Following the opening created by this weakness, Wen Wen sneakily delivered a low kick to the charging Xiong Ying. Caught off guard, Xiong Ying stumbled but did not fall. However, at this moment, Wen Wen had already grabbed his cape!
Wen Wen, holding onto his cape, intended to spin him around a few times, tossing him like a pinwheel before throwing him.
He had seen villains discipline superheroes in this manner in movies, and he found it quite thrilling.
But unexpectedly, Xiong Ying’s cape was a shoddy product. It tore off after just one rotation, sending Xiong Ying flying into a nearby football field.
Wen Wen looked at the cape in his hand and sighed, saying, "Things from movies are indeed unreliable…"
Then, he slowly descended in front of Xiong Ying and asked with a hint of curiosity, "Being thrown aside so easily by me suggests you're not familiar with your own strength, like a child wielding a large axe. But why couldn't Qingchuan City handle someone like you?"
"You must have some hidden abilities. Feel free to use them on me."
Xiong Ying lay on the ground, unwilling to get up. He felt his life force rapidly draining.
The closer he got to the end of his life, the greater the damage to the Devil's Heart when he defied its will, and the less life Xiong Ying had remaining. After this, he could only live for another year at most, and within that year, if he saved someone just one more time, he would surely die!
Thinking about how little time he had left, even someone like Xiong Ying couldn't help but feel a sense of grievance, with tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.
But he was a very resilient person. When he decided to save people, he had already anticipated such a situation. So, he wiped away his tears and stood up to face Wen Wen.
"You're crying…"
Wen Wen suddenly felt a bit at a loss. He had never before encountered a situation where he made an Assimilation-stage superpowered individual cry, so he stiffly said, "I'll compensate you for your cape… um, I can pay ten times the price."
Xiong Ying was speechless. Although he did feel a pang of sadness for his battle suit, he wasn't crying over that. However, with Wen Wen's interruption, the bitterness in his heart diminished slightly, and a sense of relief flickered in his eyes.
He had come to terms with it. If he hadn't obtained the Devil's Heart, he would still be lying in a hospital bed, or perhaps already dead. Now, he possessed the strength he had always dreamed of, and he had an extra year to live. What else was there to be bitter about?
So, he bowed deeply to Wen Wen and said, "Mr. Ghost Investigator, if you're trying to apprehend me because I've been too active, you can stop now. I probably won't appear again."
"Won't appear again…" Wen Wen said disbelievingly, "Based on my observations, you're quite the attention-seeker. You wouldn't just quit so easily."
Xiong Ying said helplessly, "This time it's for real. I've caused so much trouble for everyone before because I wanted to leave something behind before my final day. Now, I no longer need to."
Wen Wen frowned. What he said sounded like a dying testament, but he still couldn't let him go because of it. "Even though you say so… my mission is to capture you, so I'm sorry, but I can't just believe you."
Xiong Ying sighed, "If you don't believe me, I can't go with you. I might have to resist next!"
Helping others would go against the will of the Devil's Heart, but fighting against a demon hunter would not!
"You can resist all you want. Preferably, you'll let me enjoy the battle with you. A tedious fight is worse than listening to ghost stories!" Wen Wen's lips curled up as he reached into his cloak and drew out a long sword.
This sword appeared semi-transparent and emitted an astonishing chill. The ground around it began to frost over. This was precisely the Ice Sword that the Ice Queen had wielded before.
However, the sword's original blue-white glow had now turned completely black, giving it a more sinister and demonic aura.
While crafting a scabbard for this sword, Wen Wen had also made a few modifications, keeping the overall functionality the same but adding a personal touch.
Wen Wen, holding a staff in his left hand and the sword in his right, looked at Xiong Ying with a strange grin, giving Xiong Ying a bad feeling.
He gritted his teeth and took a heavy step forward, launching a punch towards Wen Wen's head with more force than when he had struck the clay figures.
Xiong Ying didn't want to hurt anyone, but he wasn't foolish either. This was why he had always left the demon hunters who came to apprehend him battered and bruised. However, Wen Wen was different from all the demon hunters he had defeated before; Wen Wen was a roaming hunter with the strength of the Assimilation mid-stage!
Wen Wen's body remained still as purple-black energy appeared to his right, propelling him half a meter to the left, allowing him to dodge Xiong Ying's punch. Then, he poked at Xiong Ying's chest with the staff in his left hand.
Facing the straight thrust of the staff, Xiong Ying leaped back two meters, also evading it.
Wen Wen was not surprised by Xiong Ying's evasion; it was all within his expectations. If a superpowered individual at the Assimilation stage couldn't even dodge this, they might as well go find a wall to smash themselves against.
Therefore, Wen Wen had already made preparations for his evasion. As Xiong Ying jumped up, Wen Wen swung the long sword in his right hand, sending a sword qi shaped like scattered ice shards towards Xiong Ying.
These ice shards were Wen Wen's prepared finishing move. They covered a vast area, and if they hit, they could immobilize Xiong Ying for a short period!
Xiong Ying was in mid-air, unable to gain leverage, and had just dodged one of Wen Wen's attacks. He felt a slight relaxation, and Wen Wen believed this sword strike would surely hit its target.
In fact, Xiong Ying's expression did show panic, but something Wen Wen hadn't anticipated happened.
At the very moment he was about to be hit by the ice shards, Xiong Ying actually stepped on the ice shards Wen Wen had thrown and leaped up again, perfectly dodging Wen Wen's attack.
Wen Wen looked as if he had seen something intriguing and asked Xiong Ying in surprise, "How did you do that? You really were holding back!"
If it were Wen Wen himself, dodging this attack would be a matter of course. But this guy hadn't even dodged the low kick that tripped him earlier. How could his reaction be so much faster this time?
Xiong Ying didn't answer Wen Wen's question. Instead, he began to run rapidly around Wen Wen, and as he ran, his physique started to change.
From that single brief contact, Xiong Ying had judged that if he didn't go all out, he might truly be captured easily by Wen Wen!
Sharp bone spurs grew from his shoulders, elbows, and knees. Scales began to appear on his hands and feet, and a ferocious red tail burst through his pants and emerged.
Now, Xiong Ying no longer looked like a human at all, but more like a monstrous creature!
Wen Wen clicked his tongue in admiration as he looked at Xiong Ying, saying, "Is this your Assimilation state? It's quite imposing."
"No, your control over your strength was awkward before, unlike a superpowered individual who naturally advanced to the Assimilation stage. Did you gain your power through some means, or are you not human at all?"