Devouring Evil Martial Arts, Eliminating Demons from All Heavens

Chapter 136 Gradual Progression: The Disadvantages of Martial Artists
It's around 7 p.m. right now.

If it weren't for the snow disaster, the city would probably still be bustling with people coming and going.

Even with the inconvenience caused by the weather and other factors, people at home are not asleep during this time of day, and almost every household has its lights on.

In places with poor sound insulation, you can often hear the television sound coming from inside the house.

An 18 or 19-year-old girl was watching TV on a wooden sofa, holding a plastic bag of dried sweet potatoes, when she suddenly noticed her phone light up several times in a row.

When I opened it, I saw that it was a group text message sent by the school, three messages in a row.

Evil spirits are at work tonight; stay calm! Stay calm! Stay calm!

The dantian massage exercise taught in school, which involves pressing all acupoints in reverse with precise pressure, can stimulate the flow of essence and blood.

Cutting your palm in this state is even more effective in exorcising evil spirits. If you encounter relatives or friends who are possessed by evil spirits, you can smear your palm with blood and strike their foreheads.

But do not linger in battle; you may flee to send a message or call for reinforcements!

The girl's mouth was open, with unchewed dried sweet potato still inside, and her face was blank.

What the heck? A prank?

This is not a prank. Please don't send us useless messages; our phones are busy right now!

The girl was startled when she saw the message pop up on her phone again.

By the way, there have long been rumors that the truly skilled martial arts teachers at martial arts schools sometimes encounter strange and supernatural things when they go out on business.

If even the vice principal can make ice sculptures with his bare hands, it's not surprising that there might be evil spirits involved!

The girl quickly stood up, grabbed a stool from the side, went to the window, peered outside, and called out, "Mom and Dad, don't go out tonight!"

The indifferent voices of my parents could be heard coming from the kitchen.

"On such a cold day, only you would want to go out."

Dad said again, "Huh, today isn't any anniversary or holiday, so why is the city sending us messages on our phones... What is this?!"

The father's voice became somewhat panicked, and he took it seriously.

The girl picked up her phone and looked at it.

[Urgent Notice: Tonight, armed rioters have infiltrated our city and are smuggling a large quantity of dangerous organisms carrying unknown pathogens. All residents are urged to keep doors and windows tightly closed. Do not approach any unusual activity outside. Turn on all electrical appliances, including candles and other lighting. If in danger, immediately go outside and call for help.]

The emergency notification was posted even more times than the martial arts school's notification.

Compared to evil spirits, which are subject to much debate and leave people with mixed feelings, there are also those who might be tempted to go out and see the world.

The danger posed by armed thugs and pathogenic organisms is something everyone can sense.

Apart from those who live on campus, most of the students at the martial arts school are from Guangling and live in various parts of the city.

They are now guarding their own doors and windows, their vigilant postures remarkably uniform, one hand holding a weapon, the other performing massage exercises upside down.

"The city's response was surprisingly quick!"

The electric tricycle was parked on the side of the road. Uncle Nan, panting, glanced at his phone.

Things like electrical appliances and candles are easily affected by evil spirits.

Conversely, the unusual nature of these things also consumes the power of evil spirits.

Uncle Nan had just read those messages when his phone screen flickered a few more times and then went black.

The surrounding snow was covered with traces of cinnabar, as well as several puddles formed by the melting of snow by internal force.

He was someone who chose to cultivate internal energy shortly after he had attained enlightenment. He had just managed to eliminate three evil spirits, but his internal energy was also greatly depleted.

Whether they cultivate internal strength or physical power, martial artists have a natural disadvantage when facing evil spirits.

Many techniques that are effective against physical beings are ineffective against spirits.

Even if a martial artist manages to hit an evil spirit, no matter where the strike lands, it won't be a fatal blow.

Therefore, if you want to use internal energy to exorcise evil spirits, you can only rely on a large amount to dissolve and neutralize the evil spirits throughout their bodies.

In contrast, sorcerers can identify and respond to evil spirits by matching their psychic abilities with the spells and incantations they use.

Then, hitting a spot can have the effect of hitting a vital point, so there's no need to rely on your mental power to forcibly cancel it out.

If it weren't for Zhu Sha's help, Uncle Nan would probably have exhausted himself to the point of vomiting blood just trying to deal with those three pursuing evil spirits.

