Chapter 16: Fighting the Heavenly Demon

A strike filled with grief and fury, almost savage in nature.
Su Che’s punch was not merely an eruption of true energy; it was a display of skill far beyond his usual level. With just one punch, he shattered that figure, as if breaking a mirror.
“Ah!”
A woman’s scream echoed as the shattered figure dispersed into streams of air. Yet in the blink of an eye, Xing Er’s appearance reformed—this time with blood streaming from all seven orifices. She looked at Su Che with deep sorrow, pleading, “Brother, how can you be so heartless…”
It seemed convincing! But sadly, this move was no longer effective.
Extremes meet their opposites—once something reaches its peak, it reverses. Su Che’s punch had shattered not only the image of the Heavenly Demon but also the weakness deep within his heart. From now on, any attempts to use such tricks against him would be utterly useless.
Outside the examination hall, the bearded examiner murmured, “Good kid. I really underestimated him.”
“This child is quite remarkable,” said the kind-faced examiner, nodding. “He destroyed a mental demon so quickly, which proves his strong will and solid innate talent.”
“Thinking of taking him as a disciple?” the bearded examiner asked, sipping tea leisurely.
The kind-faced examiner shook his head. “He came with Yu Qing from Xuanji Peak. I guess he’s already one of their members.”
“Hmm. In the past hundred years, Xuanji Peak has grown in prominence, producing several gifted individuals among their inner disciples,” the bearded examiner said, glancing at Yu Qing standing at the entrance of the hall. “Especially this Yu Qing—his chances of becoming a true disciple are quite high.”
The kind-faced examiner nodded slightly…
Inside the examination hall, Su Che had fully unleashed himself. Free from any distractions or concerns, he pummeled the image of the Heavenly Demon with punches and kicks. Though they were ordinary martial arts techniques, the true energy he channeled was real. Each punch and kick carried immense explosive force, easily capable of shattering boulders as tall as a person—enough to deal significant damage to the Heavenly Demon.
At first, he didn’t notice it, but after shattering the image several times and reducing it to streams of air, Su Che keenly realized its size had decreased slightly. This showed that his attacks were effective. If he continued like this, he would eventually be able to completely destroy it.
Although the extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon had no physical form and existed as streams of air, it still had thoughts and intelligence—quite high, at that. Of course, it knew it had encountered a fierce human with an iron will, extremely difficult to shake.

This can’t go on. So, it too became fierce. After letting out a sharp, shrill howl, it charged at Su Che with its fists and feet, willing to be shattered again and lose half of its volume just to plunge into this human body, invade his brain, and devour his soul through possession. Once possession succeeded and he was consumed, all previous losses could be made up for, and his strength could even increase greatly…
“Gah gah!”
The Heavenly Demon let out a sinister laugh. Su Che kicked it, splitting its body in two—the lower half continued to struggle with Su Che, while the upper half suddenly leaped high before dropping down, enveloping Su Che’s head like a translucent bag. In an instant, it vanished into Su Che’s skull.
“Haha, little guy, you’re dead! Your body is mine now!”
The Heavenly Demon laughed wildly in Su Che’s mind, its vile noise directly attacking his soul.
“It’s been so long since I’ve tasted a human soul. It’s utterly fresh—the most delicious…” Even though its other half had been completely shattered by Su Che, it still roared triumphantly, seemingly certain of victory and in complete control of Su Che’s fate.
Possessed by the Heavenly Demon, Su Che was naturally extremely tense, his nerves straining. For a moment, he didn’t know how to fight back in his own mind.
“Hahaha…”
The hateful Heavenly Demon laughed maniacally, seemingly in the upper hand—until suddenly…
“Ah, what is this? Wah!”
After a scream, Su Che’s mind fell silent. Upon closer inspection, he could no longer sense the presence of the Heavenly Demon.
What was going on?
After a quick thought, Su Che understood—it must have been the small tower in his mind that had absorbed the Heavenly Demon.
“Seeking its own doom—this unlucky guy has walked right into a trap!” Su Che thought to himself with a smirk. “If it hadn’t tried to possess me, the small tower would have had trouble absorbing it!”
Quick-witted, Su Che continued to pretend to be in danger, deliberately showing expressions of anger, sadness, frustration, and fear.
Outside the examination room, the two examiners watched everything closely. It wasn’t because they were idle and enjoyed watching others fight, but because it was their duty to supervise and prevent cheating. Strictly speaking, the small tower in Su Che’s mind having swallowed the Heavenly Demon was also a form of cheating. It was unclear whether the examiners outside could detect this.

At this moment, the kind-looking examiner sighed softly, “Still lacking experience. How could you let an external demon get so close! You must know that once a demon possesses someone, its combat strength increases by at least two levels.” In other words, a demon with the strength of someone in the early stages of Qi cultivation, once it succeeds in possessing someone, could potentially devour the soul of a cultivator in the later stages. The logic is simple: a bomb exploding outside the body might not kill anyone, but if it explodes inside someone’s body, things get chaotic… The bearded examiner chuckled silently, clearly taking some pleasure in others’ misfortunes. If the boy inside failed, it would prove his judgment was even better. Neither of them realized that Su Che had already overcome the crisis, and done so easily, which showed that his performance was very successful, with his expressions being highly convincing. After about fifteen minutes, Su Che felt it was time. Normally, the struggle after a demon takes possession is the most dangerous, with everything happening in the blink of an eye, so it was quite reasonable that it took fifteen minutes to see a result. Hoo~~~ Su Che’s expression settled as he let out a long sigh. He was drenched in sweat and seemed somewhat exhausted. Yet, this expression precisely indicated that he had won, ultimately defeating the external demon in possession! “Hehe.” The kind-looking examiner smirked from the sidelines and glanced briefly at the bearded one. These two had served as examiners here for many years. Besides chatting, they would occasionally place small bets on certain assessments for fun, with no real stakes. The winner would enjoy a brief sense of pride, which would then vanish without a trace. After about a dozen breaths, Su Che found a way to leave and stepped out through that dark doorway. After tidying up his clothes, he bowed and asked, “May I ask, esteemed seniors, has the disciple passed the assessment?” “Yes!” The kind-looking examiner picked up two jade talismans from the table, snapped them together, and used a special method to replace Su Che’s identity talisman. Then he waved at him and said, “From today onward, you are an outer disciple of our Tianxuan Sect. Since you came with Yu Qing, I won’t say much more. He will explain everything to you.” “Thank you, senior.” Su Che stepped forward quickly, took the brand-new yellow jade talisman with both hands, controlled his excitement, and didn’t forget to thank the other examiner with the beard as well. “Go ahead.” The kind-looking examiner waved gently, while the bearded examiner merely nodded slightly.

Su Che held his identity jade token, turned, and walked forward to stand before Yu Qing. As his junior brother, he bowed and said, “Senior Yu Qing, I’m sorry for making you wait.”
“It’s fine; it wasn’t long,” Yu Qing replied with a smile. “What kind of monster did you encounter?”
“A celestial demon from beyond the realms,” Su Che replied in a low voice.
“Oh? It turns out to be the most difficult kind of celestial demon…”
Yu Qing was quite surprised. He examined Su Che carefully from head to toe and asked with a frown, “I really can’t believe you were able to slay such a celestial demon so quickly… Could it be that you’re no longer Su Che, but a puppet possessed by a celestial demon?”
Haha!
As soon as the words left his mouth, the two laughed at each other. Of course, Yu Qing’s words were just a joke, but they also gave him a deeper understanding of this young junior brother’s potential strength.