Chapter 487: The Madman Chases the Demon Spirit

Divine fire burns, as if falling into the Avici hell.

Bitter cold freezes, giving birth to a great red lotus.

Bai Ji was on the verge of collapse at this moment, because the experience was incomparably painful, and he was fundamentally unable to resist; even his will to resist had been disintegrated, and he only felt that if he could die, it might be a good thing, a form of release.

He simply could not hold on! Thus, facing the bottom, facing death, he only wanted to actively embrace the clarity he now found detestable.

Boom! Hitting the bottom.

Crack! Shattered.

Is Bai Ji... dead?

"Not dead yet."

Du En calmly made the judgment, his gaze fixed on the body of the living puppet before him; at the heart area, under his observation, a hole appeared quite abruptly, as if something had just burst out from within. Looking inside along the hole, the interior was even more deep and strange, as if it could swallow people's consciousness.

The scorching flames burned away this puppet, which also carried a hint of evil.

The mirror reflecting the figure also transformed into divine fire at the same time, completing its self-immolation with ferocity.

"Hmm, the Water Abyss still feels a bit strange. Forget it, let's detach it first."

Sheng Zhaoshui muttered this, having already turned his body around, and casually pinched a Dharma seal. The three of them appeared outside the Falling Fish Abyss. At the same time, the Falling Fish Abyss underwent a series of changes; it was actually rolled up, pulled out, and transformed into a long fishing rod.

"The so-called angler merely casts bait and waits; the so-called fisherman merely nets the abyss."

He was speaking in that cryptic way again, seemingly alluding to the foundation of his current Dharma method.

Du En and An Shen had no time to ponder or care, instead immediately looking to the other side.

After barely managing to kill Bai Ji once, the changes in the Red Star and the Jianmu were indeed slowing down or even stagnating. Now, both the sky and the ground remained in that same stalemate.

"Good, good, good! Worthy of being a heaven-gifted talent from the Upper Realm, truly extraordinary!"

"To have three of you serving me at once, it really is more than I can bear!"

"But unfortunately, your opportunities end here; your dead end has arrived!"

Bai Ji's voice, full of resentment, sounded like bubbles rising in a swamp. At this moment, it arrived hurriedly and uninvited. Amidst the teeth-aching crunching sound, under the gaze of the three, a root tip protruded beside the Gate of the Upper Realm, looking like a long, strange grave mound, or perhaps a peculiar coffin. And now, the grave-mound coffin was pushed open from the inside, revealing a strange figure.

Gray-white, with red demon patterns, looking like a person but actually like wood, the face was close to Bai Ji's, but subtly carried something different, as if it were the true face no longer hidden at all.

It was no longer human; Dharma power and demon power were mixed, and there was even resentment within it...

"A vengeful spirit?"

"Human-demon-resentment, quite a diverse composition."

"No, no, no. How can he still have the airs of a human now? If you ask me, since he was bred from the Inverted Jianmu, he should be called the Jianmu Demon Spirit. In any case, he is definitely not human!"

Sheng Zhaoshui's words received unanimous approval, so, on their own, a name was decided here, which made Bai Ji, the Jianmu Demon Spirit, furious.

Then, the Universe Rope appeared from nowhere and bound it tightly in one go! Clearly, now that he had completely transformed into the Jianmu Demon Spirit, he was fully within the strike range of this Central Pivot Treasure.

"Do you think you can kill me like this?!"

Bai Ji roared out, and accompanying this sound, the Inverted Jianmu shook violently, causing the three to involuntarily divert a sliver of attention to the sky above.

The Red Star showed no signs of responding.

In other words, it was only because this guy's connection with the Inverted Jianmu had become tighter, in a sense treating it as part of his shell or body, or vice versa, that he could trigger the hidden power of this fallen divine wood.

The three quickly made a judgment. The Phoenix Remnant Hatred, which had previously been responsible for suppressing the Jianmu's roots, branches, leaves, and fruits, also surged and erupted in response, because Du En had made a move in the previous instant, using his life-bound Dharma treasure to transform into the Phoenix Blood Spear.

Although he previously did not want the main body of the Divine Venerable Remnant Hatred to surface, times had changed and situations had shifted repeatedly, making him feel that letting its main body be closer to him might not be a bad thing. In any case, he could withstand that indiscriminate burning.

So now, without hesitation, he changed into the spear again. Thus, within his divine palace, the hand of his primordial spirit could no longer cover the brilliance of the Phoenix Remnant Hatred.

A murky red color emerged once more. In the outside world, that was a terrifying sea of fire covering the sky and earth. A ferocious phoenix, its size increased more than tenfold, whistled out. A single flap of its wings could destroy dense Jianmu branches, incidentally turning some of their own slower-moving Dharma treasures into fly ash—it was still that same indiscriminate situation.

