The sacred land of Civilization, atop the peak of Mount Dan. At the very center of the Myriad Fiends Annihilation Grand Array. Upon the ground lay a massive, blood-red character for 'Demon' ().

This was the core locus of the Myriad Fiends Annihilation Grand Array. From here, the Demon essence was born. Connecting to the very edges of this blood-red Demon character were sixteen towering pillars.

The atmosphere here was one of desolation, antiquity, like the sheer, chaotic, sinister evil of a primordial wilderness. Countless layers of crushing gravity weighed down upon the scene. Innumerable streams of Demonic Qi pressed down as well.

It was only just moments ago that the righteous energy of the fifteen figures from the Confucian Civilization had been steadily flowing into the center of the Demon character. This transmission had only lasted a brief time, and the fifteen had suffered no losses; had the transmission continued, their very essence—their magic power, their vital breath, their blood, flesh, and bone—would have all been drawn through the Demon character, into the core, and absorbed into the body of the Son of Demon. It was at this precise moment that a sixteenth individual, using pure righteous energy, appeared and managed to strike a decisive blow against the Son of Demon.

This astonished Kong Ni and the others to the extreme. They racked their brains, unable to conceive when the Confucian Civilization had produced such a master. The Confucian Civilization was vast, yes, but even the grandest Confucian Civilization could not simply conjure forth such a powerful expert out of thin air.

Who, then, could this be? “Could it be someone from the Vice-Lord of the Heavenly Principle Civilization, perhaps Zhu Renyu?” one person ventured. “The righteous energy of the Vice-Lord of the Heavenly Principle Civilization could never perfectly counteract Demonic Qi; their righteousness is already slightly deviated from the true path.

That’s point one,” Kong Ni shook his head. “Point two, Zhu Renyu would never have such good intentions as to save us. Point three, I have sparred with Zhu Renyu before, and I can feel that this sixteenth person is not him.” Then who was this sixteenth person?

Just as everyone was straining to discern the identity of the sixteenth person, that individual did not pause for an instant. They transformed into a streak of white light, charging directly toward the Son of Demon. Every move launched was aimed squarely at the Demon figure.

Seeing the momentum of the assault, the Son of Demon let out a cold snort: “Truly overweening arrogance, boy. While I am unclear as to your origin, that slight injury you managed just now, causing me to bleed a single drop of my supremely great Demonic Blood, was merely due to my carelessness.” “Now, allow me to display my true capabilities.” The breach of the Nine Heavens of Demonic Chains meant little; it had been an oversight on my part. Moreover, the Demonic Path has always favored ferocious offense over solid defense, so a defensive lapse is unremarkable.

However, the attacks of the Demonic Path are not so easily repelled. The Son of Demon unleashed the first stance of the Seven Forms of Heavenly Demon Mutual Ruin: Screaming Anguish and Interlocking Chain, blasting it violently toward the sixteenth person. This technique, Screaming Anguish and Interlocking Chain, was the utmost in suffering, the utmost in entanglement, the most vicious, the most perilous.

Innumerable tendrils of Demonic Qi shot straight at Lu Yuan. This move was not executed with a fixed weapon, nor did it manifest as a spell; rather, it existed in a space between weaponry and sorcery. The sixteenth person instantly felt the boundless Demonic Qi closing in, seemingly adhering to their very skin, while these Qi streams simultaneously coalesced into countless spearheads.

The sixteenth person raised the Immortal Tome in their hand, unleashing a torrent of white light that expertly, with breathtaking refinement, shattered the Son of Demon’s attack. Having this stance nullified, the Son of Demon’s eyes brightened with renewed confidence. He had managed to gauge the sixteenth person's power level—a mere World Realm Ninth Heaven.

The Son of Demon himself was World Realm Tenth Heaven. Figures like him traditionally vanquish opponents of lower realms within three to five exchanges. This sixteenth person seemed nothing special after all.

The Son of Demon instantly invoked his true ultimate killing move. He decided to engage the sixteenth person in a contest of pure technique. He unleashed several moves in rapid succession.

The second stance was Absolute Offspring, Dead End of Life (), imbued with infinite finality. To wield this infinite finality to its absolute peak was profoundly difficult, but the Son of Demon’s mastery of martial engagement was exceptional; he brought forth the totality of this endless, absolute extinction. The third stance was Profound Hatred, Torturous Execution (), a technique of ultimate agony and utter revulsion.

Only a soul burdened by immense sin and coupled with supreme combat prowess could truly unleash its destructive force. The fourth stance was Severing Heaven, Cutting Earth, Annihilating All Paths (); within this single move, a thousand paths were extinguished, requiring exquisitely precise control. The fifth stance was Spirit Annihilation, Buddha’s Fall (), possessing the power to slay gods and the form to utterly doom Buddhas.

This stance was exceptionally difficult to master. The sixth stance was Man’s Visage, Beast’s Heart, I Claim the Demon (). This technique was the perfect marriage of brutal force and intricate finesse.

Even the slightest deviation would prevent even a sliver of its power from manifesting. Brutality and refinement conflicted, yet when perfectly realized, the technique’s destructive potential increased exponentially. And the seventh strike, Heaven and Demon Executed Together, Seven Strikes as One (), perfectly integrated the preceding six moves.

Combining the first seven forms was no easy feat. While many in the Demonic Civilization practiced the Seven Forms of Heavenly Demon Mutual Ruin, those capable of merging all seven into one were counted on the fingers of one hand—pitifully few. But the Son of Demon was precisely that: the Son of Demon, the most enigmatic among the Seven Sons of Fortune.

