From Abyssal Invasion to Bursting Stars with a Single Sword

The afterglow of the setting sun slowly sank into the horizon, as twilight began to rise and cast a layer of eerie and desolate light over the land.

Outside the sewer outlet to the northwest of Stone Hammer Castle.

Lu Heng gripped the Aurora Blade in his hand and silently counted down three numbers, "3, 2, 1..."

As soon as he reached one, a blood shadow burst out of the sewer mouth like an untamed wild horse.

The blood shadow began to twist rapidly in mid-air, reverting back to the ferocious and terrifying form of the Blood Shadow Demon.

Horns of pride grew from its head, preparing to let out a long howl to the sky, as a mockery of the weak defenses of Stone Hammer Castle's guards.

But in that moment, Lu Heng swung his sword, and the sharp sword light, like a silver dragon appearing suddenly, cut across the body of the Blood Shadow Demon, bisecting it.

Caught off guard, the Blood Shadow Demon was seriously injured by the sword strike. Its arrogant howl turned into a piercing scream in an instant, and its body split open, falling to the ground as two pools of filthy blood.

However, the Blood Shadow Demon didn't die from this. One of the pools of blood twisted and coalesced back into its upper body.

It let out an angry roar, wriggling its torso, dragging its severed lower half over and fitting them back together.

In a moment, the two pools of blood merged into one and stood up again.

Lu Heng pursued and attacked with another sword strike.

This time, the Blood Shadow Demon was prepared, condensing a blood and shadow fog arm blade on its arm to block the attack.

Sword and arm blade collided, making a metallic clash accompanied by sparks.

A fierce fight began between man and demon.

After several exchanges, Lu Heng gauged the approximate combat power of this Blood Shadow Demon.

Indeed, it was a high-rank Blood Shadow Demon, at Level 18 or above, with its strength, agility, and other attributes all around 40 points.

Had it been three days earlier, Lu Heng truly wouldn't have been a match for it.

But now things were different. After leveling up to 17, Lu Heng had a super high agility of 43 points, and in terms of speed and reaction, he was not at all inferior to the Blood Shadow Demon.

Moreover, his first sword strike had split it in two; although it had not dealt a fatal wound, it had seriously injured the demon.

The Blood Shadow Demon was proficient in the elusive Blood Shadow Escape and had the resilience of a life force difficult to kill with swords and knives, but a direct confrontation was not its strong suit.

Moreover, the Blood Shadow Demon had a fatal weakness, which was its fear of thunder and flames.

Having tested out the Blood Shadow Demon's combat power, the demon similarly realized that Lu Heng was not an easy opponent.

As a result, after forcing Lu Heng back with a swing of its Blood Shadow Arm Blade, the demon turned and transformed back into a blood shadow, fleeing rapidly along the ground.

Lu Heng was about to activate Gale Step to chase.

At that moment, a cry of an eagle came from the sky.

A scouting eagle dived down, striking the blood shadow. Its energy nature changed, transforming into Dark Thorns that grew out of the void and entangled the Blood Shadow Demon.

The Blood Shadow Demon struggled to break free from its binds; although it managed to escape the Dark Thorn Trap, its Blood Shadow Escape was interrupted, leaving it unable to flee.

It was forced to turn back and once again clashed with Lu Heng in an aggressive combat.

After ten exchanges, Lu Heng retreated to dodge his arm blade, then surged back with a burst of strength in his legs and unleashed Zhenyue Style of the Step Sword Seven Styles, simultaneously executing the skill "Thunderous Strike."

Boom!

With one strike of the sword, thunder ran rampant.

Fierce electricity wreaked havoc on the body of the Blood Shadow Demon.

Howl!

The Blood Shadow Demon let out an agonized howl, its blood body scorched by the power of thunder and lightning, emitting a pungent burnt smell.

A look of terror appeared on its blood-formed face as it turned to flee.

Yet, under the burning of the thunder energy, its body went into paralysis, significantly reducing its speed and making escape from Lu Heng's grasp impossible.

Lu Heng raised the Aurora Blade and delivered another swing, with the power of thunder and lightning, extinguishing it for good.

[Killed the Blood Shadow Demon, absorbed 180 points of Demon Energy.]

[Source Energy Level increased to 18, all attributes +2, agility attribute additionally +0.6]

The blood of the Blood Shadow Demon curled up and released a Skill Crystal Core and a Treasure Bead.

Lu Heng picked up the two items and glanced quickly at the attribute data.

[Blood Shadow Arm Blade: Use Source Energy to condense a Blood Shadow Arm Blade on the arm, attack to draw the target's blood, causing X points of bleeding damage, the wound unable to clot. Damage coefficient = 2× strength attribute. Skill Consumption: 20 points of Source Energy. Skill Level: C Rank.]

