"Lowly demon, lowly demon… I'll peel your skin off inch by inch, then devour your soul, so you'll never reincarnate for all eternity…"
The sky-blotting giant tree writhed in a frenzy, fire bursting from the center of its trunk, belching out thick, rolling smoke.
The venomous curses echoed ceaselessly through the cavern, even drowning out the howling wind and rain.
"Oh my, why is Granny so angry? I only couldn't bear to see Granny suffer in this filthy world, so I'm sending you off early to paradise."
A delicate, heart-melting look of grievance crossed Li Fei's face, her wand never pausing as she swung it, hurling fireball after fireball. Waves of heat swept out, forcing the cavern's temperature up by several degrees.
Abyssal Lava was a sixth-tier spell. Even though Li Fei's attributes and realm couldn't rival a Sequence 4 Transcendent's—which cut its spell damage by no small margin—the power unleashed by a single blast of lava was hardly inferior to that of some bottom-rung Sequence 5 spellcasters.
Had the Tree Demon been at full strength and answered carefully, Li Fei—never mind killing it in one blow—would have struggled just to land a hit. But as things stood, the Tree Demon had already been wounded by the tribulation lightning, had revealed its true form, and finally, caught off guard, had taken a blast of Abyssal Lava head-on…
That it hadn't dropped dead on the spot was proof enough of just how tenacious this thousand-year-old demon's life force was.
Sensing the rapidly weakening demonic aura, Li Fei still didn't let her guard down. Her wand poured out magic without pause, while her other hand gripped the [Blade of Joy] in a reverse hold, sword-qi crisscrossing as she struck the finishing blows again and again.
"I misjudged you… but you, you vicious-hearted lowly demon—come down to hell with me…"
A ferocious, twisted old face surfaced abruptly on the charred trunk. She let out a hoarse, screeching roar, her tone steeped in venom and hatred, as if it issued from the Nine Nether, carrying a cold that would not thaw.
Li Fei felt a sudden itch on her chest, her muscles turning stiff and numb, even her heartbeat slowing—some filthy, rotting power was eroding the vitality within her body.
Clearly, now that she had betrayed the Tree Demon, the [Black Wood Contract] had begun to backlash, seeking to devour Li Fei's flesh and soul and assimilate her into an ugly, misshapen tree.
"I still have wishes left unfulfilled, so I won't be seeing Granny off."
Li Fei flicked open her spell-robe and drew a dagger from the small of her back—black from end to end, shaped like a demon's horn, engraved with runes that symbolized [Deception] and [Betrayal].
[Betrayer's Dagger]
Description: Can tear up one spell contract.
Li Fei drew it lightly across, and the dagger shattered to pieces—yet the runes upon it rose into the air and sank into her chest.
In an instant, the rapidly growing, spreading bark was stripped away and disintegrated into dust.
"No, impossible…"
The Tree Demon roared hysterically, the aged face on its bark growing ever more ferocious.
"This is a magic treasure my adoptive father gifted me. How could a paltry demonic art harm me?" Li Fei said with a faint smile.
"You—you're with the Demon Suppression Bureau…"
"That's right. I'm the adoptive daughter of Nine Thousand Years! Sent to take your demon core, to celebrate His Majesty's birthday."
As Li Fei confessed her identity, her hands never stopped—magic boiling, battle qi roaring, hastening the Tree Demon's demise.
"Traitor! Lowly demon!"
The Tree Demon shrieked madly, ten thousand vines lashing, yet in the end it could not escape its doom.
At last, the demonic power steeped in boundless sin faded entirely from her senses, and the towering trunk collapsed with a thunderous crash. An ancient demon whose years of existence outstripped the dynasty itself seemed to fall here and now, a thousand years of cultivation crumbling to ash.
The river of blood beneath her feet had a spirit of its own; it raised an invisible baleful qi that blocked the immense shockwave, keeping the Soul-Burial Spirit-Nourishing Grand Array intact.
"Granny!"
"No!"
The Demon-Sealing Grand Array had not yet dispersed. Watching the abyss-like demon king defeated and destroyed, the demons hunched and gasping within the dim yellow dome let out mournful cries, wails of ghosts and howls of wolves rising all around.
"Lord Xu, one moment, please."
Li Fei flashed a radiant smile at the startled, doubtful Xu Qianfu and leapt down from the broken trunk—her body light, like a fairy descending to the mortal world, graceful and nimble in her beauty.
