She Dominates the Immortal Realm with Her HP Bar-Chapter 78

But when transforming into her human form, Yan Luoyue could consciously control her body to partially retain her turtle traits, allowing her to carry a shell on her back for defense while in human form.

Based on her own perception, she didn’t lose her human ribs when manifesting the shell.

Thus, the question of how diverse demonic creatures transform into humanoid forms remains somewhat of a mystery.

Since an octopus's reproductive tentacle functions no differently from a regular tentacle outside of mating needs, Yan Luoyue forced herself to ignore the issue of Senior Brother Kang's eight limbs.

Soon, she shifted her attention to their journey.

The massive manta ray carried the three of them eastward as Kang Bashui briefly explained the situation with the demonic realm's seal.

"The demons within this seal are primarily 'Rolling Spheres.' We’ve often speculated that on the demon realm’s side of the seal, there must be a whole settlement of Rolling Spheres nearby."

After rattling off this explanation, Kang Bashui suddenly remembered something.

He paused, scratching his head with one of the arms growing from his chest:

"Oh, Junior Sister Yan, Junior Brother Wu, are you familiar with Rolling Spheres?"

Yan Luoyue smiled and nodded. "Yes."

"Ah, good, good." Kang Bashui chuckled warmly. "I was going to pull out a set of Demon Slayer cards to show you if you didn’t know."

At this moment, as the creator of Demon Slayer, Yan Luoyue smiled silently, keeping her pride to herself.

Rolling Spheres were creatures that closely resembled slimes.

With their perfectly round shape and no limbs, they moved by rolling around on the ground, earning them the nickname "Rolling Balls."

Though these demons looked translucent and cute, and their nickname had a playful charm, Kang Bashui, as the overseer of this demonic seal, never underestimated their lethality.

The manta ray flapped its wing-like fins as it descended. Kang Bashui was the first to leap off its back.

Next, Yan Luoyue slid down the slightly tilted surface of the manta ray like it was a playground slide.

Wu Manshuang was about to follow right after her—until he saw Kang Bashui extend four arms (from his chest and sides) toward him with a warm, friendly smile.

Kang Bashui said in a reassuringly steady voice, "Junior Brother Wu, do you need Senior Brother to carry you down?"

Wu Manshuang: "..."

No, thank you, thank you very much, thank you for every single one of your arms—but being carried down was absolutely unnecessary!

Yan Luoyue, standing nearby, froze for a moment.

Then, instead of helping Wu Manshuang out of this awkward situation, she shamelessly burst into laughter, slapping her thigh in amusement!

Wu Manshuang: "..."

He stared at Yan Luoyue in silence for a few seconds before sighing helplessly.

Then, he lifted the hem of his cloak and draped it over himself—effectively hiding from the world.

...

The entrance to the demonic seal was plastered with layers of talismans.

Some were made of special materials, invisible and untouchable to ordinary people, while others looked freshly applied, their colors still vibrant.

Kang Bashui moved swiftly, bypassing the overlapping inscriptions on the seal to retrieve a specific talisman buried beneath three layers.

At the same time, he placed a new talisman in its spot, seamlessly replacing the old one.

"If you remove the wrong talisman or fail to replace it in time, an alarm will sound, and the intruder will be attacked," Kang Bashui explained. "This is to prevent accidents."

After all, during the Demon Subjugation War, there had been human traitors as well.

The key talisman removed, the seal slowly parted, opening a gap just wide enough for a single person to pass through.

The three of them stepped inside one by one, and the entrance closed behind them.

As soon as they entered, Yan Luoyue noticed the dimmer light, a soft pink glow falling onto her face and body from above.

She looked up and wasn’t surprised to see a sky tinted in shades of pink and purple, with swirling traces in the distance that reminded her of the demon realm’s heavens.

Wu Manshuang murmured, "Senior Brother Kang, this must be the border between the human world and the demon realm, right?"

Though phrased as a question, his tone was certain.

"Correct. There are three layers of protective barriers between the human world and the demon realm. We’ve just passed through the first," Kang Bashui said, gesturing.

"Talismans, magical tools, and formations work together to ensure that the stronger a demon is, the harder it is for them to breach our seal. So, the creatures that manage to slip past two barriers and reach the space between the first and second layers are usually very weak."

