The moment Jiuying Wanzi saw the demon sword, his whole body trembled, as if he had witnessed something absolutely impossible. His eyes widened in shock, blood gushing out, and his fighting spirit crumbled instantly. He turned and fled without a second thought.
"Trying to leave? Hmph~" Li Yang snorted coldly, and a pair of scarlet blood wings suddenly sprouted from his back, fluttering in the wind. With just a slight tremor, a soft sound of air being torn apart was heard, and he was already behind the Nine-Headed Serpent, his chilling killing intent enveloping it.
He had just expended a great deal of mana wielding the Heavenly Blood-Transforming Divine Blade. The mana cost of wielding this infamous ancient blade was unimaginable; Li Yang dared not use it a second time. The Heavenly Questioning Immortal Sword was drawn again, slashing towards the Nine-Headed Serpent. However, at that moment, a strange red mist suddenly erupted from the Nine-Headed Serpent's body. His entire body abruptly dissolved within the red mist, transforming from human form into a pool of foul-smelling blood that fell to the ground, instantly pouring into the cracks in the earth.
"Trying to leave?" Li Yang sneered, sparing no expense to once again activate the Heavenly Net Blood Transformation Divine Blade. A chilling red light flashed, and a crescent-shaped blade aura shot out from the blade, radiating astonishing killing intent and malevolent energy, slamming fiercely into the mountainside. The hard stone ground offered no resistance, slicing down as easily as cutting through tofu, instantly creating a crack several meters long on the mountaintop. The crescent-shaped blade aura dissipated within the time it took to dissipate.
"ah--"
Immediately, a shrill scream came from the crack. The Heavenly Net Blood Transformation Divine Blade let out a joyful groan, absorbing the filthy blood that had become sentient. The blood was then refined by the powerful Twelve Heavenly Gods and Demons Array within the blade, turning into a pure energy that it absorbed.
Li Yang's face suddenly turned pale, his body swayed, and he abruptly squatted down on the ground, his eyes tightly closed, a layer of cold sweat beading on his forehead. Meanwhile, Li Yang's second primordial spirit clone, having just unleashed the Samadhi True Fire to annihilate the Avici Ghost King, transformed into a gust of wind and flashed before Liu Shengdan. Liu Shengdan's greatest reliance was that Avici Ghost King; he cultivated the Path of Shikigami, using his own resources to nourish the evil spirits of the underworld, then using special channels to summon them to the mortal realm to eliminate his enemies before returning to the underworld.
This Netherworld King is a local tyrant in the underworld, and the amount of life essence and offerings required to summon him is unimaginable. The ghostly aura and ferocious souls surrounding him are from the living people he cruelly killed, then extracted their souls using special techniques, and then refined and fed them. He then sacrifices them when there is a battle to summon the powerful Netherworld King.
This summoning of the Avici Demon King nearly exhausted most of Yagyu Hitane's resources and mana. The moment the Avici Demon King was annihilated, he was severely injured and punished by the laws of time. Because this demon king belonged to the underworld and shouldn't have appeared in the mortal realm, his forced summoning meant he had to bear the punishment of the laws of time. If it were just a summoning, the punishment wouldn't be so severe, since the demon king would return to the underworld. However, the annihilation of the Avici Demon King was equivalent to breaking the laws, and both the laws of the mortal world and the laws of the underworld would punish him simultaneously. He was severely injured again. With both punishments combined, it was already quite remarkable that Yagyu Hitane was still standing.
So when Li Yang's second primordial spirit arrived before him, it easily smashed his head to pieces with a single palm strike. Then, it unleashed another burst of Samadhi True Fire, burning all the corpses to ashes. It then cast a Gale Talisman, and the wind swept across, restoring the ground to its pristine state. It was as if the gruesome and chilling murder scene had never occurred.
Only the deep, several-meter-long crack in the ground in front of Li Yang remained, impossible to erase. After the second primordial spirit finished doing all this, it suddenly disappeared. Li Yang, who was sitting on the ground, suddenly opened his eyes and exhaled. Although his face was still very pale, it was not too serious. He had just exhausted most of his internal energy. If another Qi Induction stage cultivator were to come, it would pose an extremely serious life-or-death crisis to him.
"I can't stay here any longer. I need to find a place to properly cultivate and recover my strength. These two demon cores will be a great supplement for my recovery." Li Yang touched the round demon cores in his arms, feeling slightly relieved. He stood up to leave the mountain, but just as he stood up, the entire mountain suddenly trembled, as if the ground itself was shaking. Li Yang staggered and almost fell to the ground.
"An earthquake?" Li Yang's eyes widened in disbelief as he muttered to himself. He had never imagined he would one day experience an earthquake firsthand. Just as he was wondering, a series of tremors, even more violent than before, began. The entire mountain was shaking violently, and the shaking was gradually intensifying, as if a giant massage chair was installed beneath the mountain, vibrating wildly in waves.
