What does Illusion Skill connect with?
Li Xuan glanced at the four attributes: Strength, Constitution, Agility, Spirit.
Undoubtedly, Illusion Skill...is Spirit-oriented.
'Add points.'
He unhesitatingly added the 3 spare Demon Points directly to Spirit, and the "Spirit" column instantly changed from the original "[Spirit: 6/10]" to "[Spirit: 9/10]".
Instantly, it was as if a splash of cool ice stream was injected into his brain, and various thoughts became clearer, while those uncontrollable mixed thoughts gained some order, thus improving his concentration significantly. However, this time adding points did not cause physical changes like when increasing "Agility", "Strength", or "Constitution".
Li Xuan did not walk far but turned to look in the direction of the city gate.
In the dark rain and fog, the fire basin emitted a blood-red glow, and he could vaguely see the county soldier behind the battlement coldly watching him.
He squinted his eyes, and the county soldier seemed to have a slight blur to him, making him appear eerie.
This blur was actually extremely subtle, it was only because "Spirit 6" suddenly turned into "Spirit 9" that Li Xuan had this feeling.
Otherwise...he wouldn't have felt any abnormality.
Even now, he had adapted to that blur, feeling that it was merely the normal blur caused by the thick fog and rain.
But deep down, he knew this wasn't the case.
"That momentary blur" is because this county soldier is a "puppet created by Illusion Skill".
The sudden high boost in Spiritual Power made him notice this point, but only during the brief moment of enhancement did he notice it, now he couldn't anymore.
Obviously, his spirit was thoroughly crushed by that demon monkey.
Yet this wasn't entirely fruitless, it helped him further confirm his guess about the "Illusion Skill".
This actually doesn't mean the "Fog-hidden Demon Panther" is much weaker than this "Demon Monkey", in fact... his demon blood seems to only inherit the demon's "Main Attributes" to a certain extent and gain its Demon Technique after completely absorbing its demon blood.
He thought while retreating into the dark forest.
Finally, the county soldier behind the battlement disappeared.
Raindrops pattered heavily on the thick bricks and tiles.
The Demonic Qi belonging to the demon monkey was also dissipating.
Just then, Li Xuan suddenly stopped in his tracks and moved towards the direction of Xiongshan County.
As expected, with his movement, the dissipating demon monkey's Demonic Qi suddenly regrouped, indicating the demon monkey stopped and equally circled around.
The confrontation resumed.
Li Xuan retreated again.
The demon monkey retreated as well.
Li Xuan advanced again.
The demon monkey had to come again.
Li Xuan was filled with patience, persistently repeating this maneuver.
Even though he couldn't understand why this demon monkey's "wisdom" was higher than the previous demon panther, a beast is just a beast; some things... can never surpass humans.
For example...patience.
He was fishing.
He wanted to lure the demon monkey out of the city.
Inside the city, with people everywhere, the demon monkey could easily hide.
If a fight broke out, he would be concerned about causing too much disturbance and about the city residents, but the demon monkey wouldn't care, and now... it seemed like the demon monkey was guarding the city residents like protecting food.
But outside the city, everything would be different.
In the previous battle, Li Xuan purposely showed his slightly weaker side. Although the demon monkey didn't want to fight him, would it come out confidently to teach him a lesson if provoked?
Da da da...
Li Xuan advanced, retreated, made turns on the muddy road, pretending to want to sneak back into the city.
But the demon monkey watched him closely, not allowing any leeway.
In this manner, Li Xuan and the demon monkey confronted each other for over an hour, when Li Xuan suddenly heard an angry screech. A black shadow leaped down from the city wall; it moved extremely fast, with a gleam of cold light from its hand, the same knife as before.
As the black shadow landed outside the city, it charged directly toward Li Xuan.
Li Xuan turned and ran.
But the demon monkey, thoroughly provoked, was enraged and chased him relentlessly. It seemed aware that if it couldn't scare this fellow away today, this fellow might repeatedly sneak back in.
"Get out!!"
Once in the forest, the demon monkey angrily yelled, "Get out! This is my place!"
Li Xuan yelled back, "Mine!"
The demon monkey became even more furious.
The forest rustled, the wind and rain swayed.
The two moved closer, the demon monkey suddenly sprang up, and in Li Xuan's eyes, it split into two before quickly blending back into one.
The one was a charming mature woman, none other than the magistrate's wife; this magistrate's wife wore a wicked smile, exposing a swath of skin, yet holding a knife to slash at Li Xuan.
