Qin Meng turned around and his eyes opened wide. One of the devils had arrived behind him when he was lost in shock, and his claw was about to dig into his neck. Qin Meng couldn't dodge; the devil was too close, he had no time. So he decided to take the attack head on. He lifted his spear and willed the fire into the weapon. "Bang!"
The weapon blocked the attack, but the impact threw Qin Meng ten meters away. He stumbled and fell on his butt. He grunted and cursed before standing up. Turning toward his enemy, he found the devil holding his hand and screaming and whimpering. "Wha…?" he muttered in confusion. "Is that the hand I injured?"
His eyes flashed and he remembered that the previous devil he killed was because he had injured his face with his fire and this time—
"Kill him!" shouted a voice from behind him. Qin Meng snapped, realizing he had no time to be idle. He could always work on his theory. At the moment, it was important to take down these creatures. After killing the first devil, there was something broken inside him. Though he still felt pity for humans who had become such abominations, he also knew it was important to take them down. Otherwise, they would take him down and his friends and many other people after that.
"Die!" Qin Meng lunged at the howling and yelling and fumbling creature with his spear—this time without fire element. The devil was still screaming in agony, holding his hand when his spear holed through his chest. He screeched harder, but he did not let go of his hand that he was holding with another.
Qin Meng confirmed his previous assumption and a wide grin appeared over his face. "Burn!" he shouted and the spear burst into fire, burning the devil from inside, pungent burning smell burst in the surrounding. He whimpered for some time and slumped down lifelessly. His eyes cleared briefly, but before he could speak anything, he breathed his last. The rolled down the roof of the house, falling in the alley blow.
Qin Meng turned around and found Yan Yunjie and other two were having a hard time holding against their opponent, their clothes had been tattered and faces were weary and fatigued. Yueyan had already taken care of her opponent and she had also taken care of most of the normal devils. The princess was still struggling with her enemy. Yao Ying had long killed her opponent, and now she was struggling against another one.
When he turned to look towards Qian Jie he couldn't believe on his eyes. She was butchering them. Not killing. Literally, she was butchering them. She was holding a scythe, he didn't know when they appeared but she was swiping through them. Holy shit! She had taken down around five of the devils by herself!
At this moment, she turned toward Qin Meng and shouted, "What the hell are you doing there standing like a moron? Help others. The effect of my elixir is about to run out!"
Only then he snapped back to his senses and rushed towards his friends to help them as they were having hard time controlling the devil. Qin Meng did no waste his time and assaulted the creature with his burning spear. The devil was busy defending and attacking against Yan Yunjie and others and failed to block his attack.
The spear dug through his back and the tip of his weapon pierced out of his chest. The fire burned him from inside. The devil turned rigid and lost the colour of his eyes. The man who was still alive somewhere inside him also died with him immediately. Qin Meng felt a slight pang inside his heart, but he suppressed that guilt. This was no time to whine on small matters.
Yan Yunjie, Wu Hui and Zeng Hong stared at him dumbly, shocked. Unable to believe on their eyes how easily Qin Meng killed the devil. Unable to find any word to speak. He had killed that vicious creature in just a single attack. The same creature that had filled their bodies with wounds and gashes. The same beast that was almost un-killable a few moments before.
Qin Meng ignored his friend's shocked looks and turned towards others; only then did he sigh in relief. All the devils had been slaughtered. He walked towards Leng Yueyan with a wide smile and said, "Did you see that, there is something mysterious about my fire—"
"Shhh!" Yueyan gestured towards him, looking at him deeply. "Don't talk and don't tell about it to anyone. We will talk about it when we get back to the academy." She eyed others who had arrived and said, "You also need to keep it a secret. If someone learns about it somehow I will hold you all accountable for it."
They nodded seriously. Even Zhong Liqiu had a grave look on her face. She eyed Qin Meng with complete different expression now. All this time she was just slightly interested in Qin Meng, but at this moment when she looked at him, her eyes were sparkling like a jewel. Qin Meng fidgeted on the spot uncomfortably under her gaze, avoiding to meet her heated look. Damn, she was hot, though.
"Who cares about it?" said Qian Jie with pitiful voice. "I'm tired, damn it! I want to rest somewhere."
"Who asked you to use elixir to improve your strength? Didn't you know its side-effect?" said Yao Ying from beside her, looking cute, grinning. "Now feel the pain, humph."
"You are just jealous. You don't have Strength Improving Potion, after all."
"Who wants your Strength Improving Potion—"
"Alright, that's enough," said Leng Yueyan. "Let's rest somewhere. After that, we will rush toward another village."
***
Qin Meng killed another devil, but he no longer felt the rush of excitement. He had realized that his Martial Spirit was somewhat mysterious but he was unable to breakthrough. The Martial Spirit could not absorb the Motif.