A golden bowl the size of dozens of zhang descended like a small mountain and pressed down, but Li Xiu remained calm. He twisted his waist and threw a punch, producing a loud explosion that echoed across the heavens and the earth, creating a powerful shockwave that lifted a violent cloud of dust.
Yun Yilan's face twisted in pain, and Pu Kong fared even worse, spitting out a mouthful of blood. When the golden bowl returned to its usual size and flew back into his hand, Pu Kong examined it closely, his face filled with horror and agony. The treasured golden bowl that he had relied on for hundreds of years to defeat demons and monsters had actually been punched through by this monster's fist, leaving a gaping hole in it. Its radiance dimmed, and its power drastically reduced.
"Be careful!"
Yun Yilan shouted, reminding Pu Kong to be on guard since his spiritual awareness had declined due to the damage to his own magic weapon.
Li Xiu suddenly disappeared from his original position with a flap of his phoenix wings and punched directly towards Pu Kong. Since he had already made a move against him, things were not going to end well.
Pu Kong looked up in horror as Li Xiu attacked and quickly urged the Floating Buddhist Golden Bowl in his hand, extending a layer of shimmering golden light to surround him. However, this time, his golden body dharma image had a look of fear and lost all of its dignity.
"Boom!"
With a fist the size of a zhang covered in dragon scales, Li Xiu smashed Pu Kong's entire body into the solid trunk of the Jianmu tree. Li Xiu smiled brightly and withdrew his arm.
On the trunk of the Jianmu tree, Pu Kong's broken body lay inside the fist imprint, lifeless. The radiance of the Floating Buddhist Golden Bowl disappeared, and it slipped out of his hand, soaked in blood, and fell out of the fist hole, dropping down into the mist below.
"Master Pu Kong!" "Master Pu Kong!"
Several elders from Tian Yin Pavilion flew over without hesitation, their eyes wide with anger as they wielded their magic treasures and fiercely attacked Li Xiu.
A golden Buddha statue suddenly grew in size, chanting Buddhist mantras from its mouth and projecting a wave of air as it thrust a palm towards Li Xiu. However, Li Xiu easily blocked it with a swing of his arm, grabbed the Buddha's head, and ruthlessly crushed it.
The skinny old monk who had activated the golden Buddha statue spurted out a mouthful of blood, and before he could react, a red light pierced through his bald head.
Another muscular monk with a beard and stern expression shouted a threatening cry and hurled a black-gold demon-subduing staff towards Li Xiu.
Li Xiu cast a cold glance at him, reached out with a large hand, and grabbed the staff that was dozens of zhangs long. No matter how hard the bearded man tried to activate it, he felt as though the staff was caught between two mountains and couldn't move at all.
"Crack!"
Li Xiu shouted lowly and swung his arm, actually twisting the black-gold demon-subduing staff into two halves like a piece of garbage and tossing it aside.
The bearded man looked like he had been seriously injured, with blood flowing from the corners of his mouth and a intense look of horror in his eyes. His body trembled as if he had seen something he couldn't accept, and he turned to escape, but was pierced through the chest by a red demon light from Li Xiu and fell straight down.
The remaining yellow-faced monk, after witnessing the two terrifying scenes in an instant, broke out in a cold sweat and shook like a chaff. He stepped on the golden light and ran for his life.
Li Xiu sneered at him and had no intention of pursuing him. Instead, he turned around and looked at Yun Yilan, who had been watching from the side.
This old guy is using the people from the Tian Yin Pavilion to test my strength and bide his time. He's not a good person.
Li Xiu looked over again, and Yun Yilan was no longer as calm and composed as the first time. His face betrayed fear, and he swallowed his saliva, asking.
"Are you... are you the Red Demon?"
Yun Yilan had heard that the reason why the leader of the North Sea Red Blood Hall was called the Red Demon was that he had a powerful ability to shoot out red demon light from his eyes that could melt through human bodies, wear down even gold or stone, and even damage magic weapons/treasures.
Li Xiu remained silent and just stared at him coldly, making Yun Yilan even more frightened.
