Chapter 354: The Cease-War Halberd Defeats the Strange Demon

"That's right, that's right. Blood resonates; through your blood and my blood, echoing with one another, I can know your thoughts and inner voice. It can truly be called 'resonance of the same voice'."

"A demonic path technique that only benefits oneself, yet you speak of it in such high-sounding terms."

"And what if it is a demonic path technique?!"

Du En did not mean anything else; it was merely a normal retort in the midst of their initial clash, an attempt to seize the initiative in the conversation, yet it immediately provoked a violent response from the other side.

"As long as it allows me to better lead others to survive and find a way out, no matter what the technique is, no matter if it is demonic, monstrous, or anything else, it is fine, it doesn't matter!"

"You junior, who does not know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth, who does not understand the azure sea of the firmament, and who is already quite satisfied being trapped in your own narrow world—how do you have the qualifications to judge me!"

It seemed he had mistaken Du En's origins.

Du En did not mind; he only lowered his brows slightly and said softly, "But you still fell into the demonic path, and this so-called Sacred Sect has long since perished, leaving only these remnants behind."

"……Yes, hahahaha, how ridiculous!"

The thick, floating leather robes suddenly began to twist, as if an invisible person were laughing, constantly shaking, with bloated bulges forming inside and moving all over the garment.

"I clearly worked so hard, I clearly became stronger and stronger, I clearly successfully recreated this demonic path technique, I clearly…… why! Why did they leave me one after another in the end!"

"Why on earth! Ah!!!!!"

Bang! Blood suddenly erupted from the leather robes. This blood was red at first, then rapidly turned a ghostly blue, viscous as glue. Without giving Du En any room to intervene or obstruct, it instantly wrapped around and solidified, taking shape.

A ghostly blue Blood Demon, a zhang tall, appeared there.

It looked like a beast yet not human, fallen and abnormal, beyond salvation in its demonic state, yet it could only let out whimpers from its throat, radiating its own pain as if begging for release.

"Blue-blooded Strange Demon……"

Du En pondered to himself, suddenly feeling the blood throughout his entire body boil abruptly.

"Hmph!"

With a muffled grunt, he used his Dharma power to boost his Inexhaustible Azure Spirit Body, only then barely suppressing it. But from then on, he would need to suppress it at every moment, otherwise, he would be burned by the blood-boiling Dao technique that the Strange Demon would constantly radiate!

The Inexhaustible Azure Spirit Body was no longer an advantage……

Thoughts stirred, spatial movement.

Boom! Just as he left his original spot, a ferocious blue claw slammed into the ground where he had been.

That Blue-blooded Strange Demon would not wait for him; already in a state of madness, it erupted with its own fierce offensive.

Bloodthirsty Demonic Thought!

With a hum, a frantic, bloodthirsty impulse emerged in Du En's mind.

However, there was no need to worry at all, because not only was his Dao heart incomparably formidable, but his Divine Palace was equally solid; such external demonic thoughts were cleared away in the blink of an eye.

Terrifying Blood Wave! One strike failed, so it launched another.

Violent, monstrous waves exploded out of thin air, surging toward him.

A gale-force sandstorm met it head-on, and they collided with each other.

Rat-tat-tat! The sandstorm, transformed into a tornado like an awl, gathered its strength in one place, wave after wave, and forcibly pierced through the blood wave.

Then it was shattered by several ghostly blue tentacles, which were about to slam down on top of Du En's head.

Crack! He chanted slightly, and Ice Soul froze, sealing the ghostly blue tentacles directly.

At the same time, he unleashed a Dao technique, and the Seed of Spirit-Piercing was about to take root on the Blue-blooded Strange Demon.

With a swish, it took a step back, and a spatial barrier appeared.

With a bang, Du En forcibly broke through it, allowing his Dao technique to flow unimpeded.

Ghostly Demonic Blood Malice! The Blue-blooded Strange Demon could sense the targeted nature of the Spirit-Piercing Flower and immediately erupted with not Dharma power, but processed and transformed blood malice, which attached directly to its body surface, turning itself deep blue to resist the rooting and growth of the Spirit-Piercing Flower.

Even in its demonic madness, it was still this powerful……

The performance of the Blue-blooded Strange Demon proved that the great cultivator before falling into the demonic path truly had a deep foundation, and their attainments in this path were astonishingly profound!

He no longer hesitated. With a wave of his hand, the Cease-War Halberd gathered light and appeared. As he cast his spell, grass and trees grew into a forest, adding and painting green into the ghostly blue spatial area.

——In the blink of an eye, it was lush and green everywhere.

"This…… is……"

Du En's previous methods had not made this Strange Demon pause, but seeing the scene of grass and trees growing into a forest, it froze. It stopped the continuous movements it had wanted to perform and stared blankly. Even when Du En took the opportunity to charge forward and strike it hard with his halberd, sending it flying backward, it had no reaction.

