Chapter 360 - 359: Two Demon Kings (3)

"You can tear my flesh apart a thousand times, but how long can you continue? I shall carve open your body and discover whether your Buddhist heart tastes as sweet as the rest of you!"

Ku Ming crossed his arms before his chest, allowing the Indestructible Karmic Wheel to form a golden barrier around his body. The demon’s claw smashed into the barrier with tremendous force, and the impact sent the monk tumbling backward through the air. He managed to stabilize himself before striking the cliff, but a deep gash had already opened across his chest, and blood flowed down his red skin.

The Red Demon King immediately pursued, its enormous body surging forward as it prepared to finish the wounded monk. Its regenerative vitality continued pouring through its muscles, allowing it to ignore the injuries Ku Ming had inflicted. The demon believed that victory was only a matter of time, and its confidence grew with every exchange as the monk’s defensive movements became increasingly strained.

Before the demon could reach Ku Ming, a crystalline blue seal struck its back.

The impact did not cause a particularly large explosion, but the Heaven and Earth luck infused within the seal spread through the demon’s body like an invisible net. Its regenerative cycle faltered, and the flesh around its shoulder stopped healing properly.

For the first time, the Red Demon King’s expression changed from amusement to irritation as it turned toward the source of the attack.

Bai Qingyue landed beside Ku Ming, her hands glowing with crystalline blue light. She glanced at the monk’s bleeding chest, then raised her eyes toward the Red Demon King with a cold expression.

"Do not let anger cloud your Dao, Master Ku. I understand your grief, but the enemies before us will not hesitate to exploit your emotions. We are here, and we will fight alongside you."

Ku Ming looked at her for a brief moment before slowly releasing the tension in his shoulders. His rage had nearly overwhelmed his judgment, but Bai Qingyue’s words reminded him that revenge would mean little if it caused him to throw away his own life. He pressed his palm against his chest, allowing golden Buddhist light to spread across the wound, and nodded gratefully.

"Amitabha Buddha," he replied, his voice regaining some of its usual composure. "This humble monk has allowed hatred to cloud his judgment. I shall remember your words, Lady Bai."

Lin Yuan appeared above the Red Demon King before the creature could launch another attack. Silver-blue rain shimmered around his body, and the Dao Fruit began analyzing the demonic energy circulating through the monster’s blood.

Unlike Ku Ming, who relied upon Buddhist suppression, Lin Yuan intended to destroy the very foundation of the demon’s regenerative ability. The creature could rebuild its flesh as many times as it wished, but only as long as the source of that regeneration remained intact.

"You rely on your blood origin to regenerate," Lin Yuan observed, his voice carrying no emotion. "Then I shall turn that strength into your weakness."

The Red Demon King looked up and bared its fangs. It attempted to leap toward Lin Yuan, but Ku Ming had already recovered enough to intervene. The monk thrust his palm forward, releasing a massive golden seal that descended upon the demon’s shoulders and forced its enormous body toward the ground.

Buddhist runes spread across the seal, suppressing the flow of demonic energy and preventing the creature from breaking free through brute force alone.

Lin Yuan moved at the same moment.

Golden-purple thunder flowed through the silver-blue rain surrounding his body, and his Dao Fruit guided the combined energy toward several precise nodes within the demon’s blood circulation.

The attack did not simply burn its flesh. It disrupted the pathways through which the demon distributed its regenerative vitality, causing the energy to accumulate in places where its body could no longer control it.

The Red Demon King’s expression changed as it felt the danger. It attempted to force its way out of Ku Ming’s suppression, but the Buddhist seal pressed down harder, pinning its body in place while the destructive energy continued spreading through its blood. Dark veins bulged beneath its red skin, and its enormous muscles began convulsing as its regenerative core struggled to contain the power accumulating within it.

"What have you done to me?" the demon screamed, its voice breaking into a hideous shriek. It could feel its own vitality turning against it, and the sensation was far more terrifying than the wounds inflicted by the monk’s Buddhist seals. "Stop this! Human, stop this at once!"

Lin Yuan did not respond.

He increased the intensity of the thunder, forcing the accumulated energy toward the demon’s regenerative core. Ku Ming simultaneously strengthened the golden suppression seal, ensuring that the creature could not escape before the attack reached its conclusion.

The two techniques worked together with frightening precision, one suppressing the demon’s body while the other destroyed the mechanism that allowed it to recover.

A moment later, the Red Demon King’s regenerative core overloaded.

A violent explosion erupted from within its chest, tearing through its body and scattering burning fragments of demonic flesh across the gorge. The creature released one final, agonized scream before its enormous form collapsed into a pile of smoldering ash. Its regenerative vitality vanished along with its core, leaving behind nothing capable of restoring the body it had once possessed.

Ku Ming slowly lowered his hand as the golden seal dissipated. He looked at the remains of the demon, then at the severed heads lying among the broken stones, and his expression darkened with sorrow. Although the enemy had been defeated, the deaths of his junior brothers could not be undone, and the sight of their remains remained etched into his mind.

"Thank you, Benefactors," Ku Ming said after a moment, pressing one hand against the wound on his chest. His voice carried genuine gratitude, but the sorrow in his eyes had not disappeared. "Without your assistance, this humble monk might have fallen into the same fate as his junior brothers. I owe you both a debt that I shall not forget."