The Legend of the Devil
Ch. 181 - Yellow Bamboo Dwellers

Xue Zhan sharpened his vision as three robbers attacked him simultaneously. He stepped back before pulling out his sword. Issuing a quick sword movement to cut through his first opponent accompanied by nimble and agile footsteps while avoiding the opponent's attack from his right and left sides.

The robber attacked again by twirling his sword and launching an attack from the side. Xue Zhan responded by twisting his body above the air and dodging the attack. He then charged back with his sword, sending out a counterattack that caused the robber to scream in pain.

"The Book of the Heavenly Phoenix - the Art of the Wind Goddess Chaos!"

They bounce back and hit each other. Yet one of the three robbers suddenly jumped into the air and attacked Xue Zhan from above. Xue Zhan turned his sword and struck him right at the knee. The man staggered and fell to the ground covered in blood.

Desperate opponents. Xue Zhan saw an opportunity to finish the fight. He stepped forward and quickly slit the neck of one of them. The other two fled, leaving his friend already lying on the ground. However, death still called out their names, right at the moment when the Wind Sword Dance style chased their steps from behind and their bodies were cut into two pieces.

After Xue Zhan had managed to defeat the three robbers, the rest of the robbers challenged Hua Lian to a fight. Hua Lian who was trained as a swordsman from the Hua clan calmly pulled out her sword and prepared to face her opponent.

The robber moved quickly, attacking Hua Lian with a deadly sword stab. But Hua Lian quickly dodged the attack and fought back with a punch hitting the arm. The robber sword was successfully struck and thrown far away.

The robber was surprised to see Hua Lian's fighting ability and tried to dodge the counterattack. But unfortunately Hua Lian took the opportunity to attack him mercilessly. The attack was so fast that the robber could not dodge. Hua Lian's sword managed to pierce through her heart, making her fall and die on the spot.

Hua Lian pulled her sword from the man's body, saw Xue Zhan had finished off one of the two remaining robbers and decided to finish off all opponents in plain sight.

Until finally the fight ended in blood, Hua Lian looked towards Xue Zhan and Xiang Yi Bai. He gave a sign to continue the journey, they must immediately move before sunset because there will be more danger waiting for the night to arrive. The three continued their journey to the Yellow Bamboo Forest to find Yue Linghe.

But suddenly a gripping aura appeared as a purple-colored puff of smoke came out from the bodies of the robbers who had died in the previous fight. Xiang Yi Bai, Xue Zhan, and Hua Lian turned around and looked at each other with puzzled expressions. They've never seen anything like this before.

"Wait a minute, what is it?" xue Zhan said while watching out for the enemy's movements with his sharp eyesight.

Xiang Yi Bai frowned and replied, "It is a Purple Centipede demon, the creature usually lives in a remote forest. But I never heard that they could emerge from human corpses."

The shape of the demon centipede began to be seen from the smoke puff, he has the physical characteristics of a striking black and make it look almost invisible at night. Starting from sharp teeth protruding from his mouth, eyes bright yellow, to his long and thorny fingers. Its body was larger than a human and was coated by dark purple scales that glittered like jewels. The purple scales were shiny and extremely hard like steel. The scales were also able to absorb spiritual energy, thus making the purple centipede demon extremely resistant and hard to defeat.

Hua Lian watched closely and suddenly spoke, "They sucked the spiritual energy of the dead and created their form from the smoke coming out of the bodies of the victims. They have great power, can be dangerous if not properly overcome."

The three people continued to observe carefully, while the purple centipede demon drew closer. Without hesitation, Xiang Yi Bai took his sword and moved forward, Hua Lian followed by picking up the weapon. Until Xue Zhan said confidently, "Let me handle them."

"You sure?" welcome Hua Lian.

"Related."

Xiang Yi Bai reinserted his sword as he ordered. "Be careful especially with the poison. Hua Lian, we better back off. This demon could be dangerous if he were to remove the poison from his body."

