At that moment, Chu He’s face was almost pale. The Phoenix’s fire had burned away a massive amount of death qi, so the Sea of Death Qi corroded him extremely slowly. But even so, the charring still slowly spread from his heavily injured areas towards his shoulder, neck, and even his cheek. He looked disheveled and tired, but his eyes were filled with a captivating tenderness. That was the most beautiful pair of eyes Zhou Hui had ever seen.
Zhou Hui reached out his hand, and their fingers intertwined. The next second, the water current quickly lifted them, and they splashed out of the water!
Shakti screamed: “Watch out!”
Three Worlds Wisdom King suddenly dodged, but the moment Zhou Hui emerged from the water, his long blade tore through the air like a meteor, cleanly severing his arm! With a loud clang, Three Worlds Wisdom King crashed against the stone wall, stone chips flying. He let out a furious roar, then fiercely shook his remaining two heads and seven arms. Taking advantage of the moment Zhou Hui had just emerged from the water and hadn’t yet stabilized, he crashed into him—his massive form was no different from a tank. Zhou Hui used one hand to throw the zombie onto the shore and cradled the semi-conscious Chu He with the other. Under the impact, he immediately fell towards the Sea of Death Qi.
However, the next moment, Chu He’s feet touched the water—
Snow-white lotuses instantly bloomed beneath his feet, a scene of extreme grandeur, steadily supporting Zhou Hui on the Sea of Death Qi!
“Step… step by step lotuses…” The Snow Mountain Goddess could hardly believe her eyes, “He, he still has such cultivation to become a Buddha?!”
Zhou Hui took the pure cyan single blade from Chu He’s hand. The moment it touched his grasp, flames ignited on the cracked blade. With a “clanging!” sound, it firmly blocked Three Worlds Wisdom King’s oncoming halberd! Fragments of both weapons splattered. Under an unimaginable gravitational standoff, neither took half a step back.
“It seems that even though he was with you for so long…” Three Worlds Wisdom King’s gaze shifted from Chu He to Zhou Hui, and he said coldly: “He still hasn’t given up the possibility of becoming a Buddha. Is this always keeping a retreat for himself?”
Zhou Hui’s face changed slightly, but then Chu He’s voice, hoarse from severe injury yet full of provocation, rang out: “—Then what about the Wisdom King who entered the demonic path?”
Three Worlds Wisdom King’s two faces simultaneously darkened. Just as he was about to retort, Zhou Hui fiercely pulled back his blade, the gravity forcing him back several steps!
“No need for nonsense.” Zhou Hui pointed the tip of his blade at Three Worlds Wisdom King’s body, which was flowing with black blood, his face cold and expressionless: “—Which hands grabbed the Phoenix just now? Prepare to bid them farewell.”
At the same moment, Yingtai.
The security guards tightly protected the central building. Everyone looked up at the dark sky, their faces filled with panic and unease. In the open space in front of the gate, Shenwan Tiansi sat cross-legged, silently chanting scriptures, one hand clasped in prayer, the other tightly gripping a Vajra scepter. His Tibetan robe fluttered in the strong wind like a god descending to the mortal realm. In front of him, death qi, like a colossal dragon, descended from the sky, carrying hungry ghosts from hell. The next moment, golden eight-character Buddhist incantations flashed in the void before him, like an indestructible giant shield, instantly turning millions of wronged souls into ashes!
Aoyu Bridge. Armed police with guns had cordoned off a military exclusion zone within several kilometers. Hu Qing transformed into her true form, her snow-white fox face bearing two emerald green demonic eyes, and her hundred-meter-long nine white tails stretched up into the sky.
She lay prostrate on the ground, her mountain-like body constantly trembling with each breath, inhaling large amounts of death qi and converting it into scorching energy around her body.
Endless decaying corpses crawled towards her from the earth. A nearly mocking expression appeared on the nine-tailed fox’s face. The next moment, she opened her mouth, and her demonic core spewed flames that burned the yin spirits to ashes, instantly turning all the decaying corpses into charred dry bones.
Below the Great Hall, Zhou Hui’s office. Zhang Shun looked at the thousands of crisscrossing red lines, and the red beads rolling along each line like planetary orbits, and asked in confusion: “But… I’ve never guarded this something… what is this Qiankun Array?”
“You just standing here will make it work,” Yan Lanyu said from behind him: “I will protect you.”
Zhang Shun turned his head. The youth was dressed in a hunting robe, and on his chest was the fragmented chain pendant he had brought back from Japan. The omnipresent black qi stopped abruptly around him, as if blocked by an invisible glass shield. Zhang Shun suddenly remembered the last time in the underground stone cave, Peacock Wisdom King Maha had devoured everyone but picked up Yan Lanyu, looked at him, and then threw him far away. He couldn’t help but carefully examine the gray-white fragment. After a long while, he finally couldn’t help but ask, “What exactly is this?”
“A fragment of a mirror you’ve certainly heard of, but never actually seen…” Yan Lanyu smiled faintly: “Don’t tell anyone, it’s very valuable.”
