"I shall thank the universe for this bountiful harvest~!"
The monk's feral smile sent a shiver down the Bladed Caterpillar's jagged spine.
'I misjudged this human from the get-go... I should not have gotten involved with him! That damned white snake!'
The Bladed Caterpillar could still feel the cracked teeth in its mouth from the last time he had taken a punch from the monk.
And now the damage he had taken was much worse...
The Beast Core was the vital organ of every Demonic Beast in existence. Even the slightest scratch on it was hard to heal.
But having a cracked core was even worse. It was a wound that couldn't be healed through normal means.
However, let alone healing wounds, the Bladed Caterpillar wasn't even sure of its survival at that point.
The Monk stepped forward, his fists clenching as he gripped the pointed beads even harder in his hand.
"Let's see how well you can take a proper beating..."
The Bladed Caterpillar acted quickly, its blades immediately pointed towards the Monk like a porcupine flaring its spikes at a predator.
In an instant, all of the blades were sent flying in all directions, cutting through the air and whizzing towards the monk as well.
'What an annoying defence mechanism...'
The monk scowled as his hands rolled in front of him. In an instant, he struck two blades with the back of his palm, his body starting to turn in a circular motion as he batted away more and more blades.
'Whirling Vajra'
The moment he got the movement and momentum down, he was parrying away blades with every part of his body, brushing past the sharp edges without so much as a scratch on his body.
His head tilted to the side as he batted away one blade with his temple while dodging another that had been aiming for his head.
"W-what?!" The beast shouted in panic and confusion as it watched the Monk's form gaining more and more speed, turning into a complete blur even for its enhanced senses.
The Bladed Caterpillar tried its best to increase the intensity of attacks, its body producing and expelling more and more blades outwards, littering the ground and the wall behind the monk in sharpened spirit steel.
'Such a frightening defensive technique!'
The Demonic General still remembered the monk moving in a similar fashion against the Lower Demonic Beasts he had gathered, but he had never gotten the chance to see the true strength of that technique at the time.
But the 'Death Spike' was no longer there to take the Monk by surprise and ruin his flow.
With each move the Monk made, the Demonic General was starting to understand more and more how the technique worked.
Unfortunately, that didn't mean the mortally injured Bladed Caterpillar instantly knew how or had the means to counter it...
'He manipulates the very Origin Energy within my strikes to better redirect them! This is insanity!'
Mo Yangling's limbs moved with the fluidity of leaves in the wind, allowing the momentum of every blade he redirected to further speed him up, as he followed their trajectory.
However, despite using the backward momentum of the blades and wind, the monk was moved forward with each turn he took. With each step, each parried blade, he got just a little bit closer to the panicked beast.
A smile stretched on his face as he prepared to show what could be called one of the deadliest combinations within the Vraja Fist martial style.
The moment he got close enough, the Beast's body grew a blade directed straight for him, aiming to skewer him directly instead.
But the monk had been expecting that as well, breaking the blade with his palm as he made one last turn and got close enough to the Demonic Beast's body.
'Vajra's Diamond Elbow!'
In a swift motion, he placed all the momentum he had gathered into a fine point within his elbow, striking forward with ravenous fury and unrestrained ferocity.
The Monk's elbow dug deep into the beast's meaty body, and another blade that had been growing to clash with him broke instantly.
In an instant, a shock was sent out through the Beast's entire body, the entire mountain-sized tree shook violently, and the walls around the Monk and the Demonic General bent and cracked unnaturally.
"Blargh! You dam-"
Before the Demonic beast could even finish its foul-mouthed spiel, the Monk managed to push his elbow in completely into the beast's body.
In an instant, the white flesh of the beast burst open on the other side, spilling all over the cracked wooden walls of their cave.
The monk smiled as he split the beast in two right down the middle, his eyes shined as he watched its cracked core spill out of its body in pieces.
The monk's hurried breath slowly became controlled again as he watched the Bladed Caterpillar's guts spill on the ground right alongside the pieces of its Beast Core.
The Elbow was, at the end of the day, one of the strongest joints in the human body. Even in his previous world, the monk had seen many people break rocks and split heads open with their elbow strikes, hell he had been one of them.
Seeing such a move turn even more overwhelmingly powerful when enhanced by Origin Energy was still mesmerizing though.
"I-I can't believe it... For a Demonic General like me... To fall to some nameless human..."
"Amitabha, my fame may not have spread this far yet. But I am now known as a Sage among humans."
The monk brought his hands together in prayer as he walked by and stepped forward in front of the bisected Demonic Beast.
"Hah- I have seen many things in my life, but never have I heard of such a demonic sage..."
