Destruction Black Lotus, God-Slaying Spear

Golden light shielded his body as Xuande plunged downward like a stone dropped into a deep well, hurtling into the endless darkness.

The deeper he went, the dimmer the surrounding light became.

Soon, he was engulfed in absolute darkness.

Only the Merit Golden Light radiating from his own body illuminated a small area around him.

But this golden light also provoked an instinctive reaction from the residual demonic energy deep underground.

Threads of black Qi seeped out from cracks in the rock walls.

Like sharks catching the scent of blood, they coiled toward the golden light.

Yet the moment they touched its surface, they let out faint "sizzling" sounds and rapidly dissolved.

Beyond the darkness and demonic Qi, what felt even more oppressive was the steadily increasing pressure from the Earth Veins.

The surrounding rock, initially loose and fractured, gradually grew dense and hard, while the temperature rose slowly.

For a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, however, this was no issue.

What truly required caution was the chaotic and powerful geomagnetic primordial force deep underground.

Along with the scorching earthfire or yin-cold Sha Qi that would suddenly erupt from some crack or another.

Xuande maintained his protective golden light at its strongest intensity, while his divine sense spread outward like the finest tendrils.

He carefully perceived every trace of abnormality around him.

His descent speed was deliberately controlled, not too fast, lest he miss crucial clues or suddenly encounter danger.

As the depth increased, the attraction originating from his source became clearer and stronger.

It was like an invisible thread, tugging at his mind, pointing toward a precise direction deep within the earth.

This feeling was so real that it further convinced him that something closely related to the Lotus's source must lie below.

Downward he went, continuing downward.

The underground seemed to have no end.

Time lost all meaning here.

Only the ever-changing rock layers and the increasingly harsh environment reminded him of his depth.

He passed through a layer of scorching, viscous magma.

Then crossed an underground river filled with deadly yin-cold Sha Qi.

The surrounding rock had transformed into strange ores glinting with metallic luster, incredibly hard and astonishingly dense.

Finally, after descending for who knows how long, a faint glimmer appeared ahead, different from the absolute darkness.

And the source of the attraction was right at hand!

Xuande's spirit lifted. He became even more cautious, reining in his aura and dimming the golden light slightly as he slowly approached the glow.

Passing through a narrow crevice in the rock, as if torn open by some immense force, the view suddenly opened up!

Before him lay a massive underground cavern.

So vast it defied imagination, as if the entire mountain's core had been hollowed out.

Embedded in the cavern's rock walls were countless strange crystals, flickering with dim or sickly green light.

They provided a faint illumination, allowing Xuande to make out the scene.

But what drew his gaze most was the sight at the center of the cavern.

There, it was neither the expected Earth Vein core node nor a chaotic source of demonic Qi.

Instead, two objects floated silently in midair!

On the left was a lotus.

Also twelve-petaled, but its color was a deep, pure black, as if it could absorb all light!

The petals were not solid; they seemed to be the embodiment of frozen shadows and the laws of destruction.

Their edges shimmered with a chilling dark luster, exuding a terrifying aura of cold, deathly stillness that devoured all life and hope.

Yet it was unmistakably the form of a lotus.

It bore a fundamental resemblance to Xuande's own form.

Only it had taken the completely opposite direction—Merit and Destruction, Purity and Filth, Creation and Termination.

The Twelve-Petal Destruction Black Lotus!

The supreme treasure wielded by the Devil Ancestor, Rahula!

Xuande's heart leaped.

He had never imagined that what had drawn him down was this infamous, fearsome artifact!

Rahula had fallen, yet this supreme treasure had not been destroyed in the Dao-Demon Conflict. Instead, it had hidden itself deep within the Earth Veins!

On the right side, there was a long spear.

The shaft was a dark, dull red, as if it had been soaked and solidified by the blood of countless living beings.

A single point of cold light at the tip, even in this dim underground.

seemed capable of piercing the void, exuding a pure, extreme aura of slaughter that chilled the very soul!

Just by looking at it, Xuande felt a slight sting in his eyes.

as if countless sharp thoughts were cutting toward him along his line of sight.

The God-Slaying Spear!

A primordial treasure of slaughter, said to be able to wound a sage's Primordial Spirit!

The two treasures simply floated there in silence.

There seemed to be some subtle connection between them, forming an independent aura field.

And the demonic energy filling the entire cavern, far denser and purer than on the surface, was continuously radiating from these two treasures!

They were like two cores constantly releasing pollution.

seeping demonic energy into the surrounding rock and Earth Veins, causing the deep demonic corruption of the region's veins.

"So that's it..." Xuande suddenly understood many things.

Why the demonic energy here was so stubborn and hard to remove, why it was so deeply entangled with the Earth Veins.

The root was here!

Two treasures containing Rahula's original demonic path and will of slaughter.

had lingered at a key node of the Earth Veins for a long time.

The demonic energy they emitted, like the most potent poison, had deeply "infected" the veins of this area.

After the shock came extreme vigilance!

What kind of figure was Rahula?

He was a peerless demon who dared to detonate the West's Spiritual Veins, intending to reforge the earth, water, fire, and wind!

Would his personal treasures have no backup plans?

Perhaps there were vicious restrictions, lingering demonic thoughts, or self-destructive measures attached, waiting for later comers to take the bait!

Xuande stopped at the edge of the cavern, not rashly approaching.

He first carefully observed his surroundings.

Inside the cavern, aside from the two treasures, there seemed to be nothing else.

The crystals on the rock walls were just ordinary Nether Crystals and Earth Fiend Stones, which had taken on some sinister aura after long exposure to demonic energy.

The ground was hard Xuan Iron Rock, covered with fine cracks, through which demonic energy was seeping deeper into the Earth Veins.

His gaze finally locked firmly onto the Twelve-Petal Destruction Black Lotus.

That intense, homologous attraction came from it.

As a lotus platform also transformed from a seed of the Chaos Green Lotus.

although their attributes were completely opposite, at their most fundamental level.

there was indeed an unbreakable connection. Like light and shadow, two sides of the same coin.

"Let's test it first."

Xuande made up his mind.

He didn't use any other spells.

Instead, he once again activated his own Merit Golden Light.

This was the most effective against demonic energy and also the gentlest, safest method.

He raised his hand, and a beam of golden light, condensed like a solid substance, slowly shone like a searchlight toward the floating Twelve-Petal Destruction Black Lotus.

The moment the golden light touched the black light on the lotus's surface, a sudden change occurred!

"Sss--!"

A reaction far more violent than any before took place!

The thick, ink-like demonic energy on the black lotus seemed like ignited oil, churning violently, evaporating, and emitting a harsh sound.

Where the golden light shone, the black on the lotus platform seemed to fade slightly.

revealing the deeper lotus body beneath, which seemed to contain a universe of destruction.

But beyond that, there was no other reaction.

No imagined counterattack from demonic thoughts, no hidden restrictions erupting.

The black lotus merely passively endured the purification of the Merit Golden Light, its demonic energy continuously dissolving.

Xuande did not relax, continuing to shine the light for an unknown length of time.

Until the layer of demonic qi clinging to the black lotus's surface was completely purified.

At this moment, the black lotus, though still pitch-black all over, seemed to have lost much of the "vitality" that had constantly leaked demonic qi.

It appeared calmer, more like a treasure than a "source of contamination."

The destructive Dao resonance it emitted was purer, yet lacking that violent, corrosive edge.