In the wilderness bordering the Great Ji Kingdom to the north of the Tianwu Nation, the earth churned, and chilling roars echoed from the deep recesses beneath the ground. Rumble!
Rumble! A world-shaking din erupted from the depths.
Suddenly, a colossal Demonic Dragon burst forth from the earth, kicking up clouds of dust as the ground vibrated violently. Another gargantuan Demonic Dragon burrowed out from below.
As soon as it emerged, it began to bellow ferociously. Then, seven more Demonic Dragons leaped out, leaving the entire expanse devastated.
Vast chasms appeared, and the earth collapsed in sections. Once the nine Demonic Dragons had emerged, a burly, imposing man suddenly soared into the sky, a torrent of demonic energy surging from him like smoke against the heavens.
Nine long, pitch-black chains were wound around the man’s arms, waist, legs, and neck. These chains tethered the nine Demonic Dragons by their massive skulls.
The man seemed to control the dragons through these links; the moment he appeared, the ten Demonic Dragons fell silent, suspended in the air, surveying their surroundings. High above the clouds, the man’s demonic aura ascended like beacon smoke.
Beside him swirled a dense, impenetrable dark miasma that seemed perpetually intent on consuming all light. With eyes blazing with savage fury, the man glanced toward the direction of Kunlun.
It was as if he sensed the intensely concentrated demonic energy drawing him there, or perhaps it was fueled by an inexhaustible reservoir of hatred. With a sudden jerk of the chains in his hand, the nine Demonic Dragons roared back to life.
These dragons, seemingly mere condensations of demonic power, now appeared fully animated. With deafening roars, they dragged the demonic-energy-shrouded man directly toward Kunlun Mountain.
Aboard the Tian Yuan Winged Dragon, Ji Changkong and Poke stood side-by-side, drawing ever nearer to Kunlun. On Ji Changkong’s shoulder, the Origin Poison blinked its small eyes, a glint of cunning mischief sparkling within, seemingly contemplating some profound puzzle.
Kunlun finally materialized within sight. Ji Changkong merely glanced at it, his expression instantly turning grave.
"They’ve already engaged," he stated. "The demonic energy there is soaring, and chaotic forces intertwine violently.
Even space is warping and shifting. It seems the great battle has begun." Poke looked slightly exhilarated, turning the Soul Catcher Disk in his hand.
"They are all Nine Palaces Celestial Soldiers, and the energy within several of them is terrifying—capable, it seems, of destroying the Five Elements Continent!" "Great Wind, faster now," Ji Changkong instructed the beast. "Once we arrive, circle the perimeter.
Do not charge in rashly without my command." "Why? I can help you!" the Tian Yuan Winged Dragon protested, clearly reluctant.
"I know you can help, but your utility might be greater midway through the conflict," Ji Changkong explained. "Remain outside the immediate fray, on the periphery of that imposing peak, and observe closely.
From the combatants on both sides, you might glean many useful applications of power. That is what you currently lack the most." Though the Tian Yuan Winged Dragon possessed the power inherited from the Blood Emperor’s essence, the cultivation path of a fierce beast and that of a Celestial Soldier diverged significantly.
If it could better understand the profound mysteries within the Blood Emperor's blood, its evolution would be even more astonishing. Ji Changkong needed it to advance rapidly, hence the arrangement.
"Fine," the Tian Yuan Winged Dragon conceded. It never disagreed with Ji Changkong’s plans.
Finally, the Tian Yuan Winged Dragon soared above the demonically charged Kunlun Mountain. Ji Changkong immediately sensed the Sky Demon Devouring Heaven Great Barrier enveloping the area below.
After a brief mental probe, he declared, "This must be a barrier set up by a master from the Evil Demon Continent. It covers the entirety of Kunlun Mountain; breaking it will not be easy." "Let me try," Poke mused.
He tucked away the Soul Catcher Disk and shot downward like a cannonball toward the Sky Demon Devouring Heaven Great Barrier. Midway down, scales erupted from Poke’s body, bursting forth with starlight like a hedgehog’s quills, aimed directly at the vast barrier below.
Boom! Crash!
A massive collision sound echoed from the Sky Demon Devouring Heaven Great Barrier. The starlight radiating from Poke struck the barrier like a mountain peak impacting it.
