"Heaven and Earth Dharma Form, Pan Wu's mighty strength, suppress!"
Amid the vast clouds and mist, Gu Xi barked a command. The five-headed, nine-armed Dharma Form of Pan Wu spread all nine hands, unleashed divine might across a thousand miles, broke through the barrier of magic power, and slammed down upon the Teng Snake Demon God.
"Aaargh!"
The Teng Snake Demon God screamed. Nine blows struck his enormous demonic body, bursting into nine showers of blood and severing him into ten pieces. He crashed into the earth with a thunderous roar, shattering the land for ten thousand miles around and reducing it to ruins.
"What? The Teng Snake Demon God was badly wounded?"
The many Gods and Demons watching were all dumbfounded.
"The Great Origin Art is quite powerful. I've tested it enough. Time to try the other Three Thousand Great Daos."
After severely wounding the Teng Snake Demon God with a single strike, Gu Xi willed the enormous Dharma Form of Pan Wu surrounding him to vanish.
"Fellow Daoist Teng Snake, I hit a little too hard just now. My apologies."
"But you're a supreme Golden Immortal. Surely such minor injuries are nothing to you."
"Let's continue!"
Gu Xi stepped across the void and appeared with a smile before the Teng Snake Demon God, who had only just reassembled his demonic body.
The smile on his face was exceedingly "sincere" and remarkably "friendly."
He looked as though he were greeting a very close friend.
Yet the Teng Snake Demon God's expression stiffened involuntarily as he stared at the "sincere" and "friendly" Gu Xi before him.
He nearly burst into curses.
Minor injuries, my ass.
Do you know how much blood essence I just lost rebuilding my body?
Do you know how many tens of thousands of years it'll take me to recover that blood essence?
"Fellow Daoist Teng Snake, you've already appraised that divine ability of mine. Now let's try another."
As though he had not noticed the anger and resentment in the Teng Snake Demon God's eyes, Gu Xi continued speaking. Then he formed a seal with both hands, and black-and-white energy rose from his body, sweeping across the heavens like a vast, surging tide.
In an instant, the entire sky turned black and white.
Then an incomparably enormous yin-yang diagram appeared overhead.
This was the Great Yin-Yang Art!
At Gu Xi's thought, the yin-yang diagram in the sky spun sharply. Endless yin-yang energy transformed into waves of Yin-Yang Divine Thunder that bombarded the Teng Snake Demon God.
Wherever the Yin-Yang Divine Thunder passed, everything within tens of thousands of miles was blasted into a vacuum.
Before the Teng Snake Demon God could react, the densely packed Yin-Yang Divine Thunder tore open his flesh, then blasted him into countless fragments.
A sky full of bloody rain, infused with the power of a Demon God, fell upon the earth.
It brought a trace of rich vitality to the ruined land.
"What a terrifying yin-yang divine ability!"
"The Teng Snake Demon God's body has been destroyed again!"
The many Gods and Demons trembled at the sight.
Countless fragments of flesh gathered in midair as the Teng Snake Demon God rebuilt his body once more. He immediately transformed into a young man in green robes with a cold, sinister expression, as though he felt his true demonic body was too large and feared Gu Xi would use another divine ability to destroy it again.
"Gu Xi, you've gone too far!"
The Teng Snake Demon God roared in fury and drove the cloud and mist laws he had mastered to their utmost.
In an instant, clouds and mist boiled across tens of thousands of miles. Thousands upon thousands of ironlike cloud chains shot toward Gu Xi, seeking to coil around him and strangle him to death.
"Don't be angry, fellow Daoist. A friendly spar between friends is a pleasure. Why spoil the mood?"
Gu Xi smiled and activated the Great Five Elements Art. A Five-Colored Pagoda suddenly rose above his head, resembling the ceremonial canopy carried over an emperor on an outing.
The Five-Colored Pagoda radiated brilliant light, surrounded by auspicious energy and clouds, with faint rumbles of thunder and dazzling flashes of lightning within. As it rose, tremendous power surged outward, and rolling five elements power cascaded down like a waterfall.
The thousands upon thousands of incoming cloud chains immediately met tremendous resistance. They were repelled far away, unable to approach Gu Xi's body at all.
"What a powerful five elements divine ability."
"Just where did this Golden Immortal named Gu Xi come from? He's mastered so many divine abilities, and every one of them is top-tier."
The many Gods and Demons watching in secret were stunned.
"Damn it! I refuse to believe I can't break that turtle shell of yours!"
Seeing that his cloud chains could not even get close to Gu Xi, the Teng Snake Demon God flew into a rage. He opened his mouth and spat out a small black banner.
The little banner swelled in the wind, growing to a thousand feet in an instant. Billowing cold fiend energy poured out of it like black smoke.
