"Yes, Demon Lord." The little leader hurriedly retreated and ordered his men to take the prisoners to the formation.
At this moment, all the captured cultivators fell silent, even the one who had previously vowed to never let them succeed was being carried away quietly.
Although their spiritual power was sealed, they could still commit suicide by using their essence blood to activate their natal magic weapon and then detonate it, thus perishing together with the demons.
However, no cultivator did this. People are selfish. By transforming into demons, they might not die. As for other things, nothing is more important than living.
The group flew swiftly for a quarter of an hour, passing through numerous forbidden zones, and arrived at a place where the demonic energy had become so dense that it had turned into demonic liquid and gathered into a pool.
Quan Hong: "We inscribe demonic runes on their bodies and then throw them into the demonic pool. The transformation will be completed in an hour."
A group of demons received orders and began to use their own blood to inscribe demonic runes on their bodies.
Just as they cut their wrists, Lin Qing appeared beside the teleportation array that connected to the Demon Realm.
"Is this teleportation array the culprit that turned the Southern Region into a dead land?"
"And also, are you the mastermind behind all of this?" Lin Qing's voice rang out calmly.
Quan Hong immediately looked towards the direction from which the sound came and was shocked to find that a person wearing a golden robe and a golden mask had appeared in front of the previously empty formation.
Chapter 271 Side Quest 3 Completed (Please subscribe, vote for monthly tickets, and recommend!)
Quan Hong's expression changed drastically. "Huh? Who are you? When did you appear here? I didn't even notice you?"
Lin Qing said calmly, "You haven't answered my question yet." Beneath his calm words lay a murderous intent.
Quan Hong: "It's me, so what? But since you're here, I don't need to know who you are, because you'll soon become my subordinate. Get him!"
Upon giving the order, thousands of demons rushed towards Lin Qing in unison, while the hundreds of cultivators who were about to be thrown into the demon pool also looked over.
Although they didn't know who it was, they might be able to save them, since even the powerful Quan Hong hadn't discovered how this person appeared.
Lin Qing emphasized, "Since you admit it, then things will be easier."
"I will send you to hell, to be burned by fire, to suffer unbearable pain." Lin Qing clenched his five fingers together and squeezed them tightly.
Then, golden flames burst forth from the bodies of the thousands of demons, and a chorus of wails erupted as their flesh was gradually reduced to dust by the scorching flames.
However, just as they were about to die, a green aura swept over their bodies, and in an instant, they were restored to normal.
This cycle repeated itself, and they could neither die nor be killed. They could only enjoy the burning of the Samadhi Fire at all times, yet they could not die. Countless demons wailed and rolled on the ground, without even having a moment to commit suicide.
“These are just small fry. You are the real culprit. Tell me, what kind of treatment should I give you?” Lin Qing said softly.
Lin Qing's words were plain and simple, but they sent a chill down the spines of the cultivators.
Quan Hong's heart skipped a beat upon seeing this: "Who exactly are you? I've never heard of you on this continent."
Based on this alone, Quan Hong knew that Lin Qing was no weaker than him, and perhaps even stronger, because he also discovered the extraordinary flames on those demons and the energy that could instantly heal them.
Lin Qing: "Me? Heh, do you really need to know who I am when you're about to die? I'm just a nobody, everyone calls me the Dragon King."
Quan Hong knew that things couldn't end peacefully, so he had no choice but to strike first, staring intently at Lin Qing.
Suddenly, he stretched out his hands, forming a strange hand seal, and then shouted, "Explode!"
With a loud shout from Quan Hong, the demons who were still lying on the ground groaning in pain stopped rolling around and howling at the same time.
They all stood up in unison, ignoring the Samadhi Fire that tormented them. Surrounded by demonic energy, they all burned their life force and rushed towards Lin Qing at an extremely fast speed.
Lin Qing smiled calmly: "Sending these small fry to their deaths? You underestimate me, or you overestimate them."
Without seeing any movement, Lin Qing's eyes narrowed, and he saw that the demons instantly stopped in their tracks, as if they had been frozen in place and could not move.
However, the next moment, these demons exploded at the same time, and a huge amount of energy spread in all directions.
Seeing this, Lin Qing reached out and made a gesture, and a transparent barrier blocked the way, completely preventing the explosive energy from entering.
Quan Hong suddenly burst into laughter: "Haha, these little fry are just providing me with energy. Condense!"
Instantly, all the energy from the exploding demons surged into Quan Hong. As the energy poured in, the demonic energy within Quan Hong grew stronger and stronger, and his body grew taller and taller.
His aura climbed higher and higher, until finally, Quan Hong's body grew to a hundred meters tall. Coupled with his incomparably powerful aura, he was truly formidable.
Even the hellfire on his body upgraded, turning into green demonic flames.
"Haha, this power is truly immense. Now, crushing you is as easy as crushing an ant for me."
Quan Hong was now incredibly arrogant, looking at Lin Qing with utter disdain.
Lin Qing: "You clown, rest assured, I will make sure your soul is burned for eternity, until your soul perishes."
"Hmph, that depends on whether you have the ability." Quan Hong slammed his right hand forward with all his might.
"Divine Dragon Flame Devour!" A huge black demonic flame transformed into a demonic dragon hundreds of meters long, opening its blood-red maw to bite at Lin Qing.
Seeing this, Lin Qing snorted coldly: "You dare to call this a divine dragon? Are you insulting me?" He stretched out his fist and threw a punch out of thin air.
Without seeing any other movement, the demonic dragon seemed to be destroyed by something and vanished with the wind, while Quan Hong seemed to have been hit hard, standing there spitting out blood.
Furthermore, a large hole appeared in his chest, and the heart that originally existed in that hole had disappeared.