Yet, despite such terrifying force, the barrier remained completely intact, showing no sign of fracture. Rumble!
Roar! Conversely, from deep beneath the peaks of Kunlun Mountain, a tremendous booming sound arose.
Perhaps the Sky Demon Devouring Heaven Great Barrier was diverting the energy, as the shockwaves seemed to penetrate the earth’s depths, causing the foundations of Kunlun Mountain to shake violently. Poke’s true form also slammed into the barrier.
His ferocious power only caused the barrier to momentarily deform; it failed to penetrate its defenses. Ji Changkong stared in astonishment.
From the sky, he could see the scene unfolding on Kunlun River within the barrier. The barrier was dark and opaque, yet subtly translucent, allowing the scenery below to faintly emerge when viewed from above.
On the Kunlun peaks below, a life-or-death struggle was reaching its climax. Cao Xuanqi and the Lord of the Demonic Grotto appeared almost fused into one entity.
Cao Xuanqi’s arm was sunk into the Lord of the Demonic Grotto’s left chest, while the Lord’s shoulder seemed embedded within Cao Xuanqi’s own shoulder. At a glance, both Cao Xuanqi and the Lord of the Demonic Grotto looked like viscous, congealed fluids, strangely merged together in an unsettling spectacle.
His vision distorted by the illusion, Ji Changkong shifted his focus, probing the scene below with his soul. He realized it wasn't a physical merging, but rather the world surrounding the two figures was being violently contorted, their separate realities compressing and colliding, causing visual confusion.
The two combatants remained still, yet the reality around their bodies was undergoing catastrophic changes: nearby peaks crumbled, volcanoes erupted, the ground sank, and meteors plummeted from the sky… Their shared world seemed poised at the final moment of apocalypse, the material plane rapidly disintegrating. Within this process, space twisted and warped dramatically, allowing new substances to manifest.
Destruction coexisting with rebirth—this appeared to be the profound truth of all existence. Cao Xuanqi and the Lord of the Demonic Grotto clearly grasped the fundamental nature of this principle.
Their localized world exhibited infinitely more subtle and profound shifts in esoteric power, leaving Ji Changkong dumbfounded. Asura King and his maternal grandfather, Gu Dan, faced one opponent each.
The four resulting worlds overlapped in pairs. Scenery swapped between spaces, energies collided and exploded, and fissures formed by the crushing of space flickered in and out of existence.
Creatures that rightfully belonged to their respective worlds became maddened. Amidst ice and snow, where demons roamed, and in the primeval battlefield shrouded in demonic mist, the four worlds underwent ceaseless, monumental transformation… That fatty, Hu Hao, was trapped in a world saturated with pulverized corpses.
He was currently buried under rubble, struggling mightily, yet unable to push the debris away. Thousands upon thousands of shattered remains piled upon him, forming a Corpse Mountain thousands of yards high, covering him in layers upon layers.
Hu Hao’s aura was growing steadily weaker, his life force slowly draining away. At the apex of the towering Corpse Mountain resting upon Hu Hao, Xiao Yu stood barefoot, her face deathly pale, her eyes empty and numb, radiating an aura of utter desolation.
After just one look at Hu Hao, Ji Changkong sighed softly. He understood that Hu Hao was likely doomed.
His life force was depleting too rapidly. In this desperate moment, with everyone fighting for their own survival, there was no one who could save him; only death awaited.
Slightly luckier than Hu Hao, Shi Qianjie, Yao Kui, and Li Hentian faced opponents who were merely Tianwu King and Youlan. Although Youlan and Tianwu King held the clear advantage, leaving the trio battered and bruised, for some unknown reason, these two seemed unable to exert their full strength, unable to truly deliver the killing blow to Li Hentian’s group.
Studying them intently, pushing his soul power outward, Ji Changkong finally discerned that Youlan and Tianwu King were indeed trying their utmost. However, their souls appeared somewhat agitated, suggesting a flaw in their mental state that prevented them from maximizing their power output.
Even so, with Tianwu King and Youlan combining their strength, Li Hentian, Shi Qianjie, and Yao Kui were in dire straits. As time wore on, their injuries worsened.
