This is a piece of inky void, devoid of time and space; save for the raging torrent of void energy, there was nothing else. When Ye Jingyu suppressed his aura and sheathed the gleam of his Heaven Sovereign Blade, he seemed to vanish altogether.

His speed was terrifying, bringing him almost instantaneously before Ying Kongshi. The Heaven Sovereign Blade in his hand slashed down without mercy. This strike erupted with not a single glint of blade light, appearing utterly plain, lacking even the faintest trace of blade qi.

Yet, Ying Kongshi suddenly felt an inexpressible pressure. He harbored no doubt that if this single strike connected, he would be cleaved in two. It was a strike taken to the absolute extreme, suppressing every shred of blade qi and light.

A flicker, and the blue luminescence surrounding him vanished without a trace. The long spear in his hand suddenly dulled, appearing lifeless. With what seemed like a casual flourish, the spear materialized out of thin air, aimed directly at Ye Jingyu’s heart.

Ye Jingyu inwardly started. He suddenly felt as though the Ying Kongshi holding the spear and the one without were two entirely different beings. Even though both possessed the might of the Demon King realm, the sensation they imparted was vastly divergent.

The disarmed Ying Kongshi was prone to smugness, arrogance, and conceit. Beyond reaching the Demon King realm, there was nothing truly terrifying about him. But the moment his hand closed around the long spear, all those emotions evaporated, replaced by an absolute focus, a Demon King utterly devoid of any exploitable flaw.

It was as if equipping a completely bare army with fighter jets, armored vehicles, and even an aircraft carrier—how could the combat capability not multiply tenfold? Merely a single spear had brought about such a profound transformation.

Facing this spear that seemed to emerge from nowhere, Ye Jingyu had only two choices: either allow the strike to pierce his heart, letting the embedded force utterly destroy him, while his Heaven Sovereign Blade cleaved the spear in half; or immediately evade, abandoning his current offensive.

Of course, he could summon the Eastern Emperor Bell, but without the Twelve Heavenly Witches Extinction Grand Array supporting him, the Bell was his final trump card, one he was reluctant to play so early, unsure what hidden means the deeply concealed Ying Kongshi might possess.

His body shot sharply to the left, yet his Heaven Sovereign Blade did not entirely withdraw its attack, instead pulling back slightly to the left, aiming directly for Ying Kongshi’s left arm.

Ying Kongshi seemed to have anticipated every move. He shifted his body, neatly avoiding Ye Jingyu’s slash, while the spear in his hand moved as if alive, circling in a vast arc to appear behind Ye Jingyu’s back.

Ye Jingyu felt utterly bewildered. He clearly saw the spear thrust forward, and the shaft showed no sign of bending, so how had it appeared behind his heart?

In his astonishment, his body could only lurch forward, only to see the spear tip once again manifest before his chest.

It seemed as if the thrust had never moved at all; in the end, it was almost as if he had run into it himself.

Bizarre, profoundly bizarre. Could this be his Spear Soul? Ye Jingyu was horrified. He knew that whether man or demon, reaching a supreme level in any single discipline allowed one to wield that skill with absolute spontaneity. It was like Du Gu Bachan and Xuanyuan Jue—the blade and the sword were extensions of their very bodies, truly a part of them, controllable at will.

Even though his current strength matched, or perhaps surpassed, Du Gu Bachan’s, in terms of mastery over the blade, the gap remained that between heaven and earth. After all, what truly forged his growth was the Ba Yuan Jue; his greatest asset remained the power of his physical body.

The Demon Race, however, pursued raw, overwhelming power, generally paying little mind to techniques. Even when a demon occasionally mastered a particular weapon or move set, it was merely proficiency, never the obsessive dedication required to completely internalize a technique, as seen in Ying Kongshi. His command over the spear had reached the level Du Gu Bachan commanded the blade, or Xuanyuan Jue commanded the sword—a state of complete, intuitive mastery.

For the first time, Ye Jingyu began to view Ying Kongshi with genuine gravity. Perhaps that sounded somewhat unfair to Ying Kongshi, but whether battling the stronger Ying Kongshi the first time, or their later encounter in the Demon Realm, he had never truly taken the man seriously. He believed his deficit was merely a matter of time; given enough time, his power would surpass anyone.

Regarding power, he always believed that with a decent aptitude, profound cultivation methods, and diligent effort, it was achievable—even a stroke of luck or a chance encounter could vastly amplify one's strength. But reaching the level where Ying Kongshi had wholly integrated spear mastery into his being, achieving that spontaneous control, was not something that mere fortune could forge.

His own fortune had been good, Lin Xiaoyi’s luck was considerable, but their mastery of the blade technique remained lamentably distant. Even with their supreme power, their skill in execution was far behind. To reach that state of effortless command required not only sufficient talent but an unyielding resolve; ordinary effort was insufficient. One had to strive a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times harder than the average person to reach such heights.

This tested not only one's intrinsic strength but also the heart—a persistence that never tired and never yielded.

For a member of the Demon Race, one who solely pursued strength, to achieve such mastery in spear technique compelled Ye Jingyu to awe. It explained why he could rise to become a Demon King so young based purely on his own merits; it seemed there were no shortcuts in this world.

As he marveled internally, Ye Jingyu launched his Heaven Sovereign Blade, the tip aimed directly at Ying Kongshi’s heart. The Heaven Sovereign Blade was shorter than Ying Kongshi’s demon spear, forcing him to throw it. Meanwhile, his right fist moved directly toward the spear tip, aiming to intercept it...

"Hmph..." Seeing Ye Jingyu still prioritizing killing him at this crucial juncture, Ying Kongshi let out a cold snort. He shifted his body, cleanly avoiding the incoming blade, and gave his demonic spear a slight twitch, whipping out a spear flourish—a dazzling, captivating flower of the spear—that continued its path toward Ye Jingyu’s heart...

In Ye Jingyu’s vision, it was an agonizingly brilliant burst of light...