Da Xuan Martial Saint

Chapter 585: Chapter 351 Ancient Demon_2 Chapter 585: Chapter 351 Ancient Demon_2 However,

just as Chen Mu was crouching by the corpse of an Earth Wolf, studying it, a slender demon shadow quietly approached from the darkness behind him.

Like a shadow, its silent, sharp claws were raised and suddenly tore towards Chen Mu’s back!

“Hmph.”

Chen Mu snorted coldly, his expression unchanged, as he turned around and swept his sleeve, unleashing a surging Qiankun Power that collided heavily with the dark shadow attacking his back.

The Qiankun Power raised by his robe sleeves was overwhelming, and upon collision, the dark shadow was clearly outmatched.

The pitch-black claws abruptly retracted, and the entire body flexibly leaped back, attempting to retreat into the distance.

Chen Mu narrowed his eyes as he looked on.

He saw that the creature attacking him was even more bizarre; its form appeared very small, like a pitch-black cat, but the claws it had raised earlier were unreasonably huge, as if spreading out from within the shadows.

Moreover, the most crucial thing was that the aura emanating from its body was drastically different from that of the Earth Wolf, accompanied by an extremely deep and malicious ferocity.

If the Earth Wolf attacked him, it might have been out of threat or hunger, but this pitch-black beast was purely for the sake of slaughter, its savagery unmasked.

Ancient Demon!

Belonging to the ancient demon clan that had nearly gone extinct in the surface world!

And this ancient demon had reached the level of Seventh Rank, its strength not inferior to those Seventh Rank Demon Kings; otherwise, it couldn’t have merely flipped in the air after enduring the power of that sweeping sleeve just now.

“Thinking of escaping?”

Seeing the ancient demon trying to flee, Chen Mu immediately snorted coldly and was not planning to let it go.

In fact, even within the Earthly Abyss, a Seventh Rank ancient demon was not a common occurrence.

This ancient demon must have been alerted by the recent mass entrance of Grandmasters into the Earthly Abyss.

Perhaps seeing the crowd, it had covertly hidden itself, quietly and inconspicuously followed Chen Mu from behind, and violently attacked when it saw him ‘alone’.

A true ancient demon is different from those demons eroded by demonic qi; it exists in an extremely strange state.

It can be said to have a physical body, but also said not to, more like a condensed product of tangible demonic qi.

Unlike those mad ‘demons,’ ancient demons are more cunning, sinister, and savage.

This one was obviously so.

After its attack on Chen Mu failed and it sensed the disparity in strength, it immediately tried to escape.

“Stay.”

However, Chen Mu did not give it a chance; with one step, he had already caught up, launched a Fist Seal from mid-air, surging and vast, mobilizing the nearby Power of Heaven and Earth, condensing it into a Heaven and Earth Wheel Seal.

The ancient demon, sensing the power of this strike, let out a piercing screech from its pitch-black body, as if the screams of countless creatures were condensed, causing instant extreme discomfort, while surging demonic qi gathered into a Demon Seal.

Boom!!

The Demon Seal and the Heaven and Earth Wheel Seal collided, erupting with a loud explosion, but with the violent collision, the Demon Seal was clearly inferior, disintegrating layer by layer into pitch-black demonic qi, and getting crushed bit by bit by the Heaven and Earth Wheel Seal.

Seeing that it could not resist Chen Mu’s move, the ancient demon screeched again, its entire body swelling dramatically, and a violent and deranged aura surged mightily, seemingly preparing to fight Chen Mu with all its might.

But in the next moment.

Pop.

The swollen, massive body suddenly tore like black cloth, splattering open, turning into seven or eight shattered black masses, flying off in all directions, fleeing towards various different places!

“Is this the so-called Heavenly Demon Dismemberment, gathering and dispersing unpredictably?”

However, Chen Mu, watching this scene, did not show any signs of surprise.

Although it was his first time fighting a true ancient demon, he had already seen some of their methods in many ancient texts and had learned about them from masters like Feng Hongsheng.

He was well aware of many ancient demon tactics.

