“Who are you?” The demon said, scanning the group of them and frowning. It was like he was upset that they had interrupted him. Yet, he did not seem to think too much of them. “Forget it. Not one of you can get away anyway.”

　　None of them answered. Lonemoon stepped forward and asked, “Are you an Earth Demon?”

　　The demon stared blankly at him in shock. “I didn’t know that someone in the mortal realm would be able to recognize my true form. I guess I’ll leave your corpse whole…”

　　“Alright!” Lonemoon interrupted him. “Stop talking big around me. Talk – where did you get that dark fire from?”

　　“Hmph! Ignorant mortal!” The demon got angry once more. He tutted and said, “You think that just because you have a Soul Formation cultivator here, you’re unbeatable? The fact that none of you have ascended to immortality aside, even if you did have an exalted immortal from the upper realm here, I would still be able to use my dark fire to wipe off all of you.” He raised his hand and caused a white flame to appear in his palm.

　　Lonemoon’s expression darkened. Were all demons like this? They would not listen unless they were beaten. Lonemoon pursed his lips and turned to face Yi Qing. “Chef, take action!” But don’t beat him to death.

　　“Mm.” Chef flicked his wrist and summoned his spirit sword.

　　“Hmph! You think too highly of yourself!” The demon raised his hand and immediately threw a ball of white fire over. The flames were just about to touch Yi Qing, but then a huge fire wall appeared in front of him. It had with it an aura that threatened to take the entire place down with it in ashes. The white flame suddenly looked like a swallowed star.

　　“How can this be…” The demon was stunned. His heart fell as he took a step backward. Sword qi filled the sky and pressed down against him. It was so thick that he felt like he was suffocating. A chill ran down his spine and beads of cold sweat formed on his back. All the confidence and satisfaction he felt earlier was now gone. This frightening display of skill was not from the lower realm… No! It did not even belong to the upper realm.

　　His dark fire flames were all gone by now. The fiery red flames threatened to burn him alive. The Earth Immortal knew what was best for him. In a heartbeat and without any further thought, he fell to his knees and shouted, “I was wrong! Exalted God, please let me go! Exalted God, this little demon will tell you whatever you need to know immediately! Please, Exalted God, give me a chance to speak!”

　　Yi Qing: “…”

　　Lonemoon: “…”

　　Shen Ying: “…”

　　Zuo Shuming: “…”

　　Indeed, demons naturally knew what was good for them.

　　-_-|||

　　“Talk – what exactly happened to you?” Lonemoon gestured for Chef to retract his True Phoenix Fire. Taking a step forward, he asked, “Did you just take over this mortal’s body? Where is his soul?”

　　“It’s here, it’s here!” The Earth Immortal nodded. He was afraid that Lonemoon and the others would mistake him. Thus, he hurriedly explained, “He exchanged his life with me. His soul is still in this body. I’m just a little demon. I don’t have the ability to swallow one’s soul.”

　　With that, he transformed into black smoke and floated out of the body, curling up into a ball. The fiendish cultivator Zhong Yi’s body fell down to the ground. He looked exhausted. Lonemoon scanned his body and found that his soul was indeed still within. It was just that he had traded his life with him. Even if the demon left his body, he would still be a dead man.

　　The few of them turned to face the ball of black Qi.

　　“This… This has nothing to do with me!” The Earth demon, in the form of a black ball of gas now, trembled. He quickly and honestly explained, “He… He gave his life to me willingly. I couldn’t turn him down. What’s more, he was too gravely injured. His time was up. Even if he did not give me his life, he would not have been able to stay alive for more than a couple of days.”

　　Lonemoon sighed and quickly conjured a seal to cause the fiendish cultivator’s soul to return to Samsara.

　　“As a demon, how did you get to the mortal world?” Lonemoon continued questioning him. “Where’s your own body? Why are you only left with your primordial spirit?” This was a ball of gas with a life.

