"Could Guan Siyan have broken through the seal of the Ksitigarbha Sarira!" Changkong glanced below the platform. That enormous creature, besides howling senselessly, showed no other action. As he tilted his head back high, shouting at Ye Xiu ahead, streams of scorching magma actually erupted from his open mouth.

"Then his power has returned to its original state?" Ye Xiu drew his scythe, constantly spinning it before himself. The platform instantly erupted in sparks, and the scattered magma droplets landing upon it emitted wisps of white smoke.

"Great Vow Ksitigarbha, today is your day of doom!" Guan Siyan buried his head. His words were already indistinct emerging from his tumor-ridden lips. He fixed one eye intently on Ye Xiu, a flicker of confusion crossing his features, "You are not the Ksitigarbha from that day, yet why do you give me that feeling?"

Ye Xiu couldn't concern himself with such matters. He blasted the ground with his black flames, launching himself upward, and brought his blade down upon Guan Siyan's head. With a clang, Guan Siyan's head swayed slightly backward, revealing some thick, viscous green matter.

"Ah…" Guan Siyan screamed but showed no anger. His head swung in the air like a pendulum. He had thought the one standing before him was the King Ksitigarbha of old, but as he looked, the figure before him was saturated with an aura of sheer malevolence. "Who are you, and how do you possess the Sacred Sword of the Underworld? Why? Why can Ksitigarbha wield the Sacred Sword of the Underworld, why!"

Seeing his attack was futile, Ye Xiu turned to look back at Changkong. "What is this creature screaming about, calling me Ksitigarbha?"

Changkong was also curious about Guan Siyan's condition. Given the circumstances—Ye Xiu bleeding human red blood, which was already incredible—and Guan Siyan, one of the Five Marquises of the Underworld, harboring an intense, bone-deep hatred for Ksitigarbha himself, his judgment could not be entirely wrong. Death God Ye Xiu was a being of Yisheng (Different Birth), inherently possessing a nature balanced between righteous and evil. His evil aura naturally stemmed from the Death Realm (Sigong); could the righteous energy radiating from him stem from Ksitigarbha? He examined Ye Xiu closely. "The fate of a Yisheng cannot be predicted. Everything seems destined to be revealed only after the Five-Pointed Funeral Mound (Wumang Zangfo Zhong) is opened."

"Hmph, that means we must deal with this fiend first!" Ye Xiu sneered, turning and leaping toward the arm upon which Guan Siyan was currently propped on the platform. His black flames flared up again, transforming into countless small dragons that swooped out. These black dragons spewed forth fire-black rain that fell directly onto Guan Siyan's grotesque claw, battering the residual flesh beyond recognition.

"Ah... Oww..." This time, Guan Siyan felt a piercing pain. His claw, unable to withstand the assault of the black flames, detached and slipped down below the platform. This fall caused his head to heavily slump onto the platform surface. He opened his massive mouth and spewed a torrent of dense magma toward Ye Xiu. "No matter who you are, anyone connected to Ksitigarbha must die."

"Careful!" Although severely wounded, Changkong could discern the terrifying power of this magma. At this moment, he could only focus on using his Buddhist power to reinforce the golden lotus supporting his body in mid-air. "That is Hellfire (Diyu Minghuo). His cultivation level seems completely unaffected by the Ksitigarbha Sarira now."

Ye Xiu felt a wave of heat threatening to burn away his skin. He tried to leap high to evade such an attack, but Guan Siyan’s mouth expanded far beyond imagination. The wide, pillar-like flames formed a beam of searing energy that swept across the platform, threatening to engulf the entire structure. Seeing Changkong was unharmed, he propelled himself away with his black flames toward another platform.

"Ye Xiu, if you sever all four of his claws simultaneously, he'll fall!" Changkong saw the only viable path. He soared high above Guan Siyan's head. Looking down, he realized Guan Siyan had no lower body; his massive form was barely sustained above the lava by those four appendages.

"Hoo..." Ye Xiu felt the intense flame scorch the sole of his foot, rendering that limb almost senseless. He staggered onto the second platform. Before Guan Siyan could turn his face around, Ye Xiu struck at his claw again with black flames. "Easier said than done! To make him fall, I’ll need to destroy at least three of his claws first!"

"Hahahaha, can flames of this intensity harm me?" Guan Siyan roared, shifting his gaze. The pustules in his eye sockets suddenly burst open, and countless spore-like green objects leaped onto the second platform. Instantly, tentacles sprouted forth, wrapping tightly around his claw.

Ye Xiu took a deep breath but immediately noticed the surroundings were filled with a musty odor. After the green spores touched the ground, they not only grew tentacles but also formed masses of green ooze across the surface. This ooze relentlessly corroded the ground; slabs of stone were slowly dissolved. It became clear that Guan Siyan had long prepared to destroy the platform to leave himself nowhere to stand.

"Fire can't destroy it? Then what about the blade!" Ye Xiu's scythe leaped sharply next to Guan Siyan's claw. The downward strike sliced a deep gash into the long tendrils wrapped around his appendage. The tendrils layered themselves over the wound, but they slowly began to repair the damage.

Guan Siyan’s entire body trembled slightly. At this moment, his grotesque maw had rotated to face Ye Xiu directly. With a sharp flash, a long tongue shot out from his mouth, piercing straight through Ye Xiu’s left leg.

"Ah! Ya!" Ye Xiu tried to withdraw, but the surrounding tentacles and green liquid had sealed off his retreat. He hadn't expected Guan Siyan's tongue to be as sharp as a longsword. That instant, his calf was pierced, and another fountain of red blood gushed forth—a grim sight. "Damn it, when did my blood turn red?"

Changkong was completely helpless now. He, too, was perplexed. Why did every attack from Guan Siyan cause Ye Xiu to bleed red blood? For a Death God, how could red blood exist? If he truly was a Yisheng being, every strike from Guan Siyan was tormenting Ye Xiu's most fundamental essence.

"Susu, give me Soul Power, quick! Soul Power!" Ye Xiu was completely tethered to Guan Siyan’s claw by the tentacles. Seeing a crimson mass beginning to glow in Guan Siyan’s mouth, he weakly moved his fingers.

Suddenly, the yellow light emanating from the Death God Scythe overwhelmed the black, as the Soul Stone Jade Ring poured its last reserve of Lihun (Soul Power) into the weapon. At that moment, the edge of the scythe flashed brightly and began to spin automatically, easily severing the surrounding tentacles.

"Die, Ksitigarbha..." Guan Siyan howled, and a gout of flame erupted from his mouth, traveling down his tongue to the very tip. Before Ye Xiu could jump away, a violent explosion enveloped the entire platform in smoke.