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Hearing this, a subtle expression flickered across Wu Manshuang’s face.

Before Yan Luoyue could glance at him, he waved a hand slightly, signaling that he was fine.

Ahem. He was just remembering the circumstances of his birth.

Perhaps for survival, the little green snake had been wrapped in a faint layer of demonic energy the moment he hatched.

And because he was so scrawny, most carnivorous demons didn’t even consider him worth eating.

With this deceptive demonic aura, his pitifully thin frame, and his paralyzing gaze, Wu Manshuang had somehow managed to flee all the way to the demon realm’s seal.

He had seen powerful demons stopped at the barrier with his own eyes.

Yet when he tried passing through himself, the seal that had blocked countless demons felt as insubstantial as air—he hadn’t even noticed its presence.

Wu Manshuang had always assumed the seal was intelligent enough to recognize he was a small demon, not a true demonic creature.

But it wasn’t until today, after hearing Kang Bashui’s explanation, that Wu Manshuang realized the likely reason: back then, he had been too weak, so the seal didn’t even consider him a threat worth intercepting…

Wu Manshuang: “…”

For some reason, his mood suddenly felt a little complicated.

Kang Bashui pulled two bamboo tubes from his storage pouch:

“Compared to the two layers of seals inside, the area we’re standing on now is very safe. I’ll teach you the basics of talismans here.”

Unlike the Sword Peak, where disciples were simply thrown at the foot of the sword formation and left to figure things out on their own, the Talisman Peak’s teaching methods were far more welcoming.

Not only did they have guidance from senior disciples who were also fellow demonic cultivators, but they even got beginner tutorials!

Kang Bashui said, “First, we need to prepare some talisman ink.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Senior Brother Kang “pfft—” spat out a stream of ink.

Like an automatic soda dispenser, he filled each bamboo tube about eighty percent full.

Perhaps worried his junior siblings might misunderstand, Kang Bashui handed them the tubes and added,

“As far as I know, turtle and snake clans don’t have this ability. If you need talisman ink, you can always buy it from shops.”

Yan Luoyue: “…”

Wu Manshuang: “…”

They couldn’t openly complain in front of their senior brother, but beneath their sleeves, their small hands secretly intertwined.

Combining pinyin and Morse code, Yan Luoyue and Wu Manshuang had developed a secret language of their own.

This code allowed for more complex conversations and came in handy when eye contact or gestures weren’t possible.

For instance, right now, the frugal snake-boy Wu Manshuang tapped out a message on Yan Luoyue’s palm: “So cost-effective.”

They didn’t even need to buy talisman ink—they could just produce it themselves!

Unlike Wu Manshuang, who needed expensive materials for his array formations.

If only he could be like Senior Brother Kang, drawing free arrays with his own blood, how wonderful would that be?

Yan Luoyue’s focus, however, was entirely elsewhere: “I watched the whole time, and his teeth didn’t even stain!”

Some people’s teeth turn yellow after drinking orange juice, yet this octopus spat ink and still had pearly whites.

This was practically a miracle, on par with eating three leek-stuffed pastries without a single trace of the smell lingering!

Kang Bashui promptly transformed his arm into a tentacle, dipped it in the ink, and drew a simple talisman on the paper.

“This is a Swift Wind Talisman, one of the basic beginner talismans. The key is to draw it in one smooth stroke while maintaining even spiritual energy—give it a try, junior siblings?”

Even as he spoke, Kang Bashui didn’t stop drawing.

With eight tentacles, he passed the task around like a game of hot potato, each taking a turn to demonstrate.

By the time he finished speaking, Senior Brother Kang had demonstrated eight times and already had eight completed talismans stacked up.

Even the slowest learner would grasp it after eight demonstrations, let alone quick-witted talents like Yan Luoyue and Wu Manshuang.

Yan Luoyue had barely drawn the first stroke when she noticed similarities between talismans and array formations.

The foundational techniques had already been practiced in array studies, so an entry-level talisman like the Swift Wind Talisman posed no difficulty for either of them.

“Alright, junior siblings, watch closely—”

Kang Bashui gathered ten talismans together, then fanned them out midair like a row of mahjong tiles.

