A Compendium of One Hundred Demons: My Path to Immortality in a World of Demons and Monsters

"boom---"

The talisman exploded, transforming into a blinding golden light.

Xu Yuan was thrown away by the sudden shockwave and crashed heavily to the ground. When he staggered to his feet, he saw that Zhang Biao was enveloped in golden light, the bleeding from his severed arm had stopped, and his breathing had even improved somewhat.

"A protective talisman?" Xu Yuan's heart sank.

Zhang Biao sneered, "Kid, didn't expect this, did you? This is a life-saving item bestowed upon me by the Right Wise King's envoy. Remember this, I will avenge this grudge one day!"

After making those harsh remarks, he turned around and fled into the depths of the cave without hesitation.

Xu Yuan gritted his teeth and chased after him, but after only a few steps, he spat out a mouthful of blood. The power of the protective talisman's explosion was considerable, which aggravated his internal injuries.

Just as Zhang Biao was about to disappear into the darkness, a fierce glint flashed in Xu Yuan's eyes. He then bit his tongue, spitting out a mouthful of blood essence onto the long sword in his hand, while simultaneously activating the power of the illustrated manual within his body.

The next moment, the blade hummed, and dark red baleful energy surged wildly, actually condensing into a three-foot-long blood-red blade aura at the edge!

"cut!"

With his last ounce of strength, Xu Yuan unleashed a powerful slash. A crimson blade aura shot through the air like a bolt of blood lightning, instantly traversing a distance of over ten feet and striking Zhang Biao squarely in the back.

"puff---"

The golden light shattered, and a deep, bone-revealing wound exploded on Zhang Biao's back, causing him to fall forward.

Even so, he didn't die. He struggled to his feet and stumbled as he continued to flee deeper into the cave.

Xu Yuan wanted to give chase, but his legs suddenly went weak. He had to use his long sword to support himself to keep his balance. That last strike had almost exhausted all his blood and energy, and he didn't even have the strength to take a few more steps.

"Damn it..." Xu Yuan watched helplessly as Zhang Biao's figure disappeared into the depths of the cave.

Just then, something unexpected happened!

From the depths of the cave, in the direction Zhang Biao had fled, came a piercing scream, followed by a chilling chewing sound.

At the same time, the Hungry Ghost Compendium in Xu Yuan's mind suddenly lit up, and in his Yin Qi perception, a familiar aura kept coming.

Xu Yuan felt a chill run down his spine. He took out a Qi and Blood Pill and swallowed it. The Hungry Ghost Illustrated Manual devoured the pills, and a warm current flowed back into his body.

After recovering a little, Xu Yuan immediately forced himself to stand up, gripped his long sword tightly, and carefully made his way towards the direction from which the sound came.

After turning a corner, the sight before him made him gasp in shock.

Zhang Biao lay in a pool of blood, a large hole torn in his chest, his heart missing. And beside his body, squatted a... person?

No, it's not human!

The creature had a human-like outline, but its body was covered in long, bluish-black hair. Its fingers were like hooks, and its fangs were protruding from its mouth. It was holding a still-beating heart and feasting on it.

Hearing the noise, it raised its head, revealing a pair of scarlet eyes.

Mountain spirit!

Xu Yuan recognized it instantly—the creature in front of him was exactly the same as the mountain spirit he had seen in the back mountain that night, only slightly smaller.

The mountain spirit also saw Xu Yuan at this moment. A human-like greed flashed in its scarlet eyes. It dropped the half-eaten heart and slowly stood up.

It licked the blood from the corner of its mouth and made a hoarse sound: "Heh...heh heh heh..."

Xu Yuan's heart sank to the bottom. He was now exhausted and injured, and facing this mountain spirit that was clearly in its prime, he had no chance of winning.

But the situation didn't allow Xu Yuan to think any further. The mountain spirit had already pounced, moving incredibly fast, its sharp claws aimed straight for his throat.

