The demon god’s gaze was wicked and cold, a sneer playing on its lips. As it continuously warped space around itself, its figure darted about erratically, unhurriedly continuing its bombardment towards Gu Junshi.
Gu Junshi knew the demon god never hesitated to disregard anything. Even the annihilation of its devoted demon races was treated as ordinary, provoking no visible reaction.
In such a light, what was the destruction of a mere mortal cultivation realm to it?
If it were allowed to bombard with such impunity a few more times, the entire Twenty-Eight Heavens might be reduced to ruins. Those cultivators who had not yet reached the Nascent Soul stage would be torn to shreds along with the collapsing realm.
This time, she did not dodge. Instead, she channelled the techniques of the Underworld King, inherited in her mind, and unfurled the Xuanwu Tortoise Shell shield. This defense, arrayed in a pattern of hexagonal scales, meticulously guarded her vital points.
Simultaneously, numerous slender, undulating tentacles sprouted from her back. They stretched out with the wind, appearing as harmless and ethereal as plankton in water.
But as the black lightning ball approached, the “tentacles” behind her rapidly opened and closed, engulfing it and coiling it within their “mouths.”
Its explosion within caused a powerful surge of air, inflating the “tentacles” to an immense size, bulging like a sphere. However, they were soon forcefully retracted.
The bombardment vanished without a sound. Yet, Gu Junshi’s complexion was grim. The power of the black lightning ball was far greater than she had anticipated. Despite her preparations, she found herself in discomfort.
Seeing this, the demon god’s scarlet pupils flickered with red light. “Hahahahaha… Gu Junshi, this Lord has found your weakness.”
The demon god teleported, closing the distance between them. It clasped its five fingers together, charging a black lightning ball far larger than any before, aimed directly at her heart.
Gu Junshi raised her sword to block.
Boom!
The blast of energy instantly erupted, leveling the surrounding hundred miles and carving a chasm several feet deep. Everything within Fengdu City was held back by the combined might of the underworld’s specters and demons. On the now-flat plain, only a wide pillar stood out conspicuously.
Her rising hair blurred her vision. Gu Junshi’s forward-leaning body, under the demon god’s power, was forced to retreat step by step.
“What are you thinking about?”
The demon god’s hoarse voice sneered.
Gu Junshi did not respond. She turned her head, her sharp, calm gaze sweeping over a certain point before quickly retracting. She then conjured a sword flower of dark orchid, formed a seal with one hand, and sent blades of death energy from behind to strike the demon god.
The demon god sensed it but did not even bother to dodge. It countered by turning its palm upwards.
With a covering motion, it then pressed down forcefully.
Such a simple action, yet it brought an inexpressible pressure to this entire realm.
On the other side, a colossal phantom hand appeared above Fengdu City and began to descend.
The barrier cracked like glass, more fragile than it appeared. Those within felt as if they were falling from a great height, their bones and inner organs shattering. Everyone coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Even as the underworld specters and demons exerted almost all their strength to support the barrier’s last line of defense, they were still pressed down, their backs bowed, their bodies sinking halfway.
“Even in death, I, Rulan, will not be a submissive slave to a demon!”
Rulan’s entire body erupted with green spiritual light. Her features were contorted and bleeding from the immense pressure, yet she gritted her teeth and persevered.
“That’s right! We will never yield!”
The cultivators roared, their voices like a tide, their spirit soaring to the heavens.
Gu Junshi’s sword strike had not posed much of a threat to the demon god. Her eyes moved, her divine sense crossing the distance first, and she shattered the giant phantom hand with a single slash. The black mist dispersed instantly, rescuing those below.
Just as they finally caught their breath and realized they were saved, on the other side, Gu Junshi was not so fortunate. The moment she was distracted, half of her body was directly torn asunder by the demon god.
As if deliberately torturing her, it intended to inflict upon her the most pain possible.
Without blood, without the connection of sinews and flesh, it ripped her apart from her left arm, connected to her chest cavity. Instantly, a vast amount of death energy spread and surged out.
“Roar—”
As if sensing it, all the underworld specters and demons fell to their knees and cried out in pain. The prolonged, desolate, and high-pitched cries were so unpleasant that a sense of unease spread through everyone’s hearts.
Yan Tianjiao and the surviving high-level cultivators looked up in shock, witnessing Gu Junshi’s brutal treatment with their own eyes. Seeing that even in such a state, she was still fighting the demon god with half her body… they felt an urge to shed tears of感动.
However, the reality was that Gu Junshi’s situation, though tumultuous, was not entirely dire. Soon, a turning point arrived as a stream of life force flowed into her body like a refreshing spring. The injuries Gu Junshi had sustained had not worsened severely and were even healing on their own.
This event finally made Gu Junshi realize that things were far from simple.
Was someone helping her, or was there something wrong with her body?
With such severe injuries, even her immortal body could not possibly recover this quickly.
As she pondered this in confusion, in the distance, in the western region of Fengdu, a dazzling, fiery red light suddenly shot into the sky. It was like a phoenix reborn from fire, its trailing red flames scorching a swathe of the sky.
Gu Junshi turned her head to look. First, she frowned in thought, then her expression went blank for a moment.
A demonic, unorthodox formation had finally taken shape.
The “fire phoenix” that roared into the sky from the formation was not the revered and sacred divine beast phoenix praised by everyone, but an evil blood phoenix that seized human life. With a sharp beak and tail, it was used in ancient times for sacrificial rituals to transmute life, exchanging tens or even millions of lives for the achievement of one person.
This inhumane, cost-ignoring evil formation was known as Wang Ji.
In the long history inherited by Gu Junshi, it had appeared only once in tens of thousands of years. It was used by the king of an ancient kingdom after his tragic death; his vengeful spirit, unwilling to enter the underworld, eventually used the Wang Ji formation to seek resurrection. He sacrificed his entire nation’s populace, achieving longevity and ascending to the realm of a Ghost King.
This formation was undoubtedly overbearing and sinister, plundering the life force of others to replenish itself, having an effect similar to what the demon god had done previously.
Gu Junshi observed intently, understanding everything clearly. However, this did not improve her mood; rather, her calm expression instantly turned grim.
“...Who told you to do this?”
The formation had already taken shape the moment the blood phoenix soared into the sky. No one could reverse it.
Kai Shan Gui and the others heard her. Seeing that she was angry, he instead gave her a foolish chuckle, “My Lord, this is all we could do…”
In the midst of the red flames, Cang Yu Yao’s delicate eyes curved slightly, and he smiled for the first time. “We knew you would be angry, but we still did it.”
Ji Du Mo spread his arms and laughed freely and unrestrainedly in the great fire. “It’s truly disheartening. It feels like we’ve never truly lived for ourselves in this lifetime. If we could have a second chance, I would never let myself live like this again. Therefore, my Lord, do not lose. We have placed all our hope in you.”
The others all knelt down, replicating the scene of their oath-taking.
“We prostrate ourselves before our Lord—We swear to cleave through thorny paths for our Lord with this body, vowing obedience, loyalty, and willing submission!”