As it flew backward, it felt as if time had come to a standstill.

Looking up, it saw the blue sky; surrounded by its side was the emerald green forest. In a trance, it seemed there was even the radiance of the sun. This is……

"Ah!"

A mournful cry echoed in its heart.

Memories of the past surfaced and flashed back one by one.

"A-Fu, I, I can't go on, hiss, ah, my blood, it won't stop……"

As fellow pioneers, the blood of his good brother, Gu Yong, dyed his own hands and eyes red. Even though he had furiously slaughtered that pack of Cave Wolves, he could not save his brother's life.

"Brother Fu, run! Go! You are different; only you can lead them to continue……"

The last person who set out with him pushed him away. Before his words were finished, his body was bitten apart by a giant cave-dwelling monster. The color of blood filled his vision once more, and he was left all alone.

"My Lord, you need not hesitate, you need not blame yourself, for this is a necessary sacrifice!"

When they finally settled down and needed to make sacrifices to promote the techniques of the Blood Demon Canon, one follower after another stood up voluntarily. In the end, they paid a painful price to develop the secret technique of "Blood-Line Resonance".

"Brother Fu, I'm sorry, I'm leaving now, you must not be too sad……"

His Dao companion ultimately could not cross the threshold of their lifespan and died of old age before his eyes, leaving him alone in grief.

"Sect Master! Sect Master! Haha! The Sacred Sect is established!"

Joy soaked his Primordial Spirit. Even in his demonic state, he still remembered that happiness at that time, that high-spiritedness, as if the future were beckoning to him.

"Dad, I'm sorry, I couldn't, accompany you to……"

Then, his son also died of old age before his eyes. Everything seemed as if it had never changed.

"Ah! Ah!!! Ah……"

In the end, everything turned to nothingness.

Because he had fallen into demonic madness, and along with him, everyone else, all together, fell into madness!

The Blue-Blooded Demonic Fiend suddenly widened its eyes, and a terrifying pressure erupted, like a volcanic eruption, directly destroying the lush forest of vegetation.

With a flash, he appeared before the charging Du En and slapped down with a claw; space cracked inch by inch, beginning to turn into fine dust, while Ghost-Blood Control Body, Bright-Blood Control Spirit, and Mirror-Blood Control Intent sealed off Du En's movement space from every aspect.

Boom! The Firm Tower of Samadhi Immovability crashed down, capable of blocking all external demonic interference, but it was directly slapped into pieces.

But it at least delayed the eruption of this demonic fiend.

Taking advantage of the moment when its new strength had not yet been generated and its old strength was affecting himself, Du En cast the Daoist technique Flower Grafting.

After re-cultivating it, he had already achieved minor success, so naturally, it could not have only its previous power.

The so-called Law Devouring was gradually expanded; "law" was no longer limited to magic power, for spells could actually work too! Starting from its demonic spells, it invaded and spread over them, finally reaching the entity itself, crossing the blood-evil shell, and growing directly inside the body.

One by one, flower by flower, it spread crazily, intending to drain this Blue-Blooded Demonic Fiend dry.

"Ah!!!"

It was furious, shaking its body and roaring; facing such a situation, it could still forcibly suppress it.

The growth principle of Flower Grafting could not stop the principle of the Blood Demon Treasure Tome that still remained! Thus, in an instant, the Flower Grafting was wiped out!

Looking from the inside, it wouldn't work; he could only strike from the outside!

Du En had already taken the opportunity to pull away and realized this point.

Regarding the collision of internal principles, he currently had no move that could win against that Blood Demon Treasure Tome which had been cultivated to Great Success; if not for the fact that this Great Cultivator had been demonic for a long time, he actually wouldn't have needed to fear Flower Grafting at all before, and could have completely flattened and eliminated it.

Since he couldn't win in that aspect, then, he would use pure violence!

From the outside, pushing it with his own endless, inexhaustible magic power, he would beat it to pieces! Violence is the hardest principle!

Thus, having retreated into position, Du En suppressed the boiling blood in his body while crazily spending his magic power.

A faint light appeared on the periphery of his body, the pressure of his Primordial Spirit leaked out everywhere, the earth rumbled, and a thousand-foot-high mountain, entirely condensed from magic power, rose from the ground behind him, taking shape in the blink of an eye.

Then, it was abruptly severed at the mountain root, as if by an invisible giant god, who cut it off, lifted it with both hands, and suspended it in the sky.

The Blue-Blooded Demonic Fiend had originally intended to pursue, but an instinctive unease made it pause.

If it hadn't fallen into demonic madness, it certainly would have made a move; what a pity...

