"What did you say? I didn't hear you clearly!"
Great Sage Qiongqi's face stiffened, and he spoke again.
He suspected he had misheard.
Gu Xi was merely a Golden Immortal, yet he dared to boast that he would subdue a Great Saint?
His deep-set eyes fixed on Gu Xi.
Divine power surged around him like a vast ocean. Great Dao Patterns brimming with Killing Aura appeared in the void around him.
The light throughout the hall dimmed as though dense clouds had covered it, and the air grew unbearably oppressive.
Teng Snake Demon God and Fire Rhinoceros Daoist nearly suffocated. Boundless pressure poured in from the surrounding void, squeezing their bodies until even breathing became difficult.
Gu Xi calmly met Great Sage Qiongqi's gaze and smiled faintly.
"Great Sage Qiongqi, I don't think you're deaf. How could you not hear what I just said?"
"Fine. I've always been easy to talk to, so I'll say it again."
"I, Gu Xi, came here today to subdue you."
Boom!
With a thunderous crash, the throne beneath Great Sage Qiongqi shattered into dust.
Great Sage Qiongqi rose abruptly like a towering iron pagoda. Vast divine power poured from him as though the four seas had burst their banks.
Under the impact of that oceanic power, the entire hall cracked and groaned. Spiderweb fissures spread across it before it exploded with a roar.
Yet not a fragment fell. The tide of divine power swept every piece into the void.
With the hall gone, that oceanic power and pressure spread across the entire Guishan Mountain Range and hundreds of thousands of li beyond.
Above the Guishan Mountain Range, the sky changed color. Dark clouds gathered amid thunder and lightning, as though the end of the world had come.
"Oh no... the Great Saint is furious!"
The hundreds of thousands of Demon Race members in the Guishan Mountain Range trembled as they watched the storm-choked sky and felt the terrifying killing intent spreading from the Black Grand Hall.
The last time Great Sage Qiongqi had flown into a rage, the consequences had been horrific. He had slaughtered countless living beings across a hundred thousand li, leaving corpses strewn everywhere and rivers of blood flowing. The entire East Sea Coast had shaken with fear.
"Hiss... Great Sage Qiongqi seems to be angry!"
The many Gods and Demons who had secretly followed Gu Xi's group saw the upheaval above the Guishan Mountain Range from afar. Feeling the dreadful killing intent spreading from the mountains, they realized Great Sage Qiongqi was furious.
They wondered what Gu Xi had done to provoke such rage and murderous intent.
"Human Race Gu Xi, do you know whom you're speaking to?"
Amid the ruins of the hall, Great Sage Qiongqi stood like a towering demon god. His thick black hair whipped wildly, and two beams of scarlet light shot from his eyes.
As he spoke, even more divine power roared from him in great waves. The hall's remaining low walls were flattened, and countless massive trees nearby were uprooted and hurled into the sky.
Fire Rhinoceros Daoist, a Heavenly Immortal, could not withstand it. The waves of divine power sent him flying into the distance.
"My meaning is clear. I won't repeat myself."
Gu Xi's expression remained calm, with even a hint of an easy smile.
"Great Saint, lay down your butcher's blade and find release. Fellow Daoist Gu Xi is the Person of Destiny. His wish to subdue you is your opportunity. Why not submit to Daoist Gu Xi at once, follow in his footsteps, and seek the true Dao?"
Teng Snake Demon God suddenly spoke, his face full of piety and sincerity, as though he were an earnest seeker of the Dao.
Great Sage Qiongqi's face stiffened again. He nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
What had he just heard?
Not only had his most capable subordinate failed to help him, he had actually urged him to submit to Gu Xi?
And Great Sage Qiongqi was a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, while Gu Xi was merely a Golden Immortal. He was supposed to follow a Golden Immortal and seek the true Dao?
What kind of horseshit logic was that?
Great Sage Qiongqi was so furious that smoke seemed to pour from all seven of his orifices. He wanted to carve Teng Snake Demon God into a thousand pieces.
"Teng Snake, have you gone mad? How can you say that to the Great Saint?"
Golden Toad Demon God stared at Teng Snake Demon God, eyes wide with disbelief, as though he had seen a ghost.
"I'm thinking of the Great Saint. Only by following Fellow Daoist Gu Xi can he find the true Dao."
"The same goes for you, Golden Toad. Your sins may be grave, but if you submit to Fellow Daoist Gu Xi at once, perhaps you can still atone and save yourself."
Teng Snake Demon God looked at Golden Toad Demon God as he spoke, wearing an expression that said he was doing this for his own good.
"Mad. He's truly gone mad..."
"Is this really the Teng Snake Demon God I know?"
Golden Toad Demon God muttered to himself. He almost thought he had been struck by an illusion technique. How else could he be witnessing something so unbelievable?
By now, Great Sage Qiongqi's anger had reached its peak.
"Golden Toad, seize that traitor Teng Snake!"
Great Sage Qiongqi roared.
Golden Toad Demon God immediately lunged at Teng Snake Demon God.
But Teng Snake Demon God reacted just as quickly and struck back.
The two Demon Gods soon locked in battle, fighting from the site of the hall into the sky. The violent shockwaves shook the entire Guishan Mountain Range.
Meanwhile, Great Sage Qiongqi's gaze remained fixed on Gu Xi.
"Let me see what gives a mere Golden Immortal like you the nerve to challenge me!"
He raised a hand, and his five fingers loomed over the entire sky like five Heavenly Pillars.
Scarlet Slaughter Dao Patterns wound around those pillar-like fingers, filling them with boundless killing power.
The five fingers crashed down toward Gu Xi. In an instant, the space beneath them shattered inch by inch and was annihilated, becoming a stretch of chaos.
