That sudden, unexpected blow instantly made the Death Silence Thunder Eagle's brain shrivel up.
(Are you kidding me, bro? You're this insanely OP?)
Following that was the very scene that had just played out: a dignified Martial King Level Demon, a being capable of causing rivers of blood and storms of destruction in the outside world, was slaughtered on the spot by Lin Yichen without breaking a sweat.
Walking into the cave, Lin Yichen looked down at the Demon pinned and killed by his two dark blades, gave the corpse a once-over, and immediately frowned.
"Such an ugly thing. Damn System, what species is this?"
"Ding! This creature is known as a Demon, belonging to the Demon race. The fellow on the ground is a High-level Demon among them."
Hearing this, Lin Yichen grew interested and continued to ask, "Oh? A High-level Demon? What are the ranks of these Demons?"
This time, however, the System did not answer.
"Ding! While the host's thirst for knowledge is commendable, please complete the mission before making small talk."
At these words, Lin Yichen froze.
"A mission? Isn't this Demon already..."
Lin Yichen stopped mid-sentence. After the System reminded him that the mission wasn't finished yet, he swept the surroundings with his spiritual sense, quickly locking onto an aura identical to the dead Demon before him.
"This is... a substitute death?" Lin Yichen concluded uncertainly.
The System promptly gave him the answer.
"Ding! Correct. This High-level Demon possessed a Substitute Doll, which can block one fatal blow for it and teleport it to a random location within a ten-mile radius."
Understanding dawned on Lin Yichen. He thought to himself that he was still too naive, completely unaware of the treacherous tricks played by seasoned veterans. Without the System's warning, he would never have figured out that the creature could survive using such a trick.
Well, it didn't matter. Since it had been discovered, he would just kill it a second time.
With that thought, one of the nine dark blades hovering around Lin Yichen darted out and finished off the dying Death Silence Thunder Eagle. He then casually plucked out its beast core and stored both the core and the carcass inside the System space.
A scan of the surroundings revealed no useful resources—presumably, they had all been squandered by the injured Demon. At this, Lin Yichen could only shake his head helplessly.
As for the dozen or so unfortunate human Martial Artists who had been captured, Lin Yichen ignored them. Within the range of his spiritual sense, three figures of at least Grandmaster Level were rapidly flying toward this direction. They were undoubtedly coming for the captives.
Having finished cleaning up the aftermath, Lin Yichen's figure vanished from the spot once more.
Meanwhile, the Demon had just thought it successfully escaped death.
"Hah! Hah! Hah! Thank goodness I had the Substitute Doll given by the Demon Lord! How could such a powerful human possibly exist in a place like this?! And so young, too! No, geniuses of this caliber—the clan must be informed immediately, or it'll all be over once he grows up!"
Recalling how it had been effortlessly obliterated without the slightest power to resist, the Demon's body trembled uncontrollably. The feeling of that power was on par with the invincible Demon Lord in its heart.
Struggling to its feet, the Demon cast aside its injuries and wanted to rush back to the Demon race at top speed.
After flying at full speed for who knows how long, looking at the still-dense woods all around, the Demon fell into doubt.
"Is this damn forest really this big? Why does it feel like I can never fly out?!"
In truth, at a Martial King's speed, flying around the Forest of Annihilation twice would take only half a minute. If one possessed spatial teleportation abilities like Lin Yichen, two breaths were more than enough.
As for why the Demon couldn't fly out, that was naturally Lin Yichen's doing. At this moment, Lin Yichen was sitting in a tree not far from the Demon, purple light swirling in his eyes.
He had clearly used the Vision of Illusions, dragging the Demon into an illusion. The Demon had been running in the illusion for who knows how long, but its physical body was actually standing blankly in place with lifeless eyes.
"Tell me, System, what's the difference between draining this ugly thing's power before killing it versus killing it now?" Lin Yichen curiously asked in his mind.
Before coming here, he had planned to repeat his old trick—suppress it directly with telekinesis, then finish it off with a dark blade to save trouble. But the System had told him it was advisable to exhaust the target's power first before killing it, as there would be good loot then.
"Ding! Host, every Demon of the Demon race has a demonic core within them. Because the energy inside a demonic core is very chaotic, it is difficult to purify it later. Generally, it's best to let the target exhaust its power before slaying it and extracting the core. That way, you will obtain an Empty Demonic Core. Of course, even an empty demonic core contains demonic qi. Unlike beast cores, demonic cores can store any kind of energy inside them. When the interior is packed with energy and activated and thrown during battle, the power inside will react with the residual demonic qi of the demonic core, and the resulting explosion is enough to blast powerful opponents to death."
Hearing this, Lin Yichen asked with some confusion, "Then why wasn't there a demonic core inside that Demon corpse in the cave?"
When Lin Yichen was digging out the beast core back then, he had specifically checked inside the Demon's corpse, only to find nothing at all. At the time, he even silently complained about how stingy it was.
"Ding! After a Demon uses a Substitute Doll, the demonic core inside its body transfers along with it. Therefore, the Demon corpse in the cave was nothing more than an empty shell."
Understanding dawned on Lin Yichen as he nodded.
"So, according to you, System, isn't this demonic core just a high-explosive grenade? If I store my own power inside it, what level of existence can it blow up?"
"Ding! A Martial Emperor touched by it will either die or be crippled, but it has no effect on a Martial Sage. After all, Martial Sages have already mastered the power of rules; such petty little tricks pose no threat to them anymore. Of course, if the host manages to stuff this demonic core into a Martial Sage's mouth and detonate it, you could still deal a tiny bit of damage to them."
Lin Yichen's mouth twitched slightly. Then, recalling something, he continued to ask, "System, you haven't told me yet—how are these Demons graded?"
"Ding! Low-level Demons generally have realms between Martial Disciple and Martial Artist, with white horns on their heads.
Medium-level Demons have realms between Martial Master and Grandmaster Level, with blue horns on their heads.
High-level Demons have realms between Martial Venerable and Martial King, with purple horns on their heads.
Top-level Demons are mostly at the Martial Emperor realm and hold a special title called Demon Lord, with black horns on their heads.
As for Martial Sage and Martial Emperor realm Demons, there are no high-level or top-level distinctions; they are collectively referred to as Heavenly Demon, though within the Demon race, most prefer to call them Demon Ancestor. These Demons have no horns, and apart from golden pupils, their appearance is no different from humans."
Having heard the System's introduction, Lin Yichen's curiosity was satisfied. Looking at the Demon with purple horns not far away, he suddenly felt it was nothing much.
While Lin Yichen was chatting idly with the System, the High-level Demon's power had been completely exhausted. Although only a few minutes had passed in the outside world, in the illusion created by Lin Yichen's Vision of Illusions, this member of the Demon race had been fleeing for who knows how many hours.
As for why the Demon never stopped running in the illusion, it was naturally because Lin Yichen was chasing right behind it, wielding an eighty-meter-long broadsword.
As the very last shred of demonic power was wrung dry, Lin Yichen decisively ended its life with a single stroke of his dark blade. As for what purpose the creature had in coming here, that was a headache for the authorities to deal with.