With a tap of his finger, the ten Swift Wind Talismans conjured a gust that swept away the top layer of dust, revealing the hidden demons beneath.

They were a group of translucent, round demons, varying in color—red, yellow, pink, green.

The weakest demons that slipped between the first and second seals were no bigger than a peanut, the largest only the size of an infant’s fist.

Clustered underground, they almost resembled some newly cultivated succulent plants.

Compared to the grotesque, repulsive demons typically encountered, these juvenile Round Demons even looked somewhat cute.

Yet Kang Bashui’s expression held no trace of fondness—only deep wariness and disgust.

Instead of immediately exterminating them, he first told Yan Luoyue and Wu Manshuang a story.

“This happened about ten years ago… Around the same time, demonic outbreaks started frequently occurring at seals across the land.”

Over ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​‍a decade ago, an exceptionally weak Round Demon escaped the first seal and reached the human world.

Small and inconspicuous, it rolled away from the cultivators’ inspections like a pebble, arriving at a nearby village.

There, a three-year-old child found it.

The toddler didn’t recognize the danger, only thinking the “pretty little stone” was fascinating, so he picked it up.

Round Demons have no mouths. Upon contact with prey, their surfaces secrete an extremely adhesive fluid.

Like slime molds, they climb along the point of contact, enveloping their victim in their soft, elastic bodies, trapping them until they suffocate, then slowly digesting the corpse.

Because of this feeding method, adult Round Demons are far from cute.

Those massive spheres are always murky and opaque, their interiors filled with preserved corpses—faces frozen in agony, decomposing at an unnaturally slow pace.

Records from the Demon-Subjugation Wars mention a Round Demon as large as a riverboat.

It once rampaged through a camp of Foundation Establishment cultivators. With fires breaking out everywhere, reinforcements couldn’t arrive.

Those cultivators could only watch as their comrades were trapped alive inside the demon, their terrified expressions preserved like specimens in amber.

For an entire month, the survivors witnessed how their friends and family gradually decomposed from plump and fresh to slightly rotten.

The three-year-old’s fate was much the same.

The moment he picked up the “stone,” it stuck to his hand.

Unaware of the danger, the child happily played with it all day, even clutching it in his sleep that night.

By the second day, the “stone” had become a strange, colorful film covering his entire palm.

On the third day, the film grew thinner but kept spreading, soon encasing half his arm.

By the fourth, the child finally grew frightened and ran to an adult for help.

The villager tried to peel the film off, only for his own hand to get stuck as well.

By then, the film had already reached the child’s shoulder.

…On the fifth day, it crept over the child’s face, suffocating him. Meanwhile, the strange membrane had spread across the adult’s hand.

In the end, the villager severed his own right hand to escape.

Kang Bashui sighed deeply. “After much difficulty, the villagers finally contacted cultivators. When I arrived on the twelfth day and saw the scene…”

The children's corpses were all wrapped in thin plastic film. It was midsummer, and the bodies decayed rapidly.

However, the parts encased in the film beforehand were oddly "preserved."

As for this particular escaped Round Demon, it was exceptionally small and weak in power.

So much so that even its feeding speed was slower than other Round Demons.

Thus, what Kang Bashui ultimately faced was a child's corpse with a layered decomposition effect, reminiscent of a cocktail.

The child's feet had already rotted into a mushy, liquefied state, while the head remained eerily intact. The terror-stricken expression was so lifelike that it seemed as though, had the film been torn off in time, the child might have survived.

"..."

Hearing this, Yan Luoyue immediately showed signs of discomfort.

Kang Bashui pinched the bridge of his nose.

"From that day on, whenever a horde of demons gathered, if there was a Round Demon among them, it became my primary target for extermination."

Mortals lacked spiritual energy, so even a Round Demon the size of a pebble could kill a child.

But for cultivators, eliminating these small Round Demons was simple.

They didn’t need talismans or magical artifacts. All it took was...

Kang Bashui channeled spiritual energy into his foot and stomped on the densest cluster of Round Demons—

Under his shoe came a squelching "pop," like a water balloon bursting.

The nearby Round Demons scattered, only to be swiftly crushed under Kang Bashui’s feet, as if he were playing a game of whack-a-mole.

