Ji Changkong inwardly sighed, then recalled the Heavenly Revelation Orb, preparing to unleash the azure heavenly lightning.

With absolutely no hope clinging to him, the moment the thought arose in his mind, he felt his soul suddenly enter a wondrous, almost magical realm.

The next instant, streaks of azure heavenly lightning flew out from his World-Ending Gauntlets. Within each bolt of azure lightning resided precisely five hundred and sixty-one points of light.

Before his soul entered the Celestial Star Domain, his body contained five hundred and sixty acupoints, each harboring the essence of a star. Although the star essence he obtained from the star found by that couple had been taken by Dick, he had still managed to acquire one piece of star essence from Dick's star.

Consequently, his body now housed five hundred and sixty-one acupoints imbued with star essence, perfectly matching the luminous points flickering within the azure heavenly lightning!

Furthermore, those stellar points of light were already circulating according to the trajectory prescribed by the Nebula Soul Refining Art!

More azure heavenly lightning streamed out from the World-Ending Gauntlets, rapidly drifting to his flanks. One after another, they emerged. Each bolt varied in size, wrapped in crackling electricity, roaring with internal thunder, and every single one displayed five hundred and sixty-one shimmering points of light.

With the flight of every azure heavenly lightning bolt, a portion of Ji Changkong’s internal power was siphoned away, even as energy surged from the Celestial Yuan Orb into the World-Ending Gauntlets.

His soul drifted with an ethereal clarity. Ji Changkong felt as if he could grasp the minute-by-minute fluctuations of the Heavenly Lightning Force. This sensation provided an exquisite sense of control, making him feel capable of commanding the azure lightning, allowing it to manifest any rule or pattern according to his will.

Soul Ascension!

A thought flashed through his mind. Suddenly, he realized he had found it—the connection, the feeling required to truly wield this azure lightning!

Once this sensation arrived, the obscure mysteries that were previously so hard to grasp suddenly became simple and clear. Within this profound and mystical understanding, it seemed he didn't need to actively do anything; he merely had to allow his soul to merge with each bolt of azure lightning, impressing the aura of his soul upon them.

The rest was automatic. The azure lightning would naturally follow the trajectory of his soul. The profound intricacies of cosmic power, impossible to fathom when obscured, became simple and effortless once understood.

And so, streak after streak of azure lightning flowed from the World-Ending Gauntlets, draining Ji Changkong’s Yuan Power almost entirely.

Finally, exactly five hundred and sixty-one azure bolts of lightning—not one more, not one less—arranged themselves in a specific order around him, shifting their positions in concert with the movements of his soul.

Five hundred and sixty-one azure bolts, each containing five hundred and sixty-one points of blue light. Both the points of light and the azure bolts themselves moved according to Ji Changkong's soul, yet none collided with another—a truly wondrous display.

Simultaneously, an overwhelmingly powerful energy fluctuation erupted from the azure lightning. Centered on Ji Changkong, this intense wave of energy began to spread in all directions!

A torrent of terrifying energy, tens of times stronger than the previous outburst, swept over everything!

The azure lightning began to move away from Ji Changkong, reaping the lives of the demons like ravenous beasts of the primeval wilderness. Wherever this fearsome energy wave passed, demons dissolved into ash and smoke; even those known for their robust physical forms became exquisitely fragile.

Under the pressure of this immensely powerful energy fluctuation, even the demons whose vitality rivaled that of a Ninth Palace Heavenly Scholar could not withstand it; though their bodies didn't completely vaporize, they were directly blown apart.

Centered on Ji Changkong, the effect spread outward like a nuclear explosion!

Everywhere it reached, the dense swarm of demons offered no resistance; they vanished entirely. Every plant life on that continent was instantly vaporized.

This overwhelmingly violent energy wave arrived without warning, yet it felt like an apocalypse.

In a mere few seconds, the land spanning a thousand li was churned upside down. Except for the Demon King-level fiends, the Dark Star Clan's Pock, and the Origin Poison resting unharmed on Ji Changkong's shoulder, the entire landscape was stripped bare!

All the demons had either turned to dust or were blasted into pieces, buried beneath the upturned earth.

"Retrieve the souls!" the Origin Poison urgently prompted.

Ji Changkong, momentarily dazed and bewildered, snapped back to awareness. Everything around him was gone. The azure lightning had vanished, perhaps having struck far in the distance, or perhaps its energy had simply dissipated into the cosmos.

However, suspended in the murky gray sky were countless visible souls of the slain demons, coalescing into a dense, inpenetrable black mist that covered the heavens.

