The End of a King's Road

In an instant, the residual force of the explosion dissipated, leaving only a huge crater in its place. A large section of the border wall had vanished into thin air, and the trembling of the earth reminded everyone of what had just happened.

"Fortunately, the Demon Emperor's avatar was severely injured, and the power of its self-destruction was only at the level of a top-tier Spirit Transformation cultivator, not yet at the Void Returning level; otherwise, at least a third of the people present would have been caught in the crossfire."

Si Ming stood in front of the Si Clan sisters, using his body as a shield. Not only that, he also transformed into a hundred-foot-tall wrathful Buddha to protect the other Spirit Transformation Grandmaster from the impact. However, the wrathful Buddha had been destroyed by the self-destruction earlier, causing him some minor injuries.

In addition, Tu Wangyue also summoned a large amount of Sword Qi in time, forming a wall of energy to block the impact.

It took the two of them working together to protect everyone from harm. Only a few Nascent Spirit Transformation with slightly weaker lightness skills were unlucky enough to be affected by the residual force and seriously injured. Fortunately, as long as they didn't die, they could be saved later.

Si Ming looked up and around. All the Demon Race had disappeared. They were clearly not caught in the explosion and perished, but had been rescued.

"Tch, that Demon Emperor escaped really fast, and he even managed to take his subordinates with him." Si Ming quickly made his judgment.

The other Spirit Transformation Grandmaster also came to their senses, and one of them asked, "Your Excellency, should we pursue those fleeing Demon Race now?"

Tu Wangyue said, "We shouldn't pursue a cornered enemy. Besides, we have a more important mission right now. The Demon Beast army is likely to arrive soon. If we leave, who will stop them?"

Everyone agreed. They were unwilling to chase after a Demon Emperor. Even if they failed, so be it; what if they caught up and cornered him, only to have him fight to the death? Or what if he self-destructed like a clone?

Even against an enemy of the same level, one must be wary of a desperate counterattack; how much more so against a powerful foe a whole realm higher? Isn't actively pursuing such an enemy tantamount to suicide?

Conversely, staying behind to deal with the Demon Beast army would undoubtedly be much easier. Even if the number of Demon Beast was in the hundreds of thousands, without high-end combat forces such as Demon General and Demon King, these guys were nothing more than lambs to the slaughter, and could be easily slaughtered. They would also make a lot of contributions. Only one person made a different choice.

"The East is burning crimson!"

Si Ming decisively donned the True Vermilion Bird Profound Armor and said to Tu Wangyue, "I'll leave this place to you, senior." Then, the four precious jades on his back spun rapidly, and his entire body transformed into a rainbow of light, chasing after the sky.

Tu Wangyue glanced at him but didn't stop him. Just as she had said in the sword formation, whether the Demon Emperor could escape depended on his own actions.

Si Ming frantically channeled his inner energy, pouring True Qi into the four precious jades without restraint, causing them to spin faster and faster, transforming into a ring that almost sparked lightning. He pushed the speed of the True Vermilion Bird Profound Armor to its limit, creating rumbling cracks wherever it passed.

A moment later, he finally caught up with his target, but unfortunately, there was only one.

This road is blocked.

The Demon Emperor swept his hand across, unleashing a sharp blade of light that forced Si Ming to stop.

"You personally stayed behind to cover the retreat?" Si Ming glanced at him and sighed, "I must admit, you are truly a great leader. It's a pity, an enemy's hero, and my sworn enemy. I have no choice but to kill you here."

"If you can do it, then feel free to do it."

With Chongjing, Chongqing unleashed hundreds of jet-black chains of Yao Qi that swiftly traversed the area, leaving behind exquisitely crafted paths as they hurtled toward Si Ming's throat, head, and heart.

"Too slow!"

With the aid of the True Vermilion Bird Profound Armor, Si Ming soared like a bird on the wind, his body graceful and agile. He made a few slight turns in mid-air, perfectly avoiding the chain attacks and flying out of the giant net woven from chains.

"Demon Chains Bind the Soul!"

