Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Demonic Body

Only after fully mastering the Hundred Poisons Vajra Body, and then fusing the other seven secret techniques of the Demonic Sect with it, can one achieve the seven distinct forms of demon bodies. For instance, the Hundred Poisons Vajra Body: Ghost Bat Form, which Li Ju had previously stumbled upon by sheer accident, was one such demon body of the sect, known as the Ghost Bat Demon Body. This form inherited the swift qualities of the Ghost Bat Technique, famed for its speed as elusive as a spirit’s.

However, just as the Ghost Bat Technique ranked last among the eight great secret arts of the Demonic Sect, the Ghost Bat Demon Body was also considered the weakest among the seven demon bodies.

“A demon body can increase its power by continually merging with other secret arts of the Demonic Sect,” the manual explained. “A demon body fused with one demonic technique is called the White Demon Body; with three, the Yellow Demon Body; and when all seven are combined, it becomes the Red Demon Body—the ultimate form. Legend has it that even within the Demonic Sect, only the sect’s founder, Demon Blade, ever achieved this pinnacle.”

Upon reading this passage in the Hundred Poisons Vajra Body manual, Li Ju gained a deeper understanding of just how terrifying Demon Blade must have been. He, as a master of internal energy, could already rival experts of the Minor Trine realm merely through the augmentation of the White Demon Body. If Demon Blade, with a Minor Trine foundation, had also attained the ultimate Red Demon Body, then his strength would be beyond comprehension…

It was simply unimaginable. At the very least, Li Ju felt that with his frail frame, he might die from a single glare from Demon Blade.

“Thank goodness my mission doesn’t require me to deal with Demon Blade,” he thought with relief. “Perhaps even the system panel deemed Demon Blade far beyond my current abilities…”

Li Ju was relieved to find that his tasks involved nothing related to Demon Blade.

[Skill acquired: Hundred Poisons Vajra Body – Technique Chapter]

[Original skill: Hundred Poisons Vajra Body – Fragment: Poison Pool Preparation Method, overwritten by skill: Hundred Poisons Vajra Body – Technique Chapter]

Suddenly, the system panel prompted him.

“So, the original fragmentary Poison Pool Preparation Method has been overwritten by the complete technique…” Li Ju stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“Yet, the ‘fragment’ tag on my Hundred Poisons Vajra Body hasn’t changed.”

He glanced at his skill list:

[Hundred Poisons Vajra Body – Fragment (Instance Temporary Skill): One of the Demonic Sect’s secret techniques, originally used to strengthen the body for practitioners of the sect. However, part of the technique was lost over time, making it accessible only to those with special constitutions, and even then, it is restrained by other Demonic Sect secret techniques. (Source: Sword of the Flying Clouds)]

[Note: Temporary skills from instances are only effective within the current instance and will disappear upon leaving.]

After reading the Hundred Poisons Vajra Body manual, Li Ju finally understood why his version was labeled as a fragment. It was not that the portion he had mastered was incomplete, but rather that the complete Hundred Poisons Vajra Body referred to the ultimate demon body of the sect—the Red Demon Body!

The manual explained that what everyone initially cultivated was always incomplete. Only by fully integrating the other seven Demonic Sect secret techniques into the Hundred Poisons Vajra Body to create a true demon body would it become complete.

It was precisely because the Hundred Poisons Vajra Body was incomplete that it only enhanced the blood essence, without strengthening the mind or physical force, resulting in an imbalance of the body’s three vital forces. The complete technique would harmoniously enhance all three.

The process of forging a demon body was, in fact, the process of perfecting the Hundred Poisons Vajra Body. Each advancement in the demon body would push the three vital energies toward equilibrium and help its practitioner resolve all hidden dangers within.

“It seems that building a demon body to resolve the Hundred Poisons Vajra Body’s flaws is less reliable than simply elevating one’s cultivation realm,” Li Ju sighed upon finishing the manual.

Compared to using the demon body to balance the three vital energies by enhancing all of them simultaneously, raising one’s martial cultivation increases the overall amount of all three, achieving balance through growth.

For example, if the Hundred Poisons Vajra Body increases blood essence by ten, but an internal energy master’s three vital forces are only at one each, the boost to blood is ten times the base, inevitably causing imbalance. But for a Minor Trine expert, whose base is ten, the increase is only a single fold—still excessive, but within bearable limits.

“Whether it’s raising my martial realm or forging a higher demon body, neither is something I can accomplish immediately,” he reflected.

“For now, I’ll have to sustain myself by consuming blood meals.”

After pondering for a while, Li Ju began flipping through the other secret arts manuals.

…

Gulp… gulp…

Inside a tavern, a ragged beggar was clutching a large wine jar, pouring its contents madly down his throat.

“Waiter, more wine! Bring more wine!” he shouted drunkenly, slamming the empty jar onto the table.

“Right away,” the waiter replied, quickly setting another full jar before him.

Gulp… gulp…

The beggar tore off the seal and resumed his wild drinking.

“That beggar’s already had ten jars of wine, hasn’t he? Isn’t the tavern worried he won’t pay and they’ll lose all that good wine?” the customers whispered from other tables.

“Can’t pay? Do you even know who he is?” one said.

“Who is he?” another asked.

“Don’t be startled, but that man is none other than Wang Lu of the Flying Sword Sect—the one who, just a few days ago, married the daughter of Alliance Master Hai Yuan atop Pine Emerald Mountain!”

The group gossiped in hushed tones.

“Hero Wang Lu?”

“That can’t be! I don’t know much about the martial world, but even I’ve heard that Wang Lu is a promising young hero, a master swordsman of peerless skill. How could he have become a beggar?”

“You’re behind on the news. The Wang Lu you know is history. Ever since his own wedding atop Pine Emerald Mountain, where Meng He, the Little Lord of the Seventy-Three Gates, crippled his martial arts before nearly every martial elder, he’s done nothing but drink away his days.”

“Wang Lu has been holed up in this tavern for ten days now. All he does is drink, day in and day out. Even Alliance Master Hai’s daughter came herself to persuade him, but couldn’t budge him. Everyone within ten miles knows: Wang Lu is now little more than a ruined man.”

Wang Lu, drunk and slumped over the table, seemed oblivious to the conversations swirling around him.

In his blurred vision, he hallucinated that the Flying Sword Sect had not been destroyed, that his teachers and brothers were still alive, and that he was still a part of that warm community.

But soon, the cruel reality crashed back: his sect annihilated, the younger brother he thought would share his burdens instead joining the very Demonic Sect that had wiped them out, his skills lost forever. The cold truth shattered his comforting illusions.

Wang Lu took another swig. Beaten down by reality, he no longer knew what he should do. He wanted only to drink, even hoping to drink himself to death so that he would never have to face the pain again.

Just then, footsteps approached, and someone sat down across from him.

Wang Lu lifted his head slightly to look—and his eyes widened in shock.