Chapter 378: Encounter Battle

Chapter 378: Encounter Battle

“Senior, did you know? This Demon-Locking Tower in the Qinling Mountains is said to be one of the hardest ones to crack.”

Wang Shouyi looked down at the gloomy mountain range below, his expression serious.

“Out of the nine Demon-Locking Towers, three landed in treacherous mountain ranges, and six landed in urban areas. Surprisingly, the ones in the cities are actually less of a threat.”

“Why?” Chen Huaian was puzzled. “There are lots of mortals in cities. To these demons, aren’t mortals just food to grow stronger with? But out here in the middle of nowhere, there’s nothing but mutated animals from the Spiritual Revival. How is this place harder to crack?”

Wang Shouyi went quiet for a while, frowning, deep in thought.

After a pause, he finally withdrew his gaze from the desolate wilderness below and spoke with a hint of confusion in his tone:

“Senior, remember the issue you raised with me before?

You said the spider demons didn’t attack mortals proactively, and asked me to investigate whether that was an isolated case or if other regions were the same. I checked—it’s true. These demons don’t go after mortals. Their only targets are Ascenders and the Awakened.”

“So—” Chen Huaian followed up:

“The towers that landed in urban areas don’t produce overly powerful demons, but the ones that landed in the wild… their guardians grow stronger by hunting mutated animals affected by Spiritual Revival?”

“Exactly.” Wang Shouyi nodded.

“Well, these demons aren’t half bad then.” Chen Huaian had expected as much, but still asked, “What do you think about that?”

“A demon that doesn’t kill or eat people—that’s not normal.” Wang Shouyi’s tone turned icy, his gaze indifferent. “There’s always something wrong when things go against the norm. But whatever these demons are planning... Her Eminence once said, no demon is a good demon. They should all die—whether it’s because of their nature or because they provide materials. Either way, they deserve to die!”

Chen Huaian’s mouth twitched.

He clearly felt Hakyryu—curled up on his shoulder—go stiff.

Wang Shouyi seemed to realize he’d gone too far and quickly turned to smooth things over:

“But Hakyryu is different! Hakyryu is Senior’s pet, under your control. That makes Hakyryu a good demon!”

Chen Huaian went silent—how to put it... he didn’t exactly have full control over Hakyryu.

Hakyryu also went silent—how to put it? If he wanted to slip free and squash this Wang guy like a bug, it wouldn’t be that hard.

The conversation hit a bit of a lull.

Until suddenly, a sharp whooshing sound pierced the air nearby, and the flying vessel jolted violently.

“What was that?!” Wang Shouyi steadied himself and looked toward the front of the vessel, frowning.

An Ascender quickly rushed over, looking panicked as he reported:

“Senior Wang! A javelin just flew up and broke through the ship’s shield instantly! Luckily it lost momentum and only hit the underside—it didn’t do major damage. But… we’re worried there might be more of them.”

Wang Shouyi’s face darkened.

This flying vessel wasn’t built for combat—it had minimal defenses and was mostly for transport.

They could’ve used modern aircraft to get there faster, but there were two issues: nowhere to land, and even weaker defenses.

The javelin just mentioned? No doubt hurled by a demon.

To a modern aircraft, that thing would be the equivalent of a missile.

“Tell the pilot to land immediately! Stop flying!”

They could already see the Demon-Locking Tower in the distance—still small, but visible. Landing now meant they’d have to cross at least two more mountain peaks to reach it.

The mountains were crawling with demon beasts. Flying over them made them sitting ducks.

Even so, Wang Shouyi issued the order to make an emergency landing.

Because right now, staying in the air made them an easy—and massive—target.

The Ascender rushed to the front to relay the command.

The flying vessel soon lurched with a sinking feeling as it began descending.

But at the same time, the sharp whistling of javelins filled the air again—this time continuous and dense.

Wang Shouyi’s expression grew grim—he already knew what was happening. He turned to Chen Huaian immediately:

“Senior, please find a safe spot with Sister-in-law and sit tight. I’ll be right back!”

At the word “Sister-in-law,” Chen Huaian instinctively touched his nose.

Li Qingran blushed slightly but didn’t say anything, just pretended not to hear it.

Wang Shouyi didn’t linger—he stepped onto his sword and shot out of the vessel.

He couldn’t let the vessel explode in midair.

Not just because the explosion might injure the Ascenders onboard.

Even if it didn’t, having so many Ascenders fall from the sky would still be extremely dangerous.

The highest cultivation among them was only Golden Core. At that level, they couldn’t defend themselves and fly at the same time.

Their only defense would be magical tools or body-protecting true qi.

But magic tools? Most Ascenders could only dream of those.

And body-protecting true qi? That stuff was as flimsy as paper—poke it and it breaks.

With great power comes... many moments of bad timing.

The moment Wang Shouyi flew out of the vessel, he was greeted by a hailstorm of javelins.

Below the vessel, the previously quiet mountain terrain had erupted into chaos.

Vague shapes could be seen—tiger demons. These weren’t ordinary tigers—they looked more like gorillas with tiger heads. Long, muscular forelimbs and stubby, thick hind legs.

Each one pulled javelins from baskets on their backs and hurled them skyward nonstop.

“F***ing beasts.”

Wang Shouyi’s face turned dark, and he immediately activated his Mountain-Crushing Sword Art.

His goal wasn’t complex—just defend the underside of the vessel.

The rest of the ship? Well, the other Ascenders weren’t dead weight—they’d help.

Mountain-Crushing Sword Art: when the sword strikes, mountains collapse.

Wang Shouyi had trained this technique to mastery.

As he unsheathed his sword, it roared like thunder. A phantom of a giant mountain appeared behind him.

No blinding sword light—

Just a single slow, steady strike against the incoming javelins. The phantom mountain came crashing down.

Rocks rolled from its slopes. Cracked soil and broken vegetation merged into an avalanche of earth.

To the tiger demons below, this strike was devastating.

Their strength was only Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment—no way they could survive it.

Yet not a single one tried to flee.

They just kept throwing javelins, like the collapsing mountain didn’t exist.

BOOM—!

The mountain phantom landed.

A shockwave of dust and debris blasted across the entire ridge.

“Did that do it…”

Hundreds of tiger demons were buried beneath the mountain. Even if some lived, they wouldn’t be causing any more trouble.

That strike took a heavy toll on Wang Shouyi.

And just as he relaxed for a second—

Whoosh—!

Suddenly, a sharp killing intent rose from the north.

He instinctively looked up and saw a flash of blood-red light screaming toward him with the roar of wind and thunder.

That blood light flickered in and out of his senses, as elusive as a ghost. He couldn’t even lock onto it.

“Not good!”

His scalp tingled. His heart sank.

He tried to turn back toward the vessel—

But it was already too late.

The blood-red light was in front of him in the blink of an eye.

…

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