Demon Slaying, Gaining 60 Years of Cultivation From the Start

Furthermore, his situation differed from Zheng Jinan\'s. Zheng Jinan was just an experimental subject. After being possessed by the specter, his consciousness gradually deteriorated, being eroded by the specter. But Qi Changyun\'s case was different. After merging with the specter, the strength he could exhibit was entirely beyond what an experimental subject like Zheng Jinan could compare to.

His eyes were threaded with tendrils of black qi, turning his entire pupils ghostly black, creating a profoundly intimidating presence.

At the same time, his fingernails were growing in length, as was his height. His bones were booming from within, and the injuries on his body were healing at an extremely fast pace.

The Qi Changyun standing before them was nearly ten feet tall, with a sharp mouth and fangs, a twisted face, long and sharp fingernails, and shrouded with whirling black qi, having completely lost the appearance of a human and turned into a monster.

Gu Chen\'s brows were tightly furrowed. He had seen several martial artists possessed by specters, but it was his first time seeing one like Qi Changyun, especially crucial was that Qi Changyun seemed to still retain his clear consciousness.

What he didn\'t know was that after being possessed by a specter, the strength exhibited varied with the degree of compatibility.

Some people, though forcibly fused with a specter, fundamentally remained incompatible, and thus could not merge thoroughly to unleash the specter\'s full power, only becoming puppets controlled by the specters.

Ning City\'s Magistrate Fang Yong and Zheng Jinan of Huaiyang City were both such cases.

But Qi Changyun was entirely different. His compatibility with the specter was extremely high, and their deep fusion allowed his power and the specter\'s power to fully combine, multiplying his strength several times over.

The most important aspect was that even if the specter\'s power revived, he would not completely lose his consciousness and become a puppet to the specter. On the contrary, he could control the specter\'s power while maintaining his clear mind.

It must be realized that specters have little wisdom and fight entirely on instinct. But now, Qi Changyun, merged with the specter, was in control, meaning that Gu Chen was facing a ghostly-level specter with martial experience and the ability to use various martial arts techniques, significantly increasing the difficulty.

The current Qi Changyun, having merged with the specter, could no longer be called human; he had wholly fallen into the demonic path, abandoning human nature and becoming an abomination, a monstrous entity.

Yet even so, Gu Chen did not care, for although Qi Changyun had grown much stronger, he would still not be his match. What Gu Chen was worried about was how many others like Qi Changyun were there across the nine provinces?

Or rather, within the demonic sects, were there many who had become like Qi Changyun?

Song Yu and Wang Yan, seeing Qi Changyun\'s transformation, were also shaken and somewhat at a loss, for in the files of Jing Tian Department, there was no record of human martial artists merging with specters to become such beings.

Qin Mu likewise furrowed his brows, looking puzzled at Qi Changyun, apparently encountering a situation completely unprecedented and beyond his understanding.

As for the other martial artists, feeling the terrifying aura emanating from Qi Changyun, they all retreated far back, their faces filled with fear.

Now, looking at the entire scene, only Gu Chen and Qin Mu were capable of facing Qi Changyun in combat; anyone else would simply be courting death.

"Hehehehe..." At that moment, Qi Changyun\'s voice was grating like metal scraping, and the cold aura exuding from him seemed as though it could pierce through pores and freeze one stiff.

Gu Chen stimulated the Pure Yang Technique, and the black qi touching his body\'s surface instantly turned to ash. Brought to you by m-vl_em|p,yr

"Today, every single person here will die!"

Qi Changyun\'s sinister gaze swept over the crowd; to him, these martial artists were like delicious blood meals. After fusing with the specter, he was no different from the specter itself. Like it, he could strengthen himself by devouring flesh and blood.

The more powerful the martial artists were, and the richer their life force, the greater the improvement he would receive after devouring them.

"Speaking of which, I should thank you."

At this time, Qi Changyun\'s dark, cold eyes turned toward Qin Mu, saying, "If it weren\'t for the Sunset Sword Sect\'s arrogance, sending such a greenhorn like you, perhaps I truly might have died here today."

