Dao and Demon Conspire, Part One

"What business did you have with me, Daoist friend? I don't believe I'd ever met you before. We bore each other no grudge, so wasn't it rather impolite of you to speak like that?" Zhou Qing frowned, deliberately playing dumb. Yet his mind raced for a countermeasure.

"Cut the nonsense, boy! Hand over the Gouchen Heavenly Book and the secret art of the Twelve Divine Demon Annihilation Formation, and this Old Ancestor will spare your life. Otherwise, I'll shatter your primal body and consign your soul to eternal torment in the karmic fires of hell, never to be reborn." Dharma King Xuan Yuan made no visible move, yet the entire space suddenly froze, and even Zhou Qing found it hard to breathe.

What a formidable figure. He had controlled the entire space without so much as a flicker of expression. Even if the Five Grandmasters came together, they likely would not be his match! How had such a terrifying demon appeared in this world? Darkness swam before Zhou Qing's eyes. He sighed inwardly that his good fortune had finally run out.

Under Dharma King Xuan Yuan's pressure, Zhou Qing's aura surged out of control. With a roar, his shirt shredded into pieces, and just as when Liao Xiaojin transformed, two wings appeared behind him—each over a zhang long and three chi wide. The wings were as thin as cicada wings, yet shimmered with golden light. This was the mutation produced when Zhou Qing forcibly fused his Golden Silkworm Primordial Spirit with his physical body.

The enormous wings flapped. Yet Zhou Qing paid no heed to his own transformation, his face grave. The Blood-Devouring Divine Saber, over a chi long, black and ancient in appearance, entirely devoid of its former blood-red eeriness, emerged from the void and was seized in Zhou Qing's hand. His aura immediately swelled outward. Crack! Crack! With a series of soft sounds, the section of space Dharma King Xuan Yuan had sealed returned to normal. Borrowing the saber's power, Zhou Qing had shattered Dharma King Xuan Yuan's restraint in one stroke.

"Senior, your Dao arts reach the heavens. If you intend to forcibly seize a junior's belongings, then though this junior is no match for you, I must still fight with all I have. Do not mention those words again, Senior. They stopped fooling people centuries ago!" With saber in hand, Zhou Qing's confidence soared. His aura no longer fell short, and he spoke with eloquence and ease.

"Senior, weren't those lines a bit too antiquated?" Hearing Dharma King Xuan Yuan open with such a classic string of threats, Zhou Qing could not help finding it both laughable and absurd, even with a great enemy before him.

A rare flush crossed Dharma King Xuan Yuan's face, and he looked rather uncomfortable. Back when he fought enemies, whether Daoist Sect cultivators or demons and devils, everyone had used such words. He himself had always thought them imposing. Who would have imagined that times had changed? Such talk was no longer fashionable and had instead become a joke.

Dharma King Xuan Yuan chuckled darkly. "What a sharp-tongued brat!" Then he suddenly noticed Zhou Qing's bizarre transformation and froze. Brilliant light shot from his eyes as he stared fixedly at Zhou Qing. "Green Robe's Six-Winged Golden Silkworm? I knew long ago that you had cultivated a Second Primordial Spirit, but I never expected you to use a living creature in place of a magic treasure. To think there was such a strange art in this world! That Golden Silkworm is nearly evolved to four wings. Back then, Green Robe used the blood and souls of countless people, yet it never evolved so quickly. You must have obtained some heavenly treasure. What a pity—this alone is still insufficient to contend against this Old Ancestor. Be obedient and hand over the items before this Old Ancestor changes his mind!" Dharma King Xuan Yuan was certain his strength had Zhou Qing firmly in his grasp and did not fear any unforeseen turn. He failed to notice the ancient, black Blood-Devouring Divine Saber in Zhou Qing's hand.

Ever since the Blood-Devouring Divine Saber had expelled the Seven Treasures Mystical Tree Staff's energy, its edge had withdrawn inward, and it had completely regained its original color, without a trace of anything extraordinary. Thus, Dharma King Xuan Yuan had misjudged it at a glance and failed to recognize this ancient demonic blade that had shone brilliantly in the Investiture of the Gods War.

