Night fell. The forest became a fiery inferno, and flames soaring into the sky stained half the heavens a horrifying blood-red.
"You forced me to do this!"
The Ninth Destiny hovered in midair, staring daggers at Gu Cheng as she focused on activating the Blood Soul Bead in her hand.
In the next instant, the Blood Soul Bead blazed with wicked light, pulsing like an evil heart.
Terrifying bloodlight shot into the sky. The thick stench of blood mingled with the wails of wronged spirits, echoing across heaven and earth until it even drowned out the roaring flames below.
The vengeful spirits coiling around the Wuchang Ghost Lock greedily devoured the bloodlight, transforming into a host of sinister, crimson evil spirits.
The once-pitch-black chains were stained blood-red, their ghastly color striking to behold. The terrifying aura they exuded had grown several times stronger!
"It evolved?"
Feeling the suffocating pressure, Gu Cheng's expression darkened.
Even with his current strength, he could still sense a trace of lethal danger from those chains.
The pressure radiating from the sinister chains had astonishingly reached the level of a Spirit Sea Realm Venerable!
"Tonight, you're as good as dead!"
Seeing this, the Ninth Destiny felt reassured, a vicious glint flashing in her eyes.
Her hands formed a series of seals as she controlled the Wuchang Ghost Lock like a bloodthirsty giant python, intent on wiping Gu Cheng from existence.
Vmmm—
The Wuchang Ghost Lock's wicked light surged, its aura reaching its peak, as if it were about to pounce on its prey at any moment.
Gu Cheng gripped the Pagoda Slayer Saber, braced himself, and prepared to summon the Spirit Sea Flood Dragon to help at a moment's notice.
But just then, an unexpected change occurred!
The blood-red chains didn't attack Gu Cheng. Instead, like a giant python turning on its master, they coiled around their owner—the Ninth Destiny—as fast as lightning!
"!!!"
It all happened far too suddenly.
Even with her peerless movement skills, the Ninth Destiny hadn't anticipated her own life-bound artifact suddenly turning traitor. In an instant, she was bound hand and foot, unable to move, just as Gu Cheng had been before.
The next moment.
Amid piercing screams, countless blood-red evil spirits surged into the Ninth Destiny's body.
The blood-red chains blazed with wicked light. As Gu Cheng stared in shock, they stretched and interwove, wrapping around the Ninth Destiny layer upon layer until she was encased in a gigantic blood-red cocoon of iron.
Moments later, the iron cocoon shattered with a crash, and an ugly monster three zhang tall appeared in its place.
Its entire body was blood-red, covered in nauseating boils. Jagged white bones pierced through its flesh, exposed to the air, and its face was hideously grotesque.
It looked like a demon crawling out of hell. There wasn't a trace of the Ninth Destiny she had once been.
"GRAAAH—"
A deafening roar shook heaven and earth, resounding through the sky.
The demon howled at the heavens, its voice filled with bitterness and pain, so deafening it seemed capable of tearing the world apart.
Sound waves rolled out like giant waves, sending sand and stones flying. The burning trees around them swayed violently. Backlit by flames soaring into the sky, the scene was all the more horrifying.
"We both go all out and transform, so how did you end up this ugly?"
Gu Cheng watched the scene unfold, unmoved as the shockwaves swept over him.
Though he didn't know exactly what had happened,
he had a vague suspicion that the Ninth Destiny had been played by some old schemer, which was why she had ended up in this hideous, neither-human-nor-ghost form.
"GRAAAH—"
The ugly demon's eyes were a blur of chaos, leaving only a pure instinct to destroy.
Its blood-red gaze locked onto Gu Cheng. As if it had found a target on which to unleash its rage, it lunged at him the very next instant, its power raging!
The demon swung its enormous palm. Its bloodied flesh split open, sending countless blood-red chains shooting out like venomous snakes!
Every chain was as sharp as a poisoned spear tip, hurtling forth with unstoppable force to ensnare the figure clad in demon armor!
It seemed the bizarre chains had become one with the demon!
Yet for all their imposing force, the attack was woefully inaccurate.
Gu Cheng flickered like a ghost, dodging and weaving several times to evade the onslaught.
