Great Demon - Chapter 117 Part 1

Is she… going to die?

Each word was like a blade at the throat, slicing through Changying’s neck and heart.

The world before Changying spun, as if she had returned to the Endless Abyss. Darkness filled her vision, and there lay Zhuyou, barely breathing. She couldn’t even open her eyes, her long silver hair tangled and stained with specks of fresh blood.

The Vermillion Phoenix seemed to have fallen into eternal slumber, just like back then in the desert. It was as if Changying had dragged Zhuyou back to the world only to suffer. She… had never even asked if Zhuyou wanted to return.

If she was the “cause,” then everything Zhuyou endured now was the bitter “effect.”

Changying’s lips parted slightly. Her throat moved as she swallowed slowly. Her gaze scattered, unable to focus—not only did her eyes remain still, even her long lashes did not so much as tremble.

Once more, her vision changed. She saw Zhuyou in her true form before her—her feathers scorched black, her phoenix fire completely extinguished, her soul shaken to its core. Not a single inch of her body remained unscathed.

This…

Was even more painful than three thousand years ago.

Changying’s heart was filled with the thought: This was because of her. If not for her sudden impulse, Zhuyou would never have suffered like this.

Her gaze grew even more unfocused. Her spirit trembled, her heart caught in a tug-of-war—one half urging her to resent this fate for life, the other half demanding she cast the blame elsewhere.

Suddenly, a voice whispered in her ear.

She’s dying. Why not go with her?

The voice was low, heavy, carrying an almost imperceptible amusement, as if reveling in the moment.

Changying snapped back to reality, her eyes instantly sharpening. She realized she had nearly been trapped in an illusion—one woven by the devil before her. Everything she had just seen of the Endless Abyss was false.

In the moment she had faltered, the devil had already closed in, its clawed hand pressing against her forehead.

Black scales suddenly surfaced on Changying’s pale face, spreading slowly to her jaw. She lifted her gaze, and in an instant, ice engulfed the devil’s outstretched finger. The ice rapidly crawled up Guanchen’s arm, freezing his dark forearm into a solid pillar of ice in mere moments!

Guanchen yanked his arm back, shattering the ice upon impact.

But before he could react, Changying willed the shattered ice into droplets that spun midair like silver pearls, shooting toward the back of the devil’s head! Hundreds of water droplets burst forth, faster than arrows.

Guanchen’s eyes darkened as he quickly formed a seal with his hands, erecting a barrier around himself in haste.

The barrier echoed with sharp impacts as the silver pearls struck, but not a single crack appeared!

Guanchen smirked, pushing his disheveled hair back. “Fighting me means fighting against the power beyond this world!”

Changying’s expression remained unchanged. Blood continued to drip from her palm, staining half her arm red. The black scales along her face resembled blooming flowers, yet under the devilish haze covering the sky, no sunlight reached them, leaving them dark as ink—void of any brilliance.

Her normally indifferent face now carried a hint of sharpness, tinged with anger.

Fixing Guanchen with a steady gaze, she spoke coldly, “You merely stole power from beyond this realm. If that realm had room for you, would you and Guanshang have needed to return to gamble your lives?”

The smirk at Guanchen’s lips froze instantly. He let out a low scoff. “That realm is blind and foolish.”

As soon as he spoke, he raised his arm, summoning the devilish haze that had obscured the sky. Like a funnel, the black mist swirled toward him, condensing into hundreds of long, shadowy hands.

Changying wielded the waters of rivers and lakes from the mortal world, but the devil’s power came from above.

Those eerie, twisted hands lunged at her from all directions, as if to toy with her like a mere plaything.

In an instant, Changying shifted into her dragon form. With a powerful strike of her four claws, she shredded the incoming devilish mist. Her long tail lashed out, slamming toward the devil hidden behind the barrier.

A deafening dragon’s roar pierced the heavens. Water columns surged upward, transforming into arrows.

Thousands of arrows rained down, piercing through the monstrous hands formed of devilish mist, sending shimmering waterlight scattering upon impact.

But with the power of the outer realm shielding him, the devil’s barrier remained unbreakable.

Guanchen sneered, watching as the Obsidian Dragon was ensnared by the surrounding devilish mist, her scales scratched and clawed at by the shadowy arms. Just as he was about to laugh—

He suddenly lowered his gaze in shock.

His right hand had stiffened. Though there was no visible frost, it felt frozen solid.

The Obsidian Dragon exhaled a chilling breath, freezing the giant hands descending from above into ice. In an instant, the sky over the human world turned an eerie, crystalline white, as if a great snowstorm were about to fall.

But this was not snow—it was ice. The heavens themselves… had frozen over.

The Obsidian Dragon soared upward, her thunderous roar shaking the skies. Bolts of divine lightning struck down from the Nine Heavens, shattering the ice below with a thunderous explosion. The devilish mist trapped within was torn to pieces along with it.

As the mist dispersed, sunlight flooded the land once more. Lightning streaked across the sky like silver serpents, raining down like an endless barrage of white arrows.

The human world trembled as deep craters formed where the lightning struck. The devils howled, lifting their heads toward the heavens.

Suspended within his barrier, Guanchen stared in stunned silence. His right arm was now completely immobile, and even his internal organs felt as if they had been frozen.

Then, his ear twitched. In a sudden motion, he lifted his left arm, tearing open a devil gate in midair. From within, he forcefully dragged out a devil.

Was this not the very same devil who had taken Wu Buzhi to meet the Netherworld Lord?

Guanchen clenched his teeth and growled, “Why hasn’t the Netherworld Lord shown up?”

