"Five years old," Yoze felt a chill run down his spine when he read the demon's age.
It must be known that Yoze hadn't fought any demons that were so high in their age. All the demons Yoze had previously killed were below the age of one yet they still posed a threat to him at that time.
The Serpent demon was just born and even had a large amount of its Life Spiritual energy stolen but still reached the top of the first-rate martial artist level. The Elephant demon wasn't even a year old yet was able to completely crush 10 Blood Masters and most likely could kill Martial Grandmasters.
The only demon that Yoze had met who had lived for more than a year was the Three-Headed Fox demon. Even though Yoze didn't know how strong that Fox demon was, the fact it could take a human form gave him the impression that he must have been strong.
Whenever Yoze recalled the Three-Headed Fox demon's talents he wanted to see if he could find that demon again and copy its talents.
[Name: Fracud Trumor]
[Age: 20 years old]
[Talents: Spiritual Sensing (Grade 9), Disguise Arts (Grade 5), Three-Headed Fox Body Cultivation (Grade 10)]
Though this Leopard demon was much younger than the Fox demon it had more talent so Yoze felt that it could be stronger than the older Three-Headed Fox demon. Looking at the Leopard demon's spiritual armor that seemed made for digging underground tunnels Yoze was sure that this demon was a much bigger threat compared to the elephant demon he faced months ago.
Yoze nevertheless didn't feel scared but excited to see such a talented demon. He could only see it as a treasure chest that he could copy talent from compared to it being a threat.
It was because he didn't feel threatened at all. In these few months, Yoze wasn't the same person he used to be and was much stronger compared to when he fought the elephant demon.
Not only did Yoze absorb the majority of the Elephant demon's spiritual energy but he even learned to suppress other spiritual energies in addition to molding his spiritual energy into claws. With his conflicting and ever-increasing spiritual energies, Yoze had much more spiritual energy in his body compared to the elephant demon and could therefore suppress stronger spiritual energies including the Leopard demon's spiritual energy.
Yoze also had begun his first step toward immortality and was receiving the benefits which were increased body control and faster information processing. With a double boost in intelligence and information processing from his two crystal nerves it was harder for anyone to get the jump on him.
Yoze was also improving his martial arts as he progressed in his body cultivation arts, Twin fists, Mindless Legs, and his Armored Swordsman techniques which made him stronger overall.
As for the few times that the Elephant demon was able to land his attacks on Yoze through using its trump cards and the unique properties of spiritual energy, Yoze was much more prepared for that kind of attack.
"I'll hold off on copying one of the Leopard demon's talents in case it has the same trump card of sending a mini version of itself made of spiritual energy to attack me." Yoze's eyes glimmered with multi-color sparkles as reorientated himself to fall right on top of the Leopard demon's head.
As soon as Yoze felt himself falling he gathered all of his Big Golem into his fist and activated his Iron Skin inner vigor causing him to rapidly fall like he was an iron meteor. As Yoze fell he saw that the Leopard demon was not moving and instead looked up at Yoze with a grin on its face.
Seeing that the Leopard demon was so confident in its defense that it could endure a fist that had the force of 2600 pounds behind it, Yoze's eyes glowed as he poured all of his Big Golem energy into his finger instead. Then he formed a thick and sharp claw made out of the Serpent demon's oppressive spiritual energy and the Elephant demon's heavy and durable spiritual energy.
"Blood Bull Fist 200 percent!"
Just as Yoze's claw was about to come into contact with the Leopard demon skull he wanted to do as much damage to this confident demon so he used the full strength of his Blood Bull Fist all concentrated on his one finger.
"Boom!"
Yoze felt his finger hit a thick spiritual armor that the Leopard demon wore and create a dull explosion before piercing through the Leopard demon's armor and cutting through to the other side. The remaining energy forced the Leopard demon's body to crumble to the ground and create a mini earthquake in the Grand Swamp.
After unleashing his attack Yoze jumped away from the demon's body and grabbed onto Jewel before retreating further into the Grand Swamp. Seeing Yoze retreat Timothy and River guessed that the Leopard demon must have survived that devastating attack and decided to leave the swamp until Yoze dealt with the threat.
"Is it dead?" Even though Jewel also guessed that the Leopard demon must have been alive judging from Yoze's reaction.
"No," Yoze looked down at his finger and could recall destroying some of the Leopard demon's brains as he passed through it.
But the burst of spiritual energy that should have come with the Leopard demon's death didn't appear. The lack of spiritual energy and the countless holes that similarly went through the Leopard demon's body hinted to Yoze that the demon was still very much alive.
And since he couldn't kill the Leopard demon in one shot Yoze knew that the battle was bound to get messy. If he isn't careful he could cause the accidental death of Timothy, River, and Jewel.
To prevent that outcome, Yoze made a quick decision to retreat for now to take Jewel a good distance away from the battle. As for Timothy and River, he had confidence they could escape on their own when the Leopard demon's focus was on him.
As he expected the moment the Leopard demon recovered the first thing it did was stare at Yoze. Looking into the Leopard demon's eyes which were full of surprise, fear, and hatred Yoze tightened his grip around Jewel to prepare for an attack but the incoming attack that he expected never arrived.
"Hahaha senior demon, I was just testing your reflexes. I meant no harm at all. " The leopard's deep and husky voice that was full of power and confidence previously vanished without a trace as it called out to Yoze.
"No harm?" The disbelief in Yoze's voice was clear but the Leopard demon ignored it.
"Yes yes, it was something the other members of the demon union ordered me to do. I truly meant no harm."
"The demon union?" Yoze's pupils contracted as he never thought that demons had created a force of their own.
"If all demons joined this organization then there would be no one that could stop them except for immortals." Yoze's mind raced as he thought about the devastating consequences that the human race might face in the future due to this demon union.
"Yes senior, recently I had gotten the chance to destroy a human settlement around thoughts to prepare it for the demon summit that is coming in a year."
The leopard demon didn't know that Yoze was human and thus couldn't understand Yoze's thoughts and misunderstood that he was worried about facing the force of the demon union. So it decided to lean on its identity as a member of the demon union to use its reputation as a shield.
"Since I didn't smell the scent of a demon union mark on you, I had to follow my orders to test every demon passing the area. Please understand senior demon." The leopard demon lowered itself further and twirled its tail in a way that Yoze felt like he was looking at a cat.
"What if I want to join the demon union? How do I get the demon union mark?"Yoze looked at the Leopard demon and felt strange to see a demon trying to behave like a cat.
"You want to join? There is no complex procedure, just show up at the demon summit and you can join them."
"Where is the demon summit exactly then?" Feeling interested in attending this summit Yoze asked.
"It is deep in the Grand Swamp. Once the moon reaches its peak a year from now then the demon summit will begin and last for a few days." The Leopard demon felt that it was gaining Yoze's goodwill so it started to relax its guard.