Four Evil Paths, Hell’s Sea of Blood.
The Demon Lord stood on the misty surface of the sea. The sea of blood beneath his feet was like a giant mirror, reflecting the scene of the human world at this very moment.
The first batch of hell demons were walking onto the streets of a human city through a spatial rift, roaring excitedly as they charged recklessly, causing a chain of car accidents on the road. The crowd fled in terror in all directions. A hell demon rushed to a wrecked car, smashed the window, dragged out the injured driver, and bit his throat on the spot, chewing and swallowing loudly.
Police sirens wailed from far to near, gunshots rang out one after another, and the piercing sound of brakes and a screaming crowd mixed together, piercing the eardrums.
The Demon Lord turned his head and asked, “Where are the body bags?”
Behind him, Asura King Baḍin clapped his hands in a signal. The dense ranks of the Asura clan behind him split into two columns over the sea of blood, revealing a passage in the middle. Four huge hell beasts dragged a body bag as heavy as a mountain range, their footsteps making a dull booming sound in the air.
“Your Highness the Demon Lord, ten thousand refined corpses are all here.” Asura King Baḍin, who was over ten feet tall with arms that dragged on the ground, turned around and said in a booming voice, “The death qi is enough to refine millions of humans into vengeful ghosts. We can pour it into the human world now.”
The Demon Lord nodded without a word.
The Asura clan waited quietly for him. The Demon Lord’s pupils were scarlet, and countless black demonic patterns swam in his body like chains.
He was quiet for a moment, then suddenly said, “Phoenix Wisdom King.”
Chu He was standing on the side, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his hands in his pockets. Hearing this, he turned his head and saw the Demon Lord extend a hand to him.
Chu He’s brow furrowed slightly into a thin line, but after a long while, he still placed his hand in the Demon Lord’s outstretched palm, which was then held tightly.
“Thousands of years ago, when I was still an insignificant young Asura, I witnessed the descent of the Phoenix Wisdom King. He killed the Great Asura King with a single arrow, then swept through hell, clearing the sea of blood. His prestige awed the Four Evil Paths, and in the end, he left with a flick of his sleeve. At that time, I happened to be blocking the Phoenix Wisdom King’s path of departure. I thought he would kill me like crushing an ant under his foot, but he did not do so. I told him my name was Fan Luo, but he didn’t even look at me, turned around, and left.”
“At that moment, his figure was deeply imprinted in my mind, so much so that thousands of years have not erased it in the slightest. I have asked myself countless times why I didn’t die then, and the answer was always the same: I was not worthy.”
“I was as insignificant as an ant, so I didn’t even have the qualification to be looked at, let alone be killed.”
The Demon Lord held Chu He’s cold hand tightly, his voice low and hoarse, as if he were just talking to himself.
Chu He, however, asked in return, “How do you know that I thought you weren’t worth killing then, and not that I was suddenly moved by pity?”
The Demon Lord smiled and said, “That’s not important. What’s important is that thousands of years later, in the same place, you and I are standing side by side under the million-yojana void of hell. You still look as you did in the past, but I have risen up and grasped the greatest authority in the nine heavens and ten earths.”
He held Chu He’s hand with one hand and pointed to the huge body bag not far away with the other, saying, “The death qi will pour into the sea of blood and leak directly into the human world from the spatial fissure at the bottom of the sea. Millions of living people will be turned into vengeful souls and vengeful ghosts, refined into the energy of my Asura clan. Afterward, I will go straight from hell’s Mount Buzhou to the Formless Heaven, use your ancient divine bird’s power to open the gate of the Formless Heaven, and completely wipe out the beings of the Buddhist world who have oppressed the Four Evil Paths for tens of thousands of years…”
“My Asura clan will replace the Heavenly Dao and become the greatest hegemon of the nine heavens and ten earths.” The Demon Lord paused and said, “And you will forever remain in the Four Evil Paths, among my Asura clan.”
