Slaying Demons: Starting with Upgrading my Calligraphy-Chapter 392 - 356: Bronze Ring

The wooden box was opened, but no divine light glittered, nor was there any surge of qi skyrocketing to the heavens.

Only a bronze ring lay quietly inside the box.

This bronze ring, rustic and plain, was fashioned from unrefined bronze. Its surface was rough, strewn with mottled rust and irregular bumps and hollows, yet each turn, each line revealed an unpolished natural beauty that subtly aligned with the contours of some ancient power.

Qi Xiu blinked as he gazed at the bronze ring in the wooden box. From the perspective of his Observing Qi Skill, there was only a slowly swirling vortex of darkness in the box. Yet, when the box was opened, it turned into this bronze ring. And when he observed it again with his Observing Qi Skill, the dark vortex reappeared.

Quite interesting... The corners of his mouth lifted slightly as Qi Xiu reached out for the bronze ring in the box.

"Wait."

Li Jiufang quickly spoke up to stop him, "This ring is vicious. If flesh and blood touch it, their blood qi and Essence will be sucked away in an instant. One must use inert objects to touch it."

"It’s alright, I have it figured out."

The moment Qi Xiu’s fingertips touched the bronze ring, he felt an incredibly fierce suction force surge out, like a black hole reversing the flow of the Milky Way, intent on sucking away all his blood qi and cultivation.

"Let’s see who’s stronger then."

With a slight lift of his head, Qi Xiu activated "The Secret of the Primordial Dragon-Tiger Scripture." His right hand suddenly turned into a cascade of colorful shimmering hues, bursting forth with an equally terrifying sucking force from the fingertips that touched the bronze ring.

The two suction forces collided, and an extremely grating and bizarre noise abruptly erupted, sounding like a knife crazily scraping across glass.

The sound pierced their ears, and the expressions of Li Jiufang and the other two changed dramatically as the world in their eyes began to warp and distort.

"Don’t stay here, get out quickly."

Perceiving the abnormalities of Li Jiufang and the others, Qi Xiu waved his left hand, and a vast Vigor swept out, instantly ejecting the three of them. At the same time, a great number of golden Suppressing Talismans flew out from his sleeves and directly sealed up the entire room.

The golden light shone, suppressing all the sound waves, not allowing a single thread to escape.

The struggle between the two devouring forces gradually reached a stalemate.

CRACK—

As time passed, a sudden cracking sound emanated from the bronze ring. A hairline crack appeared on its surface.

Can’t withstand it anymore?

Raising an eyebrow, Qi Xiu mentally withdrew the Star Absorption Skill from his hand.

No longer countered by the Star Absorption Skill, the sucking force burst forth from the bronze ring like a breached dam, raging into Qi Xiu’s body as fiercely as a weakened tiger, intending to devour all his flesh and essence clean.

"Since you want to devour, then I’ll let you have a good feast. Let’s see how much you can swallow."

Grasping the mystery of the bronze ring, Qi Xiu’s mouth curved into a slight arc. All 365 Hunyuan Apertures within his body instantly reactivated!

BOOM—

All 365 Hunyuan Apertures vibrated at once, and a series of brilliant lights burst forth inside his body. It was the majestic surge of Mixed Element Qi, unstoppable like a river bursting its banks.

As the apertures reactivated, Mixed Element Qi gushed from every pore of his body like a torrential downpour, turning into a rainbow of splendor that poured forth magnificently, stunning and captivating. For a moment, Qi Xiu himself became a beacon of light, his strength as profound as a colorful sun, releasing boundless and endless Mixed Element Qi.

Light radiated in all directions, vast and immeasurable. Even the room sealed with Suppressing Talismans couldn’t contain the light; streaks of the colorful rainbow pierced through the chamber, illuminating the exterior.

Outside the room, Li Jiufang and the others also saw the surging magnificence within, akin to an explosion that could burst the house, their expressions even more shocked and astonished.

This fluctuation of energy... could he be a Dao Expert?

With the full power of the Hunyuan Myriad Laws Immortal Body reawakened, Qi Xiu’s gaze was calm. He completely lifted all restrictions, letting the ring devour his power unrestrained, as a thunderous rumble, like mountains roaring and seas churning, emanated from within his body.

GULP, GULP—

As if from the void, a sound of continuous swallowing echoed.

The crack that had previously appeared on the bronze ring now healed. The dusty, dim surface began to glow, subtly radiating an extraordinary aura.

With sufficient power replenishing it, the bronze ring suddenly flew up and fitted itself perfectly on Qi Xiu’s thumb, as if custom-made for him.

With the bronze ring on his finger, a flash of realization crossed Qi Xiu’s eyes as he murmured, "So that’s how it is..."

CREAK—

The door opened, and Qi Xiu, looking as usual, walked out. Li Jiufang and the others were still waiting outside.

"How did it go?"

Stepping forward, Li Jiufang, knowing some of the bronze ring’s background, couldn’t help but ask. Although he wasn’t interested in artifacts from the Food Demon Sect, given that it was the most mysterious Demon Sect from the Middle Ancient Era, he still possessed a pure curiosity.

"I’ve made some gains, but I need to verify them before I can be sure. It’s not convenient to discuss here; I’ll talk to you about it in detail later," Qi Xiu communicated to Li Jiufang through Secret Method Sound Transmission.

Knowing the vast implications of the Food Demon Sect and that the more people knew, the more dangerous it was, Li Jiufang nodded, understanding he couldn’t tell his cousin and her husband about this.

