Start slaying demons from the proficiency panel.

"What a powerful demon!" Ning Xiu stood up directly from the dragon's back. The current situation could no longer be left for the Demon Buddha to face alone; he had to take action as well.

As if telepathically connected, the dragon suddenly spat out the Thunder and Purple Lightning Twin Hammers, which Ning Xiu immediately absorbed into his hands, using his internal force to dispel all the saliva on the hammers.

In the next instant, he had already activated his sixteen-foot-long body and headed towards the Blood God Worm.

"Squeak!"

After breaking free from its cocoon and undergoing a mutation, the Blood God Insect became even more ferocious. Its eighteen pairs of wings flapped rapidly as it charged towards Ning Xiu, abandoning the Demon Buddha who had previously been its opponent.

This Blood God Worm is now covered in a metallic carapace, and its head is extremely sharp. If it were to hit a target while charging at such high speed, the result would be either death or serious injury.

As the Blood God Worm drew ever closer, Ning Xiu summoned his protective Golden Bell and fearlessly swung his twin hammers, intending to meet it with heavenly lightning.

boom!

The Blood God Worm's head instantly shattered the protective golden bell. The golden bell, which had previously shielded Ning Xiu from countless attacks, was now as fragile as a piece of paper, breaking instantly and offering no protection whatsoever.

It was at this moment that Ning Xiu's twin hammers slammed into the Blood God Worm's face.

A large amount of lightning poured into the hammer, making the carapace of the Blood God Worm shine brightly and bursting out with dazzling white light. In just a few breaths, wisps of green smoke could be seen drifting out from the gaps in the Blood God Worm's carapace.

This shows that the power of thunder did cause considerable damage to the Blood God Worm.

Just as the man and the insect were locked in a stalemate, the Demon Buddha arrived with the Five Directions Ghost King Pestle and swung the Ghost King Pestle, which was spewing black flames, at the Blood God Insect's back once again.

The shell, which looked like metal, was cracked by the Ghost King's pestle, with small and large pieces constantly falling off, revealing the flesh inside.

The Five Directions Ghost King Pestle contains a large amount of evil power. Once it comes into contact with a wound, it will seep into the injured person's body and tear at their soul. Even demons cannot escape it.

One by one, evil spirits of various shapes crawled out of the Ghost King's Pestle and burrowed into the Blood God Worm's body.

The Blood God Worm immediately started yelling and its entire body became even more ferocious. Its many pincers kept slapping, and Ning Xiu was unable to completely defend himself for a moment. He was knocked back several steps by a pincer.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Blood God Insect flapped its wings and immediately took flight, bringing the Demon Buddha into the sky with it. It planned to tear this troublesome fellow to death first before dealing with Ning Xiu.

With a slap of his hand, the Demon Buddha shoved most of the Five Directions Ghost King Pestle into the Blood God Worm's wound, pinning it firmly inside the worm's body. Then, he revealed his three-headed, six-armed form and began to fight the Demon Buddha hand-to-hand, relentlessly striking the Blood God Worm's body.

Each punch from the Demon Buddha possessed immense power, which even the Blood God Worm, which had evolved a full shell, could not withstand, causing its shell to peel off severely.

It all fell to the ground like rain, but even so, the Demon Buddha was still being carried into the sky by the Blood God Worm, and it was getting higher and higher than the ground.

Ning Xiu naturally wouldn't let it succeed in this way. He immediately raised his double hammers and used heavenly lightning. Suddenly, a large number of dark clouds gathered in the sky, and then a bolt of lightning struck down, hitting the Blood God Worm's head.

The Blood God Worm was hit by several severe blows. Even though its evolved physique had become significantly stronger, it could not withstand such bombardment. After being struck by heavenly lightning, the Blood God Worm's body visibly swayed violently, as if it was about to fall from the sky.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Demon Buddha activated the Five Directions Ghost King Pestle. The five skulls of the Ghost King Pestle opened and closed rapidly, and began to suck the blood from the Blood God Worm's body. The method was both vicious and bizarre.

The Blood God Worm screamed repeatedly, wildly swinging its pincers in the chaos. One by one, without warning, it pierced into the Demon Buddha's body. As a first-rank cultivator, the Demon Buddha's physique was already very strong, but when faced with the Blood God Worm's pincers, he had no ability to resist at all.

This is enough to show how sharp and pointed the pincers of the Blood God Worm are.

Without even blinking, the Demon Buddha continued to urge the Five Directions Ghost King Pestle to increase its power. Soon, a soul with a shape similar to its body floated out of the Blood God Worm's body and was absorbed into the Five Directions Ghost King Pestle.