He walked to the office door and gently closed the door that had been scratched open by decaying corpses earlier. Zhang Shun was behind him, an undeniable look of anxiety on his handsome face: “I don’t know where my brother is. Aren’t you worried about Assistant Director Yu?”
Yan Lanyu turned back and raised his hand to him. He saw that his thumb and pinky were pinching a red thread in a very unusual posture, and an unusually intricate knot had been tied in the red thread: “—I have my ways.”
The underground office couldn’t see outside, but the rustling of crawling decaying corpses and the omnipresent black qi in the hallway were enough to let the two know how tense the situation was. Zhang Shun sighed, slumping into his chair.
…Where are my brother and that unlucky guy surnamed Zhou now?
Zhang Shun didn’t know that, just as he was thinking this, a manhole cover in the suburbs suddenly shook, then shot out like a cannonball! The earth rumbled and cracked, broken stones and soil surged like a huge wave. Three Worlds Wisdom King, in utter disarray, rushed into the air, roaring: “You demon—”
Before he finished speaking, Zhou Hui appeared before him from below, and a gleaming blade slashed down, severing his fifth arm in mid-air! Three Worlds Wisdom King had never been so utterly defeated. Of his three heads and eight arms, only two heads and three arms remained. His entire body was like a grotesque black boulder, crashing heavily onto the muddy ground, constantly rolling and convulsing.
“Does it hurt?” Zhou Hui descended from mid-air, holding Chu He in one arm. He stood gracefully on the ground, pointing the black-blood-dripping blade tip at Three Worlds Wisdom King’s neck. “I will cut you until you have only one head and two hands, making you personally experience the Phoenix’s pain, making you unable to forget my fury even in death…”
He angled the blade downwards. The burning blade edge, like a hot knife through butter, effortlessly pierced Three Worlds Wisdom King’s left head.
“Stop!” The Snow Mountain Goddess let out an enraged roar, leaping from the earth’s fissure behind him and rushing over: “Stop him—!”
The next moment, Zhou Hui abruptly turned, his blade smoothly carrying away Three Worlds Wisdom King’s left head. At the same time, he kicked the Snow Mountain Goddess over ten meters away, sending her crashing through seven or eight concrete utility poles with a loud rumble! The power lines crashed to the ground, sparks flying with dazzling blue light. At the same time, Three Worlds Wisdom King’s left head hit the ground, black blood instantly splashing out, covering the ground with a wet splat.
The Snow Mountain Goddess’s body convulsed. She struggled to her feet, hating: “You pervert…”
Zhou Hui said coldly: “You have divinity, I can’t kill you. Stay there quietly and don’t move.” He turned and looked down at Three Worlds Wisdom King, his blood-red pupils containing unmistakable excitement and bloodlust.
—That was a demon’s craving for slaughter and flesh, an instinct deeply rooted in his soul, roaring like a hurricane through every blood vessel.
“As for you…”
He stepped on Three Worlds Wisdom King, and with a slow-motion, arrogant posture, almost enjoying it, he slowly sliced off his engorged, terrifying sixth arm.
“I heard that killing those of your five great Wisdom King levels, while sending you into the Six Realms of Reincarnation, also allows one to gain your power… Although I don’t care for your power, complete victory is always exhilarating…”
Three Worlds Wisdom King roared and rolled, but all his struggles were firmly suppressed under Zhou Hui’s foot. The blade cruelly cut through muscle fibers little by little, then pierced out from under his armpit. The muscles at the severed arm immediately convulsed into a horrifying, curled shape, and blood gushed out, splattering all over Zhou Hui.
He licked the corner of his mouth as if enjoying it, and laughed: “One head, two arms. You look much more normal. You should be able to get a good reincarnation in the Six Realms.”
“Stop… stop!” Three Worlds Wisdom King roared intermittently, a tearing, hoarse shriek coming from his chest like a bellows. “You can’t kill me, you’ll enrage the Heavenly Dao, you’ll—”
“The Heavenly Dao is counting on me to kill the Demon Venerable,” Zhou Hui said casually: “I’ve only sealed him and not killed him, and the Heavenly Dao has probably been dissatisfied with me taking salary without working for a long time.”
He curled one side of his mouth evilly: “I just don’t want to obey the Heavenly Dao’s will. It’s actually quite satisfying to see you guys furious—go back and cry to me on Mount Sumeru after you’ve reincarnated as Wisdom Kings in a few thousand years.”
His ferocious blade tip pointed at Three Worlds Wisdom King’s heart. Perhaps sensing the arrival of death, Three Worlds Wisdom King erupted in an unprecedented struggle and roar: “You can’t kill me—”
At that very moment, his incomplete body suddenly changed, transforming into Shakyamuni’s appearance from the illusion! “Phoenix Wisdom King!—Can you bring yourself to kill with this face?! Mount Sumeru that birthed and raised you! The Heavenly Dao that raised you—!”
