The darkness swallowed him the instant he crossed the barrier.
It wasn't a simple absence of light. It was something dense, viscous, that seemed to want to crawl over the skin, enter through the pores, weigh on the lungs.
The yin energy of the darkness here was so pure and concentrated that even the air seemed to have become a black and icy liquid, although its intensity was quite low compared to the Evil God's dimension, it was still something terrible! Even someone in the Sovereign Profound Realm would have difficulty remaining in the place for long due to the darkness that seemed to devour everything; they would be suppressed by two entire realms and at the same time, our vitality would also be drained quickly.
Fortunately, he was not an ordinary profound practitioner...
Ren Zu merely took a step forward, calmly, like someone entering a cool room after a hot summer day.
The cold and malignant breeze that licked his face was... pleasantly refreshing, actually. It felt like an autumn wind carrying the smell of dry leaves and wet earth. Nothing more than that.
Having endured more than ten thousand years of darkness energy, which is of such high quality, slowly devouring everything, the spatial laws of this place had long been distorted, but he had no problem teleporting out of this place; he could leave whenever he wanted and could also move through space to the places he wanted to go within the lair instantly. Since his senses were somewhat limited, moving through his spatial domain was the best way. Therefore, he arrived directly where the Netherworld Udumbara Flower was blooming.
His black eyes landed on it casually.
It was slightly taller than three meters in height, its stem and leaves had a mixture of green and black colors. Amid this fantastic glow of a purple light, a flower could be seen. Each petal seemed to be made of radiant purple jade, but the beginning of the stem was still slightly curved upward, and the petals had not yet fully developed. Even though it had an extremely radiant and enchanting appearance, it was not completely bloomed yet.
The Moon Slaughter Devil Nest was a desolate place, and its air was stagnant. Still, the nearly bloomed Netherworld Udumbara Flower swayed gently, releasing a mist of purple light that seemed to come from the underworld itself. And from time to time, it emitted terrifying sounds that seemed to be a mixture of lamentation and laughter. It was so sinister that it made the souls of those who heard it tremble.
The flower continued to sway softly, as if it weren't in the center of one of the most cursed places in the world. The purple mist rose in slow spirals, touching the air, touching the darkness... touching even the silence itself.
Ren Zu walked.
Without haste.
Each step was light, almost lazy, as if he were crossing an ordinary garden. As he approached the Netherworld Udumbara Flower, his body began to emit a subtle glow, limpid, translucent like divine glass under moonlight.
The [Heaven's Will Crystal Body] was active.
The darkness energy and the soul-stealing ability of the flower that tried to cling to him simply slid off, repelled by that inner light, unable to leave any trace. It was like mud trying to stain a perfect mirror; no matter how much it tried, it was always rejected.
He extended his hand slowly, observing the flower with an almost casual interest, like someone analyzing a rare plant in an exotic market.
"Hm... it's still not completely mature..." He murmured amusedly: "What a shame. But it will do...."
At the exact instant his fingers almost touched the purple mist...
He felt it.
A gaze full of killing intent fixing on him.
It didn't come from the front.
Nor from the sides.
But from the depths of the darkness behind the flower, at a point where not even the purple mist dared to spread.
Ren Zu stopped the movement of his hand in the air.
He turned his face slowly in that direction, his black eyes calm like a lake without ripples.
"I only came here to pick a flower..." He said calmly: "A single flower..."
A slight smile appeared under the white mask.
"And, along the way... it seems I found a rat hidden in this hole...."
The silence that followed was heavy.
Then, the darkness stirred.
Two points of a deep gray light suddenly came to life in the boundless darkness above Ren Zu's head.
They were an extremely horrible pair of eyes!
"Arrogant human! The reason you disregarded your own life and entered this place was to ask this king to kill you personally?! How dare you call this magnificent king a rat, you inferior life form!"
He wasn't the least bit perplexed that Ren Zu had discovered his existence, and his hoarse, raspy voice was full of a violence and arrogance that made one's heart pound.
"... If I'm not mistaken, you must be that Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign who lived here ten thousand years ago?" Ren Zu asked calmly, already knowing the answer...
"Hahahaha!" That terrible voice burst into laughter: "This king only declared his name once to you humans, but who would have thought that someone would still remember it after ten thousand years have passed. Even though this king hasn't seen the light of day in all these thousands of years, a single appearance was enough to plunge your wretched creatures into an eternal abyss of terror, hahahahaha..."
The voice of the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign was extremely unpleasant, and he could barely understand what he was saying. Moreover, each word pronounced by his mouth made his body shudder, and that laughter was extremely hard to endure... But the laughter ceased abruptly as if he remembered the two offenses Ren Zu had made earlier, calling him a "rat."
