Chapter 1726: Eternal Calamity Demon Flame
The brutal battle in the Zhou Tian God Realm continued. In just a single hour, nearly half of its territories had been stained red with blood. Blood mist hung like clouds, and an increasingly deep despair spread through every corner of this sacred divine realm.
Their last hope lay in the rescue forces from the neighboring upper-level star realms and other divine realms.
But they could never have dreamed that the reinforcements from the Star God Realm had been scared away by a single sword strike from Cai Zhi.
The most powerful Fan Di God Realm, after mobilizing its forces, was ambushed by the Nan Ming. Although the two sides did not engage in a full-scale battle, Qianye Fantian could no longer care about Zhou Tian and directly sealed off his realm.
As for the Moon God Realm... before all this, it had already dispersed a large portion of its core forces to pursue the escaped Shui Meiyin. They hadn't even had time to return to their realm, so how could they possibly come to Zhou Tian's rescue?
And what about those powerful upper-level star realms...
Among the three strongest star realms, the Fu Tian Realm, though not invaded by demonic forces, was too far from Zhou Tian to lend a hand.
The Liu Guang Realm, because Shui Meiyin had escaped, was being closely watched by the Moon God Yao Yue herself, so it simply remained still.
As for the Saint Universe Realm, in the midst of the Eastern Domain's great chaos, it was eerily silent.
The three top-tier divine lords of the Saint Universe Realm—Luo Guxie, Luo Shangchen, and Luo Changsheng—had not shown themselves at all, and they had given no response to the cries for help from all sides.
Beyond these three strongest star realms, the other upper-level star realms near Zhou Tian were all too busy dealing with their own troubles... A large number of realm kings and core combat forces from those realms had been transferred away by Zhou Xuzi. While fighting the demonic invaders, they were cursing the heavens and had no mind to rescue anyone.
The projection from Zhou Tian never ceased. In almost any place in the Eastern Domain, looking up at the sky, one could see the battle situation in the Zhou Tian God Realm in an instant.
The increasingly horrifying scenes of carnage were undoubtedly crushing the fighting spirit and faith of the Eastern Domain cultivators with every passing moment.
Within the Zhou Tian Realm, Qianye Ying'er put away her sound transmission array, walked to Yun Che's side, and said, "News from the Fan Di God Realm: the moment the Fan Di's divine ship set out, Nan Wansheng, as expected, stepped into the Fan Di Imperial City."
"Hmph." Yun Che let out a low, mocking sneer.
"Nan Wansheng seemed to have brought only two people, probably two of the Four Abyss Kings, clearly aiming for a surprise attack and a quick victory. But unfortunately, the two sides ultimately didn't start fighting."
Although Qianye Ying'er said "unfortunately," there was no surprise in her expression: "It's not that strange. Those two old foxes, Qianye and Nan Ming, are both profit-driven and masters of weighing options. They won't so easily do something that costs them a thousand soldiers to kill eight hundred enemies."
"And then?" Yun Che asked.
"The Fan Di sealed its borders. Qianye Fantian definitely doesn't have the guts to 'meddle' anymore now. As for the Nan Ming..." Qianye Ying'er gave a low, cold smile: "They haven't gone far. With the temptation of 'eternal life,' how could the Nan Ming, given its nature, give up so easily? Besides, the current state of the Eastern Domain is a once-in-ten-thousand-years opportunity for them!"
"I'm guessing Nan Ming gave Qianye some time. During that time, he will definitely use every possible method to apply pressure."
"I'm really looking forward to seeing whether the Nan Ming loses patience first, or whether Qianye Fantian will jump the wall like a cornered dog."
She had never even considered the possibility of Qianye Fantian submitting... because that possibility simply didn't exist.
"What about the Star God Realm?" Yun Che asked.
"The Star God Realm is a bit strange," Qianye Ying'er said. "Their star ship had already set out, but not long after, the Star Gods and elders who had left the realm turned back, yet the star ship itself was nowhere to be seen."
Yun Che: "...?"
"Later, when I traced the flight path of the star ship, I found a pile of fragments."
"Who?" Yun Che frowned slightly.