The Blood God Worm then crashed to the ground and fell completely still.

After Huang Tianfei refined the Five Directions Ghost King Pestle, it became a supreme evil artifact with several functions, one of which was to extract the soul from a living being, making it incredibly domineering.

Once the Five Directions Ghost King Pestle is inserted into any living being's body, it can continuously draw out the target's soul. If the struggle is too slow, even a master whose strength is higher than the user's may be affected.

Seeing the Blood God Worm lying lifeless on the ground, Ning Xiu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

This outer realm is indeed not a place to come easily. I haven't been away from the Great Shang territory for long, and I've already encountered such a troublesome monster. If it weren't for the Demon Buddha accompanying me, it would have been virtually impossible for me to kill this Blood God Worm.

Ning Xiu stepped forward and began to examine the Blood God Worm's body, intending to see if any parts were suitable for use as materials for refining weapons.

Every part of a demon is a treasure, and the more powerful the demon, the better the treasure. For example, the Blood God Worm, which can fight on par with the Demon Buddha, is perfect for using parts of its body as materials for refining weapons.

After being attacked by Ning Xiu and the Demon Buddha, many parts of the Blood God Worm's body were shattered and its integrity was extremely poor.

The only parts that were still somewhat intact were a few pliers and a long bone from the back.

After being struck by Ning Xiu's heavenly lightning, those eighteen pairs of insect wings have long since turned charred and broken. Even if they were once precious, they can no longer be regarded as treasures.

Ning Xiu had no choice but to give up, so he broke off one of the Blood God Worm's sharp pincers and started scratching at its body.

With Ning Xiu's skillful technique, he removed the large, intact bone from the back of the Blood God Worm.

Normally, ordinary Blood God Worms would not have such large bones resembling a spine growing inside their bodies, but the Blood God Worm in front of Ning Xiu was so highly evolved that it was not even registered within the Demon Subduing Division.

Therefore, there is no need to be too surprised or curious about the situation where a large bone can grow inside the body. The environment in the outer realms is chaotic, and many monsters grow into forms far beyond people's imagination.

Holding the large bone in his hand, Ning Xiu began to weigh and examine it.

This large bone is about nine feet long and as thick as a fist. Its surface is covered with many small bone spurs and spiral grooves. It is not carved by human hands, but is a natural creation, and is simply a work of art made by nature.

More importantly, Ning Xiu was able to sense a very powerful energy aura inside this large bone. In the artisan world, craftsmen call this kind of material a spiritual material, which is an important material for forging spiritual treasures and supreme treasures.

Furthermore, this large bone looks just like the shaft of a spear, making it very suitable as one of the spears used in the Heavenly Might Divine Spear.

"Are you alright?" Ning Xiu asked, looking at the Demon Buddha.

At this moment, one of the Blood God Worm's pincers was still piercing his body, and it looked quite deep.

Without even blinking, the Demon Buddha yanked the pincers out of his body, drawing out a considerable amount of black blood.

"It's alright, the injury isn't too serious," the Demon Buddha said calmly.

After the blood-sucking worm's pincers were removed, the wound on his chest began to heal at a visible speed. As expected of a first-class Buddhist or Taoist, his physique was indeed formidable.

After absorbing the soul of the Blood God Worm, a miniature phantom of the Blood God Worm would occasionally appear on the surface of the Five Directions Ghost King Pestle, looking far more sinister than before.

As the Demon Buddha pointed the Five Directions Ghost King Pestle at the ground, the phantom of the miniature Blood God Worm immediately floated toward the Blood God Worm's body and began to devour its flesh. The originally enormous Blood God Worm quickly became shriveled and withered.

Its entire body, its flesh and essence, was devoured by the phantom, leaving only an empty shell of insect bones.

In contrast, the phantom of the miniature blood god worm became much more solid.

"You can go now," the Demon Buddha nodded and said.

After this ordeal, the journey to Beimen Town went extremely smoothly, with no further incidents.

Beimen Town is a very remote town in Sixiang Prefecture. Because it has been harassed by evil spirits for many years, there are hardly any residents left in the town.

The few remaining elderly men and women, determined to die in their hometown, have been clinging to life in the town.

Strangely enough, these few remaining households have lived smoothly in Beimen Town for many years without encountering any danger.

As you enter the dilapidated gate of Beimen Town, a stone-paved road covered with moss comes into view.

On the ground in the town, several pools of blood, their color much lighter, were quite conspicuous, suggesting that this was no peaceful place.

