Chapter 324: Immortal and Demon Share the Same Source

Boom—

The dome of the Immortal Palace's great hall was torn apart by a giant claw descending from the sky, shattered stone mixed with twisted immortal corpses raining down like a torrential storm.

The Demon Ancestor's projection had just been devoured, and the entire Taichu Immortal Realm came alive.

Not awakening—a thorough cancerous transformation.

The earth split open, and what gushed forth was no longer magma, but viscous, foul-smelling black flesh and blood.

The surviving immortal mountains uprooted themselves, transforming into grotesque flesh-and-blood giants, their bodies covered with howling immortal faces.

Endless demons crawled out from every corner of the world; they had no tactics, no formation, only a pure hunger to drag all living beings into the Abyss of contamination.

"Open fire! Purification Protocol at maximum power!"

Li Hu's roar exploded across the communication channel.

The warriors of the Lawbreaker Legion formed a defensive formation back-to-back, the law-rifles on their shoulders spewing beams of order, each shot capable of erasing a lunging demon from the conceptual level, making every trace of its existence vanish completely.

But the demons were too many—so many they could not all be killed.

The moment the beams purified a patch of open ground, tenfold, hundredfold demons would immediately trample over the remains of their companions, howling as they filled the gap.

The energy readings of the law-purification devices were plummeting at an alarming rate.

"We can't hold! Captain, their contamination is corroding our shields!" On one team member's armor, the order runes were flashing rapidly, their light flickering unsteadily.

"Realm of Rebirth… Alliance…"

On the throne, the half of Taichu Immortal Emperor's body that remained erupted with blinding nine-colored immortal light; he used the last of his will to forcefully suppress the shadow the Demon Ancestor had planted within him.

"This old man… will clear… a path for you!"

He looked at Li Hu, the last trace of cloudiness in his eyes dissipating, leaving only resolve.

"Take it… and go!"

The next second, his body, along with all the immortal Dao essence remaining within him, detonated with a thunderous boom.

No loud report, no shockwave.

Only a pillar of nine-colored light, pure to the absolute extreme and beyond words, shot skyward, forcibly tearing open a brief rift leading to the Outside World through the endless demonic tide and the demonic qi sealing the sky!

Wherever the light pillar passed, tens of thousands of demons vaporized instantly, without even time to howl.

"Go!" Li Hu's eyes turned crimson. He seized that warm immortal talisman and roared the order to retreat.

However, at that very moment, Wang Zhitao beside him lost control.

"Roar—"

A roar that belonged to neither human nor any known creature erupted from deep within the black-haired youth's throat.

In his dark-golden pupils, a sinister pitch-black was spreading wildly, and twisted demonic patterns surfaced across his body, entangling with his own concept-devouring lines.

He became even more frenzied.

Before, devouring demons had been feeding.

Now, it was slaughter.

He grabbed a demon comparable to a mountain and, instead of swallowing it, tore it in half with his bare hands, black demonic blood splattering all over him.

He stuck out his tongue, greedily licking the tainted blood from the corner of his mouth, his face showing a grotesque expression that was both agonized and blissful.

"Wang Zhitao!" A Lawbreaker team member instinctively moved closer to him.

What answered him was a dark-golden claw laced with pitch-black demonic qi.

"Careful!"

Li Hu shoved the team member aside; the armor on his arm was raked by the claw, and with a piercing screech, several of the anti-contamination runes engraved upon it shattered instantly.

A cold, chaotic aura tried to burrow into Li Hu's body through the wound.

Li Hu grunted and immediately activated a backup protocol, forcibly expelling that aura.

He stared fixedly at Wang Zhitao, his heart sinking.

That was no longer hunger.

It was… hostility.

Indiscriminate hostility toward all non-demonic existence.

Just as he passed shoulder-to-shoulder with a demon, the analyzer at his waist emitted a sharp Alert.

Li Hu blasted the demon apart with a single shot, snatched up the analyzer to look, and his pupils contracted sharply.

Within the slain demon's body, apart from surging demonic qi, there actually remained a faint but unmistakably recognizable energy fluctuation.

Immortal Dao essence!

Though already twisted and degraded, its root source was identical to the aura released when Taichu Immortal Emperor self-destructed moments ago!

"Boss! Something's wrong here!" Li Hu immediately connected to Wang Zhize's supreme channel. "There's immortal qi inside these demons! The contamination in this godforsaken place isn't simple coverage—it's conversion!"

Realm of Rebirth.

Wang Zhize's consciousness hovered above the Supreme Divine Throne.

What Li Hu transmitted back was not merely intelligence, but the most primal streams of law data.

