“Stop, stop, stop! Don’t attack!” the Howling Demon Cult Master shouted urgently.
“Anything else to say?” Dongbo Xueying’s true form and the nine world avatars surrounding the Howling Demon Cult Master were all poised to strike at any moment.
The Howling Demon Cult Master quickly replied, “If I’m not mistaken, Blood Blade Hall Master, you must have been invited by His Highness Dongbo Xueying, right?”
“How did you know?” Dongbo Xueying frowned.
“Hahaha…” The Howling Demon Cult Master didn’t answer the question. Having refined fragments of memories from the nine wills, he knew some basic information from Chi Qiu Bai’s memories—including the fact that Chi Qiu Bai’s homeland, the Xia Clan World, had produced a renowned and peerless figure: Dongbo Xueying! Dongbo Xueying’s fame was immense, spreading across the Divine Realm and the Abyss. His background was no secret—born in the Xia Clan World, a material realm.
After a brief comparison, the Howling Demon Cult Master deduced that for a mere transcendent from a material world like Chi Qiu Bai, only someone of Dongbo Xueying’s stature would go to such lengths to rescue him.
“It seems you know quite a bit about Chi Qiu Bai,” Dongbo Xueying said coldly.
“Blood Blade Hall Master, His Highness Dongbo Xueying is ultimately from the Divine Realm. Why must you, a denizen of the Dark Abyss, trouble yourself with me for his sake?” the Howling Demon Cult Master pleaded. “To be honest, you’ve probably guessed it already. Chi Qiu Bai’s soul was long consumed by my secret arts—I can’t possibly return it! Even if you kill me, there’s nothing I can do. I beg for your mercy, Hall Master. I, the Howling Demon, will spare no effort to compensate you.”
“He’s already dead?” Dongbo Xueying’s voice carried a trace of fury.
“Yes,” the Howling Demon Cult Master nodded hastily.
“Swear an oath confirming his soul has dissipated. I’ll find a way to resurrect him from the River of Time,” Dongbo Xueying said. Though he couldn’t do it himself, he could enlist help. The stronger the resurrected, the greater the cost. Chi Qiu Bai was merely a transcendent, so resurrecting him would be relatively easy. Given Dongbo Xueying’s current influence, it wouldn’t be difficult.
“This…” The Howling Demon Cult Master hesitated. Swear an oath? Strictly speaking, Chi Qiu Bai couldn’t be considered truly dead.
“Unwilling to swear? Are you lying?” Dongbo Xueying no longer hesitated. The Howling Demon Cult Master had first claimed to have given Chi Qiu Bai to another mighty figure, then said he was dead—yet refused to swear an oath either time.
It seemed force was the only option!
Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
The nine world avatars simultaneously swung their staffs. To conceal his identity, Dongbo Xueying refrained from using his spear and opted for a staff instead—though the two weapons shared many similarities.
“Damn it!” The Howling Demon Cult Master’s expression twisted in panic. “This Blood Blade Hall Master is clearly from the Dark Abyss, yet he’s showing me no mercy for that Dongbo fellow’s sake.”
The nine staffs resembled celestial pillars, distorting and shattering the surrounding space as if plunging it back into the primordial chaos of the universe’s destruction. Everything began disintegrating into streams of particles. Each world avatar wielded the power of Taihao and the Annihilation Primordial Body, their strength no less than the true form’s—each possessing terrifying, exaggerated might. Pure force alone could bring about annihilation.
Faced with this overwhelming assault, the Howling Demon Cult Master seethed with rage and terror. The sheer power was too much. In this moment, he could no longer hold back—he unleashed his full strength.
Boom~~~~
Under the onslaught of the nine staffs, the Howling Demon Cult Master felt a sliver of despair. Yet he fought with everything he had, his body twisting into a blurred crimson shadow. Though his body transformation wasn’t fully complete, he had reached the final step of the initial stage, granting him a form vastly different from ordinary beings.
The crimson shadow bore nine powerful vengeful spirits—men and women, humans and beasts, young and old—all howling with boundless hatred.
“This…” Dongbo Xueying’s heart clenched in shock.
Among the nine hate-filled phantoms was a white-haired man—none other than his once-familiar elder brother, the Long Wind Knight Chi Qiu Bai, who had guided him into the transcendent world. But gone was his former carefree demeanor, his hidden sorrow. Instead, he raged like a maddened demon, consumed by hatred, struggling and lunging repeatedly at the crimson shadow.