Mobile phones were also affected at that time.

Uncle Nan pressed the power button on the side of the phone twice more, but there was no response.

His old face was reflected on the black screen.

Beside the old face, there was an even older white face.

Uncle Nan was startled!

Right behind him, a figure dressed in tattered clothes, its body swollen from being soaked, slumped inside him.

"Hehehehe..."

A muffled laugh, accompanied by the sound of numerous bubbles rising in the water, rang in Uncle Nan's ears.

His pupils rolled upwards in a daze, as if trying to look into his own brain.

All that remained in his eyes was a deathly paleness.

But in the split second that his pupils disappeared, his eyes forced themselves to look down and turn back a little.

His eyes were out of sync, with one pupil pointing to the upper left and the other to the right. His skin was loose and oozing a lot of water droplets.

Uncle Nan felt that his internal energy was being suppressed by a cold, damp, and swollen strange force, and all his meridians felt cold and swollen.

In order to counteract that power, the light red internal energy in the meridians was visibly fading away.

It's a water ghost!
This evil spirit didn't smell of corpses at all; it only smelled of dirty water, very similar to the muddy snow on the street.

Uncle Nan was caught off guard and this guy found an opportunity to possess him.

He was still barely able to stay conscious, but his body had already been severely affected, with water droplets rapidly secreting from the pores of his head and face.

His chin was stained with a continuous stream of tears.

"Lin! Bing!"

Upon hearing the two syllables, Uncle Nan shuddered, and then felt two burning, painful marks appear on his chest.

One horizontal line and one vertical line, like a large cross.

The water ghost screamed inside his body as it was suddenly pulled out by the cross-shaped mark.

Uncle Nan blinked, his pupils slowly returning to normal, and then he realized that there was already someone standing in front of him.

Chu Tianshu formed his right hand into a claw, gripping a wisp of water vapor tightly.

A ghostly face, sometimes long, sometimes flat, howled in the mist.

"No, even if it's a water ghost, the evil energy on its body is so restless."

Chu Tianshu frowned slightly, opened his mouth, and slapped the ball of ghostly energy directly into his mouth.

Uncle Nan was startled.

But when the ghostly aura approached his mouth, Chu Tianshu's Adam's apple bobbed.

A single syllable of "fight" burst forth, instantly creating a large hole in the mass of ghostly energy, causing the thin ghostly energy at the edge to dissipate.

He didn't intend to put this thing in his mouth; it was just that he cultivated the Nine Syllable Mantra and his physique was strong and pure.

For a newly captured evil spirit, the most efficient way to eliminate it is to release a mantra mixed with the yang energy from the mouth and nose after it gets close to the mouth.

"Thank you, brother..."

Uncle Nan snapped out of his daze and immediately asked, "Are you looking for some kind of special evil spirit?"

“These evil spirits must have just come from the spirit world. We need to find the entrance that connects to the spirit world.”

Chu Tianshu spoke quickly, "If the evil spirit's aura is relatively stable, it can be captured and used to cast spells, tracing back to that location."

He had previously observed from a high vantage point that these evil spirits did not spread evenly outward from a single location, but rather flew around erratically, sometimes traversing the ground and sometimes floating in the air.

There's no way to deduce the source of an evil spirit from its movements; we can only trace it back using magic.

Most evil spirits, once severely damaged or destroyed, can stabilize their remaining aura and be used to cast spells.

Even if the evil spirits are destroyed tonight, their lingering aura will still stir.

However, evil spirits differ in essence because of their different origins.

Even if they are stirred up by catalysts, there will be a few, maybe one or two, that will calm down much faster.

Before setting off, Chu Tianshu used his aura to create a simulation, informing everyone at the martial arts school.

A spirit whose aura is stable to a certain standard is considered a usable evil spirit.

If you can catch them, do so; if you can't, try to notify others as soon as possible.

"That's roughly the idea. If we encounter this situation and can't get through on the phone, we'll try to spread the word as quickly as possible, whether it's blowing whistles or setting off fireworks. Someone will come looking for us."

Chu Tianshu released his mental power to provide a reference for Uncle Nan, and then, without having time to worry about anything else, he leaped up.

He ran and jumped from the one- or two-story rooftops to the five- or six-story apartment rooftops.

For him, gliding diagonally between different neighborhoods was almost as easy as walking on flat ground.

