Great Demon - Chapter 114 Part 2

Guanshang did not respond. Ignoring the agony of his shattered bones, he forcefully channeled his spiritual power and suddenly shattered the crimson chains binding him. However, the chains had not only ensnared his body but were meant to strangle his very hun soul!

With a sharp clang, the crimson chains snapped into several pieces. The fragments instantly transformed into fiery-red runes, flickering out like dying embers.

At the moment Guanshang shattered the chains, blood spattered in all directions. His elbow twisted with an audible crack, dislocating on impact.

The splattered blood shot toward Zhuyou, who instantly summoned a protective barrier without so much as blinking. She dared not avert her gaze—last time, this devil had seized the moment she blinked to escape. She would not be fooled again.

The blood droplets splattered against the barrier, blooming like red plum blossoms.

Guanshang forcefully shoved his dislocated elbow back into place. The moment Zhuyou raised her barrier, he turned and fled into the void.

Zhuyou dispelled her barrier but deliberately slowed her pursuit. Her lips moved subtly—each word she uttered sent a sharp, stabbing pain through Guanshang’s hun soul.

This technique was not one she used lightly. It was more excruciating than even the slow slicing execution of the Mortal Realm. But on Guanshang, it was perfectly fitting.

The agony of the spell disrupted Guanshang’s escape. He could not flee far. The moment he strayed too far, crimson chains would reform on his body, binding him once more.

Zhuyou concealed her presence, following the scent of blood. Yet Guanshang did not stop. As if he felt no exhaustion, he continued forward, covering a thousand miles without slowing.

The Endless Abyss was truly vast. If she had not followed Guanshang, she would never have realized that this place seemed to have no end.

If the edge of the Endless Abyss truly led beyond the realms, then what lay beyond?

Zhuyou’s breath caught for a moment, but she continued pursuing the thick scent of blood. She did not know if Guanshang would truly reach the Abyss’ end.

She did not summon her phoenix fire, so her surroundings were pitch black—worse than when her eyes had been veiled by devil blood. At least then, she could make out vague silhouettes. Now, she could see nothing at all.

Suddenly, a faint glow appeared in the distance.

The light wavered, flickering like ghostly flames.

The devil smoke lying on the ground suddenly coalesced into human form, staggering toward the distant glow. Blood dripped from Guanshang’s body, falling with soft splashes. He raised a hand to clutch his head, his hun soul and po soul wracked with agony, as if being torn apart.

He glanced back. Seeing no one behind him, he let out a cold, bitter laugh and quickened his pace toward the light.

Zhuyou followed closely, seeing the pale blue fire clearly.

It was no ghostly flame—it was Kunyi’s true essence!

The essence was trapped within a Crystal of Law. The crystal itself was nothing special, merely a vessel mortals used to store spiritual energy. But with a true essence inside, its function changed drastically. Where it once held only a single wisp of energy, now it could contain thousands.

Surrounding the Crystal of Law stood eight uneven stone pillars, densely inscribed with runes. Divine power swirled like glowing silk threads, spiraling into the crystal.

Inside the crystal, Kunyi’s essence was covered in fractures. When her spirit platform shattered, this essence would vanish along with it.

So, the divine power beyond the realms was being drawn into the Crystal of Law through this array. Once absorbed, it transformed into spiritual energy, allowing Guanshang to take it effortlessly.

So this was how it worked…!

Zhuyou’s gaze locked onto the inscriptions covering the array. She had never imagined that power from beyond the realms was being stolen in this way. A mere mortal cultivator’s insignificant trick had become Guanshang’s means of seizing the Nine Heavens.

Guanshang reached out toward the Crystal of Law.

Zhuyou narrowed her eyes. This object… it seemed familiar.

Then it struck her—before Guanshang’s three hun souls had fully merged, had his hun soul not also been kept within a Crystal of Law?

No wonder that after his souls reunited, his cultivation had instantly returned to its peak from a thousand years ago. It was because he had gained the aid of power from beyond the realms.