Just as Li Yang was staring at the ground in disbelief, spreading his blood wings and ascending into the air, two transparent humanoid figures slowly emerged on the battlefield that Li Yang had just cleared. They swayed and seemed extremely weak. The transparent figures appeared to be a man and a woman, so weak that they seemed as if a gentle breeze could blow them away.
However, Li Yang was focused on the strange situation of the mountain below and did not notice the battlefield just now. Otherwise, with his super powerful X-ray vision, he would have seen the two transparent objects and would have been shocked to exclaim, "Feihua and Feiling? These are actually the souls of the two."
"Should I use X-ray vision to see what's happening at the bottom of the mountain?" Li Yang wondered to himself.
Chapter 905: Revenge, Blood Demon, Yao Ji
He stared blankly at the mountain, wondering if he should try to see through it to the ground beneath. Meanwhile, the two transparent souls slowly regained some of their memories, recalling what happened before their deaths. Because they were cultivators, and their cultivation had reached a considerable level—the late stage of Qi Induction—their souls were much more solid and robust than those of ordinary people, allowing them to temporarily avoid dissipating or being captured by the underworld's ghost messengers.
"Brother, you, you're dead too?" Fei Hua said pitifully.
"Feihua, you were also killed by that bastard? What a cruel heart! I never thought he was such a person!" Feiling said with pain and resentment.
"I never expected this. He always seemed so lecherous and unambitious, a complete scoundrel and good-for-nothing. But I never imagined he was so cunning, daring to kill us at such a crucial moment," Fei Hua said in astonishment.
"Yes. This guy is hiding his true nature well. But since my soul is still intact, once I rebuild my physical body and regain my cultivation level, I will not let him go. I swear I will not rest until I avenge this day!" Fei Ling said with immense resentment.
"But brother, you... he cultivated the Demon Palace, and his strength is terrifying. I'm afraid only Master can deal with him, right? Even if you reshape your physical body, you will lose your cultivation level. You can only slowly recover by cultivating again. At that time, you will be far inferior to others. How could you possibly be his opponent? How will you take revenge? Brother, you, you should give up this idea~" Fei Hua said to Fei Ling anxiously.
"Nonsense! Fei Hua, he killed you! And you're still defending him? Are you out of your mind?!" Fei Ling reprimanded her sternly.
“I’m not confused. Brother, don’t forget, if he hadn’t intervened, we would have been killed by that wolf king and the vampire. We might have been in even worse shape then, our souls would have been scattered. We wouldn’t even have had a chance to be reborn. But now our souls haven’t been scattered. Once we return to Kunlun, Master will have a way to help us rebuild our bodies and be reborn. It will only cost us some cultivation, but we can start cultivating again. Why do you insist on thinking about revenge?” Fei Hua earnestly persuaded Fei Ling.
"Little sister, have you fallen for him?" Fei Ling asked Fei Hua with a strange look in her eyes.
"Me? No, I was just looking at it from a different angle. I think he killed us only because we discovered his secret, and he became wary of us, which is why he decided to kill us. Ask yourself, if you were practicing some strange cultivation technique and someone saw it, or if someone knew your trump card for survival, and that person had enough strength to kill you, and was also very interested in the cultivation technique you practiced, wouldn't you kill them?" Fei Hua's series of rhetorical questions left Fei Ling with a headache and frustration.
"Don't talk nonsense! I would never cultivate such an evil technique! Hmph! Let me tell you, you're my sister. If you speak up for that bastard again, don't blame me for turning ruthless!" Fei Ling, having lost her cultivation due to the destruction of her physical body, became resentful and lost all composure. Her cold eyes stared at Fei Hua, making Fei Hua feel a chill. Her soul was fragmented, almost dissipating.
"Brother, I know how important strength is to you. You're ambitious and want to make a name for yourself in the cultivation world, becoming a respected master. Now you've lost everything, and you have to start all over again, possibly even facing ridicule. But you still have your life. Don't think about those things now, okay? Otherwise, it won't be good for your future cultivation, it will create inner demons, and it will affect your future advancement." Fei Hua kindly reminded him. At this moment, the difference in their aptitude and wisdom becomes apparent. Fei Hua was able to set aside some personal grudges and more clearly find the path most beneficial to himself—this is the contrast in their abilities.
"Stop talking. Let me tell you, I will never give up on this grudge. And you, don't you want revenge?" Fei Ling said, looking at Fei Hua in disbelief.
"Me? Of course I'll take revenge, but my first priority is to restore my physical body and then my cultivation. I'll gradually increase my cultivation level, and only after reaching a sufficiently high level will I consider revenge," Fei Hua said calmly, shaking her head slightly. It seemed this near-death experience had suddenly made her grow up. Sometimes, people have to go through certain things, especially painful ones, to truly mature.
