Chapter Twenty-Nine: Removing the Fuel from Underneath
Shang Jiuya's resounding order to attack in the Daqing Hall was like a thunderclap, but its true power needed fertile ground to take root and sprout, and a strong wind to spread. And this fertile ground and strong wind had already begun to quietly brew before she even decided to take action.
Just as news of the Black Prison Mine massacre was spreading like wildfire throughout the Demon Realm, another, even more inflammatory undercurrent was rapidly spreading through the streets and alleys of the Demon City, taverns and teahouses, and even among the lowest-ranking demon officials.
Led by Xing Yuan, the young forces, along with the young demons whose hearts had been ignited by Shang Jiuya at Xinghui Garden, began to exert their influence covertly. They were no longer spreading vague rumors, but were instead meticulously detailing the brutality of the tragedy:
"Have you heard? That Stone-Skinned Clan child, who could barely run, was impaled by Rhinoceros King's personal guards with a demonic spear right in front of his mother... just to force him to reveal the whereabouts of a mineral vein map that he had no idea about!"
"That's not all! Those beasts didn't even spare pregnant women... two lives lost!"
"Under Prince Qi Mu? Hmph, they are nothing but beasts in demon's skin. Back when he attacked the Gray Rock Hills, he slaughtered three small tribes that refused to submit."
"Such atrocities, does the Demon Palace not care? Where is the law?!"
"Shh... Keep your voice down! I heard His Majesty the Demon Lord is furious and has ordered a thorough investigation!"
"Demon Lord? That puppet? Can she keep her word? Don't forget there are still several princes and elders above us..."
"This time is different! I heard that Elder Changdong couldn't stand it anymore and strongly supported the Demon Lord! Elder Xingyuan also spoke out for the victims!"
These embellished stories, filled with gory details and emotionally charged imagery, spread through various channels such as "drunken mercenaries," "fleeing miner relatives," and "low-ranking clerks with a sense of justice," greatly arousing sympathy and anger among ordinary demons and lower-ranking officials. Although the upper echelons remained turbulent, a public opinion atmosphere demanding severe punishment of the murderers and the upholding of justice was forming among the middle and lower classes. This inadvertently laid the necessary "public opinion" foundation for Shang Jiuya's subsequent swift actions, and also forced those forces attempting to protect Qi Mu to act with more restraint.
The time is ripe.
After an emergency secret meeting, Shang Jiuya, Li Yue, and Chang Dong finalized their strategy: to strike at the heart of the matter and capture the king! The core target was Qi Mu himself.
And the person chosen to carry out this crucial decapitation mission—Shang Jiuya—decided to go personally.
"Your Majesty, you mustn't!" Li Yue was the first to object, his tone urgent. "The Seven Mu are fierce and their stronghold is heavily guarded, a den of dragons and tigers! How can you risk your life yourself? Leave this matter to your subordinates and the Shadow Guards. Even if we are torn to pieces, we will find a way to take their heads!"
Shang Jiuya slowly shook her head, her eyes resolute: "Li Yue, I know your loyalty. But I must go to this battle. Qi Mu's strength is formidable, and they cannot be defeated by ordinary means. More importantly—"
Her gaze swept over Li Yue and Chang Dong, who stood silently but equally worried: "—This is a battle to establish my authority. I must prove to all those who have doubts that I am not merely hiding behind the scenes manipulating public opinion, but that I possess the power and courage to personally step onto the battlefield, slay generals, and seize flags. Only in this way can I truly deter the villains and win over the hearts of the people."
Her mind was made up. Li Yue knew he couldn't change her mind, so he could only kowtow heavily: "Your subordinate swears to protect Your Majesty with your life! Please, Your Majesty, prioritize your own safety!"
The plan was quickly formulated. Li Yue led the main force of the Shadow Guards, responsible for creating large-scale chaos on the perimeter, feigning attacks on supply lines, raiding patrols, and sabotaging magical facilities, to attract and restrain the main force of the Seven Mu Guards and the garrison troops as much as possible. Shang Jiuya, on the other hand, would use the ultimate stealth and perception granted by the "Shadow Secrets" to infiltrate the core area of the command post and carry out the final decapitation operation. Chang Dong would command the main army to form an encirclement on the perimeter, sealing off all exits, preventing any external reinforcements, and exerting immense psychological pressure on the entire garrison.
