Chapter 996: West Demon Son

When Xu Qing left Shexian Lake, a fluctuation was spreading from the edge of the West Demon Feather, where the war teleportation matrix was located.

There were several teleportation arrays here, distributed apart from one another, each leading to different regions of the Wanggu Continent; they were the gateways of the Demon Feather Holy Land during wartime.

Therefore, in ordinary times, this place was heavily guarded by the various forces of the West Demon Feather.

And right now, outside the seventeenth teleportation array, over a hundred cultivators from the Seventeenth Sovereign Mountain were waiting respectfully.

At their head was a young boy wearing Daoist robes.

They remained silent, all gazing at the seventeenth array ahead, which was emitting fluctuations.

The array gradually roared, the aura of teleportation grew thick, and finally, a brilliant light appeared, enveloping the entire range of the array; a tall figure gradually formed within this radiance.

Even though it was only a silhouette, the blood-evil aura emanating from this person spread out first, causing everyone waiting here to tremble in their hearts.

Vaguely, it seemed as if one could smell the scent of blood.

Until a moment later, as the light on the array gradually dissipated and the figure within became increasingly clear, when the light finally vanished completely, what was revealed before everyone was, shockingly, a young man wearing black battle armor.

On his face were two shocking scars in the shape of a cross, with the flesh turned outward, terrifying to the extreme.

And with such scars, it should have been ugly, but on this young man's face, it formed a unique sensation, adding a thick, murderous aura to him.

Contrasting with his flowing red hair, it seemed to have become the source of the bloodiness here.

As for that armor, it retained a large number of traces of war, showing that this person had experienced countless battles.

The moment he appeared, the crowd from the Seventeenth Sovereign Mountain outside the array, led by that young boy, immediately knelt down toward this person.

"Greetings, Your Highness!"

This person was none other than the third disciple of the Sovereign of the Seventeenth Sovereign Mountain.

Although ranked third, this did not represent his strength, nor could it represent his potential; in fact, he was not only astonishingly famous in the Seventeenth Sovereign Mountain, but even in the entire West Demon Feather as well.

Even within the East Demon Feather, his name was renowned.

West Demon Son!

The reason for this was that his aptitude had once been praised by the Demon Feather Great Emperor.

When in the Return to Void realm, he could fight against those in the lower tiers of the Spirit Severing realm, and after breaking through to enter Spirit Severing himself, he even seized authority, becoming the second person in the West Demon Feather in a thousand years to obtain authority while in the Spirit Severing realm.

And his authority was both special and terrifying.

It governed slaughter!

Now, with a cultivation base at the seventh tier of Spirit Severing, he stood above those at the ninth tier of Spirit Severing, and when unleashing his full power, he could even display strength approaching that of a Sovereign.

On the human battlefield, by virtue of his strength and slaughter, he had established monstrous war merits, and even on the human kill list, this person's ranking was placed alongside three other prodigies, second only to the Sovereigns.

And he had originally remained on the battlefield until he received a secret letter from a fellow disciple.

Thus, he chose to return.

At this moment, as the bloody aura spread and the murderous intent permeated, West Demon Son looked indifferent, stepped out of the array, and stood before those who were kneeling.

"Where is he now?"

West Demon Son spoke faintly.

His arrival caused most of those kneeling to tremble in their hearts; as people from the same mountain, they knew very well that this person had a near-paranoid obsession with slaughter.

Cruelty was his very nature.

Yet, he was a major prodigy in the entire Demon Feather Holy Land, recognized by the Demon Feather Great Emperor, and had a Sovereign as his master; such a figure, while not able to cover the sky with one hand, was not far off.

Thus, their heads bowed even lower.

Even the young boy at the head, being an attendant to the Great Emperor, did not dare to be the slightest bit negligent and respectfully informed him of what he knew.

"That Blood Dust Son once went to Shexian Lake, left after two hours, headed east, and is now stopped at Tiandong Mountain."

West Demon Son nodded, a cold glint flashing in his eyes; his body stepped out, appearing above the firmament, locked onto a direction, and with a wave of his hand, a large amount of black clouds shrouded a thousand miles, wrapping around his figure as he headed straight for the distance.

Wherever he passed, the heavens and earth roared; within the black clouds, he looked like a Heavenly Demon.

His return this time was for... Blood Dust Son.

Upon learning that Blood Dust Son had challenged people within his own mountain gate and no one could do anything about it, West Demon Son intended to take off his head and place it where the other had once sat cross-legged.

As for the slaughter of his own kind and the conflict between East and West, to West Demon Son, it was all irrelevant.

Meanwhile, as this West Demon Son was galloping across the firmament, heading straight for Tiandong Mountain, on Tiandong Mountain, Xu Qing had indeed chosen to stop here.

His business in the West Demon Feather was already finished.

The Empress had successfully met the Demon Feather Great Emperor, so he did not need to continue challenging people here.

And from his trip to the Immortal Arts Hall, Xu Qing had also gained a great deal.

Thus, all he needed to do now was wait for the meeting between the Empress and the Demon Feather Great Emperor to end, and then leave the West Demon Feather with the Empress.

"After returning to the East Demon Feather, the opening of the place where that Mingyan Great Emperor went into seclusion will also be approaching."

Xu Qing pondered; along this journey with the Empress, he was also thinking about the Empress's purpose.

The most obvious thing was the matter concerning the Mingyu Great Emperor.

