As the flames of war between the Witch and Demon Clans spread across the land, countless living beings of the primordial world suffered. Li Wuyang and Xuan traveled together, deliberately avoiding the main battlefields as they explored relatively remote regions, gathering information while searching for possible opportunities.
One day, they arrived at a strange place known as the Guixu Sea Eye. Legend had it that this was where the water veins of the primordial world ended. The seawater flowed backward into a bottomless abyss, forming a massive vortex that devoured all things. Within ten thousand miles of the Sea Eye, spiritual energy was sparse, baleful energy permeated the air, and space was extremely unstable. Ordinary cultivators did not dare approach.
Li Wuyang had chosen to come here because he had heard a secret rumor in the black market of a small demon clan city: signs of a rare treasure emerging had recently appeared in the depths of the Guixu Sea Eye. Glowing clouds flickered into view, Dao resonance shot into the heavens, and it was suspected to be connected to an ancient Chaos Demon God.
"A Chaos Demon God?" Upon hearing those words, Li Wuyang instinctively glanced at the silent Xuan beside him. A nearly imperceptible ripple also flashed through Xuan's mismatched eyes.
"Let's take a look." Xuan rarely took the initiative to speak. His voice remained cold and clear, but carried an unquestionable note.
Thus, this peculiar party—one horse, Huaihuai; one roaring beast, Little Fire; one spirit, Yingying; and one mouse, Treasure-Seeking Mouse Jinbao—arrived in this desolate, deathly sea region.
Standing at the edge of the Guixu Sea Eye, they saw an indescribably enormous vortex below them. Seawater roared as it poured into the abyss, producing deafening thunder. The center of the vortex was pitch-black, as though it connected to another world, radiating a heart-pounding devouring force. The sky was gloomy, dark clouds hung low, and spatial rifts flickered in and out of sight like black lightning.
"This place... doesn't look like it has any treasure. It looks more like a deathtrap." Li Wuyang smacked his lips, feeling that the information he had bought with those spirit stones might have gone down the drain.
Xuan focused his senses for a moment. A faint gleam flashed through his mismatched eyes. "The spatial barrier here is extremely thin, and remnants of ancient, powerful law fragments linger here... There truly is an aura of chaos. It is very faint, but its essence is extraordinarily high."
Li Wuyang's spirits rose. "So there really is something here? Then how do we get down? That vortex looks like it could tear apart anything."
Xuan did not answer. Instead, he extended his right hand, palm facing the violent vortex. The void-like silver-white of his right eye faintly lit up, and an invisible Power of Annihilation spread out like ripples across water, gently touching the vortex's edge.
Something strange happened! The violent currents, enough to shred a Golden Immortal, seemed to be "soothed" the instant they came into contact with the Power of Annihilation. They became docile, and their ferocious devouring force abruptly weakened. Within the range covered by Xuan's power, a relatively stable passage extending downward formed!
"Move." Xuan was concise as ever and stepped into the passage first.
Li Wuyang hurriedly called for his companions to follow, gaining a new understanding of Xuan's strength. This Power of Annihilation was practically omnipotent!
The passage was dimly lit, with slowly rotating walls of water all around them. Through those walls, they could see the destructive torrents outside, yet where they stood remained exceptionally stable. The group continued descending. The pressure gradually increased, and the light grew dimmer and dimmer until they were completely swallowed by absolute darkness and deathly silence. Only the faint silver glow emanating from Xuan and the Power of Annihilation guided their way.
They descended for an unknown length of time, as though crossing endless void. At last, a faint glimmer appeared ahead.
Passing through that point of light, their view suddenly opened up!
They had actually left the waters and entered a strange space. There was no sky, no ground. Gray, chaotic currents filled every direction, like an unhatched egg. Countless enormous, shattered star remnants and fragments of continents floated through the space, along with the severed limbs of vast, indescribable objects radiating an ancient, deathly aura.
"This is... the interior of the Guixu Sea Eye? Or an independent secret realm?" Li Wuyang looked around in astonishment. There was almost no spiritual energy here. In its place was a more primordial, more violent aura of chaos that made him intensely uncomfortable. It felt as though he had returned to the Primordial Chaos space from when he had first transmigrated, except this place was even more deathly and ruined.