A surge of wild ecstasy flooded his heart. Without a word, Ji Changkong flung out the Celestial Yuan Orb. At the same moment, he gathered the residual power within his body, summoned the Six Pillars of Yuan Power, and his soul began to chant the Soul-Quelling Dirge.

As the Six Pillars of Yuan Power and the Celestial Yuan Orb manifested, they formed a massive vortex for soul absorption. The souls of the demons, instantly killed before they could even react, were involuntarily drawn toward the center of the Six Pillars, flowing like continuous wisps of black smoke into the Celestial Yuan Orb. The Celestial Yuan Orb blazed with light, its power to influence energy growing exponentially. Hundreds of thousands of demon souls hung suspended in the sky, yet not one could escape. Within mere seconds, every single demon soul had been completely absorbed.

"Kong Kong, you are too powerful! You actually did it—the heavens! Hundreds of thousands of demons, destroyed by a single strike! Kong Kong, you are simply unbelievable!" the Origin Poison shrieked, exhibiting wild ecstasy.

The Celestial Yuan Orb finally collected all the demon souls. It hung in the air, radiating intense light, undergoing a subtle transformation.

"Don't even think about escaping!" Just then, Dick roared.

The Demon King-level demon, sensing the dire turn of events, was filled with terror and frantically burrowed toward the earth.

Dick’s long tail cracked sharply in the air, and he lunged with murderous intent toward the python-headed demon, determined to intercept it.

"Ji Changkong, the Soul-Quelling Dirge of the Purgatory Ghost Clan—refine its soul!" Dick shouted a reminder to Ji Changkong as he charged the demon.

Instantly realizing his task, Ji Changkong responded, maneuvering the Six Pillars of Yuan Power suspended in the void downward, slamming them onto the space just above the Demon King-level demon's head.

That was right! If the Soul-Quelling Dirge could breach Dick's formidable physical defenses to directly harm his soul, then it should work just as effectively against this Demon King leader!

These thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. He abruptly unleashed the power of the Soul-Quelling Dirge. Mysterious symbols began to blaze forth from the Six Pillars constraining the demon leader's head, starting to affect its soul.

The demon leader, which had been trying to burrow into the deep earth through a subterranean fissure, suddenly convulsed as if struck violently on the head. Its downward plunge froze. It clutched its head, dark demonic energy churning around its body as it let out agonizing howls.

Just like Dick, while the Demon King leader possessed unbelievably tenacious physical defenses, its mastery over the soul was strikingly shallow.

Ordinary soul skills, like Soul Glow or the Destruction Net, are notoriously difficult to use effectively against embodied beings like Ninth Palace Heavenly Scholars or demons on the Star of Life, as they are typically intercepted by defensive barriers and slowly depleted.

However, the Soul-Quelling Dirge of the Purgatory Ghost Clan was a distinct exception, possessing a wondrous power to pierce all material defenses and strike directly at the soul!

Even against a body at the peak of the several summits, possessing defenses as powerful as Dick’s, it rendered their physical protection completely useless under the Dirge's influence.

This Demon King leader faced the same fate.

As it screamed while clutching its head, the Six Pillars held it captive. Amidst the Dirge's strange melody, the miraculous symbols within the pillars began to penetrate the demon leader's body, drilling directly into its soul.

The demon leader’s wails abruptly ceased.

Its eyes were vacant, its gaze slowly fading. Life force began to drain from its body bit by bit. The thousands of eerie tendrils of demonic energy clinging to it, like small frogs, writhed on its surface, seemingly searching for new vessels, new bodies to grant them rebirth.

The Demon King leader’s vitality finally vanished entirely. The myriad strands of dark energy that had adhered to it, fine as hairs, slowly drifted away from its body.

At the same moment, with a thought, Ji Changkong summoned the Celestial Yuan Orb and shone it upon the Demon King leader’s severed head.

The demon leader's indistinct soul flew out from its head, drawn involuntarily into the Celestial Yuan Orb, injecting the final surge of soul energy into it.

He let out a long breath, feeling suddenly relaxed. It was finally over, these annoying troubles.

"Be careful!" Dick suddenly yelled, "Ancestral Demon Tendrils—don't let them possess you!"

Ji Changkong’s expression instantly changed. He realized that the thousands of threads of demonic energy, finer than hair, were suddenly surging toward him as if endowed with life.

Before he could react, those thousands of dark threads of demonic energy, just like small frogs, clung to him and began seeping into his body through his pores.

"Fire! Burn them away quickly, just like you burned mine!" Dick shouted, his voice extremely urgent.

Ji Changkong was utterly horrified but dared not utter a sound. He immediately mobilized the remaining power within him, transforming his soul into the shape of three flames, intending to incinerate the Ancestral Demon Tendrils that had entered his body.