257: Chapter 257 Mirage

Shen Xingchen looked solemnly at the bivalve demon floating in the air.

Records indicated that there was a race among the demons famous for illusions, called the Mirage Demon.

Although their bloodline was inferior to the Tuitian Demon Snake, it was still extremely noble.

The one in front of him was an eighth-rank Mirage Demon.

The Mirage Demon laughed, "I really didn't know when the human race produced a figure like you, defying the seventh rank with the sixth rank, and still handling it with such ease."

Shen Xingchen did not have too many worries.

If there were no such illusion, he would still have reservations when striking and might suffer a considerable loss.

But now... an eighth-rank Mirage Demon was not considered a formidable character in front of him.

Shen Xingchen asked calmly, "So you think you've got me cornered?"

In fact, he didn't want to fight this eighth-rank Mirage Demon because the system task did not require hunting eighth-rank demons.

In Shen Xingchen's view, the appearance of the Mirage Demon was purely wasting his time.

The Mirage Demon sneered, "What else?"

The upper and lower shells seemed to be its entire body. As it spoke, the shells opened and closed like a big mouth, looking very bizarre.

Shen Xingchen chuckled softly. Silver battle armor covered him, and his body suddenly disappeared.

By the time his figure appeared again,

Shen Xingchen's palm was already full of thunder, pressing on the Mirage Demon's "head", "I don't know what you're laughing at either."

His body was like a bolt of lightning, flashing directly to the side of the Mirage Demon.

In the eyes of the Mirage Demon, it was like a ghost.

The Mirage Demon couldn't believe it, "How is this possible?"

Shen Xingchen smiled, "Nothing is impossible. Remember to be more careful in your next life."

The Mirage Demon killed enemies with illusions and usually would not reveal its true form.

Perhaps it felt that Shen Xingchen was only at the sixth rank and his threat was too small, so it stepped forward to mock him, but it didn't expect its true form to be directly caught by someone.

A thought flashed through the Mirage Demon's mind, and it couldn't help but be both shocked and terrified, "You are... Shen Xingchen!?"

This newly emerged genius figure of Snowfield Dragon City already had a small reputation among the demons, and his main deeds were twofold.

First, after flirting with the royal snake girl Youyue, not only was he not petrified and enslaved, but he retreated wholly unscathed.

Second, when he was in Dark Moon Valley, he killed the Tuitian Demon Snake Royal Class... Mingyue with a single strike!

Which of these two was not a transcendent existence in terms of status and strength, yet both suffered massive losses in front of Shen Xingchen? How could the demons not attach importance to him, and how could it not feel chilled to the bone?

Furthermore... Shen Xingchen also possessed the Time Authority!

The Mirage Demon suddenly realized the true purpose of Shen Xingchen's disguise: it was to avoid the gaze of the higher-ups of the demon race!

No!

This news must be reported!

Just as the Mirage Demon had this thought, Shen Xingchen increased the force in his hand once again, "Still have the mind to be distracted?"

I have to admit, the defense of bivalve demons was quite formidable.

Even with the Myriad Thunders Return to Void Guide and the Taixu Dragon Body Technique superimposing together, it was still extremely difficult to crush the opponent's "shell" in one go.

The Mirage Demon screamed, "Shen Xingchen, you're done for! You possess authority-level power, yet you still dare to appear on the battlefield. Let's see how long you can live!"

As it spoke, it was about to withdraw the illusion.

The originally mist-shrouded domain suddenly began to collapse from the edges.

"Then let's see whose movements are faster!"

Twenty-four dragon-patterned cyan jade swords suddenly burst out from Shen Xingchen's palm, aiming at the Mirage Demon like fine needles.

The thunder elicited by the Myriad Gods Thunder Department acted as if it had received an imperial decree, pouring down along the small cyan jade swords and bombarding the surface of the shell.

The shell could no longer hold up. Cracks emerged, then expanded, until it completely shattered.

The Mirage Demon only had time to shout out three words: "He is Shen..."

...

Outside on the battlefield.

The Fengwu Squad was providing cover on the flank of the Xue Family Army.

Chen Meier naturally saw the Mirage Demon's attack on Shen Xingchen, but she exercised great restraint and did not make a move.

Firstly, because she believed in Shen Xingchen's ability to solve the problem, and secondly because there was truly no opening to strike. If she forced a rescue, the battle situation here would collapse.

An Ran asked with concern, "Captain, is there really no problem?"

She had once seen with her own eyes Shen Xingchen cut open the body of the eighth-rank Tuitian Demon Snake Mingyue with a thunder blade that pierced the heavens and earth.

To be honest, even she felt lingering fear at such an offensive, and even wondered if she could take it head-on if she faced that thunder blade directly.

However... An Ran did not know how many times Shen Xingchen could execute such an attack, nor how long the time interval needed to be.

Chen Meier said in a firm tone, "Trust him!"

...

Liu Hero was still breaking through the battle array at the front.

Soldier A suddenly exclaimed, "Oh no, Brother Lin Hu has disappeared!"

For these veterans, such a scene was not uncommon; he had been pulled into a domain by some demon.

This was extremely dangerous!

Since that demon chose to take the initiative to pull Brother Lin Hu into its domain, its strength must be above that of Brother Lin Hu.

Soldier B said with annoyance, "It's all our fault for being too relaxed just now. Brother Lin Hu possesses divine talent; if he really falls here, what a pity it would be."

Liu Hero also frowned.

He was the only one here who understood Shen Xingchen's true combat strength, but because he was not clear what level that domain-possessing demon was at, he still felt uncertain.

Liu Hero could only comfort everyone, "I know Brother Lin Hu's strength. Don't worry about him; take care of yourselves first."

This was polite talk to stabilize military morale, and basically minor leaders within the army would say a few words like that.

The purpose was so that when a teammate died on their side, the remaining people could still maintain their fighting spirit.

Several people successively showed sorrowful expressions, "Brother Lin Hu is such a pity..."

Before they finished speaking,

A gust of black mist suddenly rose from the flat ground.

But before it could spread, that mist frantically converged toward a certain point.

When the mist receded,

Everyone only saw Shen Xingchen's fingers tightly grasping the shell of some bivalve creature, and that shell had long been crushed into dust.

"Holy shit! What is the situation?"

"Brother Lin Hu is still alive!"

"In just a few seconds, he solved such an unknown demon expert?"

Soldiers A, B, and C successively let out exclamations.

At this moment, Shen Xingchen's silver battle armor, thunder light, and dragon-patterned cyan jade sword had all been put away. The outside world could only see a flash of white light the moment the mist disappeared, and then the youth's figure appeared.

At the same time,

The system prompt sounded.

{Congratulations to the host for slaying the eighth-rank demon Mirage Demon. According to the conversion rules, slain seventh-rank demons × 10}

"Hmm?"

Shen Xingchen was overjoyed; there was actually an extra harvest.

The task progress had made tremendous progress again.

{System Upgrade Task:}

{Total Progress: Kill Demon Royal Bloodline × 1 (1 / 1)}

{Total Progress: Kill Seventh-Rank Demons × 100 (27 / 100)}

{Total Progress: Kill Sixth-Rank Demons × 1000 (334 / 1000)}

{...}

The soldiers gathered around successively: "Brother Lin Hu, what did you encounter just now?"

Shen Xingchen casually brushed them off with a couple of sentences: "A somewhat overconfident Mirage Demon wouldn't honestly rely on illusions to kill people, but insisted on jumping out, so I killed it."

Several soldiers were shocked in succession.

If they remembered correctly, the danger level of the Mirage Demon was considered top-tier among the demons...