Chapter Forty-Five: The Pursuit! The Sacred Relic Unleashed!

If you looked closely, this creature’s face bore a striking resemblance to the foxes you might see at the zoo. Yet something was disturbingly off about it, as if it had been clumsily pieced together. The two eyes were uneven in size, set asymmetrically; the nose was only half-formed… It was grotesque, almost unbearably so.

I must be dreaming! Wang Tianchao tried desperately to reassure himself, shivering so badly he couldn’t even muster the strength to pinch himself awake.

Meanwhile, the fox-faced old woman cackled, her voice raspy and chilling. “Little one, you’re not dreaming. A kind-hearted young man like you deserves a reward. Come here, let Granny… eat you!”

Her laughter grew sharper, more sinister with every word. As she spoke, she began to step closer, her blood-red tongue flicking out to lick her lips.

A hissing sound filled the air as her clothes tore to shreds, revealing her shriveled, wrinkled body. With each fresh crack in her skin, blood oozed out, until finally the entire mask of human flesh fell away, exposing the monstrous fox demon beneath.

Not only was her face hideously deformed, but so was her body. She had three arms and five legs! Two arms appeared normal; the third was stunted and hung limply beneath her right side. Of her five legs, two were in their proper places, while three sprouted from her lower back, dangling like grotesque tails, thin as reeds.

She loomed over Wang Tianchao, savoring his terror without attacking immediately, inhaling greedily through her half-formed nose.

“I love the taste of fear. With fear, your flesh will be all the more delicious…”

…

“Deformed Fox Demon: One hundred sixty-three years of cultivation. Excels at disguise and mental enchantments. Enjoys flaying, devouring carrion, and impersonating humans. Victims: one hundred sixteen. Execution warranted!”

Having tracked the demon for some time, Lin Yi nearly lost her along the winding alleys. But as the Divine Execution Manual flipped to the next page, Lin Yi knew the deformed fox demon was close.

Within the dilapidated housing complex, Lin Yi concentrated, sensing the aura of misfortune pointing elsewhere. He pulled out his energy detector. When he waved the device toward a certain spot, it responded.

That must be where the fox demon planned to kill!

As Lin Yi closed in on the old apartment block, the energy detector began to beep.

From an initial reading of just 5,012 units, the energy surged to 8,306! Such a high level of sinister energy was already significant among A-rank monsters—not far from S-rank, a level only grandmasters could handle. Dealing with this would be truly difficult for Lin Yi.

He hadn’t expected the deformed fox demon to be so powerful. According to the Divine Execution Manual, this demon had claimed about two hundred fewer victims than the one at Caizi Jiayuan, so Lin Yi had assumed it would be weaker. Now he realized the lower kill count might be due to fewer opportunities, or other reasons entirely.

With a sudden burst, Lin Yi activated the Secret of Swift Movement.

Last night, while lying in wait for another Painted-Skin Ghost, Lin Yi had managed to grasp part of the Secret’s mysteries. His speed increased dramatically.

During his assessment, Lin Yi had relied on this very technique to seize the initiative and lead the pack in the first trial. Now, with no surveillance to worry about, he utilized his newfound speed without restraint.

Though not yet at the level of mastery, his body blurred, moving almost as if he were teleporting. In a flash, he crossed from the compound entrance to the corner where the old apartment stood, covering dozens of meters in a second.

Inside, the fox demon was eagerly eyeing Wang Tianchao, savoring the thought of feasting on his tender, healthy flesh. Suddenly, she sensed a disturbance—her web of ill-omen had been disrupted. Her alarm bell—an assembly of tin cans on the first floor—clattered like a string of bells.

Something was wrong. The fox demon’s hair stood on end. She recalled the strange, ever-present sensation of being watched. Someone really was following her. Panic chilled her to the core.

With a roar, she lunged to Wang Tianchao’s side, scooped him up, and crashed through the window behind him.

Glass shattered, spraying everywhere. She leapt out, landing firmly on the ground below.

