# 2000
Chapter 1984 - Sheathing the Sword in the Hut
Boom! Boom! Boom!!
The 【Black Goat】 imprisoned within the dark cage seemed to sense something. Its massive body frantically slammed against the edges of the cage, trying to break free!
Lin Qiye violently spat out a mouthful of blood. His already near-limit body swayed again. Beside him, Nyx's face was also pale. Between a half-step Supreme God and a top-tier Supreme God, they could barely withstand the 【Black Goat】's frantic counterattack!
At the critical moment, Baili Pangpang struck again. A massive yin-yang taiji diagram unfolded beneath the dark prison. Black and white chains extended into the cage, briefly binding the 【Black Goat】's body!
Roar—!!
The 【Black Goat】's roar shook the clouds.
Under the violent撞击 of its flesh body, the black and white chains lasted less than three seconds before shattering with a thunderous boom. Below, Baili Pangpang also groaned, spraying a burst of blood as he flew backward, his form gradually vanishing in the air...
The next moment, the two dark cages collapsed simultaneously. Lin Qiye and Nyx both stepped back several steps. Just as the 【Black Goat】 was about to flee, a crisp sword chime rang out from above the crowd!
Ding—!!
The two layers of scattered night were instantly shattered. A massive sword light outline emerged from the southwest, as if this entire realm had been cleaved in two by a single sword!
Boundless sword energy flooded the battlefield like a tide, completely sealing all the 【Black Goat】's escape routes. The already heavily wounded ball of flesh happened to be precisely at the sword's point. It was instantly swallowed!
Another anguished scream erupted!
Lin Qiye and the others only felt a sharp edge sweep past their noses. Then the thick earth seemed to have evaporated in an instant. A bottomless chasm appeared before them, as if a deity had hurled a giant sword from the heavens, splitting the earth in two.
The crowd stood before the surging sword energy, all their attention focused on the sword's tip. Within that mass of sword light as dazzling as the sun, a massive form was gradually dissolving...
Then, a shattered mass of flesh crawled out of that sword light with great difficulty!
That ball of flesh was like it had been thrown into a terrifying meat grinder. What was originally a somewhat spherical body was torn into countless fragments. From afar, it resembled a blood-soaked octopus, struggling to crawl out of the abyss!
"It's not dead!?" Seeing this, Lin Qiye's already pallid face turned ghastly pale. He immediately shouted, "We absolutely cannot let It escape!"
The 【King's Star Coins】 were spent. The Forbidden Curse Forest was used. Zhou Ping's final two swords had already delivered one strike. If the 【Black Goat】 still escaped after all this, everything they had sacrificed would be for nothing!
The remaining seven figures moved simultaneously, charging toward the struggling 【Black Goat】 once more!
Lin Qiye had considered having Zhou Ping deliver another strike to instantly kill the 【Black Goat】. But after that sword was thrust out... Zhou Ping would be dead for certain.
And with the 【Black Goat】's current state, even if it tried to flee, it couldn't go far. They still had a chance to annihilate it here!
Just as those seven figures charged above the 【Black Goat】, a wisp of pale gray mist drifted from the void...
Lin Qiye, Nyx, Black King Cao Yuan, and An Qingyu all seemed to sense something. They turned their heads simultaneously toward a certain direction!
In the void, a portal's phantom slowly opened. A robed figure stepped out from within, and a second pillar-god-level divine pressure descended!
The moment Lin Qiye saw that figure, his pupils constricted sharply!
An Qingyu?
No... that's wrong.
Lin Qiye's eyes firmly fixed on those needlepoint-like pupils. The aura emanating from this person was completely different from the An Qingyu he had encountered before!
It was the 【Key to the Gate】!!
Lin Qiye's heart instantly plummeted into an abyss!
The 【Key to the Gate】 stood above the void, gray mist swirling around its form. Its gaze fell upon the struggling 【Black Goat】 below. The 【Black Goat】 also saw its arrival, letting out successive shrieks as if pleading for help.
The robed figure sighed:
"You are too disheveled, Nicholas... But this isn't entirely your fault. If it weren't for that meddlesome 【Chaos】, you wouldn't have been reduced to this state..."
The 【Key to the Gate】's gaze swept across the others. After a brutal battle, everyone was already on the verge of collapse. They exchanged glances, their expressions grave.
"The game should end now." The 【Key to the Gate】 spoke calmly.
The next moment, an ancient Gate of Truth materialized from within the surging gray mist. That massive portal slowly opened, and countless starlight tentacles swarmed out, striking toward the crowd with lightning speed!
The 【Black Goat】's abilities were crucial to the Cthulhu Faction. Compared to 【Chaos】, it was clearly a more rational deity. The 【Key to the Gate】 would not allow it to die here.
Lin Qiye stared at the black-robed existence standing atop the gray mist, his fists clenching tightly...
He turned his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the void toward a certain direction in Great Xia. His expression was complex.
"At all costs... stall the 【Key to the Gate】!" Lin Qiye bellowed. Several figures charged toward the black-robed existence simultaneously!
...
Meanwhile.
In the Vast Desert, the Sword Hut.
Zhou Ping's raised finger slowly lowered. A small hole appeared in the wall, wisps of blue smoke rising from his fingertips...
He gazed northward. In a trance, it seemed as if a gaze had traversed an immense distance to meet his.
"One sword... not enough?"
Zhou Ping murmured to himself. Within those calm eyes, a ripple stirred. "If the 【Black Goat】 doesn't die, it will eventually return with even more offspring. So today, it must die... Lin Qiye, you are right."
The figure that had sat cross-legged in the Sword Hut for an endless span of time began to tremble. Dust particles drifted down from his body. At the same time, his body resembled cracking porcelain, fissures spreading across his surface.
Around the Sword Hut, the swirling yellow sand seemed to be swept by something, instantly crushed into powder... A terrifying sword intent suddenly descended!
"Using the body as the sheath, sheathing the sword in the hut... This final strike should finally see the light of day."
The figure that had been seated in the Sword Hut for countless years finally began to move. As numerous cracks spread across Zhou Ping's body, his form straightened once more. His dusty black shirt rippled without wind!
The moment he rose, the Sword Hut that had stood in the desert suddenly vanished without a trace... That robed figure stood in the center of the Vast Desert, like a god-slaying sword about to be unsheathed. Crisp sword chimes resounded through the heavens!
He took one step toward the north, his form vanishing on the spot. In the howling wind, a voice rose with the breeze:
"Lin Qiye, your master has arrived."