The purple-coloured smoke puffed up and clearly revealed the next opponent to be faced, Xue Zhan advanced forward anticipating the attack from the front and started his first attack with a strong wind.

"The Book of the Heavenly Phoenix - Lightning Phoenix Claw."

He attacked again but the purple centipede demon could dodge and read his movements.

Xue Zhan looked at the six centipedes with a sharp eye. He realized that this was going to be a difficult fight because he had to fight six enemies at once. But it's time to see how much he's grown over in the Gulf of Regret.

When the six centipedes started advancing towards him, Xue Zhan wasted no time and immediately pulled the sword from its sheath. He started the fight by attacking the centipede that was in their midst. In one move, a sword slash aimed at the head of the demon, though not so fatal but the attack managed to break them apart.

Xue Zhan took a deep breath and focused his mind on the movements of his opponents. He noticed every move of the purple centipede, capturing every gap and opportunity that existed. In an instant, he leaped into the air and dodged the bite from one of the purple centipedes that attacked him from below. Xue Zhan turned around with a single sharp rotating motion, splitting the head of the purple centipede in two.

The white sword continued moving and replying to the attack without pause. He dodged the centipede's attack and advanced with a lightning slash, making it difficult for the centipede to follow his unusually fast movements.

Meanwhile, Xiang Yi Bai and Hua Lian were standing at the back, watching Xue Zhan's fight was a little wary of seeing in a single second just over three attacks rush over the young man's body but he could deal with it perfectly.

In an increasingly intense fight, Xue Zhan dodged every attack and utilized the gap to strike back. He jumped and spun, throwing a disc with high precision towards the centipede's eye. One of the centipedes was hit and fell sprawled. Xue Zhan cut off his head until it was cut off.

Although the three Centipedes had died, the rest had not lost their guts and continued to attack Xue Zhan. Xue Zhan jumped up and twisted his sword in midair, cutting off the head of one centipede nearby. However, two other centipedes surrounded him and began to attack quickly. Xue Zhan jumped up and dodged every attack, but they continued to chase after him.

Urged on, Xue Zhan took the risk and slashed forcefully towards the larger centipede. His attack was successful and the centipede's head was severed. The only centipede left was startled and took a few steps back. However, Xue Zhan wasted no chance and quickly ended his life with a single move of the Wind Sword Dance that instantly cut off his head like a leaf.

Hua Lian was surprised to see Xue Zhan being able to deal with six purple centipede demons at once. He could not believe seeing the end of the fight and was increasingly convinced that the young man was hiding something about his identity. He must have been a great swordsman who had been covering up his identity all along.

After that they regroup.

Xue Zhan realized that the purple centipede they were facing was a demon that indeed had the ability to rise from the dead. He recalled his experience fighting against an undead in the Gorge of Regret, who also possessed similar abilities.

"It seems like this is not the first time we have fought against a creature like this," Xue Zhan said slightly exhausted. "I once faced an undead rising from the dead in the Pit of Regret and the aura they emitted was about the same."

"Living life?" xiang Yi Bai asked in surprise.

"Truely Master, they are dead beings but rise again from the dead. Just like this purple centipede," Xue Zhan explained.

"Hmm, I've never heard of it before" said Hua Lian.

"Maybe this is part of the secret behind this Dead City," Xue Zhan was wary of the surroundings, there was no safe place in the city. "We must be careful and remain vigilant."

They then continued their journey towards the Yellow Bamboo Forest to meet Yue Linghe, while still trying to avoid a fight with the creatures that might stand in their way.

The deeper they entered, the more Purple Centipedes were found with more powerful spiritual power. Xue Zhan could not let Hua Lian fight against these demons because they had deadly poison and the man was not used to fighting demons. Xue Zhan himself had gotten quite used to it during his stay in the Regret Trench so this was no big deal to him. However it was undeniable that the centipede was getting stronger every time, Xue Zhan was worried that he would run out of steam before meeting Yue Linghe.