"A dignified Demon God, resorting to petty tricks like theft and ambush from the shadows?"
Gu Junshi's tone was light and mocking, but her gaze remained serious and vigilant.
She recalled the Wuxiang Sword into her hand. Mid-flight, it transformed again, its entire body black, scales refracting a dim blue light. It coiled around her wrist and arm like a docile black snake, its tip sharp as a poisonous needle, ready to deliver a fatal blow at any moment.
"Ughhhhhhh—"
Suddenly, a deep, thunderous roar echoed from the north. It was dense, tightening like taut strings against flesh, sounding like immense, unbearable pain.
Gu Junshi snapped to alertness. Her gaze locked onto the source, and she tore through realms and clouds, arriving where the sound originated.
However, the dim, hazy mist obscured everything, the layered mountains unyielding to her sight.
She narrowed her eyes, flicked her finger, and a gale swept behind her. As the clouds parted, the source of the sound was revealed.
Simultaneously, a more ferocious torrent of air surged forth. Black clouds were sliced and torn, transforming into sharp threads and fragments, swirling and gushing towards the location. The piercing whistle of friction against space grated on the ears, inducing splitting headaches.
Caught off guard, Gu Junshi was flung back by the blast. However, she had anticipated such an event and had secretly protected her vital points.
She spread her arms, her black bat wings flapping ceaselessly. After dissipating the force in mid-air, she conjured a shield.
The piercing black energy, like the needle-like beaks of hummingbirds, struck relentlessly, causing countless uneven indentations to appear on her barrier.
"What is that?"
Gu Junshi coldly raised her eyes. She opened her palm, making a grasping motion. A vacuum zone appeared below, and then, like a giant beast leaping from a deep blue sea, a creature erupted. It opened its sharp, elongated teeth and bit upwards, devouring all the noisy black energy.
Gu Junshi leaped again, landing on its head. She gazed into the distance, her hair dancing in the wind.
Compared to the colossal beast, as vast as a Kun, she was as small as a pebble. Yet, the colossal beast crouched humbly and obediently beneath her, allowing her to tread upon it.
As the wind dispersed, everything finally became clear.
Ribbon-like wisps of clouds circled around her. Flowing clouds surged, casting an unusual glow upon the dim surroundings. A figure stood there.
Abrupt and solitary.
Seen from afar, he was tall and slender, not to the point of being gaunt, but with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. He wore a flowing, long robe that draped loosely, exuding a sense of expanse. It seemed to be made of a special material, its folds and surges colliding and pressing silently, like a living thing, observing with predatory intent.
His hair was disheveled, his head bowed, his face obscured. His form was rooted like a large tree, motionless.
But Gu Junshi did not need to see his face to recognize him.
She seemed to have a premonition of this. Though her eyes flickered with surprise, her expression remained as calm as frozen frost.
"...Ghost Infant, did you willingly choose to become the puppet body of the Demon God?"
The surrounding wind, at the moment she uttered the name "Ghost Infant," suddenly became chaotic. It slowed, softened, then inexplicably turned violent and disordered. All the cloud piles seemed to be swallowed by a surging tide.
"Of course, becoming a Demon God, the supreme existence, has always been my dream..."
He raised his head, his blood-red eyes chillingly evil. His voice was no longer his former low, magnetic resonance, but a layered sound, as if two people were speaking at once.
"Of course, becoming a Demon God, the supreme existence, has always been his dream..."
"What are you?! Why do you think I (he) would choose you and give up the chance to become a god? If it were you, would you?"
Gu Junshi had once gifted Ghost Infant a pair of eyes that could distinguish black from white. But ultimately, he succumbed to the Demon God's temptation, fulfilling his ambition and desires, becoming the Demon God's human vessel for descent into this realm.
Gu Junshi asked again, "Do you know that once you choose to become the Demon God's physical body, not long from now, His powerful divine consciousness will devour your part of it? You will utterly vanish, existing neither in the past nor the future."
Ghost Infant remained unmoved. "I will not vanish."
The Demon God: "He will not vanish."
"I (he) will merge into one with the Demon God (I). Then I (I) am He (he), and He (he) is me (I)."
Hearing this, Gu Junshi found it comically absurd.
"Ghost Infant, do you really believe this nonsense? The one who possesses the Ghost Infant's consciousness is you. Once you forget who you are, you are nothing but an empty vessel."
"It's too late to say anything now."
"I (The Demon God) have already descended."
"Ghost Infant" suddenly looked up, his unrestrained, wild laughter spreading outwards, forming a continuous wave. The pitch-black eternal night, adorned with streaks of crimson, ignited and powerfully infected everything.
Gu Junshi looked up, feeling the barrier of the eternal night collapsing at the edge under the impact of the Demon God's arrogant demonic energy, struggling to endure.
The current Demon God was incomparable to His previous self.
It was as if, after acquiring a physical body, He no longer had any reservations, no longer summoning demonic beasts to lead the charge or merely defending.
Gu Junshi's earlier suspicions seemed to be confirmed at this moment.
His wavering hesitation, after weighing his options, had finally led to a decision, and furthermore, he had succeeded.
Ghost Infant was a scheme he had set up long ago, a pawn in his game.
He knew the small world possessed heavenly rules, and the Heavenly Dao would not permit power exceeding this realm's entry. However, the Heavenly Dao would not annihilate beings born within this small world.
Thus, he arranged for the demon race to create a "Ghost Infant" using his own bone and blood.
From birth, he was destined to be His vessel, for he was born because of Him, and his soul's compatibility with Him was 100%. He could effortlessly replace him and unleash his full demonic god strength.
As for why Ghost Infant was born blind?
It was precisely because He deliberately sealed his blood pupils. The blood pupils represented the Demon God's power. He did not want Ghost Infant's true identity to be exposed and detected by the Heavenly Dao. Only by sealing his blood pupils would he grow up as an ordinary person.
He even arranged for the Demon God to give birth to a "Ghost Infant" without letting anyone know of their connection, without letting the demon race pay attention to or know of his existence.
And the "Ghost Infant," possessing the Demon God's bloodline, was virtually immortal. He had no worries about his death.
Even if he encountered any unforeseen circumstances and was killed, as long as his demonic pupils were intact, he could still revive endlessly.
However, "Ghost Infant" was merely one of His choices, a choice He intended to make only when absolutely necessary at a critical juncture.
If not for Gu Junshi's relentless pressure, He would not have had to resort to this.