Quan Hong said in disbelief, "You, you!" Before he could finish speaking, Quan Hong's head lolled to the side and he stopped breathing.
[This? He's dead already?]
[One punch was all it took to kill the Demon Lord, who possessed the combined cultivation of thousands of demons?]
[Where did this powerful figure come from? I've never heard of anyone called the Dragon King.]
All I know is that we're saved and won't be turned into demons.
[Haha, that's great! We're saved! Thank you so much for saving our lives, senior!]
A large group of cultivators bowed to Lin Qing in gratitude, while Wang Youdao was almost completely consumed by demonic energy.
Lin Qing nodded to them, waved his hand, and all the seals on their bodies were removed, along with the demonic energy in Wang Youdao's body.
At this moment, the demonic energy in Quan Hong's body slowly dissipated, while a dozen or so slightly denser demonic energies surged into the ground.
At this moment, Lin Qing let out a cold snort: "Hmph, I said I would make your soul suffer the burning of flames for eternity until your soul dissipates. You still want to run away from me?"
Lin Qing teleported instantly to Quan Hong's corpse and slammed his palm into the ground, causing a loud bang to echo from deep underground.
Lin Qing expelled more than a dozen wisps of souls hidden in the demonic energy. With a wave of his hand, he caught these wisps of souls in his grasp.
A ball of Samadhi True Fire appeared in Lin Qing's hand. Lin Qing immediately cast the dozen or so wisps of soul into the flame, and then infused it with a trace of life essence.
Before long, Quan Hong's scattered soul was forced to merge into one by the Samadhi Fire, darting around in the flames and enduring the painful burning.
While burning, it was also healing. Quan Hong's soul was wailing silently, but no one could hear it. In the dim light, a figure could be seen wailing in the flames.
Lin Qing tossed the ball of flame to Wang You, who had just woken up, and said, "This ball of flame will burn Quan Hong's soul until it dissipates."
"You only need to input spiritual energy once every ten years, and the flames will not go out. Next, I will clear away all the corpse demons and demonic energy in this southern region. You may do as you please!"
Chapter 272 Little Black Goes to the Banquet (Please subscribe, please vote, please recommend)
Wang Youdao accepted the ball of flame with a bewildered expression, then stared blankly as Lin Qing disappeared.
The onlookers immediately swarmed around the ball of flame, finding it quite a novel sight.
Before long, Wang Youdao led the people of Bazong back to the Central Region, intending to return the flame to Bazong.
Afterwards, the Overlord Sect discussed the matter and placed the flame in a secret room for an elder who had retired due to injury to guard it.
Several years later, the elder's hidden illness flared up, and he had no choice but to try to use his spiritual power to extract a bit of the green aura from the flames to heal himself.
Unexpectedly, it actually succeeded, and as long as spiritual energy was input, the lost green aura returned to its original state.
In this way, the elder recovered from his injuries and his cultivation was restored, which shocked the entire sect. In the end, this flame became the sect's most treasured artifact.
Of course, none of this had anything to do with Lin Qing. Right now, Lin Qing was just thinking about cleaning up this southern region as soon as possible.
Although Lin Qing has already eliminated the culprit, there are still countless corpse demons in the Southern Region, and the task ahead is still arduous.
One year later
Little Black sat up sleepily, rubbing his eyes with his tiger paw: "Hmm? Where am I?"
Xiao Hei felt as if he had taken a nap, a very comfortable one. He looked at the once barren mountaintop, now covered with wild grass.
"Wasn't I eating with my master? Where did he go?"
"Oh no, I'm going to explode! Hey, it seems my master gave me a big gift and assigned me a task?"
Suddenly, Xiao Hei saw a small ball emitting a halo beside him, and another much larger ball of light. Xiao Hei reached out its paw and touched the small ball.
"Little Black, this is a great gift, isn't it? And this ball of light is for Flying Tiger's child. Remember, don't steal any, or you won't want to know what will happen to you."
Lin Qing's voice appeared in Xiao Hei's mind. Only then did Xiao Hei remember: "Ah, it's Master. By the way, I think I've already eaten the big gift Master gave me."
"That ball of light was given to Flying Tiger's son when we went to the banquet."
After saying that, Xiao Hei immediately grabbed the ball of light in his hand, then opened his mouth and spat out a storage bag. He put the ball of light into the storage bag and swallowed it in one gulp.
Xiao Hei then strolled out of the barrier. However, once outside, Xiao Hei felt something was wrong, because every step he took created a large pit.
"What's going on? I feel like I can't control my power?" Xiao Hei was very puzzled. How could he not control his power?
Just as Xiao Hei was wondering what was going on, four streaks of light flashed past and landed in front of him.
"Oh my, Lord Black Tiger, you've finally woken up! We've been waiting for you day and night for the past year!"
"Huh? What are you saying? You should be called Lord Golden Tiger now. Look at your golden fur, so majestic and imposing!"
"Yes, Lord Jin Hu, it seems your cultivation has greatly improved! Congratulations!"
"Congratulations!" the four sect leaders said with clasped hands and smiles.
"Huh? Golden Tiger? My fur is black? Uh—golden?" Little Black subconsciously looked down and immediately noticed that the fur on its front paws was golden.
At this moment, Xiao Hei was thinking that it would be great if he could spit out a water mirror to look at himself. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head: "Open your mouth and spit it out, open your mouth and spit it out."
Then Xiao Hei opened its mouth and subconsciously spat out a ball of water, which then formed a water mirror in front of Xiao Hei.
In an instant, a golden tiger with golden fur all over its body and a body size of five meters appeared in the water mirror.
Little Black: "This is me? -- When did I become so handsome?" Little Black stretched out his paw and scratched the fur on his head with an incredulous look.