Ma Ru watched as the chimera in front of him ate his disciple. He was helpless during the whole process. It would be another matter if he were at his best condition. He shook his head inwardly. No. Even if he was in his best condition, the best they could have managed was to get away from here safely.

He had underestimated his opponent by a huge margin.

The creature transformed back to the form of a young boy, a charming young boy with a gentle expression on his face. But that gentle expression scared Ma Ru more than anything. What is this malefic?

If he were at his peak, before that battle, this sort of opponent would be an ant before him. Now, he was cowering before one. Such were the workings of the fate.

“You…” He managed to say. The effect of whatever that was freezing him had run out. But that did nothing to improve his situation. Both of his legs were gone. More than half of his lifeforce was depleted.

The monstrous boy turned towards him. Without saying anything, he materialized an odd metal bow. Ma Ru could feel swirls of Qi gathering to form an arrow. Ma Ru knew the power of this skill. If he hadn’t evaded it previously, he would have suffered a lot.

There was nothing he could do. He could only accept his death. And graciously he would do, like a true demon that he was. But that resolve didn’t last long. He saw something that made him change his mind in the very next second.

That ring! He saw a familiar ring on one of his opponent’s fingers. It’s color, the intricate carvings of beasts on it; they were all too familiar to him. How could it not be? This ring had been the object of his envy for a very long time. As far as the quality of the ring went, it was slightly better than the one he possessed. That was not the important thing. The important thing was, this ring contained almost half of the wealth of the Demon Kingdom! The previous owner of the ring, his senior uncle – Ma Linzheng, had been one of the two treasurers, the other being the Demon Lord himself.

The main objective of their mission had been to collect this ring!

After that great battle, the demons had hidden themselves to recover. They didn’t dare to gather in large groups for the fear of attracting too much attention. They scattered everywhere, slowly recovering the strength they had lost. Many succumbed to the injuries they sustained. Therefore, it didn’t come as a surprise when the treasurer, Ma Linzheng’s life jade had broken, just a little pity.

However, they couldn’t let go of the immense wealth in Ma Linzheng’s spatial ring. It was too important for the development of the demons. Thus, the Demon Lord had ordered this expedition in spite of all the risks.

Did this boy have anything to do with his senior uncle’s death? He dismissed the idea as soon as it came to him. A lofty person like his senior uncle definitely wouldn’t fall to a small character. The boy must have stumbled across the body of Ma Linzheng.

Not good. I need to pass this information to senior brother Ma Zhuyan.

It went against his code but there was no other way. “Please… please spare my life,” he begged. “I swear on the Law… I swear I will not seek revenge. I will also give you my spatial ring. Please. Just spare my life.” He threw away all his pride. This success of this mission was too important for the demons.

“Sorry,” came the cold reply. “It is against my policy to spare my enemies. Besides, everything you possess will become mine after you die.”

Before Ma Ru could say anything more, the arrow had finished forming and flew towards him.

It didn’t take me long to finish off the injured demon.

Ding!

You have killed a Nascent Soul Stage demon.

Congratulations!

You have gained +23002 essence.

As I was about to absorb the essence I earned after killing the demon, I noticed a trace of red energy in it. It was like blood. Normally, I would have ignored it; but some reason, I recalled what Ling Chen had said: ‘Too much blood. Not good.’

Is this the blood he was referring to? Till now, I broke through to where I was by killing others and absorbing their essence. I must have accumulated a huge amount of the blood energy.

I let the essence dissipate without collecting. It might leave hidden dangers behind. Before I understood fully, I planned not to absorb further essence. I made a mental note to visit Ling Chen and consult him, that is, if he was willing to talk.

There was also another matter that baffled me. I earned no essence when I finished off Mu Lanran in [Chimera Transformation]. This one also needed to be looked into.

I took the spatial ring from the demon and put it in mine. I planned to give it to Xue’er to store cooking stuff since she was effectively our chef. That way, she wouldn’t have to come to me every time she needed something.

I stored the demon’s body into my spatial ring with a little hesitation.

Now that I was no longer in [Chimera Transformation], it felt sickening when I recalled that I had eaten Mu Lanran. I had the urge to throw up every time I did. I felt disgusted at myself. If I could help it, I would like to avoid such occurrences in the future.

Ma Zhuyan entered Ma Linzheng’s cave.

It was empty!

His heart sank. He could make out traces of fight in the cave. There were very few who could take down his senior uncle in this world. Even if his cultivation base had dropped drastically, there shouldn’t be anyone in this tiny corner who could give Ma Linzheng a tough time. Who did this?

His senior uncle hadn’t succumbed to death due to his injuries; someone had killed him. When he thought of the possibility of someone strong enough to kill a powerhouse lurking in the shadow, his skull went numb with fear. Their whole expedition would be wiped out if they encountered that person.

Retreat. They had to retreat.

“Sir,” one of his subordinates came to him. “The life jades of Sir Ma Ru broke just a few moments back. The others, many are breaking as we speak. Should we go and reinforce them.”

