The instant that powerful divine sense swept over them, Tang Xiaoqi knew something was wrong. Though the Void Piercing Shuttle's concealment array was exquisite, under the Demon Lord's own willpower's close-range inspection, it still revealed minute flaws. The moment the spiritual sense fluctuation arrived, he unhesitatingly pushed the shuttle's power to its limit, while shouting: "Mu Xue, prepare for contingencies!"
Before the words even finished, in the previously empty ahead, like ink dropping into clear water, several twisted shadows suddenly rippled into existence. These shadows rapidly solidified, transforming into three terrifyingly grotesque demons.
Their bodies were slender, roughly thirty feet long, covered entirely in dull, light-absorbing scales. Their heads had no distinct facial features—only a continuously rotating, chaotic spiritual disturbance-emitting dark vortex, four pairs of sharp, blade-like limbs pressed close to their bodies, and a tail like a scorpion stinger, whose subtle swaying caused fine wrinkles to form in the surrounding space.
These were precisely the demons mentioned in Second Senior Brother's database, yet never confirmed to have been captured—the Void Hunters, masters of and assassination!
The three hunters appeared simultaneously, without the slightest hesitation, two of them transformed into shadows nearly background, moving at speeds beyond spiritual perception, attacking the Void Piercing Shuttle from left and right in a crossfire! Their bladed forelimbs tore through, bringing silent yet fierce destructive energy strikes. The third remained at a distance, its dark head vortex rotating rapidly, a powerful mental impact like an invisible hammer, ruthlessly slamming into the shuttle, intending to disrupt Xiao Qi's spiritual control.
The attacks came too fast, too cunning! The energy strikes blocked all space for evasion, the spiritual impact targeted the core—perfect coordination.
"Hmph!" Xiao Qi remained composed under crisis. His powerful Soul Transformation stage spiritual consciousness forcefully withstood that mental impact, though there was only a slight hesitation in his control of the Void Piercing Shuttle. Meanwhile, his mind raced—violently stopping and sideslipping the shuttle in defiance of physics, he narrowly passed through the gap between the two crossing energy strikes! The defensive light screen on the shuttle's surface brushed against the edge of the strikes, igniting streams of dazzling energy sparks.
"Can't stay inside and be bombarded passively!" Xiao Qi instantly made his decision. In the, the Void Piercing Shuttle's target was too large, its flexibility far inferior to these natural Void Hunters. He looked at Mu Xue; their eyes met, and they instantly understood each other's intentions.
"I'll draw them away, you provide support!"
The cabin door opened instantly. Xiao Qi's form flickered, and he appeared like a ghost in the cold. The Green Lotus Origin operated on its own, forming a faint purifying light aura on his body surface, resisting the environment's erosion. He stepped in mysterious movements—the Swimming Dragon Nine Turns infused with space comprehension—his form leaving afterimages in the, actively facing the two charging hunters.
The two hunters, seeing their target leave the "turtle shell," had their dark head vortices rotate even faster, emitting silent excited shrieks. Their bladed forelimbs waved, transforming into a sky-covering net of blades, descending upon Xiao Qi. Their attacks contained not only powerful physical destructive force but also demonic thoughts that corroded the soul.
Xiao Qi's eyes were ice-cold. Though the Nirvana Crimson Flame Sword had not yet been completely reforged, he formed sword fingers, his pure sword intent shooting out, merged with the Green Lotus purification power, transforming into streams of condensed white-gold sword energy, violently colliding with the hunters' blades.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
In the, clusters of silent energy halos exploded. The sword energy colliding with blades produced the tangible sound of clashing metal, the shockwaves dispersing, turning nearby fine dust into powder. Xiao Qi's sword intent was pure and righteous, naturally suppressing demonic energy. But the hunters' blades were extremely tough and possessed immense strength—every collision numbed his arms.
More troublesome was their formless movement, sometimes, sometimes attacking from unbelievable angles, fully demonstrating their heaven-granted talent.
On the other side, the third hunter that had remained distant, seeing Xiao Qi entangled by his companions, its head vortex aimed once more at the temporarily stationary Void Piercing Shuttle, an even stronger spiritual impact beginning to condense.
At this moment, inside the shuttle, Mu Xue struck. She did not leave the shuttle body, but formed hand seals, her surroundings' cold aura surging greatly. Through the observation window, her cold eyes locked onto the distant hunter, her red lips parting lightly: "Ice Condensation · Temporal Shackles!"