　　“It’s a long story,” the Earth demon sighed. Bitterly, he explained, “I don’t really know what happened either. I was just a little demon in the demonic realm. Later, I got seriously injured after fighting a couple of other demons. I was not supposed to be able to recover. Later on, when I woke up, however, I found myself in this mortal’s body. I’m not sure how I came to the mortal realm either.”

　　“Then how about the dark fire?” Lonemoon asked. “Mortals cannot come into contact with dark fires. This thing was brought here by you.”

　　“Exalted God, I… I really don’t know!” The ball of demonic Qi was shaking more vigorously now. “When I woke up, that fire was already inside of me. In the beginning, the fire was just warm. I could still control it. Later, however, it got colder and colder. Zhong Yi tried to control it several times, but got burned by it instead. We tried to think of many ways to shift it out of this body, but none of them worked.”

　　“You mean to say that you’re not sure how the dark fire appeared either?”

　　“Yes, yes, yes!” He nodded vigorously. “That fire was out of control. From time to time, it would even attack my soul. It was not until Exalted God let out his own fire that the flames within my body was completely eradicated.” He turned to Yi QIng curiously, wanting to ask something yet not daring to. His fire was far more scary than the dark fire. “Exalted God, I really don’t know what happened. Before, I had been stuck in Zhong Yi’s body, unable to get out. Later, Tian Ji locked Zhong Yi up for several hundred years. Even if I wanted to harm others, I would not have been able to do anything.”

　　“That’s why you cheated him of his life?” Lonemoon narrowed his eyes.

　　“… I was wrong!” The Earth Immortal fell down to the ground. He was only accepting the man’s body. Who knew that doing so would bring his end about so quickly?

　　Lonemoon frowned. It looked like this Earth demon really did bring the dark fire into the fiendish cultivator’s body. But why did the dark fire appear in the Earth immortal’s primordial spirit? What’s more, from what he was saying, it seemed like the dark fire didn’t work on him at the beginning.

　　“How should we deal with this Earth immortal?” Yi Qing glanced at the demon. Although he did not have a body, and was so weak that even ordinary demons would be able to crush him, they still could not let this demon roam the mortal world.

　　“What else can we do?” Lonemoon rolled his eyes at the ball of demonic Qi. “Throw him back.” Lonemoon retrieved a transportation talisman and sent a strand of immortal Qi into the talisman. A moment later, Yu Hong’s voice came through.

　　“Elder Lonemoon?”

　　“Yu Hong, is Little Black still in the sect?”

　　There was a pause. A moment later, she said, “… He’s here! Do you want me to call him over?”

　　“We’re going to send… something over.” Lonemoon picked the little demon up and said, “Get Little Black to handle him.”

　　“… Yes.”

　　Yi Qing raised his hand and drew a line in the sky. The realm gate opened. Lonemoon send the ball of demonic Qi into the gate.

　　“Yu Hong, have you received it?”

　　“I… have.”

　　“That’s it then!” Lonemoon cut off the connection immediately.

　　Yu Hong glanced at the thing that just came through the realm gate. Elder Lonemoon delivered a lot of things back home, but most of them were immortal stones, dharmic weapons, spirit herbs or different types of treasure. This was the first time he was sending a ball of demonic Qi back. What’s more, it was for Little Black!

　　****

　　An hour later.

　　Little Black received a message from his wife, that there was something for him. He rushed back from the demonic realm in a hurry.

　　“…”

　　“What the hell? Why did his wife give him this ball of demonic Qi? It looked like an Earth demon that had not completely transformed yet?”

　　He suddenly thought about something. His face drained of all color. The demonic king freaked out and grabbed Yu Hong, crying out in pain, “Little Hong, you… you have another demon outside! Tell me honestly – are you going to divorce me? I don’t agree! No… Little Hong… What did I do wrong? Is it too late to change?”

　　Yu Hong: “…”

　　The Earth Immortal, who had been trembling non-stop: “…”

　　F*cking retard!