The fierce battle continued.
What the Illusion Heart Demon Emperor had not expected was that Wan Lei was even stronger than last time.
And it wasn't just a little stronger. Before, she could still suppress Wan Lei, but now, she was the one being suppressed?
Although she knew Wan Lei had the cultivation of the Golden Immortal realm, once one ascended to the Saint level, their previous cultivation was no longer relevant.
What exactly was his basis for this?!
The most suffocating part was that her Saint Path, her domain, had absolutely no effect on Wan Lei.
She excelled at illusions, but Wan Lei in this state was devoid of reason, completely unaffected by illusions, like a killing machine, only knowing how to brandish his sword and slash wildly.
She dared not probe Wan Lei's sea of consciousness with her divine sense to personally manipulate illusions to affect him. The great terror she experienced last time was still vivid.
After her failure and escape back to the negative plane last time, she sought out Demon Lord Han Fengxue and reported the battle situation on her knees. Han Fengxue, upon hearing this, asked her by what means Wan Lei's combat power had suddenly soared, which she had no way of knowing.
This time, she had personally witnessed Wan Lei becoming like this after putting on a ring.
She had made up her mind: if she could capture Wan Lei alive this time, she would naturally present both Wan Lei and the ring to the great Jealous Demon Lord.
If she couldn't capture him alive, she would still escape alive and reveal the secret of the ring to the Demon Lord.
Wan Lei was unaware of what the Illusion Heart Demon Emperor was planning in her mind as she took a beating. In fact, even he himself had no thoughts of his own at the moment; his only thought was to kill, to kill the enemy before him, and then to destroy the world.
Because the Demonic Ring contained too much resentment and always yearned for destruction, neither the Five Great Immortal Venerables nor Wan Lei himself knew why the Gate of Transcendence was hidden within this Demonic Ring.
And what kind of supreme being had built this ring that could contain the Gate of Transcendence?
Countless years ago, had a supreme being truly opened that door and achieved transcendence?
Wan Lei did not ponder these questions; he only wanted to hack the enemy before him to death.
Slaughter and brutality occupied his mind.
The battle had been going on for three days. During these three days, Wan Qingyi had not sought help from other Saints, but the huge commotion here had long since attracted the attention of many Saints in the Immortal Realm.
Wan Lei's Order Divine Lightning was entwined around the God-Slaying Sword. With the dual power amplification of the Demonic Ring and the God-Slaying Sword, his combat power soared. In the eyes of the Illusion Heart Demon Emperor, even the Three Yang Demon Emperor would find it difficult to contend with the current Wan Lei.
Wan Lei fought more fiercely, completely disregarding his defense and injuries. Almost every move was a life-risking exchange.
In his current state, he could not afford to consider defense.
Under Wan Lei's onslaught, the Illusion Heart Demon Emperor found herself increasingly frustrated and flustered as the fight progressed, and soon sustained injuries.
Finally, Wan Lei pressed his attack, his sword piercing through the Illusion Heart Demon Emperor's heart.
The sword, carrying Order Divine Lightning, plunged straight into the Illusion Heart Demon Emperor's heart. The intense pain caused the Illusion Heart Demon Emperor to cry out.
"Wan Lei, you die!!!"
The Illusion Heart Demon Emperor had long lost the composure and calmness she displayed upon her initial appearance. She was like a frenzied shrew, extremely dishevelled.
She threw a punch at Wan Lei, sending him flying. Then, looking down at the wound in her chest, which had been opened by the Order Dao law, she tried to heal it with demonic energy but could not.
This was damage caused by a Saint Path, a Dao injury, which had directly altered the rules of that piece of flesh and blood. Moreover, the negative energies of the God-Slaying Sword and the Demonic Ring within were rapidly spreading. The Illusion Heart Demon Emperor had to exert great effort to merely suppress the injury in that area.
The Illusion Heart Demon Emperor's emotions shifted from rage to fear. She had never imagined that Wan Lei could inflict irreversible Dao damage upon her.
Saints must not be insulted; Saints must not be injured. The same applied to Demon Emperors, because even ordinary injuries could be healed quickly. Only Dao injuries inflicted by an enemy of the same realm using their own Saint Path were irreversible. Healing them offered only a slim hope over tens of thousands of years.
Wan Lei's ability to inflict such damage upon her meant that he could kill her.
The kind of death that truly erases one from existence, from which there is no resurrection.
The Illusion Heart Demon Emperor knew that if she could not defeat Wan Lei and capture him today, she would be the one to die.
No, capturing him alive was too difficult. To survive, she had to kill Wan Lei.
Suddenly, two black suns appeared behind the Illusion Heart Demon Emperor's head.
Saints possessed Saint Suns, which were golden. Demon Emperors also had Emperor Suns, which were black, but they were essentially the same thing.
As the two Emperor Suns appeared, the Illusion Heart Demon Emperor roared to the heavens,
"Explode!!!"
The Emperor Sun on the left instantly detonated, transforming into scattered streams of light that entered the Illusion Heart Demon Emperor's body.
This commotion drew Wan Qingyi's attention. Seeing this, he immediately shouted anxiously,
"Wan Lei, retreat quickly! The Illusion Heart Demon Emperor is self-destructing her Emperor Sun; she's going all out! Retreat!"
Self-destructing an Emperor Sun was the same as self-destructing a Saint Sun. Both could greatly increase the caster's combat power in a short period, but this damage was still irreversible.
A destroyed Saint Sun could never be cultivated back. Afterward, it would lead to a permanent decline in cultivation. Even if another Saint Sun was cultivated, it would not be the same as the original one.
For example, the Illusion Heart Demon Emperor was a Dual-Sun Demon Emperor. She still had the capacity to cultivate another Emperor Sun and become a Tri-Sun Demon Emperor. However, by self-destructing one now, her cultivation would drop to the level of a Single-Sun Demon Emperor afterward. Even if she later cultivated another, thus returning to the Dual-Sun Demon Emperor realm, that would consume her final cultivation quota, and she would never be able to cultivate to the Tri-Sun stage in this life.
This showed the immense determination of the Illusion Heart Demon Emperor at this moment.
She was determined to kill Wan Lei.
Wan Lei heard Wan Qingyi's shout, but at this moment, he had no intention of retreating. The brutality and instinct for slaughter made him only know how to charge forward and kill the enemy, completely ignorant of fear and evasion.
The irrational Wan Lei fearlessly charged towards the Illusion Heart Demon Emperor, his God-Slaying Sword pointed directly at her forehead.
The Illusion Heart Demon Emperor struck out with a punch at Wan Lei. Fortunately, they were in the vast expanse, otherwise, the power of this punch would have been enough to easily destroy a High Spirit Plane.
With her greatly increased strength, the Illusion Heart Demon Emperor sent Wan Lei flying with a single punch. Wan Lei's body, like a beam of light, crashed into the spatial barrier of the Wan Fire Plane with a "duang" sound, causing ripples.
Wan Lei's entire body was in agony, as if he were falling apart, but the pain at this moment only brought him excitement. It was like a masochist; the more it hurt, the more ecstatic he became, the more frenzied he grew.