"Senior's cultivation is as profound as Creation itself, so naturally you do not take this junior seriously. But if I did not resist with all my strength, would that not make you look down on me? The things you want are in my hand. Whether you can take them will depend on whether you can make me submit wholeheartedly!" His consciousness immersed in the blade, Zhou Qing carefully sensed the profound mysteries of the Great All-Encompassing Godly Fiend Formation. He gained a new understanding of this foremost slaughter formation of the demonic path, and his confidence rose greatly. His opponent was an old-devil relic from antiquity; Zhou Qing did not expect any kindness from him. If he obtained the items, he would most likely kill Zhou Qing afterward. Besides, the Gouchen Heavenly Book was not in Zhou Qing's possession at all.

By chance, Zhou Qing had just entered the path of Union of Heaven and Man and gained a slight understanding of Heaven's Heart. His state of mind had advanced greatly, and his spiritual strength rose with the tide. He wielded the True Essence transformed from his Golden Silkworm Primordial Spirit with greater ease and agility. Former obscure points suddenly became clear, and his heart was bright and open. He felt that the chance of suffering backlash while controlling the Blood-Devouring Divine Saber had diminished considerably. Facing this unfathomable opponent, he felt no fear at all; neither his bearing nor his tone yielded an inch.

"Not bad, boy. You clearly know you are no match for this Old Ancestor, yet you still dare challenge me. You do have something of this Old Ancestor's former style. But while I appreciate you, if you refuse to hand over the items, I can only search your corpse for them." Dharma King Xuan Yuan nodded. Without any visible movement, a streak of blood light shot out from behind him. The blood light, as thick as a water barrel, transformed into an enormous hand spanning a full ten zhang, clawing viciously toward Zhou Qing. Space twisted, and every color drained away, leaving only a faint red hue. It somewhat resembled the sight when Zhou Qing activated the Blood-Devouring Divine Saber, though its momentum was far less vast and its blood light far less viscous.

Zhou Qing watched the giant bloody hand slowly press down from the void, his expression grave. For cultivators, using Primordial Spirit and True Essence to manifest physical forms was no difficult feat. Any Spirit Transformation expert could do it; even a Qi Induction Late Stage cultivator could barely manage it with certain secret arts. The difference lay only in the depth of cultivation and the power produced. Zhou Qing was confident that if he manifested a giant hand with his Primordial Spirit, it would not necessarily be much smaller than this bloody hand.

Crack, crack! Several faint sounds like eggshells breaking rang out. The several demon-subduing formations Zhou Qing had secretly arranged around himself were utterly shattered by invisible pressure. The wails of ten thousand ghosts and anguished cries echoed in his ears. Zhou Qing saw that resentful souls seemed to coil faintly around the massive bloody hand descending slowly upon him. Streams of black qi scattered and gathered between its fingers and claws, while faces of men and women, young and old—twisted in pain, savagery, despair, and terror—appeared and vanished without end.

This fellow is truly audacious beyond all bounds. He actually used living souls to refine a demonic art. Judging by this momentum, there must be no fewer than a thousand souls inside. He truly deserves to be called an ancient demon relic—lawless and unrestrained, with neither heavenly principle nor human feeling in his eyes. Zhou Qing secretly marveled.

Living souls differed from ordinary souls. They were created by capturing living people and torturing them in every possible way. At the moment the resentment in their hearts was at its strongest, the Soul-Searching Art was used to forcibly tear their souls from their bodies. Magic treasures and arts refined from such living souls were among the most vicious things under heaven, incomparably powerful, and specifically capable of restraining the profound arts of the Daoist Sect. Yet they were also the hardest to refine and easily exposed. Whenever anyone from the demon or devil paths began such refinement, they would often draw a joint extermination by Daoist Sect cultivators. Even their own kind would come to seize them. Thus, for thousands of years, few had gathered so many living souls. Dharma King Xuan Yuan intended to kill in a single blow and no longer wished to waste words.