Xuan's expression became exceptionally solemn. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, though there was no air here. An expression of mingled nostalgia and sorrow unexpectedly appeared on his face.
"This... is the Ruins." He spoke softly, his voice carrying an almost imperceptible tremor. "One of the final resting places... of fallen Chaos Demon Gods."
"The fallen ground of Chaos Demon Gods?" Li Wuyang's heart shook violently. No wonder the aura was so ancient and terrifying! He looked at those enormous floating remains. Could those be the corpses of Chaos Demon Gods?
"It seems the rumor was true." Xuan opened his eyes, his sharp gaze sweeping across the deathly void. "There is indeed a rare treasure here, but more likely... the remaining origin or inheritance of some Demon God is about to emerge, triggering fluctuations in the laws."
At that moment, a powerful energy fluctuation suddenly erupted from the depths of the distant gray chaos currents! A dark-purple pillar of light shot upward, though there was no sky. Countless law runes could vaguely be seen appearing and vanishing within it, while a terrifying Dao resonance—bleak, tyrannical, and seemingly capable of devouring all light and heat—spread through the area!
At the same time, fierce collisions of energy and shouted cries came from another direction!
"Someone got here first! They're fighting!" Li Wuyang's gaze sharpened.
Sensing the aura of that dark-purple pillar, an unprecedented brilliance burst from Xuan's mismatched eyes. "It is... the aura of devouring! A fragment of the Devouring Demon God's origin!"
Before his words had even faded, he transformed into a streak of dark light and shot toward the pillar without hesitation! He was far faster than usual!
Seeing this, Li Wuyang knew they had encountered something immensely important to Xuan. He did not dare delay and immediately urged Huaihuai forward, leading the little companions after him at full speed.
The closer they came to the pillar, the more violent the surrounding chaos currents became, and the more distorted space grew. Hidden spatial rifts and shattered law traps appeared from time to time, making the path fraught with danger. Xuan cleared the way ahead. Wherever the Power of Annihilation passed, all violence returned to calm, sweeping away the obstacles before Li Wuyang.
Soon, they reached the place where the pillar had erupted.
It was a relatively open stretch of void. At its center floated an enormous, irregular dark-purple crystal that pulsed slowly like a heart. With every pulse, it released a powerful devouring force that even warped the light. The dark-purple pillar was emanating from this crystal.
Around the crystal, two groups were engaged in fierce battle!
One side consisted of three cultivators in black robes, their bodies wreathed in dense demonic energy and their techniques strange and unfathomable. Their attacks carried powerful corrosive and devouring properties, sharing the same origin as the crystal's aura! They were clearly demonic cultivators who had cultivated Demonic Arts related to the Devouring Demon God!
The other side consisted of... two members of the Witch Clan! Moreover, Li Wuyang knew one of them. It was Hou Yi, the great witch under Ancestor Witch Houtu! The other was the burly great witch Kuafu, wielding a massive shield!
The Witch Clan had actually found this place as well! And they were fighting the demonic cultivators over the Devouring Demon God's origin crystal!
The battle was extraordinarily fierce. Hou Yi's archery was divine, every arrow containing the power to rip open space and forcing the demonic cultivators to dodge again and again. Kuafu's massive shield possessed unmatched defense, blocking the demonic cultivators' bizarre devouring Demonic Arts. Yet the three demonic cultivators coordinated flawlessly, their techniques vicious and poisonous, and for a time they fought the two great witches to a standstill!
Xuan's arrival instantly shattered that balance!
His gaze locked tightly onto the dark-purple crystal. He ignored everyone present and reached directly for it!
"Insolence!"
"You're courting death!"
The three demonic cultivators and the two great witches shouted in fury at once. They actually ceased fighting for the moment and attacked Xuan, this uninvited intruder, together! How could they allow anyone else to lay hands on the Devouring Demon God's origin!
Faced with the combined assault of five experts at least at the Grand Unity Golden Immortal level—the great witches of the Witch Clan possessed overwhelmingly powerful bodies and battle strength comparable to Grand Unity Golden Immortals—Xuan's expression did not change. The silver-white light in his right eye blazed!
"Annihilation—Return to Nothing!"
A Domain of Annihilation hundreds or thousands of times stronger than the one he had used against the demon soldiers erupted outward from him!
(End of Chapter 36)
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