The Heavenly Wandering Sword

Chapter 34

He wandered around the academy some more before deciding that he was too bored of the academic nature of the place. Instead, he would explore the city itself and see what it had to offer since it seemed like he would be here for a while. In the city itself, it seemed like the central region was quite mixed but each race became more segregated the further away the place was from the central region. He was quite curious about the demon race, he didn’t believe that they were true demons. True demons radiated an aura of evil although it was quite possible that the demon race here were a very diluted bloodline of the true demons.

After a few hours of wandering, he found himself in what appeared to be almost a completely different city. In the central regions, the buildings were built with a delicate appearance and with bright colours but here, the buildings were built in a much more robust in appearance. The streets were also filled with decidedly more demons as he walked further in. He found what looked like a small tavern and waltzed in to see the sight of dozens of demons gathered around round wooden tables. “Bartender, an order of the local brew please.” The bartender was a hawk demon and looked at him quizzically before nodding and pouring a large cup of what looked like a frothing dark coloured beer. He sipped at it and found it quite pleasant, a nice bitter taste to it with a hint of cacao. He looked around and found that a lot of the patrons were staring at him but he simply shrugged it off as them seeing a human for the first time. “Listen dear customer, I would strongly suggest you leave after you finish your drink. This place can get violent, and well, you’re a human so you might get quite injured in a fight between demons.”

Li Jian drained his mug and waved his and. “I’ll have another one, and what do you have for snacks? I’ve never had demonic snacks before.” The bartender looked at him as if he was nuts but obliged, pouring out another large mug of the dark brew and placing a small bowl of what looked like dark green fruits in front of him. He picked up one of the fruits and found that it had a hard outer shell but there was definitely something fleshy inside. It was a small dark green roundish shape. He put on in his mouth and chewed on it, finding it oddly pleasant. It seemed at the same time, a fruit like this was toxic to humans. It had a pleasant sour sweet taste with an oddly spiced crunch at the exterior shell so he crunched on a few of them. “What is this called?” The bartender looked at him suspicious. “Those are the hill fruit seeds. You shouldn’t have too many of them, I don’t think they’re good for humans.”

A large tiger demon walked up to Li Jian and grinned. “You know what else is not good for humans? Not listening to advise and sitting in the territory of the Corpse Gang. You know why they call us that?” Li Jian looked at the tiger demon with disinterest. “Because your brains work as well as that of a corpse?”

The inn went dead quiet. The bartenders eyes bulged, almost dropping the mug he was cleaning while the tiger demons eyes became redder and redder. “Little human thinks he is very funny. I won’t kill you, but I’ll cut off your arms and legs and stew them. You can live like a cripple for the rest of your life.” Li Jian held up a hand and chewed on another hill fruit seed. “Ok ok, what is the Corpse Gang?” A hyena demon stepped up as well, this one holding a large wickedly curved dagger. “We’re the gang that runs this part of town. Any humans or witch elves want to enter our turf, you either pay tribute or pay with your life.”

The tiger demon growled and began to laugh. “Now you understand your predicament? No matter how powerful you are, you can’t fight against an entire gang.” Li Jian looked at the tiger demon, stunned. “Now are you rethinking your words from earlier?” The hyena demon said as he cackled. Li Jian shook his head. “I am beyond surprised that you know the word predicament.”

The bartender shook his head. This was the fate that those with a venomous tongue always ended up in. He didn’t know what he would be able to tell the guards if they came looking for a dead human. “Human, I hope you enjoyed your last day alive.” He swung his claws down towards Li Jian while the hyena demon struck down with his axe but Li Jian just stood up, stepping in between their strikes and sighed lightly. “Everyone wants to fight, no one goes to inns just to drink anymore.” He held two hill fruit seeds and flicked one with each hand, the two seeds smashing into the bodies of the two demons and sent them flying into some other demons. “What the hell was that?” The bartender thought. Li Jian walked up to the tiger demon and lifted him up by his ear.