On the night of the operation, there was no moon, and the sky over the Demon Realm was an inky black, so thick it was impossible to see through. Only the biting cold wind howled past, stirring up the sand and gravel from the Gobi Desert and making a sound like the wailing of ghosts.
The headquarters of the Seven Mu Legion was located in a mountain valley that was easy to defend and difficult to attack. It was brightly lit, with patrols coming and going. The atmosphere was particularly tense and solemn because of the daytime punitive order.
Just after midnight, a deafening roar of battle cries suddenly erupted from the outskirts of the camp. Li Yue's shadow guards had made their move; they pounced out of the shadows like ghosts, precisely attacking several key points, immediately causing a huge commotion.
"Enemy attack!!"
"The grain supplies are on fire!"
"The western outpost has been taken down!"
Chaotic shouts and alarms instantly resounded throughout the camp. A large number of garrison troops and the Seven Mu's personal guards were drawn by the sudden attack and rushed towards the chaos.
Under the cover of this chaos, Shang Jiuya infiltrated the camp, clearing obstacles along the way, and finally arrived at the stone fortress hall where Qi Mu was located.
"It's you?!" Qi Mu was stunned at first, disbelief flashing in his eyes, then burst into a contemptuous and violent laugh, "Hahaha! My useless eleventh sister who only knows how to hide in the palace and play low-class tricks? You dare to assassinate me? You're courting death! It seems that those old bastards, You Chi and the others, have completely lost their shame and are pushing you out to die so that they can rightfully take over my territory? Good, it saves me from having to go to the Demon Palace to find you! Crushing you is like crushing an insect!"
Before he finished speaking, he had already made his move. Demonic energy surged from his palm, and his five fingers spread wide, bringing with them five extremely condensed dark blood-red palm winds that instantly sealed off all of Shang Jiuya's escape space, intending to tear her tiny body to shreds.
Faced with this overwhelming and ferocious attack, Shang Jiuya's pupils constricted slightly, and she activated the "Shadow Secret Sense Chapter" to its fullest extent. In her powerful spiritual sense, the trajectory of the destructive palm wind, the key to the flow of power, and even the violent emotions contained within it were all crystal clear.
Her figure flickered like a ghost, taking an extremely risky step forward to cut into the weakest gap in the intertwined power of the claw winds. At the same time, the Kunwu Blade in her hand precisely pierced against the energy flow of the claw winds, swiftly striking the key acupoint on Qi Mu's wrist where demonic energy was being released.
"laugh--"
Qi Mu groaned, feeling a sharp, burning pain and a strange sensation in his wrist, which caused his subsequent surge of magic power to stall. He stared in disbelief at the wound on his wrist, where the surrounding flesh had instantly turned black and shrank slightly.
"Insects! What kind of evil technique is this?!" Qi Mu was both shocked and furious, completely abandoning his last trace of contempt. He roared, and his demonic energy surged up as he threw out both fists.
The fist's force was no longer scattered, but extremely concentrated, carrying destructive power and boundless malevolent energy as it crushed down. Wherever the fist's wind passed, the hall floor cracked inch by inch, and the air was compressed, producing a deafening roar.
Shang Jiuya's eyes were icy cold as she pushed her movement technique to its limit. She dodged and weaved within the confined space, each movement fraught with danger. The wind from her punches grazed her clothes, the resulting pressure stinging her skin. The demonic power unleashed by the "Burning Marrow and Corroding Heart Technique" poured into the Kunwu Blade without reservation, causing its hum to become piercingly sharp.
She began to fight back, her blade flashing unpredictably and cunningly, never directly clashing with his terrifying fist. Instead, she always sought openings, targeting the joints and meridians where his demonic energy circulated. The terrifying power of the Kunwu Blade was on full display; it was not only incomparably sharp but also capable of frantically devouring any demonic energy it touched. Each time Qi Mu's ferocious fist force made even the slightest contact with it, it felt as if a small piece was bitten off, some of the power absorbed by the blade and fed back to Shang Jiuya, replenishing her depleted demonic energy and stamina, making her even more formidable with each battle.
