Chapter 30 - 24: How is Big Brother So Amazing?
The rain fell in torrents.
It washed over the muddy slope.
A minor demon leader, over ten feet long with a human torso and a serpentine tail, stood at the mouth of the cave, shouting impatiently:
"Hurry up! Do you want to die, dawdling around like that?!"
It gripped a bone staff, striking it against the ground again and again, splashing up muddy water.
Dozens of Snake Demons of varying sizes scrambled out from honeycomb-like holes, their hissing mingling with the sound of the rain to create a scene of chaotic panic.
"Keep up!"
"Spread out and head for the woods!"
The Snake Demon leader directed its subordinates, glancing back toward the village well. Its vertical pupils were filled with anxiety.
’I don’t know if Master will be able to escape safely...’
Then, a venomous glint flickered in its eyes as it ground its teeth.
’These damn bastards from the Demon-slaying Bureau are like persistent ghosts! Just you wait. When the Matriarch completes her cultivation and returns, I’ll chew up every last one of these scumbags in official uniforms and swallow them whole!’
Just as it was silently cursing, a sudden sense of alarm seized it.
"Who’s there?!"
It whipped its head around.
Its only answer was the brilliant flash of a cold blade.
In a panic, the Snake Demon instinctively reached out and yanked a comrade, who was just crawling out of a hole, in front of itself.
SCHLICK—
The blade flashed, and a fountain of blood erupted into the air!
A grotesque snake head flew high into the air, its dark blood mingling with the rain and instantly blooming into a jarring splash of red.
After the one-hit kill, Jiang Mu drifted back several paces, neatly dodging a spray of foul-smelling venom spat by the Snake Demon leader. He landed steadily on a jutting rock.
"A Demon Slayer Envoy?!"
The Snake Demon leader’s expression turned hideous when it got a clear look at the uniform Jiang Mu was wearing.
’How is this possible?’
’Weren’t they all lured away?’
’How did someone manage to find this secret rear path?’
Jiang Mu held his blade horizontally, letting the rain slide down its edge. With his other hand, he tucked the bone tablet that had concealed most of his aura into his robes.
It was thanks to this item that he had been able to approach them so stealthily.
Jiang Mu said coolly,
"You’re surrounded. Surrender now."
’Surrounded?’
Upon hearing this, all the Snake Demons froze in terror.
The once-orderly escape instantly devolved into chaos.
They glanced around in terror, tongues flicking frantically as they tried to locate the ambushers.
However, they looked left and right and saw no one. A glance back revealed... just one fool standing in the tall grass.
"Two of them?"
The Snake Demon leader was stunned for a moment, its expression turning strange.
Jiang Mu nodded, admitting frankly, "That’s right. Just the two of us."
The corner of the Snake Demon leader’s mouth twitched.
A furious rage at being mocked shot through it.
"You son of a bitch!"
The Snake Demon leader roared, "Two people dare to boast about surrounding us? Are you out of your goddamn mind?!"
Besides, neither of them showed any sign of being empowered by Star Power.
That meant they were just a couple of moron Demon Slayer Envoys from the Body Tempering Stage.
"Kill these two morons!"
The Snake Demon leader roared, swinging its bone staff forward.
The demons shrieked as a foul wind stirred.
Dozens of Snake Demons writhed and surged toward the two men.
"Excellent!"
The rock beneath Jiang Mu’s feet cracked as he charged straight into the horde of demons, his blade stirring up the curtain of rain.
He unleashed the Heaven-Breaking Eight Skills to their absolute fullest.
His first move was a brand-new secret technique, executed to perfection.
Meanwhile, Zhang Xiaokui was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
As a subordinate, seeing his superior charge out blade-drawn, he knew he couldn’t just cower like a turtle in its shell.
But the problem was...
’Damn it all, with this many demons, we’re just throwing our lives away.’
’Demons are already stronger than Cultivators of the same level. Even a one-on-one fight is a struggle.’
’Now we’re facing more than twenty Tier Two Demons. How are we supposed to fight this?’
’Where’s our advantage?’
"Fuck!"