No sound propagated, but an extreme chill disregarding distance instantly descended upon that hunter. The around it seemed frozen, light warped, movement suddenly becoming sluggish—the condensed spiritual impact was forcibly interrupted. The hunter's head vortex, attempting to break free from this invisible ice binding.
Receiving Mu Xue's support, Xiao Qi's pressure slightly eased. He knew he must achieve a swift victory—this place was too close to the Demon Nest; delay would only attract more demons.
Facing the blades striking again from both sides, Xiao Qi's eyes flashed with fierce light. Instead of pure hard countering, his body plunged downward, executing "Hidden Dragon Emerges from the Depths" from Swimming Dragon Nine Turns, narrowly escaping the blade net. Simultaneously, his left hand flipped over, revealing three black spheres the size of dragon eyes, covered in fine silver patterns—these were Second Senior Brother's newly developed experimental treasures combining rune technology with silicon-based energy compression principles: the "Void Mines"!
"Try these!" Xiao Qi seized the moment—when one hunter's old force exhausted and new force not yet born, its form slightly solidifying—to accurately throw one Void Mine at the rotating dark vortex of its head.
That hunter seemed to sense the crisis, its bladed forelimbs. However, upon contact with its forelimb, the Void Mine did not explode; instead, silver light flashed, directly penetrating its guard, as if, the next moment appearing directly in front of its head vortex!
Weng—!
A low-to-the-extreme, yet soul-shattering muffled roar echoed through the! That Void Mine violently detonated—not with blazing fire, but only with extreme darkness and chaotic spatial currents! Taking the hunter's head as the center, the space within ten zhang like a shattered mirror crumbled inch by inch; countless fine spatial cracks wildly sliced and devoured everything within range!
That hunter couldn't even scream, its head along with half its body, instantly torn into the most basic energy particles by the violent spatial currents, dispersing into nothingness.
One strike, one kill!
The other hunter, seeing its companion fallen, its head vortex violently fluctuating, revealed terror. Its offensive momentum inevitably slowed.
Xiao Qi would never miss this opportunity. His form shot out like lightning, his right hand sword fingers pointing again—a condensed purifying sword energy directly targeting its core. Simultaneously, his left hand raised again, the remaining two Void Mines ready.
This hunter was already terrified, its form rapidly retreating, wanting to and escape.
"Seal!" Mu Xue's cold voice transmitted through spiritual sense from afar. Another powerful ice law force descended, though unable to completely freeze this hunter, it greatly retarded its speed.
This momentary retardation decided its fate. Xiao Qi's purifying sword energy arrived late yet first, instantly penetrating its body. The abundant purifying force surged in, completely annihilating its demonic energy core. The hunter's body violently convulsed once, then stiffened, slowly floating in the.
The final hunter, temporarily trapped by Mu Xue, seeing its companion instantly slain,, its form blurring, about to completely escape.
"Think you can leave?" Xiao Qi coldly snorted. The last Void Mine left his hand. Silver light flickered—the Void Mine disregarding distance, directly appearing ahead of that hunter's trajectory, detonating with a boom!
Another region of space was briefly shrouded in chaos and darkness. When space stabilized, the third hunter had vanished without a trace, only leaving some broken carapace and dissipating demonic energy, proving it had existed.
In the, temporary silence was restored. Only some aftermath of energy collisions and spatial fragmentation slowly healed.
Xiao Qi, slightly breathless. Continuous high-intensity combat, especially operating Void Mines—a treasure—even with his Soul Transformation cultivation, he felt a trace of exhaustion. He waved his hand, collecting that hunter's remains killed by sword energy. These were precious research specimens.
Mu Xue piloted the Void Piercing Shuttle closer. The cabin door opened.
"Quickly come inside! This place is not suitable for lingering!" Mu Xue's tone was urgent. The just-concluded battle's commotion was significant; it likely already alarmed existences deeper within the Demon Nest.
Xiao Qi nodded, his form flickering back into the shuttle. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately locked onto the main world's coordinates, crazily injecting remaining energy into the.
"Maximum power, spatial jump!"
The Void Piercing Shuttle's silver light blazed intensely, violently tearing, vanishing into the endless darkness.
Not three breaths after they left, from the Demon Nest direction, several even more powerful demon creature auras approached rapidly, ruthlessly descending upon this airspace where battle had just ended—only to find empty air, emitting silent roars of fury.