Chapter 135

Master Leipu was not someone who only knew how to blast away recklessly, nor was he just a brute who relied on force. In the practice of martial arts, he was already nearing the pinnacle.

It took Qi Xing less than ten seconds to defeat these twenty or thirty dead souls who had all been experts in their lifetimes.

"As expected of Master Leipu."

…But these ten seconds were enough for Greed Demon to stand up again.

"I had originally intended to let you see Magical Girl Miaoshan today, lure you a bit, and then leave, but instead, you ended up snatching the bait away."

With a cold, faint smile, he stood up and brushed the dust off his suit.

After taking a hit from Qi Xing's Wuji Vibration Zen, Greed Demon's head had been blown apart, with the upper half completely pulverized.

Yet he did not die.

He remained standing, his head collapsed on one side with a shattered eye socket, yet he seemed completely unaffected.

"…To suffer a double loss, this kind of unexpected development is arguably the true essence of being a 'mastermind'."

It was unknown what kind of body structure he had; despite the upper half of his head being pulverized, he could still speak to Qi Xing as if nothing were wrong.

The muddy jelly on the ground that Qi Xing had smashed and scattered began to squirm and crawl back toward Greed Demon, as if it were a living thing. They climbed onto his ankles and quickly burrowed into his flesh.

A thick, sweet, nauseating, and foul stench began to permeate the air.

[These death servants are merely a manifestation of his silver coin authority.]

Sasa's voice rang in Qi Xing's ears, giving him a warning.

Although Elaine and Tsukimiya Ran had already pushed the "Miaoshan Ball" far away from the battlefield, Qi Xing was not fighting alone.

[Simply attacking them is useless; it makes no difference no matter how you scatter them, and it doesn't even drain his energy. Do not waste your own movements.]

Qi Xing could certainly see that.

He had, in fact, seen these strange black, gelatinous, muddy substances before.

They were probably what one might call [Personality Jelly].

In some literary works, the concept of "personality excretion" has been mentioned.

It generally describes excreting a person's soul and personality from their buttocks like feces. After being excreted, the original body becomes an empty shell, left to be manipulated by others.

The true soul and personality thus turn into a puddle of jelly-like substance, which can be poured into another empty shell or injected into some other container with strong, mocking, and abusive connotations.

Strictly speaking, [personality excretion] is not entirely a modern creation. Ancient Japan believed that the human body contained an organ called the shirikodama, used to store a person's spirit and will; losing the shirikodama meant losing one's soul.

In Japanese folklore, there is a monster called a Kappa that fancies the shirikodama, and its method of extraction is to pull it out from the buttocks.

Therefore, excreting the soul from the buttocks can be considered an evolution of folklore. But the person who could come up with such an idea must be deeply disappointed in humanity, feeling that human thoughts and souls are nothing more than the excrement of the brain.

Although fetishes are a matter of personal freedom, Qi Xing had never been able to stomach this kind of thing. Furthermore—

"You claim to be the king of Tokyo's underworld, the [Hades], possessing the souls of all the dead in Tokyo."

Maintaining his combat stance, Qi Xing curled the corner of his mouth and mocked,

"I don't know how you collected these souls—but your method of preservation, stuffing a pile of foul-smelling gel into your body, how is that any different from eating shit?"

He had originally just made a casual personal attack.

Who would have thought that Greed Demon would smile faintly and ask back with complete calmness: "What is wrong with eating shit?"

Qi Xing: "…"

Damn it, this guy is a bit formidable.

"I had originally planned to reveal this when we had our final battle at the [Black Wing Palace]. But since things have come to this, I have no choice but to move up the schedule."

But then he heard Greed Demon continue.

As all the scattered black jelly crawled back into his body, along his broken skin and flesh, and entered through his blown-apart brain, a soft "pop" sound was heard, as if an air bag had burst—

Greed Demon's back "split open."

The next second, the crack burst open, and Greed Demon tore off his own skin like a rag. What appeared from within was a brand-new body.

An intact, reborn-like new body crawled out from beneath the old skin.

