Heart Demon

"Hahaha!" Elden Chun let out a hearty laugh, his body convulsing. "I was right in following my intuition. Look at all this power!"

"Intuition, huh?" Xuan mumbled. "So what's this get-up, then?"

"I think he's turning into a demon," Yuelan chimed in. "I remember playing some stupid fantasy games in the past, and there were some sort of heart demon mini-games. You fail them if you succumb to your desires or something."

A heart demon? What a load of bullshit, Xuan thought with a sigh, preparing to fight.

Yuelan cleared her throat and continued. "It's also referred to as the demonic path. Basically, his regular Qi has turned into Demonic Qi. So from the red veins and the ominous pressure, he's pretty much gone."

With those final words, Yuelan raised her sword in the air, then slashed down.

The slash looked innocent, but it sent a large vertical strike toward Elder Chun. Sadly, as it was about to hit him, he vanished from sight.

His speed was immense, but Xuan's perception was greater.

He turned his head to the side, spotting Elder Chun, who was heading toward him. His fist was outstretched and covered in Demonic Qi.

But as his attack was about to land, Xuan sidestepped, and before Elder Chun could react, a kick was already right in front of his face.

Just like that, it connected with a bang, sending Elder Chun hurtling toward the tents in the back.

Even if the kick connected with a lot of force, Xuan felt like it wasn't enough to kill him.

And he was right.

Elder Chun rose from the rubble, dusting himself off. He seemed unscathed, except for his clothes, which had been ripped, revealing his body—completely red and filled with bulging veins.

"Ouch, man, doesn't that hurt?" Xuan asked with a wince. "Looks like you got boiling water dumped on you."

"How impertinent..." Elder Chun muttered. "To think you'd be able to deal this much damage when I'm so much stronger than you. You deserve my respect, however—"

Before he could finish speaking, his arm was lopped off. Of course, the one responsible was Yuelan, who swiftly sheathed her sword and narrowed her eyes.

"What do you want from us?" she asked.

Elder Chun gripped the stump, stopping the blood loss.

"It's not about you two." He turned toward them with a grin. "When the world ended, I saw a vision in my dreams. There was a single man in black robes towering over me. When I looked up..."

He began to shiver. "I saw three captivating crimson eyes... I felt like an ant... but instead of killing me, that being offered me power."

<Xiao Yuelan: Seems like there's a catch.>

Xuan nodded.

<Xiao Xuan: Definitely.>

"And all I needed to do was gather blood for the being... The blood of powerful foes."

"So in a way, it is about us, isn't it?" Xuan rolled his eyes. "You sure you're not at that age where you start seeing things that you shouldn't?"

"Ha." Elder Chun shook his head. "How naive..."

Without wasting another second, Elder Chun kicked off the ground, appearing in front of Xuan.

Xuan was about to attack, but a strong smell of blood suddenly hit his nose. In the next instant, Elder Chun's hand regenerated.

Is this Demonic Qi? Xuan wondered in amazement. That's some serious regeneration.

But of course, that meant nothing to Xuan, who Swift Stepped out of the way. Then, he gathered Void Qi into his hands.

In the blink of an eye, a Void Fist flew outward and hit Elder Chun square on the side of the head, causing it to explode.

The impact sent a small shockwave through the ground, causing the nearby rubble to be sent flying.

Xuan stared at Elder Chun's corpse, but there was no notification saying he had died.

A moment later, that same strong smell of blood emerged again.

"Hahaha! Your blood will be filling..." Elder Chun's voice resounded from behind.

Xuan turned toward him and raised his brow.

Elder Chun's left eye was missing, but aside from that, he was completely unscathed.

Yuelan, who watched the entire scenario unfold from the side, suddenly nodded.

"I understand it now." Yuelan smiled, meeting Elder Chun's blind gaze.

"You mentioned three crimson eyes. And now that you died once, you lost one of your eyes," Yuelan pointed out. "So you have three lives that are represented by the three eyes you saw. How interesting..."

"Yuelan... I don't mean to be rude, but did you hit your head while you were cultivating?" Xuan asked, worried. "I don't remember you being so smart."

She puffed her cheeks out like a chipmunk. "Hmph... I was always smart. Plus, this is too easy to figure out. This guy was basically telling us his weakness."

Xuan sighed. Fair enough. So if he loses both his eyes, then he's not immortal anymore. Killing him one more time would be enough.

So with that in mind, Xuan Swift Stepped over to Elder Chun.

He tried to escape, but it was too late, as Xuan smashed his head to bits with a Void Fist.

A moment later, Elder Chun reappeared, a frown on his face.

But it only lasted for a second as his face twisted into an ominous grin, causing a shiver to run down Xuan's spine.

A faint crackling noise rang out, followed by a sweet smell hitting him.

It was mind-numbingly sweet, to the point where his eyes slightly blurred.

Suddenly, Yuelan stepped forward and pinched his cheek, snapping him out of it.

"He spread out some weird poison. Don't breathe in too much," Yuelan said, turning to Elder Chun.

She opened her mouth, prepared to speak. However, her eyes widened instead.

Both of Elder Chun's eyes had vanished, and what replaced them was a single crimson eye on his forehead.