At that moment, Chu He’s face was almost ashen white.
The phoenix fire had burned a massive amount of death qi, so the corrosive effect of the death qi seawater on him was extremely slow. But even so, the charring slowly spread from his severe wound to his shoulder, neck, and even his cheek.
He looked battered and exhausted, but his eyes were filled with a soul-stirring gentleness.
They were the most beautiful eyes Zhou Hui had ever seen.
Zhou Hui reached out, and their fingers intertwined. The next second, the current swept them rapidly upwards, and they burst out of the water’s surface with a splash!
Shakti screamed, “Watch out!”
Trailokyavijaya abruptly dodged, but the moment Zhou Hui emerged from the water, his long saber cut through the air like a meteor, cleanly chopping off one of his arms!
With a loud bang, Trailokyavijaya slammed into the stone wall. Rock fragments flew as he let out a furious roar. He flexed his remaining two heads and seven arms and charged forward while Zhou Hui was still unsteady from emerging from the water. His massive form was no different from a tank. Zhou Hui used one hand to throw the jiangshi onto the shore, while holding the semi-conscious Chu He with the other. The impact sent him tumbling back towards the Sea of Death Qi.
However, the next moment, Chu He’s foot touched the water—
A snow-white lotus instantly bloomed from beneath his foot, a scene of utmost magnificence, steadily supporting Zhou Hui on the Sea of Death Qi!
“Lotuses… blooming with every step…” The Snow Mountain Goddess could hardly believe her eyes. “He… he still has this level of cultivation for becoming a Buddha?!”
Zhou Hui took the pure azure single saber from Chu He’s hand. The moment it entered his hand, flames ignited on the cracked blade. With a loud clang, it heavily blocked Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King’s incoming battle-axe!
Fragments of the two weapons flew. In a confrontation of unimaginable force, neither of them retreated a single step.
“It seems that even though he has been with you for so long…” Trailokyavijaya 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 a way of always leaving a way out for himself?”
Zhou Hui’s expression changed slightly, but then Chu He’s voice, hoarse from his severe injuries yet full of provocation, sounded out: “—And what about a Wisdom King who has fallen to the demonic path?”
Both of Trailokyavijaya’s faces darkened simultaneously. He was about to retort when Zhou Hui fiercely pulled back his saber, the force pushing him back several steps!
“No need for nonsense,” Zhou Hui pointed the tip of his saber at Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King’s body, which was dripping with black blood, his face cold and expressionless. “—Which hands were it that just held the Phoenix? Prepare to say goodbye to them.”
At the same time, in Yingtai.
Guards tightly protected the central building. Everyone looked up at the black sky, their faces filled with panic and unease.
On the empty ground in front of the gate, Shenwan Tiansi sat cross-legged, silently chanting sutras. One hand was in a prayer position, the other tightly gripped a vajra. His Tibetan robe billowed in the fierce wind like a deity descending to the mortal world.
In front of him, death qi descended from the sky like a giant dragon, carrying hungry ghosts from hell. But the next moment, a golden eight-character Buddhist mantra flashed in the void before him, like an indestructible giant shield, instantly turning the thousands of vengeful souls to ash!
On the Aoyu Bridge.
Armed police had cordoned off a military no-man’s-land several kilometers in radius. Hu Qing had transformed into her true form. Her snow-white fox face had a pair of emerald-green demonic eyes, and her nine white tails, a hundred meters long, stretched up into the clouds.
She lay prostrate on the ground, her massive, snow-mountain-like body trembling with every breath. With each breath, she inhaled a large amount of death qi, converting it into searing energy around her body.
A continuous stream of rotten corpses crawled towards her from the ground. A nearly mocking expression appeared on the nine-tailed fox’s face. The next second, she opened her mouth, and her demon core erupted in a blaze that burned the yin spirits to ashes, instantly turning all the rotten corpses into charred, dry bones.
Below the Great Hall, in Zhou Hui’s office.
Zhang Shun looked at the thousands upon thousands of crisscrossing red threads, and the red beads that rolled along each thread like planets in orbit, and asked in confusion, “But… I’ve never guarded this… what… what Qiankun Array before?”
“Just by standing here, you’ll be effective,” Yan Lanyu said, standing behind him. “I will protect you.”
Zhang Shun turned his head. The young man was dressed in a kariginu, and on his chest was the fragmented pendant he had brought back from Japan. The all-pervasive black qi stopped abruptly around him, as if blocked by a transparent glass cover.
Zhang Shun suddenly remembered the last time in the underground grotto, when the Peacock Wisdom King Maha had eaten everyone but had picked up Yan Lanyu, looked at him, and then thrown him far away. He couldn’t help but carefully examine the gray-white fragment and, after a long moment, finally asked, “What exactly is this?”