However, there may be one or two claw marks or shoe prints left in certain places on the wall.

"Lin Bing Dou Zhe Jie Zhen Lie Qian Xing!!"

He stood on the rooftop of his apartment building, shouting loudly into the air and pointing with his finger.

A headless evil spirit in the air, with a blue face, fangs, and hair like seaweed, was suddenly struck from a distance by a psychic force and exploded.

The members of the Golden Knife Martial Arts School split up to fight among themselves, while those who were less skilled traveled together.

They were like a large firework slowly blooming, spreading towards the city.

Along the way, any evil spirits they encountered were either blasted to death or wounded and forced to flee.

Guangling has a modern urban area, as well as some places that have preserved the old town's appearance.

Pishi Street is a composite of various features, with most of the houses built of blue bricks and tightly packed brick walls.

The roof ridge is about the same height as the utility pole.

The original good road on the street was only three meters wide, but a few years ago it was expanded and paved with granite, making the street eleven meters wide.

The snow in the middle of the road was shoveled repeatedly, but after it was piled up on both sides, the snow layer on both sides became higher and higher, in some places it was almost up to an adult's thigh.

When each household leaves their home, after stepping over the threshold, they still have to walk a short distance between the "ice and snow low walls" before they can actually reach the street.

This area, located at almost opposite ends of the city from the Golden Knife Martial Arts School, is also witnessing a fierce battle.

Several houses had their doors and windows broken, an elderly person's body lay on the threshold, and a child huddled inside, looking dazed.

Some people gritted their teeth, gripping kitchen knives with a mixture of tears and anger, watching the green shadows floating in mid-air.

Those things were deliberately made visible to them.

The green shadows all had long hair that covered their faces, bare-chested, with enormous bellies, but their limbs were as thin as bamboo poles, and their skin was bluish, making it impossible to tell whether they were male or female.

The Belly Stone Demon!
Most of these evil spirits died during famines, ate dirt to fill their stomachs, and died from bloating. If they encounter their kind after death, they will travel together with them.

They will prioritize killing humans who are experiencing pleasure from tasting food.

Laughter could still be heard coming from inside the large, green belly.

"I'll fight you!"

The middle-aged man, dressed in thermal pajamas, charged out with bloodshot eyes, roaring furiously.

Suddenly, a dark figure knocked the kitchen knife out of his hand, grabbed him around the waist, and pushed him back into the room.

Bang bang bang! ! !
The people hiding in their homes nearby, filled with shock, fear, and anger, all heard the continuous gunshots.

The strange, chuckling laughter of the Stone Demon abruptly stopped, turning into a shrill scream.

A dozen or so soldiers wearing strange goggles and carrying equipment resembling hunting rifles advanced through the streets. Instead of iron pellets or steel balls, the rifles spewed out large plumes of cinnabar.

They worked in groups of three to five, with one person taking out a thumb-sized ammunition to reload while the other continued firing.

The Belly Stone Demon can float in mid-air, its large belly as light as a balloon.

But in reality, the yin energy inside that big belly is exceptionally tough, hence the name "belly stone".

The first batch of cinnabar hit their bellies, but it bounced off immediately. Coupled with the fact that they had just been stained with human blood, it aroused their ferocity, and they tried to retaliate.

Immediately, three soldiers pulled out the syringes from their waists and inserted them into their necks.

The first few stone demons that rushed forward were all crushed by the three people's selfless attack, screaming and collapsing.

The three soldiers stood up; their lips were not red, but rather had a golden sheen.

That was an injection, and also a talismanic liquid.

Within ten minutes, their blood boiled, and their bodies were filled with the power to exorcise evil.

With the three of them blocking the first wave of counterattack, and even charging forward, the evil spirits were forced to scatter.

The remaining soldiers seized the opportunity to launch a fierce attack. With a series of thuds, crimson stains fell, turning large areas of the snow-covered street ahead red.

The stone demons were successively destroyed.

The soldier who had just pushed the man with the kitchen knife into the room glanced back.

"Please accept my condolences and don't act rashly. You still have children at home."

He only had time to say that one sentence before continuing on his way.

The man with the cleaver looked at the soldiers' backs, then at his wife holding their child in the corner. He opened his mouth, tears streaming down his face.

The Special Operations Division is divided into multiple action groups and teams.