Li Xuan confronted her, but suddenly heard a whistling sound from behind.
He crouched down, indeed... the real demon monkey somehow crept up to his back unnoticed.
Li Xuan swiftly turned around to strike.
Clang!!
In a split second, the demon monkey vanished again.
The Magistrate's wife had also disappeared.
Li Xuan quickly locked onto the source of the demonic qi. In the open area, the demonic qi was as conspicuous as a candle in the dark. He couldn't see the demon monkey, but he could vaguely sense the region it was in.
And at that moment, a man with a rugged leopard-like face suddenly shot out from behind an ancient tree draped with withered vines. That man was none other than Li Xuan's uncle—Shan Jian.
"Shan Jian" charged at Li Xuan again.
Li Xuan's pupils contracted tightly, his anger ignited.
And predictably, a genuine killing intent emerged from his left flank.
He swiftly dodged and swung his blade, but his attention was fixed on his ten silver thread rings.
Time seemed to slow down by half, even the falling rain moved much more slowly.
The world seemed to press the "slow motion" button...
White mist flowed from the corner of Li Xuan's mouth, quickly engulfing the forest in a thick fog.
The demon monkey's movements slightly slowed down; naturally, Li Xuan wouldn't be affected by his own demon skill, but the demon monkey would.
Boom!
Another fierce clash, scattering rainwater and churning up the fog.
Li Xuan and the demon monkey distanced themselves.
In the dark fog, the demon monkey's roar echoed: "Get out of here!"
After battling for so long, Li Xuan had basically understood the demon monkey's tactics.
This time, he shouted back, "It's you who should leave," and then charged forward.
Sure enough, the demon monkey split into two, surprisingly revealing an imposing silver-haired old man.
Li Xuan instinctively guessed that this old man was Zhangsun Yu.
He continued to attack Zhangsun Yu.
Just like a rehearsed maneuver, a prickling sensation emerged again from his vulnerable spot.
He abruptly retreated, spinning around.
The demon monkey pursued.
One retreat, one chase.
Swoosh...
Swoosh-swoosh-swoosh-swoosh!!!
Ten transparent saw lines suddenly appeared, and as soon as they did, the wetland in the forest jolted violently.
Dark boots stomped angrily on the ground like the pounding of drums.
The "drumbeat" thundered, mud splattered, Li Xuan halted his retreating action and charged back at the demon monkey, his speed forcibly increased by two-folds.
His ten fingers clutched onto the cold gleam.
Rain slowed down, wind slowed down.
The demon monkey's appearance manifested as a vague shadow; this was its true form, it was right here, charging at Li Xuan—a fact that Li Xuan had repeatedly verified!
In an instant, Li Xuan's ten fingers danced forward, all the effort, all the accumulation, all the waiting, all the patience, and all the torment of these days, just for this moment of slaughter.
'Giant Spirit Slash!'
Like a giant in the sky wielding a blade, the blade was four zhang long, sweeping across the ground, one slash like a crescent moon descending to earth, speeding through!
The cold gleam slashed through the forest trees, yet unable to fully pierce through one thing.
It was a mass of black shadow.
Even though the shadow wasn't immediately slain, it was tightly entangled by Li Xuan's saw lines.
The saw lines tore through its skin, embedded into flesh and bone, bringing forth a sharp grinding sound overwhelmed by wind and rain.
The running Li Xuan instantly halted, instinctively taking a stance like a flying spider, fingers frantically moving, the saw lines layered around the central shadow.
The shadow emitted eerie "squeaks," demon blood spurting out in bursts, sizzling in the rain like lava, rolling heat surging into the fog.
In the fog, it seemed like a giant demon spider was weaving a web, hunting down the big bug that had invaded its net.
The demon monkey struggled wildly.
Li Xuan frantically closed the net.
Gradually...the demon monkey finally fell silent.
But Li Xuan was still in motion, continuing to cut.
Until the demon monkey was completely severed into pieces, he stopped, both excited and panting heavily.
He gazed at the steaming demon blood, grinning broadly yet slightly reining his expression, seriously bowing towards the air, solemnly saying, "I've avenged you, if your souls have not dispersed, may you reincarnate soon."
He couldn't see the souls; these words...would be heard by none.
Yet he continued speaking: "Uncle, Sect Leader Zhangsun, fare thee well."
After saying that, he squatted down, raised his fingers, and dipped them into the fresh demon blood.