“Against one of the Seven Demons, I can’t take any chances.” Han Ling had planned it as he waited, thinking of the fight ahead. “Demon Seven specializes in mind attacks, buffing and debuffing the enemy, but against me, all debuffs of his is useless.”

“And with my wings, I can get rid of his buffs, it’ll be a fair fight…”

Yet Han Ling didn’t look happy.

“I’ll have to kill him in a span of 5 minutes. Before Guan Tian catches up or the reinforcements arrive.”

“I’ll have to go all out.”

And sure enough…

“Void Spark Sword: 3rd Spark. Ignition Wheel!”

A purple wheel of flame slammed into the pole handle of Seven, his body staggering back at the force. “Get lost!” he shoved the wheel away, deflecting a red sabre aimed at his side. “Who the hell is this kid?” His eyes were frantic, trying his best to defend himself from this unknown assailant.

“Why does he have wings? The angel rumoured to have fallen a month back?”

“Damn it!” he yelped as a red sabre stabbed into his back, then another stabbed into his side.

Han Ling frowned slightly, “He’s much weaker than I expected…” Then his eyes widened, purple eyes whipping to the side.

CLANG!

Sword and spear met, sparks flying from the collision, “Tch! I didn’t think he would see me!” Demon Seven staggered out of his cloaked state, his clone disappearing the moment Han Ling realized. “A clone technique? But its weak if it disappears as soon as the opponent realizes.” Han ling raised both blades, lightning wreathing his body.

“I’ll end it soon!”

ZZZZ!!!

CLANG! TING! BAM! BOOM! CLING!

A flurry of attacks, and a flurry of parries.

Both sides evenly matched in strength, even with Han Ling using his wings as well as Red Asura, even then he could only match Demon Seven.

“More power!” Han Ling’s aura flared, activating three of the Five Blazing Blood Gates.

Re-burst.

Pain.

Extremity.

“Guh!” the Third gate caused a slight throb across Han Ling’s body, but he held it in, his eyes glowing a mix of purple and red.

“Void Spark Sword: 4th Spark. Mountain Splitting Blade.”

An overhead slash, embedding deep into the Demon’s shoulder. “GUH!” Demon Seven screamed, retaliating with a spear stabbed through Han Ling’s gut. “Cough!”

Han Ling gritted his teeth.

“Sparking Monarch!”

BBBBZZZZTTT

RUMBLE!

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The sound of a hundred thunderclaps blasted Demon Seven back, his body slamming into a wall, cries of pain reverberating around the cave.

“I’ll finish this in a single move.”

Demon Seven stared at the young man with a look of pure fear, torrents of unknown purple energy swirled around him like a cyclone. “Damn it all!!!!” “Demon Manifestation!”

His body transformed a bull’s tail sprouted from his back, a pair of demonic bat wings appeared on his back, his body transformed into a deep red black hue, covered in strange scales.

“RAWHHHHH!!!”

“I recognize that form…”

Demi-Demon

Half Demon, Half Human.

“I’ll have to end this before he regains consciousness.”

“Through a spark, a fire is born. Through a fire, a light is seen. Through a light, a star is found.”

“Secret Art: Star Light Rupture.”

A blinding flash.

And silence…

>>>

“What a powerful qi presence…” Guan Tian made his way towards the flaring qi, like a sun in the night sky. “Demon Seven is battling someone…” He made his way there as fast as he could, but the presence was slowly diminishing, but just enough for Guan Tian to feel something that chilled him.

“Such corrupt demonic qi! What is that unknown power?” He could feel two types of energies, one was unknown, like a yawning abyss that shouldn’t be entered, the other a pool of acid that corrupts everything around. That was what Guan Tian would choose to describe them.

The presences were dwindling, like the final rays of the sunset.

He burst through a cave wall, just to see two bodies on either side of the wide cave. A large demonic body, not unlike a beast, its body had a deep bloody gash running from the shoulder to the waist, and a purplish crystal lay shattered where his dan tian should have been.

“Demon Seven…”

He turned to the other side, a young man with black hair, his body charred black and red, his eyes were a fading purple, his face sooty. He turned with much effort, staring straight at Guan Tian, “Took you long enough…”

And he fell, silent as death.

Right at that moment, the cave fell away, dissipating into dust a golden robed woman descending from the sky with a massive army.

A regal woman, beautiful features and a cold gaze.

One of the Nine Heavenly Generals, Dominator of Earth, Fang Rou

Guan Tian released a sigh, nodding towards the woman, before making his way to Han Ling. Then Hua Rong and Chen Liang entered, gasping at the sight of Han Ling’s battered body.

“He needs a healer!” Hua Rong shouted behind her, and a group of people immediately flew down from the sky, green glows coating his body as his wounds slowly healed.

The woman then came up to Guan Tian, “What happened here?” The man shook his head, “It was like this when I arrived, one of his beasts stopped me.” His brows furrowed, showing his displease at being stopped by a mere beast.

“You mean this boy killed Demon Seven on his own? It’s a Demon for heaven’s sake!” Fang Rou uttered in disbelieve, yet Guan Tian merely stared at Han Ling’s body.

What in the world was that energy I sensed? Did it come from Han Ling? Thoughts ran around his head, but he shook them off momentarily, “I recommend we bring him back, we’ll need his report on the death of the Demon. I’ll report to the emperor.”

He turned to the demon’s body, storing it inside a space ring, as proof of the Demon’s death.

“Let’s return.” And so, they left, heading straight towards the Heavenly Palace of the Emperor.

>>>

In the middle of one of the Six Catastrophic Lands, Chaos Mountains…

A shirtless, lean, black-haired man sat in a lotus position, dark shadow strands of qi, emitting from his body.

He opened his eyes, a deep crimson hue.

“Seven has fallen…” A swirl of qi exploded, shattering an entire mountain with just the force. His body rose in the air, black qi steaming off his body. “By the hands of someone with strange powers.”

His mind filled with the memories of Seven’s final moments, a young man with black wings, not a human.

“Interesting.”

An immense presence filled the mountains, all the sage ranked beings cowered in fear, the power of a Ninth step Sage Ruler shook the ground under the heavens.

Demon One.