Only, she still carried the sword in her hand, its deep-crimson blade-light howling as she hacked the Tree Demon's remains to pieces.
"Granny, stop playing hide-and-seek. Be good and be on your way."
Li Fei called out warmly, swinging her sword to cleave the Tree Demon's roots.
There was no doubt: playing dead was a trick that got nowhere in front of Miss Top Courtesan. Until she saw the experience points, she wouldn't relax her vigilance—not even after severing an enemy's head.
Whoosh!
A streak of black light split the air, trying to flee. Li Fei sprang out, sword in hand, and gave chase.
With her extraordinary dynamic vision, she could see clearly: a tree root had coiled around a black demon core streaming with flickering blood-red light and shot into the air, trying to escape the demon woman's clutches.
But with only a demonic power feeble as a candle-flame in the wind, and suppressed by the Demon-Sealing Grand Array besides, how could it possibly outpace Li Fei?
In but an instant, the lovely figure with hair flowing in the wind had overtaken that root.
"No!"
The short, shrill scream cut off abruptly—and those were the last words the Thousand-Year Tree Demon left behind.
[You have killed the Death-Devouring Demon King. Gained 11,309 experience.]
Li Fei snatched up the Demon King Crystal Core, suppressing the long-absent joy that leveling up brought her, and turned around without the slightest hesitation. Dropping to one knee and cupping her fist, she said:
"Demon Suppression Bureau agent Li Fei, greeting Lord Xu."
Xu Qianfu's expression flickered between light and shadow.
Since when did the Demon Suppression Bureau have such a figure? He'd never heard of her!
What's more, this demon woman had just killed his own subordinates…
Though full of suspicion, Xu Qianfu didn't leave at once. Instead, he waited quietly for what came next.
After all, this demon woman had genuinely slain the Tree Demon, and now he was the only Innate expert left here, with the Demon-Sealing Grand Array still fully intact. This demon woman's Innate Demonic Art, though overbearing and domineering, was far too cumbersome—with no one to pin him down, it couldn't harm him in the slightest.
Confident in his strength, Xu Qianfu decided to hear Li Fei's explanation.
"Lord Xu, just now, to win the Tree Demon's trust, I had no choice but to harm my colleagues. It was an expedient measure—I beg your forgiveness…"
Li Fei raised her head and produced a token from her waist, laying out the whole story from beginning to end: "This humble officer was born in the Demon-Locking Tower and taken in by my adoptive father as a child… Over these years, I've followed my adoptive father's orders, lying low at the sides of the great demon kings and ghost kings, so that I could coordinate with my colleagues from within and without to carry out the slaying of demons and monsters… To keep word from leaking out, I had no choice but to work in secret… Only my adoptive brother Lü Zhengchun knew of this operation."
As she spoke, Li Fei tossed over the identity token she'd taken off Lü Zhengchun's body.
Xu Qianfu didn't yet know of Lü Zhengchun's death, and at first hearing, Li Fei's words had few holes in them. After checking the token's authenticity, he relaxed a little, his tenfold wariness dropping to six.
As for the colleagues who'd died at Li Fei's hands… She was Lord Lu's adoptive daughter, and had spent years among demons, monsters, and ghosts—killing a few colleagues was hardly a big deal.
"Lord Xu, please pass this demon core along to my adoptive father. This humble officer still has a mission to attend to."
Li Fei's smile was humble as she carried the demon core toward Xu Qianfu.
"Lord Lu truly is a master of foresight…"
Xu Qianfu nodded slightly, seeming to lower his guard, his eyes full of appreciation for talent.
But the moment Li Fei drew close, Xu Qianfu struck without warning. The black lotus in his palm split apart in a flash into eighty-one lotus petals, strands of black light weaving into an inescapable net to slay Li Fei:
"Demon woman, do you take this one for a three-year-old child!"
Li Fei's earlier words might have needed careful thought, or even a report up the chain, before their truth could be judged. But her final move gave the game away, and Xu Qianfu saw through it at a glance.
What kind of character ran through the Demon Suppression Bureau top to bottom, what sort of style Lu Qianfan had—how could he, the Bureau's number-three man, not know?
An adoptive daughter raised by that castrated dog, handing the credit over to him and then rushing off without pause to her mission?
Back when Nie Yunyi held office, perhaps such selfless people existed. But now? Impossible!
