Chapter 2369: The Original Form

At this thought, he shattered the eerie 'other shore flowers' and black butterfly phantoms with a single palm strike. Just as he was about to continue his pursuit, he suddenly noticed a small, delicate girl standing trembling before him, holding a jade bottle.

The Demon Lord was momentarily stunned. He still remembered this adorable little girl; she appeared to be one of Donall's two female slaves. Her cuteness made her hard to forget. What was even more striking was how incredibly meager her strength was; even a random guard in the dungeon could easily defeat her now. So he had never taken this fragile little girl seriously. Yet, at this moment, she dared to stand in his way? He felt an inexplicable sense of absurdity and anger. Just because he had suffered a slight setback with the Regent, did it mean even a cat or dog dared to stand in his path now?

He raised his hand, about to casually crush the little girl to death. Hmph, the cuter something was, the more he wanted to crush it. That feeling was truly exhilarating.

Ji Xiaoxi was already terrified beyond measure. Seeing him extend his hand, she shrieked in terror and immediately threw the jade bottle she was holding at him.

"Is this jade bottle some kind of magic treasure?" The Demon Lord was puzzled. He didn't seem to sense any powerful magical fluctuations from it, but to be safe, he still summoned his Treasure-Dropping Copper Coin. To his surprise, the jade bottle was unaffected by the Treasure-Dropping Copper Coin. Instead, it directly struck him. His body was incredibly powerful, and the jade bottle's material could not withstand such an impact. It shattered into pieces almost instantly, and then a wisp of orange smoke immediately dispersed.

The Demon Lord paused slightly, then laughed. "Poison? You little brat, do you actually think you can poison me?" What a joke. For a powerful being like him, his resistance to poison was already very strong. Furthermore, he himself was a master of poison; how could he possibly be poisoned by this human? The physical structure of their demon race was vastly different from that of humans in this world. What good could this world's poisons possibly do?

He was about to casually crush the little girl, but suddenly his body swayed. He felt a wave of numbness and dizziness.

"How is this possible!" This poison could actually affect him!

He dared not be careless any longer. He quickly held his breath and simultaneously circulated his energy to try and expel the toxins from his body, then reached out to grab Ji Xiaoxi. The Regent had even risked conflict with Manager Pi in the demon world for this little girl; he clearly cared for her deeply. Now that he was poisoned, taking her hostage, the Regent would surely be hesitant to act and might genuinely start considering peace talks.

Just then, his vision blurred as Zu An had already appeared in front of Ji Xiaoxi. This was not entirely unexpected. Zu An had just managed to break free from the three-headed monstrous bird's attack and used his Shape-Shifting ability. He had specially prepared many spatial confinement artifacts on himself, so Zu An couldn't swap places with him again. But Zu An's reaction was also quick; he actually swapped places directly with the shattered half of the jade bottle that had just fallen to the ground. However, the speed of Zu An's sword strike and the power it contained startled him. In that instant, it was as if his power had surged tenfold. That sword strike was more powerful and dazzling than before.

Because the Demon Lord had been affected by Ji Xiaoxi's strange poison, his reaction was slightly slower than usual. Though only by a little, it was enough to be fatal at such a crucial moment. Seeing that he couldn't dodge in time, he could only extend both hands to forcefully parry the sword, while simultaneously activating all the defensive artifacts around him. But both sides knew that it probably wouldn't be enough to block that sword strike.

A hint of terror flashed in the Demon Lord's eyes. Fortunately, at that moment, the three-headed monstrous bird arrived in pursuit and lunged directly at Zu An's back.

Below, watching the battle, Mogad quickly explained to Salame: "The Demon Lord is finished. The opponent has been hiding a trump card that suddenly increases their power tenfold. Now, as long as he withstands one attack from the three-headed monstrous bird, at most he'll be severely wounded. But the Demon Lord is definitely dead."

Salame couldn't help but be overjoyed. Wasn't this the opportunity she had been hoping for—to reap the benefits without effort? The Demon Lord had still been too careless. He had wanted to attack those women to distract Zu An, but he never expected to fall victim to a little brat, thereby trapping himself in this certain death situation.

However, the next scene made everyone's eyes widen. Zu An's sword, originally aimed at the Demon Lord, suddenly changed direction like an antelope's horn, and with a backhand, unexpectedly stabbed towards the three-headed monstrous bird that was approaching from behind.

Mogad slapped his thigh in frustration: "This Regent is also a coward! He missed such a perfect opportunity to completely kill the Demon Lord. He could have just taken a little injury, but he chose the safest approach." Even if he injured the three-headed monstrous bird, the Demon Lord would be able to recover in the meantime. Given his cunning, how could he be so coincidentally poisoned and trapped in a desperate situation again?

Pfft!

The three-headed monstrous bird had no idea Zu An would suddenly attack it; it had been recklessly trying to severely wound Zu An. The sword strike, like a bamboo shoot breaking through earth, directly plunged into the open maw of its middle head, and the brilliant, dazzling sword energy instantly shredded that head to pieces. At the same time, the sword did not pause for a moment. It directly lopped off the wilting head on the left and then swung towards the head on the right.

At this point, the three-headed monstrous bird finally reacted. It frantically flapped its wings and flew into the distance, watching him with terror. It still hadn't completely dodged that sword strike; there was a deep, bone-exposing wound on its neck, blood was gushing out, and its entire head seemed to be connected to its neck by only half the flesh.

"The Demon Lord could completely seize this opportunity to severely wound him!" Mogad, halfway through his analysis, suddenly let out a surprised sound. "Why isn't the Demon Lord moving?"

At this moment, the Demon Lord stood rooted to the spot, as if forcibly restrained. All his attacks abruptly ceased. Yet, blood began to flow from the corners of his mouth and even his neck, even though he had no visible wounds. He stared at Zu An, revealing a bitter smile. "When did you figure it out?"

Zu An calmly replied, "I already had my suspicions when you managed to regrow a head after I just destroyed your first one."

"Later, when facing the Blood Transformation Demon Needles, seeing no escape, you actually used your head to take all of them, and then regrew another head."

Mogad and Salame exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with confusion. They understood every single word these two were saying, but when put together, they couldn't make sense of it. What kind of riddle were they speaking in?

The Demon Lord wiped the blood from his neck, his voice trembling slightly. "But at most, that only shows my vital spot isn't my head, or that it's somewhere else in my body. Why didn't you attack my body, but instead attacked the three-headed monstrous bird?"

Zu An didn't even spare him a glance. He raised his sword and turned towards the three-headed monstrous bird—oh, wait, it should only be called a one-headed monstrous bird now.

"Didn't I just attack your body? This three-headed monstrous bird *is* your true form."