The moment Randeng raised the Qiankun Ruler, the sky above Peach Mountain fell utterly silent.
The hundred thousand routed Heavenly Soldiers dared not breathe.
Nezha, however, laughed.
His laughter was quiet, yet it made Randeng's brow crease slightly.
He was the Chan Sect's Deputy Sect Leader.
An ancient powerhouse who had listened to the Dao in the Purple Heaven Palace.
Even among those below the Saints, few could truly make him wary.
The primordial chaos divine light surrounding Yang Jian was indeed strange.
The demonic mark between Nezha's brows was extraordinary as well.
But in Randeng's eyes, these two youths' foundations were ultimately too shallow.
One had only just transformed.
The other had only just remade his demon body.
However strong they were, they still had no right to speak of seizing treasures before him.
"Arrogant."
Randeng's voice was low as the Qiankun Ruler trembled lightly in his palm.
The surrounding void instantly froze.
Peach Mountain's shattered bulk seemed pinned beneath an invisible hand; even the rubble stopped in midair.
"A mere demonic wretch dares covet my spiritual treasure?"
Nezha rested the Fire-Tipped Spear on his shoulder, black-and-red demon flames dancing around its tip.
He tilted his head.
"My master said that ruler of yours looked decent."
"So I've come to take it."
Randeng's gaze turned cold.
"The one behind you truly has the gall to challenge Heaven."
"Today, I shall first suppress your demon body, then uncover his origins!"
As his words fell, the attack began.
The Qiankun Ruler swelled in the wind.
A golden ruler silhouette bore down across heaven and earth, qiankun dao patterns spreading like an invisible cage to imprison Nezha along with the towering demon shadow behind him.
The ruler had yet to fall.
Yet the lingering heavenly river water aura above Peach Mountain had already been compressed into waves of mist.
Wild joy instantly filled the eyes of the fallen Heavenly River Navy soldiers.
"Exalted Immortal Randeng has acted!"
"Nezha is doomed!"
"However strong this demon is, he cannot withstand the Qiankun Ruler!"
Li Jing lay collapsed in the distance, his face covered in blood and grime.
As he watched Nezha, a trace of venomous resentment rekindled in his eyes.
"Wretched son."
"Let's see who can save you this time!"
Nezha seemed to hear him.
He did not turn around.
He merely raised a hand and lightly brushed it along the Fire-Tipped Spear.
Black-and-red Demonic Qi emerged from his palm, spreading along the spear's shaft.
The towering demon shadow behind him suddenly grew still.
That faceless demon shadow slowly raised his head.
Randeng's heart jolted.
The next instant, Nezha's voice rang out.
"Old Daoist, do you really think I'm all you're facing?"
Randeng's gaze darkened.
"Cheap tricks!"
The Qiankun Ruler thundered down.
The golden ruler silhouette tore through the clouds, smashing straight toward Nezha's head.
Nezha did not dodge.
He even closed his eyes.
"Self-Transformation into Freedom."
"Manifest the obsession within your heart."
Boom!
Black-and-red Demonic Qi exploded.
The towering demon shadow behind Nezha suddenly began to twist.
His once-blurred face grew clear, little by little.
Randeng's pupils contracted sharply.
That face was identical to his own.
Only that face was younger.
More tranquil.
And closer to the realm Randeng had never truly reached in his heart.
That was the most perfect version of himself in Randeng's heart.
It was also the shadow he had never managed to step beyond through countless years of pursuing the Dao.
"What foul art is this?"
For the first time, Randeng's expression changed.
Nezha opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth lifting.
"Scared?"
The demon shadow raised his hand.
A ruler silhouette likewise formed in his palm.
It was not a physical magical treasure.
It was Randeng's obsession with the Qiankun Ruler.
His obsession with his own Great Dao.
The barrier within his heart he was least willing to confront.
The Qiankun Ruler smashed down.
The ruler silhouette in the demon shadow's hand swept lightly across.
There was no earth-shaking crash.
Only a piercing crack.
Crack!
The Qiankun Ruler in Randeng's palm shuddered violently.
Several fine cracks actually appeared along its body.
Its merit spiritual light dimmed by thirty percent.
Randeng's chest jolted, and he spat out a mouthful of golden dao blood.
"Impossible!"
He stared fixedly at that demon shadow.
This was not an overwhelming disparity in power.
It had pried open a weakness deep within his dao heart.
The Qiankun Ruler had accompanied him for countless years.
The more he relied upon it, the more the ruler silhouette Nezha manifested could turn against his own thoughts.