He knew the monster had only just broken free of its seal. Its mind hadn't fully cleared, and it couldn't yet control the bizarre chain artifact with any finesse.
If it came to its senses, it would be a real problem.
At that thought, Gu Cheng's eyes sharpened. He stopped holding back and decisively unleashed his most powerful killing move.
Vmmm—
In an instant, the air around them gave an uneasy hum.
A bone-chilling demonic baleful aura rose up, turning into rolling black fog that rippled outward.
The fog churned. Two pitch-black flood dragon claws shot out, their might seeming to tear the sky as they swiped at the ugly demon!
"GRAAAH—"
The demon seemed to have no concept of fear. Facing this world-shattering strike, it neither dodged nor retreated. Its back burst open, firing out countless chains in an attempt to ensnare the terrifying dragon claws.
But how could a mere quasi-Spirit Sea monster withstand the power of the Spirit Sea Flood Dragon?
The dragon claws ignored the chains coiling toward them like vines. One on each side, they pinned the demon in midair. No matter how it struggled, it was useless.
"It's time to settle this!"
Gu Cheng flew through the air and came before the demon. The Pagoda Slayer Saber in his hand slowly faded away.
Since he was avenging the Xiao siblings, and to give the moment its proper sense of ceremony, he would naturally finish things with the Chongshan Xiao family's signature technique!
An endless stillness of death filled Gu Cheng's eyes. His gaze fixed on the monster before him like a hawk's.
The next instant, he thrust out one finger and casually jabbed it toward the demon's forehead.
——King of Hell Finger!
The moment his finger struck, the thick aura of death burst forth, pouring into the demon like a flood breaking through a dam.
The demon's massive body shuddered violently, as if struck in its vital point. Its life force faded at a visible speed.
In its final moments, the chaos in its eyes gradually receded, replaced by a hint of relief and... gratitude?
At last, its massive body lost all vitality and dissolved into a cloud of blood mist, vanishing between heaven and earth.
The butcher of Evil King Pavilion, who had been stained with blood and committed heinous crimes, had finally met her deserved end.
Killed a peak Innate Realm evil cultivator. Gained lifespan: 931 years, Soul Remnant (300 years)
"Oh? It actually dropped a Soul Remnant?"
Gu Cheng removed the Asura Demon Armor. The flood dragon claws dissolved into black smoke, too. His gaze swept over the system record, a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes.
Just activating this Soul Remnant would cost six Tang Yuan's worth of lifespan!
The remnant soul of the Ninth Destiny of Evil King Pavilion must know plenty of valuable secrets, right?
Intense curiosity surged in Gu Cheng's heart.
But he quickly suppressed it. With a thought, his vast divine sense swept out like a tsunami, instantly extinguishing the forest fire raging around him.
The battlefield lay in ruins. The Ninth Destiny had left no bones behind, and her storage bag had turned to ash.
Only two things remained, resting silently on the charred ground and glowing eerily in the moonlight:
A pitch-black chain and a smooth, blood-red orb.
Gu Cheng's heart tightened. The terrifying scene of the two artifacts joining forces to turn on their master still lingered in his mind.
Without that, getting rid of the Ninth Destiny would have taken him quite a bit more effort.
"But these two artifacts may be sinister, but there's no denying their power..."
With a thought, Gu Cheng reached out and drew the Wuchang Ghost Lock and Blood Soul Bead into his hands.
Before he could examine his spoils more closely,
BOOM—
An even more powerful and evil aura swept over from afar like a storm.
Gu Cheng jerked his head up. On the distant horizon, a blood-red pillar of light shot into the sky like a giant sword connecting heaven and earth. It erupted from the direction of Iron Cloud City, dyeing the dark night an eerie hue.
"So it's finally begun?"
A cold smile curled Gu Cheng's lips.
Since the evil cultivators of the Rebirth Sect had made their move, it was time for him to enter the fray and reap his harvest.
He put the Wuchang Ghost Lock and Blood Soul Bead into his storage bag, then shot into the sky as a streak of black light, racing toward Iron Cloud City.
Only the ruined battlefield remained, whispering a mournful song of slaughter and death in the night wind...
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