"You have great skill, benefactor. To reach the third Realm of the Martial Dao at such a young age."
"I imagine that even in the Demon Slaying Division, you would be a top Genius!"
Li Xuanxiao did not respond.
Since a moment ago, he had felt something was strange.
Despite having so many monks to assist him, the opponent did not make a move against him.
Despite clearly having a Xuan Realm cultivation, he seemed to be constantly avoiding a direct confrontation.
What on earth was he waiting for?
Why was he stalling for time like this?
Li Xuanxiao shook his head and stopped thinking about it.
In any case, whatever the enemy wants to do is exactly what we must prevent!
Li Xuanxiao closed in once more, unleashing his Transcendent Ten Thousand Blades Annihilation Saber without reservation.
The sky full of saber light phantoms was as dense as the stars.
At Li Xuanxiao's command, they all slashed toward this Demon Monk who lived in symbiosis with a Demon King.
The opponent was the strongest among all the demons he had encountered so far!
He must not underestimate the enemy or be careless.
He struck with full force from the start, striving to achieve success in a single blow.
Even if he couldn't kill the opponent, he had to try his best to wound them, or at the very least, wear them down.
"Why must you be so violent, benefactor? In this Buddhist Pure Land, This Old Monk advises you to put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot."
The Demon Monk symbiotic with the Demon King did not choose to go head-to-head with Li Xuanxiao.
Instead, he used agile movement techniques and Buddhist Martial Arts to dodge and weaken Li Xuanxiao's attacks.
This further deepened Li Xuanxiao's suspicion.
The opponent must be waiting for something!
Therefore, he had to do the opposite and resolve the battle as quickly as possible!
The movement technique "Riding the wind" was suitable for long-distance rapid movement.
Within this relatively narrow main hall, the Nine Steps of the Soaring Eagle was more appropriate, as its shifts and displacements were more flexible.
Li Xuanxiao pushed this footwork to its limit; the Transcendent Nine Steps of the Soaring Eagle made his figure seem to fly.
He attacked the Demon Monk once again.
The Demon Monk continued to take a defensive stance, not counterattacking but only dodging; if he couldn't dodge, he would use Buddhist Cultivation Techniques to endure it.
With the blessing of the centipede, even if he sustained some injuries, he could quickly heal back to his original state.
"This isn't the way to go on..."
While maintaining a steady offensive, Li Xuanxiao pondered a way to break the deadlock.
The opponent was clearly stalling, yet wouldn't let him leave.
This meant that once the time was ripe, the opponent would have absolute confidence in killing him.
However, Li Xuanxiao currently lacked sufficiently sharp offensive methods.
His current Martial Arts were all of the Strength Realm grade, which were completely inadequate at the level of the Xuan Realm.
Strength Realm Cultivation Techniques and Martial Arts, even if they reached the Transcendent level and were bolstered by Xuan Realm True Qi, were at most equivalent to the entry level of Xuan Realm Cultivation Techniques and Martial Arts.
The advantage was that the consumption of True Qi was very low.
The disadvantage was that it was difficult to inflict effective damage.
What should he do?
Li Xuanxiao's mind raced.
The opponent was stalling; what exactly was he stalling for?
What could possibly require time to prepare?
Ultimate move charging? Skill CD?
Countless thoughts collided in his mind, and he suddenly realized one thing.
It was that even when he was emitting his Xuan Realm Aura, the opponent had refused to appear.
It was only when he saw that Li Xuanxiao was about to flee the main hall that he finally showed himself.
Before that, he had been staying behind the Buddha statue...
"The Buddha statue..."
A bolt of lightning flashed through Li Xuanxiao's mind, and he had a plan.
He unleashed the Ten Thousand Blades Annihilation Saber again, slashing at the Demon Monk.
"Do not struggle in vain, benefactor. Join us in accepting Transcendence and embrace immortality!"
The Demon Monk pressed his palms together, and the Centipede Demon Worm coiled around him made a hissing sound.
He dodged to the side once more.
The thousands of saber light phantoms did not chase after him this time.
Instead, they took a turn and all slashed toward the Buddha statue!
The Demon Monk's expression changed drastically!
The massive Buddha statue was instantly torn apart by the swarming saber light, quickly crumbling into fragments of stone dust.
The floor beneath the Buddha statue was also blasted into a large-scale collapse.
And then...
