Seeking a Way Out of a Deadlock

Zhiqiu Yiye's aura was fading fast. At the same time, color returned to Yan Chixia's face, and he even managed to grip the Xuan-Yuan Sword again!

Black blood still poured from the wounds across the enormous "Buddha statue." Ignoring them, it looked startled and uncertain.

"To think you had such a method! Very well. This truly is my tribulation. I can no longer afford to take it lightly."

Sensing that the situation had turned against it, the creature opened its mouth and spat a long banner from its belly. With a sweep through the air, the banner came to rest above the golden Buddha's head!

No one could tell what fabric the vast, dark banner was made from. Dim light flowed across it, and tendrils of smoke lingered around it. As its surface billowed in the wind, thousands of twisted, frenzied shapes seemed to flicker in and out of view—some human, some beast, some ghost, some demon.

Dark-gold Buddhist light swirled around it, accompanied by waves of chanting. At the slightest flutter, ripples spread from the banner and enveloped the towering golden body like a curtain of water!

In the blink of an eye, shadows surged through those heavy ripples. Thousands upon thousands of vicious ghosts streamed from the banner. Their howls, mad roars, and chanting rang out together without end. Submerged within it all, the golden body seemed to occupy another world!

The... Underworld?

"Even after seizing the last thirty percent of Great Zhou's dragon aura, devouring the departed souls of its emperors, and feeding on the current emperor and his vassals, I still lacked the necessary foundation. In the end, I failed to become one of the Eight Classes of Divine Beings and shed my demonic form completely."

"So I had no choice but to take the souls