Du En thought, his mind stirring.

Lifting the mountain, it flew and shot down with a boom.

Boom!

More terrifying than a falling meteorite, the invisible giant god threw the mountain in its hands directly; the sound was left behind, distance seemed to disappear, and it smashed directly in front of the Blue-Blooded Demonic Fiend, leaving it with no way to dodge! Swish... Bang!

"Ah!!!"

Naturally, although it was in a sorry state, the Blue-Blooded Demonic Fiend still knew what to do at the critical moment; blue blood light erupted, shattering and blocking it.

It only retreated several hundred feet!

That face, neither human nor beast, revealed a hint of a smile, as if to say, what does this count for? Du En was very calm, just gently raising both hands, attacking from left and right, pouring out magic power; the rumbling of the earth never stopped, and one thousand-foot mountain after another was lifted up.

The expression of the Blue-Blooded Demonic Fiend froze.

Then, it finally remembered that it could avoid its edge...

However, just after watching one mountain fly over and performing a spatial shift, another mountain appeared in front of it, as if it had pasted its face onto it; it could only hastily erupt with blue blood demonic light again.

Boom!

It failed to destroy it completely; the remnants smashed through the demonic light and made intimate contact with the collapsed body; the blood-evil shell shattered in the blink of an eye, and it was pushed, crashing into the ground, crashing into space, because of its own doing, the outer layers of the space edge were folded multiple times, too thick to break and dissipate the force.

A new mountain was lifted and thrown over, like the last straw that broke the camel's back.

With a splat!

The Blue-Blooded Demonic Fiend shattered into a puddle.

"Roar!"

A roar rang out, and it stood up again, reshaping its demonic body; it was not that easy to lose!

This was also the shortcoming of Du En only being able to win with magic power; if his mastery of Lifting the Mountain were deeper and the simple principles hidden within were stronger, he wouldn't have failed to smash it to death.

But it didn't matter; it seemed immortal, but it could actually die; the scattered blue blood had already grown a Flower Grafting while it was attempting to charge and kill Du En.

In what followed, it was smashing, then rising again, scattering blood and growing flowers, repeating constantly.

Until after three thousand times, the spatial field on the back of this surface layer was riddled with holes, and Du En's endless magic power seemed exhausted; he had long been unable to resist the boiling blood, and his whole person was like a boiled shrimp, red all over, constantly emitting heat.

However, he still won, so it was only like this, and his fleshly body was not truly destroyed by the boiling blood!

Click~

Rubble fell, and blue flowers bloomed.

Du En landed on the ground, his red body quickly cooling down and stopping the boiling; by the time he stepped to the side of the powerless Blue-Blooded Demonic Fiend, he had already completely recovered to normal.

It, or rather, he, was opening his dying eyes, looking at the sky above.

The dark blue was collapsing, revealing what was behind it, the reality of the front of the surface space, the pitch-black ceiling of the cave.

Thus, this Great Cultivator could not help but ask: "Could it be that wanting to see the real sky is actually wrong?"

"No, this is not wrong."

"Is that so... You, you shouldn't have been born underground, because you grew that kind of verdant green, yes, it should be verdant green, that was actually the first time I saw it."

Eyelids closed slightly, voice fading.

In this moment of his life flashing before his eyes, what he could see was only black, only blood-red, only a piece of oppressive and gloomy color; the only warm color was the color of fire.

But even the radiance of fire was stolen by that evil in this underground.

He couldn't help but ask: "Is the sky really, as the books say, blue?"

"It's not always blue; sometimes, it is also covered by dark clouds."

"Is that so..."

"However, the dark clouds will always have a time when they disperse."

"Haha, that's good then. Really, I've caused you trouble, my apologies..."

As the voice fell, the Qian flowers swayed slightly, and strands of obsession came to his side as he recovered his human form, crowding around, keeping watch, and waiting.

"Finally, I need to trouble, you, for a moment..."

Exhausting the last of his magic power, a small multi-layered spatial cube flew out from this collapsing spatial field and arrived in Du En's hand.

He nodded slightly and turned to leave.

One by one, the Qian flowers rose from the ground, spiraling and circling around him, following him as he stepped out of this reverse side.

Taking one last look back, surrounded by the people who were waiting, that great cultivator whose specific name was unknown was buried in the collapsing space, having already become dust of the past.

"..."

In the silence, Du En merely raised his hand to tidy up the front side of the surface space that had also been affected.

Blocking the spread, reshaping the surface.

A new, short tunnel appeared before his eyes.

Whoosh— True Flame ignited the Qian flowers; the Sacred Refining was underway.

Those flower branches circling Du En, having absorbed full magic power, bloomed brilliantly; they were the best raw materials, capable of further advancing the power of the finished magical artifact.

(End of this chapter)