“A good plan,” Chu He commented lazily. “But you have to make sure there are no mistakes. I can only open the Formless Heaven once even if I burn out my divinity. There’s no second chance if I fail.”
The Demon Lord returned a smug, condescending smile, then turned his head and ordered Asura King Baḍin, “—Release the death qi warehouse.”
Asura King Baḍin raised his arm, which was as long as his body, and swung it down heavily.
The four hell beasts simultaneously dropped the body bags, their fangs tearing at them fiercely. With a loud tearing sound, the huge body bags split open from four directions at the same time. Countless rotting corpses fell into the sea of blood like a rainstorm, and black qi, like a roaring giant dragon, plunged headfirst from mid-air into the boiling sea surface!
The Demon Lord grabbed the phoenix and plunged down against the towering waves, instantly swallowed by the sea of blood.
Behind him, the Asura clan also moved out in full force, diving into the deep sea in rows, rapidly descending towards the spatial fissure at the vast seabed that led to the human world.
Human world, H City.
The heavy rain instantly poured down like a torrent. Black water poured down from high above, and many people on the street screamed as their flesh was corroded.
Wu Bei knelt on the hillside, completely drenched. Pale red, bloody water flowed down his face to his neck. He quickly loaded a Buddha ash shell, shouldered the rocket launcher, and fired with a roar. The shell whistled towards the city center, then exploded, scattering a sky full of gray smoke.
Wherever the gray smoke went, the black water was dispelled and purified, emitting sizzling, chaotic small electrical currents that intertwined into an electric grid in the high sky.
“The sea of death qi is too fierce!” Wu Bei roared, shouldering the hot barrel. “Think of a way! Quick!”
A white shadow flashed past his side. The nine-tailed fox transformed into its true form, carrying Shenwan Tiansi, whose kasaya was flying, and rushed towards the center of H City. The moment they landed, there was a huge roar, and a beastly shriek was emitted in the terrified gazes of countless civilians!
The sound wave rippled out in circles, sending the hell demons that were crashing into buildings and devouring living people all over the street flying, smashing into buildings and roads with a rumble. Most of them were instantly smashed to pieces, and the ground was covered with splattered black blood.
Shenwan Tiansi landed with a flip, holding a vajra staff, and instantly formed a mudra. The next second, the six-syllable mantra manifested in the void, spreading out flat under the hazy sky, and transformed into an incomparably magnificent golden barrier above people’s heads!
The young living Buddha sat cross-legged in the heavy rain, closing his eyes and chanting scriptures, his expression serene. The nine-tailed demon fox stood majestically behind him, like a guardian god holding up the heavens in the apocalypse, baring its snow-white fangs at the rampaging hell demons below.
·
On the hillside, Wu Bei pulled the trigger again. The muzzle rotated, emitting a green light, and fired a Buddha ash shell with a roar, once again exploding into a sky of gray mist against the tyrannical black rain.
The recoil pushed Wu Bei staggering back. He fell onto the muddy ground and dejectedly threw the hot barrel at his feet.
“We’re almost out of shells,” he gasped, looking at the last two Buddha ash shells on the ground. Pale gray rainwater mixed with bloody water flowed down his cheeks. “Fifth’s Buddhist scriptures can hold on for a while longer, but what do we do next? This situation won’t stop for a while.”
Zhou Hui walked up behind him and suddenly frowned. “—Wait.”
Wu Bei looked at him doubtfully, then followed his gaze to the high sky above the center of H City.
The sky was suddenly torn apart by an invisible giant hand. Hundreds of figures fell from the black hole. Their faces could not be seen clearly from such a distance, but the soaring demonic qi swept over like a landslide, instantly blowing back the corners of Zhou Hui’s and Wu Bei’s clothes on the slope.
“Asuras?!” Wu Bei said in astonishment.
Zhou Hui’s gaze was fixed on the first two figures to fall.
