# Chapter 3992: Ancestors Are Not Invincible
"I sense the Great Demon God's ancestral blood aura within you. Since that's the case, I'll send you on your way first."
The Nine-Headed Stone Man's voice was deep and grating, his gaze fixed on the Xiongxiao Demon God Temple.
He did not seem to consider himself the Great Demon God, but rather possessed his own spiritual consciousness.
With just a look from his eyes, ancestral order continuously converged toward the Xiongxiao Demon God Temple, trapping this temple of boundless power in midair.
The formation inscriptions enveloping the Xiongxiao Demon God Temple were rapidly worn away and ignited by the light released from the Nine-Headed Stone Man's eyes.
Inside the temple, Gai Mie strained with all his might to mobilize his scattered blood aura, quickly condensing his physical body.
Escape was a delusion.
Only by restoring his combat power could he have a chance to fight.
"Boom!"
Gai Mie's flesh had only half-reformed on his skeletal frame when the Xiongxiao Demon God Temple's defensive formations completely collapsed.
"Whoosh——"
The ancestor's divine soul and spirit, like a waterfall of light, surged into the temple, forming an overwhelming oppressive aura (qichang).
Gai Mie looked at the spiritual light projection of the Nine-Headed Stone Man entering the temple. In his mind, scenes from the chaotic ancient times involuntarily resurfaced. He completely forgot to continue condensing his body and took several steps back.
The Great Demon God was undefeated, his methods cruel, capable of crushing the Indestructible Infinite with a flick of his fingers.
In the chaotic ancient era, the Great Demon God's words were the laws of heaven and earth.
The spiritual light projection of the Nine-Headed Stone Man showed contempt in his eyes, completely ignoring Gai Mie, who was crushed by inner demons and fear. He opened his mouth dozens of feet high and wide, continuously inhaling the blood aura belonging to Gai Mie within the temple.
Gai Mie's body was half flesh, half skeleton, bearing the pressure of the ancestor, his teeth clenched tightly.
Suddenly, his hair stood on end in fury, and he let out a long roar: "Gai Mie, you are the Supreme Pillar! Walk out from fear, walk out, or you will never advance another step in this life... Roar... Fight!"
Gai Mie's entire body erupted with endless demonic inscriptions, his spiritual will breaking through the pressure of the ancestor's divine soul.
His foot stomped hard, and circles of rules spread outward.
Beneath his feet, a billion-mile demonic land manifested, and above his head, a purple starry sky appeared.
"In the chaotic ancient times, you were invincible in the universe, and no one dared to defy your will. But those present today are nothing like the demons of that era—scattered like loose sand, suspicious of each other, each fighting for themselves. Even if someone wanted to rebel against you, they could find no allies."
"Today, with them here, why should I be afraid?"
Gai Mie thought of Zhang Ruochen's figure resolutely entering the Nether Prison earlier, of the fearless Heavenly Mother, and heard the sound of Chan Bing self-destructing her divine source without hesitation.
They were not afraid, so how could he be afraid?
Gai Mie's aura continuously rose, his chest and abdominal muscles swelling. Holding a Demon God Stone Pillar in one hand, he leaped up on the tips of his toes, swinging it straight at the Nine-Headed Stone Man's spiritual light projection.
"Go to hell!"
"Boom!"
The Nine-Headed Stone Man's spiritual light projection exploded, turning into specks of light.
Gai Mie landed on the ground, panting heavily. Before he could feel any joy, outside, the Nine-Headed Stone Man's real, enormous stone hand grabbed the Xiongxiao Demon God Temple.
Five mountain-like fingers squeezed the temple, making it creak and groan, as ancestral power surged into the temple.
"Bang! Bang!"
The temple roof collapsed, and the walls shattered.
In the face of ancestral power, even the temple that the Great Demon God himself had refined from countless materials was indefensible. Let alone the demonic land and starry sky that Gai Mie had cultivated—they naturally crumbled.
