Chapter 036: The Hundred-Eyed Demon

At the very instant the old woman’s clawed fingernail reached for Su Cheng’s eye, an arm emerged from her sleeve. Su Cheng saw that the arm was covered with countless, hideous eyes—eyes she had gouged out from the faces of living humans. Anyone suffering from trypophobia would be terrified to death by the ghastly sight before him.

A Hundred-Eyed Demon?

Feeling the monstrous and overwhelming demonic power radiating from her, Su Cheng’s scalp prickled with dread. He had never expected to encounter such a legendary creature here—a Hundred-Eyed Demon.

“The ghosts that appeared in the world of the book earlier must be the souls of humans killed by this Hundred-Eyed Demon, their eyes gouged out. After their deaths, their souls didn’t enter the cycle of reincarnation. Instead, the Hundred-Eyed Demon captured them, imprisoning their souls inside these books,” Su Cheng thought quickly as he drew his blade in a flash and struck at the demon’s finger.

To his shock, the steel blade left not the slightest mark on her nail. The Hundred-Eyed Demon blocked the attack with ease.

Her nails were unbelievably hard. The demonic power that enveloped them made them harder than steel. If she caught an ordinary human, their flesh would be torn to shreds in an instant.

Su Cheng wasn’t a professional yet; he was merely a physically strong human, unable to withstand such a monstrous blow.

After forcing the Hundred-Eyed Demon back with a single strike, Su Cheng leapt backward, putting distance between himself and the demoness. His face grew grave.

“Ha ha ha! Those men who lusted after beauty deserved to die. And you—your eyes will become a part of me.” A chilling, grotesque laughter echoed as the Hundred-Eyed Demon transformed, her wrinkled old woman’s form shifting into that of a stunning beauty.

Her tattered clothing slipped from her body, revealing a flawless figure. Yet her flesh was covered in countless eyes, making her appearance bizarre and horrifying, sending chills down Su Cheng’s spine.

With so many eyes fixed upon him, Su Cheng felt uneasy, his emotions fraying.

“Come and try to take my eyes, then.”

His gaze hardened, and he retrieved the Mask of the Slaughtering Ghost, placing it over his face. Instantly, his emotions calmed, his mind grew sharp, and a murderous gleam appeared in his eyes.

In that moment, Su Cheng seemed to become the Slaughtering Ghost himself, darting forward to the Hundred-Eyed Demon and swinging his blade at her slender neck with lightning speed and a cunning angle.

The blade flashed like a shooting star, slicing through her neck—but no blood flowed from the wound. Instead, her mocking laughter echoed; the horrific gash on her neck healed within seconds, leaving no trace.

“Just as I thought—not so easy to kill.”

Su Cheng had anticipated this. His Ghost-Slaying blade could harm spiritual entities like ghosts and wraiths, but it lacked the power to kill a demon of such high cultivation.

Still, his attacks were not entirely ineffective. If he kept striking as before, he could surely drain much of her demonic power.

Once her power was spent, she would be vulnerable.

But just as Su Cheng prepared to attack her again, the ground beneath the Hundred-Eyed Demon suddenly transformed into a bottomless black pool.

She sank slowly into the abyss, vanishing from Su Cheng’s sight.

“Gone?”

He quietly probed his senses, but felt nothing of her presence. It was as if the Hundred-Eyed Demon had evaporated.

But he knew she was still somewhere in this bookshop.

“The fourth floor is the domain of the Hundred-Eyed Demon. This won’t be easy.”

Within the terrifying bookshop, a deathly silence reigned.

Not even the sound of insects crawling could be heard.

“Got you.”

A sinister voice echoed from beneath Su Cheng’s feet.

Pale ghostly claws reached up from the floor, gripping his ankles tightly.

The floor felt like a mire, and the claws began to drag him down into the abyss.

Sharp nails dug into his flesh, and the harder he struggled, the faster he sank.

“Looks like I have to break the Hundred-Eyed Demon’s advantage in this domain.”

Su Cheng affixed his last [True Word: Burn] talisman to his blade, then struck down hard at the ghostly claw.

A fiery blade of spiritual energy slashed through the air, igniting a blaze that severed one of the demon’s claws.

The Hundred-Eyed Demon seemed to fear the flames intensely, as if tormented by hellfire; she unleashed a piercing, shrill scream.

The flaming blade swept through the bookshop, the fire spreading rapidly and engulfing everything. Su Cheng saw the ancient books imprisoning the ghosts turn to ashes, freeing the souls trapped by the demon. Their forms faded, finally entering the cycle of reincarnation.

“Damn you, man! I’ll kill you!”

