at him, and the lion spirit sneered in return.

“Well, well... look who it is,” the lion spirit rumbled, his tone dripping with malice. “Seems I didn’t drain enough of your demon power last time. Today, I’ll strip every last drop from your body!”

The orange cat hissed, fur bristling. “You filthy lion! You stole my power and turned it into a fake Daoist artifact, then gave it to those two kolonoks, do you have any idea how insulting that is!?”

The lion spirit was taken aback for a moment, then gave a gloomy smile and said, “Ah... so you’ve found out. Well, I must say, it worked quite well.”

The orange cat turned her head sharply toward Li Yanchu. “See? I told you the truth! It was this damn lion who did it!”

Li Yanchu gave a small nod. He hadn’t expected the Mount Hong lion spirit to be this arrogant, frank and fearless!

Well, it made sense. The orange cat had never been a match for this lion spirit, and Li Yanchu had used his Sun Veil to suppress his aura earlier, so the demon hadn’t noticed him until now.

From behind the lion spirit stepped a handsome scholar with a touch of cinnabar between his brows, exuding a faint immortal grace. He carried an ancient sword on his back, and his presence was cold and austere.

“Sir, this is the cat demon you mentioned?”

The lion spirit grinned wickedly.

“Yes. Capture her, strip her of her demon power, and extract her inner core, it’ll make excellent alchemy material.”

The scholar smiled faintly. “I’ve heard this demon is the only daughter of a mountain god, heir to the former deity’s power. She can fully assume human form... I wonder what she looks like.”

The two exchanged knowing, sinister smiles.

The lion spirit said with a leer, “If you’re interested, once I capture her, I’ll make her take human form so you can enjoy yourself properly.”

Li Yanchu couldn’t help glancing at the orange cat.

So, it’s a female cat. And she can completely take human form?

However, his expression soon turned cold. These two clearly thought they already had him cornered. His eyes shimmered with divine light as he invoked the Spirit Eyes.

The “handsome scholar,” as it turned out, was a fox spirit, his aura nearly equal to that of the lion spirit. But the sword on his back, that was no ordinary weapon. It radiated danger.

Li Yanchu suddenly asked, “You two, are you remnants of the White Marsh Demon Kingdom?”

The lion spirit’s face twisted, killing intent flaring. “So, the young Daoist knows of the White Marsh Demon Kingdom. Are you from the Court of Judicial Review

?”

Looks like the Court of Judicial Review’s been butting heads with that kingdom lately...

Li Yanchu said gravely, “That’s right. I am the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Wang Quan Baye!”

The moment the words left his mouth, both the lion spirit and the scholar froze.

“Vice Minister?! Wang Quan Baye[1]?!”

Why... why did that

sound

so intimidating somehow?

The lion spirit frowned, bellowing, “Since when did the Court of Judicial Review have a Vice Minister named

Wang Quan

?! You dare try to bluff this king!?”

Li Yanchu looked genuinely surprised. “Wow, you’re actually pretty smart!”

The lion spirit’s face turned ashen, and a surge of overwhelming demonic qi exploded outward like a storm. “

ROAR

!”

The lion spirit suddenly transformed into his true form of a massive, muscular lion, twice the size of the orange cat when she had revealed her own body. He stretched over thirteen meters long, his shoulders towering four meters high, radiating an overwhelming aura.

“I will devour you, Daoist!” His thunderous voice shook the entire mountain forest.

As he opened his gaping maw, a violent suction erupted forth, and inside his mouth churned a swirling black vortex.

Even the orange cat’s face paled.

That same demonic power again!

She had been gravely wounded by that very innate technique before, and now, with another powerful ally beside him...

Maybe... I acted too rashly,

she thought, instantly regretting her decision.

Then...

Clang

! A clear, metallic ring like a dragon’s cry echoed beside her ears.

A flash of icy, golden blade light swept across the air. It was like a golden flood dragon, slicing through the heavens.

And in the very next instant, the enormous lion spirit was cleaved cleanly in two by that strike. A crimson line appeared down the center of his forehead, and then his entire body split apart perfectly symmetrically.

The residual blade force smashed through everything in its path, flattening an entire peak of Mount Hong behind him. The strike was so powerful that it could even defeat an entire army. That blow carried the full force of Li Yanchu’s killing intent, and everything condensed into that one devastating swing!

“Come on!” Li Yanchu’s voice boomed like thunder.

His eyes burned with unrestrained battle spirit as he fixed his cold gaze on the handsome scholar with the ancient sword.

The fox spirit disguised as the scholar shivered uncontrollably, forcing a weak, trembling smile.

“D-Daoist Master, he was just talking nonsense! I was merely passing by!” His excuse was pitiful and unconvincing.

Li Yanchu said, “If you don’t want to die, stay right where you are!”

He strode forward, each step radiating killing intent. The Jiaoslayer gleamed with cold light, cutting through demons as effortlessly as slicing melons and vegetables.

Within mere breaths, every lesser demon on Mount Hong had been annihilated with not one left alive. Under his Qi Sight, he could see that every tiger, wolf, and leopard spirit here was steeped in resentment and blood-debt.

“They died as they deserved.”

When the slaughter finally ceased, his merit tally rose.

+18,000 merit points!

That lion spirit alone had been worth 9,000 merit points!

“Now,” Li Yanchu said coldly, “you can tell me who exactly you are in the White Marsh Demon Kingdom, and what kind of place that is.”

His tone was calm, too calm.

“Killing the two of you already counts as overachieving my mission. Don’t even think about bargaining with me. I’ll only ask this once. If you don’t answer, that’s the end of it.”

He finished in one breath, his expression turning glacial.

The handsome scholar felt his hands and feet go cold. He prided himself on being no weaker than the lion spirit, and with the ancient sword at his back, he was confident he could have seriously injured that brute if it came to a fight.

But now... He was utterly cowed; cleanly, decisively cowed.

The aura coming off this young Daoist was something terrifying: unyielding, fearless, and relentlessly advancing.

Thank the heavens I didn’t rush to attack earlier,

he thought, heart pounding.

Otherwise, I’d already be the one lying in two halves on the ground.

When Li Yanchu questioned him, the scholar’s first instinct had been to put on a show of defiance, to at least appear proud, to prove he still had some backbone. After all, surrendering too easily would make him look pathetic.

But then he raised his head and met Li Yanchu’s icy, emotionless gaze.

He swallowed hard, and decided it was better to spill everything.

1. Wang Quan Baye, also known as Baye, Masked Sword Immortal, or Sword Mister, is a character in the Chinese comic Fox Spirit Matchmaker and its derivative works, and serves as the male protagonist of the comic’s Bamboo Industry arc. His voice is provided jointly by Gu Jiangshan and Fan Zhechen. He is the leader of the Yiqidao Alliance, head of the Wang family, leader of the “Masked” organization, husband of Dongfang Huaizhu, and father of Wang Quangui.

Here is a reference

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