The technique required no skill whatsoever. After just one glance, Yan Luoyue stepped forward to try it herself.

After crushing one Round Demon, her expression turned slightly odd.

Wu Manshuang asked, "What does it feel like?"

His inherited memories contained knowledge of Round Demons, but this was his first encounter with them in person.

Yan Luoyue frowned slightly, struggling to describe it.

"The sensation underfoot... well, how should I put it? It’s like squishing a crunchy cockroach through a sheet of paper, with the added clarity of feeling it burst..."

Wu Manshuang: "..."

That was... unnecessarily vivid.

Stomping was merely a demonstration of demon-slaying.

After familiarizing his junior disciples with the Round Demons’ traits, Kang Bashui taught them eight basic offensive talismans in quick succession.

Next, they first flushed the Round Demons from their hiding spots, then used the newly learned talismans—summoning flames, ice arrows, earth spikes, and entangling vines—to eliminate them one by one.

Once the first seal was cleared, the trio advanced toward the second.

"The Round Demons blocked by the second seal are usually larger and can reflect a cultivator’s attacks."

As if to prove his point, a murky sphere nearly half a meter in diameter came rolling toward them with menacing force.

Kang Bashui promptly demonstrated by drawing out a talisman—the ice arrow talisman he had just taught them to craft.

Holding the talisman between two fingers, he flicked it toward the oncoming Round Demon. The paper crumbled to ash, and a cluster of ice arrows infused with spiritual energy shot straight at the demon.

Previously, any Round Demon struck by these arrows had been impaled instantly, oozing clear gelatinous fluid before dying after a brief struggle.

But this time, when the ice arrows hit the Round Demon’s spherical surface, they didn’t pierce it. Instead, they rebounded along the exact same trajectory.

Kang Bashui calmly reached out and shattered the returning ice arrows.

"Aside from talismans, sword energy, spells... any attack within its tolerance range will be partially absorbed, with the remainder reflected back."

"Generally, to eliminate a Round Demon, you must exceed its tolerance threshold."

"For example, if an ice arrow talisman isn’t strong enough, we upgrade to a heavy ice arrow talisman. If that still fails, we escalate further to a ten-mile frost talisman."

Rubbing his chin, Kang Bashui suddenly flashed a sly grin that clashed with his honest appearance.

"However, after extensive experimentation, I’ve discovered a new method."

In the next moment, Kang Bashui spat out a stream of ink. His eight tentacles danced like dragons, swiftly inscribing eight talismans, which he slapped onto himself—front, back, left, and right.

Then, he fired another heavy ice arrow talisman at the Round Demon.

The heavy ice arrow struck the demon and rebounded.

Kang Bashui didn’t even attempt to dodge. Instead, he smugly planted his hands on his hips.

...Admittedly, watching eight hands simultaneously splay out like flower petals was a visually striking sight.

The heavy ice arrow thudded against Kang Bashui’s chest with a dull impact.

Immediately, it reversed course again, shooting back toward the Round Demon!

Yan Luoyue raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Kang Bashui laughed heartily. "It can reflect attacks? So can I! I call this talisman the Reflector Talisman!"

Let these Round Demon brats reflect cultivators’ attacks—bring it on, who’s afraid of whom?

Kang Bashui could reflect their reflections!

With a grand sweep, he grabbed a handful of heavy ice arrow talismans and scattered them at the Round Demon like tossing water.

The Round Demon tried to flee, but the ice arrows struck it.

Thanks to its reflective nature, the arrows ricocheted repeatedly between the demon and Kang Bashui.

The Round Demon could only deflect most of the attack.

The remaining fraction had to be endured.

Finally, before the ice arrows’ momentum faded, the Round Demon let out a soft "pop," deflating as one persistent arrow pierced its body, releasing a murky, gelatinous ooze.

Kang Bashui proudly rapped his knuckles against the talismans on his chest.

Even his own hand was repelled by the talisman’s effect.

"This talisman is my masterpiece—enhancing defense, reducing damage, reflecting enemy attacks, and even standing up to sword cultivators!"

"..."

Yan Luoyue stared at the scene, her gaze shifting between the Round Demon and Kang Bashui.

