Chapter 986: Frost Cloud and Crumbling Stone
Even at this moment, Chen Changsheng still had no idea what had exactly happened within White Emperor City.
Why had the Demon race formed an alliance with the Demon race? What were the true intentions of the White Emperor and his wife?
But no matter what had occurred, as long as he could kill the Demon Lord, everything would be resolved.
Luo Luo could not possibly marry a dead man.
The Council of Elders in Snow Old City and the Demon General would surely be furious.
And would the Black Robe, who never hesitated to view the world with the greatest malice, suspect that this was a trap set by him and Madam Mu?
Of course, making Madam Mu suddenly change her mind and allow him to kill the Demon Lord was an extremely difficult task.
But who knew? Perhaps at the most critical moment later, Madam Mu would suddenly realize that the Demon Lord's death might be very beneficial to her and the Demon race.
"Perhaps" was a very interesting word, implying an open ending, where any imagination had the chance to become reality.
As Chen Changsheng pondered this word, the Demon Lord was also thinking about it.
He realized that he truly might lose to Chen Changsheng's sword.
Yet he still did not believe he could die in a foreign land far from Snow Old City.
Moreover, just as Chen Changsheng desperately wanted him dead, he also desperately wanted Chen Changsheng dead.
If Chen Changsheng died in White Emperor City, even if the Demon Lord himself struck the fatal blow, the Demon race would still find it hard to escape blame.
No matter how cunning and calculating Madam Mu was, from that moment onward, she could no longer play both sides and would have to completely align with the Demon race. Otherwise, relying solely on the Demon race's strength, they could not withstand the terrifying fury of the Human race after losing the Pope.
Thinking of these possible scenarios, the Demon Lord's resolve to kill Chen Changsheng grew even stronger.
The Observation Platform was an extremely wide stone terrace atop the imperial city, spanning a thousand zhang in circumference. Apart from the pear tree by the railing, there were no other trees, flowers, or grass. When the great figures like the Xiang Clan Chief had withdrawn, it seemed even more empty, even giving rise to a feeling of desolate stillness.
The Demon Lord still stood beneath the pear tree. The small white blossoms had vanished from the branch tips, but green leaves remained, appearing full of life.
Opposite him stood the Wind and Rain Sword Formation, with Chen Changsheng and Luo Luo within it.
A chill radiated from the Demon Lord's body, spreading toward heaven and earth.
This chill was so extreme, so pure, that even the green leaves became translucent, as if frozen solid.
It wasn't just the Observation Platform; the entire imperial city, even White Emperor City, was shrouded in countless mists due to the sharply dropping temperature.
Those mists coalesced into clouds, but the clouds were not white—they were black.
These scenes were utterly bizarre and terrifyingly strange.
It was as if the Demon Lord had transported that famous abyss here.
Was this chill the legendary demonic breath?
This was not Chen Changsheng's question.
He had fought against two generations of Demon Lords in the Snow Range and knew that this was indeed the most essential and most powerful technique of the Demon royal family.
The Demon Lord was the purest-blooded member of the Demon royal family on the continent.
His demonic breath was naturally the most pure and extreme terror on the continent.
If he were dealing with an ordinary Human cultivator, the Demon Lord only needed to rely on the extreme low temperature naturally brought by his demonic breath to easily freeze the opponent's sea of consciousness, stiffen their meridians, and then tyrannically destroy their physical body.
From a certain perspective, the Longevity Sect's Yellow Spring technique, aside from Su Xingxiu's version, was very similar to the Demon royal family's methods.
After discovering this, Chen Changsheng had even considered a possibility: that over the past few centuries, the Longevity Sect had secretly colluded with Snow Old City, and perhaps the previous sect master had been guided by the previous Demon Lord, thus embarking on the evil path of cultivating the Yellow Spring technique?
Because of Little Black Dragon, Chen Changsheng was not afraid of Su Xingxiu's Yellow Spring style, so he naturally had resistance against the Demon Lord's methods.
The falling frost flowers and the cold clouds gradually rising from beneath the imperial city could not affect him at all.
His gaze pierced through those frost flowers and landed on the Demon Lord beneath the pear tree.
As his gaze fell, countless sharp sword cries rang out on the Observation Platform.
Countless sword lights flared up, then quickly faded, becoming invisible.
The Demon Lord did not move; he only stirred his divine sense slightly, and he had already struck.
Chen Changsheng also did not move; he only let his gaze fall, and he had already drawn his sword.
Cold clouds shrouded the stone platform, completely concealing the figures of Chen Changsheng and the Demon Lord.
The frost flowers, the icy leaves, and the famous swords in the sky could no longer be seen.
Only the crisp sound of swords and the low, rumbling collisions like the roar of an abyss could be heard from within the cold clouds.
Occasionally, a sword light would flash like lightning, illuminating a corner of the cold clouds, making the veins of the frost flowers incredibly clear and beautiful, as if unreal, and also illuminating the two figures within with perfect clarity, ghostly and smoke-like, as if unreal.
That sword, like lightning, whose light could pierce the cold clouds, was naturally the Stainless Sword in Chen Changsheng's hand. No matter how terrifying and powerful the demonic breath within the cold clouds was, it could not leave any mark on the surface of the Stainless Sword. Even after the battle had lasted this long, it remained as bright as a mirror.
Both Chen Changsheng and the Demon Lord used the Yashi Step. Naturally, Chen Changsheng's Yashi Step was not as profound as the Demon Lord's, but with Nanke's guidance over these past days, combined with his technique of merging the sword into his body that he had used in the Snow Range, he could match the Demon Lord in speed.
Thus, what could determine the outcome of this battle was still power. "Power" was a seemingly simple word, but in essence, it was a very complex and even grand concept. Only a continental powerhouse like Bie Yanghong could truly understand its true meaning. His guidance to Xuan Yuan Po a few days ago was actually a very important matter, though it was unclear how much Xuan Yuan Po had comprehended.
Chen Changsheng and the Demon Lord were still young, but both were extremely talented, peerless prodigies. They already had their own unique understanding of this concept, so this battle was always tightly controlled within the cold clouds, meaning no excess energy leaked out.
But even the Zhou Garden could be forcibly broken open, and the Star Field could not truly isolate the world. As long as one lived under the starry sky, they would inevitably connect with this world. When this battle, concealed by the cold clouds, reached its end, it ultimately revealed its true might.
It was a formless abyss of demonic breath, a silent ocean of sword intent. Even if only the residual waves overflowed from the cold clouds, even if it was just a glancing blow, it still had a tremendous impact on the surrounding environment. Countless deep cracks appeared on the bluestone ground outside the cold clouds, looking like spiderwebs, and they continued to spread outward. If not for the protective restrictions, this wide stone platform would have long since shattered into countless rocks.
The battle's impact on the distant areas was even greater.
Countless fine marks appeared on the square before the imperial city, short but very straight, as if carved out by swords.
Countless ants surged out from underground, but before they could crawl half a chi, they were frozen stiff by an invisible force and then rapidly decayed.
A very deep crack suddenly appeared on the outer edge of the Whale Fall Platform.
With a series of terrifying cracking sounds, the Whale Fall Platform collapsed.
A massive stone rolled downward, faster and faster, carrying a whistling sound as it smashed toward the dense crowd before the imperial city.