An ordinary Qi Condensation cultivator couldn't withstand a single blow from him, even if he didn't use his spiritual energy.
But Yuan Shu was different. Her movements were slippery, her footwork agile, and it was obvious she had rich combat experience.
It was an excellent skill he had never seen before!
Forcing her to submit obediently without using spiritual energy was clearly impossible.
Li Xie was becoming more and more curious now. Just who exactly was this former nominal seventh junior sister of his?
"Can't you tell if I'm at the Qi Condensation stage?"
Yuan Shu felt rather stifled from the beating.
If her strength were still intact, why would she suffer such treatment?
This damn demon! Once she regained her power, she would definitely teach him a harsh lesson he would never forget!
"Are you angry?"
Li Xie looked at her icy expression, a faint smile curling the corners of his lips. He couldn't help but lower his head and nuzzle her cheek.
?
Yuan Shu turned her head and glared at him. "Are you a dog?"
Li Xie chuckled lightly. "Say what you will. In short, I will take you back to the demon realm. If you are obedient, I can gather the spiritual herbs and treasures needed by human cultivators to help you cultivate."
"If you disobey, I will cripple your cultivation and make you stay by my side obediently!"
"How you choose is up to you."
Yuan Shu turned to look at him, her expression astonished.
She was certain she hadn't released even a hint of charm toward this demon, yet his words implied he absolutely had to have her?
Or perhaps, it was just to make her hand over the treasures she obtained in the secret realm?
"Let's go. My people have been waiting outside for a long time. Without further delay, I will take you away now."
Saying this, Li Xie stepped forward, preparing to take Yuan Shu out of the small world.
Yuan Shu, however, grew a bit anxious.
If she couldn't take down Li Xie here, once they were outside with so many Demon Guards watching, she would have even less of a chance!
Fortunately, she had held something back earlier.
Yuan Shu glanced back at him, gathering a wisp of spiritual energy and channeling it into the Divine Albizia Tree within her body.
A burst of cyan-blue energy surged out from the Divine Albizia Tree.
At the same time, Li Xie, who was holding Yuan Shu tightly, felt a sharp pain in his arm. Something suddenly burrowed into his flesh.
The sudden piercing pain made him gasp!
Li Xie hurriedly looked down. On his arm was a wound he had accidentally sustained when he first encountered Yuan Shu and the other person.
At the time, Yuan Shu had anxiously rushed to offer him medicine, which he had refused.
Now, intense pain radiated from that wound, as if countless insects were gnawing at his flesh, hurting so much that he saw stars.
Seizing this opportunity, Yuan Shu broke free from his grip and retreated to the side.
"It was you!"
Li Xie carefully examined his wound and discovered a foreign power inside, eroding his flesh.
In just a moment, the wound on his arm turned a bruised blackish-blue, showing faint signs of continuous spreading!
And the only person who had touched his arm was Yuan Shu, who had "accidentally" thrown herself into his arms!
At the time, he thought she was being kind and wanted to hand him medicine.
However, out of safety concerns, he hadn't accepted it, and Yuan Shu hadn't insisted.
He had always thought he was quite careful. To think he had actually fallen into her trap so early on?
This woman had probably been suspicious of him the moment she saw him!
And Yuan Shu's next words verified his guess.
"That's right, it's me. I knew this moment would come, so naturally, I had to prepare early!"
Yuan Shu curled her lips and replied with a smile.
The power of the Divine Albizia Tree was a unique divine force that could silently parasitize a specific person's wound.
She had felt something was off about this "Second Senior Brother" at the time, so she made her move in advance.
She figured that if she was wrong, she could just withdraw this wisp of power later.
But if she wasn't wrong, this small precaution might save her life!
Looking at it now, she had made the right choice!
"Stop struggling. The more you use your spiritual energy to suppress it, the faster the wound will spread. It is specifically designed to suppress demonic spiritual energy."
Yuan Shu smiled faintly.
Divine objects had a natural suppressive effect on demonic beings.
This was the trump card she had planted on Li Xie, and the reason she dared to be so arrogant along the way.
As long as the power of the Divine Albizia Tree flared up, that divine force, like maggots clinging to bone, would turn the demonic aura on Li Xie's body into poison, slowly eroding him away!
It would only take a little time, and Li Xie would completely die here!
She was never a kind-hearted person!
Li Xie broke out in a cold sweat from the pain. The sensation of his flesh being eroded and his demonic spiritual energy being devoured was too agonizing.
Moreover, this power was like a plague, still constantly spreading.
If this continued, he would really die!
This damn woman! She had noticed something was wrong with him early on, yet she had endured without acting, all for this final moment?
He admitted, he was angered once again.
He had originally thought everything was under his control, only to realize now that it was all an illusion.
Clearly, everything was under Yuan Shu's control!
If he died, this trip to the Death Demon Forest would be a complete failure for the demons. What did he have to be proud of?
If he had known this would happen, he should have...
No, it was too early to think about this now. He still had a chance!
A dark glint flashed through Li Xie's slightly lowered eyes.
He had almost forgotten that his bloodline was not pure!
Within his body, he still possessed half of a bloodline utterly despised by the demon race. He was not a true demon!
Since childhood, his late mother had taught him never to reveal that bloodline, or else it would make his royal father despise him even more.
He had trained since he was young to conceal and transform that bloodline, and to this day, he had never revealed it in front of others!
The power Yuan Shu left in him could erode a demonic body, but what if he wasn't a demonic body?
Would this power still be effective?
A cold sneer curled the corners of Li Xie's lips, and his hand, firmly planted on the ground, slowly clenched into a fist.
A surge of purple spiritual energy welled up within his demonic body, roaring and galloping through his meridians and blood!
He felt a long-lost warmth, the warmth of the bloodline left by his mother.
That bloodline power, once deemed lowly by the demons, rapidly awakened within his body.
After he circulated the technique to transform his demonic body, it swiftly took over his physical form.
He felt the pain in his wound pause. Without a demonic body, that divine power targeting demons had no place to be effective!
Slowly, wisps of purple spiritual energy poured into the wound, beginning to heal the bruised blackness on his arm.
As the pain lessened, his body also gradually relaxed.
Yuan Shu watched Li Xie trembling on the ground, guessing that the divine power's erosion of his demonic body would still take some time.
With her current strength, she clearly couldn't kill Li Xie. If she made a move, it might force a desperate Li Xie to retaliate and drag her down with him, which would be bad.
The most important thing now was to get out of here quickly!
It would be best to leave quietly without alarming the demons outside.
She cast a glance at Li Xie, bypassed him, and headed toward the exit.
However, she had barely taken two steps when a suppressed, excited low growl suddenly came from behind her.
"Yuan Shu, where are you going now?"
Like someone who had just gained freedom after hundreds of years of confinement, the voice carried an indescribable coldness and delight.
The timbre still belonged to Li Xie, but the tone sounded very off!
Wait, did Li Xie still have the strength to speak to her at a time like this?
Shouldn't his demonic body be corroded by divine power, leaving him in agonizing pain and half-dead?
Yuan Shu slowly turned around. When she got a clear look at the person behind her, her eyes suddenly went wide.
Against the dim, ink-blue backdrop of the pocket dimension, the figure standing before Yuan Shu was a towering, muscular giant, easily over seven feet tall.
What astonished Yuan Shu the most was the pair of fluffy white animal ears with purple tips perched atop his head, along with a massive, delightfully bushy tail!
?
Yuan Shu's heart skipped a beat.
Wait, demons could transform like this?
Why did he look a bit like... a fox spirit cultivator?
