The charge tore across the caldera like a thunderclap.
Yin Shuang was first to strike—her sword cleaved through two soul-furnace wardens in one motion, Qi pulsing around her like a sonic wave. Bai Fu followed with a firestorm talisman that detonated above the portal mouth, raining purifying flame.
The two surviving cultivators held the flanks.
Kai approached the portal itself.
He raised both hands, the Chaos and Eclipse powers entwining like serpents in his veins.
He used a Sealing Technique, Inverted Light Seal.
The portal shimmered.
Chains of Qi energy trembled. The blood-runes flared. A rift of pressure pulled outward, as if the nether realm itself had noticed the attempt to close the portal.
Kai bled from the nose, his Qi howling against the resistance of an entire realm.
But he did not stop.
He poured energy into the seal, each pulse burning Qi off his core but he did not stop.
Yin stood behind him, guarding his back, blades intercepting cursed javelins and bone-summoned spears. One demon got through—only to be reduced to ashes by a single swing of the Peerless Sword.
Kai pushed on with everything he had.
The technique cracked the outer shell.
Another surge.
The first layer shattered.
And then…
One moment, there was fire. The next momnet, darkness.
Everything dimmed.
And in the center of the battlefield stood a figure cloaked in blood and silence.
The Blood Demon.
But it was no longer Ren Wuji.
This… was Wu Ming—consumed, reborn, perfected.
His body was armored in writhing crimson metal, his eyes pools of endless night, his arms crowned with runes older than stars. He radiated pressure that broke bones just by standing near him.
The two remaining cultivators disintegrated where they stood.
Bai Fu screamed and lunged, fire flaring.
The Blood Demon moved once.
Bai Fu was blasted back, slammed into a cliff face so hard the rock cratered. He didn't rise.
Yin Shuang stepped between the demon and Kai, her stance fluid.
"You again," the Blood Demon said, his voice deeper than oceans.
His gaze settled on Kai. "Still alive."
Kai staggered to his feet, blood dripping from his brow. "Still standing."
"You've grown," the Blood Demon mused.
Kai's expression hardened. "You should have died along with Ren Wuji."
The demon laughed. "Ren Wuji was merely a moment but I am eternity."
He raised one clawed hand.
The portal flared behind him, still open, still bleeding the netherworld into theirs.
"You think to shut this? You don't have what it takes, mortal!"
Yin Shuang moved first.
She lunged in a blur of silver and crimson, her blade striking with speed that surpassed thought. The Blood Demon caught it in one hand. His palm hissed against the Peerless Sword's pure Qi, but he smiled.
"A decent technique."
He kicked her once and she was hurled across the caldera.
Kai didn't hesitate.
He unleashed the twin forces within him.
The Celestial Eclipse ignited around him like a star reborn. Chaos surged through his limbs like liquid wildfire. The glyph over his heart spun like a living wheel of power.
He struck.
The Blood Demon caught his fist.
For a second, neither moved.
Then the mountain cracked beneath their feet.
Kai's blows were laced with techniques drawn from the Celestial Eclipse and refined by Chaos Qi, each one precise, clean, honed for direct impact.
The Blood Demon met him with overwhelming force, every counter a wave of spiritual devastation, every strike reinforced by the ageless Blood Soul Essence.
Neither yielded.
For every blow the Blood Demon landed, Kai returned two. For every technique Kai unleashed, the demon unraveled it with raw power.
Behind them, Yin rose, bleeding but alive. She rejoined the fray, her sword slicing in rhythm with Kai's movements. The two fought in sync—he the pulse, she the edge.
But the Blood Demon did not slow.
He fed from the dark Qi from the portal.
He drew power from the endless well of nether energy behind him.
And Kai… was running out of Qi.
One step.
One breath.
The Blood Demon struck Kai through the chest.
The impact shattered ribs, collapsed a lung, and hurled him into the portal's anchor stone.
Yin screamed.