He managed to flawlessly coalesce the preceding six forms. In that instant, the technique unfolding before the sixteenth person was one of breathtaking, unparalleled beauty. Indeed, the amalgamation of six techniques—utterly ugly, vicious,, and demonic—had fused into a single, supremely beautiful movement.

This beauty was akin to the crystal formations of the Chaos Civilization: elegant, noble, exquisitely magnificent, beyond verbal expression. Yet, within this supreme beauty resided the most perilous killing blow. In the Lost Lands, countless souls had perished beneath the Son of Demon’s seventh move, Heaven and Demon Executed Together, Seven Strikes as One.

This was, in fact, the technique the Son of Demon was most confident in, believing it to be the pinnacle of pure technical mastery. This single move was a masterpiece of civilization. He was certain that even the Son of the Wasteland would struggle to surpass this single technique.

The Son of Demon held such conviction; surely, deploying these moves against a mere World Realm Ninth Heaven figure would be utterly trivial. This! This is the stylistic fighting stream of my Son of Demon!

Unmatched! The strongest technique stream. In that fleeting moment, the Immortal Tome in the hands of the sixteenth person shimmered with an exceedingly subtle variation.

What exquisite variation was this? This was the Nine Forms of Confucianism () from the Confucian Civilization. These Nine Forms were: The Gentleman Is Not a Tool (), Vast Righteousness (), Nature Is Inherently Good (), Nature Is Inherently Evil (), Heaven and Earth Hold Confucianism (), Guarding Justice (), Mastery of the Six Arts (), The Great Man of Confucianism (), and The True Path of Confucianism ().

Each of these Nine Forms possessed power capable of shaking heaven and earth. Kong Ni, Kong Mingde, and the others had all mastered them, but never with this level of perfection. The subtlety displayed in that single instant was enough to make Kong Ni and Kong Mingde admit their own inferiority.

Furthermore, it did not stop there: the Nine Forms of Confucianism actually unified, merging into a single, overwhelming cascade of technique. The Son of Demon’s Seven Forms of Heavenly Demon Mutual Ruin, having merged, materialized into an incredibly beautiful flower, one of boundless splendor. But the sixteenth person’s unified Nine Forms of Confucianism manifested in the void as a towering, utterly upright book—its rectitude capable of questioning heaven and earth.

The flower and the book clashed in the void. This was a confrontation of exquisite technique against exquisite technique. Both combatants had employed the pinnacle of their martial artistry.

And in this exchange of sublime movements, the Son of Demon shockingly discovered he could not match his opponent. His most cherished domain, the technique-focused fighting style, was actually inferior to the other’s! How was this possible?

If someone in the Central Heaven could surpass him in pure technique, below the Top Fifty Celestial Ranking, there was at most the Son of the Wasteland. How could this sixteenth person possibly rival him now? The Son of Demon was profoundly shaken.

He almost believed the sixteenth person was the Son of the Wasteland, but he quickly dismissed the thought. He must have been mistaken; another earth-shattering figure had emerged without warning. Boom!

As the flower and the book collided, the Son of Demon was thrown violently aside, immediately put on the defensive: “Impossible! Your skill in technical combat surpasses mine!” He was truly wounded in pride. He had always considered himself a grandmaster of the technique-focused combat style, believing only the Son of the Wasteland could possibly defeat him.

Now, someone else had won. “No, there is a strange current flowing within your body. Relying purely on fighting prowess, you absolutely could not hold a slight advantage over me, a World Realm Tenth Heaven, while only being World Realm Ninth Heaven.” The Son of Demon’s observation was razor-sharp; he immediately detected that while his most prized technical combat might be slightly inferior, the true difference lay in that strange flow of energy.

He could not immediately conceive that the sixteenth person possessed an initial character capable of countering him. The observers nearby were gripped by a wave of terror. The fighting ability of the Son of Demon was already legendary.

And just moments ago, Kong Ni and Kong Mingde had experienced it firsthand. Yet now, this sixteenth person managed to surpass the Son of Demon in technique! Who was this person?

What hidden master had the Confucian Civilization concealed? They couldn't fathom it even if they cracked their skulls open. Who, exactly, was this sixteenth person?

Countless questions arose. But the clash was so intense, the black light of Demonic Qi and the white light of righteous energy exploding continuously, obscuring vast swathes of the view, making it impossible to clearly identify this sixteenth figure. Just as Kong Ni, Kong Mingde, and the others were fiercely debating the identity of the sixteenth person, they suddenly perceived something terribly wrong.

They watched as countless streams of Demonic Qi poured into the Son of Demon from the void, causing the Demonic Qi near them to visibly thin. Vast reserves of demon energy were being injected directly into the Son of Demon’s body, and his aura began to rise relentlessly. “Not good!

This is the Son of Demon’s ultimate killing move!” Kong Ni cried out. Indeed, the time for final judgment had arrived, and the Son of Demon was unveiling his ultimate technique. Kong Ni and Kong Mingde’s faces shifted drastically.

Even when two great Half-Step Civilization Realm experts had joined forces earlier, they were defeated in just twenty exchanges once the Son of Demon invoked this ultimate power. (Second update delivered. Explanation: There was a lightning storm, causing a power outage.

The electricity only returned near ten o’clock, but I managed to rush out this chapter, despite the late delivery.)