Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Disappearance of the Demon Clan Youth

Yan Qingye dodged and counterattacked, but the demon creature was relentless, unyielding, and seemingly indestructible.

As the group was besieged by the monsters, the demon youth suddenly lunged forward, claws bared, aiming for Ye Linson. Ye Linson raised his sword to block the demon’s talons. The demon youth grabbed the sword and yanked it forward with brute force, then threw back his head and lunged for Ye Linson’s throat. Ye Linson ducked just in time, narrowly evading the bite.

Ming Yuyao, at last freeing up a hand, swung her thunder whip, looping it around the demon youth’s neck. The demon boy seemed not to need air at all, struggling forward with wild desperation, mouth agape, teeth snapping with a chilling, crunching sound, as if he would not give up until he bit into Ye Linson.

Ye Linson lashed out with a kick to the demon youth’s chest. At last, the demon lost his grip and was yanked away by Ming Yuyao’s thunder whip, flung heavily to the side amid a swirl of dust.

The demon boy crashed to the ground, but quickly leapt up again, hands clawing at the earth, staring at his chosen prey like a lone wolf stalking its quarry.

All around, the other demonic creatures continued their onslaught.

None of them had expected to be so completely on the back foot.

Feng Qinghe was the least powerful among them; if not for Ming Chenyu and Yan Qingye’s protection, she would have long since been torn open by the monsters.

“Should we call for Master?” Feng Qinghe hesitated, uncertainty written on her face.

Yan Qingye, however, was unwilling. “Wouldn’t that make us seem utterly useless?”

Ming Chenyu said nothing, but he too felt that if they could not even handle these monsters, what hope was there of inheriting the clan leadership in the future?

Ye Linyi seemed to have fallen into a battle frenzy, fighting with growing desperation. Yet no matter how many monsters she slew, there appeared to be no end to them.

“Why won’t they die?” she cried out.

The Thunder Serpent Spear crackled with lightning as it pierced one monster after another, but no matter how fast Ye Linyi struck them down, the monsters revived even faster.

Just as exhaustion was beginning to overtake them all, a young girl’s sigh broke through the chaos. “Still haven’t learned to observe your enemy’s weaknesses, have you?”

Though the words were full of reproach, relief and joy flickered across the faces of Feng Qinghe and the others.

Their master had arrived.

Composure returned to them instantly, and they began to search for the monsters’ vulnerabilities.

At last, Ming Chenyu discovered that strikes to the monsters’ central bodies were useless; rather, at the top, there was a ring that resembled eyes, a spot the monsters protected most fiercely.

Shiyu’s sword first stabbed at the monster’s center. The moment the creature seemed mortally wounded and fell, the blade then darted to strike at the eye-like ring.

A piercing shriek echoed out, then faded into silence, and at last, the black water stilled and changed no further.

The others followed Ming Chenyu’s example, eliminating the monsters one by one.

Finally, only the demon youth remained.

For a split second, the demon boy faltered at the sight of You Xiyue, but then, baring his fangs anew, he hurled himself at Ye Linson.

When Ye Linyi had dealt with the last monster, she dragged the Thunder Serpent Spear along the ground, a trail of lightning behind her, and with a powerful swing, struck at the demon youth’s eye.

The boy’s focus was entirely on Ye Linson, his mind clouded and oblivious to Ye Linyi’s attack. The crimson eye took the blow squarely.

A blood-curdling scream tore from him as he was blasted a hundred meters away.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill all of you!” the demon youth roared, rising with black blood streaming down his face, his features twisted and monstrous.

Though now completely at a disadvantage, an unexpected change occurred.

A whirlwind of darkness coiled at the demon youth’s feet and enveloped him, and in the blink of an eye, he vanished.

You Xiyue’s brows knit in worry—she could no longer sense the demon’s presence anywhere on the third continent.

Ye Linson rushed to examine the spot where the demon vanished. Aside from a few puddles of black blood, there was nothing.

“How could this be?” he muttered.

Ming Chenyu and the others hurried over as well.

You Xiyue tossed Yun Xi Ling into the sky, bathing the hillside in light, but no trace of the demon could be found.

“Even you can’t sense anything, Master?” someone asked.

You Xiyue landed among them. “No trace.”

“This is just too bizarre,” Yan Qingye said in shock. “The demon’s helper must be terrifying if even Master can’t find a clue.”

Irritated, You Xiyue disappeared in a flash, returning to the inn.

The oppressive atmosphere that followed made Jun Yang, who had been keeping watch atop the inn, shudder and abandon his surveillance of Yuan Yibai, hurrying back to You Xiyue’s side.

“What’s happened, my little ancestor?” Jun Yang asked.

“He got away.”

“The demon escaped?”

“Yes.”

Jun Yang frowned deeply, struggling to accept it. “He escaped right under your nose?”

You Xiyue snorted, tossed aside the Dreamshade Mushroom, and lay down in silence.

After a long pause, she asked, “Yuan Yibai has been at the inn the whole time?”

“The whole time. I’ve kept watch.”

“Oh.” You Xiyue’s mood only soured further—had she been mistaken?

The heavy silence lingered through the night and into the following morning.

Suddenly, someone discovered a corpse on the hillside where the demon youth had appeared.

It was a body that did not belong to the third continent.

A young man with no cultivation whatsoever, stabbed through the heart by a sword.

On the third continent of the upper realm, almost everyone possessed some cultivation.

This dead youth was clearly from the lower realm, yet had somehow found his way here—and died here.

Ming Chenyu and the others found it suspicious, especially since the hillside was where the demon youth had appeared the day before. They hurried up the mountain to examine the unusual corpse.

You Xiyue, still troubled by yesterday’s events, followed as well.

One glance, and her frown deepened.

Jun Yang, no longer watching Yuan Yibai but instead concerned for his young mistress, had come along too.

“Isn’t this Li Xiaoran?” Jun Yang said in surprise.

“You know him, Senior Jun?” Yan Qingye looked at him in astonishment.