Zhou Hui’s expression changed drastically, and the murderous intent in his heart exploded like cold water splashed on boiling oil!—However, at the moment he furiously swung his blade, Chu He reached out and pressed down on the hilt.
“You can’t kill him,” Chu He said softly.
Zhou Hui had lived for thousands of years, and for the first time, he didn’t know how to describe the feeling in his heart. It was like a lid violently slamming down on boiling oil about to explode. He remained motionless in that posture, his entire body tensed to the point of trembling. He turned his head inch by inch to look at Chu He. Because the muscles in his neck were too tense, this movement even seemed a bit stiff.
“There’s no need for unnecessary trouble.” Chu He lowered his eyelashes, staring at Three Worlds Wisdom King, his pale, bleeding face devoid of any expression: “Get out.”
Zhou Hui stood stiffly for a long time before very slowly, bit by bit, he released his foot from Three Worlds Wisdom King.
Shakti rushed forward violently, helping Three Worlds Wisdom King up, and staggered quickly backward. Because of her severe injuries, she looked very disheveled, not a trace of her former beauty remaining. Her gaze at Zhou Hui was even a bit savage: “You lowly demon…”
Zhou Hui erupted in a roar: “Get out—!”
—That sound literally ripped open the ground, creating a fissure that instantly extended over ten zhang from beneath his feet!
The next second, Shakti, supporting Three Worlds Wisdom King, stumbled and vanished into the void. The boiling black qi from underground was finally swept away completely by the Phoenix’s fire.
The Sea of Death Qi let out unwilling tremors and roars, but the sound grew increasingly weak and diminished, finally becoming a spent force, completely evaporating in the high temperature, leaving only a pungent black smoke. The ground, scorched by the fierce fire, cracked into large fissures. Not far away, the fallen concrete utility poles, unable to bear the weight, crashed into the collapse.
Zhou Hui knelt among the ruins, gently placing Chu He on his lap. The blood on Chu He’s wounds had dried. His face was pale, tinged with a cold grayish-blue. His lips were cracked and bleeding, and the gaze beneath his eyelashes was unfocused, looking towards the sky. After several seconds, he barely managed to focus his gaze on Zhou Hui’s face and softly said, “You can’t kill Three Worlds Wisdom King, it’s because…”
“Shh,” Zhou Hui gently and irresistibly covered his mouth, saying, “No need to explain.” His pupils were still blood-red, like a demonic beast looking down at its dying prey. He lowered his head and gently pressed a kiss on Chu He’s brow: “—I haven’t asked you to explain yet.”
His blood dripped from his bare chest onto Chu He’s cold cheek. The next moment, he scooped Chu He into his arms, walked over the black smoke rising from the ground, and headed into the distance. At the far end of the firmament, the gale subsided, the death qi dissipated, and the tormented souls shrieked as they rushed to the horizon, vanishing into the vast void.
However, the dark clouds did not disperse, still circling high above the city, like a dark giant eye, coldly looking down at the earth below.
Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, Path of Hell.
Shakti supported the Three Worlds Wisdom King, staggering through the grey river. Ahead lay the majestic peaks of the Double Iron Wheel Mountains, towering ten thousand ren high. The ceaseless storm, which had raged for millions of years, swept from the valleys, carrying flames and foul odors, howling deeper into the Avici Hell.
Suddenly, her footsteps faltered. She looked uncertainly: “—Demon Venerable?”
Demon Venerable Fan Luo stood with his back to her, his massive black shadow silently erected in the grey river water. He turned his head when he heard her.
“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time,” he said calmly.
Shakti forced herself to be calm, but the muscles in her cheeks twitched imperceptibly a few times: “The Thousand Degrees Mirror Realm is broken, but I have other ways to compensate…”
“No need,” a cold sneer appeared in Fan Luo’s eyes: “Phoenix Wisdom King specifically sent you down here to find a way to compensate me.”
Shakti hadn’t yet realized what he meant when the Demon Venerable suddenly drew his blade and swung it, cutting off the Three Worlds Wisdom King’s last head with the speed of lightning!
“Ahhhhh—!” Shakti shrieked. Black blood instantly sprayed, and the Three Worlds Wisdom King’s utterly lifeless body swayed, then splashed into the river! At the same time, demonic flames ignited beside Fan Luo. Within seconds, they completely absorbed Three Worlds Wisdom King’s power, which had nowhere to reside, then divided and dissolved in the black demonic flames, becoming pure energy that integrated into his body. At that moment, a distant tearing sound echoed from the depths of his soul. The seal Zhou Hui had placed back then finally erupted with terrifying cracks under the continuous impact of powerful energy.
“—Demon Venerable!” Shakti was furious: “You treacherous villain, you—!”
“You’ve got it wrong,” the Demon Venerable, however, showed a playful smile: “The one who made a contract with me was never you.”
His black-patterned face was bloody and cruel. Above the grey river of hell, he stepped onto a boat made of interconnected skulls and bones, turned around, laughed loudly, and departed.
