Hongjun's Despair: My Merit!

Yin-Yang Daoist was already injured. Caught off guard by the sneak attack, he stood even less chance against Luohou. Luohou showed no mercy, driving the God-Slaying Spear into him twice in succession and snuffing out his life.

Struck by the God-Slaying Spear, Yin-Yang Daoist's Primordial Spirit was shattered. He was dying, yet he felt little hatred for Luohou. It was Hongjun, who had betrayed him moments ago, whose flesh he longed to devour.

Luohou looked at the dying Yin-Yang Daoist without a trace of joy. He could no longer sense any movement from the Immortal-Trapping Sword. Someone had clearly taken it down.

Only one sword remained in the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation. Once Yin-Yang Daoist was dead, Luohou would have to face the other three Quasi-Saints head-on...

The thought had barely formed when Luohou frowned and looked in one direction.

Whoosh!

A streak of blue-green light flashed past. Li Yi sat upon the Pure World White Lotus, quietly watching.

Yin-Yang Daoist had given up struggling and was waiting to die. But Luohou suddenly looked as though he faced a formidable enemy. Following his gaze, Yin-Yang Daoist saw a blue-robed Daoist a thousand miles away.

He looked at Li Yi in the distance, then at Luohou, who had regarded him with disdain moments ago but now stood on guard. A bitter smile crossed Yin-Yang Daoist's face.

He had looked down on the Heaven-Earth Daoist's Mid-stage Quasi-Saint cultivation. Yet he was the first to die...

The thought flashed through his mind. Clenching his teeth, Yin-Yang Daoist drew on the last of his Magic Power and moved to Li Yi's side.

Luohou did not stop him. Yin-Yang Daoist's life was already spent, and barely a fraction of his strength remained. To Luohou, he was no different from a corpse.

If the Heaven-Earth Daoist tried to save him, that would only give Luohou an opening!

Reaching Li Yi, Yin-Yang Daoist gritted his teeth and placed all his Spirit Treasures inside the Taiji Diagram. With the last of his Magic Power, he sent it to Li Yi.

"Fellow Daoist Qiankun, Hongjun is the one who killed me! Beware that old Daoist. He treats us all as pawns!"

"My Chaos Demon God body and all my treasures are yours!"

"If you get the chance one day, kill that old Daoist Hongjun for me. If you don't, I won't hold it against you!"

"Hahaha..."

With that, Yin-Yang Daoist refused to linger. He dispersed what remained of his shattered Primordial Spirit.

He did not know whether Li Yi would agree. In his present state, he had no power to demand anything.

Yet in the final instant before his Primordial Spirit vanished, he faintly heard Li Yi's calm voice.

"Rest easy. Hongjun and I will inevitably contend for the Dao. Even if you hadn't asked, he and I would still be destined enemies."

Hearing this, a smile appeared on the face of Yin-Yang Daoist's last wisp of soul. Free of all regrets, he vanished from the Primordial World.

A Five-Colored Light Pillar hundreds of millions of kilometers tall shot into the sky. Every living being across the Primordial World felt a pang of sorrow. A Chaos Demon God had fallen, and Heaven and Earth mourned!

Li Yi was unaffected. He put away Yin-Yang Daoist's Chaos Demon God body and treasures, then turned his gaze to Luohou.

He had taken three of the Four Immortal-Slaying Swords. There was no need to take the last one now!

Whoever killed Luohou would claim the greatest Merit of the Dao-Devil War!

Luohou had plainly reached the same conclusion. Knowing the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation's destruction was inevitable, he tightened his grip on the God-Slaying Spear, a bloodthirsty smile on his face.

Boom!

In an instant, Luohou lunged in close. Li Yi remained seated upon the World-Destroying White Lotus, drawing its Protective Immortal Light around himself to withstand the God-Slaying Spear.

At the same time, he hurled out the Twenty-Four Star Beads and summoned the Twenty-Four Star Lodge Killing Formation, trapping Luohou within the power of the stars!

