Rumble!
The Demon King detonated himself, shaking heaven and earth. Rampaging energy swept through the mountain forests and surged into the sky.
Towering Mingquan Mountain collapsed with a thunderous crash, splitting apart. Even its spirit vein was destroyed, and its plants and living creatures were reduced to dust. The earth vein lay shattered, and a vast crater more than a thousand zhang deep appeared where the mountain had stood.
Azure Dragon Mountain's main range was affected as well. Mountains collapsed across thousands of li, and a rift opened where the branch range joined the main range. The Dragon-Suppressing Great Formation flashed briefly into view. Though it quickly vanished again, Xuanming's expression changed drastically: he had seen hideous cracks spreading across the formation.
But he had no time to dwell on his shock. With a sweep of his sleeve, he released True Lord Chaoguang and True Lord Xianyue. Together, the three worked to dissipate the force of the Golden Toad Demon King's self-detonation and protect as many other living creatures as possible.
Above, the Sun Wheel and the Jade Disk shared the sky. Below, the Primordial Unity Dao Diagram unfurled, transporting batch after batch of living creatures away. Some stretches of the earth vein were protected as well, keeping them from breaking completely.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of li away, the young man in brocade robes who was locked in battle suddenly wore a chilling expression, both delighted and filled with Rage.
He was filled with Rage because the Golden Toad Demon King had fallen; he was delighted because Golden Toad's resolute act of offering his own body in sacrifice and detonating himself had filled the gaps in the Peaceful Heaven Sect's scheme, achieving the originally intended result.
Yet when he thought of how this had come at the cost of