—In the high sky, their figures were small and difficult to distinguish, but he was like a shark in the deep sea that had smelled the scent of blood from tens of kilometers away.
Zhou Hui’s long, sharp eyes narrowed slightly. Then, suddenly, his entire skeleton transformed. He became a giant demonic beast, and with a roar, he stomped on the slope, shattering it into pieces!
Wu Bei shouted, “Boss Zhou!”
Zhou Hui let out a terrifying roar, his figure flashing past like lightning, and charged towards the black hole in the distant high sky!
Wu Bei staggered to his feet amidst the tremor and said in surprise, “What’s wrong with him?!”
“That is my mother…” Jia Louluo said faintly behind him.
Wu Bei turned his head and saw Jia Louluo pick up the last two Buddha ash shells and throw them into his backpack. He stuffed the bag into his hands. “You’re not afraid of heights, are you, poet?”
“…” Wu Bei was stunned for a moment, his mouth twitching. “No… Although I’m not afraid, fly a little slower…”
Jia Louluo nodded. With this movement, a whirlwind suddenly rolled up from the flat ground at his feet, shattering the rainwater. In the eye of the storm, the young man’s figure suddenly transformed into a vigorous and powerful bird of prey, swooping down from mid-air.
At the lowest point of the glide, Wu Bei leaped up with the single-person rocket launcher. Then, the great roc spread its huge golden wings and soared into the high sky!
·
On the main street of the city center, the nine-tailed fox slammed several hell demons into the cracks of the shattered ground with one paw. Then, suddenly sensing something, it looked up at the sky. “—Asuras?!”
In the nine-tailed fox’s emerald green beast pupils, the black hole in the sky was reflected, as well as the figures in black and gray robes continuously descending from the black hole—this was perhaps the first time in a thousand years that the Asura clan had appeared in the human world on such a large scale. These demonic gods, who claimed to be the descendants of the devas, were simply bizarrely shaped. There were those with nine heads and eighty-one eyes, those with bodies as huge as elephants, and those with human heads and snake bodies wearing dharma robes. Their figures were exposed in the high sky, which immediately caused even greater panic throughout the city.
And at the forefront of the Asura army were two familiar figures—the Demon Lord Fan Luo, and the Phoenix Wisdom King.
The Demon Lord held Chu He tightly. The wind from their rapid descent from high altitude whipped up their robes, making them flutter loudly.
“The human world, which claims to be one of the two good paths, is nothing more than this. It usually kneels and fawns before the Heavenly Dao, which represents ‘power’ and ‘faith,’ but in the face of disaster, it only screams and flees like birds and beasts…”
Chu He was silent, but the Demon Lord turned back to ask him, “You, who have lived in seclusion in this city for many years, should know humans well. What do you think?”
“…” Chu He lowered his gaze in the strong wind, his messy, flying sideburns blocking his side profile.
The Demon Lord snorted with a laugh and was about to say something when suddenly, a sharp and powerful aura, like a needle prick, instantly attacked from an angle, reaching him in a flash!
The Demon Lord stopped in an instant, drew his sword with a backhand motion, and with a loud clang!, firmly blocked the spear tip that was stabbing at his throat!
“—Zhou Hui,” the Demon Lord said coldly.
Zhou Hui stood firm, holding a silver-white phoenix spear. Under the gray sky, his gaze was as cold as iron. His line of sight passed over the Demon Lord Fan Luo and looked at Chu He behind him.
Chu He met his gaze, his expression unchanging, but for a thousandth of a second, his heart skipped a beat.
He didn’t know if his gaze had revealed an almost imperceptible abnormality, and the trace of weakness that was deeply hidden behind the perfect mask. In that instant, he thought of the day he left, when Zhou Hui had said, If you leave, I won’t want you anymore.
Chu He closed his eyes and was then pulled far away by Asura King Baḍin, who had followed.
The Demon Lord looked at Zhou Hui’s face with great interest and asked, “How does it feel to have your wife run off with someone else?”