But clearly, it must contain many details and secrets; Xu Qing lacked key information and could not analyze too much at the moment.

However, he remembered one point, which was that in the place where the Mingyan Great Emperor went into seclusion, there existed an opportunity to greatly increase one's cultivation base.

"And Yue Dong's former plan..."

"Also, I wonder how the Eldest Senior Brother's gains are now; I imagine he should have also received quite a few benefits in the East Demon Feather's Immortal Arts Hall."

Thoughts flowed through Xu Qing's mind, and then he put everything away, no longer considering these things, but instead focusing on the items he needed to study himself.

First, the Wish-Granting Mask.

Xu Qing had studied this mask many times during his spare time, but each time he was restrained and never made a wish; however, through his research, he had roughly judged a few things in his heart.

"The wish-granting of this object must be a form of divine authority!"

"And its status is so high, it can be called terrifying..."

"So it can be used as a trump card; unless it is a last resort, it is better not to make a wish."

"As for the white dust, it has formed a bit more over this period, but the quantity is still not enough..."

Xu Qing sensed it for a moment and then explored his own Destiny Divine Authority.

"The deployment of this divine authority does not necessarily have to be used in a single way; in fact, there are multiple methods. Whether it is wrapping it with my own soul or augmenting it with divine abilities, both can be attempted."

"As for its ability to depict destiny, there is a backlash."

"If the inscribed destiny replaces the original trajectory, then the obstacles encountered during this period must be borne by me."

Xu Qing raised his right hand, the carving knife transformed from the Destiny Divine Authority appeared in his palm, and after staring at it for a long while, he put it away, then closed his eyes to sense his back.

There, there was a totem tattoo covering his entire back.

An extinguished red candle.

Sensing this totem, Xu Qing's expression was somewhat gloomy.

The branding of this object within the Boundary Source Secret Realm was not controlled by him, and he was not very clear about the specific reason why it became like this.

Perhaps it was the reason for the candle itself, as it had its own consciousness.

Or perhaps it was caused by the uniqueness of his own physical body.

But regardless, Xu Qing did not like this totem; in his feeling, this totem represented a hidden danger.

Although it had always been in an extinguished state, during this period, Xu Qing faintly felt that a wisp of reviving aura was forming within this red candle.

Thinking of the terrifying power contained in the flame of the red candle, a dark glint flickered in Xu Qing's eyes.

"It is absolutely impossible to let you revive in an uncontrollable state and relight the candle flame."

Xu Qing snorted coldly in his heart, the Erase Authority flashed in his eyes, spread to his back, shrouded the candle wick, and suddenly unfolded.

As the Erase Divine Authority swept across it time and again, the reviving aura gradually weakened, but it did not disappear completely, so Xu Qing called for the Little Shadow.

"Swallow it!"

Xu Qing commanded.

The Little Shadow was reluctant, but it did not dare to refuse, so it braced itself and rushed over, and after shrouding it, began to swallow it in large gulps.

The uniqueness of the Little Shadow made this behavior of its have a good effect; the reviving aura was clearly even weaker.

Just like that, time passed, and dusk arrived.

As the sunset glow spilled over the horizon, after multiple bursts of the Erase Authority and repeated cooperation with the Little Shadow, the reviving aura finally became almost imperceptible.

"Although it is still there, it is now controllable."

After sensing this, Xu Qing left a sealing method on it, and then, in the time waiting for the Empress, he was about to study the Five Dogs Shexian Art.

But just at this moment, a sense of palpitations suddenly rose in Xu Qing's heart.

His eyes narrowed, his body blurred for an instant, and he retreated backward.

At the same time, the firmament roared like thunder, and the sunset glow shattered.

In all directions, everything twisted in an instant.

A pitch-black world-destroying spear broke through the firmament, pierced through the void, and headed straight for Xu Qing from the sky.

The height of the spear body was comparable to heaven and earth, and the spear tip was terrifying, like a mountain peak.

Carrying the power of destruction, bringing the momentum of overturning the sea, with a crushing posture, it arrived in front of Xu Qing in an instant.

At the critical moment, Xu Qing's speed exploded to the limit, and he dodged rapidly.

This spear brushed past him; sensing it at such close range, Xu Qing's heart shook, and he felt a strong threat. This strike was infinitely close to a Sovereign.

And while he was dodging, the spear whistled and slammed directly into Tiandong Mountain.

One spear fell, Tiandong collapsed!

The mountain body collapsed, falling apart into pieces.

The black spear pierced straight through and stabbed diagonally into the earth.

The massive spear tip plunged deep into the ground, the long shaft humming and swaying.

The land for ten thousand miles instantly shattered and caved in, and a massive amount of black flames erupted from where the spear tip had pierced, rising up along the cracks in the ground.

This turned the ten thousand miles into a sea of fire.

Within the sea of fire, countless souls appeared, all wailing.

Those souls were clearly human cultivators; they had evidently been killed by this spear on the battlefield, their souls unable to enter the cycle of reincarnation, bound within and becoming a part of the spear's might.

And on the long shaft of the spear, which slanted toward the sky, stood a figure like a demon at this moment.

Red hair fluttered, black armor looked ferocious, and behind him, the shadow of a Heavenly Demon manifested; this shadow was immense, occupying half the sky, looking down at Xu Qing.

"Are you... Xue Chenzi?"