Zhuyou froze for a moment, then suddenly understood—Guanshang had accounted for her in his plans not just two hundred years ago, but even after she had fallen to the devil’s path.

The devil had hidden one of his hun souls in a Crystal of Law and his physical body within the Heart-Questioning Rock. That very rock had only been severed and thrown into the devil’s domain three thousand years ago because of the devil gate.

Since the devil gate had always existed, the devils of the Endless Abyss could have taken him away at any time. And yet, they had specifically used her to bring about the reunion of his three hun souls.

Zhuyou let out a cold laugh. Everything was clear now.

Guanshang hovered his bloodstained hand above the Crystal of Law, preparing to draw out its energy. But before he could, searing pain lanced through his spirit platform. His head throbbed as if pierced by needles. He spun around abruptly, only to see the Vermillion Phoenix emerge—silver-haired, dressed in black, impossibly beautiful.

Zhuyou clenched her fingers into a fist. Guanshang’s hand, reaching toward the Crystal of Law, trembled slightly.

“So this is how you’ve been stealing power from beyond the realms.”

Guanshang actually chuckled. “Just a simple trick.” 

A simple trick—so simple that no one had paid it any mind.

Then Guanshang asked, “Your Grace, do you know how far this place is from the realm beyond?”

“How far?” Zhuyou did not step forward. Even her stance was particularly rigid, for the ground was drenched in Guanshang’s blood.

Guanshang lifted a hand and pointed into the distance. “Just one wall away.”

Zhuyou did not lower her guard. Her spell had already bound Guanshang’s hun soul completely. At her command, he would be reduced to ashes in an instant.

Now, she finally understood how the power from the realm beyond had been taken, and there was no longer any need to spare this devil’s life.

Guanshang spoke slowly, his voice trembling with pain. He said, “Your Grace has taken on the karmic burden of my sins. If the heavenly thunder were to strike now, would you be able to escape?”

Zhuyou did not reply. She lowered her eyes and smiled as if heavenly thunder was nothing more than a tickle. She raised both arms and slowly clapped her palms together. “You lured me here on purpose.”

“I wouldn’t dare say it was intentional, only that it was a gamble,” Guanshang said, his lips pale as he approached his limit.

Suddenly, Guanshang bent down and clutched the Crystal of Law to his chest, his eyes dark and venomous as he glared at Zhuyou. His fingers trembled, cold sweat dripped from his forehead as though he had just endured a torrential downpour.

As soon as the crystal was removed from the formation, the divine power from the realm beyond, gleaming like translucent blue silk, dissipated in an instant.

The moment Guanshang picked up the Crystal of Law, Zhuyou drew her crimson longbow, conjured a feathered arrow, and swiftly fired a flaming plume.

Guanshang used all his remaining strength to dodge the arrow. His head trembled slightly as he turned to see the plume embedded in the boundary’s restriction, and he let out a satisfied laugh. “Your Grace, the heavenly thunder is coming.”

Zhuyou’s pupils shrank as she watched her plume instantly turn charred black—the phoenix fire at its tip completely devoured.

So the Endless Abyss was not truly boundless. Its boundary was right here!

Without hesitation, she transformed into a Vermillion Phoenix. With the spread of her four wings, she completely enveloped Guanshang, making him seem like nothing more than a mere insect—insignificant and powerless.

Guanshang clutched the Crystal of Law tightly, greedily absorbing the spiritual energy within. His eyes were filled with insatiable hunger, as if he was blind to the massive Vermillion Phoenix looming over him—or perhaps, he simply did not care.

The Vermillion Phoenix swooped down, seizing his head in her beak. With a twist of her neck, it was nearly snapped in two.

Guanshang’s eyes widened in agony. With one hand, he pried open the Vermillion Phoenix’s tightly clamped beak and crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.

At that moment, a deafening roar erupted from above. A bolt of lightning split through the darkness, carrying blinding white light.

The Vermillion Phoenix lifted her head, her eyes reflecting the dazzling lightning—there was no way to dodge!