Suddenly, a lightbulb seemed to flicker above her head.

—That’s it!

She could follow the Round Demon and Kang Bashui’s example, crafting a magical artifact that reflected attacks—a literal "spike armor" for herself!

As for materials... the turtle shell she had recently shed would be perfect.

And supplementary ingredients? Well, weren’t these Round Demons right in front of her?!

Overcome with excitement, Yan Luoyue’s eyes sparkled.

She cast her gaze toward the depths of the seal, surveying the horde of Round Demons rolling toward her with the joy of a bountiful autumn harvest.

That one—exceptionally round and large, clearly highly elastic—would make excellent spike armor material.

This one, with its springy texture, even bouncing a little when rolling over bumps, was also ideal.

Was this just an ordinary demonic seal?

No, this was Yan Luoyue’s personal treasure trove!

...

Kang Bashui stared blankly at the scene before him.

Ever since Junior Sister Yan Luoyue witnessed his rebound talismans, she seemed to have been spurred by a competitive streak.

He was just about to draw a few rebound talismans to gift to Junior Sister Yan and Junior Brother Wu when, before he could even start, he saw Yan Luoyue extend her small hand toward Wu Manshuang.

Yan Luoyue commanded, "Sword formation!"

Wu Manshuang understood her intention immediately and pulled out materials from his storage pouch.

Drawing from his experience dismantling the Golden Core sword formations of the Sword Peak, he crafted a small, handheld sword formation for Yan Luoyue on the spot.

Then, Yan Luoyue strapped on the formation and charged straight into a horde of Round Demons.

Kang Bashui: "…"

Kang Bashui nearly jumped out of his skin in alarm. "Wait, Junior Sister Yan, come back!"

After all, the Round Demons' specialty was rebounding attacks.

As a turtle spirit, Yan Luoyue had naturally low offensive power but high defense. If she were to cast a few spells against the Round Demons alone, she’d be fine.

But Junior Brother Wu had just improvised a small sword formation for her.

The sword energy from that formation—each blade of sword aura whistled through the air, its formidable power evident just from the sight.

For Yan Luoyue to charge into a crowd of Round Demons wielding this thing was practically inviting hundreds of sword auras to rebound onto her at once!

Even if you’re a turtle spirit, you can’t just do that!

This wasn’t longevity—this was courting death!

The whole time, he’d been preoccupied with protecting Junior Brother Wu’s fragile psyche. Who’d have thought the real problem would lie with Junior Sister Yan, whom Wu Manshuang had described as "stable, extremely stable, the kind of person you’d trust to outlive you and arrange your funeral"?

But the scene that unfolded before Kang Bashui in the next second made him doubt his own eyes.

The sword auras from the formation shot out in all directions, only to be rebounded by the Round Demons’ bodies and crash back onto Yan Luoyue at the center.

Kang Bashui sucked in a sharp breath. The two tentacles on his chest instantly stretched out, lengthening two or three times in an instant, as he tried to fish Yan Luoyue out of the formation.

Yet before his tentacles could even brush the hem of her robe, the sword auras struck Yan Luoyue first.

Those chilling sword energies collided with her—only to melt away like snow under the scorching sun, leaving not a single trace behind.

Kang Bashui: "…"

In the brief moment he hesitated, the sword formation unleashed its second wave of auras.

The majestic sword strikes sent the surrounding Round Demons screeching in pain—"Squeak!" "Screech!"—as they rolled and flailed (though, to be fair, rolling and flailing was all they could do anyway) in a desperate attempt to flee from Yan Luoyue.

Ironically, one of the Round Demons’ tactics was to encircle their prey and hunt them down.

Trapped prey would attack, only for their strikes to rebound off the demons’ bodies.

With escape routes blocked by other Round Demons, the prey had little room to dodge—and could even end up dying by their own attacks.

Yet today, this well-known strategy was completely overturned by Junior Sister Yan!

Kang Bashui watched in disbelief as Yan Luoyue, armed with the sword formation, charged into the demon horde. With just herself and the formation, she achieved the miraculous effect of: "Freeze! You’re all surrounded by me!"

