I defeated the saint with a parry.

"A demon at the Concentration Realm."

Cold sweat beaded on Zhong Song's forehead: "Brother Xu, what level of cultivation do you possess?"

"Ninth level of Body Tempering, where is Brother Zhong?"

"Sixth level of meridian opening... This thing is stronger than both of us combined, so I'll go first."

Zhong Song touched the silver token at his waist: "If there's a chance, you take your men and run first."

Even if the two of them were tied together, they would still be no match for the demon in the Concentration Realm. He had no confidence whatsoever, but at least he could stall for time.

We'll see how many we can run.

The two's unusual behavior naturally did not escape the notice of the other people in the room.

The old abbot, Xumi, asked, "Did you see the human-faced tiger, layman?"

"Oh?" Xu Ling turned to look at the old host: "Does the host know about its existence?"

Xumi nodded, and his disciples cowered behind the old man, clearly aware of the Human-Faced Tiger.

The old host had green hair and eyebrows, and his eyes were not cloudy. His old age was fully revealed in his wrinkled skin and hunched posture. When he spoke of the human-faced tiger, his voice sounded even older and had a faint tremor.

"This old monk knows that the temple is in its current state because of this demon."

"Every first and fifteenth of the lunar month, this demon would come down from the mountain to the temple to eat human flesh and blood to enhance its cultivation. This has been going on for several years."

"Except for my master and me, all the monks in the temple have been swallowed by this demon."

Zhong Song frowned: "Isn't it just a demonic calamity? Why didn't you flee? And why didn't you report it to the Demon Suppression Bureau?"

"Escape?" The old abbot shook his head: "You can't escape."

Before the old Taoist could say anything more, another strange cry came from outside the door. It sounded like a cat's meow, but it was sharper and more like the laughter of some kind of beast.

"It's a fox."

Xu Ling looked in the direction of the sound and saw a circle of red foxes sitting on the outer wall of the courtyard. Their more than twenty pairs of eyes shone like jewels in the night. Further away, outside the temple, there were two ghostly eyes the size of lanterns, staring at them.

This scene sent chills down the spines of everyone in the room.

No wonder Sumeru said they couldn't escape. With these little things watching them, how far could the old man and the young man run?

"They are all minor demons in the Body Tempering stage."

Their aura wasn't as strong as his, but they had the advantage of numbers. If they attacked together, each one could kill him with a single bite.

The idea that Zhong Song told him to take his men and run away first was probably nipped in the bud by these little devils before it even began.

Zhong Song pulled out the three sections of iron rod he was carrying on his back, pieced them together one by one, and finally took out the red-tasseled spearhead from his bag and assembled them into a long spear.

A tiger demon at the Concentration Realm and a group of foxes eyeing it covetously—it seems like a hopeless situation.

If Xu Ling and Zhong Song, as demon slayers, ran away, they would still have a good chance. But the rest of them had no cultivation at all, and they would probably be caught by the fox after only a few steps.

"He should be close to advancing to the silver rank after reaching the ninth level of Body Tempering. He's not a newbie; how many demons has he killed?"

Zhong Song infused his spiritual energy into the spear, and the interface of the black iron spear flashed with a faint light, making it a seamless whole, as if it had never been disassembled into a single, formed weapon.

Xu Ling looked on with envy, knowing that this was a characteristic only spiritual weapons possessed, but he only had a simple knife, made of ordinary iron.

"Hehe, Brother Zhong is joking. I have severed meridians and will be stuck at the ninth level of Body Tempering for my entire life. It's impossible for me to advance to the silver level."

Xu Lingyuan became a demon slayer not only because he needed resources, but also because he wanted a way to break the severance of the meridians: "In the past two years, I've killed quite a few demons, probably more than fifty."

"Not bad." Zhong Song nodded: "If you kill enough to reach one hundred, you can apply to the higher-ups, and then you can also get a spiritual weapon."

Those who can become demon slayers are certainly not afraid of death.

"Speaking of which, I also took the wrong route this time." Zhong Song took out a map and handed it to Xu Ling: "The route recorded on the map was blocked by a great demon. We received the news and changed the route at the last minute, but we still couldn't escape the demon."

"I just heard you say that the map was destroyed, so I'll give you this one."

None of them can escape now; let's just keep it as a memento.

"My two demon slayers!" Sumi whispered, "Actually, there is another way."

Everyone looked over.

The little monk behind Xumi shrank back into the shadows. The old abbot then said, "There are nearly twenty lay Buddhists in total. If you spare two of them to go out, the demons outside will stop eating people once they have eaten their fill."

"..."

Upon hearing this, even the fox outside fell silent.