"It's no use glorifying this king who has already sentenced you to death." The Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign roared, his piercing, soul-chilling voice full of fury, contempt, and disdain. That pair of eyes, which looked like two gray abysses, suddenly descended from the air: "Moreover. Not only do you have interest in the Netherworld Udumbara Flower, you're still dreaming that this king will let you live!"
Bam!!
With a gigantic explosion, a huge gray figure landed with impact in front of Ren Zu.
A funereal aura, which seemed to come from hell itself, struck Ren Zu, who stood calmly while his white robes fluttered. From that voice, he could tell it was no more than thirty meters away, but the only thing he could see in the darkness were those white-gray eyes. Moreover, he couldn't even distinguish a silhouette.
Even though the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign was nearby, he still couldn't see him. However, Ren Zu felt a terrible pressure envelop him, as the monster sought to crush his body and soul. This pressure was entirely different from any other type he had suffered in his life. A cold, violent rancor; an absurd arrogance and bloodlust... he felt a dense wave of negative emotions enveloping every corner of that dark world. Suddenly, he was struck by the terrible feeling that he was sealed in some kind of infernal volcano and was about to suffer the most unimaginable and cruel punishments.
"The root of this king's own life and soul was left in tatters, so I had no choice but to seal myself in this place, not daring to see the light of day for ten thousand years! The darkness energy here helped this king slowly recover my vitality and strength, and this Netherworld Udumbara Flower can restore the origin of this king's soul! This is something with which the heavens have blessed me. It's the most precious thing in my life! In this shameful place, the day this flower blooms every twenty-four years is what this king most awaits! And to think that an inferior, foolish, and insignificant life form like you would dare to covet the object that this king most venerates!"
A wave of energy as cold as ice exploded, tearing the air as if space itself had shuddered. The eyes of the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign, previously white-gray, became completely black, so deep they looked like holes carved into reality. Around his body, the black mist thickened grotesquely, like living smoke that twisted and crawled, forming shadowy tentacles that brushed the ground and sky without distinction.
The darkness of the lair, which was already a dense sea of yin darkness energy, began to react violently.
Currents of darkness exploded like malignant gales, swirling around the monster like an obscene hurricane, lifting black dust, tearing rocks, deforming the air.
The Moon Slaughter Devil Nest trembled.
The ground itself seemed to regret existing there.
Amid this eruption of force, the Devil Sovereign advanced.
It was too fast for mortal eyes, a gray blur that pierced the darkness like silent thunder. He didn't attack Ren Zu while near the flower; he wouldn't dare, but he moved to rip Ren Zu from that area before the clash of forces destroyed his most precious possession.
The blow fell like a mountain.
Ren Zu raised only one hand, almost distractedly, to parry the impact. The sound didn't echo; it was swallowed by the darkness, but the effect spread like a seismic wave. His body slid across the ground as if pushed by a strong breeze... except that this "breeze" launched him nearly a kilometer away.
He stopped exactly where he wanted, with his feet touching the void as if stepping on invisible glass of space itself.
Beside him, the colossal figure of the Devil Sovereign emerged from the darkness, his eyes burning with pure savagery. He looked like a storm concentrated in humanoid form, each breath releasing more darkness into the air.
Ren Zu sighed at that moment.
His skin glowed, first with a soft shimmer, then with a warm explosion.
The Golden Crow Flames surged, enveloped in pure gold, rising over his body like solar serpents. The glow tore through the darkness like a violent dawn, repelling the yin energy, burning the malignant mist, opening space amid the chaos. The darkness fled from him like wild animals before fire.
For an instant, Ren Zu looked like a sun floating within an eternal abyss.
"This is indeed a meaningless fight." The Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign said with cold contempt and mockery: "If it were the flames of the Vermilion Bird, this king might feel a hint of disturbance. But these modest Golden Crow Flames are merely a pitiful joke!"
Ren Zu smiled, only with his eyes.
And then... they collided.
Two worlds.
Two absolutely incompatible forces.
The explosion of energy illuminated the entire underworld.
The Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign struck with claws that cut space, but Ren Zu dodged with minimal movement, leaving luminous trails in his path. Golden flames exploded with each block, each touch, each wave released, clashing against the darkness that surged in violent torrents.
Boom!! Boom!! Boom!! Boom!!
The Moon Slaughter Devil Nest was enduring the greatest and most terrible calamity since its existence while fierce flames and sinister darkness filled every corner. The space within was madly collapsing in on itself, and the thunderous explosions sounded as if produced by a heavenly belt that was being repeatedly crushed by a huge mountain... at that moment, if there were other profound practitioners on the scene, even if they were strong individuals in the Emperor Profound Realm, just these earth-shaking explosions would be enough to instantly make their energies and blood flow in reverse, causing them to become unconscious.
And if they were weaker than that, they could simply be killed on the spot, destroyed completely in body and soul.
