Chapter 614: The Silver Tree of Light in the Twilight
The sounds of slaughter arose as many demon gods roared in fury and charged toward Chi Xi.
After a bloody battle, corpses piled up like mountains, and even Chi Xi couldn't help but feel weary. He cultivated the Leakless War God Technique from the Chi Ming Era, a technique that seized blood and qi from others to keep himself at his peak at all times. With three heads and six arms, his close-combat offense could be said to have reached a state of perfection.
As long as an enemy was injured, their blood and qi would continuously drain away, and the lost blood and qi would surge into his body. One side waned while the other waxed; the longer the battle lasted, the more advantageous it was for him.
This divine technique could be considered one of the finest techniques of the Chi Ming Era. Many people cultivated it back then, and naturally, many gods and demons did as well. That was why the gods and demons of the Chi Ming Era often took the form of three heads and six arms.
The Leakless War God Technique had two shortcomings. First, it placed a heavy burden on the physical body, causing physical fatigue, though the blood and qi would grow increasingly vigorous.
The second shortcoming was in divine abilities.
Because it was a close-combat technique, his mastery of divine abilities was not particularly outstanding.
This executioner from the Chi Ming Era sat atop a high pile of corpses. Night had fallen, and there were many fires around him—flames left behind by divine abilities, sending plumes of black smoke rising into the twilight.
The Gu City lay in ruins.
Paper boats were sailing in from the darkness, and the underworld emissaries on board were collecting the souls of the dead. Chi Xi watched these suddenly appearing emissaries with a blank expression, not bothering to question them.
After all, he was an executioner of the Chi Ming Heavenly Court, a figure of great standing, long accustomed to such phenomena.
He sat on the mountain of corpses, gazing into the distance. In the distance, a three-faced demon god was walking toward him. That demon god adjusted his state as he walked, a terrifyingly powerful opponent.
Furi Luo Zun Wang!
Chi Xi had one leg resting on the head of a corpse beneath him, while the other leg hung loosely. He too was stabilizing his aura, calming his mind, and striving to suppress his rage, waiting for the moment of its eruption.
His enemy was a Zun Wang of the demon race. He had once slain another demon Zun Wang, relying on the Soul-Slaying Mystic Blade. He knew well how powerful and terrifying such an opponent was. He had to achieve a perfect state of mind, leaving no opening for his enemy to exploit.
Rage and the desire for vengeance gave him strength, but they would also rob him of reason.
Only by suppressing his anger, and then unleashing it at the decisive moment of life-or-death combat, delivering a fatal blow to his enemy, would he experience true exhilaration. The release of that rage and the success of his revenge would bring immense pleasure to his Dao heart!
In the distance, Furi Luo Zun Wang was still walking forward. If one didn't look closely, he didn't seem like a demon god at all, but rather a refined, handsome middle-aged man well-versed in literature.
As he walked, his arms moved swiftly, unleashing divine abilities one after another. Yet these abilities gathered without dispersing, their power contained without being released.
His pace wasn't fast, but his speed was immense, giving the illusion that he was charging down a high mountain.
That was a momentum—an invincible momentum!
Momentum wasn't determined by the frequency of his steps. His steps were slow, but the feeling he gave off was one of irresistible force!
The speed at which he accumulated his divine abilities was astonishing, putting immense pressure on Chi Xi. The pressure grew until he could no longer sit still!
Suddenly, behind him, space bloomed layer upon layer, pushing the Gu City farther and farther away. Not only that, but the demon corpses near the mountain of bodies also began to recede into the distance.
Furi Luo's divine abilities were already preparing for the coming fierce battle—moving these demon corpses away so that Chi Xi couldn't borrow their blood and qi.
If Chi Xi didn't act now, Furi Luo would build up an invincible momentum!
Chi Xi soared into the air, his six hands wielding six gleaming golden long blades. The blades danced, unleashing various combat techniques and divine abilities!
Combat techniques and divine abilities surged like a torrent of waves, each wave stacking upon the next, the blade-light waves piling higher and higher!
He strode forward, his speed increasing with every step. Each footstep landed in midair, a hundred zhang above the ground, yet the earth below suddenly formed a depression—a dry lakebed in the shape of a footprint!
The ground trembled as footprint-shaped dry lakebeds appeared one after another, even mountains sinking under the force. He closed in on the unhurriedly approaching Furi Luo with terrifying speed!
The footprint lakes raced toward Furi Luo, stopping less than two hundred zhang away.
The two terrifying beings finally clashed!
At this moment, far away in Li City, Qin Mu climbed the city wall in the twilight, preparing to rest. Then he saw a light flaring up in the west.
The west—that was the territory of the demon race.
The young man stood on the city wall, gazing into the distance. The light erupted in the twilight, and though it was an unknown distance away, it was still blindingly bright.
The light resembled a thick, sturdy tree. Its massive trunk suddenly shot up from the ground, a torrent of light surging into the sky. Even from Li City, he could see the pillar of light growing upward.
Then, a brilliantly bright branch burst forth from the bare trunk, taking on a dazzling form of lightning.
Qin Mu strained his eyes, trying to use the Ninefold Heaven Eye-Opening Technique to see what was happening, but his vision couldn't reach that far.
At such a distance, not even the figures of gods and demons, nor mountains ten thousand zhang high, could be seen!
It was clear just how intense and violent the battle was.