“A fragment of a mirror you’ve definitely heard of, but absolutely never seen.” Yan Lanyu smiled faintly. “Don’t tell anyone, it’s very valuable.”
He walked to the office door and gently closed the gap that had been pried open by the scratching of the rotten corpses.
Behind him, Zhang Shun’s handsome face couldn’t hide his anxiety. “I don’t know where my brother is. Aren’t you worried about Deputy Director Yu?”
Yan Lanyu turned back and raised his hand to him. His thumb and little finger were holding a red thread in a very unusual posture, and an exceptionally intricate and complex knot had been tied on the thread. “—I have my ways.”
They couldn’t see outside from the underground office, but the rustling of the rotten corpses crawling in the hallway and the ubiquitous black qi were enough to let them know how tense the situation was. Zhang Shun sighed and slumped into a 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 and then shot into the air like a cannonball!
The earth roared and cracked. Rubble and dirt were thrown up like giant waves. Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King shot into the air in a sorry state, roaring, “You demonic creature—”
Before he could finish, Zhou Hui appeared before him from below, his bright saber slicing down through the air, chopping off his fifth arm!
Trailokyavijaya had never been in such a defeated state. Of his three heads and eight arms, only two heads and three arms remained. His whole body was like a grotesque black boulder, falling heavily onto the muddy ground, constantly rolling and convulsing.
“Is it painful?” Zhou Hui, holding Chu He in one arm, descended from mid-air and stood leisurely on the ground, pointing the tip of his saber, which was dripping with black blood, at Trailokyavijaya’s neck.
“I will cut you down to one head and two arms, so you can personally experience the Phoenix’s pain, so you will never forget my anger even in death…”
He lowered the tip of his saber. The flaming blade, like a hot knife through butter, easily pierced Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King’s left head.
“Stop!” The Snow Mountain Goddess let out an angry roar, leaping from the crack in the earth behind him and charging over. “Stop it—!”
The next second, Zhou Hui abruptly turned. The blade followed through, completely severing Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King’s left head, and at the same time, kicked the Snow Mountain Goddess more than ten meters away. With a loud boom, she crashed through seven or eight concrete utility poles in a row!
The power lines fell to the ground with a loud crash, the crackling electricity sputtering dazzling blue sparks. At the same time, Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King’s left head hit the ground, and black blood instantly splattered out, splashing onto the ground with a whoosh.
The Snow Mountain Goddess’s body convulsed. She struggled to her feet and said with hatred, “You pervert…”
Zhou Hui said coldly, “You have a divine status, I can’t kill you. Stay there and don’t move.”
He turned and looked down at Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King, his blood-red pupils filled with an unmistakable excitement and bloodlust.
—It was the demonic creature’s craving for slaughter and flesh, an instinct rooted deep in its soul, roaring through every blood vessel like a fierce wind.
“As for you…”
He stepped on Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King and, in a slow, arrogant motion, almost savoring it, he began to slice off his terrifyingly bulging sixth arm, bit by bit.
“I heard that killing one of you five great Wisdom Kings, while sending you into the six realms of reincarnation, also allows one to gain your power… Although I don’t think much of your power, a complete victory is always refreshing…”
Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King roared and thrashed, but all his struggles were pinned firmly under Zhou Hui’s foot. The blade cruelly cut through the muscle fibers bit by bit, then emerged from under his arm. The muscles at the severed arm immediately convulsed into a terrifyingly curled shape, and blood gushed out, splattering all over Zhou Hui.
He licked the corner of his mouth as if enjoying it and smiled. “One head, two arms. You look much more normal. You should be able to get a good reincarnation in the six realms.”
“Stop… stop!” Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King roared intermittently, his chest letting out a torn, hoarse shriek like a broken bellows. “You can’t kill me, you will anger the Heavenly Dao, you will—”
“The Heavenly Dao is counting on me to kill the Demon Lord,” Zhou Hui said breezily. “I only sealed him instead of killing him. The Heavenly Dao has been dissatisfied with me for a long time for taking a salary without doing the work.”
He curled one side of his lip into a wicked smile. “I just won’t follow the will of the Heavenly Dao. Seeing you all so flustered is actually quite satisfying. When you are reincarnated as a Wisdom King in a few thousand years, you can go to Mount Sumeru and cry to them about me.”
He pointed the ferocious tip of his saber at Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King’s heart. Probably sensing the arrival of death, Trailokyavijaya burst out with an unprecedented struggle and roar. “You can’t kill me—”
At that moment, his incomplete body suddenly changed, transforming into the illusion of Sakyamuni!
“Phoenix Wisdom King!—Can you strike this face down?! The Mount Sumeru that gave birth to you and raised you! The Heavenly Dao that raised you—!”
Zhou Hui’s expression changed drastically. The killing intent in his heart was like a basin of cold water poured on boiling oil, exploding with a roar!
