Why does the world show a health bar? !

Here's the revised translation, with all non-English words replaced by their closest English equivalents and removed:

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The axe came down but sliced through empty air. Without its head, the demon's body twisted unnaturally to dodge, and then its clawed hands, sharp like a beast's, lunged forward.

Did it twist its own bones to attack? Or was this demon's body structure so different from a human's that it didn't need to break its bones to perform such a move?

The demon's back was turned to Li Mo. A human's arm bones couldn't support a backward swing like that—it wasn't the elbow joint doing the work.

Demons were born from humans. Their body structure was largely similar to that of humans.

Usually, that was the case. But there were always exceptions. Some demons, after becoming demons, underwent drastic changes in appearance, like the one on Mount Fujikasane with multiple arms, as massive as a boulder.

The demon before him had pale skin and a human-like appearance, but its ability to attack with such reverse-joint movements likely came at a cost.

Fortunately, Li Mo was prepared.

He took a step back to control the distance, ensuring he dodged the attack. Then, in the rhythm of his breathing, a faint flame ignited on the axe blade, and he swung it down!

Sun Breathing—First Form: Dance!!!

With a clean strike, he severed the demon's arm and pressed his advantage.

Without a Nichirin Blade, the first step was to cut off the demon's limbs and head, rendering it immobile.

His eyes were calm, as if he had entered a subtle state. Li Mo focused entirely on the demon.

The half-full health bar above the demon's head told him it wasn't yet incapacitated.

"Damn it! Why did you show up now?"

The demon's body dodged Li Mo's axe, retrieved its head, and reattached it. "Do you know how rude it is to interrupt someone while they're talking?"

"I have no manners." Li Mo had no interest in arguing about whether demons had rights. Once a demon started eating humans, it was as good as dead.

The axe danced in his hands. His long experience chopping wood had given him complete mastery over the weapon. The heavy axe seemed light in his grip as he unleashed the forms of Sun Breathing.

First Form: Dance. Second Form: Clear Blue Sky. Third Form: Raging Sun. Fourth Form: Burning Bones, Summer Sun. Fifth Form: Setting Sun Transformation. Sixth Form: Solar Heat Haze. Seventh Form: Beneficent Radiance. Eighth Form: Sunflower Thrust. Ninth Form: Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance. Tenth Form: Fire Wheel. Eleventh Form: Fake Rainbow. Twelfth Form: Flame Dance.

Like Tanjuro's Kagura dance in winter, Li Mo wielded the axe with precision. Though there were noticeable pauses between each form, the attacks flowed like a relentless tide.

The demon was forced into a corner, its body constantly being sliced by the axe, flesh falling to the ground like butter being carved by a knife.

The demon couldn't fight back. Its movements were slow, and its arms were easily severed by the axe.

The effect was decent. The demon's health bar was gradually dropping, but it was much thicker than the one from yesterday. It would take a while to render it immobile… Well, no matter. He'd press on.

During last night's chase, Li Mo had begun to understand how the demons' health bars worked. For animals, decapitation caused their health to plummet—a fatal wound that couldn't be reversed. For demons, losing their head barely affected their health bar. Instead, their health dropped more noticeably when they regenerated.

The health bar he saw through the system likely represented some form of vitality within the demon. The demon's health bar included its regenerative abilities.

—Li Mo didn't have to worry about grinding the demon's health down to zero only for it to pull off some transformation.

To incapacitate a demon, the first step was to drain its health to zero. Then came the most annoying trait of demons.

Health lock.

No one could have imagined that last night, after reducing the demon's health to zero, it could still move. Even though its mobility was severely reduced and its regeneration almost nonexistent, it was still alive. If it consumed flesh during that time, it could fully recover!

Only sunlight or decapitation with a Nichirin Blade could truly kill it.

Demons.

As monsters, they were utterly disgusting. More so than any monster Li Mo had encountered in games.

He had to keep pushing, to render the demon immobile and then let the sun finish it off.

For an ordinary person, killing a demon was a hassle.

If only he had a Nichirin Blade now. It would make things so much easier.

"Mr. Li, watch out behind you! Its severed arm is coming at you!"

While Li Mo was immersed in the fight, he heard a warning. Was it from Kanae or Shinobu? He didn't have time to tell. Unable to see behind him, the only thing he could do was—create distance.

"Rip—"

The sharp claws tore through his clothes, leaving a deep gash on Li Mo's flesh.

Even though he dodged, he still got hurt. If he hadn't moved, he imagined his heart would have been ripped out.

As he moved, Li Mo saw that the demon's severed arm had grown something resembling short legs, allowing it to attack.

A mistake. Why didn't I think of this? If a demon's head can grow new arms, why can't a severed arm grow legs?

Li Mo rolled on the ground, barely managing to stand up. He hadn't undergone systematic flexibility training, relying solely on the muscle memory from his "Softening" training.

The process of standing up was stiff and slow. If the demon pressed its advantage now, he wouldn't come out unscathed.

Li Mo recalled the training in the dream space, where he had endured far more attacks.

But the demon didn't seize the opportunity to attack, unlike the sea king in his dreams.

"Surprised? Wondering why I didn't keep attacking? Are you overthinking this?"

The demon reattached its severed arm, a mischievous smile on its face, as if it enjoyed the current situation.

Was it celebrating prematurely? Just because of a scratch?

Li Mo touched his back. The bleeding wasn't severe. Even if he didn't stop the bleeding immediately, it wouldn't be a problem.

Wait?

Why don't I feel any pain?

"You figured it out quickly, didn't you? It reminds me of that samurai lord I killed. Of course, he wasn't like you. He only realized he was poisoned at the very end. Before he died, he said, 'Using poison is unworthy of a warrior.' I don't get it. I'm a demon now—why should I follow their rules?"

The demon rambled on, as if recounting its exploits brought it joy.

Its words revealed Li Mo's condition.

"You poisoned me, didn't you!"

The lack of pain from his back injury made Li Mo think of mosquitoes—those annoying insects that secrete a chemical to numb your nerves while feeding.

But with a demon, it probably wasn't just a numbing agent.

"That's right. You've been poisoned."

The demon grinned ferociously, delighted with its handiwork.