"Could it be that Furi Luo and Chi Xi have clashed?" he wondered.
Almost everyone in Li City was stirred, flying into the air or climbing to high places to witness this rare spectacle.
The tree of light grew its first branch, then more light burst from the trunk. A second branch of light spread outward, followed by a third, a fourth...
More and more branches extended from the tree of light, growing denser by the second. Within a few breaths, Qin Mu and all the cultivators and gods in Li City saw a massive tree of light rising in the dark western night sky, its crown lush and swaying mightily.
Just then, the tree of light suddenly dimmed and vanished, and the west returned to darkness.
"Is the battle over?"
Qin Mu's heart pounded wildly. He murmured, "Furi Luo and Chi Xi—who won?"
"I don't know," came a voice from behind him.
Qin Mu quickly turned around. He saw True God Pang Yu, Revered God Sang Ye, and other gods of the Tai Huang Heaven standing behind him. These gods moved like phantoms; they must have come to the highest point of the city wall to watch the marvel in the western night.
True God Pang Yu shook his head. "Although I've fought Furi Luo several times, I've almost always ended up defeated. There aren't many in this world who can withstand him. Based on my experience with defeat, Furi Luo has already used every means at his disposal. But it's still hard to say who won or lost. Even if he wins, it will be a pyrrhic victory."
Qin Mu itched with curiosity. "I really want to go there and see..."
True God Pang Yu grew alert and said, "Chief Qin, the National Teacher and the Celestial Master aren't here. It's best if you don't stir up trouble."
Qin Mu said seriously, "True God, I've been in Tai Huang Heaven for over half a year now. Have you ever seen me cause trouble? Don't slander me."
True God Pang Yu smiled broadly and nodded repeatedly. "Chief Qin, I understand. My words were inappropriate. Please forgive me."
Revered God Sang Ye leaned in and whispered, "City Lord, have you forgotten that he blew up our Tai Huang Heaven's sun?"
"Quiet."
Pang Yu lowered his voice. "He has no sense of proportion, but do you? He's the Celestial Master's disciple—we can't afford to provoke him! Besides, he had the National Teacher forge two new suns for us, much better than the old ones."
Revered God Sang Ye quickly shut his mouth.
Qin Mu stared at the deepening darkness in the west, clenched his fists, and said in a low, excited voice, "Furi Luo and Chi Xi are both badly injured. This is the perfect chance to pick off the heads! I really want to go and collect Furi Luo's and Chi Xi's heads..."
True God Pang Yu felt a chill and exchanged a glance with Revered God Sang Ye, whispering, "Keep an eye on him. Don't let him go cause trouble."
Sang Ye nodded repeatedly.
Elsewhere, outside Gu City, Furi Luo landed, turned, and walked away, vanishing into the darkness in an instant.
Chi Xi stumbled as he landed, suppressing the stifling blood in his chest, but he couldn't hold it back. Suddenly, his body split open, and he vomited a torrent of foul blood from all three of his mouths.
His body shriveled in a matter of moments, and the six blades in his hands shattered with a clatter.
He and Furi Luo had indeed fought to a mutual ruin. Neither had spoken a single word throughout the entire battle—only silent, brutal slaughter. In that brief exchange, they had gravely wounded each other, both nearing the point of exhaustion!
Furi Luo had turned and left because he was injured in many places and feared that Chi Xi might seize the opportunity to drain his blood and qi. Retreating was actually the best way to kill Chi Xi.
All he needed was to send a demon god without wounds to finish Chi Xi off easily.
As a wise man of the demon race, he saw clearly, more clearly than anyone.
Chi Xi also understood why Furi Luo had retreated. He knew this place was no longer safe and that demon gods would soon come to claim his life.
But his blood and qi were withered. He probably wouldn't get far before being caught, and then his death would be certain.
"Is this where I die?"
Chi Xi knelt down, his three heads hanging low, his heart filled with desolation. "I haven't returned to the ancestral land yet. I haven't gone back to my secluded people to tell them about the ancestral land. I'm not willing..."
In the distant Gu City, a wisp of black qi drifted ghost-like among the piles of corpses, sometimes turning into a small tree, sometimes into a stone.
Small flags fluttered around the black qi, collecting demonic energy and the remnants of souls that the underworld emissaries had discarded.
The black qi drifted and shifted, constantly changing form. Sometimes it would land in a flame kindled by a divine ability and turn into a fire.
After a while, the black qi tentatively approached the kneeling Chi Xi, hesitating. It clearly wanted to check if Chi Xi was dead and loot his belongings, but it was also a bit wary.
"You are a human," Chi Xi suddenly said.
The demonic qi was startled. In the next instant, it turned into a patch of grass.
Chi Xi continued, "No need to change forms in front of me. I can see through you. If you can save me, I'll take you as my disciple and teach you the highest art of the Chi Ming Era, the Leakless War God Technique, and grant you great benefits."
The patch of grass swayed, then vanished. A young man with two deer legs appeared before Chi Xi. He bent his deer legs and kowtowed, shouting, "Ban Gongcuo pays respects to Master! Master, rest assured. I've been mingling with the demons for months. When it comes to escaping, no one in this world dares to claim they're better than me!"
—The matters of last month have finally passed. Brothers and sisters, have you noticed that the quality of recent chapters has improved a lot? Hehehe.