"This art can actually reflect my obsessions?"
The contempt in Randeng's eyes vanished completely.
Deep wariness took its place.
Standing atop his Wind-Fire Wheels, Nezha slowly rose into the air.
Black-and-red demon flames spread behind him.
"You thought I was manifesting a magical treasure?"
"No."
"I'm manifesting the version of yourself you're most afraid to see."
Randeng's expression grew grim.
The Qiankun Ruler trembled again, its dao patterns forcibly repairing the cracks.
He was, after all, a Quasi-Saint Powerhouse.
Even with a narrow breach torn through his dao heart, he would not fall so easily.
"Nezha."
"This demonic art of yours cannot be allowed to remain."
Randeng raised a hand and pressed it between his brows.
The phantom of a Nether Lamp appeared behind his head.
Its flame was not fierce, yet it continuously drove back the surrounding black-and-red Demonic Qi.
The Spirit Coffin Lamp!
Nezha's eyes lit up.
"You've got more good stuff?"
Randeng ignored his provocation.
The Spirit Coffin Lamp's flame flickered.
A strand of dim light slashed straight toward the demonic mark between Nezha's brows.
Nezha's smile faded.
His Self-Transforming Demonic Shadow abruptly shielded him.
The dim light descended.
A deep scar was burned into the demon shadow's chest.
Nezha grunted, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
In the distance, Yao Ji's expression changed.
"Nezha!"
Yang Jian also raised his head.
The primordial chaos divine light around him had not yet fully dissipated, and his first strength god-demon acupoint was taking shape.
He wanted to intervene, but Nezha raised a hand to stop him.
"Senior Brother, don't move."
Nezha wiped the blood from his mouth, the demonic fire in his eyes blazing more fiercely.
"I haven't had enough fun with this old Daoist yet."
Randeng snorted coldly.
"You're merely forcing yourself to hold on."
"Let's see how many strikes of the Spirit Coffin Lamp's flame you can withstand!"
The flame stirred again.
This time, the dim light split into seven strands, locking onto Nezha's brow, chest, shoulders, dantian, and feet.
The Demonic Qi around Nezha churned violently under the pressure.
His Self-Transforming Demonic Shadow swayed with it.
Randeng was still Randeng, after all.
The moment he brought his Quasi-Saint reserves to bear, Nezha felt the pressure.
Yet his smile only grew wider.
"Good."
"Now that's more like it."
He gripped the Fire-Tipped Spear with both hands.
Black-and-red Demonic Qi surged into the spear along the threads of father-son karma, the Heavenly River's military fiendish aura, Li Jing's sinful debt, and the obsessions within Randeng's heart.
"Self-Transformation into Freedom."
"Manifest again!"
The towering demon shadow abruptly lowered his head.
That face identical to Randeng's suddenly opened its eyes.
At that moment, something stirred.
Within Randeng's mind appeared the scene of listening to the Dao in the Purple Heaven Palace countless years ago.
He had sat beyond the prayer cushions.
He watched the Three Pure Ones.
He watched Jieyin and Zhunti.
He watched those figures who had finally ascended to Sainthood.
Yet he had always fallen one step short.
That single step had trapped him for countless ages.
"Get out!"
Randeng roared in fury.
He finally understood that the truly terrifying part of Nezha's technique was not its power to kill the body.
It was its power to destroy the heart.
It would drag out an enemy's deepest obsession.
Then turn that obsession against them to sever their Dao.
Nezha grinned.
"Too late."
He thrust his spear.
Its point did not target Randeng's flesh.
Instead, it targeted the connection of Dao patterns between the phantom Spirit Coffin Lamp and the Qiankun Ruler.
Randeng's expression changed drastically.
"You dare!"
Boom!
The Fire-Tipped Spear struck the Dao patterns.
Black-and-red demon flame surged backward along them.
The immortal light protecting Randeng exploded.
The Qiankun Ruler flew from his grasp.
The phantom Spirit Coffin Lamp was also shaken, swaying violently.
Nezha stepped forward and reached out to seize the Qiankun Ruler.
The ruler shook wildly.
Qiankun Dao patterns sliced through his palm, and blood immediately streamed down.
Yet Nezha's grin only grew more savage.
"Something my master has his eye on thinks it can escape?"
The demonic mark between his brows blazed.
The Self-Transforming Demonic Shadow slammed its palm down.
The Dao patterns surrounding Randeng were forcibly pressed back into his body. His escape light had barely risen before it was smashed apart.
