Chapter 781: Fierce Battle in the Demon Cave
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom...
The Slay Moon Demon Cave was enduring the most terrifying catastrophe in its history. Violent flames and sinister darkness filled every corner. Space crazily collapsed and shattered, the enormous rumbling like a heavenly bell being savagely struck by a towering mountain... If any other profound practitioner were present, even a King Xuan Realm expert, the mere tremor of the heavens from these roars would be enough to instantly shatter their consciousness, reverse their qi and blood flow, and cause them to fall unconscious on the spot.
If their profound strength were slightly weaker, they would even have their body and soul shattered and die.
One man and one demon, in this sealed dark world, had already exchanged hundreds of moves, as if by unspoken agreement, their power continuously increasing... step by step probing the limits of each other's strength.
The calamity sweeping through the Slay Moon Demon Cave grew more intense, the entire small world like being at the mouth of an erupting volcano... Only the Netherworld Brahma Flower, not yet fully bloomed, swayed leisurely alone amidst the storm of disaster, emitting sounds like the crying and laughing of evil ghosts.
Bang!!!
Yun Che struck out with his sword. The blade was deflected by Slay Moon Demon Lord. The flame carrying the heavy sword's force blasted onto the stone wall fifty zhang away. Immediately, a piercing cracking sound drowned out the sound of the flame explosion. A long fissure slanted downward along the stone wall, extending all the way to the ground.
Creating a fissure on the stone wall here was more difficult than shattering a towering mountain with one sword strike!
Yun Che's sword struck air, his body off balance, but he swiftly turned back. The million-jin Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword moved as freely and nimbly as his own arm, instantly counter-striking and fiercely knocking away Slay Moon Demon Lord's demon claw.
Boom boom boom boom...
The Slay Moon Demon Cave trembled continuously. From the stone wall fissure Yun Che had created, occasional rubble fell, but before touching the ground, it was swept into the violent vortex of power.
After over a thousand exchanges, man and demon were surprisingly evenly matched, with neither side gaining even a slight upper edge from start to finish.
Yun Che's expression was fierce and ruthless, because this was not a sparring match but a life-and-death struggle. Between him and Slay Moon Demon Lord, one must die... But his eyes revealed an increasingly intense excitement.
However, Slay Moon Demon Lord grew more and more shocked.
He was a demon, a true ancient demon, and a demon lord at that! And humans, in the perception of demons, were insignificant creatures like ants. With a wave of his hand, he could easily destroy a star realm with billions of humans.
Although his life soul was now severely damaged, his strength less than one ten-thousandth of his former self, the contempt for humans was etched into his bones. And even in his current state, Yun Che's aura was countless times weaker than his... Even though he held a strange sword that made his power fear and his soul uncontrollably tremble, in his eyes, he was still an ant.
But from the very first exchange with Yun Che, shock began to spread in his soul. And this shock not only failed to diminish but grew stronger... At first, he hadn't used his full strength, because using his full power against such a lowly creature was a great disgrace to him. Feeling Yun Che's power far exceeding expectations, he began to gradually increase his own power. But every time his power increased by a fraction, the opponent's power also grew accordingly, until he raised his demonic power to nine-tenths, yet still couldn't suppress Yun Che.
The force coming from that crimson giant sword shocked him. And with such power, given Yun Che's mortal body, each sword strike must be an enormous drain. Yet after a thousand strikes, his sword's might hadn't weakened but had instead been increasing...
A low-level life form, low-level body and aura, yet seemingly containing no less power than his demon god body!
This hateful human, he must be gritting his teeth and persisting! With such a lowly aura and base body, how could he continuously release such power!!
Slay Moon Demon Lord's face twisted sharply. His demonic eyes suddenly burst with black light. The Eternal Night Illusion Demon Scripture instantly operated at its highest level, his dark demonic power no longer held back, surging forth with full force.
Yun Che's brows furrowed. He let out a loud roar, his arm muscles bulging, veins twisting, joints cracking. Then, he stepped forward horizontally, his rampaging profound force drawn from his entire body to his arms, then surging into the Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword, he swept it fiercely forward.