Subsequently, the heavy Hatred Fire surrounded and fiercely attacked the main root of the Inverted Jianmu, which was erupting with some kind of shocking change, like a tsunami bringing up raging waves to batter a sturdy embankment.

Although the intensity of the Phoenix Remnant Hatred at this very moment clearly exceeded the level it had when it first manifested the Transformation of Divinity level in the Dragon Palace using the main body of Du En's life-bound Dharma treasure, which could even burn the Dragon King's body.

But after all, it was not the surfacing and manifestation of the main body, so it was not as powerful as some of its performances in the Source Life Star Realm; it was only able to reach the controllable upper limit of his current realm.

That is, the near-peak level of the Half-Step Void Refinement!

Therefore, facing a top-tier divine wood like the Inverted Jianmu, although he could curb and restrain the flow of its power so it wouldn't erupt again at the base of the main root, he was powerless to do more.

Even so, watching the little splashes of the Hatred Fire tide battering and surging up, Sheng Zhaoshui and An Shen still silently retreated a bit, lest they accidentally get contaminated, which would be quite unpleasant.

Looking back at Du En, who was holding the Phoenix Blood Spear and covered in a layer of Hatred Fire clothing, they felt heartfelt admiration for his expressionless and calm performance.

"His strength of will is extremely rare! I even suspect he has no sense of pain!" An Shen's exclamation was very serious, while Sheng Zhaoshui's focus remained as usual.

"Madman! You are a fucking madman!"

The Jianmu Demon Spirit was stunned and dumbfounded by this, and then felt a sense of dread from the bottom of its heart.

It saw clearly that the layer of Hatred Fire clothing was not some protection for the master, but rather the crazy flames directly devouring and burning the master. Furthermore, Du En was the source of the infinite Hatred Fire's release; that thin fire clothing looked ordinary, but it was actually a relay for the monstrous sea of fire outside.

In other words, Du En was actually the same as being in the sea of fire, or even further, standing in the source and eye of the fire!

Yet he was like nothing had happened! He was truly relying on himself to endure the burning of the Hatred Fire, not because of any lack of pain sensation. Those calm eyes could make one feel inferior.

Recalling how he himself couldn't bear the ice and fire in the blink of an eye when he was maintaining his human form... one could only say the gap was very obvious and exaggerated.

The Jianmu Demon Spirit did not want to admit this, so it could only angrily curse Du En as a madman.

Regarding this, there was no nonsense here; it was a direct spear thrust.

As soon as Du En moved, the other two also struck fiercely. They saw An Shen extend a hand from the mirror, immediately like a torch, as if it were daylight, shining on the Jianmu Demon Spirit until it was dazed. It did not see the shadow cast behind it suddenly boiling and erupting, transforming into branches of Dark Moon Spears attacking.

Sheng Zhaoshui laughed, carrying a cold chill, then threw out his fishing rod. His own figure suddenly disappeared, only secretly launching attacks, focusing on being elusive and not engaging in direct confrontation.

Of course, the most lethal was the thrust that came, as if stepping on time, causing all directions to stand still. In fact, it was just incredibly fast; even the Phoenix Blood Spear head was cracking and shattering in the air-breaking force.

A scorching red stream of light flowed within it, as if a wide-eyed ferocious eye was swimming inside, making any sentient being who caught a glimpse feel their heart jump with fear.

Except for the Supreme...

Thud! The Upper Realm Gate, which had been silent all this time, suddenly emitted a sound from the inside, as if something was impacting this hateful door, wanting to rush out from within, bringing an invisible vibration.

The invisible Sheng Zhaoshui was forced out in astonishment and gravity; the fishing rod in his hand popped with a 'snap' as an internal hidden danger was triggered. However, he was not careless and had been prepared, so he was unharmed and could immediately cast a spell to counterattack.

With him as a buffer, An Shen directly turned the mirror surface. The daylight and shadows combined to form a hazy Dark Moon radiance, suddenly forming a moonlight pillar that shrouded the Upper Realm Gate. Looking closely at the surface, one could see the pattern restrictions blooming like flowers.

As if influenced by the actions of the two, the gate to the Upper Realm returned to silence once more.

Du En spoke without turning his head: "Guard it, and don't let the things behind the gate stir up trouble again."

His charge was also affected, primarily due to the sudden agitation of the Phoenix Remnant Hate, which seemed to have caught the scent of resentment and evil, even wanting to manifest its true form; he had to divert his focus to suppress it, causing the cracks in the Phoenix Blood Spear to mend with difficulty.

"Hahahaha!"

The Jianmu Demon Spirit was overjoyed at the sight, for the trembling that had permeated its heart had quietly vanished, and at the same time, a change occurred here that was favorable to itself: the Universe Binding Rope had been shaken by the sound of the door-banging, suddenly becoming somewhat limp and no longer able to bind it with force.