A large underground space hidden beneath the Buddha statue was revealed!
Li Xuanxiao took just one look and was profoundly shaken!
Centipedes!
Countless, densely packed centipedes!
They were coiled together, covering the unknown depths of the underground space in layers upon layers.
Among these centipedes were countless skeletons and flesh.
And above them were living people, one after another, their bodies twisted in bizarre ways, not yet fully devoured!
But these people's faces were now hollow, as if they had lost their souls.
They allowed the centipedes to burrow in and out of their bodies, gnawing at their flesh.
From ears, from noses, from mouths, from eyes...
"What the hell did you do?!"
Li Xuanxiao was nearly beyond himself with rage; the Demon Monk's behavior was simply inhuman.
However, what answered Li Xuanxiao was a violent gale!
The Demon Monk finally took the initiative to strike, forcing Li Xuanxiao back.
The aftershocks of Li Xuanxiao's Ten Thousand Blades Annihilation Saber just now had shaken many centipedes to death.
These were all blood food he had collected with great difficulty; he would feel pained for every bit lost.
He had thought Li Xuanxiao was a grasshopper in late autumn, destined to die eventually.
He only needed to be a patient hunter.
He hadn't expected the opponent to notice the anomaly so quickly.
At this moment, he finally lost the calm and reserve of a hunter, throwing himself wholeheartedly into this slaughter!
Fury burned in Li Xuanxiao's heart; he didn't yield an inch and launched a counterattack.
Violent tremors erupted repeatedly between the two.
The aftershocks of the battle killed many more centipedes.
This made the Demon Monk's face turn as gloomy as water.
He had distributed his own power among these centipedes.
It was so they could absorb the life force from these people as quickly as possible.
To feed it back to himself.
But now that the centipedes were being damaged one after another, not only would it make him weak, but it would also greatly diminish the final result.
But once the ritual had begun, it could absolutely not be stopped, or else he would suffer a backlash.
His own life force would be drained instead.
The Demon Monk's expression shifted, trapped in a dilemma.
He had to use every means possible to avoid casualties among the Centipede Demon Worms!
The Demon Monk made up his mind, consciously leading the battlefield away from the pit.
But how could Li Xuanxiao let him have his way?
If you dare move away, I will slay the demon worms!
If you stay here, I will slay you!
Li Xuanxiao had finally figured it out.
The Demon Monk's current strength wasn't faked; it really was similar to someone who had just entered the Xuan Realm.
He had felt before that the Aura on the opponent seemed unstable and slightly superficial.
It wasn't that the opponent was intentionally showing weakness.
It was that he truly only had this much strength.
Whatever the reason, this was a good thing for Li Xuanxiao!
His attacks became even more violent.
Once the Ten Thousand Blades Annihilation Saber was unleashed, it instantly covered a large area; you, the Demon Monk, can dodge, but can those Centipede Demon Worms dodge?
Just like that, after several rounds of confrontation, the Demon Monk's Aura had clearly withered significantly!
He was no longer even able to repair his own injuries.
His Realm was visibly unstable, nearly on the verge of falling back to the Extreme Realm.
Now that a large portion of the centipedes in the pit were dead or wounded, the Demon Monk had suffered quite a bit of backlash because of it.
These were the source of his power!
Damned Demon Slaying Division!
Why must you ruin my plans!
It couldn't go on like this; if the ritual failed, so be it—it was better than losing his life!
The Demon Monk made his decision and, with great heartache, began trying to reclaim his power.
Only to find that in just a moment, Li Xuanxiao had slain another large batch of centipedes!
A stream of blackish-purple blood gushed from his mouth.
This time the backlash he suffered was truly not light, and his Realm really had slipped to the Peak of the Extreme Realm.
He finally showed a look of fear!
Li Xuanxiao didn't care what he thought; he simply raised the blade in his hand again and silently slashed down!
Ten Thousand Blades Annihilation Saber!
Slash!
Thousands of saber light phantoms appeared once more, shooting straight toward the Demon Monk and his pit.
The Demon Monk's face showed despair.
Puchi puchi puchi—
Countless saber light phantoms passed through his body, pinning him firmly to the wall until he fell silent.
The centipedes in the pit were also all slain!
[Killed Third Layer of the Xuan Realm Centipede Demon King, gained 300 Demon value Points!]
[First time killing a Xuan Realm demon, bonus 500 Demon value Points!]