The dual surging waves slammed down upon the Yaksha King, completely obliterating the skeletal defense he had desperately summoned. The Yaksha King’s body was entirely swallowed by the nine layers of the surging tide, vanishing within them.

When the Yaksha King's form finally reappeared before everyone’s eyes, he was dripping with blood. His own body had been pierced by the very bone spikes he had unleashed earlier; a multitude of tiny bone shards were embedded in his flesh, from which streams of blood poured out relentlessly.

The Yaksha King’s body trembled slightly, his face a mask of utter disbelief, as he cried out hoarsely, “Impossible! This cannot be.”

Perhaps he never imagined he would be wounded by a junior like Ji Changkong.

Not only the Yaksha King found this unimaginable; the Heavenly Soldiers of the Northern Barbarians were equally stunned, barely believing that the Xuanyuan of this generation could be so terrifying. To defeat a Nine Palace Heavenly Soldier like the Yaksha King immediately upon entering the Eight Trigrams Heaven Realm—this was beyond their wildest comprehension.

The crowd present burst into screams of terror. Some of the Northern Barbarian masters who were closer to Ji Changkong immediately backed away, as if fearing they would become his next target.

As they recoiled in horror and scattered, Xi Changkong merely stared blankly at the Yaksha King. Then he glanced at his own left arm, a wry smile touching the corner of his mouth.

After unleashing that earth-shattering strike, his left arm felt numb and stiff, and his palm was even oozing blood—though this was concealed by the World-Ending Gauntlet, so outsiders couldn't detect the injury.

The sheer power of the World-Ending Gauntlet in that attack was too terrifying. Not only were the Northern Barbarian masters present astonished, but even he himself was dumbfounded, almost unable to believe that such a force had emanated from him.

The power within him, combined with the energy from the Tianyuan Orb, unleashed the might contained within the World-Ending Gauntlet via the Nine Waves of Surging Tides, resulting in such devastating damage that it left the Yaksha King severely wounded in this state. This sufficiently demonstrated the horror inherent in both the World-Ending Gauntlet and the Tianyuan Orb.

Clearly, such a terrifying strike had slightly exceeded the limits his body could endure, hence the bleeding in his arm. Fortunately, the blood was contained by the Gauntlet, preventing others from noticing.

After that single blow, he knew he likely couldn't continue using the World-Ending Gauntlet’s power for some time; otherwise, his left arm would suffer true, grievous harm. With this realization, Ji Changkong didn't show the slightest sign of fatigue. Instead, he leisurely cast a glance at the Yaksha King and drawled sarcastically, “The Yaksha King is nothing more than this. You can’t even handle me. I truly wonder how you managed to cultivate to the Nine Palace Heavenly Soldier level.”

The Yaksha King was so enraged he nearly spat blood, his face as pale as paper. He looked at Ji Changkong, then at Ji Haotian, unmistakable malice flashing in his eyes, unsure whom to strike first.

“It’s you! You’re here too.” The Demon King of Hell, who had been keeping his distance from the Asura King, suddenly spotted the conspicuous Ji Changkong in the crowd. As his cold, merciless voice rang out, he suddenly charged toward him.

Back at East Heaven Peak, Ji Changkong was largely responsible for the Demon King of Hell being dragged into the spatial rift. The Demon King of Hell harbored a bone-deep hatred for him, and upon seeing him appear, he disregarded everything else and lunged directly toward him.

A chill swept through Ji Changkong’s heart, instantly cooling his burning blood. Watching the Demon King of Hell rapidly approach, he suddenly became utterly calm.

Though the Demon King of Hell had grown stronger in the Southern Dipper Star Domain during their time apart, Ji Changkong had also made significant progress in the Eastern Sea.

His eyes locked tightly onto the Demon King of Hell, and with a thought, six pillars purely condensed from primal force materialized out of thin air. Mysterious symbols of the Purgatorial Ghost Clan shimmered brightly upon the pillars of primal force. As the melody of the Soul-Quelling Dirge rose and fell in his mind, the strange power within the six pillars of primal force was released.

The charging Demon King of Hell suddenly felt as though he had fallen into a bizarre and inscrutable mystical soul vortex. Between the six pillars of primal force, the miraculous symbols of the Purgatorial Ghost Clan began to emit a power that decomposed and annihilated the soul, allowing the power of the Purgatorial Ghost Clan’s Soul-Quelling Dirge to penetrate the area encompassed by the pillars.

The Demon King of Hell was almost violently pulled into the six pillars of primal force by an immense power.

He was already unbelievably strong. As soon as he entered the six pillars, the Demon King of Hell immediately perceived that these pillars exerted a massive influence over him. With almost no hesitation, the Demon King of Hell attempted to immediately break free from the confines of the six pillars of primal force.

However, getting in was easy; breaking out was far from it!

He suddenly realized that within these six pillars, once he decomposed his soul power to a certain degree, he still could not escape the soul vortex formed by the pillars. Furthermore, with every rotation the vortex made around the six pillars, the soul power he had painstakingly gathered diminished slightly.

The Demon King of Hell was suddenly terrified to the point of nearly losing his soul!