The God-Slaying Spear left afterimages in the air as Luohou struck the World-Destroying White Lotus's Protective Immortal Light hundreds of times in a heartbeat. But the lotus was impervious to all arts, and it was the same grade as the spear. The spear's power to pierce anything had no effect on it!

Luohou, meanwhile, had expended considerable Magic Power killing Yin-Yang Daoist, easy as it had been. Now his God-Slaying Spear faced a treasure that naturally countered it, while he himself was trapped in the Peerless Killing Formation formed by the Twenty-Four Star Beads!

Sensing the power of the stars bearing down on him, mingled with Karmic Fire and Baleful Force, Luohou's eyes filled with admiration.

"What is this formation called?"

Though they were opponents, he felt a genuine kinship with Li Yi at that moment.

Li Yi's cultivation was lower than his, yet he possessed the Pure World White Lotus, an Innate Supreme Treasure, and such a Peerless Killing Formation! The Heaven-Earth Daoist had clearly Refined this formation himself. He was a grandmaster of the Formation Dao.

Luohou's Immortal-Slaying Formation Diagram had come from an Innate Formation Diagram he had found in Hundun, not one he had Refined himself. In mastery of formations alone, he truly fell far short of the Heaven-Earth Daoist before him.

Li Yi saw no reason to hide it.

"This is the Twenty-Four Star Lodge Killing Formation. It may not compare to your Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation, but it's invincible against anyone at the same cultivation level. No one beneath a Sage can break it..."

Luohou had the God-Slaying Spear, said to pierce anything, but he still had to find the Array Eye. With Li Yi personally controlling the formation, the Array Eye constantly shifted. Unless Luohou surpassed him in the Formation Dao, he had no hope of breaking it!

Luohou raised an eyebrow and swung the God-Slaying Spear even faster.

He believed most of what the Heaven-Earth Daoist had said. If he could not break the formation, he could only pit their Magic Power against each other and try to exhaust Li Yi's Mid-stage Quasi-Saint reserves with his own peak Quasi-God strength!

It was a fine plan. But Li Yi remained seated on the World-Destroying White Lotus, and his Magic Power showed no sign of waning. At last, Luohou could not help asking:

"You're only a Mid-stage Quasi-Saint. How is your Magic Power even greater than mine?"

Seeing that Luohou was at the end of his strength, Li Yi grinned and explained.

"I incorporated an Innate Spiritual Vein into this Array Diagram. Whoever controls the formation can draw on its power through the stars without end..."

When he had Refined the Array Diagram, he had thought of everything he could. There was a reason he dared claim no one beneath a Sage could break it!

Luohou's face darkened. Had he known, he would never have tried to wear this Daoist down...

Meanwhile, outside Li Yi's Twenty-Four Star Lodge Killing Formation, Hongjun took down the last Immortal-Ending Sword.

With its removal, the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation was completely broken. The realm of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire slowly withdrew into the Immortal-Slaying Formation Diagram, and the world grew clear again.

Though Hongjun had taken down the Immortal-Ending Sword, there was no joy on his face. His expression was dark as water!

This was nothing like what he had calculated!

By his calculations, he would take down all four swords himself and claim sole credit for breaking the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation!

Instead, he had taken down only one!

His calculations had been wrong before, but never by this much...

Frustrated, Hongjun could only console himself.

It's fine! Breaking the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation is a great achievement, but the greatest credit still lies in killing Demon Ancestor Luohou!

Once I kill Luohou, the greatest Merit of the Dao-Devil War will still be mine...

Hongjun had only just reassured himself when, the very next instant...

"Well played, Heaven-Earth Daoist! I've lost, but even if I have to blow myself up, I won't submit and let you kill me..."

Hongjun froze as though struck by lightning!

Was that Luohou's voice? What did he mean, blow himself up?

Wait! I haven't even made my move yet. Why is he blowing himself up!?

I haven't made my move yet!!! Damn it!!!

Before he could think any further, a cataclysmic wave of energy erupted across the Primordial World!