Wrath surged up to the heavens, and piercing sorrow shot through his body like a spike. Qiao San suddenly felt a chill in his mind. Looking down, he saw “Ghost Ji’s” palm strike his chest. He realized that “Ghost Ji” was actually Gou Yuan, that terrifying female demon!
With a single kick, Gou Yuan sent Qiao San flying. As the invisible technique of Tianxin manifested its magic, she mocked him, saying, “Dear brother, don’t worry, I won’t kill you! But later, I’ll throw you into the crevice of the earth to see just how miraculous your Ten-Sun Body is—can it escape the infernal flames? Hee, hee…”
With a thud, Qiao San fell, his internal organs shattered, yet he still clung to life. Neither able to regenerate nor fight, he realized anew just how cruel and cunning Gou Yuan was.
Moments later, Shuling, the Fox Queen and her daughter, and Yushan plummeted like falling stars, crashing into the ground in a cloud of dust and staining the air a deep red.
“Hee, hee… Excellent! This day has finally come!”
Gou Yuan’s ever-changing figure spun mid-air, her face lifted in arrogant triumph over the heavens, her hands slightly parted as she pressed down upon the earth. Her long hair floated upward as she gazed down at her defeated opponents with a slight smile. “Actually, I could have finished off you fools anytime. Do you want to know why I chose today?”
The winds howled over the ruined island, blood mist lingering in the air where the wounded and dying lay. Gou Yuan gestured, drawing strings of blood droplets toward her eyes, then flicked her sleeve. The blood mist in the sky, as if sentient, flew into the earth’s crevice.
“Ahh! You want to awaken Yuanshi Tianyao?!”
Princess Yushan gasped in terror, instinctively shivering. Though she herself was no angel, she had never conceived of anything so insane. Though Yuanshi Tianyao was the ancestor of all demons, legend spoke of it only as a harbinger of death. It cared not for friend or foe—its nature was to devour all living things.
Radiant light swirled violently around Gou Yuan like a storm, her beauty twisted into a grotesque mask of madness. Slowly advancing toward the others, she cruelly declared, “The Ten-Sun Pearl, combined with the blood and flesh of several golden demons, should be enough to awaken the Demon Ancestor. Hee, hee… At last, I shall achieve an immortal feat!”
“Ugh!”
Amidst painful groans, Qiao San, Shuling, Yushan, the Fox Queen, Tianhu, Ghost Ji, Nvmei, even the Ghost King from the Xuanfeng Cauldron and the unconscious Turtle King were all pulled into the air. Gou Yuan’s fingers were like ten chains of death, glowing fiercely as she dragged them step by step toward the earth’s crevice.
Qiao San struggled desperately but could not escape. His vision blurred, he glanced sideways and saw Shuling equally weak. For once, the usually fearless rogue felt true terror.
Damn it! Falling into the infernal flames and awakening the Demon Ancestor—he didn’t believe he could escape death this time!
“Rumble!” Thunder rolled across the sky. Ominous black clouds truly pressed down upon the earth, bone-chilling winds cruelly stripping the still-living demon generals back to their original forms.
All the demons’ terrified gazes carried the same thought—was the sky collapsing? Had the end of the world arrived? We’re doomed! We’re all dead!
Amid flashes of lightning, the beautiful demoness, like a devil incarnate, finally stood at the edge of the earth’s crevice.
“Boom!” Blood splattered as the dark, sinister crevice suddenly opened wide. From the chaos came the long-awaited infernal fire, turning Qiao San’s vision a deep red.
“Minister, Minister… Old ghost has always been loyal to you, may the heavens bear witness!” The Ghost King’s spirit could not escape the binding, desperately shouting to remind Gou Yuan of her momentary mistake.
“Hee, hee…” Her laughter rang like silver bells, yet Gou Yuan’s sweet smile terrified them more than any ghost. “Ghost King, thank you for your hard work. Since you’re so loyal, do one last favor for me—go down and awaken the Demon Ancestor!”
“No—!” The Ghost King’s wail still echoed in the air when Gou Yuan lifted him high and hurled him downward. As soon as he fell into the crevice, the struggling ghostly clouds around him turned to smoke. A swirl of flame consumed him, and thus the scheming ghost king vanished into oblivion.
“Dear brother, having fun? Hee, hee…”
Gou Yuan specially “honored” Qiao San. With a flick of her finger, the glowing chain dragged him before her. Gazing into the churning sea of fire below, Gou Yuan’s eyes gleamed with joy. Like an old friend or a lover, she hooked his arm, pointing at the crevice. “Look! The flames are growing stronger, hee, hee…”
Qiao San felt the true peril of death. Unfortunately, grievously wounded, he had no strength to resist Gou Yuan’s grasp. Helplessly, he could only watch as the glowing chains lifted him high, and then…
The women cried out in alarm. The Fox Queen and her daughter, Ghost姬, and Nvmei screamed shrilly, but the most heart-wrenching cry came from Shuling, who had always been calm and composed.
“Ah!”
Equally immobilized, Shuling’s delicate body twisted violently. Her sorrow was like a blood-crying nightingale, her hatred like a mountainous tide. The soul-piercing scream even made Gou Yuan turn her head in surprise.
Though Shuling’s pain and hatred were enough to move heaven and earth, they could not change Gou Yuan’s heart. The cruelest and most venomous female demon sneered disdainfully, lifting Qiao San even higher, so he would fall even harder.
A chill gripped the hearts of the women, their eyes losing focus, the sound of their broken hearts echoing in their ears…
“Let go of Master Qiao!”
At that moment when heaven and earth seemed to collapse, a forgotten figure rose into the sky—Nvye had revived. Nvye had spoken. Nvye had miraculously flown before Gou Yuan, an impossibility that made Gou Yuan’s expression change drastically.
“Ahh, you’re awake?! No… impossible! How could you wake up? How could you awaken before a thousand years have passed?!”
The extremely plain-looking woman floated calmly toward Gou Yuan, while the peerless beauty with boundless magic power retreated step by step. Qiao San and everyone present were stunned, forgetting life and death, as if turned into statues of clay and wood.
“Let go of Master Qiao!”
Nvye’s calm words sounded so frail and weak, but as the words faded, she suddenly spread her arms wide and slowly—truly, incredibly slowly—embraced toward Gou Yuan.
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