The members of the task force are responsible for handling cases on a daily basis. They are all quite accomplished in their spiritual practice, but their numbers are limited.

The action team consists of elite soldiers equipped with special equipment, including protective gear, firearms, and syringes, making them fully armed against evil spirits.

This time, Chang'an relayed the message to Jianghuai, urging them to fully cooperate with the operation, and even the operation team arrived here.

If you look down at the city, you'll see...

Including Pishi Street, soldiers like these were advancing on many nearby streets.

People from more than a dozen nearby households came out to check.

The neighbors, who had been neighbors for many years, were shocked and saddened to see someone die before their eyes and wanted to comfort the family.

An old woman came out with a winnowing basket at that moment, hurriedly swept the cinnabar off the ground, and put it into the house of the man with the kitchen knife.

"What are you doing standing still?"

The old woman shouted outside again, "This matter is probably not over yet. Everyone, please sweep up some; it might be useful!"

Yes! Yes!
Once someone spoke up, everyone's motivation to act overcame their fear.

Or rather, they are still afraid, but they are able to take action.

Some people even thought of the messages they received on their phones, suggesting that appliances and candles might be useful, and that they might even have electrofishing equipment at home.

He rushed home and found the bamboo pole wrapped with electrical wires.

It was as if he had also grabbed a gun.

At this point, the fastest advancing team in the operation had reached Wenchang Middle Road.

Several boxers with cracked rosary beads on their arms were tumbling and rolling around at the crossroads ahead, desperately trying to avoid the danger.

Another boxer was lying under a streetlamp, his hands and feet trembling uncontrollably.

Judging from his appearance, it seems that after he was possessed by an evil spirit, his companions dislocated his limbs on the spot, and he couldn't stand up even though he was possessed by the evil spirit.

"Calm your mind to stop the flow of water; when the water stops, your mind will be calm!"

A silver needle flew over and pierced the boxer's left temple.

No one chanted any more spells after that, but the soft hum of the needles sounded just like a undulating incantation, naturally flowing into the boxer's mind.

With a tranquil mind, undisturbed by waves, one can walk until the water ends, sit and watch the clouds rise, the sky bright and clear, bathed in the glow of the setting sun!
The dislocated boxer felt a sense of relief, a purplish-red glow spreading across his face, and a wisp of pale white smoke escaped from his skull.

Another silver needle flew by, pinning the smoke to the lamppost as if it were pinning down a live snake.

"Damn, it hurts so much, you bastards!"

The boxer with the dislocated shoulder cried out in pain as soon as he regained consciousness.

Just then, a boot kicked him four times, all of them hitting his elbows and knees.

The force of the boot was something an ordinary person could exert, but it hit the boxer's joints perfectly, greatly reducing his pain and leaving him feeling weak and sore.

The young man, wearing boots, had a fair complexion, slightly curly hair, dark circles under his eyes, a black earphone in his right ear, and many silver needles between his fingers.

"Team leader, at four o'clock, three meters off the ground."

As soon as the young man finished speaking, ten copper rings flew out from behind him.

Ta-da!

The copper rings are oriented in different directions, reflecting back and forth on the surrounding streetlights, walls, ground, and traffic lights.

The boxers who were dodging the evil spirits were startled, but none of them were hit by the whistling copper ring.

Suddenly, a scream rang out from mid-air.

The copper rings surrounding the figure from all sides revealed a semi-transparent figure in a wedding dress.

The moment the copper ring struck and sparks flew, the silver needle flew out, and the rosy light and flames instantly ignited, burning the evil spirit of the wedding dress into a surging purple fire in the sky.

A strong but not tall man jumped forward, waving his arms in the air and catching five copper rings.

Liu Suran, leader of Group One in Jianghuai.

"It's safer for us to practice physical strength and mental power."

Liu Suran sighed, "Ruyu and the others who practice internal energy cultivation have already lost less than half of their internal energy before they even got here."

Lin Baisui looked up: "Ruyu and the others killed quite a few, mainly because they were too impatient."

"There's no other way but to be in a hurry."

Lin Baisui said with great concern, "There are far too many evil spirits tonight. I'm afraid it's not just a matter of the scale of the offerings, but also the efforts of the ghosts and gods themselves."

If offerings are used to exchange for evil spirits, people have a rough estimate of how much stock the ghost market can accumulate in a year.

