The Fiend roared in agony, its hands slamming wildly against Zheng Zha’s waist, uncaring that the Fiend Sword had fallen away. Perhaps driven to the brink of death, the Fiend's entire body was now incandescent white, burning so brightly it was like an unseeable sun. This sun plummeted rapidly toward the ground, and the only sounds in the entire space were the roars of the Fiend and Zheng Zha.

Zheng Zha ignored the crushing, immense weight on his back, focusing only on tearing at the Fiend with both hands. It felt as if his hands had plunged into molten lava. Though he was using internal force and Blood Race energy to resist the heat, and his Blood Flame Skill never ceased, the searing temperature still managed to penetrate, burning his skin, destroying his muscles, evaporating his blood, and scorching his bones… He was almost certain the temperature of the Fiend’s body had reached tens of thousands of degrees. If not for the heat-resistance provided by his Crimson Flame, he might not have survived either… “This way, there’s even less chance of you getting up there! My companions are still above! How could I let monsters like you ascend to the higher layers? Die!” Zheng Zha was driven into a frenzy. He opened his mouth and bit down hard on the Fiend’s stomach, then ripped violently.

Ignoring the flames, the temperature, and the instantly vaporized, superheated blood, he thrust his hand back into the Fiend’s belly and tore again with fierce strength.

The Fiend’s entire intestine was ripped out by him. Simultaneously, Zheng Zha gently released the hand grasping the Tiger Soul Blade. As the Tiger Soul Blade dropped, he hooked his feet firmly, driving the entire blade upward from below into the Fiend’s stomach… All of this happened in an instant, a second or two flashing by. As the Fiend shrieked wretchedly, Zheng Zha gritted his teeth and pulled with both hands, widening the gash in its abdomen.

Then, his entire body plunged inside… (Live, fight, live and fight… Fight to survive! Damn it. I will never die here!) “Perish!!” Zheng Zha channeled his magic power into the Tiger Soul Blade once more. Instantly, that overwhelming sense of pressure reappeared, and with a furious howl, the Fiend’s body began to crack apart inch by inch from the middle.

Finally, it completely disintegrated into ash, vanishing into the void, while Zheng Zha flapped his wings and hovered mid-air.

He was now only a few hundred meters above the ground. His entire body was charred black from the burning. The arm he had thrust into the Fiend was burned down to the bone; Zheng Zha now held the Tiger Soul Blade with only one hand.

“Next, destroy this blood cocoon…” Zheng Zha exhaled. Just as he prepared to attack the cocoon, his body began to tremble. (No, it’s not my body trembling; it’s the surrounding space that seems to be shaking. An earthquake? How can I feel an earthquake while airborne? Is it the surrounding air currents vibrating violently?) Zheng Zha felt as if countless small tornadoes existed around him. He felt the tremor even while suspended in the air. Before he could figure out what was happening, a massive sense of pressure suddenly surged up from the blood cocoon below. This pressure was so astonishing that comparing it to the pressure from the Tiger Soul Blade, it was ten or even a hundred times greater. (…It has hatched. That form…) The moment Zheng Zha saw the monster’s shape, a violent fluctuation flashed through his mind. He felt this fluctuation clearly, yet could not resist it. The next second, he slipped into a semiconscious, sleep-like state… (I can feel it! It’s energy! Now that I am nearing the Fifth Stage, I can sense the energy of the ‘Main God’ too…) This was Zheng Zha’s final consciousness before sinking into that hazy state… Time, the Great Desolation War… The war between the Sages and the Cultivators had reached the outer space surrounding Earth, even impacting Mars. It was a war of such massive scale that it once destroyed ancient human civilization; most Sages and Cultivators perished in the fighting. The remaining factions on both sides were forced to find ways to increase their combat strength. Thus, the Cultivators gained the Swift Immortals, who bypassed Heavenly Tribulation through shortcuts, while the Sages gained the ability to forcefully help their own pass the Fifth Stage Gene Lock, creating the Witches… But there were pros and cons. Swift Immortals could never advance further in their lives, and the Heavenly Tribulations they evaded were not gone but accumulated until they erupted simultaneously when they could no longer be contained, making them consumables, in a way… Witches possessed great power but were not true Sages. They lacked the genuine energy control capability of the Fifth Stage. Thus, while wielding immense power, the Witches would slowly degenerate until their minds were completely dominated by physical instincts, turning them into rampaging biological weapons, thus also making them consumables… The brutality of the Great Desolation War turned countless Quasi-Sages and Cultivators into consumables, and driven by these consumables capable of instant mass destruction, the scale of the war finally entered its final phase… Heaven and Earth shattered, civilization ended…

