The Devouring Demon stared at his opponent, his face twisted with a bitter mix of regret and rage.
He had been arrogant.
Even without the strength he once possessed, he’d chosen to toy with this brat.
And now, this was the price.
He would not forget that slash, the one that nearly tore his body apart.
He’d been forced to burn a portion of his remaining life force just to hold himself together. His severed arm still lay on the ground, a reminder of his miscalculation.
He had been hasty.
Across from him, Yu Xuan wore that sa irritating smirk, the kind that spoke of confidence earned, not borrowed.
"Ready to die now?" Yu Xuan asked casually, like he wasn’t even trying to mock him.
The Devouring Demon’s jaw tightened. He hated that tone. Still, he wasn’t foolish enough to charge in again. Not without caution.
He closed his eyes.
A pulse of invisible force rippled out from him like a silent roar — a ntal attack, sharp and sudden, aid directly at Yu Xuan’s consciousness.
Yu Xuan staggered slightly, but only for a heartbeat.
Then he looked up.
A black-gold shimr flickered across his vision.
[Trait: ntal Resistance is active.]
His smirk widened.
The Devouring Demon’s expression darkened. He had paid a steep price to launch that ntal strike — risking backlash on his already fragile body.
Yet his target stood there, completely unhard... and smiling at him.
He snapped.
Rage overtaking reason, the Devouring Demon lunged forward, snarling like a beast cornered for the last ti.
Blood still dripping from his chest and with only one arm remaining, he charged Yu Xuan with reckless abandon, closing the distance in a blur of desperation.
Yu Xuan, though wounded and drained, had already found his rhythm. His body was battered, but his mind was sharp.
And their clash was brutal.
The Devouring Demon’s strikes ca wild and heavy, each punch leaving shallow craters in the ground.
Yu Xuan blocked the first blow, redirected the second, then sidestepped the third.
He retaliated with a slash, but the enemy ducked and countered with a sweeping kick. Yu Xuan staggered but recovered midair, flipping once and landing behind his foe.
He spun with a smooth, practiced motion and a flash or red arc left his sword.
A final arc of sword light, guided by intent.
The Devouring Demon’s eyes widened.
Then his head rolled clean from his shoulders.
The body of Gu Yifan, or rather what remained of the Devouring Demon, collapsed with a heavy thud.
Yu Xuan stood still, chest heaving, sword trembling in his grip.
But he didn’t relax.
He had expected this. The real danger wasn’t the body — it was the soul.
And though his unnad cultivation technique strengthened both body, spirit and soul, Yu Xuan wasn’t foolish enough to take any chances. From his own system status, he knew his soul was... unusual. Perhaps even unnatural.
So, gathering what strength he had left, he turned and ran.
It wasn’t cowardice — it was strategy.
He gained so distance just as it happened.
The body behind him twitched once... then fell still.
Monts later, an ethereal mass of light erupted from it — not just luminous, but blinding, flooding the dense forest with unnatural brilliance.
For a brief mont, the soul seed confused, almost lost. Then, like a hungry beast catching the scent of prey, it locked onto him.
With startling speed, it surged forward.
Yu Xuan turned to face it. His eyes stung slightly from the pressure of its presence, but nowhere near what he felt before. He instinctively activated his [Soul Vision] — and saw it clearly now.
It was weaker. A lot weaker.
"You’ve gotten weaker," Yu Xuan said aloud, narrowing his gaze.
The floating soul trembled, whether in anger, denial, or exhaustion, he couldn’t tell — and then shot toward him.
Yu Xuan dodged once. Then again.
It looked comical for a mont, a blurry soul blob chasing a limping teenager through the woods.
But Yu Xuan knew it wouldn’t last. He had already prepared his trump card.
As the soul darted forward once more, Yu Xuan swallowed a pill — small, etheral blue color, and carved with multiple lines. A Soul Nourishnt Pill.
Normally Qi Condensation cultivators don’t take such pill, it was sothing Yu Xuan had kept just in case. Maybe even for future use, his space ring had many of such things.
Today, he cashed it in. Like gaining a check-in system, but his one ca from him having a powerful background.
The soul struck him.
Or rather — entered him.
Yu Xuan staggered as an intense wave of cold, pain, and pressure tried to overwhelm him from within. He fell to one knee, clutching his chest. His vision blurred. Sowhere deep inside him, a clash had begun.
A war of souls.
His own against the remnant of a terrifying being — the so called Devouring Demon.
’Either I survive this... or I don’t.’
And though fear prickled at the edge of his mind — he’d already died once. Maybe death wasn’t that scary anymore.
Maybe just a little.
Slowly, he collapsed onto the ground, eyes fluttering shut, his breathing shallow and uneven.
What he didn’t know was that a pair of multicolored eyes, shimring like galaxies, had been watching him since the mont the battle began. Yet she never intervened.
She had seen it all — from Yu Xuan’s ribs cracking under the force of the Devouring Demon’s punch, to the mont he retaliated and beheaded him. She watched, silent, as the ethereal soul blob erged and finally entered Yu Xuan’s body.
"After true death of his spirit, a portion of his soul did return to the underworld. He’s incredibly weakened now... though so of his immortal characteristics remains." she murmured, her voice calm.
Still, she made no move to help.
She didn’t need to.
Because she had absolute confidence in that being.
She had absolute confidence in Yu Xuan.
He was her disciple now, after all.
And with that certainty, she vanished, leaving the outco to unfold as it was always ant to.
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