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Boom!!!
The dark ground beneath Yun Che's feet completely shattered. Then, like leaves swept up by a storm, he was sent flying backward, slamming heavily into the stone wall behind him with a loud crash... The overly tough stone wall caused all the immense force he had taken to rebound back into his body, making his whole body go numb, his consciousness momentarily blank, and he nearly spat out a large mouthful of blood.
And Slay Moon Demon Lord's condition was not much better. He was sent flying diagonally upward by Yun Che's sword strike, his massive demon body smashing into the stone ceiling above, then bouncing heavily down, rolling straight for dozens of zhang before hitting the rear wall and stopping.
Slay Moon Demon Lord stood up, his expression and eyes completely changed, his breathing becoming extremely heavy.
He... a dignified demon lord, was actually sent flying by a human!!
Sent flying by a human!!
Sent flying!!
It was as if a curse echoed repeatedly in his ears and soul. Earlier, Yun Che had wounded him with a sword strike, but that was due to him being caught off guard in a moment of distraction. But this time, he had clearly used his full power, a direct confrontation with no tricks, and he was sent flying!!
Sent flying by a human!
What utter humiliation!
And this clearly proved... that this human, whom he had thought was an ant between his fingers, actually had strength comparable to his!
Yun Che stood up before Slay Moon Demon Lord. Even after taking the opponent's full-force strike, the million-jin Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword never left his hand for a moment. Although his arm bones were slightly cracked and over a dozen meridians broken, to him, this was only a negligible minor injury. Calming his qi and blood, he stepped closer to Slay Moon Demon Lord: "Slay Moon Demon Lord, you kept calling me a lowly human. I thought you were so powerful... but it turns out you're nothing much either!"
"You... dare..."
Compared to Yun Che's unrestrained mockery, Slay Moon Demon Lord was already half-lost to anger and humiliation. In the ancient era, even in the demon world, he was above all demons! Mere humans didn't even qualify to kneel before him!
And now, he was sent flying, wounded, and being scorned and taunted by a human.
This was the greatest shame he had ever experienced in his entire life!!
"Eternal... Night... No... Light!!"
Amidst the low chant that filled heaven and earth with hatred, endless darkness descended like a black curtain, instantly plunging Yun Che into a mire of darkness. A terrifying devouring force attacked his body and soul, every cell as if countless sinister hands were pulling him toward the abyss of death.
Yun Che immediately recognized it—it was the same dark domain that Fen Juechen had released at all costs in his defeat when Yun Che fought him months ago!
At that time, all light was devoured, as if he was dragged into an endless dark mire... Only the Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword, in the boundless darkness, still released a crimson light without weakening. And with his swings, this crimson light easily tore through the endless darkness.
The Eternal Night No Light from Slay Moon Demon Lord was several times stronger than Fen Juechen's. But in the boundless darkness, the crimson light of the Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword still flickered! And under the overly dense darkness, it appeared even more dazzling.
"Break!!"
"Yellow Springs Ashes!!"
The Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword struck heavily, cutting through the dark world, sweeping out a vacuum zone several zhang wide. Violent Golden Crow flames ignited within, rampaging and spreading, fiercely stabbing into every corner of the dark world. In an instant, the Slay Moon Demon Cave seemed to be flooded with dark-red magma, savagely devouring everything it could consume.
Darkness and flames tore at each other. In the rolling world of disaster, Slay Moon Demon Lord and Yun Che had already clashed again. This time, neither man nor demon held back. Every claw, every sword strike, was with all their might. Slay Moon Demon Lord's face was twisted beyond recognition, his roars no longer having the dignity of a demon, each sound hideous and terrifying. Yun Che also had all his blood vessels burning, every sword accompanied by a hoarse roar.
Eternal Night No Light, Yellow Springs Ashes... these two powerful domains beyond the human level erupted simultaneously in the small Slay Moon Demon Cave. The Slay Moon Demon Cave could no longer be simply called a world of disaster; it was a hell of destruction! Whether living or dead, anything that entered would be annihilated into nothingness in an instant.