Qi Mu grew increasingly furious and frustrated as the fight progressed. Despite his overwhelming superiority, he felt as if he were battling a slippery, venomous snake that relentlessly drained his power. His opponent's blade and magic were incredibly strange; each clash caused him to feel his demonic energy drain away and his meridians throb with pain. This feeling of having power nowhere to wield drove him almost mad.
"Roar! Die for me!" Qi Mu's eyes turned bloodshot as he went completely berserk, his attacks becoming increasingly frenzied. He disregarded the depletion of his magic power, attempting to crush his opponent with absolute strength.
The battle was incredibly fierce. Demonic energy raged and churning within the hall, the solid stone walls crumbling into dust from the terrifying aftershocks of the magic. Shang Jiuya also paid the price; she was struck by the edges of several unavoidable punches, her blood churning, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, and excruciating pain in her left shoulder. Yet, her eyes remained terrifyingly calm, her entire focus on anticipating and attacking.
Finally, due to accumulated injuries, massive depletion of magic power, and frustration from being unable to break through, Qi Mu's movements slowed down after exhausting his strength. The moment when his old strength was exhausted and new strength had not yet been generated was accurately captured by Shang Jiuya's spiritual sense.
Shang Jiuya's eyes flashed with a sharp light as she poured all her power into the Kunwu Blade. Man and blade became one, and she thrust it straight into Qi Mu's chest, which was slightly open due to his instantaneous exhaustion—the very spot where his power was strongest and where he was most vulnerable at that moment. The Kunwu Blade pierced almost to the root of Qi Mu's chest.
Qi Mu let out an incredulous scream, his tall body trembling violently as he staggered backward, his eyes filled with horror and resentment. But his final, desperate attack was terrifying; he gathered his last bit of magic power and slammed it at Shang Jiuya, who was right in front of him, blocking all her escape routes.
"Your Excellency, be careful!" Li Yue rushed in from the side, pushing Shang Jiuya away with all his might, while simultaneously parrying with his sword.
Li Yue, knife and all, was violently thrown back, crashing into the stone wall. The sound of bones shattering was clearly audible. He spat out a mouthful of blood and instantly fell unconscious from his severe injuries. But he bought Shang Jiuya that fatal moment.
Shang Jiuya was pushed away, narrowly avoiding her heart, but her shoulder was still grazed by the edge of the punch. Her already injured left shoulder collapsed completely, and the excruciating pain almost made her faint.
She staggered to the ground, looking at Qi Mu, whose chest was pierced by the Kunwu Blade and whose demonic energy was rapidly dissipating, without any pity in her eyes. She endured the excruciating pain and stepped forward, preparing to deliver the final blow.
However, just as she approached, a dark crimson light suddenly burst forth from Qi Mu's crown chakra. Within that light, a distorted and ferocious phantom of Qi Mu could be vaguely seen—the remnant of his original soul that he had preserved with his last remaining will to live.
The remnant soul glared venomously at Shang Jiuya, as if trying to etch her image into the deepest part of its soul. Then, without hesitation, it transformed into a streak of blood and disappeared into the ground at an incredible speed, vanishing without a trace in an instant.
Shang Jiuya's spiritual senses clearly captured all of this, and the ominous aura brought by the fleeing remnant soul sent chills down her spine. She tried to track it, but there was no way to catch up. She could only feel an extremely unsettling fluctuation rapidly receding into the vast underground.
She stood there, blood gushing from her shoulder, her face as pale as paper from blood loss and exhaustion. She looked at Qi Mu's tall body, which had completely lost its life, then at the direction where Li Yue had fainted, and then sensed the traces of the vanished remnant soul.
It succeeded... but it wasn't a complete success.
With the physical bodies of the Seven Mu destroyed and their legions leaderless, the strategic objective has been achieved.
But the lingering remnant soul that escaped had deeply penetrated her heart.
She gritted her teeth, enduring the excruciating pain, stepped forward, grasped the hilt of the Kunwu sword, and forcefully pulled it from Qi Mu's chest. The blade was dark red, humming incessantly, its luster even more profound.
Inside the hall, only her heavy breathing and the faint sounds of fighting in the distance remained.
The decapitation operation ended in a Pyrrhic victory.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