“The Netherworld Lord…” The devil general hesitated. “Refuses to act.”

Guanchen was instantly thunderstruck, his soul trembling with alarm. “Did you not take Wu Buzhi to see him? Is he truly so accustomed to hiding like a rat that he wouldn’t even dare dream of sharing dominion over the Mortal Realm?”

The devil general clutched his shoulder—an arm was clearly missing. In a cold voice, he said, “He cut off one of my arms and said he didn’t want to get involved in this murky water.”

Guanchen’s eyes lifted, only to see the Obsidian Dragon charging toward them. He abruptly shoved the devil general out of the barrier, his voice hoarse. “He actually regards this as murky water?!”

Caught off guard, the devil general was thrown out of the barrier. His eyes widened in shock as a surge of dragon energy slashed through his waist, cutting him in half. The demon seal he had been holding flew from his grasp and, with a sweep of dragon energy, was absorbed into the Obsidian Dragon’s belly.

The moment the demon seal left the devil’s possession, the one hundred thousand demon soldiers halted, their bindings instantly released. Freed from their restraints, they turned their blades against the countless devil soldiers around them.

Changying’s dragon form coiled in the air, her golden eyes burning with murderous intent, as though they held an endless reservoir of fury.

Once again, the blazing sun above was obscured—but this time, not by devilish energy, but by black clouds.

In her rage, the Obsidian Dragon darkened the sky with storm clouds. Thunder rumbled, and heavy rain loomed on the horizon.

Changying’s divine power was nearly exhausted. She cast a cold gaze at Guanchen and said, “Why don’t you raise your hand?”

Guanchen glared at her, but it wasn’t that he didn’t want to raise his hand—he couldn’t!

He lowered his gaze, a chilling sensation spreading through his body. He barely managed to lift his arm a fraction, only to see that the wound on his palm, where the ice blade had cut him, was deathly white.

It wasn’t festering—it was frozen solid!

The dragon’s breath had seeped into his flesh, spreading through his meridians and creeping toward his internal organs.

Guanchen froze in disbelief. He tried to dispel the dragon’s breath, but the icy cold had already reached the back of his neck and invaded his mind. He let out a sharp breath, then suddenly raised his still-movable left arm, pulling the outer-realm power from the devil soldiers scattered across the battlefield.

In that instant, the power surged from the devil soldiers’ spiritual seas, transforming into tens of thousands of ghostly blue ribbons that floated toward the devil suspended in midair.

Guanchen lifted both arms, drawing the blue energy into himself. Veins bulged on his forehead as he frantically channeled his spiritual energy to dissolve the frost consuming him.

Changying moved her dragon form, summoning the lightning of the Nine Heavens. Crimson bolts, like pulsing veins, descended in a furious storm.

For a moment, the Obsidian Dragon’s body glowed blood-red, as if soaked in blood. She opened her jaws wide, and with one powerful bite, shattered the barrier around Guanchen.

Guanchen couldn’t move. His entire body was rigid, his soul invaded by the icy breath. He was just a step away from dispelling it.

But the dragon’s teeth were already upon him.

With a sickening crack, his neck was bitten through. His severed head was flung down to the Mortal Realm, while his headless body collapsed and followed.

“The tower,” the Obsidian Dragon spoke in human tongue.

The devil soldiers, having lost the power of the realm beyond, were left defenseless. Immortal Zhiying quickly cast a spell, lifting the Devil-Suppressing Tower into the air.

The tower swelled to hundreds of feet tall, nearly covering the entire Mortal Realm beneath its shadow.

Golden light radiated from the tower’s surface. Now magnified, the densely inscribed Buddhist scriptures became visible—billions of words, each brimming with supreme Buddhist power.

Yet, even as the immortal Zhiying poured her remaining energy into the tower, and despite the combined efforts of the assembled celestial beings, the tower’s gate would not open.

The Obsidian Dragon plummeted to the ground, raising a cloud of dust and debris. The already fractured earth groaned under the impact, shaking violently and sending tremors echoing up to the Nine Heavens.

***

In the shadows, Luo Qing was being restrained by Jing Kexin’s single hand.

Jing Kexin watched the Obsidian Dragon fall without moving to assist. “That’s a matter for the immortals,” she murmured. “Nothing to do with me.”

Luo Qing’s expression was cold and impassive, but the devilish energy around him remained tightly controlled—like an unsheathed sword yet to strike.

Jing Kexin held him firmly, her voice soft and mocking. “If you want to stay alive, don’t stick your neck out. Think carefully—have you really spent these past centuries working for the devil’s domain out of loyalty?”

Luo Qing remained silent, his eyes fixed on the distant scene.

Jing Kexin’s lips curved in a smile. “You’ve been a dog for so long, you’re used to being ordered around. And deep down, your resentment and obsession with that little emperor still linger—that’s the only reason you’ve convinced yourself to serve someone else.”

A chill ran down Luo Qing’s spine as he watched the ancient devil’s severed head fall. Surprisingly, he felt no anger—only an eerie calm.

It was nothing like the loyalty he once felt serving the empire. This… was not what he wanted.

Jing Kexin laughed. “Look at you. You’ve been a devil for hundreds of years, and you still don’t get it.”

“If I truly understood—” Luo Qing paused before finishing, “—I wouldn’t have become a devil in the first place.”

The Devil-Suppressing Tower still hung in the sky, its gates sealed shut. Jing Kexin, observing this, pulled Luo Qing along. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I’ve seen the power of that tower before—it’s even stronger than it was a century ago. Best not to mess with it.”