Xu Qianfu sneered, his consummate True Qi turning into threads that tugged the black lotus, meaning to pierce through every acupoint on the demon woman's body, cripple her cultivation base, and then interrogate her at leisure about just what she was really selling.
Figured it out? Too late!
Seeing herself exposed, Li Fei seemed oblivious to the bone-chilling killing intent right before her. Instead, she gave a charming smile.
[Partial Transformation — Succubus Empress · Lips · Tail · Belly], [Depravity], [Bliss]—five layers of spell-like abilities activated at once. Even the Charm Marks on her belly transformed into a peach-shaped heart, clustered by exquisite, weightless petals—vivid, fragrant, ravishing and gorgeous. That was the occult rune of the Succubus race, [Pheromones]; its mind-beguiling magic drove straight in, eroding the target's thoughts.
In a flash, Xu Qianfu's gaze grew hazy.
In his sight, a tail extended from behind the demon woman, swaying and swishing, endlessly alluring; her tender pink lips grew more lustrous and crimson, like a living forbidden fruit that could warp the soul.
In that moment, hot, heavy breathing sounded in Xu Qianfu's ears. Dozens of burly, sweat-drenched men in white socks with reeking feet had gathered around him at some point, each one thick-bearded, broad-backed and bear-waisted.
An inner alarm warned Xu Qianfu that this was a dream, yet his blood surged and he couldn't tear himself away.
—Wake up, wake up!
Fortunately, Xu Qianfu was an Innate expert after all, his will firm. In mere moments, his pure True Qi swept through like a gale, forcibly shattering the illusion, and his dazed vision cleared once more.
Everything returned to reality. Xu Qianfu was back in the cold, blood-reeking cavern—and in a fleeting glimpse, a deep-crimson blade was slashing toward his neck.
A mere Heaven Realm—no matter how many demonic arts you had, what could you do?
The corner of Xu Qianfu's mouth curled into a contemptuous arc.
His raised right hand pressed its fingers together into a blade—striking later yet arriving first—guarding before his own neck. A long needle glinting with a deep blue sheen had, at some point, been caught between his fingers.
True Qi surged up from his dantian, ceaseless as a great river, howling as it poured into the long needle. The poison-quenched steel needle, barely two inches long, now blazed dazzlingly, unleashing peerless radiance.
Below the Innate realm, all were mere ants. Xu Qianfu believed he could block this vicious assassination at the cost of one finger at most, and then, within three moves, capture the demon woman!
Boom!
The deep-crimson blade-light erupted forth, surging straight toward the heavens, radiating boundless demonic might.
As the sword in the demon woman's hand sheared through his fingers like snapping dead twigs, the ease and contempt in Xu Qianfu's eyes vanished without a trace, replaced by deep dread.
"Demon woman, you…"
In Xu Qianfu's horror-stricken sight, the mighty, blazing Innate True Qi crumbled inch by inch, and the burning blade-light, unstoppable as splitting bamboo, caressed his neck.
"Lord Xu, safe travels!"
Li Fei's long sword swept across, blood spraying fifty feet, a fine head shooting skyward—staining this restless night with yet another splash of crimson.
[You have killed Xu Qianfu. Gained 8,724 experience.]
With Xu Qianfu's fall, the Demon-Sealing Grand Array fell silent as well.
Yet not one of the demons dared to move, watching in frozen silence as the demon woman laughed madly without a sound beneath the rainy night.
Tonight's turn of events was too bizarre. Every great demon and every member of the Demon Suppression Bureau had fallen—only that demon woman alone laughed last! Not to mention, the fearsome, unrivaled Granny, along with that Innate expert of the human race, had both died at the demon woman's hands. How could the demons not be afraid?
In the eerie silence, a spider spirit crept quietly up the rock wall, hoping to flee.
Bang!
Li Fei kicked Xu Qianfu's head flying. Though her aim went off, the sound of the skull bursting apart so startled the spider spirit that it tumbled to the ground, belly-up, limbs curled, lying there playing dead, not daring to stir.
"Stand nicely and don't run around."
Li Fei looked around, and only when she saw the demons had settled down did she leisurely begin to Summon Sprites—rows upon rows of sprites emerging at her side.
Her thoughts hadn't yet settled, instinctively replaying tonight's operation.
Clearly, the instant the Abyssal Lava struck the Tree Demon, the outcome of this struggle had already been decided.