Hearing Qi Changyun mocking him, Qin Mu\'s expression darkened as he said coldly, "Do you wish to die?"

"Hahahahaha..."

Upon hearing this, Qi Changyun burst into uproarious laughter. His laugh, piercing in nature, caused many martial artists\' eardrums to burst, akin to demonic sounds invading their ears that brought intense pain to their heads.

Even Gu Chen furrowed his brows, continuously circulating the vigorous inner strength within his body, which greatly alleviated his discomfort.

"Die!"

Qi Changyun let out a strange scream, eroding Gu Chen\'s mind with sound waves, and at the same time, he forcefully swung his sharp claws. In an instant, a jet-black claw strike surged toward Gu Chen.

Clang!

Gu Chen defended himself with the Red Refinement Blade, withstanding Qi Changyun\'s strike. The blade trembled instantly, and Gu Chen took a small step backward.

Defense was not Gu Chen\'s style. After taking Qi Changyun\'s strike, Gu Chen stepped forward, his afterimage remaining in place, while his real body had already approached Qi Changyun, delivering a forceful and fiery Red Flame Palm towards him.

"Useless, you can\'t hurt me!"

Qi Changyun was extremely confident, actually intending to take Gu Chen\'s palm strike head-on. While martial arts of the yang style were the bane of specters, it also depended on the relative strength of both sides. He was originally a martial artist in the External Qi Realm with the added strength of specter power, so he felt, what could Gu Chen, a mere Meridian Opening Realm warrior, do to him?

Seeing Qi Changyun\'s confidence, Gu Chen\'s expression turned solemn, and his palm firmly imprinted on Qi Changyun\'s chest.

Bang!

With the force of tens of thousands of pounds, plus two hundred and one years of profound inner strength, Qi Changyun\'s body shook violently, and he spat out a large mouthful of pitch-black blood.

"You!"

Qi Changyun\'s eyes widened in disbelief. How could Gu Chen, a mere Meridian Opening Realm martial artist, accumulate such profound inner strength, far surpassing his own?

As it turned out, in the previous battle with Gu Chen, he had not even exerted half of his strength, leading Qi to misjudge and assume that was the extent of Gu Chen\'s abilities.

At that moment, having taken Gu Chen\'s palm strike squarely, Qi Changyun\'s body stiffened, needing several breaths\' time to recover. But this provided Gu Chen an opportunity.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

Gu Chen\'s palms followed one after another, and in a short moment, he had landed over a dozen strikes on Qi Changyun\'s body. Had it not been for the specter\'s power reinforcing him and repairing his injuries, Qi Changyun would have exploded on the spot.

But even so, he was in extreme discomfort, with various parts of his body bursting open and black blood spurting out.

"Heart-piercing Claw!"

Qi Changyun seized the opportunity, bellowing loudly as his sharp claws pierced directly towards Gu Chen\'s heart. Seeing that Gu Chen had no intention of defending himself and was ready to trade injury for injury, Qi Changyun was overjoyed.

With the specter\'s possession, he could continually recover from his injuries. Gu Chen was merely a mortal with flesh and blood. Qi was eager to see what Gu Chen would use to counter his attack!

He was confident that with this strike, he could directly extract Gu Chen\'s heart and then devour it in front of everyone.

Hum!

However, at this moment, Gu Chen\'s body shook, and a faint protective golden light emerged on the surface of his body. After piercing through the golden light, the might of Qi Changyun\'s attack dissipated, and it failed to inflict any injury on Gu Chen.

"Are you a body-hardening martial artist?!"

Qi Changyun exclaimed in shock, realizing that Gu Chen had practiced a superior body-hardening technique with extreme physical resilience, otherwise he couldn\'t have blocked that strike just now.

Shick!

At that moment, a dazzling sword light appeared before his eyes. Qi Changyun felt a chill on his neck, knowing that if his head got severed, not even the possession of a specter could save him.

Just when Qi Changyun thought he was about to meet his end, suddenly, a sword light flashed, and Qin Mu appeared close to Qi Changyun, blocking Gu Chen\'s startling sword for him.