"You just told the ghost infant, 'this for that,' and I find that term very fitting, because from start to finish, it will only be 'me' gaining."
He stood leisurely in mid-air, the vast sky behind him, a sky that had regained its clarity after Gu Junshi's purge. It was now occupied by crimson demonic energy, followed by the dense appearance of numerous black holes, as if the firmament had been riddled with holes.
"What do you plan to do now?" Gu Junshi asked calmly.
The Demon God's red pupils deepened, revealing the characteristic double pupils of his kind. "Continue what you interrupted. Without the Realm of Eternal Night, how will you stop me?"
Upon hearing this, Gu Junshi suddenly understood his intentions.
The Demon God raised his hands, demonic energy roaring around him like the sky had been flipped upside down. Innumerable streams of demonic energy poured from the earth, flooding the twenty-eight heavens.
Gu Junshi hadn't expected him to forgo attacking her directly, opting instead for a more cautious approach.
It seemed the Demon God was not an impulsive or reckless individual. While he had been momentarily clouded by her provocations, his reason was not blinded by anger.
"Aren't you worried about depleting your demonic essence without achieving your goal?"
"Only by devouring living beings can all my power be restored! Gu Junshi, you cannot stop me."
The Demon God stared at her with sinister coldness, soon enveloped by dense demonic energy. His form and features distorted and warped within it, only his eternally wicked and ferocious double pupils remained, gazing deeply at everything.
"Watch carefully how these foolish beings of the lower realms are demonized by the ugliness within their hearts, ultimately choosing to slaughter each other, their resentment soaring to the heavens."
At this moment, the "black holes" created by the Demon God connected to other realms, injecting his demonic energy into various heavens. These weren't drops of ink or snow falling like a torrential downpour, but "demon rain."
When it fell upon sentient beings, it rapidly catalyzed their dark emotions, causing them to mutate into monsters, their minds filled only with the urge for bloodshed and slaughter.
Simultaneously, Gu Junshi activated her divine sense net, extending it across a vast distance. She also deployed the Infinite Radiance Technique, monitoring the situations in various places, much like the Demon God had done earlier.
The plague-like demonic infection wrought a catastrophe upon the twenty-eight heavens.
Anyone harboring even a shred of ill intent lost control, lunging at those around them. Brothers turned against each other, friends wielded weapons against each other, spouses became enemies, and strangers showed malice…
Everywhere she looked, bloody scenes unfolded one after another.
This time, the Demon God didn't even need to command any of his subordinates to act. With his demonic energy, he could draw out the most vulnerable and shameful emotions within people, guiding them into evil thoughts, ultimately leading them to their own demise.
Gu Junshi watched all this, a chilling frost freezing in her eyes, a biting wind whipping around her.
She could not expel demons. The people and beasts who had fallen into demonization had already begun an endless cycle of mutual slaughter. The only ones who had so far been spared were those Gu Junshi had protected in the ruins of Fengdu City.
Nor could she, like Liu Jiang Fusheng, purify demonic energy with a pure spiritual root, as she herself was a creature of the dark, a denizen of the deadlands.
Seeing Gu Junshi frozen in place for so long, the Demon God smiled maliciously. "Regret it? If you hadn't been so soft-hearted before, if you hadn't cared about some damn old sentiments and had remained as hard as iron, slaughtering all these interfering people and preventing me from seizing their vitality, perhaps you'd still have a sliver of a chance to turn things around."
Gu Junshi remained silent.
She never regretted her actions.
"Look, they are not worth saving at all. It's merely a bit of evil thought, amplified, and they all choose not to be human anymore, hahahaha… The Buddha still talks about human nature being inherently good, but in reality, human nature is inherently evil. Otherwise, why would the world teach people to be good, and why invent so many tortures and laws to forcibly control and severely warn?"
"Your insights are quite profound, but what does that have to do with me?" Gu Junshi retorted directly.
In the past, she might have maintained some basic courtesy and engaged him in wordplay, but at this moment, she was not in the mood.
Seeing her composed and unruffled demeanor, the Demon God also fell silent for a moment.
"What has to do with you? Let me test it for you – are you truly as indifferent as you appear."
The Demon God suddenly shifted his gaze, a strange red mist swirling as he fixed his eyes on a certain spot.
"That person, do you care about him?"
Over there, Gu Er was foolishly looking up when a red light suddenly engulfed him from head to toe. The next instant, his body began to convulse uncontrollably.
"Ugh—"
Danya's face changed drastically. "Gu Chuhao—"
"Ahhh—"
He seemed to be in immense pain, unable to relieve it, writhing on the ground like a helpless mortal.
Gu Junshi glanced down. Though her expression remained unchanged, her fingers were clenched so tightly that they dug into her flesh.
The Demon God curled his lips, his form gradually rising higher. The longer he remained within the ghost infant's body, the more complete the possession became.
He could now somewhat shed the mortal vessel of the ghost infant, his original physical form.