Zheng Zha jolted awake, realizing he had only just begun to fall. That passage seemed to have lasted only an instant, but the implications of the words, and the image of the giant monster before him… “Seven heads, nine horns, a serpent’s body, a human face. That’s the description of Satan in the Bible, right? I read the Bible once; I remember some of the descriptions of Satan.” Zheng Zha took out the silver metal plate and asked cautiously. *Inside the blood cocoon was a massive, crimson giant serpent, over two hundred meters long. This serpent had seven colossal heads, and two extra mouths protruding from its chest and back, each lined with a massive single horn by its jaws. Its seven heads were indistinct, blurry human faces, about seventy percent human-like but undeniably aberrant. It was a colossal monster, vast as a small mountain, whose oppressive force was so staggering that even Zheng Zha dared not ignore it—or rather, Zheng Zha was genuinely awestruck. “Satan… or perhaps the Great Witch Xiangliu. Legends of Xiangliu in our ancient lore present this exact image. Alternatively, we could assume that Satan in Western mythology, and some monsters from our ancient lore, are all Fifth Stage Sages who have suffered a fatal backlash. Their internal genes have run riot, creating the form before us. Perhaps a large portion of the ancient demons are products of the Great Desolation War. Based on the information just received, the probability of this hypothesis is over eighty percent.” Chu Xuan’s voice came through as well. Zheng Zha let out a breath, speaking after a long pause, “‘Main God’ can even create Fifth Stage Sages, or Quasi-Sages?” “Impossible,” Chu Xuan denied immediately. “This might be the true body of Satan or Xiangliu, much like the Primary Entity we encountered. They were likely arranged or sealed within the ‘Main God’ space long ago, especially when guarding information this close to the truth—they appear as guardians… Zheng Zha, you only need to hold on for another five minutes. Once the time is up, you can withdraw. I will use the Magic Cannon to destroy the capital directly!” “…I’ll try my best.” Zheng Zha stopped arguing with Chu Xuan. He simply took a deep, calm breath and looked toward the giant monster motionless on the ground. The oppressive power emanating from this monster was unlike anything he had ever witnessed. Even when facing the Replicas in Resident Evil 2, he hadn't felt such terrifying pressure. It was like the power of a mortal looking up at Mount Tai—one could only sense the monster’s immovability. The feeling was indescribably awful. (Five minutes? Can I stall for that long?) Zheng Zha continued taking deep breaths. Since overcoming his inner demons, he had never felt this tense. No, it wasn’t exactly tension; this was fear. Facing a creature of a higher order was like an ant gazing upon a human—an unstoppable dread… “Damn it! Satan, is it? Xiangliu, is it? A failed consumable of the Fifth Stage, is that it?” Zheng Zha roared, gripping the Tiger Soul Blade tightly. “Come on! Don’t even think about getting out unless you kill me first!” The now motionless monster seemed to hear Zheng Zha’s shout. All seven heads lifted simultaneously, fixing their gaze on Zheng Zha hanging in mid-air. Compared to its two-hundred-meter body, a single human form was impossibly small. As if responding to Zheng Zha’s provocation, the seven heads roared in unison. At the same time, rune-like patterns, visible to the naked eye, appeared around the monster’s body, manifesting in the void as pure energy… Everything in the Bottomless Abyss remained unknown to outsiders. The only one aware of these events, Chu Xuan, was an emotionally stunted man, so the rest of the Central Continent team continued their mission according to their respective steps. Zero Point and Zhang Heng arrived above the capital. Imhotep and Zhao Yingkong were still guarding Princess Enya to gather the villagers. Chu Xuan and Wang Xia stood at a high vantage point far from the Royal City, with the Magic Cannon arrayed before them… On another front, the protagonists from the Dragon Rider film, Eragon and the others, saw both young dragons reacting in some unusual way. Jump to...

For more novels, visit storyread.net.