Chapter 1325: The Crazy “World”

As he spoke, the Savage Ape grasped the Peerless Blade, the Golden Cudgel transforming into a fine needle that flew into his ear.

“Roar!”

Meng Qi, devoid of reason, sensed this change and instinctively sought to lash out with eerie, twisted blood vessels to entangle his foe. However, Gu Xiaosang swiftly restrained him, nodding in approval toward the Peerless Blade.

Meng Qi froze for a moment, a flash of dark crimson flickering in his eyes as his madness surged, yet he ultimately calmed down.

Clad in golden chainmail now stained black, the Savage Ape gripped the Peerless Blade and raised his head, his unyielding eyes fixed upon the heavens—upon that finger devouring all existence. A torrent of thoughts surged within him, and for a fleeting moment, it was as if he had returned to the past, shattering the Heavenly Court with unbridled defiance.

Suddenly, he burst into laughter, pointing his blade at the flawless, radiant orb suspended beyond the Nine Nethers, and roared:

“You’re not even a match for the Heavenly Emperor of old!”

“Taste my blade!”

The blade’s radiance expanded, manifesting the thunder of myriad heavens, the pivot of Yin and Yang, and the profundity of life and death—only to abruptly contract, condensing all Dao patterns and hues into a single, overwhelming, terrifying, and dazzling streak of violet light. Cloaked in this radiance, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven charged toward that transcendent, immaculate finger.

Beneath the Savage Ape’s feet, blackened peaks crumbled, twisted rivers vanished like bubbles, and demonic entities exploded into nothingness. Layer by layer, all things disintegrated, while above him loomed an abyss of despair, dark and unfathomable.

At that moment, four more fingers abruptly appeared beside the immaculate one, grasping the Plain Cloud World Banner.

With a single unfurling, the banner released a rolling wave of exotic fragrance, suffusing the surroundings. The Savage Ape and his violet radiance plunged into it like stones sinking into the sea, barely stirring faint ripples. The further they advanced, the thicker the resistance became, as though trapped in quicksand, nearly grinding to a halt. Then, with an elegant turn of that slender, beautiful hand, the Plain Cloud World Banner vanished, and the palm descended leisurely, like the Five-Fingered Mountain pressing down.

Worse still, as Sun Wukong attempted to evade, his heart lurched with a premonition of grave peril—no matter how he dodged, he seemed fated to be struck on the head.

All possible futures had been seized. Destiny was inescapable!

“Without attaining the Dao Fruit, you cannot claim all futures!” The Savage Ape’s golden eyes blazed as he peered into countless possible outcomes through his pseudo-Othershore state. Though not a true Great Figure, incapable of seizing fate, he could still find a sliver of hope. More crucially, as an Othershore-level divine weapon, the Peerless Blade could achieve the impossible!

“Found it!”

In that split second, he abandoned evasion, bringing his blade before him and channeling all his power and divine abilities into a single point—to pierce through the overwhelming force.

The long blade shed its wreathing violet lightning and golden flames, revealing its heavy, translucent form as it cleaved toward that deceptively delicate yet terrifying palm—meeting force with force!

**BOOM!**

A thunderclap shattered the stillness, dispersing the black miasma that had shrouded this layer of the Nine Nethers for countless millennia. White lotuses wreathed in violet-blue flames rained down, while multicolored thunderbolts, like broken arrows, scattered like rain. In the flicker between birth and demise, entire worlds were born and destroyed, and dazzling starry rivers flickered in and out of existence.

That immaculate palm pressed against the back of the Peerless Blade, slamming the colossal Savage Ape—who had once propped up this layer of the Nine Nethers—into the ground.

**CRASH!**

The Savage Ape’s feet struck the earth, sending up a billowing cloud of dust that engulfed the realm for countless miles. Cracks spread like a spiderweb, and the land collapsed in an instant.

**RUMBLE!**

The blackened demonic soil shattered layer by layer, revealing molten lava interwoven with emerald and crimson. Only when the mists of time and space began to swirl beneath the Savage Ape’s feet, hinting at the next layer of the Nine Nethers, did he barely steady himself, neutralizing the blow.

The clash had nearly shattered this realm, unleashing devastation beyond measure. Had Meng Qi, now a frenzied monstrosity, not been bolstered by the Nine Nethers and shielded by the Peerless Blade’s protection across past and future, he and Gu Xiaosang would have been reduced to ashes.

Despite the struggle, Sun Wukong laughed in exhilaration rather than fury, roaring once more:

“Again!”

Though at a disadvantage, he had withstood a strike from an Othershore Great Figure head-on!

Elsewhere in the Nine Nethers, the progenitors of the Asura and other beings watched with flickering gazes, as if witnessing the union of the Demon Lord and the Demon Emperor’s Claw before their ascension. A pseudo-Othershore wielding an Othershore-level divine weapon was not far inferior to an Ancient.

Yet before the Great Sage could strike at the “Heavens,” Zhen Yuanzi, stationed at the core of the Netherworld, suddenly sighed and appeared within the Luo Feng layer of the Nine Nethers—amidst the accumulated gloom of countless eons. His sleeves billowed, piercing through layers of barriers to obscure celestial machinations and reshape the cosmos, intending to draw Meng Qi and Gu Xiaosang within.