Broken bones reconnected on their own, and his collapsed eye sockets and cheeks puffed up and reshaped—he, who had just had half his head blown off, was now completely restored.

"Master Leipu, congratulations. You killed me once with your thunder techniques."

He reached out to wipe his cheek, crumpling and discarding the broken skin and flesh as if brushing away an old mask,

Then Greed Demon grinned:

"So now, your thunder techniques are no longer effective against me."

Volume 4: Evil Magic, Magic City Tokyo: 129: Winning Two Points

Left hand,

"Five Thunders Demon-Slaying Blade."

Right hand,

"Great Five Elements Inversion Nine Palaces Divine Thunder."

No sooner said than done!

Qi Xing flicked his wrist, and electric light erupted, transforming into five fierce blade beams, carrying a chilling thunderous intent, slashing through the air.

His right hand, however, swirled with five-colored thunder, like a treacherous chessboard, gathering the five elements and roaring out with a shockwave.

Amidst the crossing electric lights, the two spells simultaneously blasted toward Greed Demon; the left slashed with the thunder blade to break the demon, while the right attacked with the chaotic heaven and earth.

Greed Demon, however, merely stood in place and calmly raised his palm.

The cyan-white thunder blade slashed onto his arm, exploding into a string of blinding electric light, accompanied by the permeation of a scorched smell;

The Great Five Elements Inversion Divine Thunder slammed into his vitals, the shockwave of light causing his clothes to snap and flutter.

The smoke dissipated.

When the dust settled, Qi Xing saw only a shallow blade mark on Greed Demon's right arm; the fabric of his clothes was merely slightly charred.

As for him, he still stood straight, with a smile even curling at the corner of his mouth: "Hmm, still a little bit of pain."

Was it effective?

It was effective, but it only grazed his skin.

The thunder fire scorched him, but it was only a superficial injury, leaving an insignificant trace, just like an ordinary person being lightly burned by a lighter.

—Qi Xing was not the kind of naive brat who believed whatever the enemy said.

He had killed quite a few bosses before who claimed to be "invincible" or possess an "immortal body."

In this world of spaghetti code created by that idiot Sasa, Qi Xing did not believe for a second that there was true invincibility. When Greed Demon said his thunder techniques were ineffective, Qi Xing's first reaction was, of course, to fire off a couple of shots to test the quality.

…But looking at the current situation, things were indeed looking grim.

Having killed him once with thunder techniques, Greed Demon now seemed to have gained extremely high resistance to them.

"Not a rule-based type, then."

Although he wasn't anxious, Qi Xing still couldn't help but frown.

It wasn't a rule-based nullification, because there was still a modicum of damage.

However, compared to rule-based immunity, that kind of invincibility that nullifies attacks—the type where they still take a little bit of damage—was actually more troublesome to fight.

Because these types were basically stat monsters.

"Nine Hum Xiehou Li, Chizha binds the ghosts and gods. Prison bind, say prison bind, Bulin Om Bulin."

Forming hand seals and chanting, Qi Xing switched spells, and immediately, eerie black iron chains emerged from the void with the sound of the incantation, binding toward Greed Demon.

Talismans flickered on the chains, carrying a chilling, hair-raising aura, like hands reaching out from the depths of hell, pouncing toward Greed Demon to bind him tightly.

Meanwhile, Qi Xing flipped his right hand and pointed his index finger into the air.

Swish!

A [Vacuum Blade] burst forth, the air twisting into a thin line, piercing toward Greed Demon with the sound of an air explosion like a sharp blade; it was so fast that even light seemed to be pulled into an afterimage!

This time, Greed Demon finally stopped taking the hit with his face.

A hint of a smile flashed in his eyes, and the ground beneath his feet suddenly trembled—gurgle, gurgle, large patches of black muddy jelly immediately surfaced from the ground, spreading rapidly, wriggling with a foul stench, as if countless rotten palms were rolling within the mud, emitting an eerie "squelch" sound.

The black chains were entangled by the mud, and as if sinking into a swamp, they were swallowed inch by inch; the light of the talismans extinguished instantly, and after struggling for a moment, they were completely swallowed without a trace.