Honestly, what kind of second-rate goods does the True Monarch give? Du En couldn't help but think this as he stepped down and arrived before the Jianmu Demon Spirit.

A spark of fire arrived first, followed by the spear thrusting like a dragon.

"Ha!"

The Jianmu Demon Spirit dared not be negligent; its hands suddenly transformed into twin blades, a grayish-white color suffusing them, and mixed with filthy mana, it emerged to clash with the incoming spear tip, forced into a melee in its haste.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang...

For a time, blade light and spear shadows intertwined fiercely; in a single breath, they could clash over a hundred thousand times, and after two breaths, one of the Jianmu Demon Spirit's hand-blades shattered, and after three breaths...

Squish!

From the platform at the side of the Jianmu Demon Spirit, a blood-red tentacle suddenly emerged, abruptly joining the fray; it was clearly the Red Star Power it had secretly channeled and buried back when it still had a human form.

Then.

Another burst of blade light and spear shadows followed, and then the tentacle also began to fail, covered in wounds, charred and burnt, sizzling and oozing oil.

Squish, squish, squish...

The Jianmu Demon Spirit had no choice but to deploy all its preparations at once; each Red Star Light Tentacle possessed power capable of rivaling a weak Heaven's Pride at the Half-Step Void Refinement stage.

Du En wielded the Phoenix Blood Spear with divine mastery, driving the Hate Fire to roll in torrents; at this moment, he further urged his two great divine fires, revealing a brilliant gold, grand and upright, and a three-colored dye, majestic and flaming, as if two halos of light had appeared out of thin air to shroud him; riding this light, he moved like a god descending to earth, harvesting the Red Star Light Tentacles as if mowing grass.

Could this guy have known about these hidden hands I left behind all along?

The Jianmu Demon Spirit watched Du En, who was displaying such great might before it, and for a moment, it dared not approach; looking at its remaining charred hand-blade, it only felt that if the opponent had come at it directly like this just now, it would have already been smashed to pieces.

Of course, it still wouldn't die from that.

Because it was now the Jianmu Demon Spirit, not Bai Ji... Damn! What Jianmu Demon Spirit, I am the Jianmu True Spirit! That's not right either, damn it, I've been led in circles! The Jianmu Demon Spirit was secretly annoyed and anxious, because Du En was about to finish cutting the star tentacles, and if he took advantage of the momentum to charge, it would meet the same fate.

It racked its brains, its heart stirred, and it took a sudden step.

Whoosh! Just as it was about to stand firm, it caught a strange sound approaching.

A sword?

Annihilation Sword! Splitting flowers and changing again.

It just grazed past its eyes as it tilted its head back to avoid it, and then annihilation occurred.

"Ahhhhh..."

Because the space was too stable, the Annihilation Sword did not produce a grand scene, only its own collapse and annihilation, forming an annihilation hole that tore the Jianmu Demon Spirit into pieces.

It screamed, it secretly...

The annihilation hole suddenly vanished, transforming into a large seal.

Baidong Seal! Even without the infusion of Dao might, this large seal could now erupt with power far exceeding the past; after all, Du En was already at the Half-Step Void Refinement stage, not comparable to his former self.

And the reason he didn't change to the Thunder Command Seal was, of course, because metal overcomes wood!

Although the Inverted Jianmu was evil and fallen, it was still of the wood element and had not yet completely turned into some chaotic mess, so using pure metal to fell wood was perfectly normal.

Immediately, amidst bursts of sharp white light, rays of light spears roared out, their power far exceeding the flashy Geng Metal and Xin Metal power of that Ancestor Gengluo; it was all about brute force, easily gouging deep pits and large holes in the main root of the Inverted Jianmu.

"Ah! Damn it!"

The Jianmu Demon Spirit escaped in a sorry state amidst flying wood chips, constantly taking small, quick steps, because it was still bound by the Universe Binding Rope and could not move its legs.

If not for this treasure, it could have been like a fish in water, moving freely throughout the Inverted Jianmu with such speed that it would be impossible to capture; unless one could destroy and crush the entire Inverted Jianmu in one go, it would be impossible to kill it.

But now, being firmly bound like this, although it had loosened somewhat, it still suppressed most of its divine might; otherwise, how could it be in such a sorry state?!

"Ah!!!"

It could not help but shout in grief and indignation, also because the white-gold sharp spears behind it were shooting out incessantly.

What was worse, Du En had already finished cutting the Red Star Tentacles and was pouncing over like a wolf or a tiger; there was no need to think to know that, given this guy's performance of being covered in Hate Fire yet remaining calm, and his extreme fondness for self-detonation tactics, he would definitely charge under the attack of its magic treasure without hesitation.

What a lunatic! The key is, how does this lunatic manage to self-detonate without harming himself? This is completely abnormal! If self-detonation techniques were that easy to use, the whole world would have been full of self-detonation experts long ago.

(End of this chapter)