Since the last time Yae Miko had scolded him, Xu Changqing had spent a long time in reflection.
Experience and hardship had done the rest.
He had finally seen how narrow he had been.
Human or demon, there were always both good and evil. Among monsters, there were those who were upright, those who were deeply devoted, even those who built families as ordinary as any mortal's. It was one thing to read about such things in books; walking the world and meeting them was something else entirely.
The breakthrough in his understanding had sharpened his cultivation as well. Even when he crossed paths with Zixuan again, he didn't fly into the same rigid, painful extremes as before. That alone had delighted the descendant of Nuwa.
But fate pulled hard on its own threads.
When Xu Changqing set out for the perilous Fengdu, Zixuan had, of course, followed. He did not hate her, but neither did he truly accept her, and in the chaos of events he had lost track of where she had gone.
He had, at least, stayed at Jing Tian's side all the way here.
As they moved toward the deepest reaches, he glanced at Ayaka. "Miss Kamisato," he asked, "how confident are you against the Fire Oni King?"
"Seven parts in ten," she answered. "But if the Demon Lord appears, I'll need you, Brother Jing, to face him."
Before they'd come, Su Han had explained why this mission carried a "special four-star" mark.
Somewhere ahead waited an existence far more terrifying than a mere oni.
The Demon Lord.
Ruler of the demon realm, his power reached from heaven to earth. In the old war, only General Fei Peng had ever stood as his equal.
Jing Tian gaped. "Me?" he yelped. "Don't joke. I may have the demon sword, but how am I supposed to fight a boss like that? I'll die."
"Your Shushan master gave you the Half-Heart Mantra," Ayaka reminded him gently.
"That thing won't beat the Demon Lord either," Jing Tian said at once. "Bean curd… you're not really planning to watch him squash me, are you?"
He looked from Xu Changqing to Ayaka with something close to panic.
A being like the Demon Lord could probably kill his current self with a single blow. Knowing that he was Fei Peng reborn didn't help much when his strength hadn't yet caught up.
"Brother Jing…" Xu Changqing began.
"You're hopeless, Bean Sprout," Xue Jian cut in, hands on her hips. "You've got the demon sword and the Half-Heart Mantra, and you're still this scared?"
"Who's scared?" he shot back.
"You," she said. "Obviously."
"I am not afraid! It's just the Demon Lord. I'll handle him," Jing Tian huffed. "But that Miss Kamisato—can you really deal with the Fire Oni King?"
Ayaka rested a hand on Tenseiga's hilt. "This sword is made to cut spirits," she said. "And my own power is ice and water.
"The odds are very much in my favor."
"So that's why you said seventy percent," Jing Tian muttered. "All right.
"Then we'll both do our best."
They leapt over the last of the flame-ridden hells and entered a blazing chamber. Compared to the furnace below, it was marginally kinder, but only just.
Far ahead, two figures were locked in confrontation. One lay on the ground, blood at the corner of her mouth.
"Still won't yield, woman?" a man's mocking voice rang out.
"In my eyes," Zixuan coughed, "there has never been such a word as 'surrender'."
Her gaze was winter-cold.
A shout cut down from above.
"Hey, you—pick on someone your own size!"
Jing Tian stood on his sword, pointing straight at the figure in midair. "If you like bullying women so much, try me instead!"
"Oh?" The Demon Lord turned.
Then he laughed, long and wild. "Fei Peng. Hah. I didn't expect to see you here.
"Good. Very good.
"Let's continue where we left off."
"Wait," Jing Tian said hastily. "I've reincarnated, you know. If you want a proper fight, at least let me warm up."
The Demon Lord studied him, then nodded. "Your soul is weaker," he said. "Fine. I'll let you prepare."
His confidence was absolute.
Jing Tian and Xue Jian exchanged a look.
That arrogance was their opening.
Jing Tian planted his feet on the sword, gripped the demon blade, and began to chant the Half-Heart Mantra, even launching into the odd, jerky dance that went with it. The more ridiculous he looked, the more power coiled, steadily, in the sword's core.
…
Elsewhere in Elysium, Ayaka and Xu Changqing had found their own target.
The Fire Oni King waited ahead.
"I'll go first," Ayaka said. "If I falter, you can step in."
"Is that really wise?" Xu Changqing asked.
"It will be fine," she said. "For me… this battle is a trial I have to take."
She drew in a deep breath.
Her hands flashed through signs; blue flooded her eyes.
"Water Release: Great Exploding Water Shockwave."
She thrust both palms downward.
A roaring surge of water materialized from nothing, every drop fed by the chakra she had stored and now unleashed in full.
Against a thousand-year Fire Oni, a simple ambush wouldn't suffice.
Better to shape the field itself from the first move.
The flood crashed toward the oni's palace, swallowing it in waves.
Xu Changqing stared, stunned. To spend so much spiritual power before the fight even began—it seemed senseless to him. Shouldn't such force be saved for the decisive exchange?
A pulse of raging heat burst out of the palace.
Fire rolled into the skies. A figure—or rather, a living fireball—shot out and locked onto Ayaka at once.