Facing an attack from a Primordial Great Sage, Gu Xi dared not be careless.
His foundations were formidable, he had mastered more than a dozen of the Three Thousand Great Daos, and he possessed the Profound Yellow Indestructible Body. He considered himself far stronger than other Golden Immortals of his level... but the opponent before him was a Primordial Great Sage.
He immediately brought out the Primordial Spiritual Treasure, the Six Yang Divine Fire Mirror. Innate Restrictions lit up across its surface, and Six Yang Divine Fire surged from it in waves powerful enough to topple mountains and overturn seas.
In an instant, the temperature throughout the Guishan Mountain Range soared. Countless flowers, grasses, and trees burst into flame, while vast quantities of rock began to melt into magma.
The hundreds of thousands of Demon Race members in the mountains cried for their parents as they fled desperately beyond the range.
Some of the weaker ones were swallowed by the rolling magma. Others simply burst into flame.
The power of a Primordial Spiritual Treasure was no empty boast. The overwhelming Six Yang Divine Fire surged skyward and instantly drove back the five pillar-like fingers bearing down on Gu Xi.
"You have a Primordial Spiritual Treasure?"
Great Sage Qiongqi was both shocked and delighted.
He had a Primordial Spiritual Treasure himself.
But to find it, he had searched the lands of Hong Huang for a full ten million years.
He had survived countless dangers and brushes with death before luck finally led him to a Low-grade Primordial Spiritual Treasure in a deadly forbidden land.
Even after obtaining it, he had kept it carefully hidden, barely daring to use it lest other Primordial Great Sages, God and Demon Dao Lords, or mighty Quasi-Sages covet it.
Whenever he did use it, he made sure to kill with a single strike, then immediately fled far away.
He had never expected a Golden Immortal like Gu Xi to possess a Primordial Spiritual Treasure too.
If he obtained this one, he would have two Primordial Spiritual Treasures.
Even among the ancient Quasi-Saint Heavenly Venerates, few possessed two Primordial Spiritual Treasures.
"A Primordial Spiritual Treasure..."
Great Sage Qiongqi was not alone. The other Gods and Demons secretly watching the battle began breathing hard when they saw the Six Yang Divine Fire Mirror.
Of course, they knew they had virtually no chance of taking it from a Golden Immortal as powerful as Gu Xi.
But nothing stopped them from passing the news to other Primordial Great Sages, or even God and Demon Dao Lords.
If that information earned them the favor or appreciation of such beings, they would profit handsomely all the same.
Many Gods and Demons began making plans.
Some had already slipped away in secret.
"Kill!"
After driving back Great Sage Qiongqi's descending fingers, Gu Xi formed a hand seal and sent the Six Yang Divine Fire Mirror hurtling straight at him.
Fiery-red Innate Restrictions extended from the mirror like red-hot iron bars, branding themselves across the void. Divine Fire rolled outward as though it would turn heaven and earth into a vast furnace.
Great Sage Qiongqi dared not meet a Primordial Spiritual Treasure head-on. With a shift of his body, he appeared among the clouds and avoided the mirror's strike.
"Hahahaha! Human Race Gu Xi, I never expected a mere Golden Immortal like you to own a Primordial Spiritual Treasure. The Heavenly Dao truly favors me, sending you here to deliver it!"
"A Primordial Spiritual Treasure is powerful, certainly, but that depends on whose hands it's in... Do you think a mere Golden Immortal can stand against a Primordial Great Sage with one Low-grade Primordial Spiritual Treasure? How naive!"
Great Sage Qiongqi laughed without restraint, his voice shaking the clouds. As he moved, a Great Dao Projection appeared high overhead, spanning the sky and suppressing heaven and earth.
At that moment, the arrangement of Heavenly Laws across ten million li underwent a mysterious change. One law, brimming with endless killing intent, came to the fore and took precedence over the rest.
In an instant, the Heaven and Earth Vital Energy across those ten million li changed as well, faintly radiating a chilling urge to kill.
"Human Race Gu Xi, a Primordial Great Sage cannot unite with the Great Dao, command Heavenly Laws, and wield world-destroying power like a God and Demon Dao Lord. But he can fuse his divine power with the laws. As the laws change in countless ways, so does his power... It is far beyond anything a Golden Immortal can match."
"Today, you will surrender!"
Standing above the clouds, Great Sage Qiongqi suddenly clawed with both hands. The Heaven and Earth Vital Energy across ten million li boiled, and two blood-red beast claws, each as large as a mountain and filled with endless killing intent, descended from the Great Dao Projection spanning heaven and earth.
One claw reached for the Six Yang Divine Fire Mirror.
The other reached for Gu Xi!
Gu Xi's expression did not change. He drove the Six Yang Divine Fire Mirror against one scarlet claw. At the same time, an Auspicious Cloud rose above his head, and another Primordial Spiritual Treasure—the Ice Soul Divine Needle—along with more than a dozen Acquired Spiritual Treasures, including the Geng Jin Tiangang Sword, shot from the cloud.
Six Acquired Spiritual Treasures went to support the Six Yang Divine Fire Mirror.
Led by the Ice Soul Divine Needle, the remaining Acquired Spiritual Treasures charged at the claw reaching for Gu Xi.
"Another Primordial Spiritual Treasure? And more than a dozen Acquired Spiritual Treasures?"
Great Sage Qiongqi and every God and Demon watching were dumbfounded.
Their faces showed that they had begun to question everything they knew.
Since when had Primordial Spiritual Treasures and Acquired Spiritual Treasures become so cheap?
Heh. A pack of paupers. Quite an eye-opener, isn't it? A trace of a cold smile crossed Gu Xi's face.
Before you continue