"Clang, clang..."
The sound of colliding metal echoed through the corridor.
Bang!
He Li sent the wild boar demon flying with a single sword strike, smashing through the glass window at the end of the corridor. He Li, enveloped in cyan spiritual energy, leaped forward, pursuing the demon out of the window.
He Li was now fighting a Level 2 demon solely on his own strength. As a Lingyun Realm spiritual warrior, his spiritual energy blazed around his body like flames. His long saber, imbued with cyan spiritual energy, was incredibly sharp.
With a few leaps, He Li caught up to the fleeing demon and brought his cyan saber down fiercely towards its head. Two white beams flashed as the cyan saber cleanly severed the wild boar demon's tusks, its momentum undiminished as it struck the ground.
Boom!
The four-lane asphalt road was cleaved in half by He Li's saber strike, a thin scar extending outwards with the surging cyan spiritual energy.
As He Li landed, he instantly changed direction, bending low and sprinting towards the other side of the street. The demon was about to escape, and he couldn't let it get away. Demons possessed strong vengeful natures, and if not killed, they posed an unpredictable threat.
He Li had to tread with extreme caution with every step, allowing no room for error, even against a demon he could crush at any moment.
Damn it.
The sea lay ahead. If this demon plunged into the ocean, he would be helpless.
He Li frowned, stopped in his tracks, reversed his grip on the saber, and stretched his body. The long saber, like a javelin, was thrown. The cyan saber sliced through the night, the spiritual energy erupting from it, the sharp edge of the blade tearing through the asphalt. With a hiss, the saber plunged straight into the wild boar demon's back, pinning it firmly to the ground.
He Li leaped high and landed lightly on the saber's hilt. He watched the struggling, roaring demon beneath him. Then, with a flash of his blade, the demon's head was severed.
He looked down at the demon he had killed, his thoughts drifting. Not long ago, on the Binjiang elevated highway, a few of them combined couldn't even defeat a mere clone of a Level 2 demon, and they had to wait for Captain Susan to arrive.
And now…
He Li killed a Level 2 demon with such ease.
Under the dark sky, on the empty street, beneath the dim streetlights, with fallen leaves at his feet, He Li stood holding his saber. In this desolate environment,
He Li's figure was so solitary.
Similarly,
An indescribable sense of loneliness welled up in his heart.
A moment later,
He Li flicked the blood from his saber, sheathed it, and left, walking through a street and boldly approaching a convenience store, intending to buy a pack of cigarettes. However, he realized he had no money. Holding the cigarettes, he looked awkwardly at the store owner.
The store owner was a stout man with a receding hairline. He glanced at He Li, who was wearing pajamas and carrying something resembling a wooden stick. He pursed his lips, shrugged, and reached out to take the cigarettes back from He Li's hand.
He Li clicked his tongue and was about to leave.
"Hey!"
He Li turned to look at the owner.
The owner took out a small cigarette pack and offered it to He Li. These were a compact version, containing only five cigarettes, and were quite cheap.
He Li said, "I don't have money."
"It's on the house," the owner said.
"Uh... thanks." He Li paused, then reached out and took the cigarettes.
"Keep it up, buddy. Life will get better. Don't give up," the owner said encouragingly, looking at He Li.
"Uh... thanks." He Li didn't quite understand what the owner was talking about, but at that moment, anything he said would be wrong, so he could only say thank you.
He Li walked towards the hotel, opened the cigarette pack, and took out a cigarette, placing it in his mouth. He then sat down on a roadside bench. Behind him was a park, and the dark woods exuded the fragrance of trees and the earthy scent of soil.
With a cigarette in his mouth, he patted his pockets. Damn, no lighter.
He had cigarettes but no fire. What could he do?
At this moment, a man's intelligence would skyrocket. He Li had once used a gas tank to light a cigarette, which was also a kind of daring gamble.
He Li thought for a long time. First, he tried to use his spiritual energy to create a flame to light the cigarette, but it proved that spiritual energy flames couldn't light cigarettes. Then, he leaned over the side of the bench and scraped his saber against the chair leg, cutting off half of the metal leg, but not even a spark was produced.
Finally, he sat on the bench with the cigarette in his mouth and sighed deeply, saying softly:
"No fire to light my cigarette."
As soon as he sighed, a hand emerged from the darkness behind him. It was very white and thin, like a little girl's hand, cradling a small flame in its palm. A faint voice said:
"Let me light it for you."
"Huh?"
He Li's body tensed abruptly. He turned to look. A hand appeared out of nowhere, cradling a small green flame in its palm. The small flame flickered playfully. Looking further back, there was only darkness, nothing else, just a hand.
He Li swallowed, stunned for a moment, then leaned his head forward, bringing the cigarette in his mouth to the flame.
It lit.
"Thanks, it's lit."
The hand did not disappear, nor did the flame. The ethereal woman's voice sounded again, like a sigh, or perhaps a lament:
"I am wronged."
He Li nodded and said, "Okay, I understand. You can go back now."
He Li was also taken aback. He actually responded to the voice.
As soon as he finished speaking, the hand vanished, and so did the flame.
He Li exhaled a puff of smoke. Why were there so many spirits in foreign countries? He took another deep drag and pondered. Should he leave Canada? There were too many spirits here, it was too scary.
As he was contemplating where to go, a green flame, about 30 centimeters in size, appeared out of thin air before him, hovering and flickering in mid-air.
Immediately after,
A woman's face appeared within the flame. The woman's eyes were wide open, and blood flowed from all seven orifices.
"I am wronged."
He Li looked at the face in the flame, paused, and then looked behind him, pointing to the area behind him, saying:
"Wasn't it her who was wronged just now? Why are you also wronged?"
As He Li finished speaking, the green flame disappeared. He Li was bewildered. Who was wronged?
What was going on?
He Li's mood soured. He was already unhappy, and now he had fought a wild boar, been treated like a vagrant, and now encountered a ghost crying injustice. How much longer could he endure this life?
He was a god, destined to participate in the War of Gods. He was so busy, how could he have time to capture demons and vindicate ghosts?
"Sigh..."
He Li sighed softly, threw away the cigarette butt, crushed it, and ran. He just wanted to return to the hotel and sleep with Xiao Lan.
Then,
He found himself back by the bench where he had been sitting. He looked down at the spot where he had crushed the cigarette butt and, after a moment of thought, plopped down.
Excellent.
He, a great god, was experiencing a phantom wall. No one would believe him if he told them.
He Li sighed with some helplessness, looked around at the empty night, and asked softly:
"Tell me, you brought me all this way. How were you wronged?"
"I am wronged." The voice sounded again.
He Li scratched his head. "You're just going to say these few words, right?"
...