The Luo Sect still had a pseudo-Othershore presence in the Nine Nethers!

This was no sanctuary!

At that moment, the Xuanming Ghost Emperor within Mount Luo Feng flickered into existence above Zhen Yuanzi, transforming into a colossal entity shrouded in layers of deathly Yin energy, blocking the Sleeve Cosmos technique.

If the Luo Sect succeeded in this scheme, severing the Mother’s lingering threats and linking the Netherworld to this realm, would there even be a place for the Black Prison of Luo Feng in the future?

Unlike the Nine Chaos Heavenly Venerate, whose reason often failed to suppress his demonic nature, the Ghost Emperor could discern the shifting tides and act in his faction’s favor!

The sleeves billowed once more, reestablishing the cosmos. No matter how vast the Xuanming Ghost Emperor was, he could still be drawn in, shrinking uncontrollably as he was pulled into the void.

As Zhen Yuanzi’s sleeves returned to normal, the Ghost Emperor’s pale face suddenly darkened, while the sleeve holding him turned sickly green, bulging with yellow, turbid blisters that burst open, oozing pus and rapidly rotting.

Such grotesque, mortal afflictions manifesting on a Ghost Emperor—a pseudo-Othershore—was utterly horrifying!

As the first malevolent ghost of this epoch, the Xuanming Ghost Emperor had discerned Zhen Yuanzi’s weakness after their earlier clashes. Though transformed into a ghost through reincarnation and thus empowered by the Nine Nethers, Zhen Yuanzi’s techniques remained those of an immortal—unaltered in nature and fundamentally incompatible with the Netherworld. Thus, his greatest strength was also his greatest flaw. The Ghost Emperor had deliberately allowed himself to be captured to exploit this!

A hazy brown light enveloped Zhen Yuanzi as he struggled to suppress the corruption, leaving him momentarily distracted.

**BOOM!**

That immaculate palm descended once more, slamming the Savage Ape and his blade into the ground like a swatted fly. The impact fractured the earth into countless fragments, drifting in the abyss amidst violet lightning, dark thunder, white lotuses, and azure flames—a scene of utter desolation.

Meanwhile, the Crimson Mountains trembled as the Black Heavenly Emperor’s aged, indifferent gaze fell upon Meng Qi, struggling against the aftershocks of the Othershore clash. A voice laden with withering desolation echoed:

“You’ve finally fallen into my grasp.”

A vortex swirled in the black mist above, from which emerged a pitch-black palm that absorbed all light, plunging directly into the River of Time flowing through the Nine Nethers.

Yet before it could strike, a grotesque, six-fingered palm brimming with demonic intent suddenly appeared in its path.

The Demon Emperor’s Claw!

Within the Crimson Mountains, Qi Zhengyan remained expressionless as he watched Meng Qi’s monstrous transformation—his bulging veins, his pores forming faces, his hair writhing like serpents. His gaze deepened, as if recalling the past, recalling that infuriating yet never truly detestable figure.

With a sigh, as though prepared long ago, he hurled the Demon Emperor’s Claw before the Black Heavenly Emperor could strike.

He had intended to use it as bait during his own Legendary ascension, diverting all attention to avoid calamity. But could anything ever go as planned?

The Demon Emperor’s Claw flew toward the Black Heavenly Emperor as if willingly surrendering itself. Though it struggled to break free and return to Qi Zhengyan, the combined might of the Twelve Demon Saints and the Great Freedom Heavenly Son briefly severed its connection.

In the Black Heavenly Emperor’s eyes, the long-coveted Demon Emperor’s Claw grew ever clearer, while the enraged Nine Chaos Heavenly Venerate and the Nine Nethers Blood Demon manifested nearby, descending upon the scene.

Just as Qi Zhengyan assumed the Black Heavenly Emperor would seize the claw, embroiling himself in a struggle with the other two pseudo-Othershores and leaving Meng Qi untouched, he saw the black gem-like hand suddenly curl its fingers—and flick the claw away.

**CLANG!**

The Demon Emperor’s Claw was sent flying in another direction, with the Nine Chaos Heavenly Venerate and others immediately giving chase.

The Black Heavenly Emperor had relinquished this supreme demonic treasure!

It was unimaginable!

His gaze locked onto Meng Qi as he stated coolly:

“You’ve shifted your past into the Nine Nethers, no longer without moments of weakness. Killing you is as simple as slaughtering a chicken.”

That dark palm traced the illusory river upstream, pressing toward Meng Qi during his Legendary ascension.

Suddenly, the River of Time was tinged with crimson, surging with bloody waves that swallowed the Black Heavenly Emperor’s hand whole.

The Nine Nethers Blood Demon had also abandoned the Demon Emperor’s Claw!

The Asura progenitors and others stared in stunned silence. What era was this, where two pseudo-Othershores spurned an Othershore-level demonic treasure?

**SPLASH!**

The bloody tide surged, following the palm toward the Black Heavenly Emperor’s domain, transforming the demonic sky into a sea of blood. Within it, a terrifying glint flickered, exuding utmost horror.

From within the crimson waves, the Black Heavenly Emperor’s voice emerged, now tinged with fury as he roared:

“Yang Jian!”