"Once a demon opposes me, whether they die or live, is no longer within their control…" Yuan stood before the demon with an overbearing atmosphere around him, looking like an overlord.
The demon, which had lost its sanity, suddenly released a long and beastly roar.
Its glowing red eyes turned dark red, and vigorous veins began popping all over its body.
The demon also grew in size, becoming about 30 percent larger.
Yuan smiled when he saw this, and he muttered in a low voice, "Looks like it's about time I stop playing with my food."
"DIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
The demon swung its claw-like hands at Yuan with all of its power.
Seeing this, Yuan casually blocked the attack with his bare arms, completely stopping the demon in its tracks despite being an entire realm weaker than it.
After blocking the attack, Yuan suddenly extended his free arm, aiming it at the red crystal in the demon's chest.
Sha!
Yuan's hand pierced the demon's body like how it pierced Azure, before pulling out the red crystal from its chest.
Normally, even if the red crystal is removed from a demon's chest, it would simply turn into blood and return to the demon, but in this case, the red crystal didn't turn into blood and remained as a crystal inside Yuan's grasp.
"Disappear from my sight, you lowly demon."
Yuan then tightened his fist, crushing the red crystal into countless tiny fragments.
The demon suddenly stopped all movements.
A moment later, the demon's body began melting like ice cream under the blazing sun until nothing but its demon core was left.
Once the demon core was revealed, Yuan casually picked it up before putting it inside his mouth without any hesitation, shocking the grand elders.
The demon core immediately melted inside his mouth.
'As expected of a lowly demon, its demon core taste like trash even though it was terrified out of its mind. Looks like no matter how much I scare a lowly demon, it will not enhance the taste by much.' Yuan thought to himself.
Perhaps he was the only one in the universe who had such knowledge— that a demon's core will taste better if the demon was terrified before its death, hence why the Divine Paragon would always play with the demons before killing them.
If the world learned that the Divine Paragon had been torturing demons just to make their demon core taste better inside his mouth, they would begin to question if he was actually the real demon all along.
After killing the demon and consuming its core, Yuan's cultivation base soared from the first level Spirit Master all the way to the peak level Spirit Master!
However, Yuan completely ignored his breakthroughs and turned his focus onto Azure, who was lifelessly lying on the ground.
He approached her before taking a knee beside her.
"I'm sorry, but I do not have the power to save you," he sighed.
Meanwhile, inside his consciousness, Yuan had witnessed the entire scene from beginning to end.
The handsome man wearing the black and golden robe appeared before him again and spoke, "The woman is not dead yet, but she does not have much time left. I will give you a chance to fulfill her dreams before she is no longer in this world." The handsome man said.
The handsome man that had been controlling Yuan's body this entire time began pouring some of his golden aura into Azure's body, sealing all of her pain and waking her up temporarily.
Once he was finished, he returned the control to Yuan.
"Azure!" Yuan called out to her.
"Yuan…? For some reason… I am feeling very tired... and cold..."
Azure slowly opened her eyelids, revealing to Yuan her beautiful blue eyes for the first time and the reason for her name.
"It's okay… You just need some rest…" Yuan said, trying his best to not cry.
"You're right… I haven't been able to sleep properly for the last few days… ever since I met you…" She mumbled in a low voice, still oblivious to her situation.
"Yuan… I'm sorry…"
"Why are you apologizing? I should be the one apologizing to you…"
"I'm sorry… for making things awkward between us so suddenly… If only I was a little more patient..."
"No, don't be sorry… I was happy when you told me…"
"Really? Does this mean you'll accept me as your girlfriend?" Azure asked with a gentle smile on her face.
"Yes… I will accept you as my girlfriend…"
"Thank the heavens… I was really worried… that you would reject me..."
After a moment of silence, Azure spoke, the strength in her voice becoming weaker, "Hey… Yuan… Can you do me a favor before I fall asleep?"
"Of course. Whatever you want."
"Can you kiss me? This will make our relationship official..."
Yuan didn't hesitate and gently kissed Azure on her soft lips, but it was one that tasted like blood.
"I love you, Yuan…"
Azure took her last breath after that sentence before falling asleep with a blissful smile on her beautiful face.
After Azure left this world, Yuan also collapsed, as the toll on his body had finally caught up with him, sending him into a deep coma.
Seeing this, the grand elders finally decided to approach them.
"Are they still alive?" Senior Li asked.
Senior Hong went to check Yuan's pulses first and nodded, "He's still alive."
"As for Azure… I'm afraid she's no longer with us…" Senior Hong sighed after checking her pulses.
"What a tragedy…" Senior Shi shook his head.
"Let's hurry up and get Daoist Yuan out of here and to a hospital. He might be in critical condition." Senior Li then said.
"I will take care of Daoist Yuan. You guys take care of the rest." Senior Hong then picked up Yuan and quickly disappeared from the scene.
Meanwhile, Senior Shi and Senior Li contacted Senior Wang and the other grand elders, telling them that the demon had been dealt with and that they were safe to return to the Jaded Garden.
"What?! The demon has been defeated?! Are you sure about this?!" Senior Wang stood up from her seat as she exclaimed.
"Yes, we witnessed Yuan defeating the demon with our own eyes." Senior Li confirmed.
"We are coming back! Tell us everything once we return!"
Senior Wang then told the pilots to turn the airplane around, returning to the Jaded Garden.