And when the [Vacuum Blade] shot toward him, the black mud suddenly bulged, like mouths opening in mockery, instantly swallowing the sword energy. Ripples spread across the surface of the mud, and in the end, it just wobbled weakly, as if nothing had happened.

Ugh.

Sword energy and spells were ineffective, but Qi Xing was not afraid. After all, these moves were never his main skills; they were just things he had casually practiced when he was young.

His true trump cards had always been his thunder techniques and martial arts.

But the problem was, Qi Xing's thunder techniques now seemed to be ineffective against Greed Demon.

What now?

Should he use martial arts to go in and fight next?

But those wriggling, rolling black muddy jellies around Greed Demon, those puddles of foul-smelling slime, were just like shit; they were so disgusting!

To make Qi Xing go up and engage in close-quarters combat with a demon king who played with shit was something he was truly quite unwilling to do.

Unfortunately, in this regard, Qi Xing's mentality really didn't have the profound level that Greed Demon possessed!

Then, should he use the [silver coin]?

The enemy before him was already using the [silver coin] authority, so Qi Xing using the [silver coin] authority to counterattack was undoubtedly the most direct and reasonable choice.

…However, Qi Xing's intuition was sounding an alarm at this moment.

A feeling told him that if he rashly released his own silver coin power before figuring out Greed Demon's silver coin authority, the subsequent situation would likely fall into a passive state—or even directly cut off his backup plan, leaving him with no cards to play.

Therefore, tapping his ear lightly, Qi Xing signaled to the devil that Greed Demon couldn't see:

—Sasa, what exactly is this authority of Greed Demon? What kind of mythical power is it? Where is his weakness?

[You, a cultivator, how could you not understand?]

Sasa said testily, her tone carrying a hint of impatience,

[He is molting.]

[What happens when an insect molts? It's not just simple growth and physical expansion, but an update and rebirth in a metaphysical sense.]

[By shedding his old body, he gets rid of previous scars, defects, and even attacks that were originally able to harm him.]

[Your thunder techniques, sword energy, and spells were merely acting upon an outer shell that was about to be discarded. Once he molts, the methods that were once effective will all become useless.]

Qi Xing was unable to retort for a moment.

Because in the cultivation of the Immortal Dao, there were indeed many metaphors and concepts related to "molting" and "shedding a shell," and they were very rich in symbolic meaning.

Many insects, when growing, find that their outer shells actually restrict their size increase. When the insect's body grows beyond the capacity of its shell, it will molt to get rid of the old shell and form a larger new one.

In addition, molting can also remove damage or parasites on the shell; it is a part of their self-renewal and regaining vitality.

Taoism also uses this concept for metaphors. The so-called "rebirth" (shedding the fetus and changing the bones), the word [shedding] here, is just like an insect molting to shed its old body.

After a cultivator reaches a certain stage of practice, "rebirth" is the reshaping of the essence of life, transforming from a mortal body into an existence closer to an immortal.

Zhuangzi said: "The cicada sheds its shell in the midst of turbidity and filth."

The "Zhen Gao" states: "Shed the bones and ascend to truth."

The "Huainanzi" says: "Embrace simplicity and guard the essence, shedding like a cicada and untying like a snake, wandering in the Great Purity."

Abandoning the old traces of the residual shell, the true form transcends mortal filth, shedding the form to emerge; this is truly the path to immortality. A cicada shedding its shell, a snake changing its skin. In Taoism, these are all images expressing transcendence, sublimation, and the shedding of mortality to become an immortal.

Qi Xing certainly understood this principle.

In other words, the [Greed Demon] before him was a demon king in the process of evolving—just like the "snake shedding and cicada unbinding" mentioned in the Taoist scriptures, shedding its shell to emerge, transforming into something increasingly unfathomable.

As long as [Greed Demon] molts, the attacks he had previously received would no longer be effective.

"What 'Twelve Labors'?"

Qi Xing couldn't help but complain.

As a result, Greed Demon was taken aback upon hearing this: "What did you say?"