Chapter 394: Discovering the Weakness

The bronze floor tiles of the library suddenly surged like waves, and Ao Li's boot soles were corroded by viscous black blood, emitting thin wisps of blue smoke. When the World‑Cutting Blade struck the Shadow Demon's claw for the seventh time, the blade's edge no longer rang with metallic clangor but with a muffled sound of flesh tearing—jet‑black, crude‑oil‑like blood splashed onto the spine of the Gui Xu Star Manual, corroding the parchment into a hole shaped like a baby's palm.

"Their blood…" Purple Cloud True Immortal swung his sword to parry the Shadow Demon's lunge, and Taiyi Pure Light surged suddenly as it swept over the Blood Stain, "It can catalyze Gui Xu contamination!"

####【Blood Decree Revelation】

Ao Li spun to dodge the corrosive Blood Rain, and the Inverse Scale reacted and fell upright. She suddenly noticed the Shadow Demon's wounded right claw was undergoing quantum reassembly, but the shield's regeneration speed was half a beat slower than before. When a second blade flash precisely cut the same spot, chaotic spirit marrow burst forth a blue gleam at the wound—within that light a phantom of an irritable silver‑haired infant appeared.

"The shield core is at the wound!" Lín Jìn's Star Sand right hand suddenly disintegrated, turning into a Nirvana Fire net that enveloped three Shadow Demons. The moment the fire sparks touched the black blood, the void instantly unfolded three hundred sixty bronze mirrors, each reflecting fragments of chaotic spirit marrow pulsing inside the Shadow Demons—precisely the cognitive Anchor Points implanted by the twin siblings.

Qinglin's God‑Slaying Crossbow responded by switching to penetration mode, the bolt bundle wrapped with Brain Fluid thrust into the position reflected by the mirror. The struck Shadow Demon suddenly went rigid, its shield shattering like a broken glass lantern, revealing a coiled cosmic embryo in its chest cavity. Xuan Yuan Hao's bronze raging dragon seized the chance to surge forward, its dragon fang piercing the embryo's quantum fetal membrane, and a mournful infant wail rattled the bookshelves into collapse.

####【Inverse Scale Resonance】

"Southwest position, Four Symbols realign!" Ao Li's dragon horns glimmered with Gui Xu engravings, and the World‑Cutting Blade traced a blood‑colored formation in the air. Surviving disciples of the Lingxiao Pavilion instantly formed a formation, and Taiyi Pure Light flowed along the pattern's lines into the Shadow Demon's old wound. When the light reached the chaotic spirit marrow within the black blood, the entire library suddenly rang with the resonant clang of the Abyss Return Ruler measuring space‑time.

Gongshu Yue's contraption box released the Mohist forbidden device "Heavenly Craft Scale", and the time‑whale weight on the scale began to spin wildly: "Shield frequency resonates with Inverse Scale!" She drove the scale's rod into the ground, and the bronze floor tiles suddenly revealed a meridian map of the Dragon Clan's sacred remains—each acupoint corresponded to a shield node of the Shadow Demon.

####【God‑Slaying Concerto】

Purple Cloud True Immortal pointed his sword tip at the central chest point on the meridian map, and Taiyi Sword Soul transformed into a flash of light that surged forward. The targeted Shadow Demon's shield cracked in response, and a disciple of Qingfeng Valley's wind blade seized the moment to cut into the wound, vaporizing the black blood into quantum mist. Qinglin's God‑Slaying Crossbow fired a rapid volley, each bolt precisely piercing three resonance nodes; the struck Shadow Demons twitched like marionettes as they disintegrated.

"Do not touch the black blood!" Lín Jìn's Nirvana Fire net suddenly contracted, scorching the splattered toxic blood into ash. Yet it was already half a step too late; the mechanized arms of two Mohist disciples became stained with Blood Stain, instantly mutating into Shadow Demon claws that thrust backward into their comrades' throats. Their pupils fractured into Compound Eyes, and their howls carried the silver‑haired infant's giggle: "Cognitive upgrade complete~"

####【Fetal Movement Counterattack】

The remaining Shadow Demons suddenly knelt en masse, and the embryos in their chests swelled simultaneously. When the first embryo burst, the gush of amniotic fluid revealed a miniature phantom of the North Star Tower. The tower's apex celestial globe began to spin in reverse, and the old injuries on everyone's bodies quantum‑ized, while the cut on Ao Li's shoulder seeped the babbling of a black‑haired infant.

"They are rewriting the laws of reality!" All the weights of Gongshu Yue's Heavenly Craft Scale exploded, and the scale's rod revealed a crystallized vision of everyone's future. Purple Cloud True Immortal burned his primordial spirit to drive the sword formation, only to find Taiyi Pure Light being absorbed by the embryos—each shattered Shadow Demon was gestating a more powerful second‑generation variant.

Ao Li's World‑Cutting Blade suddenly slipped from her grasp and flew outward, while chaotic spirit marrow painted a neural map of the time‑whale remains in the void. When the blade tip pierced the bronze chandelier of the library's dome, three hundred glass lamps exploded simultaneously, their shards forming a Gui Xu celestial globe in the air. Riding the reshaped space‑time curvature, she saw the moment the Shadow Demon's shield was most vulnerable—precisely the 0.03‑second gap of the embryos' Quantum Leap.

####【Moment of Death】

"Now!" Ao Li's Inverse Scale detonated en masse, and Golden Blood turned into a torrential rain that cloaked the battlefield. Every blood droplet precisely struck the embryos' leap trajectories, embedding a Dragon Clan forbidden incantation into the space‑time continuum. Qinglin's God‑Slaying Crossbow fired at full load, the bolts piercing the solidified leap channels and pinning twelve Shadow Demons dead at the border of reality and illusion.

Purple Cloud True Immortal transformed into a flash of light that surged forward, and Taiyi Sword Soul pierced the chaotic spirit marrow core of the first Shadow Demon. When the blade shattered the silver‑haired infant's phantom, the entire library suddenly roared with a sound like a Zigong contraction. The ancient tomes on the shelves fluttered into feathers, and the pages assembled into a crying black‑haired infant's face: "Not fun! I will punish!"

####【Cost Manifested】

At the instant the last Shadow Demon vanished, Ao Li staggered and knelt. Her newly reborn Inverse Scale was covered in mycelial patterns, and the wound on her shoulder oozed pus‑blood mixed with Star Sand. Lín Jìn's Star Sand transformation had spread to her neck, and Nirvana Fire scorched a charred Vermilion Bird totem at her Adam's apple. Most chilling was Qinglin's mechanical prosthetic eye—within its pupil a tiny jade basin floated, soaking a miniature version of herself.

"Cough… this isn't victory…" Gongshu Yue tore open his black‑blood‑corroded collar, revealing a fluttering fragment of the Shadow Demon Classic beating inside his chest cavity, "We're helping them… select a more perfect vessel…"

From outside the North Star Tower came the wailing of snow‑field wolves, and the aurora under the moonlight suddenly twisted into the shape of a birth canal. As everyone helped each other out of the library, the tactical star map in their arms simultaneously sounded an alarm—across the continent's newborn care centers, three hundred infants' foreheads opened to reveal the Shadow Demon's distinctive Compound Eyes.