What horrors had he endured to become like this?
Dongbo Xueying’s killing intent toward the Howling Demon Cult Master skyrocketed instantly. He also realized that Chi Qiu Bai and the other eight were in some bizarre symbiotic state with the cult master. His elder brother could no longer be freed and restored to normal. The only way to save him was to kill the Howling Demon Cult Master and resurrect Chi Qiu Bai from the River of Time.
Otherwise, without the cult master’s death, Chi Qiu Bai’s twisted state would make resurrection impossible.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!!!” Despite the turmoil in his heart, the nine staffs’ momentum didn’t waver—their killing intent only grew stronger.
“Whoosh!”
The crimson shadow barely managed to escape the annihilating zone, though one of the staffs grazed him. The terrifying force twisted and shook his body, but thanks to his partial transformation and high-level mastery in dispersing force, he narrowly survived.
“Emperor Chengming! Save me! I’ll agree to anything you ask if you spare my life!” the Howling Demon Cult Master immediately sent a desperate message to a mighty figure of the Dark Abyss, just three layers of the Abyss away.
“Die!”
This time, Dongbo Xueying’s true form and nine world avatars attacked simultaneously. Ten colossal staffs, spanning heaven and earth, struck with undiminished, terrifying force—and at blinding speed.
“Wait… he’s not suppressing the surrounding spacetime?” the Howling Demon Cult Master thought in despair. Though his mastery wasn’t on par with figures like Monarch Snow, he had long grasped the Spacetime Heart. To his surprise, the spacetime around them remained unconstrained—an unthinkable oversight for a true mighty figure. Seizing the opportunity, his crimson shadow flickered.
Swish!
He tore through spacetime, attempting to flee.
“Running?” Dongbo Xueying frowned. His greatest weakness was his lack of mastery in spacetime. While his frontal combat power was immense, he struggled to suppress escape techniques like spacetime or infinite traversal. The Infinite Heart and Material Heart were notoriously difficult to grasp—even most Fourth Heaven Gods only began dabbling in them, far from true mastery.
But the Spacetime Heart was common. The Howling Demon Cult Master clearly possessed it.
“What?!” The cult master, mid-flight through the spacetime tunnel, suddenly paled. He turned his head.
“You won’t escape.” Dongbo Xueying pursued atop the Black Starry Skiff, which far outstripped the cult master’s speed.
Standing at the prow, Dongbo Xueying opened his mouth, unleashing a torrent of pale violet flames. Like a fiery dragon, the flames spread in an all-encompassing domain attack, leaving the Howling Demon Cult Master no room to dodge. Instantly engulfed, he screamed in agony. The Ten Directions Annihilation Flames—seventh layer—possessed power nearing that of a mighty figure. The crimson shadow sizzled under its wrath. “No! These flames are too terrifying! Prolonged exposure will reduce my body to ashes!”
It wasn’t that the “Blood Demon Scroll” was weak—it was simply that the Ten Directions Annihilation Flames bordered on supreme techniques, and the cult master’s body transformation wasn’t yet complete.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!!!” While unleashing the flames, the nine world avatars also reappeared, staffs swinging in a coordinated assault.
Caught between the scorching flames and the relentless staff strikes, the Howling Demon Cult Master despaired, fleeing for his life and desperately deflecting blows when evasion failed.
He expected death. Yet, through sheer tenacity, he survived two waves of attacks.
“Something’s off…” Suspicion gnawed at him. “The staff techniques are ferocious, but their profundity seems inferior to mine? Many strikes missed entirely, and those that landed lost much of their force when I dispersed it. How am I still alive?”
“And… he didn’t seal spacetime?”
“A mighty figure who doesn’t grasp the Spacetime Heart?”
“His power is immense, but his staff techniques barely match a newly ascended Fourth Heaven God. Mastery can’t be faked—his comprehension must be lacking. Perhaps he’s a newly ascended Fourth Heaven, or an unusually strong Third Heaven? Relying on some special method for this strength?” The Howling Demon Cult Master’s mind raced. Suddenly, he roared, “You’re not a mighty figure of the Dark Abyss—you’re Dongbo Xueying!”
Who else but Dongbo Xueying could possess such low mastery yet such overwhelming power—and would go to such lengths for Chi Qiu Bai?
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