He had already realized that this monster's strength was at least comparable to one of the two fierce beasts, the Black Water Mystic Snake and the Yellow Bird, at their peak state. Even the number one expert in the cultivation world, Daoxuan, wielding the Zhu Xian Sword, would be hard-pressed to defeat him without the help of the Zhu Xian Sword Formation.
Moreover, Yun Yilan not only lacked the Zhu Xian Sword Formation, he didn't even have the Zhu Xian Sword. But fortunately, this monster seemed to have some humanity as the Red Demon, which gave him a glimmer of hope.
"Red Demon... Hall Master Red Demon, you hold the precious Mysterious Fire Mirror of my Fen Xiang Valley. I can represent the Fen Xiang Valley to give it to you, as long as you spare me and the elders of the Fen Xiang Valley today."
Upon hearing this, Li Xiu finally spoke, his voice low and menacing: "The Mysterious Fire Mirror is already in my hands, it belongs to me, and no one can take it away. Why would I need you to give it to me?"
"Then... Hall Master Red Demon, do you know that the Mysterious Fire Mirror is a treasure passed down for generations in my Fen Xiang Valley? Along with it is a formation named the Eight Evil Profound Fire Formation, which, when used together, can summon the Eight Desolate Fire Dragon, condensed from pure heavenly fire, to incinerate mountains and boil seas in an instant."
Yun Yilan was startled, and a look of distress flashed across his face as he spoke again.
Upon hearing this, Li Xiu raised an eyebrow. He knew about the Eight Evil Profound Fire Formation, but he didn't expect Yun Yilan to be so straightforward about it. He couldn't be sure if there was a catch to this offer.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I'm willing to offer the formation in exchange for the lives of myself and the elders," Yun Yilan replied. He seemed sincere, but Li Xiu couldn't be certain of his intentions.
After pondering for a moment, Li Xiu spoke in a low and threatening voice: "Alright, hand over the formation diagram for the Eight Evil Profound Fire Formation, and I'll spare your life."
Yun Yilan's expression changed to one of embarrassment upon hearing this: "Hall Master Red Demon, you don't know this, but the Eight Evil Profound Fire Formation was something that every generation of the Valley Master had to study diligently. However, since the Mysterious Fire Mirror was lost a thousand years ago, the Eight Evil Profound Fire Formation has become nothing more than a useless formation, so..."
"So you don't actually know the formation and need me to fly tens of thousands of miles with you to the Fen Xiang Valley to see it, is that right?"
Li Xiu said, feeling impatient as his voice grew cold.
"Yes...that's right."
Yun Yilan replied promptly.
"Bang!"
Li Xiu swung his brilliant red phoenix wings and suddenly disappeared from his original position, launching a fierce attack towards Yun Yilan.
Yun Yilan was shocked to see this and quickly drove the flames under his feet to fly backward. Then, he spat out a pure amber-colored mysterious fire to intercept Li Xiu. At the same time, he chanted a spell and summoned a hundred-foot long fierce tiger made of mysterious fire, which also pounced towards Li Xiu.
This time, Li Xiu didn't even summon his Mysterious Fire Mirror. With a horizontal swing of his arm, he struck like a mountain colliding. With a fierce slap, he shattered the amber-colored mysterious fire, and then his phoenix wings flapped fiercely from behind, as his figure violently pierced through the hundred-foot mysterious fire tiger like a falling meteor.
In just a few breaths, Li Xiu arrived beside Yun Yilan and grabbed him with a cold voice, saying: "I also know the way to the Fen Xiang Valley. What use do you have then?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Xiu crushed Yun Yilan to death and threw his broken corpse into the air. He then turned to look at the several fleeing elders of the Fen Xiang Valley and chased after them with his wings spread.
Now that he knew his target, to avoid alerting the enemy, no one from the Fen Xiang Valley could be allowed to return to the valley.
In just a few dozen breaths, the last of the five elders of the Fen Xiang Valley also died skillfully in Li Xiu's hands.