Wang Tianchao screamed in terror.

Normally, no one would pay much attention to this place, but the sight of a bloodied, monstrous figure leaping from the third floor with a child in her arms caught the eye of a woman hanging laundry across the way. She clapped a hand to her mouth and shrieked.

Her scream drew the attention of others; soon, many eyes were fixed on the fox demon.

In a blink, the fox demon vanished with Wang Tianchao, her speed far exceeding that of any champion sprinter—only a blur remained. Had she kept moving the instant she landed, no one would have seen her at all. But as it was, her naked, blood-soaked form—complete with extra legs and a third arm—was seared into the minds of all who witnessed it.

Almost all her arms were wrapped around Wang Tianchao. The sight left the middle-aged woman frozen in shock.

Though the demon disappeared in a flash, the image was indelibly burned into everyone’s memory.

Lin Yi, having reached the apartment, heard the sound of shattering glass and realized the fox demon had escaped.

She was brazen indeed—setting traps and hunting in broad daylight, now fleeing wildly through the streets. This was more than Lin Yi had anticipated.

With the demon fleeing at top speed with Wang Tianchao, the boy’s life was in constant danger. Worse, any bystander could become collateral damage.

Never before had a target escaped right under Lin Yi’s nose. His expression darkened, and the aura of the Secret of Swift Movement intensified around him.

The Grand Void Sutra surged within him, pure yang energy thundering through his veins. The secret art ignited again, and Lin Yi moved even faster, a golden blur launching skyward, then landing in pursuit of the deformed fox demon.

Her speed was extraordinary. Carrying Wang Tianchao seemed not to slow her at all.

In seconds, she raced along the riverside, cutting down narrow alleys, finally stopping at a sewage outlet by the Qing River, intending to slip inside.

But as she arrived, she froze.

Her mismatched eyes widened in shock. At some point, an iron grate had been welded over the outlet. She’d been here before—it was never like this.

What now?

She muttered to herself, on the verge of speaking, when suddenly she felt a cold, multicolored light—predominantly golden—searing her back.

It came from Lin Yi: the Buddha’s relic.

This relic, like the Grand Void Sutra, was pure yang and steeped in Buddhist power. Such energy was especially devastating to monsters and demons, its burning force only slightly less than the Sutra’s, and thus perfect for the moment.

Lin Yi’s priority was ensuring Wang Tianchao’s survival.

After all, the boy was a child of the nation—his life had to be preserved.

Lin Yi hurled the relic, aiming to strike the demon and force her to release Wang Tianchao.

The relic carried immense Buddhist power. The instant it neared, the fox demon shuddered, as if stabbed by a thousand needles. The searing energy made her howl in pain, her fur bristling uncontrollably.

Unable to resist, her grip slackened; even her malformed third arm failed to hold on.

With a thud, Wang Tianchao dropped to the ground.

As the demon lunged to attack him again, Lin Yi arrived. The relic was about to strike her back; without hesitation, the demon spun around and dove into the Qing River with a splash.

The deepest part of the river was two or three meters deep, its waters crystal clear. As the fox demon plunged in, blood stained the current red and waves churned above her.

With a foul stench, she released a putrid bubble, tainting the water with a noxious odor.

She dove deeper, swimming toward a hidden, tranquil spot.

Here, the water was lush with grasses and teeming with fat, healthy fish. Gazing at them, the fox demon cackled softly. In moments, she had skinned one alive.

Stripping the fish, she began to shrink, her body compressing smaller and smaller, until she was no bigger than a palm—an astonishing transformation.

She stopped shrinking, then expanded slightly, until her size matched the fish. Her deformed limbs now proved useful, allowing her to perfectly mimic the fish’s shape.

She slipped the fish skin over herself, and before long, a lively, ordinary-looking fish swam among the undergrowth—indistinguishable from the others.

On the riverbank, Lin Yi retrieved his relic and returned it to the mysterious space within the Divine Execution Manual.