Gai Mie felt the irresistible order power emanating from that stone hand. Both space and time were sealed. He was not the Heavenly Mother, wearing the Houtu Wedding Gown, who could break through the ancestor's order and escape from the Nine-Headed Stone Man's palm.
"In others' eyes, you are the Supreme Pillar; in the ancestor's eyes, you are still a child." The Nine-Headed Stone Man's tone carried no emotion or feeling, only indifference and contempt.
The starry sky shattered, and the billion-mile demonic land continuously collapsed.
Just as Gai Mie was about to be crushed in the stone hand's palm...
In the distance, the golden light of the Heavenly Watchtower illuminated the entire demonic qi great world.
Even the pitch-black demonic clouds scattered considerably.
The earth was covered in a layer of golden radiance.
Zhang Ruochen's upright figure stood atop the Clear Void Hall, with the Heaven-Earth Chess Platform suspended above his head. Black and white chess pieces rhythmically floated in the void.
As the Desolate Moon and the Five-Colored Glass Cover rose in Zhang Ruochen's left and right hands, the ocean of divine blood spanning hundreds of thousands of miles that enveloped the Heavenly Watchtower began to boil.
"Whoosh!"
Killing patterns, divine patterns, and formation inscriptions surged like a tidal wave toward the Nine-Headed Stone Man, whose body was ten thousand miles tall.
Wherever they passed, demonic qi was completely dispersed.
Among the Nine-Headed Stone Man's nine heads, only the goat head glanced indifferently at the incoming storm of killing patterns.
These forces, enough to threaten the life of a Heavenly Venerable-level being, were meaningless in his eyes.
They could not possibly break through his ancestral stone body.
And indeed, the destructive storm of killing patterns was gradually neutralized by the ancestral order and rules surrounding the Nine-Headed Stone Man. It was like billions of invisible walls that could block all attacks.
When the storm of killing patterns reached the Nine-Headed Stone Man's body, it was merely a hurricane, only stirring up sand and stones on the ground.
"Whoosh!"
Zhang Ruochen, spreading his wings, rushed out from the hurricane. Holding one leg of the Earth Cauldron, he struck with all his strength at the arm of the Nine-Headed Stone Man that was gripping the Xiongxiao Demon God Temple.
Although the storm of killing patterns unleashed by the Heavenly Watchtower had not threatened the Nine-Headed Stone Man, it allowed Zhang Ruochen to successfully approach him.
In truth, even for cultivators at the Indestructible Infinite level, breaking through an ancestor's rules and order to get close to the ancestor was an incredibly difficult task.
The gap was exactly that vast.
"Overestimating yourself."
One of the nine heads spoke this sentence.
The Nine-Headed Stone Man threw the Xiongxiao Demon God Temple, hitting the rapidly approaching Zhang Ruochen.
This was not simple force; it contained ancestral divine power. Once struck, even if Zhang Ruochen did not die, his physical body and divine soul would surely suffer severe damage.
"Whoosh!"
Zhang Ruochen, like a flash of blood-colored light, passed through the battered Xiongxiao Demon God Temple at extraordinary speed, dragging Gai Mie with him.
The Nine-Headed Stone Man had already witnessed the speed of the ancestral blood wings. Therefore, the moment Zhang Ruochen and Gai Mie flew out of the Xiongxiao Demon God Temple, a three-thousand-mile-long golden Buddha hand seal pressed down.
Just then, the Demon Shrine, which had been driven deep into the ground by the Nine-Headed Stone Man, erupted with a brilliant sea of time imprint light, enveloping his ten-thousand-mile-tall stone body.
The Heavenly Mother also struck with a straight sword slash from the front.
Two half-ancestors attacked simultaneously, forcing the Nine-Headed Stone Man to divert most of his power to deal with their divine abilities.
The Buddha hand seal aimed at Zhang Ruochen and Gai Mie dimmed somewhat, allowing the two to block it.
Even so, the two were sent flying hundreds of thousands of miles away.
