Li Ang raised his hand, catching the Green and Purple Giant’s descending palm. The bricks beneath his feet cracked and splintered from the tremendous force.
Just brute strength alone is at the level of an Innate Martial Artist...
Li Ang’s thoughts raced. The human faces on the Green and Purple Giant’s body were vanishing one by one, at a visible rate. It seemed the opponent was consuming its stored energy to gain greater power.
This was the formidable aspect of demons. Cultivators, through cultivation, must breathe and refine, polish their Spirit Veins, expand their Qi Sea, and accumulate improvements day by day to achieve anything. Demons, however, can attain great power in a very short time merely by defying the Heavenly Dao and committing acts of Evil Demons. No wonder the end of the Former Sui was so chaotic. Countless Cultivators, in pursuit of power, willingly fell into the Demon Path.
Cheating... but it’s just unethical.
A cold light flashed in Li Ang’s eyes as he channeled Spiritual Energy into the Mo Si.
The fine threads of black silk multiplied, becoming denser. The dragon whiskers on either side of the black dragon-head mask fluttered as if stirred by an unseen wind, swaying gracefully.
With the power of the Mo Si infused, Li Ang directly crushed the bones in the Green and Purple Giant’s right wrist. His gloved palm sank deep into the flesh of its arm, forcefully squashing and wrinkling the human face there.
The Green and Purple Giant roared in pain and kicked out, striking Li Ang’s chest. Li Ang was sent flying backward, crashing heavily against the wall and leaving an oval-shaped depression in the brickwork.
Bricks clattered to the ground as dust billowed into the air. But Li Ang stepped forward as if unharmed, bending his knees, then charged, throwing a punch at the Green and Purple Giant’s abdomen.
The Green and Purple Giant was swinging both palms at the scholar’s temples, intending to flatten his head like paper, and had no time to defend against Li Ang. The enormous force of the blow landed unobstructed on its abdomen. As Li Ang twisted his arm mid-punch, the flesh on the Green and Purple Giant’s abdomen contorted, sinking deeply inward.
The Green and Purple Giant’s body stumbled back half a step uncontrollably. Its massive hands clapped together in the air, inches from the scholar’s face, failing to flatten his skull.
Li Ang pressed forward, stepping out with his left foot to close in on the Green and Purple Giant’s right side. Simultaneously, his right leg swept out, kicking the giant’s right foot forward and causing its colossal body to lose balance and tilt backward.
Li Ang’s right hand slithered like a snake through the gap between the giant’s still-closing arms. His palm slammed into the crevices of its facial features, seizing its face and ramming it downward.
The Green and Purple Giant’s body crashed to the ground, its head driven hard into the stone tiles. Li Ang’s right hand pinned the giant’s face down, while his left, hand-formed into a blade, thrust toward its neck.
The Mo Si glove sliced open one side of the Green and Purple Giant’s neck, releasing a profusion of ominous green and purple smoke.
The Green and Purple Giant struggled violently, punching Li Ang’s left waist and sending him flying into the wall once more.
It felt like... being struck by a battering ram.
Li Ang clutched his left side and took a step forward. The Mo Si’s defensive capabilities were indeed exceptional, but it required a constant infusion of Spiritual Power to maintain its form. With his Body Concealing Realm’s reserve of Spiritual Energy, he had, at most, another minute or two of action left.
Li Ang released his left side and charged. He grabbed the Green and Purple Giant’s left arm, which was reaching for the scholar. Twisting his foot, he turned his body slightly and, with all his strength, hurled the Green and Purple Giant over his shoulder and onto the ground.
The Green and Purple Giant’s body smashed into the floor tiles, creating a huge, human-shaped dent. Even a demon’s body couldn’t entirely negate the damage from such an impact; more smoke spewed from its wounds.
Still gripping the Green and Purple Giant’s wrist, Li Ang felt the weight in his hand lighten—it seemed to realize the scholar was nearly ready with the talisman between his fingers and was using its ground drilling ability to sink underground.
"Don’t let it escape!"
The stooped elderly man struggled to his feet, his expression fierce. He once again thrust the shattered fragments of the wooden sword at the Green and Purple Giant’s back. For a demon renowned for its physical strength, the wooden sword splinters inflicted little damage. But they could briefly interrupt the creature’s ground drilling ability, causing its body to solidify.
Li Ang seized this fleeting opportunity. He tightened his grip on the giant’s arms, yanked its body up from the ground, and flung it into the air.
A cold light flickered in the scholar’s eyes. The final talisman between his fingers spontaneously combusted, instantly turning to ash.
Cloud Patrol Realm—Light Talisman.
An intense, blinding light burst forth in the bedroom. Everywhere it touched, dust motes froze mid-air, and Evil Spirits were cleansed. The Green and Purple Giant, caught mid-air in the brightness, let out an unearthly, human-like wail as dense smoke evaporated from its body. Its enormous form shriveled at a visible rate, rapidly withering away.
As the light slowly faded, the Green and Purple Giant had transformed into an infant, bearing some resemblance to the fake Jiao Yao specimen in the brocade box.
The infant, blasted by the Light Talisman, collapsed to the ground, limp and unable to use any more of its abilities.
"The Ghost Realm’s barrier... is gone."
Li Ang slowly straightened, looking out through the ruined bedroom. The sounds of traffic from outside returned, and fireworks celebrating the New Year still burst in the distant night sky.
"Sir Bai, I am Yu Shusheng..."
The pale-faced scholar clasped his hands, about to speak, but Li Ang raised a hand, interrupting, "The Ghost Realm has dissipated. The garrison will notice the disturbance and arrive soon. Let’s go. If fate allows, we’ll meet again."
With that, he dashed out of the bedroom, heading straight for the mansion’s inner courtyard. The Mo Si’s craving persisted, directing him toward the inner courtyard’s kitchen.
Li Ang casually struck a stack of firewood, scattering it to reveal Huai Rui hiding beneath, filthy and disheveled.
Huai Rui’s expression turned wretched when he saw Li Ang. He pleaded urgently, "Please, don’t kill me! I can offer you a fortune! I am the Gold Department Doctor, and I could become the Minister of Revenue one day! Spare my life, and I’ll repay you handsomely..."
Li Ang had no desire to converse with such scum. He reached into Huai Rui’s robes and extracted the object that had attracted the Mo Si. It was a finger-sized, dark bluish-green stone figurine. Its facial features were indistinct, but it was barely recognizable as a child.
Li Ang asked coldly, "Who gave this to you?"
Huai Rui’s voice was frantic. "It was... it was an ever-smiling Fangshi I met by chance in Jiannan Dao’s Quzhou five years ago. He was the one who told me how to use this stone figurine to create Jiao Yao specimens. At the time, I just dismissed him as a Jianghu charlatan and didn’t ask for his name or background. I originally intended to throw this ominous thing away, but some impulse made me keep it."
A sudden unease rose in Li Ang’s heart. With a swift chop to Huai Rui’s neck, he knocked him unconscious. He turned, absorbed the dark bluish-green stone figurine into the Mo Si, and strode out of the mansion, slipping away quietly before the soldiers from the garrison could arrive.