"I couldn't find out who. But..." Qianye Ying'er's lips moved slightly, and she said, "I can probably guess. Destroying the star ship without leaving traces of a fierce battle—half resentment, half reluctance. It seems only one person could have done something like that."
Yun Che was silent for a long time.
Cai Zhi, have you also returned to the Eastern Domain...
Boom——
A thunderous roar shook the entire Eastern Domain. The protective profound formation of the first sacred hall of the Zhou Tian Realm finally collapsed completely under the direct bombardment and residual shockwaves of countless forces.
Once the protective power was scattered, even the sacred hall forged from divine jade could not withstand the power of divine lords. It collapsed more than halfway in the blink of an eye.
A hundred miles beneath the sacred hall lay the accumulation of the Zhou Tian God Realm over hundreds of thousands of years. If discovered and plundered by the demonic forces, the Zhou Tian Realm would truly have no hope of rising again.
But now, the people of Zhou Tian could barely even manage to save their own lives. How could they care about the sect's accumulation?
With the collapse of the sacred hall, another guardian fell under the ghostly claws of Yan Yi. When he died, his eyes were not filled with the will to protect, but with deep grayness and terror.
As a guardian, he had naturally killed many demonic cultivators who had escaped from the Northern Domain in his lifetime. But on the last day of his life, he finally realized how terrifying dark profound energy could be... and that there existed such monstrous beings in this world.
With his cultivation at the ninth level of the Divine Lord Realm and his unmatched Zhou Tian divine power, he was almost helpless against this monster.
Yan Yi, the first of the Three Yan Ancestors and the true first ancestor to bear the power of Yan Mo. After soaking in the ancient yin energy of the Eternal Dark Bone Sea for over eight hundred thousand years, in terms of pure profound way cultivation, he was arguably the strongest being under the Dragon God, surpassing all the divine emperors of the divine realms.
Yet such a terrifying existence was completely unknown to the Eastern, Western, and Southern Divine Regions.
Even in the Northern Divine Region, it was only after becoming Yun Che's loyal dog that he gradually became known to the demonic cultivators.
Yan Yi, Yan Er, Yan San—in this bloody purge of Zhou Tian, the boundless demonic might they displayed caused every living being in the Eastern Domain to remember their faces in terror, along with their hellish howls.
Only two of the Zhou Tian guardians remaining behind were left: Taiyu Venerable and Taiyun Venerable. More than sixty percent of the elders and arbiters had already perished.
Taiyu Venerable, the second most powerful figure in the Zhou Tian God Realm after Zhou Xuzi, was being forced back step by step under Yan San's claws. The black-red claw marks on his body had reached a miserable number.
Watching the sacred hall collapse before his eyes, Taiyu's heart and soul shattered once more. Yan San's claw pierced his heart, and more than a dozen bloody arrows burst from his body. He was thrown away like a torn blood bag.
His body crashed to the ground, dragging a long trail of blood. For a moment, he couldn't find the strength to stand. In his mind, only sorrowful cries echoed:
Where are the reinforcements... Why haven't they come yet...
Is heaven destroying our Zhou Tian...
"Taiyu!"
A hoarse, blood-choked roar rang out. Taiyun Venerable, at the cost of having his ribs broken by Fen Daoqi's palm, lunged toward Taiyu Venerable, his Zhou Tian divine power blasting straight ahead.
Boom!
A thunderous sound stirred a storm that swept the world, sending Taiyu Venerable flying far away.
"Go! Get out of here! Ahhh!"
After Taiyun's scream came a desperate wail.
His guardian body was pierced from behind by Yan Er's claws, the power of Yan Mo surging instantly through his entire body, cruelly devouring what little life force he had left.
"How fucking noble. This old ghost is almost moved to tears."
Yan Er chuckled lowly, retracted his ghostly claw, and casually shattered Taiyun Venerable's corpse into pieces.
"Tai... yun." Taiyu Venerable let out a pained groan, but in the next moment, his figure burst into motion and fled far into the distance.
He couldn't let Taiyun die in vain.
But his escape lasted only a few breaths before he suddenly turned around. The residual profound energy in his body erupted like a violently raging volcano, and he charged straight at Yun Che, his eyes filled with a ferocity he had never known in his life.