"Han Ba, it's a pity you lacked the ultimate tempering of heavenly lightning. You were too gentle with him. Now, I will make him truly feel what it means to be 'better off dead' for you."
Gu Junshi wasted no more time. She pressed her finger to her glabella, and one finger, illuminated by the radiance on her forehead, turned a clear, translucent blue.
Then, she swiftly and decisively drew out a continuous stream of ethereal blue flames. Aiming at Gu Er, she flicked them, and they wrapped around him like a whip.
His writhing and twitching movements were forcefully halted. His entire body was being burned by this Netherfire, but the flames seemed not to harm her, instead causing the demonic energy within him to gradually wither.
The Demon God, seeing that she finally showed emotion, felt a surge of delight. "It's useless. Your Netherfire cannot purify my demonic energy. Will you truly continue to expend your deathly energy for him?"
This tone was somewhat similar to the question Gu Junshi had asked him earlier.
Gu Junshi remained silent.
Gu Er did not recover from the pain relief provided by Gu Junshi's Netherfire. The flesh on his body bulged like pustules in one spot and recessed as if gouged out in another, a horrifying sight.
His body size fluctuated uncontrollably due to the demonic energy. During the Demon God's malicious torment, demonic markings appeared on his face, his teeth became sharp like fangs, and his pupils turned red.
Gu Junshi knew that if this continued, Gu Er, even if he didn't fall into demonization, would lose his senses, degenerate, and become the most wicked harbinger of disaster in this world.
The Demon God had no intention of giving Gu Junshi any more time to ponder. He made his move again.
Demonic energy once again clawed and raged towards Fengdu. This time, Gu Junshi was prepared, and she followed closely as he attacked.
"Wuxiang!"
The Wuxiang from her arm detached, its aurora piercing the sun, transforming into a massive umbrella that covered the sky.
When darkness once again enveloped those in Fengdu City, they felt no initial panic or fear. Instead, they felt a sense of reassurance.
"Demon God, the outcome you wish to see will likely not come to pass."
Her hands formed a mudra, and the wings behind her unfurled, spreading thousands of threads. In an instant, one became a myriad of "Gu Junshi."
This spectacle stunned many. The sky above was densely packed.
"So, so many Gu Junshi."
"Yes, how can she create so many clones?"
"The problem isn't that. What is she doing by creating so many of herself?"
Amidst the shocked gazes of everyone exclaiming "Holy cow!", all the "Gu Junshi" flew into the alternate space of the Radiance Technique. Then, they saw each "Gu Junshi" successfully infiltrate the demonized crowds.
The clones were controlled by Gu Junshi's divine sense. With her divine sense so fragmented, her own expression showed a hint of fatigue.
The Demon God had encountered all sorts of tactics, both overt and covert, but he had never encountered anyone like Gu Junshi, who was neither overtly nor covertly.
He narrowed his eyes and mocked in a fierce tone, "You think your external manifestations can stop them? As long as their demonic nature is not eradicated, they will continue to kill like this forever."
Gu Junshi raised her eyes, her brows devoid of warmth from the sun, clear, beautiful, and aloof, her frosty white hue exuding an unparalleled noble aura to its extreme.
She spoke each word with the lightest tone, yet delivered it with the most powerful force.
"Then let them try to kill me first. Only if they can kill me can they continue."
Upon hearing this, everyone was almost entirely stunned.
What was a deafening sound?
Did she truly intend to bear all the hatred of the twenty-eight heavens on her own?
How much willpower and determination did that require, or rather, how strong must her heart be to face all this without being crushed and bent?
The Demon God had also never expected that since Gu Junshi couldn't remove their demonic nature, she would simply turn herself into a demonic obstacle that everyone had to confront. This way, if they didn't want to die and wished to continue their acts of evil and slaughter, they would first have to defeat this stumbling block that was her.
"It's all in vain, Gu Junshi. You shouldn't be this foolish. Do you think you can change anything by doing this?"
Gu Junshi flicked her eyelids. "What does it have to do with you?"
The Demon God's eyes darkened. "Self-destruction."
The demonic energy on his body was dense, like dark blood flowing from a rotting corpse, once again covering heaven and earth.
"Who said that?"
At this moment, a calm and clear voice, like wind rustling through grass, arrived from afar. It had been delivered with the irrefutable power of its owner's spiritual energy.
The Demon God and Gu Junshi's confrontation paused.
"Gu Junshi, do you recall a Buddhist treasure you once asked me for?"
Gu Junshi's gaze rippled like a stone dropped into clear water, spreading in concentric circles. She turned around abruptly.
The speaker was Chenghong, clad in white as pure as the moon. His monk's robes were stained with dust, stirred by the heavy wind, giving him a presence that was both awe-inspiring and soul-stirring.
In the distance, a blurry white figure, immersed in shadow, became clear as he spoke and stood before people, within their sight.
He looked at her with a hint of remembrance in his eyes and asked gently, "At that time, I refused. Do you remember?"