They may not be able to speak, but they can understand human speech, not to mention the other people in the house.

Even a young master like Li west was filled with murderous intent because of this, and his eyes looked at the old monk as if he wanted to devour him.

On the merchant's side, apart from the merchant lord and his wife, the rest of the people were all skilled fighters. Even if they weren't as good as the demon slayers hired by the master, they all exuded a murderous aura and had seen blood. They almost thought they had misheard and all looked at the old monk.

"Watch your mouth!" Zhong Song shouted, the tip of his spear pointing directly at the old monk's face. If Zhong Song hadn't grabbed the handle, the old monk would already have a hole in his face. "If you dare to say another word, I'll be the first to throw you out to feed that tiger demon."

If it weren't for the old monk taking me in...

No, judging from the current situation, the old monk didn't have good intentions in taking them in either. He probably already had the idea that it would be better for him to die than for his fellow monks to die.

Xu Ling and the others also understood this.

"That's enough!" Zhong Song took a deep breath, not forgetting the rules of demon slayers, and slowly put away his gun, saying to Xu Ling, "If we don't kill the demons outside, none of us will be able to leave."

In fact, according to Xu Ling's plan, he would simply shoot them all together like a bald monk on a candied hawthorn skewer to eliminate any future trouble.

But now, he still drew his sword and stood in the courtyard with Zhong Song.

Damn it!

He had just transmigrated and was already fighting with a group of animals; this was something he had never seen before, even at the starting point.

Xu Ling's sword has a straight blade, typical of a horizontal sword. Although it lacks the quality of a spiritual weapon, it is still a treasure among ordinary swords.

"This sword has slain over fifty demons without ever being ineffective."

"What a fine blade!" Zhong Song praised, and in the next instant he rushed out of the courtyard, leaving behind a sentence in the air: "I'll go and deal with that tiger demon; I'll leave this place to you."

Before leaving, he swung his spear, unleashing a burst of energy that instantly killed the fox blocking his path. He also managed to kill a few more for Xu Ling, as he believed the remaining foxes would be no match for a ninth-level Body Tempering Realm demon slayer.

"That's quite thoughtful."

Xu Ling laughed out loud, gripping the knife even tighter. He rolled on the spot, dodging the attack of the fox demon, and turned to block the claw strike of another fox demon with his knife.

These red-haired monsters charged forward relentlessly, their eyes filled only with a bloodthirsty desire. Influenced by the demonic calamity, they had lost their demonic nature.

Few demons at the Body Tempering Realm know how to claw and bite, but their claws and teeth are coated with animal venom, which is quite deadly to mortals.

Once they reach the Opening Meridian Realm and Concentration Realm, with the addition of spiritual energy, they will become even more powerful and awaken various spells.

So compared to the human-faced tiger, the little foxes are nothing.

Moreover... Xu Ling is not as simple as he seems on the surface.

Rolling and dodging grant invincibility, while parrying and deflecting can negate damage. This simple principle is something these foxes, of course, don't understand.

"Clang clang clang!"

Each attack from the foxes was deflected by Xu Ling's horizontal sword. The foxes lost a lot of fur, but Xu Ling wasn't hurt at all.

The sound of hammering was so pleasant that Xu Ling almost had an orgasm on the spot. How could someone who had never played an action game understand the exhilaration he felt at that moment?

Besides these two basic mechanics, his cheat codes naturally also include the ability to empty the enemy's stamina bar and trigger an execution.

I understand everything I understand.

Whether it's the energy bar or stamina, these in action games serve the execution mechanics.

Whoever exhausts the opponent first can inflict massive damage through execution, or even kill them outright.

The technique of deflecting and parrying is a way to greatly reduce the opponent's energy!

Xu Ling carries a 'game mechanics' system that can remind him how to operate, allowing him to easily deflect the opponent's attacks by following the trajectory.

"Clang! Clang!"

Two more sounds of successful deflection rang out, and the little fox, who had attacked the most and been parried the most, collapsed to the ground.

The little fox lay there, its eyes filled with confusion. It couldn't understand why its strength had dropped so quickly, completely unlike its usual level. After only a few movements, it was exhausted and could only kneel there waiting to recover.

"Am I just not feeling well today?"

The little fox even started to think that way.

On the kneeling fox, Xu Ling saw a large red dot, accompanied by a progress bar that was rapidly decreasing.

Anyone who can resist the urge to finish off the enemy at this point is definitely not human.

"cut!"

Xu Ling gave a soft shout and appeared beside the fox like a ghost, swinging his horizontal sword down towards its neck.

The fox's head fell to the ground, blood splattering two feet high, and even Xu Ling suffered the consequences.