Kang Bashui: "…"

At this moment, he finally understood why, when he’d asked Yuan Feiyu about this pair of junior siblings, Yuan Feiyu had spoken in such a complicated tone and given that "the kind of person you’d trust to outlive you and arrange your funeral" assessment.

It wasn’t because Junior Sister Yan was reliable and dependable.

It was because she was just that invincible, that indestructible—the kind of person who could court death all she wanted and still walk away unscathed!

Good heavens, so that’s what "arranging your funeral" meant.

Kang Bashui: Shocked him and his eight tentacles for a whole year.

Had he not seen it with his own eyes, Kang Bashui would never have believed that someone could withstand all the rebounded damage from a sword formation and treat it like a light drizzle.

This was practically on par with eating three leek dumplings without a single trace of the smell lingering afterward—a feat bordering on miraculous!

What Senior Brother Kang didn’t know was that his current state of mind perfectly mirrored Yan Luoyue’s not long ago.

The two of them mutually being each other’s "leek dumplings" could be considered a form of two-way devotion.

But when he turned his head again, Kang Bashui was startled to realize that while Junior Sister Yan’s situation was stable enough to outlive him, Junior Brother Wu was causing trouble again.

Kang Bashui: "…"

He turned just in time to see Wu Manshuang remove his gloves and nonchalantly extend his slender, pale hand toward a Round Demon.

—Ah, this reckless little troublemaker!

If you’re going to touch it, why deliberately take off your gloves first?

Aside from their rebounding ability, Round Demons also secreted a notoriously sticky substance.

In past demon-subjugation battles, countless cultivators had been ensnared by their adhesive bodies, unable to break free before being swallowed whole by the spherical demons.

Even if the prey was too large for the Round Demon to engulf immediately—forcing it to stretch into a thin membrane to slowly envelop its victim—being stuck to one of these things was no laughing matter!

"Junior Brother Wu—!"

Kang Bashui bellowed in alarm, his two elongated tentacles swiftly changing direction to reach for Wu Manshuang instead.

But his heartfelt plea did not inspire any self-preservation in Wu Manshuang.

On the contrary, hearing his shout only seemed to spur Wu Manshuang into acting faster, higher, and stronger—as he decisively jabbed his fingertip into the Round Demon’s body!

Kang Bashui: "…"

He had an epiphany: the only thing worse than a mischievous child was a mischievous snake-child.

Wasn’t Junior Brother Wu supposed to be delicate, even squeamish at the sight of blood?

How could he not mind touching something as filthy as a Round Demon that rolled around in the dirt all day?

Kang Bashui closed his eyes in despair, but he still had to clean up this mess.

As he rushed toward Wu Manshuang, his brush flew across paper, swiftly drawing eight rebound talismans.

"Junior Brother Wu, stick these rebound talismans on first to kill this Round Demon…"

A dead Round Demon’s adhesive properties would gradually fade. In just half a day, it could be peeled off Wu Manshuang’s finger.

But almost the moment he finished drawing the talismans, the situation took another unexpected turn.

The murky-colored Round Demon, which had been tightly glued to Wu Manshuang’s fingertip, suddenly began thrashing violently.

Its entire body turned a fluorescent, heart-shaped pink.

"…"

The sight was so bizarre that even Yan Luoyue, busy in the distance, turned her head to ask a question Kang Bashui didn’t understand.

"Is this your new invention…? Did some macho sword cultivator senior’s aesthetic influence you?"

Wu Manshuang shook his head immediately. "No, it’s just my poison reacting inside it."

Round Demons were essentially semi-fluid, adhesive blobs.

Wu Manshuang couldn’t say for sure which component of the demon had clashed with his toxin—only that the reaction had dyed it pink in its death throes.

As soon as he finished speaking, the Round Demon convulsed a few more times, then obligingly deflated like a punctured balloon.

It was like a deflated rubber ball, its internal gel oozing out in a messy spill until nothing was left but a limp outer skin.

Wu Manshuang flicked his wrist, and the round demon dropped from his fingertips like a discarded waterskin.

Kang Bashui, who had finally sprinted to Wu Manshuang’s side with eight arms holding eight talismans, hesitated, unsure whether to stick them on him or not.

Well, since he was already here, no point wasting the talismans.

