The Great Evil King!

"What a sinister aura!"

Wang Xuan watched the figure, swift as a ghost and wreathed in a faint violet glow, close in at high speed. Light flashed through his eyes. The Emperor's Qi-Gazing Technique and Mystic Pupil Supernatural Power operated simultaneously, laying bare every detail of his opponent before him.

The man's body contained an abyssal, oceanic expanse of extreme yin death qi, so profound that its depths could not be seen. Yet deep within his dantian's qi sea, there remained a mass of supreme yang energy. Wang Xuan had no idea what sort of Divine Arts it was.

But that was nothing. What made Wang Xuan frown most was the incomparably dense, sinister resentment contained within that extreme yin death qi. It was as though countless wronged souls were entwined within it. Clearly, the man had cultivated an exceptionally evil demonic art. Who knew how many lives he had ruined to reach this level?

At that moment, Hoshino Taki, transformed into a ghostly shadow, had skin tinged with faint violet, bulging veins, and a twisted face. He looked exactly like a vicious ghost.

Originally, he had only wanted to die and leave this Plot World as quickly as possible. But once he activated the technique known as "Nirvana of Fatal Demise," a baleful aura of death rushed straight to his head, making his state of mind increasingly cold and merciless.

All his previous worries and calculations had long since been cast aside. Only pure killing intent remained in his heart.

Kill! Kill! Kill!

A pale white aura clung tightly to the surface of his skin. With a flip of his palm, he took a battle saber radiating savage demonic qi from his Storage Bag.

The instant the saber emerged, sinister winds howled and Ghost Fire flickered. Thick, ink-black Calamity Power and demonic qi coiled around its blade. Whenever it swung, ghosts wailed and spirits howled, as if countless vengeful souls were screaming within it. The sound made one's scalp tingle, and even the air became bone-chillingly cold.

"The Royal Clan's reserves truly are extraordinary. They can casually pull out something hidden away and still surprise people."

Wang Xuan's pupils contracted. In his eyes, that saber was more terrifying and more evil than its wielder.

The Spring Rain on a Small Building Overnight at his waist was, at the very least, a treasured relic of the Demonic Sect. Yet before this demonic saber, it was like a child's toy, utterly on a different level.

Even more astonishingly, once the blade appeared, it exuded a mysterious power that connected heaven and earth, spanned ancient and modern times, and seemed intent on forcibly carving out an independent world within this realm.

The change darkened heaven and earth. Thunder rumbled across the sky as black clouds churned and silver serpents danced. It was as if even the heavens wished to send down divine punishment and smash this evil blade, which should not exist in the world, into pieces.

Hoshino Taki smiled cruelly. There was not the slightest trace of humanity in that smile, only pure killing intent.

Set into the long saber in his hand was an evil vertical eye, dark red as blood. As it opened and closed slightly, sinister light seized souls and spirits. Stare at it for too long, and even one's soul would be sucked inside.

Threads of scarlet secret power crawled up his arm and invaded his brain in an instant. From his already cold and merciless eyes shot two beams of blood-red light as wild laughter burst from his mouth.

"Defy heaven, shatter Buddha, destroy the Dao! Hehehe... Kekkekeke!"

His mad laughter spread through all of Haining City, echoing in the torrential rain like a vicious ghost demanding lives.

Dark clouds shrouded the sky, plunging heaven and earth into gloom. Silver lightning flashed through them, and raindrops fell like beans. In moments, rain poured down in sheets, washing the blood from the streets into streams of dark red.

The city's residents were so terrified by the dreadful phenomenon that they no longer dared kneel in worship on the streets. They fled into their homes, shut their doors and windows tight, and trembled in fear. Some knelt inside and kowtowed, while others huddled together and cried softly.

Inside the ruined house, Orona looked through the hole smashed through the roof at the changes in the sky. His face was uglier than a corpse's.

His limbs were still bleeding. The wound in his dantian was no longer spurting blood, but that was only because he was nearly drained dry.

He lay amid the rubble, unable to move, and could only watch helplessly as the battle unfolded in the sky beyond his reach.

"That idiot actually got controlled by the Great Evil King!" he cursed under his breath, his voice as hoarse as a broken bellows. "I knew it. Once he uses Nirvana of Fatal Demise, he loses his mind. Fine, if he wants to die, then die—but why did he have to bring out the Great Evil King?!"

The Royal Clan had dominated the Heavens and Myriad Worlds for ten thousand years. What intelligence had they not gathered?

Orona could guess what had happened with his toes.

As the most evil and savage demonic blade in the high-martial Wind and Cloud world, the Great Evil King had been formed from the fusion of Fatal Blade Jie Wang and Fury of Exorcism under extreme resentment and curses. It contained a purely spiritual, other-dimensional realm known as the Nine Voids of Boundlessness, capable of connecting ancient and modern times and seeing through space and time.

Since the Royal Clan descended upon this Plot World, they had ravaged the dynasty, causing an unknown number of deaths and injuries. The accumulated resentment was beyond measure.

Now that Hoshino Taki had drawn the Great Evil King and been controlled by the blade, it was not surprising in the slightest.

"I just hope I die in the shockwaves of their clash..." Orona closed his eyes with a bitter smile.

What happened next was no longer his choice. He even prayed that some native NPC would rush in and kill him out of this Plot World with one stroke. That would be better than lying here and waiting for death.

Rumble!

Silver lightning danced wildly, nearly illuminating the entire world. Thunder rolled through the clouds, shaking even the houses.

The thunder seemed to awaken that figure, half god and half demon.

