「A quarter hour later.」
The Night Parade of Hundred Demons was nearing its end. The bloody moonlight began to fade, and the heightened aura of life emanating from the group rapidly receded until it vanished completely. The Evil Spirits in the surrounding blocks and beyond snapped out of their frenzied state. Having lost the scent of life to guide them, they no longer converged on the group’s location.
Where the group had made their stand.
The area was a complete wreck. The corpses and severed limbs of Evil Spirits lay strewn everywhere. A rough estimate put the number at over two hundred, and nearly a third of them were the bodies of the incredibly hard-to-kill Sword Soldier Ghosts.
Black Yin Qi seeped from their wounds, and dark blood stained the surrounding streets, filling the air with an indescribable stench. The scene was one of utter carnage.
As the Night Parade of Hundred Demons concluded, the number of besieging Evil Spirits began to dwindle. Although a steady stream still attacked, their assault was no longer as dense as before and had become manageable.
PHEW!!
Zhao Xuanqi stood before a huge pile of mangled flesh and let out a soft breath. His clothes were torn, but the blood and gore splattered across his body had been burned away by his Golden Fire, leaving him remarkably clean.
This pile of mangled flesh was once a special Evil Spirit, drawn by the scent of the living. It had stood nearly five meters tall, its body seemingly stitched together from countless corpses. All over its form were grotesque maws, from which emerged long, muscular tongues of terrifying resilience, strength, and power.
As a special Evil Spirit, while its intelligence couldn’t match the previous ones, its strength and abilities were comparable. This towering corpse demon possessed an incredibly durable body and powerful regenerative abilities. Zhao Xuanqi had to expend considerable effort, practically beating it into a pulp, to finally kill it.
Within a single quarter hour, he had single-handedly slain the Fire Bone Demon—one of the five guardian Evil Spirits—killed nearly twenty ordinary Evil Spirits, and finished off an exceptionally hard-to-kill special Evil Spirit. It was a battle record no one else present could hope to match.
But at the same time, he felt a stabbing pain from within his body. His muscles were tearing, his fascia were snapping, and his internal organs screamed in protest.
Secret Techniques came with a price. At his current level, Zhao Xuanqi’s body was not yet strong enough to ignore that cost—let alone when he had stacked two Secret Techniques, which made the backlash all the more terrifying.
Back in the world of the Divine Generals, the first time he had used the stacked Double Secret Technique, his injuries had been severe. Even with the help of high-grade Wound Medicine, it had taken him a full five days to recover.
Of course, it was a different story now, but he would still need some time to recover fully.
He turned and scanned the battlefield. Amidst the remains of the Evil Spirits, he spotted the bodies of at least five disciples from the various sects.
Looking at the surviving disciples, he saw that every single one was injured. Some were wounded so severely that they were missing limbs. Although Zhuang Li had stabilized their wounds with Miaoyin Hall’s Ganlu Spell, saving their lives, they would likely be unable to participate in any further combat.
Clearly, the disciples of the various sects had also suffered heavy losses.
All the disciples were now consolidating in one area; Ren Fei and the others had already fallen back.
Seeing this, Zhao Xuanqi didn’t linger. He pushed off the ground and swiftly moved to join the others.
As he landed, countless eyes fell upon him. The faces of all the disciples, including the leaders of each sect, were filled with respect and gratitude.
Having fought the Evil Spirits head-on, they all understood just how terrifying the creatures were. If Zhao Xuanqi hadn’t killed one of the enemy’s main forces and severely wounded another intelligent Evil Spirit in such a short time, prompting the others to retreat, their casualties would have been more than double what they were. Many of them wouldn’t have survived.
Now that he was back with the others and confirmed it was safe, Zhao Xuanqi deactivated his Double Secret Technique.
CRACK!! CRACK!!
His bones cracked and popped as the terrifying physical transformation faded, his gnarled muscles shrinking back to their normal state.
Simultaneously, as his body reverted to normal, blood began to seep from every pore. It trickled from his nostrils, and within moments, he was practically drenched in his own blood. The backlash from the stacked Double Secret Technique was taking hold, causing his body to tremble uncontrollably.
Seeing this, everyone’s expression changed in an instant. They now understood that Zhao Xuanqi’s terrifying burst of power had not come without a price.
"Life!!"
Zhuang Li let out a low cry as a green light manifested around him. With a flick of his finger, he sent the light to envelop Zhao Xuanqi. Zhao Xuanqi felt a gentle stream of Primordial Qi stimulating and nourishing his body, accelerating the healing of his injuries.
"Senior Brother Zhao, are you all right?"
He Xijun stepped forward, her expression filled with worry. A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, a clear sign that she too was injured.
The others also looked on with concern.
"I’m fine," Zhao Xuanqi said calmly. "It’s a normal reaction. No permanent damage. I’ll have my strength back before the next Night Parade of Hundred Demons."
Zhao Xuanqi spoke calmly, the physical pain seemingly having no effect on him. Once the spasms subsided, he gave his body a sudden shake, flinging off most of the crusted blood and leaving himself clean again.
Doubt lingered in everyone’s eyes. They refused to believe that such a terrifying burst of power could come without any real cost.
"What’s the casualty report?"