The heavenly thunder tore through the restriction, striking down in an instant. Countless spiderweb-like arcs of lightning converged into a single beam, scorching the plume atop her forehead into charred black.

Too close. The electric light flashed like racing stars before her eyes—there was no chance to evade.

She had no choice but to sever the blood bond in her heart.

She didn’t want…

She didn’t want Changying to know she had suffered another heavenly thunderstrike from the realm beyond.

In just a moment, all four of the Vermillion Phoenix’s wings tensed. The lightning speared into her skull, and the crimson glow of every single feather was consumed. Electric arcs wrapped around her entire body, sparing not even an inch. Every flame of the phoenix yielded, snuffed out into nothingness.

Pain.

Zhuyou lifted her head and let out a piercing cry. The mournful wail of the phoenix shook Guanshang, who had fallen to the ground, making his ears bleed.

It felt as if every tendon and bone in her body had been shattered. The agony was unbearable, forcing her to revert to human form.

Her once-pristine silk dress was now in tatters, her body covered in bloody wounds. Even her silver hair was stained a deep crimson. But the lightning did not dissipate—it held her firmly in midair, binding her hands and feet tightly.

The reverse scale embedded in her collarbone shimmered with vibrant hues, absorbing the majority of the thunder’s force.

But this was no ordinary lightning. This was heavenly thunder from the realm beyond this one!

With a sharp crack, the once-indestructible reverse scale split, fine fractures spreading across its surface.

Zhuyou froze. No, don’t break.

Don’t break.

It must not break.

She wanted to reach for the reverse scale at her collarbone, but the white lightning bound her wrists so tightly that even the slightest movement deepened the wounds, exposing white bone.

Another bolt of heavenly thunder crashed down. The deafening explosion made her ears ring, and her vision turned blindingly white.

The pain was unbearable—she felt as if she would die in the very next instant.

But she could not die. She had promised to leave Changying a breath of life. She could not break her word. Three thousand years ago, she had lain on the scorching desert sands, waiting for the long-overdue Changying. 

And now, she wasn’t sure if she would ever see that dragon again.

Perhaps because she was too close to the boundary, this time, the heavenly thunder was even more merciless than before. She struggled, but the white lightning coiled around her limbs, burrowing deep into her bones.

Unable to move, she could only shift her gaze. Lowering her eyes, she suddenly saw Guanshang, clutching the Crystal of Law, struggling to rise.

No.

Enduring the pain, she lifted her arm and yanked a strand of silver hair. In an instant, the hair turned into a withered feather. Another deafening roar erupted beside her ear. As another white bolt streaked downward, she hurled the feather, piercing through Guanshang’s spirit platform.

Guanshang collapsed instantly. His hands slackened, and the Crystal of Law rolled away.

Zhuyou’s head drooped, her bloodstained silver hair plastered against her face. Her entire body suddenly felt light. She fell to the ground, and at some point, the white lightning that had bound her limbs had silently faded.

The white lightning that had filled the Endless Abyss slowly crept back into the restriction, like vines retreating inch by inch.

Her shoulders suddenly felt unburdened, as if the karmic entanglements had vanished along with Guanshang’s demise.

She couldn’t lift her hands or open her eyes.

She couldn’t even turn her body, only lay there in a daze, thinking about how Guanshang’s devil blood was dripping all over the ground. Filthy.

She should be angry. Angry that Guanshang had trapped her in the Endless Abyss. But she had lost that po soul—she couldn’t even muster the anger.

All she could think about was…

All she wanted was…

To touch the mole on Changying’s nose.

So close, close enough that she could trail her fingers over her eyelids, glide down her jaw, and brush against her neck.

Would her reverse scale, now stripped away, feel pain? Would it feel itchy?

***

Above the Nine Heavens, the Obsidian Dragon froze. As soon as she landed, she abruptly transformed into human form.

Draped in black hair and black robes, the golden-eyed dragon lowered her gaze. Her pupils suddenly trembled, and she lifted her hand in disbelief to touch her jaw.

She could feel it—her reverse scale…

Had shattered.