“No,” Ma Zhuyan replied. There was no value. They would only sustain further losses if they did. Also, if the one who took Ma Linzheng’s life were in the human camp, it wouldn’t bode well for them. They could only sacrifice them.

He checked the cave carefully once more just in case the spatial ring was hidden in some corner. He came up with nothing. In the end, he could only give up.

“Pass on my order,” he told his subordinates. “We are retreating!”

There was no way to complete this mission. The spatial ring they had come for must be in the hand of the high level cultivator who had killed their treasurer. There was no way they could snatch the ring from such a person. They could only give up.

I returned to the tent.

Byakko, Ling and Xue’er were already back. The battle (if you could call that) was already over by the time I finished off the Nascent Soul Stage demon. The demons mostly concentrated on running away while the cultivators from Red Dawn City chased them.

“They were a bunch of cowards,” Byakko said in an unsatisfied tone. “I was only able to kill eleven of them.”

“Ling! Ling! Ling burnt eight demons and froze seven of them! Ling did better than Byakko!” Ling said with a gloating expression on her face.

“It’s only because you can attack a large area at once.”

While the two fellows were quarreling, I looked at the other participant of the battle who was crouched in one corner of the tent. “What happened to Xue’er?” I asked.

The two stopped their bicker.

“Nothing,” Byakko replied. “Xue’er managed to kill a demon and she had been like this since then.”

“Ren! Ren! Ling! Ling protected Xue’er!” I had told her to call me ‘Ren’ since I was no more her master, which the simple fellow easily did.

“I protected Xue’er, too.”

Byakko and Ling began the second round of their quarrel.

I went to Xue’er who was oblivious to the surrounding. This was the first she had killed someone. It must have come as a shock to her. It wasn’t like I didn’t understand since it was the same for me. The first time was always difficult. I knelt down beside her and rubbed her head. It was only then she noticed I had returned.

“Young… young master, welcome back,” she said. There was a slight tremor in her voice.

“How are you feeling?” I asked. Well, it was obvious how she was feeling but I still asked.

“Xue’er… Xue’er is fine,” she replied.

With you shaking like that? I thought but didn’t voice it out. I continued patting her head. “This was your first battle, you did well, Xue’er. I am proud of you…” I added a stream of cajoling words. Her shaking lessened as time passed and disappeared altogether in the end.

“Thank you, young master,” she said, color returning to her face.

I took out the spatial ring I had taken from demon and handed it to her. “This is for you. Take it,” I told her.

She didn’t take the ring. She hesitated as if she had something to say.

I waited.

“Young… young master, Xu-Xue’er has a presumptuous request,” she said finally.

I encouraged her to go on, with a smile.

“Cou-Could young master put the ring on Xue’er’s finger?”

“Sure,” I obliged. “Which finger do you want me to put the ring on?

For some reason, she chose her left thumb. Was it because I had it on the same finger? It wasn’t important, so I stopped thinking about it.

I watched her as she looked at the ring with a dazed expression on her face. She must be happy to get a spatial ring. The trauma she got from killing a demon was gone from her face. I nodded in satisfaction. It wasn’t a major battle but I was glad nothing untoward happened.

Sister Yu Chen’er came to visit me in the latter half of the morning. She brought me up to date with the situation.

The two Nascent Soul Stage demons had managed to run away. As for those with Core Formation Stage demons, most of them had been killed. Also, I heard some shocking news. The elite team had tried to ambush the demon camp but failed. All of them were wiped out except for the Mu Clan Patriarch, who was later assassinated by one of the demons that had infiltrated the camp. City Lord Mu Yan was also assassinated while Mu Lanran went missing. At the moment, Yu Clan Patriarch was controlling the situation as the Acting City Chief.

Red Dawn City camp was preparing for further assaults from the Demon Army.

I passed on the information I had acquired through [Kaleidoscope Eye] to her. The demons had retreated. They were moving back, away from Red Dawn City.

At first, I thought the demons were coming for Red Dawn City. Now that the Red Dawn City was at a perilous state with only two Nascent Stage powerhouses remaining, why didn’t they attack with their full force? They were in the advantageous situation, weren’t they?

If they were going to be so half-hearted about battling the cultivators from Red Dawn City, why did they come here in the first place?

It was confirmed three days later that the demons had really retreated. The troops made the return trip. It couldn’t be considered a triumphant return since the city had sustained a big loss. Still, people couldn’t help but rejoice. They had averted a huge crisis.

As we walked towards the city, I saw the others give our group peculiar gazes, especially, towards Byakko and Ling.

“Hmph!” Byakko snorted, raising his head high in pride.

“Hmph!” Ling snorted, copying Byakko.

Sister Yu quietly whispered to me, “They made quite a show of might during the confrontation with the demons. Everyone now acknowledges their strength.”

Looking at the two fellows who were putting a high and mighty front, I laughed, shaking my head.

Thus, the baffling battle with the demons ended.