"What in god's name is going on? How is he doing that?" Qi Man mumbled in a voice of disbelief as he watched Yuan throw the demon left and right like some kind of stress toy.
"Do you think he still needs our help?" Qi Huan asked in a sarcastic tone.
Suddenly—
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
The demon released a deafening roar that shook the world.
"How dare a puny human play with me?! I will make you pay! I WILL MAKE YOU PAY!"
The demon's body began growing larger and larger until it was nearly twice its original size, becoming a mini giant.
Yuan had seen this kind of transformation before from the demon at the Jaded Garden, so he knew that he should stop playing around and actually take care of the demon once and for all before he makes a mistake and gets himself and everyone killed.
The demon released another loud roar before summoning two large greatswords with its own blood and wielding it.
It then leaped at Yuan with intense bloodlust radiating from its body.
However, before it could even begin falling back down, the demon felt something pierce its face.
It wasn't painful, but its vision blacked out for a second, and when its vision recovered after the gaping hole in its face was healed, the demon could see that Yuan had suddenly appeared in front of it.
"In the end, you weren't anything too special besides being a decent punching bag." Yuan said to the demon right before extending his empty hand towards the demon's chest and grabbing the red crystal embedded within, tearing it right out of its body.
The demon fell directly to the ground afterward, but it wasn't dead yet.
It slowly got back to its feet and looked at Yuan with a puzzled face.
"What the fuck are you doing? Did you really think that by removing my crystal that it'd kill me?" The demon asked Yuan.
"You can beat me up as much as you want, but you won't kill me, and you will eventually run out of spiritual energy. You can try to seal me, but that also will only prolong your life by a little longer. You don't have the capabilities to kill me—"
The demon suddenly halted its speech when it realized that its crystal was not returning to its body.
Normally, when their crystal is removed, it would return to their body just like the rest of their body, hence the demon's confusion at this moment.
"You said that you wouldn't die even if I destroyed this crystal, right? Let's test that theory." Yuan showed the demon his hand, where its crystal was resting.
The demon immediately began sweating profusely.
The reason the demon said that it wouldn't die even if Yuan destroyed the crystal was simply because it didn't think that Yuan had the capabilities to truly destroy the crystal since it would simply recover just like the rest of its body.
"T-That's not possible! Y-You! Who are you?!" The demon roared at Yuan.
"You don't recognize me? I thought all demons would recognize my face." Yuan raised his eyebrows.
"Why the fuck would I recognize a nobody like—" The demon suddenly halted mid-sentence again, and it narrowed its eyes to focus on Yuan's face.
Perhaps its memories haven't fully resurfaced after being sealed for so long, but as it stared at Yuan's face, the more it got the feeling that it'd seen him somewhere before.
After digging through its memories, the demon finally realized why Yuan looked so familiar.
"Y-Y-You… It can't be!" The demon began shaking from top to bottom, and its prideful face became filled with fear.
"Hmm… What did I use to say…?" Yuan suddenly began pondering for some reason.
"Oh, right."
When he remembered, he slowly approached the demon with a mysterious smile on his face.
This was the perfect chance for the demon to strike, but it was so stricken by fear that it couldn't even move properly.
Once Yuan was standing right in front of the demon, he mumbled in a low but clear voice, "I wonder how your demon core will taste?"
Almost as though something had triggered inside the demon, it suddenly turned around and began running away like its life depended on it.
The scene of the demon running away in fear shocked Qi Fang and the others. They couldn't comprehend the situation, nor could they imagine what Yuan said to the demon that would make it react in such a manner.
However, before the demon could run very far, Yuan crushed the red crystal in his grasp, and the moment the crystal shattered, the demon also froze its movements.
The next moment, almost like it'd suddenly turned water, the demon melted into a pool of red blood, leaving behind its demon core.
Yuan quickly went to pick up the demon core before putting it inside his pocket, saving it for later.
It was also at this moment that backup from the Qi Family arrived at the scene.
"Father! Mother! Qi'er! Are you guys hurt?! Where is the demon?!" The middle-aged man leading the reinforcements asked them.
Qi Man didn't say anything and merely lifted his hand to point at Yuan.
The middle-aged man turned to look in the direction, but he couldn't see any demons, only a young man.
"I am going to him!" Qi Fang suddenly said as she began running towards Yuan.
"W-Wait! Where do you think you're going?!" The middle-aged man shouted at her.
"The demon is already gone. That young man defeated it." Qi Huan said, which immediately sent shockwaves through their minds.
"What?! Who even is that kid?! I have never seen him before!" The middle-aged man exclaimed.
"A friend sent by the Lord of the Dragon Spiral Mountain." Qi Man said before following Qi Fang.
"Let's go." Qi Huan said to the middle-aged man, who was still puzzled about the situation and had no choice but to follow them.
A few moments later, everyone there gathered around Yuan and the puddle of blood.