Chapter 129: The Abyss at the Mountain's Peak

"Hand it over, will you? You have nowhere left to run!" The demon-man stood there, looking completely self-assured.

*This guy...* Zhang Pu suddenly felt an urge to play the fool.

"Hand what over? And why are you chasing me?"

Zhang Pu reverted to his student persona, as if the incredible speed he had displayed just moments ago had been nothing more than a dream.

The demon-man opposite him seemed to laugh in a fit of rage, his demonic face twisting into a grotesque mask. "In all the time I, Lin Zhifa, have been here, this is the first time I've shown my true colors to someone. Ha! To think that I, who have always been slandered as a demon by others, have actually encountered a true demon tonight!"

*Lin Zhifa...?* What kind of nonsense was he spouting?

Zhang Pu felt a sudden impulse to slap the man. *He’s the demon, yet he’s calling me one? The audacity!*

"I don't know what you're talking about. Move aside, I’m done with my run and I want to go home," Zhang Pu said, making a move to shoulder his way past Lin Zhifa. "I don't understand a word you're saying. Please, I’m just a student."

Lin Zhifa laughed again in that same furious, mocking way, but he quickly restrained himself. "If you really are just a student, then I am..."

"A turtle, right?" Zhang Pu, feeling a perverse addiction to the mockery, decided to goad the demon further.

"Do you know what the consequences are if you fall into my hands?"

From the tone of Lin Zhifa’s voice, Zhang Pu knew the man was about to strike.

"What consequences? How would I know?"

Zhang Pu was actually telling the truth, but to Lin Zhifa, the words sounded as grating as possible.

"Then let me show you today—"

Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind erupted, strong enough to blow Zhang Pu straight into the bottomless abyss behind him. But Zhang Pu was certain Lin Zhifa wouldn't be content with just knocking him off; he wanted the Essence of the Black Dragon that Zhang Pu carried! This was clearly a bluff, meant only to intimidate him.

*This demon, Lin Zhifa, practices demonic arts that include not just dark-element spiritual power, but wind-element as well! Just look at the speed he used to chase me earlier,* Zhang Pu thought.

Now, the demon-man was using a massive surge of force, threatening to push him off the cliff. And then...

Zhang Pu immediately caught sight of the white mist swirling in Lin Zhifa’s palms.

It was this very mist—once it emerged, Lin Zhifa’s strength would increase exponentially. It was with this power that he had previously defeated two great masters, Old Fist-Master Zhao and Qing Yuanzi, single-handedly.

Zhang Pu dared not underestimate him.

No longer able to keep up the charade, Zhang Pu quickly formed a cultivation seal. He knew that against a half-demon like this, ordinary fighting techniques would be useless, and he was too slow to rely on physical speed alone.

To his dismay, Zhang Pu’s technique was shattered by Lin Zhifa almost instantly.

"You’re a cultivator?" Lin Zhifa followed up with this startling question.

*He even knows about cultivators!* Zhang Pu turned the thought over in his mind.

He remained silent, wondering if Lin Zhifa, like himself, had been reborn from some demon or devil realm, or perhaps had taken over another’s body. If that were the case, he would be a formidable opponent—no wonder Zhang Pu had felt a sense of powerlessness against him earlier.

"Then I cannot spare you—"

Lin Zhifa threw out another declaration, his sleeves billowing like sails in the wind.

Zhang Pu had been about to retort, "Aren't you stating the obvious?" because the man was clearly after his Essence and would never let him go. But suddenly, he witnessed the sheer terror of Lin Zhifa’s wind-element power.

In that instant, Zhang Pu realized he might not be a match for this demon.

*What now? A powerful enemy in front, a bottomless abyss behind...*

Even if he handed over the Essence, the man would likely take it and toss him into the abyss anyway.

*What else is there to do? I have to fight for my life!*

Zhang Pu cast a quick glance at the bright moon in the sky. Standing on this mountain peak, it felt as though he could reach out and touch the moon and stars. The starlight and moonlight poured down onto the summit, making the demon opposite him look even more monstrous, but it also allowed Zhang Pu to channel the Sun-Moon Sutra!

He understood that without the Sun-Moon Sutra, he had no chance of surviving this duel.

As Zhang Pu channeled the Sutra, streams of starlight and moonlight began to converge upon him.

"Huh?" Seeing this, Lin Zhifa was stunned, momentarily forgetting that he was in the middle of his own attack.

Zhang Pu didn't know if Lin Zhifa recognized the Sun-Moon Sutra, but he noted the look of recognition on the man's face—at the very least, he knew of its power.

The Sun-Moon Sutra was a light-element cultivation technique. At the initial stage—the Foundation Establishment stage, where Zhang Pu currently was—he could condense light orbs and fire light arrows.

He could barely manage light barriers or shields, but he lacked the cultivation level to manifest light swords or perform advanced healing arts.

Higher-level techniques, like "Salvation for All," "Divine Judgment," or "The Final Apocalypse," were known to him, but he lacked the foundation to practice them.

Seeing Lin Zhifa distracted, Zhang Pu knew his chance had arrived.

Instantly, he utilized the energy gathered from the stars and moon to condense a light orb and hurled it at Lin Zhifa, following it immediately with a volley of light arrows.

However, after his brief shock, Lin Zhifa recovered, and that familiar mist appeared once more.

The mist seemed to swallow the light orb whole; by the time Zhang Pu’s arrows struck, the orb had vanished.

*This guy’s mastery of dark-element arts started far earlier than my practice of the Sun-Moon Sutra. My current level is no match for him! I’ve only recently begun this practice, and even if I can draw on the stars and moon, he won't give me the time to do it!*

Suddenly, a thick cloud of fog surged forward. Zhang Pu felt a powerful force, and before he knew it, Lin Zhifa had him in his grip.

The next moment, he saw himself and Lin Zhifa falling together into the bottomless abyss.

"That damn demon, he really is crazy enough to try and take me down with him..." Zhang Pu couldn't help but curse.

Just then, he saw two wings sprout from Lin Zhifa’s back.

Below them, the abyss was swallowed by endless mist.

*This abyss is so deep!* Zhang Pu thought.

He hadn't realized Lin Zhifa couldn't actually fly; he was relying on some sort of flying artifact.

"Is that... the Cloud-Winged Harness?" Zhang Pu couldn't help but ask.