The little black dog Guixu had followed along as well, cradled in Liu Yan's arms, baring its teeth and growling continuously at the second group of a dozen or so people. Those dozen-odd individuals seemed to regard it with extreme fear, each of their eyes harboring deep dread.
Yang Kai glanced at them, his mind turning thoughtfully, before his gaze settled on the first group of seven or eight people. He spoke: "Have all of them been possessed by demonic thoughts?"
Wen Zishan nodded with a grave expression: "That's right. See if you can save them."
"Unlikely." Yang Kai shook his head slowly. Though he hadn't tried before, he knew these demon people who had been possessed by demonic thoughts were fundamentally different from those merely corrupted by demonic energy. Even with his ancient witchcraft, there was probably no hope.
"Please try," Ma Qing pleaded. Among them was an Elder of his Heavenly Martial Holy Land — he simply couldn't bear to see the old man fall here.
Yang Kai nodded. "Alright, but Holy Lord Ma, don't set your hopes too high."
"As long as Elder Yang does his best," Ma Qing said with a bitter smile.
Yang Kai rose and walked over to the group of demon people, examining them with great interest. In truth, even now, he couldn't discern anything unusual about them — they looked no different from ordinary people. No wonder Wu Hua Palace had fallen and the entire Southern Region had remained in the dark.
The seven or eight individuals included men and women, elders and youths. Yang Kai circled around them before casually stopping in front of a young man. Their eyes met, and the youth's gaze clearly betrayed a flicker of nervousness.
Yang Kai gave him a faint smile, murmured an incantation, and extended a finger toward the young man's forehead. A milky-white glow blossomed at his fingertip, tapping squarely on the youth's brow.
The light rippled outward, and the young man immediately began shaking like a sieve, his features twisting into a savage mask. Howls like the roars of a beast tore from his throat, and he struggled with all his might — but countless restraints had already been placed upon him, so what chance did he have of breaking free?
Under the Demon-Expelling Technique, the young man was quickly wreathed in demonic energy. As the technique took effect, the demonic energy continuously dissipated from his body, but his vital essence waned along with it. In a remarkably short time, his complexion turned deathly pale, and he looked as though he had been fished out of a river, his sweat-soaked clothes clinging to his skin.
A moment later, his eyes rolled back and he collapsed unconscious.
Yang Kai withdrew his hand and stood, shaking his head slowly.
Seeing this, Ma Qing and the others let out a long sigh. They had steeled themselves before coming here, but only now, having watched Yang Kai's methods fail against these demon people, did they truly resign themselves to the reality.
After all, they had been possessed by demonic thoughts — their original wills had long since been devoured. These demon people had undergone a fundamental transformation. Yang Kai's Demon-Expelling Technique, even while purging the demonic energy, was simultaneously destroying their foundations. Even if every trace of demonic energy were stripped away, these people would become nothing more than walking corpses, devoid of their own thoughts.
Yang Kai understood this better than anyone. Just recently, Feng Ming had used a demonic seed to corrode his sea of consciousness in an attempt to possess him — the memory remained vivid in his mind.
"There's no saving them." Yang Kai glanced at Ma Qing. "Did you manage to get anything useful out of them?"
Wen Zishan sighed. "No. Every last one of them keeps their mouth shut. They'd rather die than talk — there was no way to pry anything out of them."
"Is that so." Yang Kai extended a hand toward Liu Yan, who promptly stepped forward and passed Guixu into his arms.
Yang Kai held Guixu in one hand and planted himself before the demon people. His gaze swept over them as he spoke: "If you want to live, tell me — what exactly are you plotting? If the intelligence proves useful, I may well spare your lives."
All seven or eight of them stared at him in silence. Apart from the young man who had fainted, not one uttered a word.
Yang Kai nodded. "Not a one afraid of death. Very well." As he spoke, he gently patted Guixu on the head. The little black dog let out a wild roar, lunged forward, and in one gaping bite swallowed whole a demon person standing right in front of Yang Kai.
The sight made Ma Qing and the others' eyelids jump. They had already witnessed this bizarre little dog's abilities before, but it was still somewhat staggering to see. A demon beast eating a person wasn't unusual in itself — the thing was, Guixu hadn't eaten a normal person but a demon person, and suffered no ill effects whatsoever. Earlier it had even devoured the boundless demonic energy from that valley. It was truly astonishing.
Wen Zishan, on the other hand, looked pensive. He knew of Guixu's existence. Back in the day, Gong Yue had discovered the creature within the Qing Yang Divine Temple, and it had nearly devoured Feng Ming in a single bite. The combined attacks of over a dozen Emperor Realm experts had been swallowed by it and reflected right back. According to Gong Yue, this little beast apparently carried the bloodline of a demonic realm exotic beast — so such a bizarre performance was only natural.
Having swallowed one demon person in a single bite, the remaining ones grew restive and alarmed. They stared at Guixu as though regarding a mortal enemy, their eyes filled with terror and wariness. But with their power restrained, even if they wanted to flee, they couldn't.
Yang Kai regarded them with leisurely composure and said flatly: "Take your time to think it over. Whoever has made up their mind, feel free to speak. As long as you can provide some decent intelligence, I am a man of my word."
The words had barely left his lips before Guixu opened its maw again and swallowed the second demon person.
Yang Kai said nothing more. He simply held Guixu and walked forward step by step. At each demon person he passed, Guixu gulped them down. In the blink of an eye, five had been devoured, leaving only two demon people still standing there, their eyes brimming with venomous hatred — yet still not a single word.
Seeing this, Yang Kai sighed in exasperation: "They really are a stubborn bunch, every last one of them."
He turned to Ma Qing and the others. "I'm afraid there's nothing more we can get out of them."