Lin Yu hadn't expected Su Miaozhen to warn him. "What do you suggest, General Su?"
"Your niece and sister are safe in Sky Dominance Sect. You're most at risk—Profound Heaven will crush you like an ant. As an unfavored prince with no throne hope, abandon your title, hide, and live freely. They can't vent on you if they can't find you."
Surprised by her advice to flee, Lin Yu smiled: "Thanks for the warning. I'll consider it." He couldn't leave with Demon Prison's cultivators unrefined and the Lanruo Temple demon unrest.
Su Miaozhen sighed: "I've said my piece. Choose wisely. Profound Heaven's envoy arrives in a month. Stay here, and they'll take it out on you. Great Han won't lift a finger for you." She left, vanishing into the night.
Lin Yu mused: a month left. Would he return from the ancient ruins by then? Disappearing from the质子馆 would cause trouble.
After a day's rest, he headed for the Demon Prison at night. Passing Lanruo Temple's forest, he stopped: devil qi surged from the ruins, leaking beyond the woods.
"Has Lanruo Temple fallen?" Frowning at the sealed demon below, he changed course into the forest. The closer he got, the stronger the devil qi, like a fountain.
"The Fu Clan must have damaged the Lesser Arhat Formation. It can't seal the demon perfectly now." At the Arhat Hall ruins, invisible black devil qi seeped from the formation eye, rippling outward. Unlike before, no wails or curses came from within—had the demons been refined?
Lin Yu took out the Buddha Bone Relic. Golden light spread, outlining the Lesser Arhat Formation. A black vortex formed at the eye, expanding into a ten-zhang exit.
"These demons have learned." After waiting with no demons emerging, he prepared to close the formation.
Boom!
A blast sounded from the seal. A black light shot out, landing before him: a burly demon in cyan scales, red eyes, and holding a half-eaten demon leg.
"Kid, I was wondering how to break out! You're a godsend—undoing the seal. How should I thank you?" The cyan-scaled demon tossed the leg. "Demons taste foul. Humans are tender and nutritious—eating you might restore my Myriad Manifestations Eighth Grade!"
Terrorcoercion (pressure) surged from him, rippling outward as tangible青色 (cyan) waves.
"Myriad Manifestations Seventh Grade!" Lin Yu realized.
"Correct. Too few demons in the seal—eating them all only restored this. But now I'm out! Feasting on humans will restore my Void Formation strength!"
"Myriad Manifestations Seventh Grade—perfect!" Lin Yu grinned. Stuck at Fifth Grade, he'd thought even refining all Demon Prison demons might not reach Sixth. This was a pleasant surprise. Slaying this demon could push him to Sixth or even Seventh Grade.
As a sword cultivator with Saint Emperor Sword Body, Saint Emperor Art, and the Nine Heavens Sword Controlling Art, failing to kill a Seventh Grade demon would disgrace his title.
"Are you mad?" The demon gaped at Lin Yu's excitement.
Lin Yu willed the Wind Controlling Sword from his mind, a cyan streamer circling him. "Don't worry. This strike will be quick—no pain."