Tang Dynasty Demon Suppression Division

"withdraw!"

The Flame Demon King was already terrified of him and didn't even have the courage to fight back. He spewed a mouthful of thick, black, poisonous fire at the crowd.

"Oh no!"

The soldiers were thrown into disarray and retreated hastily. Taking advantage of the chaos, the Fire Demon King led his minions in a scattered escape.

"Trying to run away?"

Li Yuan raised his hand, and a giant spiritual energy palm appeared in the air, clenching tightly into the flames that hadn't yet had time to spread.

"puff!"

He instantly condensed the raging, terrifying poisonous fire into a ball, and then a wisp of fused five-element spiritual energy surged into the poisonous fire in his palm.

The sphere rapidly began to expand, and the black flames turned multicolored. The five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth collided with each other, along with the power of the stars and the poison of the Flame Demon King himself, making it look extremely eerie.

The Flame Demon King's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

That's its natal poisonous fire! Even cultivators at the Condensation Realm wouldn't dare to face it head-on. So what kind of monster is this Li Yuan?

Li Yuan glanced at the enormous poisonous fireball, sensing the violent energy contained within it, and a satisfied smile appeared on his lips.

This was the first time he had used the ability to fuse the five elements, and he was very much looking forward to the results.

"Here you go."

He casually tossed the poisonous fireball, which shot towards the Flame Demon King like a meteor.

"No!"

The Flame Demon King was terrified and instantly accelerated, trying to escape the terrifying poisonous fireball.

"boom--!"

A deafening roar resounded, and a colorful mushroom cloud rose into the night sky, its violent energy spreading outwards, blasting the surrounding lesser demons into ashes.

With a flick of his long sleeve, Li Yuan conjured a massive spiritual energy shield that blocked the raging spiritual energy and protected everyone behind him.

As the thick smoke dissipated, everyone discovered that the Flame Demon King had been blasted more than ten feet away, crashing into a mound and collapsing half of it.

Its back was blown to pieces, its scales shattered, revealing charred flesh underneath, making it look extremely pitiful.

The Flame Demon King struggled to get up, but failed several times.

As for the lesser demons, more than half of them were killed or injured. Most of them were blown to pieces, and those that were far away were also stunned and fell to the ground, howling in pain.

"My God! That's amazing!"

Everyone was stunned, and Ruan Qing couldn't help but exclaim.

Li Yuan dusted off his hands, walked leisurely to the Flame Demon King, and looked down at it: "Speak, who tipped you off?"

The Flame Demon King collapsed to the ground, completely losing his will to fight, his eyes filled with fear. Was this Li Yuan even human? He was far more terrifying than him, a demon king.

It knew it couldn't escape, and gritted its teeth: "If I confess, can you guarantee I won't die?"

"In your current state, do you even have the right to negotiate?"

Li Yuan sneered, "However, I'm a man of my word. If you cooperate, I might consider not killing you."

After a struggle within himself, the Fire Demon King's instinct for survival prevailed: "Fine, I'll tell you everything. I hope you keep your word."

"It was the Anxi army who sent me the message, saying that a reinforcement team would be passing through here today, and that I should lead men to rob them... We'll split the loot 30/70..."

Li Yuan's gaze turned cold; he had guessed it just as he had.

"Who is the person contacting you, Anxi Army?"

"He is a secretary named Zhang Ping. He approached me first, and we have already cooperated two or three times."

The Flame Demon King confessed honestly.

"Every time, he would send someone to contact me, telling me the time, route, and personnel details..."

Li Yuan knew that Zhang Ping was a capable subordinate of Wu Yong and his confidant, who managed the accounts of the Anxi Army.

After a moment of silence, Li Yuan asked again, "What is the connection between Zhou Hai and Du Sheng of the Suzhou Demon Suppression Division and this matter?"

"In the first two operations, Zhou Hai cooperated with me. Each time we made an arrest, they pretended to arrive very late."

Since everything has already been laid bare, the Flame Demon King has nothing to hide anymore. "This time, Du Sheng is responsible for diverting you away to create opportunities for us. After it's done, he'll also get a share."

Very well, it seems there are hardly any clean places in the entire city of Suzhou. From top to bottom, all departments have formed an unbreakable network of interests.

"One last question," Li Yuan said, his gaze icy as he stared directly at it, "What happened to those demon kings who cooperated with them before you?"

The Flame Demon King froze, his expression slowly changing: "They...it seems something has happened to them..."

"Could they all have been betrayed by Wu Yong?" The Flame Demon King grew increasingly horrified. "That must be it. Every demon king who cooperated with them ended up being killed. What a coincidence!"

This is exactly how those people operate: first, they collude with the demon race to plunder passing supplies, and then they kill people to silence them. They can even use the heads of these demon kings to collect another reward from the imperial court.

It's absolutely perfect.

"Looks like you're not completely stupid after all."

Li Yuan gave a mocking smile. "Now I'll give you two choices."

Please enlighten me, sir.

Upon hearing that there was still a way to go, the Flame Demon King saw hope and hurriedly asked.

"The first option is that once I catch them, you come out as a witness, and afterwards I'll send you to Chang'an Prison."

The Flame Demon King's expression turned grim: "What about the second option?"

"There's another way: you cooperate with me to devise a plan to capture that secretary. You can then atone for your crimes and perhaps save your life."

Since things had already come to this point, the Flame Demon King naturally did not want to die, and without hesitation chose the second option.

"My lord, I am willing to atone for my sins with good deeds, and I will do whatever you say."

"Very good, a wise choice."

Li Yuan stood up, a wisp of starlight ignited at his fingertips, and touched the forehead of the Flame Demon King. The starlight quickly seeped into its body.

"A small restriction."

Li Yuan said calmly, "As long as you behave, I will help you remove it after it's done. If you dare to play tricks, I can shatter your demon core into pieces with a single thought."

Since entering the Condensation Realm, obtaining demon cores has become less urgent for Li Yuan. At this moment, using the identity of the Flame Demon King to extract evidence against the Parthian Army is the most important thing.

"Yes, yes, I would never dare to do anything wrong. I will follow your instructions completely."

The Flame Demon King hurriedly nodded and bowed, his arrogant demeanor from a moment ago replaced by a subservient one.

Li Yuan stopped looking at it and turned to Ji Fanghua: "How are you? Are you alright?"

"It's alright, you arrived just in time."

Ji Fanghua nodded at him.

"To deceive them, I walked over a hundred miles to the north, and only turned back after they lowered their guard. Fortunately, I still made it in time."

It turns out that this operation was planned in advance by Li Yuan and others. Even their previous aimless search for the demon was all an act for Du Sheng and Wu Yong.

The goal was to lower their guard and then use Ji Fanghua and the supplies as bait to lure them out.

The matter went very well, and now it's time to move on to the next step.

"Clean up the battlefield first."

Li Yuan turned to the Flame Demon King following behind him: "Where did you arrange to meet the Anxi army?"

"Tomorrow morning, at Juyan Lake."

"Alright, get ready, we're going to deliver the goods." A sinister smile appeared in Li Yuan's eyes.