The tiger demon roared and tried to attack again but Li Jian just smacked him. Every time the tiger demon tried to move again, he would smack him again. The inn full of demons just stared at the human who stood there holding up the tiger demon like a stray cat, smacking him repeatedly. The tiger demon whined this time. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were a powerful grandmaster, please just let me go.” Li Jian thought about it and nodded, tossing him onto the floor. “Ok, go tell your boss this. Tell him that the next time someone tries to disturb me while I’m having a drink, I will beat them until their ancestors will wake up bruised.” The tiger demon ran off along with the hyena demon who was limping from the impact of the hill fruit seed.

“You’re going to have a lot of trouble now human.” The bartender said, scratching his feathered head. “The Corpse Gang is not so easily cowed. They’re going to come back with reinforcements now.” Li Jian just shrugged to the bartender. “Give me another drink, I have plenty of time tonight.” He understood something much more clearly now. When he sees a problem, he must deal with it while the problem is still early.

True to his expectations, the Corpse Gang boss arrived this time. When he stepped in, the other demons in the inn all stared before running for it, leaving through the back door and some jumping out of a window. The Corpse Gang Boss was a large silver demon, so called a silver demon because he was almost human in appearance. However, he still had beast-like red eyes, his skin was an almost human grey. Sticking out of his mouth were large fangs. On top of his head was a set of curved horns that came out from his forehead.

“Human, I am Da Dao the boss of the Corpse Gang.” A wolf demon moved a chair for him and Da Dao sat down, looking over at Li Jian. Li Jian looked at him. “Sorry big boss, I am not interested in men. I don’t judge though.” The silver demon let out a low threatening growl. “I will give you one chance to make up for what you did. You are obviously powerful but you are not more powerful than me, a Silver Demon of the Dao Immortal Realm. I will give you an opportunity to work for me and make up for your mistakes.” Li Jian turned to look at him and sighed. “I told you, I’m not interested in men. Take a no for a no, why are you so clingy? We only met today.”

The silver demon stood up and drew a long curved blade, twirling it in his hand a few times. “I tried to be reasonable with you human, just remember that in a few moments. Li Jian looked over at the demon and yawned slightly. “Why can I never have a drink in peace.” He thought to himself. The silver demon activated his spiritual force, a wave of boundless darkness surging through the inside of the tavern. The bartender at this point ran upstairs to hide while even the demons of the Corpse Gang would retreat back a bit. Li Jian thought about how to deal with him, it was not worth losing his temper and destroying part of the city. The silver demon attacked with his blade, swinging down at Li Jian as his powerful aura surged towards him in a dark glow of energy. “Take this attack, the Ground Shaking Blade!”

Li Jian noticed that his plate was empty of the seeds he was snacking on and sighed. Too bad the bartender already ran upstairs. He took the empty plate, infusing it with a bit of his Dao essence before parrying the blade strike smoothly. The silver demon stepped back quickly and attacked again. “You do have some skills indeed human. See if you can block my Night Demonic strike.” He lunged forward, a powerful dark ball of vortex energy gathering at the tip of his blade as he stabbed forward. “Always announcing your attacks. Fine, I can announce my attacks too.” Li Jian stepped aside from the blade strike before dropping to the floor and sliding himself forward just under the striking arm of the silver demon.

“Take my Dick Breaking Punch then.” He slammed his fist in between the silver demons legs, the silver demon dropping onto the ground instantly, his eyes glazed over as he completely lost his consciousness from the power of that strike. In that moment, many of the demons around the fight could only picture the image of an egg shattering.

It took almost two hours, but the silver demon finally woke up. He felt his entire body sore, and it seemed as if his spiritual energy was completely depleted. He looked around at the inside of the inn where the other members of the Corpse Gang were crowded around him. “Boss, are you alive?” They asked him with concern. He shook his head and stood up slowly, a hand on the bar for support. “What happened?” The other demons looked at him before carefully explaining that the human had taken him down in a single punch and knocked him out for two hours. The silver demon paled slightly. “From now on, this man is the Big Boss of the demonic turf. No one mess with him! Pass out the order now!” He understood that if the human had been less merciful, he would have never woken up from that punch.