A man and a devil had already exchanged hundreds of attacks in this sealed world of darkness. It was as if both had reached some kind of agreement, for their forces continued to ascend indefinitely... both man and devil kept pushing each other and testing the limit of each other's power.
The catastrophe that had engulfed the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest grew more and more intense, and it was as if a small world had been thrown into the mouth of an erupting volcano... only the half-bloomed Netherworld Udumbara Flower remained undisturbed, even though it was right in the eye of the storm. It swayed gently and unhurriedly while continuing to release ghostly moans from time to time.
Ren Zu's expression hadn't changed at all since the beginning of the confrontation; naturally, he was taking it lightly and using only the Golden Crow Flames so as not to accidentally kill the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign. If he wanted to end it quickly, he would have used the Vermilion Bird Flames and killed him with a single blow, but he needed to bring despair to the ancient devil.
On the other hand, the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign was becoming more and more worried.
He was a devil, a true devil from ancient times, and he was a ruler among them! Moreover, it was basic understanding for all devils that humans were mere inferior life forms, not much different from scurrying ants. In the past, a casual wave of his hand would have been enough to destroy a planet containing billions of humans.
So even though his life and soul origin had been incredibly damaged, and his current strength was not even a fraction of what it used to be, the disdain he had for humans was still etched into his very bones. Even in his current weakened state, the aura Ren Zu emitted was still several times weaker than his... and even though he had the Golden Crow Flames, being the heir of that golden chicken, in the eyes of the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign, he was still an insect.
However, from the moment he exchanged blows for the first time with Ren Zu, shock began to resonate within his soul. He not only didn't grow weaker with each exchange, but instead became more and more intense with each moment... initially, he hadn't used all his strength, because when facing an inferior-level creature like him, using all his grandeur would be a great stain on his name. After realizing that Ren Zu's strength was much greater than what he had initially anticipated, he also began to increase the power he used. But no matter how much his power increased, Ren Zu was able to match it. And at that moment, it had reached a point where he was using one hundred percent of his strength, and yet he was unable to suppress the miserable human!
And what about the ability to use those Golden Crow Flames? He never thought he would be burned or injured by such an inferior thing!
The expression of the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign distorted fiercely, and a black light suddenly exploded from his diabolical pupils. The highest level of his profound art, the [Illusory Devil Tome of Eternal Night] was instantly activated, and the diabolical dark energy surged from his entire body without limits.
Ren Zu seemed casual; he smiled under the mask and decided to take it a little more seriously, using the sixth stage [Golden Crow's Record of the Burning World], Purgatory Red Lotus.
Booooooom!!!
The explosion that followed was not just sound, light, or impact. It was the collision of two contrary and absolute principles clashing at the same point of existence. The ancestral darkness of the [Illusory Devil Tome of Eternal Night] tore the air, condensed into dense layers of hatred, hunger, rot, and death; while the Purgatory Red Lotus bloomed over Ren Zu's hand as if hell itself had decided to take the form of a flower.
The fire petals surged first as a red glow, then as incandescent blades, and then as a devouring whirlwind of heat that seemed to want to carbonize the very soul of everything it touched. Each petal spun with a glow that resembled molten metal, but there was something deeper there, a cruel, tragic beauty, as if the flower had been created to remind the heavens how insignificant they were before that fire.
The meeting of the two forces exploded in the center of the lair like a deformed sun.
Space collapsed like cracking glass, opening deep cuts that snaked across the dark walls of the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest. The ground sank. The rock columns shattered like old bones. The black mist was carbonized in a wave that advanced for kilometers. For an instant, the entire underworld seemed to have stopped to try to understand what it was witnessing.
Ren Zu remained calmly where he was, while the huge diabolical body of the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign had collided with the stone ceiling above before violently falling from it. After that, he had rolled for dozens of meters before finally colliding with a stone wall.
When the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign finally stood up, his eyes and expression had changed completely. Even his breathing had become incredibly heavy.
He... a grand devil lord, and to think that he had been thrown into the air by a human!!
Thrown into the air by a human!!
Thrown!!
It was as if a diabolical curse echoed in his ears and soul again and again. When he had been injured by Ren Zu's Golden Crow Flames, it was because he was in a state of total shock from that golden chicken's flames being so strong and hadn't reacted quickly enough to defend himself. But this time, he had clearly used all his powers in a total confrontation, and there were no tricks involved either, and yet, he was thrown in the end!!
Thrown into the air by a human!!
'What kind of humiliation is this!?'
It also clearly proved that... the human standing before him, the human he thought would be as insignificant as an ant, actually had power that rivaled his own!
"Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign, you kept calling me pathetic and inferior human, so I was here thinking you were much better... but it seems you're just that!!" Ren Zu dusted off his clothes.