Chongjing's wrist trembled and spun rapidly. With the help of Yao Qi, the black chains flew and spun wildly, stirring up the surrounding airflow. Countless sharp energy circles appeared in the air and covered Si Ming's head. At the same time, the chains rose and fell like waves, swaying and shaking, and were faintly locking onto every acupoint and vital point on Si Ming's body.

With his martial arts intuition, Si Ming immediately realized that if he dodged or retreated even slightly, these chains would instantly form a formation and trap him. Although they might not necessarily harm him, they would keep him in place, and it wouldn't take long—just ten seconds—for his opponent to escape without a trace.

Then a cold glint flashed in his eyes, and the Dragon Scale Sword seemed to sense his emotions, buzzing and vibrating incessantly, its energy surging and darting around like lightning, bouncing through the air.

"The sword shatters the void and soars into the abyss!"

Man and sword became one, shooting out with a blinding light, like a bolt of lightning rising from the ground.

Si Ming had poured all his Sword Qi, sword momentum, and Sword Intent into this sword light without reservation. Even real lightning might not be as dazzling and breathtaking.

Chongjing. Within his field of vision, he saw the dazzling sword light moving through the air, growing larger and larger until the world was filled with its shimmering light, as if the entire world was illuminated by this single sword light.

"Demon Blade · God Slayer!"

Chongjing decisively drew his sword. Having lost his clone, he could no longer use combined attacks and could only unleash his strongest move, the Demon Blade. However, before making the move, his eyes flashed with an unusual light, causing Si Ming's sword light to pause and forcibly creating a slight opening.

In an instant, the sharp blade energy slashed straight in through the opening, but Si Ming had regained his mobility, adjusted his posture in time. The swords clashed fiercely, and wave after wave of sword light swept past, creating numerous obstacles to block the advance of the blade energy.

With a clang, the energy shattered. Chongjing was ultimately no match for him. His blade energy was broken, and his chest was pierced by the sword Sword Qi once again. His body flew backward, but he immediately turned around and used the force to escape.

"You can't escape, when it comes to speed..."

Just as Si Ming was about to give chase, he suddenly heard a hissing sound of electrical components breaking down. Looking down, he discovered that his True Vermilion Bird Profound Armor had been damaged, with a deep knife wound on his chest. He immediately realized that this was the opponent's true objective.

Reality is different from games. In games, as long as the health bar doesn't drop to the minimum, the machine can continue to operate at full power. But in reality, even if just one part is damaged, the entire machine may become unusable.

Si Ming is now facing this situation. True Vermilion Bird Profound Armor is indeed sturdy and the designer did not cut corners, it is definitely not able to withstand an attack of the Void Returning level. After all, this is a mobile Profound Armor, not a defensive one.

"Warning: The Profound Armor has suffered moderate damage, with its power reduced to 50%. Forcing it to run will only worsen the damage," the intelligent detection system within the Profound Armor warned.

Si Ming looked up at Chong Chongjing into a black dot, sighed, and did not continue the pursuit. Although his lightness skill was not bad, that only referred to running on the ground. His flying ability was only average, and he relied entirely on his True Qi to push it. Under these circumstances, he could not catch up with his opponent.

"It seems I still need to find an opportunity to learn a teleportation technique. It was fine that I couldn't use Technique Method in the past, but now that I can, I should make up for this shortcoming."

After flying at high speed for a period of time, Chongjing had to slow down. Continuing to push himself would only cause his injuries to worsen rapidly. Even though the Demon Race had a strong physique, he still had to devote energy to allowing it to heal on its own.

To avoid being discovered by pursuers immediately, Chongjing had to conceal his presence, land on the ground, and use the terrain to hide himself.

"The Demon Beast army is now under the command of the Military God. We hope he can devise another ingenious plan to lead the army to avoid interception."

Before he could finish speaking, pale flames suddenly burst forth from the earth, enveloping Chongjing, and a person attacked from behind.

Chapter 832 The End of the King's Path

Chongjing remained vigilant, and thus immediately sensed danger, blocking the sneak attack with a backhand. Upon recognizing the attacker, he exclaimed in shock, "Strategist! Why?"