The Great Evil King raised its head, blood light blazing in its eyes. The blood-colored vertical evil eye on the saber in its hand snapped wide open, erupting with icy killing intent.

It fiercely unleashed the move, Heaven's Weeping Annihilation.

Scarlet killing qi spread outward as layer upon layer of phantom battlefields appeared in midair: soldiers wielding broken weapons, generals riding skeletal horses, shattered banners, burning cities. It was a scene that seemed to have clawed its way out of Hell's sea of blood, crashing down from all directions as though it would drag the entire world into an endless abyss of slaughter.

This was the first tribulation of the Ten Tribulations of the Evil King, creating slaughter and chaos to disrupt the opponent's mind.

As the vessel of the spiritual other-dimension known as the Nine Voids of Boundlessness, the Great Evil King's blade intent arrived before its technique. It attacked the mind first and destroyed the body afterward; it cast one into Hell first and sank one into the Bitter Sea afterward.

When ordinary experts faced this strike, the slightest instability of mind would drag them into an illusion, where they would lose themselves amid endless slaughter and be left at the mercy of others.

Unfortunately, Wang Xuan was no ordinary expert.

In matters of the mind, he far surpassed ordinary Grandmasters. Even Great Grandmasters were somewhat inferior to him in that regard.

The Mind-Absorbing Origin Return of the Arhat Demon-Subduing Divine Skill kept his thoughts clear. The Emperor's Qi-Gazing Technique allowed him to see through reality and falsehood, while the Mystic Pupil Supernatural Power let him perceive all things.

Facing the oncoming slaughtering intent, the incomparably pure saber intent and sword intent within his body automatically counterattacked, cutting apart every illusion invading his mind like a wisdom sword and a precept blade.

His mind remained steady and unmoved. With a flick of the Frost-Ling Sword in his hand, he swept out Sword Separating the World.

Supreme sword intent tore through the air. Sword qi condensed into an incomparably thin, dazzling white line that sliced through the air, the rain curtain, and every substance in its path, shooting straight toward the Great Evil King.

As though provoked by that supreme sword intent, the ancient evil inscriptions along the Great Evil King's spine flashed with dark red blood light. The vertical evil eye on its blade flew open in fury, blood light swirling through its pupil as though it had come alive.

The resentment of living beings, slaughterous ferocity, and boundless Calamity Power permeating heaven and earth rushed madly into the blade like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.

Black mist surged as the sound of crying ghosts stabbed painfully into the ears. In an instant, the entire evil blade was wrapped tight in an inextricably dense baleful aura. Even the air around it twisted and warped, as if space itself feared this evil weapon.

The Ten Tribulations of the Evil King—second tribulation: Severing Buddha and Forgetting the Dao!

The blade light slashed diagonally outward, its evil power surging like a tidal wave straight toward Wang Xuan and his sword intent.

Where the blade light passed, illusions arose in abundance. The righteous path of heaven and earth seemed to collapse; immortals and gods wept blood, Buddhas entered nirvana, and bodhisattvas shed tears. It was as if every righteous path, every light, and every hope in the world would be severed and destroyed by this single strike.

Beneath those terrifying illusions hid the truly lethal blade radiance. It was black as ink, yet sharp enough to cut through everything, swallowing even light itself.

Wang Xuan's eyelid twitched again, but his heart remained utterly calm.

Baleful qi and illusions were useless against him. In his eyes, those illusions were merely passing clouds. They could not even brush against the edge of his mind.

The incomparably pure cutting sword qi of Sword Separating the World was like a paper cutter. With a rip, it sliced through the dazzling illusions and revealed the true blade light beneath.

The instant sword qi met blade light, Wang Xuan sensed something was wrong. This blade light was strange. It was not a simple clash of power, but something more bizarre, as though it wanted to "convert" his sword qi.

Yet his cutting sword qi was more ruthless. It slipped through the gaps where there was no thickness, easily slicing through the blade light. Its speed barely diminished as it continued toward the Great Evil King.

The Ten Tribulations of the Evil King—third tribulation: Four Defeats and All is Void!

The Great Evil King had no emotion, hesitation, or anger. It was as cold as a program written with nothing but instructions to kill.

Its blade stance changed, and a bleak, desolate blade intent spread outward, carrying an indescribable sense of despair, as if all things between heaven and earth were heading toward decay.

The aura of ruin in heaven and earth was stirred.

The sensations of birth, aging, sickness, and death—the four sufferings of life—came rushing in together: the cries of newborn infants, the sighs of decrepit elders, the painful moans from sickbeds, and the despair of death's arrival.

An aura of exhaustion, decay, and collapse condensed into a gray blade light that silently met the incoming attack.

This gray blade light was neither fierce nor sharp. It even appeared somewhat soft and feeble.

Yet it possessed an incomparably bizarre quality. Wherever it passed, all that was lively and vibrant slowly began to "age," exhausting sword qi, decaying blade light, and dispersing life force.

Wang Xuan's cutting sword qi, condensed to the utmost extreme, actually began to "wither" the moment it touched that gray blade light!

The edges of the sword qi began to peel away and dissipate bit by bit, growing dim like iron slowly rusting and flaking apart beneath wind and rain.

The gray blade light was like time itself, ruthlessly eroding everything.

By the time the sword qi finally reached the Great Evil King, it had weakened beyond recognition. The Great Evil King merely tapped it lightly with the blade.

Crack.

The sword qi shattered like brittle glass into specks of light that flashed once in the rain curtain before vanishing completely.