—However, just as he swung his saber in a rage, Chu He reached out and pressed down on the hilt of the saber.
“You can’t kill him,” Chu He said softly.
Having lived for thousands of years, this was the first time Zhou Hui didn’t know how to describe the feeling in his heart.
It was like a pot lid being slammed down hard on boiling oil that was about to explode. He remained motionless in that position, his whole body tense to the point of trembling.
He turned his head inch by inch to look at Chu He. Because the muscles in his neck were so tense, the movement even seemed a bit stiff.
“There’s no need for this extra step.” Chu He lowered his eyelashes and stared at Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King, his pale, bleeding face devoid of any expression. “Get lost.”
Zhou Hui stood frozen for a long time before, very slowly, he released the foot that was pinning Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King.
Shakti rushed over, helped up Trailokyavijaya, and stumbled back quickly. Because of her severe injuries, her appearance was very wretched, with none of her beauty and charm left. The look in her eyes as she stared at Zhou Hui was even a bit ferocious. “You lowly demonic creature…”
Zhou Hui let out a furious roar: “Get lost—!”
—That sound literally cracked the earth open, a fissure extending more than ten zhang from his feet in an instant!
The next second, Shakti, supporting Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King, stumbled and fled into the void. The boiling black qi underground was finally consumed by the phoenix fire.
The Sea of Death Qi let out an unwilling tremor and roar, but the sound grew weaker and weaker, eventually becoming the last gasp of a spent force, completely evaporating in the high temperature, leaving only a pungent black smoke.
The ground, baked by the fierce fire, cracked extensively. Not far away, the fallen concrete utility poles couldn’t bear the weight and crashed into the collapsed ground with a loud boom.
Zhou Hui knelt amidst the ruins, gently placing Chu He on his lap.
The blood on Chu He’s wound had already dried. His face was pale with a cold, ashen tint. His lips were chapped and bleeding, and the gaze under his eyelashes was scattered, looking up at the sky. After a full few seconds, he managed to focus his gaze on Zhou Hui’s face and said softly, “I couldn’t kill Trailokyavijaya because…”
“Shh,” Zhou Hui gently and irresistibly covered his mouth and said, “No need to explain.”
The blood-red in his pupils had not yet faded. Like a demonic beast looking down on its dying prey, he lowered his head and gently pressed a kiss on Chu He’s brow. “—I haven’t asked you for an explanation yet.”
His blood dripped from his bare chest onto Chu He’s cold cheek. The next second, he lifted Chu He into his arms and walked away, stepping over the black smoke rising from the ground.
At the far end of the sky, the fierce wind had ceased, the death qi had dissipated, and the vengeful souls shrieked as they fled to the horizon, disappearing into the vast void.
However, the ominous clouds had not dispersed. They still circled high above the city, like a giant dark eye, coldly looking down on the earth below.
In the nine heavens and ten lands, in the Hell Path.
Shakti, supporting Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King, staggered across the Gray River. Ahead of them were the towering peaks of the twin iron wheel mountains, reaching tens of thousands of ren high. The ceaseless samgha storm was blowing from the valley, carrying flames and stench, howling towards the deeper Avici Hell.
Suddenly, her steps faltered. She asked in surprise and uncertainty, “—Demon Lord?”
The Demon Lord, Fan Luo, had his back to her, his huge black shadow standing silently in the waters of the Gray River. He turned his head upon hearing her voice.
“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time,” he said lightly.
Shakti forced herself to remain calm, but the muscles in her cheeks twitched imperceptibly. “The Thousand-Degree Mirror World is broken, but I have other ways to compensate you…”
“No need,” a cold mockery appeared in Fan Luo’s eyes. “The Phoenix specifically sent you down here to find a way for me to be compensated.”
Before Shakti could react to what he meant, the Demon Lord suddenly drew his saber and, with a flick of his hand, as fast as lightning, he severed Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King’s last head!
“Ahhhhh—!” Shakti let out a shriek. In an instant, black blood spurted out. Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King’s completely dead body swayed for a moment and then fell into the river with a splash!
At the same time, demonic flames ignited by Fan Luo’s side. Within a few seconds, they had completely absorbed Trailokyavijaya Wisdom King’s unanchored magic power, which was then differentiated and dissolved in the black demonic flames, becoming pure energy that was integrated into his body.
At that moment, a distant tearing sound echoed deep within his soul. The seal that Zhou Hui had placed on him all those years ago finally developed terrifying cracks under the continuous impact of the powerful energy.
“—Demon Lord!” Shakti was furious. “You treacherous villain, you—!”
“You’ve got it wrong,” the Demon Lord showed a mocking smile. “The one who made a contract with me was never you.”
His face, covered in black markings, was bloody and cruel. On the Gray River of Hell, he stood on a boat made of interconnected skulls and bones, turned, and laughed as he went on his way.