At the critical moment of life and death, Xu Yuan's mind was clear. He suddenly remembered the mysterious black iron piece in his pocket, and on a whim, he took it out and used the last bit of blood and energy that had just been restored in his body to activate it.

"Buzz—"

The iron sheet trembled, and a dark light suddenly shone on its surface patterns. A chilling aura carrying endless majesty instantly spread throughout the cave.

The mountain spirit's forward lunge came to an abrupt halt, its scarlet eyes flashing with terror as it stared intently at the black iron piece in Xu Yuan's hand, as if it had seen something horrifying.

Taking this opportunity, Xu Yuan pressed the iron plate onto the mountain spirit's forehead.

"laugh---"

In an instant, black smoke billowed from the mountain spirit's forehead, and it let out a shrill scream like boiling oil being poured on snow. It struggled frantically, but the iron sheet stuck to its head like a branding iron, and the faint light grew brighter and brighter.

Three breaths later, the mountain spirit stopped struggling, collapsed to the ground with a thud, and was completely lifeless!

Xu Yuan could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.

He looked at the piece of iron in his hand. The dim light had gone out at some point, but the patterns on its surface seemed to have become a little clearer.

"What is this...?" Xu Yuan muttered to himself.

Just then, the image of a hundred demons unfolded in his mind once more:

[Slayed one low-level mountain spirit, currently absorbing demonic essence...]

[Hungry Ghosts' progress: 41% → 46%]

[New Trait: Mountain and Forest Traversal (In mountain and forest environments, movement speed is increased by 10%, and concealment is increased by 10%. Note: This trait can evolve by consuming more mountain spirit-type monsters.]

As a series of messages flooded his mind, Xu Yuan felt a surge of pure energy within his body rapidly repairing his injuries and replenishing the blood and energy he had previously consumed.

In a short while, his injuries were almost completely healed, and his energy and blood had mostly recovered.

"It could be considered a blessing in disguise..." Xu Yuan shook his head with a wry smile.

Whether it was the life-or-death struggle with Zhang Biao or the accidental killing of the mountain spirit, the process was extremely dangerous, but fortunately, the final gains were quite substantial.

Xu Yuan stood up and walked to Zhang Biao's body to search it. In addition to some gold and silver valuables, he also found a secret letter and half a bronze token in his arms.

The secret letter was written in the grassland script, which Xu Yuan could not understand, but the token was engraved with a ferocious wolf head, and the back had an ancient seal character "right".

"The Right Wise King?" Xu Yuan put the things away and looked at the mountain spirit's corpse.

The demonic essence contained in the mountain spirit's flesh and blood had been almost completely absorbed by the Hungry Ghost Illustrated Manual. However, even a small mosquito is still meat. After hesitating for a moment, Xu Yuan still used his knife to cut off a portion of the flesh and blood.

After finishing all this, he dragged his tired body back home.

When Xu Yuan returned to the entrance of the cave, Captain Zhang had already arrived with his men. Everyone was shocked to see Xu Yuan emerge covered in blood.

"Brother Xu, are you alright?"

"It's nothing." Xu Yuan shook his head, his words concise. "Zhang Biao is dead."

After briefly explaining what had happened, everyone returned to Black Wind Stronghold together.

Xu Yuan did not mention the existence of the black iron piece, and everyone assumed that he was just lucky to have benefited from Zhang Biao's life-or-death battle with the mountain spirit.

The battle in the stronghold had ended, and all the bandits were either dead or surrendered. The government troops were counting the spoils of war.

Upon seeing Xu Yuan, Chen Hanchuan immediately strode forward and patted him forcefully on the shoulder: "Good lad! Well done! Zhang Biao is dead?"

"He's dead." Xu Yuan handed over the secret letter and token. "These were found on him."

Chen Hanchuan took the token, glanced at it, and his expression changed: "This is a military order from the Right Wise King's army!"

After he unfolded the secret letter and read its contents, his brows furrowed completely.