Under this trajectory, even without unleashing their full potential, Youlan and Tianwu King could slowly exhaust and kill the trio. "It's impossible to enter!" Poke shook his head helplessly.
"The defense here is simply too formidable. We might only get in after all the demonic energy above is depleted." Demonic energy?
Ji Changkong frowned, then suddenly recalled the Ancestral Demon Tendrils residing within his acupoints. The Ancestral Demon was an anomaly born of the world’s demonic essence, a creature from before the Great Destruction.
Since the Ancestral Demon Tendrils were within him, perhaps he would be unaffected by this ambient demonic energy? This thought gave him a sudden surge of certainty.
"You two, go over there," he instructed, pointing toward the Tian Yuan Winged Dragon. "I will test if I can enter." Without waiting for Poke or the Tian Yuan Winged Dragon to agree, he plunged directly toward the Sky Demon Devouring Heaven Great Barrier.
Miraculously, as his body approached the barrier, the Ancestral Demon Tendrils within his acupoints merely swayed once. Then, like a fish entering the sea, he slipped straight through the Sky Demon Devouring Heaven Great Barrier and entered the Kunlun peak area shrouded below.
"Changkong!" Gu Dan and Li Hentian shouted in overjoyed surprise. "Ji Changkong!" Shi Qianjie, Yao Kui, Youlan, and others stared in utter disbelief, deeply shocked.
"Kid, you're still alive!" Tianwu King snarled, his eyes brimming with intense murderous intent, looking utterly hateful. "Grandfather, Uncle Li," Ji Changkong replied with a calm smile.
"I have returned." Gu Dan and Li Hentian were both engaged with their respective adversaries. Li Hentian was slightly better off, with Shi Qianjie and Yao Kui defending him, but when Gu Dan was startled, the entities dwelling in the space beside the Scarred Wolf surged forward, beginning to destroy the mountains and lakes within the world Gu Dan had constructed.
Gu Dan’s face changed, and he reacted instantly. With relief filling his eyes, he plunged back into his furious battle against the Scarred Wolf.
"Kid, you’ve arrived at the perfect moment! Today, we’ll capture you all in one sweep!" Saint Mother Youlan sneered, turning to Tianwu King.
"Should I go, or will you?" Tianwu King hesitated, then scoffed. "I'll take him!" Saying this, Tianwu King stepped away from Youlan and began manipulating several stone coffins, directing them to descend upon Ji Changkong’s head.
Intense corpse energy billowed out from these coffins. "Good!" Ji Changkong roared with laughter.
The World-Ending Gauntlet on his left arm had already materialized, summoning bolts of azure Heavenly Lightning. These bolts were larger than the stone coffins themselves.
The force of the lightning erupted with the flash, instantly striking one of the coffins. Boom!
A massive roar shook the coffin. The descending coffin was blasted apart, scattering into pieces.
Chuckling coldly, Ji Changkong swung his left arm, the World-Ending Gauntlet weaving. Amidst the roar of Heavenly Thunder, he unleashed the Surging Wave Art.
His right hand brandished the Dragon Radiance Great Saber, manifesting a Sea of Blood. Within this blood sea, the remaining approaching stone coffins were violently thrown aside.
Simultaneously, Ji Changkong gathered his Yuan Power to form six Yuan Pillars, aiming them at Tianwu King from a distance. Moreover, his soul resonated, chanting the Soul Suppression Four Forms.
With this medley of marvelous attacks launched, Tianwu King was momentarily stunned. When the six Yuan Pillars manifested and bore down upon him, Tianwu King’s expression finally shattered, and he retreated instantly, fear gripping him once more.
The last time, in the spatial turbulence region of the Western Regions, Ji Changkong had used the Soul Suppression Melody to blast Tianwu King out from between two massive meteors, accidentally dragging himself into a spatial tunnel in the process. Back then, Tianwu King had recognized the potent nature of the Soul Suppression Melody.
His demonic secret techniques proved useless; his soul seemed utterly defenseless and was nearly annihilated by the power contained within the six Yuan Pillars. Therefore, upon seeing Ji Changkong repeating the tactic, Tianwu King, unable to cope, could only flee.