He could only grit his teeth, let out a yell, and force himself to swing his blade at a few Tier One Snake Demons pouncing from the side.
Rain and blood mingled in the air.
Jiang Mu’s figure weaved through the horde of snakes. The endless threads of rain were drawn in by the force of his blade and shredded, turning into a bloody mist!
Broken scales and severed limbs flew through the air.
A ceaseless stream of Demonic Qi rose from the dead demon corpses and flowed into his body, transforming into surging Qi Blood True Qi that replenished the energy he had just expended.
In a matter of moments, he had slain a dozen Snake Demons.
’What kind of monster is this?!’
The Snake Demon leader watched, utterly dumbfounded.
’Is he really in the Body Tempering Stage?’
Seeing its subordinates being slaughtered, it could no longer stand by. With a roar, it threw itself into the fray.
Its thick, serpentine tail whipped violently toward Jiang Mu, sweeping out with immense force.
Jiang Mu sidestepped to avoid it.
The hard scales scraped against a waist-high boulder beside him. With a BOOM, the rock was shattered as if it were tofu, sending fragments flying.
A Tier Two Demon at the peak of Great Perfection, just one step away from the Solidifying Pill stage.
Its power was far beyond that of any ordinary demon.
But as fast as it was, Jiang Mu’s blade was faster!
Just as the tail swept around again, Jiang Mu’s body twisted unnaturally, his blade flashing as it skimmed up the length of the tail against its motion.
SCREEE—
With a sound of tearing flesh, the hard scales were sliced clean open by the blade, leaving a gash several feet long.
Dark red demon blood gushed out like a fountain.
"AAAAH!!"
The Snake Demon leader let out a piercing shriek. The force of the slash sent its massive body flying backward to slam heavily into the mud, where it rolled several times before skidding to a halt.
It scrambled to its feet, all courage draining away as it saw Jiang Mu advancing with his blade once more. Its eyes were filled with pure terror.
"Get him! All of you, get him!"
it roared at the few remaining demons.
Driven by instinct, a few Tier One demons pounced at Jiang Mu in an attempt to stall him.
The Snake Demon leader itself, however, suddenly turned and charged toward Zhang Xiaokui, who was fighting for his life.
Zhang Xiaokui was already covered in blood, panting heavily.
If Jiang Mu hadn’t drawn so much aggro and taken most of the heat, he would have been torn apart and devoured by these cold-blooded beasts long ago.
Zhang Xiaokui, who was desperately swinging his blade to fend off a lunging Snake Demon, suddenly felt his scalp prickle.
He looked up.
And saw the Snake Demon leader charging straight for him.
"You bastard, why are you coming for me?!"
He was so scared he executed a clumsy donkey roll to get behind a large nearby boulder.
However, the Snake Demon leader didn’t spare him a single glance.
With a powerful flick of its thick tail against the mud, it shot off like a rocket, fleeing for its life toward the dense forest on the other side of the barren slope.
"..."
Zhang Xiaokui froze.
WHOOSH!
A figure shot past over his head.
"Finish off the last few crippled ones!"
Jiang Mu’s voice carried through the rain.
Zhang Xiaokui looked up just in time to see his Hall Master, blade in hand, in hot pursuit of the Snake Demon leader. In the blink of an eye, they both vanished into the downpour.
"This..."
Zhang Xiaokui dazedly climbed to his feet.
He looked around.
The small hillside was blanketed with a dense layer of snake corpses.
Rainwater washed over them, pooling into a crimson stream.
The few Snake Demons that weren’t dead were writhing and hissing in agony on the ground, no longer a threat.
The scene was like something out of Hell.
Zhang Xiaokui gulped down a mouthful of rain-laced saliva, his hand gripping his blade trembling slightly.
"My God... My Hall Master... he isn’t human."
But Zhang Xiaokui didn’t notice a hazy, slender figure floating like mist among the branches of the ancient tree above him.
The young girl tilted her head, gazing at the field of demon corpses.
’Big brother, when did you get so strong? Heh, how interesting.’
SWISH!
The figure flickered.
The girl drifted away in the direction Jiang Mu had gone.