“You’d better let him stay far away…” Zhou Hui finally withdrew his direct gaze from Chu He and said faintly, “In case his blood splashes on him when I kill you. It’s too much trouble to wash.”
The Demon Lord seemed to have heard the most interesting joke in the world. The next second, he suddenly drew his sword and swung the blade at Zhou Hui!
The strongest fighters, representing the peak of the Heavenly Dao’s and the Four Evil Paths’ combat power, finally erupted in the most intense frontal conflict in history, with the high sky of the human city as their battlefield and an unusually brief conversation as their opening.
This was completely different from the last siege launched to deal with the Heavenly Dao. It was not aimed at sealing the Demon Lord at all, but a real, life-and-death struggle with no holds barred from the very beginning. Energy rolled up in a frenzy, spreading in all directions in a violent explosion. Some of the descending Asuras were caught up in the hurricane, dragged into the center of the battlefield without any strength to struggle, and before they could even react, they were shattered by the electrical currents swept out by the phoenix spear, falling to the ground trailing long plumes of smoke.
The Demon Lord let out an angry roar and suddenly summoned the Dharma form of the Great Asura King!
The screams of tens of millions of vengeful souls echoed in the void. In the netherworld, the hundred-zhang-high gate of hell slowly opened a dark crack. White bones stretched out, poisonous dragons roared, and black smoke instantly erupted towards the earth, rushing over like a tidal wave.
“Zhou Hui—!” The Demon Lord’s Dharma form’s withered hand, over ten feet long, pointed at Zhou Hui, its hoarse roar shaking the heavens and the earth. “You lowly demon, you have been flaunting your power over the Asura clan for too long!”
“You came from hell, and you are destined to return to hell!”
“—Right at the bottom of the ten-thousand-zhang sea of blood, pay the price for your crime of blasphemy!”
Zhou Hui did his best to swing the spear horizontally. The silver-white electrical currents surged and rushed, barely blocking the deadly demonic qi that was as thick as ink in front of him.
Then, in the darkness, the ferocious face of the Demon Lord’s Dharma form appeared, right in front of Zhou Hui’s eyes.
—Black flames immediately erupted from the Demon Lord’s giant mouth. The flames, containing the divine power of the Lord of the Four Evil Paths, the Great Asura King, were like a giant dragon. In less than a ten-thousandth of a second, they heavily struck Zhou Hui in the chest, sending him flying!
Even a Heavenly Dao Venerable would not be able to withstand this blow. A crisp cracking sound exploded in Zhou Hui’s chest. It was unknown how many ribs had broken at once, and his entire person was sent flying over a hundred zhang away in an instant!
In the distance, Chu He’s face changed.
On the ground, the nine-tailed fox cried out in a lost voice, “Boss Zhou!”
The Demon Lord’s black robe covered a large part of the sky. Wrapped in the demonic qi that had transformed into a giant dragon, he pursued relentlessly, extending his unusually long, sharp, withered fingers, which were completely out of proportion to his entire Dharma body, and was about to touch the flying Zhou Hui.
However, at this moment, Zhou Hui used all his strength to thrust the silver-white spear out fiercely. The bright light of the spear tip was as powerful as a splitting bamboo, like a meteor streaking across the long sky, and in the blink of an eye, it completely pierced through the entire arm the Demon Lord had extended!
—Bang!
Black blood with powerful demonic energy exploded. The Demon Lord’s roar was earth-shattering, even sending the several hundred Asuras behind him flying!
“You demon—”
The Demon Lord’s Dharma form transformed into an incomparably huge black cloud, surrounding Zhou Hui from all directions. In the black cloud, tens of thousands of white bones vied to make a crisp climbing sound!
·
In the distance, Chu He, who was watching all this, his brow twitched violently. He finally raised the hand he had been clutching so tightly just now, the nail marks on his palm almost deep enough to draw blood.
—This was very similar to the script he had originally designed. It was almost time for the sharp downturn.