Li Fei had already been invincible in the low Sequences, and once buff spells like Dragon's Strength were layered on, her combat power reached into the domain of the mid Sequences.
Against a thousand-year-old monster like the Tree Demon—just one step short of becoming a demon emperor—Li Fei admitted she was no match. But against an ordinary Innate like Xu Qianfu, who'd sunk his skill points into "slaying demons and monsters," Li Fei, with her buffs maxed out, wouldn't necessarily lose even in a fair, square fight.
The reason she'd put on the act was merely to play it safe, and to keep Xu Qianfu from running.
And the corpse at her feet proved that the final clash had been easier than she'd imagined.
After all, [Bliss]'s effect was tied to Charm, Intelligence, Morality Value, and the like—which meant that the [Bliss] Li Fei unleashed not only carried a hefty Intelligence bonus and a sky-piercing Charm bonus, but also complemented her several other spell-like abilities, even the [Charm Mark Reconfiguration] secret art, working in perfect synergy.
Li Fei reckoned that, unless one spent real money on pricey gear like "resist mind-affecting spell effects" or "increase spell resistance," only a Sequence 6-tier Transcendent with an especially firm mind and at least Intermediate Resistance could be immune to the combination of spell-like abilities she could now unleash in an instant.
But Transcendents with such powerful resistance were rare even among Sequence 6.
Which meant that the vast majority of Sequence 6 experts—that is, Innate masters—would be disrupted to some degree by Li Fei's spell-like abilities, unless they went all-out in a burst. After all, any mind-affecting spell was swayed by emotion. No matter how weak-willed a person might be, in a state of extreme rage or extreme calm they could resist a mind-affecting spell's intrusion. But conversely, a person of firm conviction, if their spirits sank low, might have their opening exploited.
Setting aside such rare cases, Li Fei's strength was already enough to hold a place among the mid Sequences. After all, in a life-or-death battle, even a momentary daze could cost a life.
Xu Qianfu had become the first touchstone—and the first victim.
He'd already taken no small wound, and had spent a great deal of True Qi on the Demon-Sealing Grand Array, which was useless against Li Fei. That left him dazed for nearly a full second after falling for her trick, and by the time he came to his senses, all was lost.
As her thoughts rose and fell, Li Fei had already summoned a great host of sprites. They flew in swarms to the top of the cavern, plugging the gap with their dainty bodies, letting the rain pour down over them.
"That's about enough."
Li Fei beamed a radiant smile at the demons, who didn't dare so much as breathe—like a simple, kindhearted farm girl who'd spotted the persimmon tree in her own yard laden with fruit, and the plump, emerald leeks along the field ridges, her eyes brimming with delight.
Next came the time for harvest.
Under the demon woman's ruthless, merciless reaping, pleas and weeping rose throughout the cavern—then gradually sank into silence.
Amid the hellish scene of rolling heads and blood deep enough to float a pestle, Li Fei stood drenched in gore, watching her ever-climbing experience points, her smile growing ever more brilliant.
By the time she'd diligently finished her harvest—aside from the female ghosts she'd spared, and a scattered few Earth Realm demons who forced their way through the summons' defensive line and escaped with their lives—every demon in the cavern had been reduced to severed limbs and broken remains, the reek of blood stinging the nose.
Blood poured back in torrents into the river of the Soul-Burial Grand Array, and from somewhere unseen came shrill, mournful howls, as if endless wronged souls circled and would not leave.
But Li Fei paid it no mind. In her eyes there remained only her level, now risen to 25, and the joy of an autumn harvest welled up from deep within her.
Only after a good while did Li Fei, humming a melody as bright and sweet as a lark's, stride across the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and, wreathed in a charming smile, walk up to the female ghosts huddled trembling in a corner of the cavern.
"You're the Tree Demon's confidants, aren't you?"
Li Fei dragged her endlessly dripping sword behind her, and said with a gentle, pleasant look, "Could you tell me where Granny hid the wealth that belongs to me?"
"In your dreams!"
Xiao Lian, who had survived until now, spoke up first, fear and hatred intertwining in her clear black-and-white eyes: "Granny's kindness to us was as weighty as a mountain. Even if our souls were scattered to oblivion, we would never betray her!"
"Hoo… oh, is that so."
Li Fei's voice rose without her meaning it to, and the succubus tail behind her swayed with unstoppable delight.
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