In an instant, the temperature plummeted for a hundred thousand miles around. Black snowflakes drifted through the sky, and a layer of black frost rapidly spread across the earth below.
"That's the Teng Snake Demon God's Mysterious Yin Cold Fiend Banner, a high-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure... The Teng Snake Demon God is getting serious."
Many Gods and Demons immediately recognized the huge black banner in the void.
Some of their eyes burned with desire, wishing they could claim it for themselves.
In Hong Huang, Primordial Spiritual Treasures were hard to come by. Most were held by Quasi-Saint Heavenly Venerates and God and Demon Dao Lords, with a small number in the hands of Primordial Great Sages. Only a very few had fallen into the hands of lucky individuals below the Primordial Great Sage realm.
But while Primordial Spiritual Treasures were rare, Acquired Spiritual Treasures were no easier to obtain.
Many Gods and Demons in the Heavenly Immortal and Golden Immortal realms did not possess even a single Acquired Spiritual Treasure. They could only forge magic treasures of barely passable power themselves.
A high-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure like the Mysterious Yin Cold Fiend Banner was already a coveted prize in the eyes of countless Gods and Demons.
The Teng Snake Demon God poured all his magic power into the Mysterious Yin Cold Fiend Banner. His primordial spirit then merged with the Acquired Cloud and Mist Great Dao, drawing great dao laws to coil around the banner before he thrust a finger fiercely toward Gu Xi.
Boom!
In an instant, the Mysterious Yin Cold Fiend Banner pierced the void, bearing a thousand-mile-long torrent of cold fiend energy as it swept toward Gu Xi.
The blow struck the Five-Colored Pagoda. It shuddered and visibly dimmed, leaving only a faint phantom that was on the verge of disappearing.
"As expected, magic treasures provide an enormous boost to a cultivator's strength in Hong Huang... That strike nearly reached the strength of a Primordial Great Sage."
Gu Xi sighed, voluntarily dismissed the Five Emperors Pagoda, and waved his hand to unleash the Great Chaos Art. Densely packed spheres of chaos lightning blasted outward, directly knocking away the Mysterious Yin Cold Fiend Banner before its remaining force was spent.
Then the densely packed chaos lightning swept toward the Teng Snake Demon God.
"This... How is this possible?"
"I drove the Mysterious Yin Cold Fiend Banner with all my strength... and still couldn't break through his defenses?"
"Is he really a Golden Immortal?"
The Teng Snake Demon God was utterly dazed, as though questioning his entire existence. He did not even try to resist the chaos lightning filling the sky.
The Teng Snake Demon God was blasted to pieces once again.
However, under Gu Xi's control, the chaos lightning did not injure the Teng Snake Demon God's primordial spirit.
Thus, the Teng Snake Demon God soon rebuilt his body again.
Only now, his face was startlingly pale.
He seemed weakened by the excessive consumption of blood essence.
Even after rebuilding his body, the Teng Snake Demon God's gaze remained blank, as though he still had not worked out the answer to that question.
"Pull yourself together, fellow Daoist. You were actually just a tiny bit away from breaking through my defenses."
"Try a little harder, and I'm sure I'll be no match for you."
Having said that, Gu Xi unleashed the Great Calamity Art. He raised his right hand, and a dark cloud enveloped the Teng Snake Demon God's body.
Within that cloud were raging thunder and lightning, volcanic eruptions, surging floods, collapsing heavens and shattering earth... Countless scenes of the apocalypse appeared one after another, as though the final cataclysm had arrived.
Disaster after disaster bombarded the Teng Snake Demon God, blasting him directly into a mass of mangled flesh.
Afterward, the Teng Snake Demon God rebuilt his body again and again, while Gu Xi successively unleashed the Great Destiny Art, Great Karma Art, Great Wish Art, Great Reincarnation Art, Great Inner Demon Art, and other arts of the Three Thousand Great Daos, destroying him over and over. In this way, he tested all the Three Thousand Great Daos he had learned.
He never dealt a killing blow to the Teng Snake Demon God's primordial spirit.
Thus, the Teng Snake Demon God never died.
Only, the Teng Snake Demon God... seemed to have been broken by the torment.
The last time he rebuilt his body, he simply lay flat on the ground, staring at Gu Xi with lifeless eyes and allowing him to do whatever he wished!
"Terrifying... This Golden Immortal named Gu Xi is utterly terrifying."
"Yes, utterly terrifying. He seems to have been toying with the Teng Snake Demon God all along. Now the Teng Snake Demon God's Dao heart seems to have collapsed. He's been completely broken."
"Hiss... This man's methods are terrifying. We must stay far away from him in the future."
The surrounding Gods and Demons all trembled as they watched the scene before them.
In their eyes, Gu Xi, who had worn a "smile" from the beginning of the battle to its end, had now become the most terrifying demon king of all!
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