Heavenly Demon Dismemberment, gathering and dispersing unpredictably, was one of the ancient demon’s tactics.

Its body could materialize to clash hard with powerful Demon Kings, but it could also dematerialize, instantly disintegrating and dispersing, then reassemble without affecting its survival.

“Eliminate.”

Chen Mu didn’t waste any more words, and as he loosened the Fist Seal, he pressed down lightly.

At that moment, the surging Heaven and Earth Wheel Seal, which had converged into a point of light, suddenly dispersed as he moved, transforming into eight distinct Cycle Marks that chased after a shattering shadow.

Boom!

The Wind Wheel caught up with one part, slicing it into countless fragments, from which faint, agonizing screams could be heard.

Crack!

The Thunder Wheel caught up with another, obliterating it completely into a wisp of black smoke, silent without even a scream.

Fire Wheel, Water Wheel, Celestial Wheel…

The divided Heaven and Earth Wheel Seals each struck a shadow; upon catching up, they erupted with power, annihilating each part amid relentless, harrowing screams until the last piece had also disintegrated, finally bringing calm to the surroundings.

Meanwhile, the true form of Chen Mu chased after the largest piece, which he had now completely suppressed, controlling it with the Inner Strength of Yuan Gang, causing it to fall into his palm, transforming into a semi-real, semi-illusory black mist that constantly churned and changed within his hand, occasionally revealing faces that howled viciously at Chen Mu.@@novelbin@@

Chen Mu ignored the transformations of the Ancient Demon, his gaze fixated solely on the black mist.

Suddenly.

Within his line of sight, the black mist changed again, unexpectedly revealing a face he was intimately familiar with—it was Xu Hongyu, looking as though she was crying, her gaze mournful, as if she couldn’t understand why he had to be so brutal.

But as Chen Mu regained his focus, that illusory appearance immediately vanished without a trace, and what appeared before him were the same ferocious and vicious faces in the black mist.

“Gathering and dispersing unpredictably, the Heavenly Demon formless…”

Chen Mu observed the Ancient Demon’s remains in his palm, which, no matter how it struggled or transformed, could not escape, his eyes revealing a keen interest.

Gathering and dispersing unpredictably.

He had some understanding of this Realm before, just like the very nature of Heaven and Earth itself; water, fire, wind, thunder, could dematerialize into the Power of Heaven and Earth, or they could materialize and manifest, including his usual practice of burrowing through the earth, which was utilizing the principle of unpredictability.

However, this unpredictability was limited to the most basic structure between heaven and earth; he couldn’t make his body attain a state of unpredictability, completely ignoring physical attacks and methods, not even with the practice of the Qiankun Martial Body.

But the Ancient Demon could.

Their bodies could materialize into a substance tougher than steel, with extreme durability, and they could also dematerialize and divide at will, even projecting different faces.

Of course, the Ancient Demon he suppressed was only of the Seventh Rank, not reaching the level of Heavenly Demon; it’s said that at the level of Heavenly Demons, they could truly achieve formlessness and myriad transformations, becoming unpredictable and vastly strange.

Nevertheless.

This Ancient Demon still possessed the ability to bewitch and affect his vision slightly; had it not been for his state of mind having reached the ultimate point of “still water,” directly perceiving its true form would not have been so easy for him.

Most crucially, in his current close encounter, he could sense the essence of the Ancient Demon’s existence, which seemingly didn’t belong to any part of the Qiankun Eight Phases, nor was it made up of any formulation, also being the only thing he had encountered that existed independently of the universe, entirely contrary to the whole of creation.

Previously, he had encountered Demonic Qi more than once, but at those times, his understanding of the nature of the universe was far from what it was now; now, having even briefly experienced “Unity of Heaven and Man,” his perception of the universe was reaching the essence; only after capturing an Ancient Demon could he feel its truly distinct nature.

“Not part of the universe, its essence more resembles a conglomeration of souls made up of negativity and violence, mingled with some parts of the Power of Heaven and Earth to form its current structural state…”

Chen Mu muttered to himself.

If the essence of the Ancient Demon doesn’t belong to this universe, then where did it originally come from, from outside this universe?