"Nezha!"
Randeng's eyes widened with rage.
"If you dare seize my spirit treasure, you will make yourself an outright enemy of Jade Void!"
Nezha gripped the Qiankun Ruler, its edges continually slicing open the flesh of his palm.
But he did not let go.
"Jade Void?"
"I'd dare overturn the Heavenly Court itself, and you think you can scare me with Jade Void?"
He gave a violent wrench.
Boom!
The Qiankun Ruler let out a mournful cry.
The Self-Manifestation Demonic Flame burned a breach in the divine-sense bond between Randeng and the Qiankun Ruler.
Randeng spat blood again.
He raised his hand to recall the Qiankun Ruler, only to discover that his divine sense was pinned down by that "perfect Randeng."
Nezha seized the opportunity to draw the Qiankun Ruler into the demon flame in his palm.
The ruler kept shaking, but for the moment, it could not break free.
Nezha looked down at it and smiled in satisfaction.
"Got it."
Above Peach Mountain, dead silence reigned.
Everyone in the Heavenly River Navy stared, dumbfounded.
Daoist Randeng had intervened personally, yet Nezha had actually seized his Qiankun Ruler!
The venomous resentment on Li Jing's face froze completely.
He suddenly realized that Nezha was even more terrifying than before.
Randeng's face was livid.
He had never been so humiliated.
Even though his body had not been destroyed, Nezha had torn a crack in his Dao heart.
Worse still, his Qiankun Ruler had been seized.
This was more disgraceful than losing a battle.
"Nezha."
Randeng's voice was terrifyingly cold.
"I will remember the karma you have sown today."
He raised a hand and touched the space between his brows.
A streak of Yuqing talisman light shot into the sky.
Nezha's gaze sharpened.
"Trying to send a message?"
The Self-Transforming Demonic Shadow reached out again, clawing toward the space between Randeng's brows.
"That wisp of Primordial Spirit Dao Fire of yours should be enough to offer to my spear."
Randeng's pupils contracted.
He had not expected Nezha to truly dare attack his primordial spirit.
Black-and-red demon flame swept toward him.
The immortal light surrounding Randeng collapsed inch by inch under the pressure.
Just as the Fire-Tipped Spear was about to pierce the space between Randeng's brows.
Heaven and earth suddenly fell still.
Above Peach Mountain, all the Demonic Qi sank at once.
The Qiankun Ruler in Nezha's hand also began to tremble violently.
A voice came from deep within the void to the west.
"Stop."
As that single word fell.
The Self-Transforming Demonic Shadow behind Nezha was actually forced half a step back.
Yang Jian abruptly opened his eyes.
His first strength god-demon acupoint had fully formed.
He stepped forward, shielding Yao Ji behind him as he looked west.
The void split open.
Seven-colored treasure light streamed down.
The phantom image of a precious tree swept away layer upon layer of Demonic Qi.
Then a Saint's manifestation slowly took shape within the treasure light.
The manifestation wore an expression of sorrow for the suffering of the world, yet his gaze looked down from far above.
When Randeng saw the newcomer, a flicker of complicated emotion crossed his eyes before he lowered his head.
Nezha tightened his grip on the Fire-Tipped Spear, and the smile at the corner of his mouth slowly widened.
"Another one?"
The Saint's manifestation lowered his eyes toward the Qiankun Ruler in Nezha's palm.
Then his gaze settled on the demonic mark between Nezha's brows.
"This technique should not exist in the Primordial World."
Nezha sneered.
"It shouldn't just because you say so?"
The Saint's manifestation did not grow angry.
The phantom Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree swayed gently.
Above Peach Mountain, the primordial spirits of everyone below the Quasi-Saint realm felt as though an invisible hand had pinned them down.
Yao Ji's face instantly turned pale.
The primordial chaos divine light within Yang Jian surged, forcibly blocking the pressure.
The demon shadow behind Nezha also straightened again.
He raised the Fire-Tipped Spear, its point aimed straight at that
Saint's manifestation.
"Give me your name."
The Saint's manifestation spoke slowly.
"Zhunti, of the Western Religion."
Boom!
The sky above Peach Mountain split apart completely.
Demonic fire blazed in Nezha's eyes.
Primordial Purple Patterns flowed over Yang Jian's clenched fists.
Meanwhile, inside the Ruined Temple at Guanjiangkou.
Gu Changqing's palm stirred.
The newly formed Heavenly Emperor Divine Position Fragment suddenly lit up with a blinding radiance.