"So. A little human has come to my den to make trouble," a shrill voice snarled. "Die for me!"
A claw of flame shot forward.
Ayaka flicked aside in midair, let the fiery talons tear through empty space, and landed lightly atop the water she had summoned.
She glanced around at the newly born lake and nodded in satisfaction.
"Now," she said softly, "we can begin properly.
"Su Han—this is the fruit of my training.
"Watch me."
She drew Tenseiga.
Her body blurred.
She shot straight toward the flaming figure above.
She was lightning over water, each step flinging her higher until she hung level with the oni's burning eyes.
"Kamisato Art: One-Sword Style—Cicada's Lament."
The slash that fell was colossal.
The Fire Oni King never expected a human to abandon talismans and Daoist arts and open with such a savage sword strike.
The sword-qi punched straight through her.
An arm spun away into the air, wreathed in fire.
She stared at the severed limb in disbelief, then screamed.
"What… what power is this? My arm—my beautiful arm—cut off!
"You little wretch! I'll kill you!"
She spun and raked a claw where Ayaka's back had been—
Only to tear apart a fading afterimage.
"An illusion," she realized with a snarl.
Even as she turned, another blade-pressure crashed toward her from the right.
"Kamisato Art: Frost's End."
"You think I'll be fooled again?" the oni spat. "Burn."
"Flames—devour!"
Fire roared from her mouth.
The triple vortex of killing cold dissolved, stripped away and consumed by the torrent of heat.
Raging, the Fire Oni King was still far from helpless.
Ayaka dodged in the chaos above, but not perfectly. A tongue of flame scraped her shoulder.
Pain flared; skin and flesh burned and split.
"Tch. My observation is still too shallow," she thought, biting back a hiss. "If my seeing-color were stronger, I could have read that cleanly.
"At least I've got your rhythm now.
"From here on… it's my stage."
She clamped Tenseiga between her teeth and flew through another rapid sequence of signs.
[Water Release: Great Water Dragon Bullet.]
Below, the lake answered.
A vast dragon of water burst from the surface, scales and jaws sculpted from churning waves. Ayaka landed lightly atop its head and fixed her gaze on the oni in the sky.
The severed arm was not regrowing.
Her odds just climbed.
"Impressive," the Fire Oni King laughed. "You've got tricks, little girl. Strange techniques.
"But this ends here.
"Your water can't extinguish my flames."
Hundreds of fireballs ignited around her.
They fell like a meteor shower, aiming to swallow Ayaka and the water dragon both.
Ayaka didn't spare them a glance.
She settled into a draw-cut stance, every muscle aligned around Tenseiga's hilt.
To kill the Fire Oni King, Frost's End alone would never be enough.
She needed the blade itself to bite flesh—only then would the soul‑slaying edge do its work.
Otherwise, it was all show.
The firestorm closed in.
Steam exploded outward, swallowing Ayaka and the dragon in a scalding white fog.
A slash of killing intent tore through the haze.
The Fire Oni King slipped aside easily, sneering.
A figure shot out of the steam.
She struck without hesitation.
"Still pretending?" she hissed. "Die."
Her burning hand closed around the body and crushed it—
Only to find no scream, no soul, nothing at all.
Her brows drew together.
From a different angle inside the fog, a second shape lunged.
"Kamisato Art: One-Sword Style—Cloud-Cutting."
Three curls of icy mist spiraled along the blade as Ayaka drove it straight for the oni's uninjured shoulder.
Just before it landed, the Fire Oni King giggled.
"You thought I wasn't watching?" she said. "I was playing dumb.
"You want to lay a sword on me? Keep dreaming."
Her body split in two.
Ayaka's strike passed through the gap.
A fireball hammered into her back a heartbeat later.
She turned at the last instant, bracing Tenseiga across her body. The impact still drove her down. When she hit the ground, her breath came ragged.
Her opponent's tricks were ugly and flexible; a ghost's capacity to split and shift made every clean hit slippery. No wonder this mission sat above the usual four-star line.
"It really is hard," she admitted inwardly.
Above, the Fire Oni King hovered, laughing.
"What's wrong?" she taunted. "Running out of strength?
"Humans are humans. An arm lost, a wound taken… and you don't heal.
"You…"
She trailed off.
Ayaka had pulled a paper slip from her sleeve and slapped it over her burned shoulder.
Light flickered.
The torn flesh knit itself smooth.
Then Ayaka uncorked a small vial and swallowed its contents in one clean motion.
Flood Dragon Blood.
She only had two doses.
The first was long gone.
This was the second.
Sucrose's refinement had improved the brew; it didn't just amplify a fighter's power, it refilled their stamina almost instantly.
Ayaka flexed her healed shoulder, feeling the surge of strength and the crispness in her veins.
She smiled into the steaming air.
"I knew you were strong," she said. "I never expected to end it in two cuts.
"But now…"
She lifted Tenseiga again, fog curling around her ankles.
"…now it's different.
"I'm done holding back.
"Get ready.
"This next dance belongs to me alone."