He knew that it was almost impossible for him to kill the Demon Lord with his own strength—perhaps many years ago, when his true body was still present and his strength was at its peak, he might have had a chance to fight against the Great Asura King Fan Luo, who was born from the demon’s eye. But in the current situation where Zhou Hui and Fan Luo were facing each other, he, with his severe injuries that had not healed for hundreds of years, had no chance of winning at all.
Therefore, he needed to use Zhou Hui’s power to control Fan Luo, to weaken the Demon Lord’s power to a point where he could kill him with a single blow.
The immense energy generated after Fan Luo’s divinity was refined by the phoenix’s true fire would allow him to smoothly break into the Formless Heaven and face the strongest behind-the-scenes demon in the nine heavens and ten earths. For this moment, he had waited for decades, planned countless times, and tossed and turned in countless late nights, repeatedly thinking it over. But when the day broke, no one could see from behind his calm and composed mask what he, a person who had twice betrayed the Heavenly Dao, was thinking in his heart.
Chu He raised his hand and pressed it on the Buddha’s bone knife at the back of his waist.
Asura King Baḍin was guarding him not far away. Seeing this, he immediately walked over and asked hoarsely, “Your Highness the Phoenix Wisdom King, what are you trying to do?!”
·
Chu He’s knuckles on the knife handle tightened.
Just at this moment, a golden light flashed through the demonic qi that filled the sky—the golden-winged roc came from far to near, brazenly passing through the white bone black cloud that the Demon Lord’s Dharma form had transformed into, and suddenly transformed into human form in mid-air.
Jia Louluo’s footsteps stopped abruptly beside his father. He took off the rocket launcher from his back and threw it at Zhou Hui!
The cooperation between this father and son, who viewed each other as rivals, was exquisite at this moment. Zhou Hui caught the rocket launcher with one hand, shouldered it, and with the other hand, wiped away the blood that had overflowed from the corner of his mouth. He aimed the muzzle at a vaguely emerging ferocious giant face in the white bone black cloud.
The next second, he pulled the trigger with a click.
—BOOM!
The rocket exploded in mid-air, and Buddha ash sprayed in all directions, instantly covering the Demon Lord’s head!
“Ahhhhh—”
The damage of the Buddha ash to the Demon Lord’s Dharma form was simply geometric. At that moment, the white bone black cloud turned into nothingness, and the demonic qi that filled the sky tightened painfully. The Demon Lord let out an angry roar amidst the spraying black blood!
Now!
Chu He flashed past Asura King Baḍin, drew the Buddha’s bone knife in the strong wind, and stabbed at the Demon Lord like a sharp arrow leaving the bowstring.
Asura King Baḍin was stunned for a moment, then followed closely like a shadow, reaching for Chu He’s back!
—If this critical scene were to be frozen, the picture would be very strange.
The Buddha ash was not burned from a proper Buddha statue, so its magic power was limited. But it was completely and without waste attached to the Dharma form’s body, still causing unexpectedly huge damage to the Demon Lord. The Great Asura King’s Dharma form retreated rapidly, and black blood sprayed in all directions, like meteors falling from a starry field, trailing long plumes of hot smoke. Behind the painfully roaring Demon Lord, Chu He’s figure stood against the wind, the blade of the Buddha’s bone knife in his hand reflecting a dazzling golden electrical light.
And not far behind Chu He, Asura King Baḍin was rushing over with a roar, and in half a second, he would be able to dig out Chu He’s heart from behind.
In this flash of lightning and flint, Zhou Hui’s single-person rocket launcher on his shoulder aimed once again. The muzzle rotated, flashing with a green light.
The next moment, the last Buddha ash shell was fired with a whistle.
Jia Louluo suddenly realized something and roared in a lost voice, “Wait—”
However, everything was too late.
In the dead silence of the frozen world, the Buddha ash shell emitted a dazzling white light and exploded completely in front of Chu He.