Gai Mie had suffered greatly, with much of his blood aura devoured by the Nine-Headed Stone Man. He said, "See that? Even the Xiongxiao Demon God Temple was riddled with holes. This level of battle is simply not something we can meddle in. Why not go outside the demonic qi great world and harass them?"
Zhang Ruochen flew out from underground, shaking the dust off his body, his gaze fixed on the distant battlefield. "This level of battle is indeed not something we can meddle in. But we are the only ones left who can. You know better than I how bloody the chaotic ancient times were."
Gai Mie laughed heartily, looking at Zhang Ruochen bathed in blood light. "You, Zhang Ruochen, did not abandon me but risked approaching the ancestor to save me. Such a legendary feat can already be passed down through the ages! Since I owe you a life, I'll fight to the end with you today."
"But in this situation, what trump cards do you have? Bring them out quickly! At least let me see a glimmer of hope."
Without Chan Bing and the Snow Domain Star Sea Divine Army, Zhang Ruochen's combat power was about equal to his own. Gai Mie did not believe that Zhang Ruochen would take such a risk, entering the ancestor's ancestral realm to do something purely suicidal.
After all, Zhang Ruochen's life now concerned the survival of countless people.
This heavy responsibility did not allow him to gamble with his own life.
"What trump cards are left? I'm just doing my best."
As Gai Mie frowned, he heard Zhang Ruochen continue: "I have faith in the Heavenly Mother, and also in Hao Tian and Lady Shiji."
Zhang Ruochen handed Chi Xingtian over to Gai Mie, then summoned the other three cauldrons. Stepping on a blood-red Taiji Four Symbols Diagram, he headed toward the very center of the battlefield storm.
"Do you have to be this cool? Anyone would think you were also a half-ancestor!"
Although Gai Mie did not admit it in his heart, he was actually impressed by Zhang Ruochen's fearless bearing. Even the Great Demon God and the Heavenly Demon, at Zhang Ruochen's level, could never have possessed such style.
Gai Mie glanced at Chi Xingtian and said, "Come on, let's awaken the power of the Heavenly Demon's ancestral realm to weaken that Nine-Headed Stone Man."
Chi Xingtian moved the Heavenly Demon Mountain out from his divine realm world.
Gai Mie said, "You know what to do, right?"
Chi Xingtian's lips moved, cursing something inaudible, then cut his wrist and bled again.
Demon blood turned into a waterfall, flowing down from the peak of Heavenly Demon Mountain, then splitting into countless blood-red streams, entering the demonic qi great world.
Like blood vessels, they spread out in all directions.
Heavenly Demon Mountain was itself a corner of the Heavenly Demon's ancestral realm.
The moment it appeared, the demonic qi great world stirred with wind and clouds. The ancestral rules and ancestral order controlled by the Nine-Headed Stone Man became less free and unrestrained (suixinsuoyu).
Chi Xingtian's demon blood invaded the demonic qi great world, further intensifying this phenomenon.
"Swish! Swish! Swish..."
From beneath Heavenly Demon Mountain, thirty-six stone tablets flew out in succession.
On each stone tablet was the figure of the Heavenly Demon, either holding a spear, drawing a blade, or transforming into a dragon...
"Preparations are thorough enough!"
Gai Mie glanced at the thirty-six Heavenly Demon Stone Inscriptions rising into the air. Without taking time to heal, he immediately released fifty percent of the Devouring Heavenly Dao Essence.
Gradually, Gai Mie's demon body grew larger and larger, as if trying to match the height of Heavenly Demon Mountain.
His inhalation became wind, his exhalation became clouds. He roared loudly: "Today, I, Gai Mie, become the overlord! All the demonic qi of the world, all kinds of rules, enter my belly!"
Black demonic flames burned inside Gai Mie's body. He seemed to be using some forbidden technique, utilizing more and more of the Devouring Heavenly Dao Essence. Finally, he broke through the limit, reaching a height infinitely close to the Devouring Overlord.