Since his inception, he had swept across the world unchecked. Never had any power or spiritual treasure been able to imprison his soul, preventing him from escaping even when his soul power was fragmented into myriad threads.

Even when besieged by masters from various continents in the Southern Dipper Star Domain, he could still do as he pleased, and if things got dire, he could always escape through the subtle transformations of his soul.

It was precisely for this reason that he had always firmly believed that no person or spiritual treasure in this world could truly annihilate him; at most, they could severely wound him. Given time, he could regain his strength by devouring the souls of Heavenly Soldiers, perhaps even evolving once more!

But now, the Demon King of Hell was beginning to feel a distinct fear.

He sensed that the Soul-Quelling Dirge originating from the Purgatorial Ghost Clan of the Endless Star Domain—a profound technique possessing the absolute power to extinguish souls—seemed to be his nemesis, capable of truly destroying him!

The Demon King of Hell genuinely began to panic. Under the influence of the Soul-Quelling Dirge, he was entangled within the six pillars of primal force. No matter how he struggled, he seemed unable to escape their constraints, his entire soul power being eroded layer by layer.

“Ji Changkong, die by my hand!” At that moment, the Yaksha King roared, unleashing a sky full of Nether Ghost Claws.

Although severely wounded, the Yaksha King had never abandoned his intent to attack Ji Changkong. Seeing him engaged with the Demon King of Hell, the Yaksha King could not restrain himself, unleashing his remaining strength in an attempt to utterly destroy Ji Changkong.

“Yaksha King! Do not strike!” The Asura King suddenly bellowed.

Having clashed with the Demon King of Hell before, the Asura King deeply recognized the creature’s terror. He harbored profound reservations about a being that even he found helpless against.

As one of the apex powerhouses of the world, even after battling Gu Ya for ten days, the moment the Demon King of Hell entered the primal force pillars, the Asura King keenly perceived the miraculous power within those six pillars capable of annihilating the Demon King. The source of this power was unknown even to the Asura King, but he knew it might be the Demon King’s Achilles' heel.

He knew that allowing a creature like the Demon King of Hell to survive in the world would spell disaster for him and the entire Five Elements Continent. Therefore, he actually hoped Ji Changkong would deal with the Demon King first, and then he would settle the remaining matters.

Unfortunately, the Yaksha King was completely blinded by hatred. He had no concept of the widespread panic the Demon King of Hell’s existence could bring to the world. Driven solely by his obsession, he intended to blast Ji Changkong to death.

As the ghostly claws rained down, Ji Changkong’s expression remained unchanged. Forced to divert his focus to deal with the Yaksha King, he suddenly plunged into the Illusory Void Realm.

Temporarily unwilling to use the power of the World-Ending Gauntlet again, facing the death-defying Yaksha King, he could only evade the sharp edge, using the Illusory Void Realm to sidestep the attacks. Otherwise, the hatred-consumed Yaksha King would surely kill him.

He had to retreat!

This moment of distraction created an opportunity for the Demon King of Hell to escape. Due to Ji Changkong’s lapse in concentration, the Soul-Quelling Dirge momentarily faltered, and the soul vortex behind the six pillars of primal force experienced a split-second pause.

It was just that single instant of pause, and the Demon King of Hell burst free, instantly dissolving into the void and vanishing without a trace.

“I will merge with him in the Eastern Sea. Once we are combined, your power will never restrain me again. By then, I will transform this world completely into ours!” The Demon King of Hell’s chillingly cold voice drifted from afar, gradually fading away.

“Damn it!” the Asura King cursed under his breath, yet he was powerless to stop the Demon King’s soul, which had fragmented into tens of thousands of strands, fleeing outward.

“Come out, come out for me!” the Yaksha King shrieked, frantically searching for Ji Changkong’s traces. He released his divine soul aura, letting it wander through the void, intent on utterly destroying Ji Changkong.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The demonic dragons, which he had previously broken free from, suddenly reappeared from a distance and instantly entangled the Yaksha King once more. In the distance, Ji Haotian roared wildly; no one dared approach him anymore. He had slain too many Northern Barbarian Heavenly Soldiers, causing even those who hated him to tremble with fear.

Under the threat of death, they could even temporarily set aside their intense hatred.

Ji Changkong, who had retreated into the Secret Record of the Illusory Void, quietly reappeared from within it. Seizing the moment when the nine demonic dragons were grappling with the Yaksha King, he suddenly pointed the Tianyuan Orb directly at him.

A soul-bewitching power surged out of the Tianyuan Orb, its marvelous halo enveloping the Yaksha King. Surging forces designed to influence the soul flooded toward him. The Yaksha King’s eyes immediately glazed over, freezing him motionless at this critical juncture.

The demonic dragons certainly showed him no mercy. With no defense mobilized, they tore and shredded his body, ripping the Yaksha King into pieces of fragmented flesh.

As his physical form was destroyed, the Yaksha King’s confused soul suddenly manifested and, illuminated by the strange light of the Tianyuan Orb, began to drift slowly toward it.

The soul of a Nine Palace Heavenly Soldier!

Ji Changkong suddenly felt a surge of excitement.