[Illusion Pearl: When the bead is brought close to a creature, it can reflect the creature's form; using the bead you can transform into the reflected creature's appearance. Item Level: B Rank.]

Seeing the Illusion Pearl, Lu Heng finally understood how the Blood Shadow Demon had managed to change into Mia.

Subsequently,

Su Muyu flew out on her scouting eagle. Seeing that the battle was over, she gently descended and asked, "Weren't you hurt?"

She could tell that the Blood Shadow Demon was high-ranking, so she was somewhat worried.

"I'm fine, let's go back," Lu Heng said, pulling her to return.

On the way back to Stone Hammer Castle, Lu Heng pondered over the day's events, feeling that something was off.

"How is Mia doing?" Lu Heng remembered Mia and wondered if the brave warrior from the Bansel Clan was alright.

"She's fine, not hurt at all," Su Muyu replied. She had checked on Mia before rushing over.

"I always feel that something's not right."

Lu Heng was deep in thought and then turned to look back at where the Blood Shadow Demon had fallen, his pupils shrinking as he said, "No, that's wrong! It wasn't the Blood Shadow Demon that triggered your trap!"

Su Muyu immediately realized the reason: "There must be another demon within Stone Hammer Castle!"

The two picked up their pace and ran towards the gates of Stone Hammer Castle after coming to this realization.

Why wasn't it the Blood Shadow Demon that triggered the trap?

The reason was simple, due to the bloodstains on the ground.

The Blood Shadow Demon's body could reattach after being severed; its blood was its body.

Even if blood dripped onto the ground, it could be reabsorbed back into the body.

Therefore, if it were the Blood Shadow Demon that had triggered the Dark Thorn Trap, it would not have left bloodstains at the scene.

There was only one possibility, that someone else had triggered the trap.

Lu Heng was even more cautious in his thinking, correcting himself, "It might not necessarily be a demon; it could also be a human."

"But Mia said those few drops of blood were demon blood," Su Muyu expressed her confusion with a puzzled look.

"The reason Mia said it was demon blood is because the blood carried the scent of a demon. If a human Superpower User received an infusion of the Evil God's energy, they could also produce blood tinged with the essence of a demon," Lu Heng thought harder, finding today's events exceedingly tricky.

"If that's the case, then things are even more complicated," Su Muyu frowned as she thought, trying to find a way to clear things up.

Human Superpower Users could indeed produce blood with the scent of a demon.

Especially those who had triggered the "Traitor Task" and fallen to become Abyss Agents, their blood would usually carry the essence of demons.

After returning to Stone Hammer Castle,

Lu Heng first went to the council hall and saw Mia, who seemed entirely unharmed and didn't even know that a demon had taken on her appearance.

"You really saw a demon that looked exactly like me? Really? I would love to see it too." Mia was quite curious, hearing everyone talk about it.

"When were you duplicated by the demon, do you know?" Lu Heng asked the critical question.

Mia shook her head, looking baffled, "I have no idea. I've been leading a team to search for demons, and I'm completely unaware of anything."

The Iron Arm Leader asked with concern, "Mia, think again. The Blood Shadow Demon took on your form, and even I almost didn't recognize it."

Mia still shook her head, "No, I have not encountered any demons today."

Suddenly, Lu Heng remembered something and said, "It wasn't copied today. The Blood Shadow Demon had your crossbow, but today you gave the crossbow to Mu Yu. This means the Blood Shadow Demon had copied your appearance before you gave the crossbow to Mu Yu."

Mia nodded vigorously, "Right, how did I not think of that?"

Lu Heng continued to ask, "So when do you think you were duplicated?"

Mia frowned and thought, still shaking her head, "Ever since I returned, I've been with everyone..."

Lu Heng immediately understood, "Then it was in the dungeon."

"In the dungeon? But that was so many days ago." Mia's eyes widened in shock.

Lu Heng turned to the Iron Arm Leader and shared his deduction:

"Leader, there is another questionable point. The Blood Shadow Demon could have used Blood Shadow Escape to flee from the sewers of Stone Hammer Castle directly, yet he chose to go through the plaza.

"At that time, the leader was in the plaza, and his chosen route is suspicious, as though he was deliberately trying to attract your attention.

"I suspect he was covering for the escape of other demons or a traitor.

"Additionally, considering the demon had duplicated Mia's appearance several days ago, today's actions by the demon must have had another purpose.

"Inside Stone Hammer Castle, is there anything that's particularly important for tonight's Resurrection Ceremony?"

This...

Iron Arm's expression paused, and then as if struck by revelation, he slammed a fist and said, "I understand now, these damned demons came for our tribe's treasure."