Chapter 80: The Failed Exorcism

Unexpectedly, Fu Yang truly possessed extraordinary talent; during his first "soul departure," he controlled his soul with remarkable skill. It darted and soared, like a lithe fish evading pursuit in the water.

“Oh, little naked brat, come chase your grandpa! I turned around—ah, you don’t even have a cock! Hahaha.”

Even in the face of mortal danger, this fellow couldn’t help but run his mouth. As he fled for his life, he taunted the tree demon’s soul, improvising a rhyme that infuriated his pursuer into howls.

Yet in the end, he managed to escape the tree demon’s deadly chase by sheer force of will...

Fu Yang’s three souls followed the red thread back to his body; his whole form trembled, and he opened his eyes sharply.

Ah Huang, who had been standing ready nearby, quickly swung his peach-wood sword, slicing the red thread that linked Fu Yang’s right middle finger to the banyan trunk, severing the connection to the tree demon.

“Hurry, hurry! I’ve found the core of the tree demon, but its soul has also spotted me. We must destroy this cursed thing—it can build its own array and absorb souls from all directions!”

As soon as Fu Yang awoke, he grabbed Ah Huang’s shoulder and rattled off a string of words. Fortunately, they’d grown up together, and shared a mysterious, uncanny rapport; Ah Huang managed to understand everything despite Fu Yang’s rapid-fire delivery.

“Where’s the demon core? Point it out!”

Fu Yang approached the massive trunk, extending his hand to indicate a spot about one and a half meters above the ground.

“Here! Dig about a foot inside and you’ll see it.”

“Alright!”

Ah Huang wasted no words, preparing for a powerful attack. He began chanting, gripping the peach-wood sword with both hands to unleash a strong Daoist spell.

Zhao Shanshan hurriedly handed Fu Yang her folding military-grade steel shovel. With a shout, Fu Yang swung it and began to dig into the trunk...

At the same time, they heard a muffled sound coming from within the giant banyan. Soon, the ground around them began to shake, and patches of earth swelled and rose.

The tree demon sensed the threat and began to rage and awaken. Time was now of the essence!

Fu Yang, already strong, had gained even more power after his first awakening of ghostly abilities. He dug and chopped with the steel shovel, sending wood chips flying in all directions, exerting himself to the fullest.

He managed to carve a massive hole in the trunk. Once he dug deeper than half a foot, blood-red liquid began to seep out, reeking of stench.

Indeed, a demon tree—the sap flowed like human blood.

At last, Fu Yang dug a hole a foot deep into the trunk, revealing a strange object within.

It resembled a human heart, but was as large as a basketball. Its surface was covered in dense plant roots, like veins and arteries, still writhing slightly...

All demons have a core—their vital point. For monsters like the tree demon, whose size made it impossible to kill outright with Daoist spells, the only way was to find and destroy the demon core.

Boom!

Flames erupted; Fu Yang felt the air around him grow scorching hot, making it hard to breathe.

“Move!” came a thunderous shout. Fu Yang tossed aside the shovel and retreated swiftly.

By now, the ground had split wide, and thick tree roots, like giant pythons, burst from below, clearly about to attack all three of them!

“By the order of the Three Pure Ones, grant me power! Dao fire—true flame!”

Ah Huang’s peach-wood sword blazed with raging fire, just as he had done by Linxin Lake when fighting the water demon corpse and resisting the ghost lord.

This was his most powerful attack at present, and Fu Yang couldn’t help but envy its dazzling force.

The flaming sword struck the basketball-sized, heart-shaped demon core...

“Let it work!” The other two watched, hearts in their throats, tense beyond measure. Zhao Shanshan instinctively grasped Fu Yang’s hand.

Boom!

A full-force blow, sparks flying everywhere, illuminating the darkness. Ah Huang’s mighty sword struck the demon core dead-on...

Did it succeed?

Retracting the extinguished sword, Ah Huang anxiously inspected the demon core within the trunk.

To his shock, the heart-shaped core remained intact! Even the plant roots resembling veins were not fully severed, only scorched and blackened by the fire.

“Impossible!”

Ah Huang staggered back two steps, unable to believe what he saw.

“What’s happening?!”

Sensing something amiss, Fu Yang asked anxiously.

Ah Huang turned and bounded over, grabbing Fu Yang’s sleeve, “We have to go! This thing is too sinister. We’ll need to mobilize official forces in daylight to besiege it—or just use explosives!”

Explosives?

Hearing this, Fu Yang and Zhao Shanshan realized there was no hope tonight; instead, they’d only enraged the tree demon. They had to flee immediately!

But it was already too late...

Crackling and rumbling erupted.

The ground, already split in places, now shook like an earthquake! Within hundreds of meters, earth rose, stones fractured, pits opened in the soil. Countless thick roots, like furious venomous pythons, burst forth, writhing and surging.

“Watch out!”

Fu Yang shoved Ah Huang aside.

A root as thick as a thigh, its tip bristling with sharp spikes, lashed toward them.

So close! If Fu Yang hadn’t reacted instantly, Ah Huang would have been caught.

“You idiot! Spacing out at a time like this—run!”

Seeing Ah Huang snap out of his daze, Fu Yang cursed and turned to flee with Zhao Shanshan.

The three of them used every ounce of skill to dodge the frenzied roots attacking from all directions, like a horde of venomous snakes, mindful not to step into any cracks or pits.

“I wasn’t spacing out—I just remembered! This damned thing is called the Corpsebane Demon Tree!”

Corpsebane Demon Tree?

Fu Yang and Zhao Shanshan both felt a chill; the name alone spelled trouble.

“That’s right! No wonder we couldn’t destroy the demon core. The Corpsebane Demon Tree is a rare paranormal entity. Not only can it naturally form evil arrays and absorb yin energy and souls, its demon core is hard as iron—a prized material for evil cultivators to refine their bodies or control zombies.”

Listening to Ah Huang’s explanation, Fu Yang felt a surge of anger.

He cursed, “Why the hell didn’t you know this before we started? And now you’re lecturing!”

(Third update: Old Wu calls for your recommendations and support! New readers, don’t forget to bookmark!)