From his perspective, the two utterly opposed concepts of "immortal" and "demon" were entangled together like two strands of a DNA double helix.

He reached out and gave a gentle flick.

The laws of the entire Taichu Immortal Realm were forcibly "paused" by him, then "rewound" at a speed of hundreds of millions of times.

The images rewound at high speed.

Demonic qi invasion, the Immortal Realm's fall, immortals being converted…

Further back.

The Immortal Realm at its zenith, ten thousand immortals coming to pay homage, the Immortal Emperor expounding the Dao…

Further back.

A chaos, a vague will (the Demon Ancestor) descended, sowing a "seed."

The seed took root and sprouted, evolving into mountains, rivers, and lands, evolving into immortal Dao laws, evolving into the first living being…

The truth, laid bare before his eyes.

"So that's how it is."

Wang Zhitao's voice carried not the slightest ripple.

"Not an invasion. A harvest."

He understood in an instant.

This so-called "Primordial Immortal Realm," from the very moment of its birth, was a pasture created by the "Primordial Demon Domain."

The so-called immortal Dao laws were nothing but a variant of the demonic Dao origin—a growth medium better suited to "ripening" certain special energies.

First let living beings cultivate immortality, condensing pure immortal Dao origin; once the "crop" matured, irrigate it with demonic Qi, transforming it into a higher-quality, more refined "demonic food."

From beginning to end, this was all an elaborate deception.

And the "seed" the Demon Ancestor left inside Wang Zhitao's body operated on the exact same principle.

It exploited this "shared origin of immortal and demonic" characteristic—not to corrupt Wang Zhitao, but to "ripen" him!

To transform Wang Zhitao's pure "Devour" concept into the most suitable vessel for its descent—a brand-new, perfect container!

"Li Hu." Wang Zhitao's command was issued instantly, his voice cold and devoid of any emotion.

"Evacuate, at all costs."

"Activate 'Supreme Law Isolation.' Target: Wang Zhitao."

Li Hu on the other end of the communication shuddered.

"Supreme Law Isolation"? That was the highest-level sealing protocol in the Realm of Rebirth—equivalent to temporarily "deleting" the target from the plane of existence!

He looked at the distant Wang Zhitao, who was frantically tearing apart demons, the demonic Qi on his body growing ever denser, and ground his teeth to pieces.

"Execute!"

He roared, and several lawbreaker squad members specifically responsible for executing special protocols immediately charged out, forming complex seals with their hands.

Several chains constructed from pure laws of order appeared from thin air, precisely wrapping toward Wang Zhitao.

"Roar—!"

Wang Zhitao seemed to sense the threat and violently turned his head.

His eyes had completely turned into a field of pitch black, with only a speck of dark gold remaining at the very center.

He was no longer that somewhat simple and honest youth, but an enraged, half-demon half-beast chaotic monstrous creature.

With one swipe of his claw, he actually shattered a law chain to pieces!

But more chains surged forth, binding his limbs and body fast.

"Aaaaaah!"

Wang Zhitao let out an agonized roar, his body flickering wildly between the form of a black-haired youth and a dark-gold colossal beast—with every flicker, the demonic Qi on his body grew denser.

The isolation protocol was in the most violent conflict with the Demon Ancestor's seed inside him.

"Cover the isolation team! We're leaving!"

Li Hu, law rifle in hand, held the very front, carving a blood-soaked path for the squad.

The rift that the Primordial Immortal Emperor had traded his life for was rapidly closing.

A lawbreaker squad member, covering his comrades, was brought down simultaneously by three demons and instantly swallowed by the black tide.

Only a brief scream remained in the communication channel.

Li Hu's eyes nearly split with rage, but he could only lead the survivors, dragging the law-chain-bound, frantically struggling Wang Zhitao, charging toward that last light of hope.

Finally, in the last instant before the rift closed, they charged through.

Behind them, the Primordial Immortal Realm plunged completely into eternal darkness and dead silence.

The fleet immediately jumped, preparing to depart this contaminated star sector.

However, everyone felt a tremor originating from the depths of their souls.

The entire starry sky dimmed.

It was not that the light had vanished.

It was the very concept of "light" that had been forcibly erased by some higher existence.

An indescribable giant eye, composed of pure darkness and ultimate malice, slowly opened above the ruins of the Primordial Immortal Realm.

That was no projection.

It was the Demon Ancestor's own will, crossing endless space and time, descending upon this place.

Its "gaze" ignored space and distance, locking precisely onto the law-chain-bound Wang Zhitao.

A cold, emotionless thought resounded in everyone's mind.

"My vessel."

"It seems I must retrieve it myself."