The Monk smiled at the dying Demonic General. His fists and eyes were still shining blue with excess Origin Energy.
"Do not slander my good name, bladed beast. I am as righteous as they come."
The Monk's smile quickly dissolved as the Beast opened its mouth once more.
In an instant, it unleashed a roar. One so loud that it once again shook the entire tree. The monk scowled as he covered his ears for a moment, but the scream died down soon enough.
The moment the scream died down fully, the beast seemed to have come to terms with its fate.
"At least it's to a strong opponent that I fell, not a swarm of ants..."
It seemed to want to say even more, to express its hatred and distaste one last time.
Its tongue slithered forward, but instead of words, it transformed into a blade and pierced towards the monk's heart.
It was a desperate last-ditch effort to at least put a scar on the Monk's body. Its pride as a Demonic General, the right hand of a Demonic King, demanded at least that much.
A small, skinny blade was all that it could muster with on its last legs. The monk had just batted aside hundreds more, much larger, more durable.
It was such a hopeless attempt that the Demonic General didn't even hold his breath as the blade pierced the air towards the monk.
But its Beastly eyes widened when it noticed that the monk made no effort to move out of the way or block the blade.
Instead, the wild-haired young man let it pierce his chest, going through the front and coming right out the back.
"I'll let you have at least this one... For being the first formidable opponent I've faced in this world. For pushing me to understand what I needed to improve to thrive."
The monk's smile didn't dissipate even as he was picked off of the floor by the beast's blade-like tongue.
It didn't die down even when his teeth were stained red by the blood that eventually started dripping from the corners of his mouth.
"Haha~ This racket should've been enough... To think... To think I'd feel thankful... In my last moments..."
The Beast's growls weakened further and further before its breathing stopped completely, and the Origin Energy within its body dissipated fully, leaving behind only a soulless husk.
The monk smiled as his feet touched the cracked wooden ground once more, the long and thin blade still embedded in his heart.
With a sigh, his right hand slowly reached for the blade, breaking it with a simple grasp, before pulling it out of his chest.
The monk looked down, as a pool of blood started gathering around his legs. His gaze remained steady and sharp, a smile climbing back onto his lips as the wound on his chest closed with a vortex of twisting flesh.
Mo Yangling patted his chest, controlling his regeneration to stop the healing process at a certain point, allowing himself to at least remain with a scar. A reminder of his adventure.
'I shall award this kindness, even if the beast was undeserving. Such gestures are meant for the living anyway...'
The monk sighed as he then looked at the massive carcass of the beast and brought his hands together in prayer.
"Amitabha... May eternal rest be soothing to your soul, whichever form it may take, man or beast.
May you leave all evil and negativity behind on this earth... Such emotions are only for the living to suffer through."
After saying a short prayer, the monk slowly shook his head and walked towards the Caterpillar's bisected midsection.
His elbow strike had done a lot more damage than he had expected, but then again he had placed a lot of his remaining Origin Energy within that Mystic Technique.
He slowly walked over to and collected the remains of the Beast Core he had ruined. Although in pieces, it was still extremely large, at least bigger than a regular adult.
The monk was able to nicely wrap it up in cloth he had prepared, and create a makeshift backpack for it.
He then walked over to and grabbed the most intact blade he could find from the ones he had deflected earlier.
'This should also be decent enough material...' The monk's fingers dug into the blade slightly, forming small indents within its narrower side, creating a form of handle, as he slung it over his shoulder.
The monk marvelled a bit at the strange blade. Having grown straight from the flesh of the beast, it felt organic yet it gleamed with the cold, deadly sheen of polished metal.
It was easily the size of a Millenium Deer, but to Mo Yangling its weight and lacklustre balance seemed negligible.
As the monk turned to leave, he felt a strange shiver down his spine.
His eyes widened as he heard the distinct sound of clapping right behind him.
"Oh my~ A fortune to wake up during this marvellous display!"
An ancient, almost mystical voice made the monk freeze in place as his eyes moved back, glimpsing at the figure behind him with his peripheral vision alone.
Behind him, slightly to the side, stood a strange humanoid figure made completely out of thorny vines... Its eyes and mouth were empty black holes that seemed to swallow up even the light of the Origin Energy radiating off of the Demonic General's carcass.
The monk's neck craned slightly towards the strange being, only for his eyes to widen as he noticed something... The thorny beast was merged with the floor itself.
The monk didn't need his instincts to tell him. The wave of Origin Energy that washed over him was enough to make him understand a rather crucial fact.
'Amitabha... This is not an opponent I can face right now...'
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Hello! Hope you liked the chapter! Pretty busy day so imma just hurry up upload and then go to sleep.
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