Lu Xueqi, Lu Yu, and the others fixed their gazes on Zhao Zhijing's charred corpse.
Just as everyone thought the dust had settled, a strange change suddenly erupted — on the surface of Zhao Zhijing’s corpse, strands of crimson light slithered like venomous snakes and emerged one by one.
These red lights spread at an alarming speed, and in the blink of an eye, the entire corpse was enveloped. The light surged, bursting like a miniature crimson sun, so blinding that everyone had to shut their eyes.
When the light gradually faded, Zhao Zhijing had completely vanished. In his place lay a massive Demonic Seed.
Dark purple patterns flowed across the surface of the Demonic Seed, with eerie runes flickering faintly. Even more terrifying was the rhythmic thump, thump, thump of a heartbeat echoing from within, pounding directly into everyone's nerves, as if something horrifying capable of overturning the world was incubating inside.
Lu Xueqi’s expression turned grim in an instant. Clenching her silver teeth, she drew her longsword. With a flash of cold light, she charged straight at the Demonic Seed.
“Slash!”
She cried out, her longsword wrapped in fierce sword energy as she viciously slashed at the Demonic Seed.
“Boom!”
The deafening blast made everyone’s eardrums ache. But when they focused their eyes again, they saw that only a faint white mark had appeared on the Demonic Seed’s surface—it hadn’t even pierced the outer skin.
Lu Xueqi was stunned. Her full-powered strike had been blocked so easily?
While she was still in shock, dark mist churned atop the Demonic Seed, and a colossal crimson hand—so massive it blocked out the sky—burst forth and grabbed toward Lu Xueqi. Each of the hand's fingers was as thick as an adult’s arm, the tips glowing a ghostly blue. Wherever it passed, space fractured like shattered glass.
Lu Xueqi reacted instantly, lightly tapping her toes and retreating like a ghostly wisp.
The crimson giant hand swiped into empty air, but it did not stop. Its joints suddenly split, sprouting more arms like a madly growing demonic tree, sweeping toward Lu Xueqi, Lu Yu, and the others.
“Retreat now!”
Lu Yu cried out, his face pale.
Xiong Ba, Xiao Yan, and the others didn’t dare hesitate. They all unleashed their movement techniques, fleeing backwards at top speed. Dust flew, and the group looked utterly disheveled.
Lu Xueqi stared coldly at the ever-approaching crimson arms. Her gaze was icy as she stepped on the Seven Stars, soaring into the air and floating high above, gazing down at the Demonic Seed below.
Only after the group retreated dozens of meters did the crimson arms stop extending, retracting and coiling once more around the Demonic Seed.
Lu Xueqi knew full well—this Demonic Seed must not be left alone. If the creature within were allowed to mature, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Gripping her sword tightly once again, she summoned the spiritual energy within her body like a raging river, channeling it continuously into her blade. Suddenly, dark clouds gathered in the sky, and thick thunderbolts as wide as bowls streaked through the clouds, rumbling deafeningly.
Sensing danger, the Demonic Seed’s black mist surged violently. Crimson arms flailed madly, and a pitch-black shield condensed outside the seed. Roars echoed from within, as if warning Lu Xueqi not to act recklessly.
But Lu Xueqi was unmoved. Waiting until the thunder’s power reached its peak, she swung her sword. A massive beam of sword light, dozens of meters long, split the sky, tearing a pitch-black rift through the air.
The sword light struck the shield with a sharp crack. Like shattering glass, the shield broke apart.
Without losing momentum, the sword light continued slashing at the starry arms. Though they tried to block it in layers, in front of this lightning-infused attack, they exploded one by one into black mist with ear-piercing shrieks.
However, this sword strike consumed a huge amount of Lu Xueqi’s spiritual energy. When it finally landed on the Demonic Seed, it only left behind a thin crack.
A pained screech came from within the Demonic Seed, which began trembling violently.
Lu Xueqi prepared to strike again, but suddenly, the seed rapidly expanded and exploded with a deafening boom.
From within floated out a baby shrouded in black aura. Its hollow, soulless eyes were filled with hatred as it stared dead at Lu Xueqi.
A sharp screech rang out. Invisible sonic waves stabbed at Lu Xueqi like blades. Her mind throbbed in agony, as if someone were yanking on her soul.
Before she could recover, the baby had already teleported behind her, its claws slashing toward her back.