But what if the offerings are merely used to maintain the passage, and the spirits, in order to expand their influence and support the already confused and irrational hatred, actively send the evil spirits they have interfered with into reality...

It's hard to say how many can be sent over.

Even ghosts and gods, at least they have the word "god" in their names.

Why are you working so hard?

Lin Baisui said, "We must find the altar as soon as possible."

Liu Suran nodded and looked towards the end of the street: "Ruyu and the others have caught up, let's continue..."

Ga! !

The strange sound, like a saw tearing through a skull, made everyone's ears ache and their stomachs churn.

Liu Suran's arms tightened instantly, his gaze sharp, as he turned to look at the traffic light.

Atop the tall traffic light pole sat a blind man wearing round-framed sunglasses, a guqin (a traditional Chinese stringed instrument) resting on his knees.

The strange sound just now was from his fingernails slicing across the strings.

The figure didn't seem real; it was as if everyone could see the moon in the sky through his chest.

But the chill he brought affected the nearby boxers and the action team members dozens of meters away.

Even the team members a hundred meters away felt as if they were weighed down with lead weights, making it difficult for them to move.

This is an evil spirit.

A demon spirit that has been in the spirit world for so many years can still play the piano and has gradually cultivated himself to be no less powerful than when he had a physical body in his previous life.

"Heaven has lost its order, and earth has lost its order. God of revenge, please help me return home!"

The blind man had an unpleasant voice, and his black glasses pointed at Liu Suran. "You don't seem to be my enemies, but your demeanor..."

"Hehehe, none of those people who randomly shot at me back then ever touched me, but I cut them all in half at the waist."

Liu Suran's face showed anger, but he did not move forward. Instead, he suddenly leaped to the right rear.

The snowflakes in the air, which had turned black at some point, transformed into smoke plumes the size of car heads and pelted towards Lin Baisui.

As Liu Suran intercepted, the copper rings on his hands vibrated, and his fists, like two dragons emerging from the sea, slammed into the skull.

He smashed the skull to pieces, but then felt a sharp pain in his legs.

The trouser legs were shredded by razor-thin black snowflakes, revealing the skin underneath, which was thick and tough, and red marks had been left on it.

Lin Baisui finally finished reciting the incantation and pierced Liu Su's neck with a needle.

Liu Suran's vision shifted, as if he had briefly acquired a state of spiritual insight.

He noticed even more tiny blades made entirely of yin energy in the air.

Hundreds and thousands of blades flew like dust, floating across the entire crossroads.

Hidden in the snow, hidden in the wind.

The blind man plucked the strings, and the resounding notes of the zither provoked all attacks.

The effects of the spell are hidden within the music, making the Yin energy and snowflakes impossible to defend against.

The sound of the zither itself was incredibly strong, with astonishing penetrating power.

Even people five kilometers away can hear this sharp and harsh sound.

Yuan Chongxiao stood at the entrance of a hospital, his inner strength enveloping an evil spirit resembling a skinned monkey.

The dark blue internal energy contracted, freezing the skinned monkey into an ice sculpture no bigger than a palm, which was then crushed with a single palm strike.

When the music reached him, his expression changed drastically, and he instinctively reached for his waist.

That voice sounds so similar.

It was an invisible melody that nearly severed him at the waist back then, and the hideous scar is still visible to this day.

"Ghost Owl, you can really turn into a ghost?!"

Yuan Chongxiao leaped up.

In the blink of an eye, his figure became like a kite blown by a rapid current, stepping sideways across the building and rushing towards the source of the music.

A few streets away.

Feng Jianhua stood in front of a fireworks store, one palm outstretched forward.

The roller shutter door had long been torn to pieces.

Several flames flickered in the shop, their faces like flames, their tongues like red candles.

However, all the fireworks and firecrackers were covered with a layer of pale blue light.

These violent fire demons were not only unable to ignite the gunpowder, but were also trapped by the blue light.

Feng Jianhua swept his palm horizontally, as if to wipe away the blemishes on the canvas.

The fire demons vanished on the spot, leaving only pure blue in the shop.

His internal energy then surged back into Feng Jianhua's body like mist.

Just then, the sound of a piano came from the room. Feng Jianhua recognized the familiar timbre and was about to turn his head when his eyes lit up.

Mo Lao Er's sword light, like water droplets shattered by a storm, was silvery and free, covering Feng Jianhua's face.

(End of this chapter)