"The Soul Suppression Melody of the Purgatory Ghost Clan!" The Lord of the Demonic Grotto, currently fighting Cao Xuanqi, momentarily flashed into view, staring at Ji Changkong with profound astonishment. "Xiao Yu, you deal with him." Xiao Yu, her face deathly pale, rose from the ten-thousand-yard Corpse Mountain within the world beneath her, moving like a vengeful specter.
By this time, Hu Hao's life signs had vanished. "Martial Uncle!" Shi Qianjie, usually so composed, screamed hysterically for the first time, attacking Youlan with suicidal fervor, catching Youlan off guard and forcing her onto the defensive.
Though Hu Hao was nominally Shi Qianjie’s martial uncle, their bond was akin to that of father and son! When Xiao Yu rose from the Corpse Mountain, Shi Qianjie finally realized that Hu Hao had been killed without him noticing, a realization that struck his spirit with devastating force.
Xiao Yu paid no mind to Shi Qianjie's outcry. Following the Lord of the Demonic Grotto’s command, she merely nodded slightly and began to walk slowly toward Ji Changkong.
Corpse energy surged into the river of water, rolling off Xiao Yu’s body. Beside her, tens of millions of corpses materialized, swarming toward Ji Changkong from all directions.
In an instant, the ten-thousand-yard Corpse Mountain reformed. The difference was that this time, the mountain pinning Ji Changkong down was the very one that had just slain Hu Hao!
Without any warning or preparation, Ji Changkong was crushed beneath the mountain before he could react. His body was naturally drawn into Xiao Yu’s world.
The moment the mountain descended, Ji Changkong tried to deploy the Illusory Void Realm, but as his thoughts shifted, the realm failed to materialize in this corpse-filled environment! He watched helplessly as tens of millions of corpses descended upon him until he was finally pressed down beneath the mountain in that world of the dead.
These corpses were all animated; heads and severed limbs reached out, attempting to claw and bite at Ji Changkong’s body. Before the severed limbs could even make contact, Ji Changkong felt his life force beginning to wane, as if afflicted by corpse poison, his limbs growing sluggish.
Despite believing himself immune to all poisons, this was the first time he clearly recognized poisoning while being unable to expel the toxin. "Trying to corrode my body?
Hmph, I doubt you have the skill!" Even now, Ji Changkong’s mind remained crystal clear. With a scornful, flames erupted from his body, instantly enveloping him.
These flames incinerated every approaching corpse into ash. Simultaneously, azure Heavenly Thunderbolts began to fly from the World-Ending Gauntlet on his left arm.
Each lightning bolt contained shimmering points of light rapidly spiraling within. When all five hundred and sixty-one azure Heavenly Thunderbolts appeared, and each one pulsed with five hundred and sixty-one spinning light points, revolving according to the esoteric trajectory of the Star Cloud Soul Refining Art, the miraculous power that had once annihilated hundreds of thousands of demons on an unfamiliar continent erupted once more!
Centered on Ji Changkong, the azure lightning spread in all directions. Boom!
Roar! Thundering!
The instant the Heavenly Thunder touched any corpse, they were blasted apart. In a flash, the ten-thousand-yard Corpse Mountain that had been crushing Ji Changkong completely shattered, the tens of millions of corpses reduced to ash.
Under the immense explosive force of the azure lightning, the Corpse Haze World constructed by Xiao Yu completely collapsed. Unable to withstand such terrifying power, the world suddenly disintegrated.
Amidst the roar, Xiao Yu’s body, suspended within the corpses, seemed struck by a massive hammer. Blood streamed from her seven orifices, and her features were utterly ravaged.
"Xiao Yu, get out of the Corpse Realm immediately!" The Lord of the Demonic Grotto reappeared at the critical moment and suddenly roared. The Lord of the Demonic Grotto pressed his hand down.
The corpse-filled world, as if favored by a deity, began to restore itself. The collapsing realm reformed, and the shattered fragments of the corpses miraculously reassembled.
Even Xiao Yu, who had been grievously wounded, seemed to rapidly recover as the Corpse Realm stabilized. Seizing the chance to emerge from the Corpse Realm, Ji Changkong’s expression grew solemn as he fixed his gaze on the Lord of the Demonic Grotto.
"The experts of the Solar Star Domain claimed you have one foot already in the Ten Directions Heaven realm. Seeing you today, the rumors are not false!"