Driven out by the flames, the Hundred-Eyed Demon appeared, her once white skin scorched black, her hair matted and disheveled, looking utterly wretched.

Here she came!

In a flash, her claws stabbed toward Su Cheng’s eyes.

Just as her claws were about to pierce his eyeballs, Su Cheng leaned back and kicked her hard, sending her reeling backward like a rabbit kicking an eagle.

The next second, Su Cheng pressed the attack, his blade flashing cold like a rainstorm, raining blows upon her.

Though his blade couldn’t kill the Hundred-Eyed Demon outright, the pain it inflicted was real, and her twisted face contorted with agony as if she were being executed by a thousand cuts.

If not for her profound cultivation and immense power, she would have been chopped into pieces by now.

Su Cheng took a deep breath, adjusting his rhythm.

The Hundred-Eyed Demon was adept at seducing men and gouging out their eyes, but she was far less skilled in combat.

It was no surprise—ordinary people, no matter how strong, couldn’t harm ghosts or wraiths. Exorcists and onmyoji fought with spells, not by clashing staffs head-on.

Someone like Su Cheng, confronting demons and monsters with a single blade, was truly rare.

His attacks were fierce, but he was still human; before long, his stamina began to wane.

“My body can’t hold out much longer. I need to end this fight quickly.”

Su Cheng resolved to prepare a few cans of energy drink next time he entered a dungeon, just in case.

“Man, I will imprison your soul here and torment you forever.”

A vast demonic power filled the air; the eyes covering her body all stared at Su Cheng, their gaze eerie and terrifying.

Under the scrutiny of hundreds of eyes, Su Cheng felt bound by an invisible hand; he couldn’t move.

The Hundred-Eyed Demon’s lips curled into a sinister smile. She floated toward Su Cheng, feet off the ground.

“Your eyes now belong to me.”

Her seductive, ghostly voice echoed as her clawed finger stabbed toward Su Cheng’s eyeball.

A bead of cold sweat slid down Su Cheng’s forehead. In the face of death, the ghostly power within him erupted, his jade-black hand breaking free from the spell that bound him.

He drew his blade in a flash and stabbed forward.

The Hundred-Eyed Demon shrieked, her black claws growing longer as she reached for the gleaming blade.

Slice!

A flash of cold steel severed several of her fingers.

The blade drove deep into her left eye, piercing through to the back of her skull.

Thick, black, oily blood oozed from her left eye. The two main eyes on her face were her vital points; once destroyed, her demonic power was lost, leaving her a mere ghost.

With her left eye blinded, her spell upon Su Cheng failed, and he quickly broke free.

But then, a sudden change occurred.

His blade was trapped by a powerful force, unable to be withdrawn.

The Hundred-Eyed Demon, now missing an eye, laughed wickedly and reached her eye-covered hand toward Su Cheng’s heart.

“Move!”

A sharp, feminine cry sounded unexpectedly behind him.

At the sound, Su Cheng instinctively abandoned his blade and rolled aside.

A golden light streaked like a meteor, piercing the demon’s chest and pinning her to the wall with immense force.

Only then did Su Cheng see it was a knight’s lance, radiating holy golden light.

Pinned to the wall, the Hundred-Eyed Demon struggled frantically, but the power of the lance seemed to restrain her utterly, leaving her nowhere to escape.

“Are you alright?”

Ye Shenwei stepped forward, extending a pale hand to Su Cheng, who had collapsed.

“I’m fine—almost met my end,” he replied with a bitter smile, amazed by the power of Ye Shenwei’s lance.

So this was the true strength of a professional?

What he didn’t know was that Ye Shenwei herself was even more stunned.

The Hundred-Eyed Demon ranked among the stronger high-level monsters; even with her power as a professional, killing her outright was no easy feat.

But Su Cheng, not yet a professional, had fought her to this point and destroyed one of her main eyes. It was almost unbelievable.

If not for her left eye being destroyed, losing half her magic, Ye Shenwei could not have pinned her so easily.

“That lance—is it your weapon?” Su Cheng asked, curiosity shining in his eyes. Ye Shenwei’s knight’s lance seemed to possess an aura of its own, clearly a rare weapon.

“Yes, my Radiant Lance has a holy light effect—it purifies the undead and restrains ghostly and spiritual entities,” Ye Shenwei explained simply.

The rest of the battle was straightforward. With her eye destroyed and pinned to the brink of death, the Hundred-Eyed Demon was no match for their combined assault, and quickly met her end.

Just as they slew her, a cold, glowing pearl dropped from the demon’s body.

Did she just drop loot?