"You... dare...?
Regardless of Ren Zu's reckless mockery, the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign had already become so irritated and embarrassed by this humiliation that all his ability to rationalize had practically flown out the window. During the Primordial Era, even in the world of devils, he was still a devil who stood out above the rest! Mere humans weren't even qualified to kneel in his presence!
And yet now, he had been thrown by a human, injured by a human, looked down upon disdainfully by a human, and even mocked by a human.
This was a humiliation he had never experienced in his entire life!!
"Eternal... Night... Without Light!!"
As he uttered these words with a voice full of hatred enough to encircle the universe. A vast darkness descended from the sky like a totally black curtain.
As he uttered these words with a voice full of hatred enough to encircle the universe, a vast darkness descended from the sky like a totally black curtain.
Ren Zu observed all this with a lazy expression, almost bored, as if watching a mediocre performance in an empty theater. His black eyes didn't blink, and a light sigh escaped his lips.
"Well... I think it's time to end this."
In the next instant, the Golden Crow Flames dancing around his body extinguished like candles blown out by a casual breeze. The gold melted into the air, dissipating into sparks that were swallowed by the darkness. But in their place, something new emerged: crimson red flames, soft as silk but intense as the heart of a star. They flowed from his skin, from his pores, tinting the abyss with a ruby glow that defied the very nature of the darkness.
They were the Divine Flames feared by the devil race!
The Vermilion Bird Flames, the primordial force that purified. For devils, they weren't just fire; they were the supreme poison, the incarnate terror that made their souls recoil like beasts before a divine predator.
The Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign froze in the air, his gray eyes dilating in pure horror. The darkness he had invoked began to tremble, receding as if alive and terrified. "T-This... Vermilion Bird Flames? How... how does a miserable human like you possess the fire of the sacred bird?!"
Ren Zu didn't respond. Instead, he raised his right hand with a fluid, almost artistic movement, as if painting in the air. The profound energy in his body responded instantly, channeling the first stage of the [Vermilion Bird's Consoling Spirit Song]. The crimson flames condensed in his palm, swirling in spirals that formed an ethereal blade, the [Blood-Stained Solar Blade]. It materialized as a sword of red light, pulsing with veins of flaming blood, illuminating with a glow as resplendent as a supernova.
The air around hissed, space distorted, and the entire lair seemed to be purified.
With a casual, lazy slash, as if pruning an unwanted plant, Ren Zu swung the blade toward the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign. There was no sound of wind being cut, nor an immediate explosion, just a ruby flash that crossed the abyss, ignoring the darkness as if it were an illusion.
The blade struck the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign full on, cutting his colossal body from top to bottom with absolute precision. The diabolical flesh, hard as ancestral mountains, parted like wet paper. Blood gushed like a river of living ink, evaporating in the air at the touch of the flames. The devil roared, a sound that echoed like the lament of a thousand tortured souls, but his power recoiled violently, suppressed by the Vermilion Bird Flames, which made his soul tremble uncontrollably with primordial fear. It was as if the fire were burning not just his flesh, but his very existence, corroding the roots of his diabolical origin.
The huge body of the Devil Sovereign crashed against the ground with an impact that cracked the entire lair, creating fissures that spread like spider webs. He writhed, trying to rise, but his claws trembled, his once oppressive aura now reduced to a weak whisper. Flaming wounds covered his torso, burning ceaselessly, preventing any regeneration. He was on the brink of death, his vitality escaping like smoke, his soul screaming in absolute panic.
Ren Zu appeared in front of him calmly while asking: "What are your last words, little rat?"
"Cough..." The Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign spoke with a voice full of pain and despair: "Even the Evil God's seal... which lasted for a million years... was unable to kill this king... and yet, this king... died... at the hands of a... pathetic human...."
But at the end of his lament, he began to laugh strangely:
"Heh... hehehe... but you'll go with me, you cursed human!"
At that moment, his remaining arm trembled into the air as it slowly rose from the ground. The remaining diabolical claws began to stretch wide while starting to emit a weak and light black light.
A totally black orb, the size of a dragon's eye, appeared in the middle of the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign's hand, which was enveloped in black light. His diabolical claws began to tremble as he spoke in a hoarse voice full of resentment: "Pathetic human... who despised this king... this king... will sacrifice this Devil Origin Orb... to consign you to... eternal damnation!!"
All the remaining power in his broken body was gathered in that trembling arm, and he threw something forward... the totally black Devil Origin Orb flew through the darkness before making contact with Ren Zu and directly burying itself inside his body.
"Ha... hahahaha... HAHAHAHAHA..." The Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign began to laugh wildly, and his hoarse laughter contained pain, sadness... and a distorted happiness, before finally dying, his body being burned to ashes by the Vermilion Bird Flames...
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