At that critical moment, blinding golden thunder erupted around Lu Xueqi. This thunderous power was even more terrifying than the one from the Divine Sword Lightning Summoning True Art, distorting space wherever it spread.
The baby’s claws vaporized the moment they touched the thunder. It let out a horrific wail and quickly retreated, disappearing into the distance with eyes full of hatred still locked onto Lu Xueqi.
The golden lightning that erupted around Lu Xueqi came from the All-Heavens Divine Thunder she had comprehended from the Divine Sword Lightning Summoning True Art.
With her current cultivation at the Fifth Level of Upper Purity Realm, she still couldn’t fully control this power. But even using just a fragment of it had already made the demonic infant suffer immensely.
Her face turned slightly pale. After enduring the Demonic Infant’s soul attack and forcibly channeling the All-Heavens Divine Thunder, she had expended a tremendous amount of spiritual energy.
After circulating her energy to examine her condition, she was shocked to discover that less than half of her spiritual power remained. Lu Xueqi knew well that she had to end this quickly—if she allowed her energy to deplete completely, none of them might escape calamity today.
Though the others around her were all formidable, the speed and power the Demonic Infant had just displayed were simply too terrifying. Without her intervention, the rest wouldn’t have been able to resist at all.
The Demonic Infant, wary of the golden lightning surrounding Lu Xueqi, dared not launch a reckless assault for the moment.
But Lu Xueqi had no intention of dragging things out. She pushed the All-Heavens Divine Thunder to its limit, transforming into a streak of golden lightning and shot straight toward the infant.
Seeing this, the infant let out a shrill scream and tried to dart away.
How could Lu Xueqi let it escape so easily? Her fingers rapidly formed seals. In an instant, a massive formation of light appeared above the infant.
From the formation, countless sword beams entwined in golden lightning condensed into form. They then transformed into a storm of sword rain, engulfing the infant in a flash.
The infant let out waves of agonized shrieks within, but they quickly grew weaker and weaker—until finally, when the sword light faded, only a tiny, pitch-black speck of light remained in its place.
Seeing this, Lu Xueqi didn’t hesitate. She extended her right index finger, and a golden bolt of lightning quietly appeared, striking directly at the speck.
With the golden thunder’s impact, the speck suddenly let out a soul-piercing wail.
Then, right before Lu Xueqi’s eyes, the pitch-black speck shattered in an instant, disintegrating into fine dust and vanishing into the void.
At the exact moment the speck was fully destroyed, a mechanical notification suddenly rang out in Lu Xueqi’s mind.
“Ding! The source of the anomaly in the Legend of the Condor Heroes World has been eliminated. Group mission complete. Congratulations, you’ve earned 4,000 points!”
Hearing the prompt, her taut nerves finally relaxed. Lu Xueqi let out a long breath. At the same time, similar prompts began to echo in the minds of the other participants—but the number of points they received paled in comparison to hers.
Lu Yu and the others couldn’t conceal their joy and quickly walked over to her.
“Miss Xueqi, we truly owe you today! Without you, I fear none of us would’ve made it out alive.”
Lu Yu said with lingering fear and heartfelt gratitude.
Lu Xueqi gently waved her hand, her expression calm.
“No need for thanks. Since we’re all group members in the chat, supporting each other is only natural. It’s just... Zhao Zhijing’s strength and that bizarre mutation truly exceeded my expectations.”
Lu Yu pondered for a moment, then analyzed,
“I suspect that after you killed Zhao Zhijing with the Divine Sword Lightning Summoning True Art, that Demonic Infant might not have been Zhao Zhijing himself. More likely, it was some kind of system within him—or another mysterious entity altogether.”
Lu Xueqi recalled the battle in detail and nodded in agreement. Then, lifting her hand, she gently sent a stream of soft power into Xiaolongnü’s body, who had been immobilized by an acupoint seal.
Xiaolongnü immediately felt the restraints on her body dissolve and regained her mobility. She hurriedly pulled down the scarf from her head, swept her gaze across everyone present, and gracefully bowed.
“Many thanks to all group friends for your rescue.”
“No need to be so formal, Xiaolongnü! We’re all friends in the chat group—it’s only right to help each other.”
Lu Yu responded with a smile.
Xiaolongnü gave a slight nod. Though her expression remained calm and indifferent due to her cultivation of the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra, the gratitude shimmering in her eyes was unmistakable.