The two words "thank you" represented his gratitude! At least if he became a demon one day, he'd still have someone by his side who wasn't afraid of him.
"In a little while, this place will become a true hell. Head north and leave. I've left an escape route there. Once you're gone, don't tell anyone you know me, and don't mention my name. You mustn't come looking for me, either."
As Chen Tong spoke, a storage bag flew toward them. "There are plenty of pills inside. I hope they'll help you when it matters. Hurry and go."
Neither woman moved. They clearly hadn't quite understood what Chen Tong had said. Bing Lin hurried forward and clung to his arm. "I'm not leaving. Whatever happens, I can face it with you."
"Big sister!" Bing Xue was stunned. She couldn't understand how her sister, who hadn't fallen for anyone in ten thousand years, could have said such a thing to a man.
"Bing Xue, hurry and leave! Once I've dealt with things here, I'll come find you."
"No!" Bing Xue shook her head. "If you're not leaving, I'm not leaving either. And...!" She stole a timid glance at Chen Tong. "And I don't want to leave, either."
Bing Lin: "..."
"Fine. If you don't want to leave, then stay far away!" Chen Tong said helplessly. With a turn of his divine sense, he flung the enormous body of the Death Underworld Dragon out of the Sea of Consciousness and sent it crashing to the ground.
"Brat, are you trying to die? How dare you treat me with such disrespect?" The Death Underworld Dragon had been dreaming when Chen Tong abruptly woke it.
"Hmph. I still haven't settled the score with you for what happened before, but first, I'm giving you a task! Do it well, and we're even. If you fail..." Chen Tong's gaze turned cold. Even the mighty Death Underworld Dragon couldn't help shuddering. Where did this kid get such a murderous aura? Who made him this angry?
"Then you can wait to be tortured to death by Death Qi!"
"Hmph, what do you want?" the Death Underworld Dragon asked lazily. Clearly, Chen Tong's threat had gotten through to it.
"Protect those two! If they lose even a single strand of hair, I'll pull out one of your dragon tendons."
As Chen Tong finished speaking, his aura erupted. His whole body glowed blood-red as he flew straight toward the Evil God.
"What's that kid trying to do?" The Death Underworld Dragon couldn't make sense of Chen Tong's actions. Suddenly, its blood-red eyes widened. "Oh no! He's trying to detonate the energy! He's insane!"
As it spoke, it started to flee into the distance. But when it saw the two girls still standing there in a daze, it flew into a rage. Its enormous body twisted, whipping up a gust of wind that carried them away from the area.
Beneath the dark-red sky, Chen Tong stood before the Evil God's forehead, hands behind his back, looking down at everything with cold disdain. Below him, the Yellow Eyebrow Rat Wolf and another were struggling desperately to keep their fists raised.
Suddenly, he reached out and pulled. The Green Pattern Humanoid Demon, who had been standing below, was dragged straight toward him.
"Watch closely, you lowly mortal. This is how someone shows his power."
"You! You're a devil! A devil!"
"Hmph!" Chen Tong pressed his hand downward, pinning him at the spot where the attack would land.
"Listen up! From now on, there will be no more West Phoenix Mountain. There will only be Hell Mountain."
"Devil, the Buddha Ancestor won't spare you! The Buddha Ancestor will surely subdue you!"
"Hmph. I'll be waiting."
Chen Tong spoke indifferently. Then he slowly crossed his hands and gathered the killing intent from a hundred miles around into them. The little red ball of energy gradually grew larger and larger, until Chen Tong looked like a pebble beside it.
On the distant horizon, the Death Underworld Dragon and the two women stared at the enormous red sphere suspended in the air, utterly dumbfounded.
"H-he's... what's he going to do?" Bing Xue trembled as she covered her lips with her jade-like hand.
"Detonate the energy sphere," the Death Underworld Dragon said flatly.
"Even from this far away, I can still feel its explosive power," Bing Lin said.
"Hmph. That sphere is made from the gathered Great Luo Killing Qi. Once it detonates—tsk, tsk! The whole of West Phoenix Mountain will be leveled. Hmph, that kid's insane."
"I haven't asked you about this yet!" Hearing its words, Bing Lin suddenly remembered something. "He's your master. Why didn't you save him when he was being bullied?"
Under Bing Lin's icy, angry stare, the Death Underworld Dragon was struck dumb. It simply turned its head away and said no more.
"Big sister, could that much power put him in danger?" Bing Xue asked anxiously.
"Hmph, even if that kid is stupid, he'd leave himself a way out. You'd better worry about yourselves," the Death Underworld Dragon said again.
"Don't worry. This dragon's life is tied to his. Since it's so relaxed, he should be safe." Though Bing Lin tried to reassure her, her eyes remained full of concern.
"Looks like it's about ready." Chen Tong was drenched in sweat. Holding up such an enormous sphere of energy was incredibly draining, even for his divine power.
"West Phoenix Mountain! Go to hell!"
"No! Kid, the guilty are the ones you should punish. If you want to kill someone, kill us! Please spare the living things of West Phoenix Mountain. They're innocent."
"Go repent in hell!"
With a roar, Chen Tong directed the sphere with his divine sense. The enormous red orb began to descend. It moved slowly, yet mountains and rivers cracked apart and the ground collapsed.
At that moment, every living creature in West Phoenix Mountain, including the Yellow Eyebrow Rat Wolf, was pinned to the ground, unable to move! The Green Pattern Humanoid Demon's soul had already been reduced to nothing the instant the sphere began to fall.
Chen Tong didn't linger. He used every bit of his divine power to flee West Phoenix Mountain as fast as he could. He knew that the moment the sphere touched the ground, its immense energy would explode, devouring everything nearby. Whether one was a Great Luo or a Taiyi, even a Quasi-Saint wouldn't escape the danger of annihilation.
"Boom!!"
A thunderous crash, as though it surpassed the heavens and earth, sent the air trembling and blotted out the sky. Chen Tong, who had just fled a short distance, was nearly knocked unconscious. Bing Xue and the others, already far away, collapsed to the ground. At that moment, everyone heard the crash, whether in the distant west or the distant east.
After the sound came a sweeping blast wave, which surged outward at supersonic speed. It tore across the surroundings for hundreds of miles. If Chen Tong hadn't deliberately contained its range, it might have spread even farther.
In an instant, the entire hundred-mile stretch of West Phoenix Mountain lost all color, swallowed by endless dark red.
"W-what's going on? Is a heavenly god enraged?"
"That direction looks like West Phoenix Mountain!"
"What happened to West Phoenix Mountain? It looks like the end of the world!"
In the blink of an eye, everyone, near and far, in the sea and in the sky, mortal or immortal, was left shocked and bewildered by that immense energy.
"Boom!!" A red figure plummeted from the sky like a meteor, smashing into a mountain peak before punching straight through it. It tore through earth and stone, crashed a great distance farther, and finally came to a stop.
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