Chapter 161: with translation of chapter title

The dragon's chant…… is Dan Heng!

Inside the undersea purgatory, Ao Guang's dragon body shuddered, he abruptly lifted his head; despite the distant light curtain, being of the same dragon kin, he could sense what Dan Heng was brewing.

His eyes widened almost to splitting, yet even so he must not miss witnessing with his own eyes— as the Dragon Sovereign Dan Heng, just how strong is his next strike!

"Dan Heng… the rest is up to you." Jing Yuan spoke, his breath hanging by a thread.

"Mm, I'll take it."

Along with a faint assent from the Dragon Sovereign behind him, the seawater separated on both sides of the Scale Abyss Realm suddenly began to boil, countless bubbles rolling upward.

Dan Heng leapt into midair; his Deep Abyss Pearl spun rapidly, and soon a water dragon leapt from the ancient sea, followed by a second, a third… nine water dragons soared into the sky, intertwining into a dazzling net of heaven and earth.

"You think you've got this in the bag, Phantomy?"

With that dragon's roar, Phantomy's head exploded outward; seeing that, under the command of Dan Heng's Deep Abyss Pearl, the nine dragons instantly converged, forming a water dragon vast enough to cover the sky, which slammed straight into Phantomy's head!

"Cloud Chant Furious Surge!"

"——Boom!!"

Even though Phantomy's body was huge, this instant it was swallowed by that ten‑thousand‑jin force of water; after the water dragon dissipated, almost half of Phantomy's body had been smashed to pieces.

Only now did she finally realize she was not fighting a mere Dragon Sovereign; it was the entire Scale Abyss Cave Heaven— every trickle, every vast pool of ancient water… was her opponent.

"Tsk——" At this point in the battle, Phantomy's face finally showed a hint of pain.

Vast expanses of black mystic lotus withered in an instant, replaced by her damaged body constantly repairing itself.

"Immortal dragon spawn?" Phantomy coldly gazed at Dan Heng, who floated midair, his water dragon re‑condensing in his hand, "You've finally come to fulfill your duty of guarding the Establishing Tree?"

"Nice hit! That's how it should be! Dan Heng is so strong— why didn't he act sooner?"

When he saw that water dragon, large enough to flood Chen Tang Pass, slam straight onto Phantomy's head, Nezha's whole body jumped with excitement, nearly launching off his chair.

Mid‑sentence, he caught Ao Bing's equally stunned glance out of the corner of his eye and jabbed him with his elbow: "Don't just stare— learn well from this otherworldly dragon elder."

"That bead in his hand…" Ao Bing sat aside, his gaze lingering more on the Deep Abyss Pearl in Dan Heng's hand, "Our East Sea dragon clan has no such treasure."

"Burp, tools are just aids; skill is the key." Zhang Daoling's face flushed red as he slapped his wine gourd and let out a loud belch: "From now on follow me; even if you can't learn seventy‑eight percent of Dan Heng's ability, stepping back a little, learning one or two percent is still fine."

"That's a bit too much of a retreat…" Ao Bing couldn't complain too much now, because the situation on the light curtain had changed again.

"Phantomy, although you regard us as ants…" Jing Yuan openly mocked, "but to fight ants with such give‑and‑take, you could be called the foremost among the Annihilation Sovereigns."

"Heh…… " Whether it was Jing Yuan's words that truly broke Phantomy's defenses, or the damage from Dan Heng's heavy blow making it hard for her to maintain her black guise, in any case her whole state shifted again.

Abundant vines and destructive crimson gold intertwined, both holy and eerily ferocious, like a massive stone statue filled with blasphemy. Beneath her pallid skin appeared bark‑like cracks, continually spreading and growing, yet continually healing and merging.

New shoots of abundance kept sprouting on her surface, yet the next instant they were carbonized and scattered by the destructive flames……

Full of contradictions, yet…… brimming with murderous intent.

She pushed herself up from the ground with both hands, her stern voice echoing in this secret realm: "General, do you mean you want to see the others too? I'm afraid… you won't get the chance."

"It's time to end all of this."

As he spoke, Phantomy began condensing a small sphere in her hand, clearly about to hurl this violently compressed energy at everyone.

Demon Slayer World——

"Eeya ya——!!"

Mitsuri Kanroji instinctively covered her eyes.

Now, as soon as Phantomy and the sphere are linked, the Demon Slayer Corps will instinctively suck in a breath of cold air, then…… "Pa!"— in an instant they all clapped their hands over their eyes and collapsed to the ground, not daring to lift their heads.

After all, their eyes had just been healed by the faint abundance leaking from the light curtain; no one wanted to go blind again.

The Demon Slayer Corps strained to keep their heads low, but once they were ready, the anticipated violent blast never came.

Phantomy's this attack was rather ordinary; again it was perfectly blocked by Star, but soon she summoned many golden mystic lotuses, preparing to devour the vitality of the train crew and others once more.

"The same trick— she can't possibly use it three times, right?" The raised‑head Butterfly Shinobu furrowed her brows in doubt, "Could Phantomy have run out of tricks?"

"Not very likely." Ikkyo Shaba shook his head: "As an envoy of the Star God, able to roam the Star Sea for so many years, he surely still has unused tricks."

The less we know about the opponent's hand, the more we must proceed with caution……

"Such an old trick— no need to use it again!" Jing Yuan's lips twitched into a light smile, he gripped his battle blade tightly, and an awe‑inspiring aura burst from his whole body.

His gilded armor blazed with blinding gold; behind him loomed the mighty, solemn visage of the Divine Sovereign, accompanied by the thunder that rang between heaven and earth— the entire Thus: Ancient Scale Abyss Sea would turn into a boiling thunder pool.

"Splendid majesty, I obey thy decree— strike without mercy!"

Jing Yuan leapt forward; the Divine Sovereign's great palm fused with his battle blade into one, within that blade‑light that sliced heaven and earth one could glimpse the icy sword intent of a bygone white‑haired woman, and also the Milky Way starlight of the fox‑person maiden Xingcha weaving through, but in the end…… they all collapsed into a single point of searing white that could shatter rotten wood.

"This… is the edge of the Hunt."

Gazing upward at that blade that seemed about to cleave heaven and earth, Frieren murmured in awe: "Too strong— even battles between envoys are this extravagant……

Watching the afterglow of that blade fade on the light curtain, the air retained only the scorching traces of lightning.

"Is it over?" Xiutake felt his heart pounding; though Jing Yuan's strike hadn't hit them, just gazing at it from afar through the light curtain left him drenched in cold sweat.

"Not yet." Frieren calmly shook her head: "This woman leans on the Establishing Tree, hard to kill. Now she must be preparing a counter‑attack, right?"