Chapter 521

Although Xia Hong had been in Bingyuan for over fifteen years and had encountered numerous strange creatures, upon careful reflection, he had seen all four types—Craft, Nightmare, Vengeful, and Demon—except for Divine Guiguai .

Yet his overall understanding of Guiguai remained limited.

Where did these beings originate? Why did killing humans make them stronger? What was their ultimate purpose?

First, it was certain that Guiguai could detach from humans and move independently as individual entities—many examples proved this.

But they could also parasitize within living bodies in their original forms; early He He Yuanhun and Mirror Immortal were such cases, though such fusion carried extreme risk and could easily be reversed by the Guiguai .

A safer approach was to first kill the Guiguai , then obtain its lingering item—or rather, its true form—and fuse with it to gain its abilities and powers.

Xia Hong had seen Guiguai beg for mercy before, such as the White Dew Guiguai in Yanglu Jing after annexing Longyou.

At that time, he had not spared the White Dew Guiguai because he was only at the Cold-Resisting level, with mere dozens of Zong in strength; keeping a Guiguai that could casually utter the name “Qishan Demon Lord” beside him gave him neither confidence nor the authority to control it.

But now it was different.

“Spare me, spare me, I know how to reach the Dark Realm…”

Since the Xia Army began its assault on the city, less than an hour had passed, so the sky was still bright.

The daytime cold could not penetrate the Lord’s Hall, for the entire area had become a sea of fire; thick black smoke from the Great Yangxu Cauldron’s flames rolled across the sky, flames like parasitic worms clinging to the six-armed, blue-faced evil Guiguai ’s body, seeping through its skin, flesh, and into its marrow—just looking at it made one feel pain.

“Ah, spare me, my lord, spare me…”

The six-armed, blue-faced evil Guiguai screamed and begged in the fire, kneeling directly before Xia Hong, even imitating humans by banging its head on the ground.

Xia Hong’s gaze lingered in hesitation for a long while, then he finally took a shallow breath and lightly waved his Dragon Sparrow Blade, contracting the Yangxu Cauldron’s burning range.

Sssss…

As the Yangxu Cauldron’s power diminished, the flames abruptly stalled; the fire sea that had spread over several li rapidly shrank, and within less than a dozen breaths, it had fully contracted to surround only the six-armed, blue-faced evil Guiguai ’s body.

As the fire receded, the overwhelming black smoke that had filled the air gradually vanished; after dozens of breaths, the black smoke was replaced by cold air surging from all sides, and the evil Guiguai ’s form became fully visible.

“Lord…”

As the black smoke vanished, eleven Stage Xianyang-level warriors from the front lines of the Xia Army—Xia Chuan, Xu Ning, and others—immediately rose and flew toward this location.

With no Stage Xianyang-level commanders left to lead them, and with the commotion at the Lord’s Hall, the Beishuo Garrison had long lost all will to resist; all three Xia Army columns had now entered the city and were spreading out, systematically eliminating enemy troops still attempting to hold out.

“Is this the Gui thing inside Yang Zun?”

Xia Chuan and the other eleven stared at the kneeling six-armed, blue-faced evil Guiguai , their pupils filled with shock; though the evil Guiguai now looked battered, its body burned to nothing but charred flesh, the overwhelming aura emanating from within still left them deeply unsettled.

Such a powerful Guiguai had been brought to its knees, begging for mercy by Xia Hong.

“How strong has Brother become?”

“Is the Lord still at the Stage Xianyang level?”

………………

Xia Hong was unaware of the thoughts swirling in Xia Chuan and the others; he merely looked down at the six-armed, blue-faced evil Guiguai on the ground and spoke in a low voice: “Come out of Yang Zun’s body. Don’t try any tricks.”

“I know, I’m coming out now…”

Seeing the flames still on his body, the blue-faced evil Guiguai knew his life still hung in Xia Hong’s hands and dared not scheme; his body shuddered violently, then rapidly shrank and diminished.

In less than three or four breaths, he had shrunk to human size, and his original evil Gui face had reverted to Yang Zun’s appearance.

Chiiii…

The Lord’s Hall had long since become ruins; as Yang Zun’s form restored, all the blue light on his body instantly concentrated at his third eye, and moments later, the blue light detached and flew straight toward Xia Hong.

But just then—an unexpected change erupted!

A crimson beam of light shot from the north at incredible speed, precisely intercepting the blue light.

The moment the light appeared, Xia Hong looked up sharply—but made no move, merely watching silently as the light approached; when it caught the blue light, he still made no motion whatsoever.

“Xia… Lord, this six-armed evil Gui does not belong to you…”

After intercepting the blue light, the man did not stop; he swiftly descended onto the ruins of the Hall, lifted the unconscious Yang Zun with one hand, and before even halting his descent, spoke a voice Xia Hong knew all too well.

As the crimson light faded, a tall, beardless middle-aged man appeared, clad in white brocade robes, a black longsword slung at his waist.

“Chu Chu Tianxu, Governor of Yanling Commandery…”

Seeing the newcomer, Xia Chuan immediately stepped forward to warn Xia Hong—but before he could finish, Xia Hong waved him silent; remembering Xia Hong had just returned from Mao’ao Chuan and still hadn’t revealed his face, Xia Chuan sensed something and fell silent.

“Ying Xuan Kong, Chu Renjie, Qingshan—where are my people from Cang?”

Though Chu Chu Tianxu had just arrived, a single glance at the current state of Beishuo City was enough for him to guess most of what had happened; he did not ask why Beishuo had fallen, but immediately demanded to know the fate of Chu Ying Xuan Kong and the others.

Unfortunately, all the Stage Xianyang-level warriors from Cang who had marched south were now dead; Yang Yang Jian and Yang Fa were slain, and Yang Zun, barely clinging to life, could not answer; as for others in the city, they had no standing to join this conversation.

Chu Chu Tianxu quickly realized this, and his gaze turned to Xia Hong.

“There…”

Xia Hong said nothing, only smiled and raised his blade, pointing lightly at several spots on the ruins below, Shiyi Chu Chu Tianxu to look for himself.

Chu Chu Tianxu understood, looked down at the spots Xia Hong indicated, and when he saw the corpses of Chu Ying Xuan Kong and the others, his expression froze.

He immediately looked up at Xia Hong, and a terrifying aura slowly rose from his body; his white brocade robes stirred without wind, his face already flushed with furious rage.

“This mask truly completely blocks the perception of a Transformation Jieshen-level cultivator…”

At this moment, Xia Hong completely ignored Chu Chu Tianxu’s rage, silently praising the human-skin mask he had bought for three million taels of silver in Yang Market.

Yes—from his appearance in Baimu City last night, to killing Yang Zun, to Chu Chu Tianxu’s arrival now—he had never revealed his true face.

Although Xia Hong had publicly revealed his face during the Hong Sect Battle four years ago, so much time had passed that few in the Nanlu region still remembered his appearance.

Though Great Xia had developed the painter profession, it was still new, and his portrait could not have spread widely elsewhere; so he should be able to deceive Cang for some time.

As for why he concealed his face, it was because for the past three years, Xia Hong had operated in Cai Qiu and Cang; if anyone recognized his true face, his identity as Prince Hearing Hong Yu of Qin would be exposed.

The exposure of his false identity would not greatly harm Xia Hong—but it would endanger Su Xing’er and her four siblings, and if someone were clever enough, they might connect it to Lord Jiang Lord Jiang Xinfan and Ji Hong’s spies—then the cost would be far too high.