And yet, in such a world of destruction, two figures were crazily battling.
Yun Che's clothes had been devoured completely, his skin a terrifying dark-red color. His body and limbs had hundreds of holes of various sizes eaten into them, nearly reaching the bone. Slay Moon Demon Lord also had dozens of fires burning on his body. But the two seemed completely unaware, ignoring the wounds inflicted by each other's domains, every attack vicious to the extreme... each using all their strength to put the other to death!
Both man and demon were fighting as if mad. Within the Heavenly Poison Pearl, Mo Li silently watched their fierce battle. Like Slay Moon Demon Lord, she hadn't expected Yun Che to be able to match Slay Moon Demon Lord evenly without revealing all his trump cards.
And the most crucial reason for this was the presence of Hong'er—that is, the Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword!
The existence of Hong'er allowed Yun Che to completely break free from the soul suppression Slay Moon Demon Lord's high-level existence imposed on him, while transferring that suppression back onto Slay Moon Demon Lord!
Throughout their fierce battle, Yun Che maintained a state of calm excitement. But Slay Moon Demon Lord, whose mental cultivation was ten thousand times greater than Yun Che's, was constantly angry and irritable... Mo Li could even feel his soul trembling uncontrollably.
Moreover, whenever Slay Moon Demon Lord's power approached Yun Che—or more precisely, neared the Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword—it instantly weakened by a full thirty percent! Such a drastic weakening occurred without any process, as if it were suddenly devoured by an invisible void!
In other words, even if Slay Moon Demon Lord used all his strength, what Yun Che endured was only seventy percent of his peak power.
Yun Che hadn't noticed this, but Slay Moon Demon Lord himself was fully aware, and Mo Li clearly sensed it as well.
With multiple factors combined, Slay Moon Demon Lord, who was far superior to Yun Che in every aspect, was locked in a stalemate he could never have dreamed of.
And the root of all these factors was the Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword!
The Demon-Slaying Sword was the nemesis of demons.
But the degree to which the Heaven-Defying Demon-Slaying Sword suppressed Slay Moon Demon Lord far exceeded the demon-suppressing power of the Demon-Slaying Sword in the memories Mo Li had inherited!
And what Slay Moon Demon Lord had earlier shouted, which he himself then denied—"Heaven's Calamity Demon God Sword"—sent enormous waves churning in her heart that had yet to subside.
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Inside the Slay Moon Demon Cave, the world was turned upside down. But separated by a thin blue barrier, the outside world was calm.
The sky gradually darkened. Feng Xue'er still stood at her original position, letting the sea breeze blow, never moving half a step. Her beautiful eyes, containing the most spiritual light in heaven and earth, stared blankly at the blue barrier below, not shifting her gaze for an instant, afraid to miss even a moment.
Xia Yuanba flew back from afar and came to Feng Xue'er's side. Four hours had passed since Yun Che was sealed inside. In those four hours, he had circled the barrier of Slay Moon Demon Lord dozens of times, desperately seeking any anomaly in the barrier, but hadn't seen even a ripple of profound energy.
Watching Feng Xue'er's dazed, dream-lost expression, Xia Yuanba felt quite distressed. He softly tried to console her again: "Sister Xue'er, please go back to the sea palace and rest. Your father and the others must be very worried about you. I'll stay here and watch. When Brother-in-law comes out, I'll definitely tell you immediately... Actually, half an hour ago, your father came by, watched you from afar for a while, then left."
"...I want to wait here for Brother Yun." Feng Xue'er murmured softly and tenderly. "If he doesn't see me when he comes out, he'll worry."
"..." Xia Yuanba sighed inwardly and didn't try to console her further. He flew up to the center of the barrier and looked down silently, watching for any changes in the barrier. Before today, he would never have guessed that this girl, who looked more delicate than white snow, could have such a stubborn and persistent side.
"But women... are really troublesome." Xia Yuanba muttered to himself cautiously. "It seems I'd better never get a wife for my whole life."