Kang Bashui bent his tentacle-like arms outward and slapped all eight talismans onto Wu Manshuang’s body. As he did so, he asked,

"Junior Brother Wu, these things cling to people like leeches and refuse to let go… How did you manage it?"

Since Kang Bashui had compared the round demons to leeches, Wu Manshuang answered in kind.

He replied calmly, "Sprinkle 'salt.'"

……

With Yan Luoyue and Wu Manshuang’s help, Kang Bashui’s task of clearing the second seal became twice as easy.

In Kang Bashui’s eyes, these junior siblings were incredibly considerate.

Yan Luoyue, of course, had been lively, adorable, and understanding ever since they first met.

Aside from giving him a minor scare earlier—though that was only because he hadn’t picked up on Yuan Feiyu’s hint—she had been nothing but sensible the entire journey. Now, she was charging into the horde of round demons and slaughtering them left and right.

As for Junior Brother Wu…

Sure, Wu Manshuang might be a bit delicate, but he was still young—what was wrong with indulging him a little?

At least he didn’t falter in critical moments and could fight side by side with Kang Bashui.

Every round demon that so much as brushed against Wu Manshuang’s skin met an instant death.

Normally, it was the round demons that used their secreted mucus to prey on mortals and cultivators alike.

Now, that same mucus had become their death warrant, turning them into prey for Wu Manshuang instead. One could say it was poetic justice.

The only problem now was…

His junior siblings were so capable that it made him, the senior brother, look like he was slacking off!

Kang Bashui decided this wouldn’t do and resolved to put in twice the effort.

As an octopus, his speed in scattering talismans was eight times faster than an ordinary person’s.

But as the saying goes, walk the night path long enough, and you’ll meet a ghost.

In a careless moment, Kang Bashui failed to notice a round demon advancing instead of retreating. With a glob of mucus, it latched onto one of his arms.

In human form, his arms were equivalent to his tentacles in octopus form.

"……"

For Kang Bashui, this wasn’t a big deal.

The sect had sent him to handle this seal precisely because they’d considered this possibility.

—Octopuses had incredible regenerative abilities. Even if a tentacle was severed, it would grow back.

Even the specialized mating arm was no exception.

In fact, some male octopuses, fearing they might be eaten by females after mating, had evolved their mating arms to detach on their own—a literal "cutting losses to save the greater whole" strategy.

Normally, if a tentacle got stuck to a round demon, Kang Bashui wouldn’t even blink before slicing it off.

After all, it would grow back in less than half a day—no need to bother with tedious extraction methods.

But the problem was… Wu Manshuang was here.

Kang Bashui glanced cautiously at Wu Manshuang, recalling Yuan Feiyu’s warning: "Junior Brother Wu is very fragile—can’t even stand the sight of blood. Take care of him, will you?"

Kang Bashui: "……"

If he chopped off a limb right in front of Wu Manshuang, wouldn’t the poor kid be terrified?

Such a good junior brother, bravely fighting on the front lines despite his fear of blood, never causing trouble the entire journey…

As his senior brother, how could he possibly traumatize Wu Manshuang with such a gruesome sight?

Kang Bashui mentally scolded himself. The burly, eight-foot-tall man forced a gentle smile onto his face.

He began attacking the round demon stuck to him with all his might, planning to wait until it died and lost its stickiness before carefully peeling it off.

Not far away, Wu Manshuang turned his head in Kang Bashui’s direction, seemingly noticing his predicament.

"Senior Brother Kang, do you want…"

Kang Bashui didn’t realize Wu Manshuang was offering to poison the round demon so it would detach on its own.

Instead, his mind was entirely occupied with thoughts of "don’t cut off the arm," "don’t cut it off in front of Junior Brother Wu," and "reassure Junior Brother Wu that I won’t cut it off."

So, Kang Bashui pinched his voice into a high-pitched, saccharine tone, pretending he was having a friendly chat with the round demon stuck to him:

"Be a good little thing and let go of your Uncle Kang, won’t you?"

"……"

One thing was certain: Wu Manshuang wasn’t scared by the prospect of a severed limb.

But the moment he heard that voice, Wu Manshuang leaped backward in genuine alarm, thoroughly spooked by Kang Bashui’s bizarre performance!