No! As the leader of the guardians, protecting Zhou Tian was his first mission—a will that surpassed life itself!
How could he run!
Driven by desperate power and will, his speed in that instant nearly surpassed his limits. In the blink of an eye, he was closing in on Yun Che.
But neither Yun Che nor Qianye Ying'er turned around, as if completely unaware of the danger approaching.
Until he was within ten zhang, Yun Che still showed no reaction. In Taiyu Venerable's hand, he had gathered almost all his remaining power, carrying the most extreme killing intent of his life, and struck straight at Yun Che's back.
In the Eastern Domain, countless cultivators and demonic cultivators looked up at the same time.
Even Zhou Xuzi, who was being carried away by a guardian, his eyes, which had been clouded and lifeless, suddenly regained clarity and widened.
Taiyu Venerable's palm was inches from Yun Che's back. But... what followed was not the thunderous roar of Zhou Tian divine power exploding.
Instead, it was a dull, heart-unsettling buzz.
Yun Che still faced forward, not turning around, his posture unchanged. Only his right arm reached back, his palm colliding with—or rather, sticking to—Taiyu Venerable's chest.
Including Taiyu Venerable himself, no one had seen when or how his arm had extended, or how it had pierced through Taiyu's surging, ocean-like Zhou Tian divine power.
And Taiyu Venerable froze in midair, fixed on Yun Che's palm, his pupils violently contracting in horror.
Wum!
The airwaves around them rolled and exploded. On Yun Che's arm, the Phoenix Flame and the Golden Crow Flame ignited simultaneously, and in an instant, they condensed into a crimson divine flame.
Then, black mist rose from Yun Che's body. The crimson flame rapidly deepened and darkened within the black aura, gradually turning into a black-red color...
Finally, it transformed into... pure black flame.
Black flames, though rare, were not impossible.
But the black flame burning on Yun Che's body was so pure, so profound, that it was terrifying. Even through a projection, when the eyes of the myriad beings in the Eastern Domain touched it, they felt as if they were seeing a burning black hell.
And the Zhou Tian God Realm, which had been in the midst of bloody battle just a moment before, fell into an eerie silence the moment the black flame ignited. Both the disciples of Zhou Tian and the Burning Moon demonic cultivators, including the Three Yan Ancestors, all turned their gazes—as if drawn by an irresistible force.
The black flame burned and spread in their pupils, becoming an indescribable black terror, as if at any moment it would bury them in an endless dark abyss.
"Ah... urghhh... ahh!!"
Taiyu Venerable screamed. The sound was more of terror and despair than pain.
The black demon flame slowly burned on his body. In his vision, and in the vision of the Eastern Domain's multitudes, his body began to disappear little by little from the center of his chest, within the black flame... disappearing...
No blood, no scorching odor, no sound of burning, no flying dust or ash, and even no pain.
It just slowly vanished within the black flame.
Although Taiyu Venerable was heavily wounded and his power depleted, he was still the strongest guardian of Zhou Tian, a formidable tenth-level divine lord!
He possessed a truly divine body. Even if ten thousand mountains pressed down on him, they could not harm a single hair.
Yet beneath this black flame, he was being reduced bit by bit to absolute nothingness.
His consciousness was perfectly clear, his vision painfully sharp. Taiyu Venerable wanted to struggle, but his remaining strength could not break free from Yun Che's suppression.
Watching himself disappear... this was a terror and despair that no one else could ever understand.
The silent Zhou Tian God Realm. The disciples of Zhou Tian seemed to have had their souls scared out of their bodies. No one spoke or moved forward. Only their eyeballs and heartstrings trembled as if about to shatter... until the black flame burned through Taiyu's limbs and head, and he completely vanished from heaven and earth.
Not even a trace of ash remained.
The black flame extinguished. Yun Che slowly lowered his arm, placing it behind his back. From beginning to end, he did not glance back—as if he had merely casually incinerated a fly that had come to its death.
The disaster-stricken Eastern Domain suddenly fell into a terrifying silence.
An unimaginable, immense terror threatened to tear apart every nerve and every string of their souls.