This was the combat state that Thunder Punishment Heavenly Venerable could only enter at the Wuding Divine Sea.
As Gai Mie transformed into a quasi-Devouring Overlord, the demonic qi of this great world continuously converged toward him.
Logically, this great world was the Nine-Headed Stone Man's ancestral realm, and all power was under his control. But now, Chi Xingtian and Gai Mie were plundering his power, weakening his strength.
"Boom!"
The Nine-Headed Stone Man stomped through the sea of time imprint light, severely wounding Di within the Demon Shrine, temporarily burying him deep within the ancestral realm.
Only now did he finally feel the threat, looking toward Heavenly Demon Mountain.
"Seeking death!"
Eight of the Nine-Headed Stone Man's heads flew out one after another.
Having obtained the Houtu Wedding Gown, the Heavenly Mother was indeed troublesome and hard to deal with quickly. But Gai Mie and Chi Xingtian were directly threatening his foundation and had to be eliminated as soon as possible.
His legs could not leave the demonic qi great world because this stone body of his had to borrow the power of the Great Demon God's and Heavenly Demon's ancestral realms to unleash ancestral-level power.
If even the ancestral realm was eroded, the impact on him would be unimaginable.
The eight heads—the male head grew a translucent male body, and the female head, Buddha head, snake head, goat head, skull head, and ten-eyed head all did the same.
Only the dharma seal head remained an ancient and mysterious mark.
The auras they emitted all reached the Heavenly Venerable level, like eight peerless powerhouses. It was easy to imagine that once they rushed to Heavenly Demon Mountain, they would crush Gai Mie and Chi Xingtian to dust with overwhelming force.
The Heavenly Mother glanced in the direction of the eight flying heads, deep worry in her eyes.
She saw a blood-colored morning sun rising from the horizon.
Within the morning sun, Zhang Ruochen, spreading a pair of blood wings and driving four cauldrons, faced the ancestor's eight heads alone. "They're mine. No one gets past me."
The male head's projection said, "Arrogant!"
"Just you alone? You're not even at the Heavenly Venerable level, are you?" the goat head's projection said.
"Tear him apart! I want to drink his blood!" the snake head's projection said, its forked tongue flicking out.
The Buddha head's projection clasped his hands together, walking with head bowed: "Amitabha, good and good."
...
The eight heads, from eight different directions on the ground or in midair, each used their strongest combat techniques, attacking Zhang Ruochen to annihilate him in one blow.
"Boom!"
After the earth-shattering collision.
The eight heads and eight bodies of the Nine-Headed Stone Man were sent flying backward by the blood-colored morning sun. The shockwave flipped layers of earth, raising clouds of dust.
Gai Mie, who had been nervously watching that direction, shouted in disbelief: "How is that possible? That's eight Heavenly Venerable-level beings! Even a half-ancestor would have to flee when encountering them!"
Looking closely, within the blood-red morning sun, besides Zhang Ruochen with his pair of ancestral blood wings, five old men had appeared, surrounding him protectively.
The auras emanating from the five old men were different, belonging to the five clans of primordial beings.
"Imperial Dust, after we make our move this time, we won't owe you any favors anymore," one of the primordial being old clan emperors said in a low voice.
Another primordial being old clan emperor said, "He helped us resolve the consciousness curse that the Nether Ancestor planted in our souls. We help him deal with the ancestor's calamity. Neither side loses."
Zhang Ruochen said, "Rest assured, I, Zhang Ruochen, always keep my word. Let's go! Whoever dies in battle, I will personally send his remains back to the Abyss of Darkness."
"Whoosh!"
Zhang Ruochen lifted off the ground, leading the five old clan emperors as they attacked the eight heads and eight bodies of the Nine-Headed Stone Man, preventing them from escaping back to the main body.
The earlier feigned weakness was waiting for the Nine-Headed Stone Man to make a mistake.
(This chapter ends)