The Nirvana Crimson Flame Sword was broken, the Frying Pan cracked, their spiritual nature completely lost! The backlash from having his life-bound magical treasure destroyed was like a thousand steel needles ruthlessly piercing into Tang Xiaoqi's divine soul and meridians, causing him to instantly lose most of his combat ability. The Purification Domain collapsed, and the Demonic Lord's terrifying pressure, like that of the Nine Hells' frozen prison, descended once more without obstruction, pressing him firmly against the ground. Even lifting that broken half of the sword became incredibly difficult.
Blood gushed like a spring from his mouth, nose, and even the corners of his eyes and ears, pooling beneath him into a small, shocking puddle of dark red. His vision began to blur. In his ears were the Demonic Lord's cold, mocking, victory-assured laughter—like the friction of ice—and his companions' cries of shock and rage, but those sounds seemed separated by thick glass, becoming distant and unreal.
Despair, like the coldest tide, drowned his remaining consciousness.
Was it... about to end?
His father... ultimately could not be saved...
His companions... would also perish with him...
Just as his consciousness was about to be swallowed by endless darkness and pain—
"Little... Seven..."
An extremely faint call, like a candle in the wind, yet carrying a power that pierced through the barriers of the soul, suddenly lit up like a spark in the depths of his nearly silent mind!
It was his father's voice!
Not heard through ears, but directly from bloodline, from the resonance of the soul's origin!
Xiao Qi's blood-blurred eyes snapped open. With his last ounce of strength, he looked toward that figure bound in mid-air by countless demonic energy chains!
He saw Xu Zhan, head bowed and covered in hideous demonic armor, now trembling violently! Not the violent shaking under demonic control, but a struggle and resistance originating from the depths of his soul—extremely painful!
Beneath the armor, those two eyes that had been completely occupied by crimson demonic light were now undergoing an astonishing change! The crimson light flickered madly like boiling blood, fighting desperately with wisps of weak but stubbornly resilient clear light! That clear light was the lucid consciousness belonging to Xu Zhan himself—suppressed for a hundred years!
"Cannot... harm... my... son!"
A broken yet mountainously loving and infinitely determined thought exploded like thunder in every corner of the Demon Palace hall, fiercely impacting the Demonic Lord's shackles on Xu Zhan's soul!
For his son!
For that son he had watched grow from an infant in swaddling clothes to adulthood, who now teetered on the brink of death before his very eyes!
Xu Zhan's soul—burned by demonic flames for a hundred years, already riddled with holes, nearly exhausted—erupted with power beyond its limits at this moment!
HMMMM—!!!
A faint but pure golden flame—burning with life and soul origin—forced its way out from Xu Zhan's armor-covered chest! It seemed as if it might be extinguished at any moment, yet it was undeniable!
It was Soul Fire! The most resolute and tragic means by which a cultivator abandons everything, burning their own divine soul and life imprint to gain a brief burst of power! Once ignited, it meant irreversible soul dissolution—eternal non-existence!
But this wisp of Soul Fire was not ignited to attack, not to break free, but to... interfere!
To give his son that perhaps only momentary... chance of survival!
Though weak, the golden Soul Fire contained the essence of Xu Zhan's lifetime of cultivation and that indestructible guardian will! The instant the flame appeared, it seemed to carry some strange resonance, violently conflicting with the demonic chains wrapped around him!
SSSSSS—!
The demonic light flowing on the chains became chaotic. The incomparably tight binding structure, because of this internal, soul-burning sacrifice, showed an extremely brief yet genuinely existing... loosening!
Just that tiny loosening!
"ROAR—!!!"
The Demonic Lord's shadow let out an unprecedented roar mixed with rage and a touch of disbelief! It clearly had not expected that this "cultivation vessel" it had suppressed and tortured for a hundred years, whose soul should have long since been destroyed, could still erupt with such tenacious will—even briefly interfering with its absolute control over the demonic chains!
Though this interference was minuscule, fleeting, for Xiao Qi below who was on the verge of death, for the other members of the "Dawn" squad who had been waiting for an opportunity, this instant... was the only light in the darkness!
"Father—!!!"
Xiao Qi let out a heart-wrenching cry. Watching that golden flame on his father's chest—burning his very self—boundless grief and rage erupted like a volcano again, actually temporarily overwhelming his body's agony and soul trauma! A power from who knows where supported him, allowing him to prop himself up with that broken half of the sword!
And in that same instant when Xu Zhan's Soul Fire burned and the chains loosened—
Liu Yun, who had been staring dead at the battlefield, searching for any possible opportunity, had cold light explode in her eyes!
"Now!"
From the sword case on her back, the last and most concentrated life-bound sword essence—hidden until now—shot out like a dormant dragon suddenly emerging! This sword strike contained her lifetime of sword cultivation, and carried a resolute, self-sacrificial determination!
The sword light did not slash at the Demonic Lord, nor did it attack the chains, but instead... thrust directly at the invisible control connection node between the Demonic Lord's shadow and Xu Zhan that had become slightly disordered due to the loosening chains!
What she wanted to sever was the most direct "thread" connecting the Demonic Lord to Xu Zhan!
At the same time, Mu Xue, Ao Qin, Zhao Tiezhu, even Second Senior Brother and the rabbit spirit, all seized this fleeting opportunity, blasting their remaining power without reservation at the Demonic Lord's shadow, trying to create better conditions for Liu Yun's resolute sword strike!
Within the Demon Palace hall, because of Xu Zhan's tragic Soul Fire, the battle situation once again underwent an unexpected change!
In the midst of despair, the spark of hope was rekindled by a father's love!