"Hmph! Good that you know how to take revenge. Huh? What's going on down there?" Fei Ling also noticed the problem with the mountain.
"Could it be an earthquake?" Fei Hua exclaimed in surprise.
"It's hard to say. However, our souls are too weak to stay here for long. We should hurry back to our sect. Every minute we stay outside is a minute of danger," Fei Ling said seriously and nervously.
"Hmm~ Big brother is right, let's leave quickly~" Fei Hua turned around and stared deeply at Li Yang, then she and Fei Ling quickly disappeared over the mountain.
Li Yang frowned slightly and glanced back at the spot where Fei Hua Fei Ling had disappeared. "I clearly felt someone watching me just now, but how come there's nothing there?"
"Never mind, let's see what's going on down below the mountain first." Li Yang shook his head slightly and was about to activate his X-ray vision to look down. But his expression suddenly changed, and he instantly transformed into a gust of wind and quickly disappeared.
He suddenly felt an extremely cold and powerful aura emanating from beneath the mountain. Although it was only a fleeting sensation, it still sent a chill down Li Yang's spine. The power and coldness instilled a deep-seated fear in him. He had never experienced anything like this before, nor had he ever felt anything like it.
"What's that down there? It's terrifying! Its strength probably surpasses the late stage of Qi Induction, could it be the late stage of Qi Refining and Spirit Transformation? Or has it already reached the Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness realm, which can be called an immortal? Earth Immortal? True Immortal?" Li Yang dared not guess any further. No matter what realm it was, crushing him would be as easy as crushing an ant. He dared not linger for even a moment longer.
He fled for dozens of miles in one breath before he could relax a little. Despite his pale face and severe depletion of magical power, he only took a short breath before continuing his escape.
Just minutes after Li Yang escaped, a flash of light appeared in the sky, and several high-level cultivators instantly materialized. If Li Yang had seen them, he would have been utterly astonished—"Holy crap, so many super experts!" Their cultivation levels were far superior to Li Yang's. Even Li Yang's second primordial spirit would be utterly vulnerable before them.
An old Taoist priest with a clean-shaven beard and an air of otherworldly grace stood barefoot in mid-air, without using any magical artifacts. His eyes, bright as lanterns, stared intently down below. "The Blood Demon has indeed awakened, and its power is far beyond our capabilities. Alas, these evil spirits have caused such a devastating carnage on the mountaintop. Otherwise, the Blood Demon wouldn't have awakened so quickly, and we would have had more time to prepare!"
If Fei Hua Fei Ling were here, she would definitely exclaim in surprise, her face lighting up with joy. Because this old Taoist was none other than Xu Kong, the Supreme Elder of Mount Shu! He was a late-stage Qi Refining and Spirit Transformation cultivator!
"Void, has your Haotian Mirror been restored?" another scholar, standing out of thin air, asked in a deep voice. The scholar was quite tall and had an imposing presence. He too did not need any magical artifacts to stand out of thin air; the two immortal swords behind him exuded a terrifying aura.
“Xuan Yang, although the Haotian Mirror is powerful, it loses most of its power on moonlit nights. I think the Blood Demon has experienced the power of the Haotian Mirror and will certainly not be foolish enough to appear and fight us when the moon is high in the sky,” Xu Kong said helplessly.
The scholar-like man was Master Xuan Yang, the leader of the Maoshan Sect and a super master in the late stage of the Transformation Realm. His Yin-Yang Peach Wood Swords were extremely powerful, and even a powerful being like the Ghost King of the Netherworld had to avoid their sharpness when facing them.
"What nonsense are you two spouting? The three of us are no match for the Blood Demon now. Do you think nagging will kill him?" another man dressed as a lama, wearing a huge round hat, shouted impatiently and angrily.
"Why are you so short-tempered, monk? Aren't we discussing a solution?" Master Xuanyang said irritably.
"Yeah, Dandong, can you change your bad temper? You're a monk, you should be upright and gentle, and your words should be like a gentle breeze to people~" Xu Kong chuckled, stroking his white tiger whiskers.
"You two old bastards! You old Taoist priest! Stop mocking me! Let me tell you, even if Kunlun's Taoist priest Tian Yuanzi came, the few of us wouldn't be a match for the Blood Demon. After a thousand years of slumber and cultivation, absorbing the boundless death energy from the earth and the suddenly emerging ancient Chi You's essence blood, it has reached the Earth Immortal realm and could enter the True Immortal realm at any moment. The few of us aren't even enough to fill its teeth! That bastard Zhang Tianyi from Longhu Mountain has ruined himself because of a woman, trapped himself at the entrance of the Xuan Yin Cave. Our strength was never his match to begin with, and now we can't fully gather our strength. Do we even have a chance? Aren't we doomed?" Dan Dong cursed, pointing at the two men's noses.