With the bronze ring in hand, Qi Xiu and Li Jiufang did not linger there. After Li Jiufang briefly caught up with Jia Yufei for three days, he and Qi Xiu set off on their journey.

The vast Gobi Desert, where yellow sand stretched for thousands of miles. In this desolation, tens of thousands of miles around with no trace of human life, deep in the desert where creatures gathered, Qi Xiu casually scattered a handful of soybeans. With the breeze, they swelled up, transforming into more than a dozen tall and burly Yellow Turban Strongmen. He instructed these Yellow Turban Strongmen to patrol and guard the surroundings.

Qi Xiu raised his right hand, revealing the bronze ring that had shed its dusty, dull color to reveal a faint, cold gleam.

"Speak up. You must have found some records related to this ring before."

"Yes. Years ago, when I was renovating Qingliu County, some workers accidentally broke open a pottery jar. Inside, apart from a withered skeleton, there was only this bronze ring. Originally, those workers wanted to pawn the ring for some money to buy alcohol. But no one expected the bronze ring to be so fierce—any living being that touched it would instantly be drained of flesh and blood. When an incident occurred and someone died, the people below naturally came to me. Afterward, I utilized my family’s authority to access a large number of ancient books and rare manuscripts. By piecing together the many fragments of information, I gradually uncovered a secret from the Middle Ancient Era: the Food Demon Sect, which once dominated the Middle Ancient Era as one of the Ten Great Demon Sects, yet mysteriously disappeared. It was actually destroyed by a joint effort of the Sky Demon Sect, which was the foremost of the Demon Sects at the time, along with several other Demon Sects."

Hearing this, Qi Xiu’s face showed a hint of strangeness as he looked at Li Jiufang’s serious expression, "Infighting? Where did you find these wild historical accounts? They’re quite wild indeed."

"Although these are only records found in ancient books, they could very well be true. After all, during the special period of the Middle Ancient Era, the Demonic Path was powerful and the Righteous Path was weak. The only forces capable of exterminating the Food Demon Sect were two or three powerhouses of the Righteous Path. The Great Sui Dynasty was focused on lands beyond its borders and launched several expeditions to foreign realms; it simply didn’t have the spare capacity to take action against the Food Demon Sect. The Shenxiao Sect had just annihilated the Hell Dao and emerged from a pyrrhic victory, so it was even less likely. The Taishang Dao Sect was at a standoff with the Sky Demon Sect. Even if they made a move, it would have been against the Sky Demon Sect; the Food Demon Sect was beneath their notice. So by this calculation, no force of the Righteous Path would have moved against the Food Demon Sect. Thus, the most likely culprits were the other Demon Sects among the Ten Great Demon Sects."

Li Jiufang’s analysis caused Qi Xiu to squint his eyes thoughtfully. "Looking at it this way, what you say does make sense. The Food Demon Sect had average combat strength, but its potential was infinite. The Devouring Heaven Demon Skill was earth-shattering and unprecedented. Even today, it remains a technique countless individuals dream of mastering. The Sky Demon Sect’s desire to exterminate the Food Demon Sect wasn’t just out of concern that the latter might rise in the future and threaten their position; a greater motive was likely for that scroll of the Devouring Heaven Demon Skill!"

"The Food Demon Sect disappeared overnight. The entire sect, including all its members, vanished into thin air. This was most likely the work of the other Demon Sects, who sought to capture them and extract the secrets of the Devouring Heaven Demon Skill. And this bronze ring came from a member of the Food Demon Sect who was fortunate enough to escape this calamity. However, the Food Demon Sect was from the Middle Ancient Era. Even if that person had achieved the Primordial Spirit, it would have been impossible for them to live until our current dynasty. Therefore, there must be some kind of legacy contained within this bronze ring, passed down from generation to generation. That’s why it has been able to be handed down to this day."

After laying out all his findings about the bronze ring, Li Jiufang ceased to speak further. What came next would rely on Qi Xiu’s own judgment and grasp of the situation.

A legacy, huh...

Gazing down at the bronze ring on his thumb, Qi Xiu lightly tapped it with his finger. In an instant, his mind was flooded with countless ancient, flickering images. These images kept recombining and arranging themselves, most of which depicted a person fleeing in panic, consumed by sorrow, and seething with intense unwillingness and resentment.

Amidst the endless transformations, these images suddenly coalesced, forming the figure of a gaunt and tall man. This was a middle-aged man with disheveled hair and tattered clothes. His eyes were bloodshot and terrifying. He was barefoot, his expression delirious, and he was muttering something under his breath.

As if sensing Qi Xiu’s gaze, the man abruptly looked up, confronting him with a pair of eyes as terrifying as the abyss.

WHOOSH—

In the blink of an eye, the man suddenly appeared right in front of Qi Xiu.

"Exterminate the Heavenly Demon, restore my sect..."

"Exterminate the Heavenly Demon, restore my sect!"

"Exterminate the Heavenly Demon, restore my sect!!!"

Crying out hysterically, the man leaped and bounded, releasing an endless torrent of grievances. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Alright, I’ll help you."

A faint response, yet it caused the frenzied man to suddenly quiet down. He slowly turned, looked at Qi Xiu, and on his twisted and ferocious face, two lines of clear tears began to stream down.

"Exterminate... the Heavenly Demon... restore... my sect..."

With those last mumbled words, the man’s figure suddenly shattered into fragments, and a vast flood of information surged into Qi Xiu’s mind...