Riding the dragon into the formation, Ning Xiu and his group immediately attracted the attention of several townspeople. The old men and women calmly observed and sized up the dragon, clearly having seen many grand occasions.

The outer realms are different from the Great Shang territory. The people who survive in the outer realms have basically seen a lot of evil spirits and monsters in their daily lives, and they have become immune to them after seeing them so many times.

After leaping off the dragon, Ning Xiu immediately approached an old man nearby and began inquiring about the Demon-Subduing Officer who had come to capture Fang Jingzhou several days earlier.

But the response they received was that they knew nothing about it. These people went to bed very early after nightfall, and if anything happened outside or there was any noise, they didn't dare to get up to check.

As the saying goes, "Mind your own business and you'll live a long and healthy life; if you're curious, you'll die a horrible death."

This statement has almost become the survival rule for the people of the outer realms.

“Recently, quite a few people have come to us asking about this. Although I can’t answer your question, those who came before you all ended up going in that direction. You might as well go and take a look; maybe I can help you,” an old man with a slight accent said to Ning Xiu.

"Over there?" Ning Xiu had no other choice but to look in the direction the old man was pointing.

Now that we have no leads at all, we have to investigate every little clue, even if it's a dead end.

"Thank you," Ning Xiu said, clasping his hands in thanks. He then led the dragon and the demon Buddha eastward toward the North Gate Town.

……

"The people of the Black Heaven Gate have become increasingly arrogant in the Four Symbols Prefecture lately. They robbed several resource sites a few days ago. They deserve to die. If it weren't for the faction leader, I would have taken action against them long ago."

"Don't worry, they won't be able to be arrogant for long. In this outer region, without the control of the Great Shang, no force can remain arrogant forever."

Inside the dilapidated wooden building, several burly men with messy hair sat at a wooden table, drinking and eating. Each of them wore knives at their waists and had various ferocious patterns tattooed on their bodies, making them look very intimidating.

Bang bang bang!

Just then, a loud tremor sounded outside the dilapidated building. The people inside the wooden building looked out and saw a dragon trudging towards them. Everyone's expression immediately turned serious.

In the Four Symbols Prefecture, the situation between the various forces is very clear. Everyone's weapons and mounts are recorded.

The sudden appearance of a stranger naturally attracted the attention of these local forces.

Those who seek survival in the outer realms are either wicked people who have been driven out by the Great Merchant, or demons who have left voluntarily; in short, none of them are benevolent.

For both types of people, the Demon Slayers are the most hated beings. Therefore, when they come to the outer realms, Demon Slayers are not allowed to wear the Dark Silver Chainmail to avoid being targeted by evil people.

After disembarking from the dragon, Ning Xiu entered the wooden building. Following the instructions of the old man from Beimen Town, he traveled eastward but failed to find any clues. This place, being an inn, should be able to provide him with some more clues.

The moment he stepped into the wooden building, everyone in the lobby turned their attention to Ning Xiu.

It was like being injected with sharp swords.

"Young master, you look unfamiliar. You're not a local from our Four Symbols Prefecture, are you?" A woman dressed in a thin purple dress walked slowly over, waving a peony fan in her hand and laughing sweetly.

[114] Black Heaven Gate Garrison

Humans who can survive in the outer realms are not to be underestimated, whether in terms of strength or ruthlessness.

Don't be fooled by this woman's frail appearance and slender waist. She might pull out a weapon from somewhere and attack you if she's in a bad mood. Don't mess with her.

Furthermore, this wooden building is currently being built to accommodate passersby, both good and bad. Without some strength, one cannot gain a foothold in such a place; one would not even survive.

As the woman approached, Ning Xiu was slightly surprised; she was actually a fourth-rank expert.

“Those who do business are naturally not locals,” Ning Xiu said.

"To be able to tame a dragon, you must be no ordinary businessman. Please have a seat. Although our inn looks dilapidated, it has everything you need. Please feel free to order whatever you'd like to eat," the woman in the purple dress said with a smile.

Just then, the Demon Buddha walked in from outside and sat down casually next to Ning Xiu.

At that moment, everyone present changed their expressions instantly, staring wide-eyed in disbelief.

The highest level of Buddhism and Taoism!

Even in the outer realms, those of the highest rank in Buddhism and Taoism are powerful figures of considerable importance and are not so easy to encounter.

Right now, in this desolate wilderness, they have actually witnessed a true first-grade expert!

Everyone looked at Ning Xiu with suspicion. Could this be a young master from some family who was traveling and whose master had sent a guard to protect him because he was worried about his safety?