After Mu Xue's figure disappeared into the external opening's energy turbulence, Xiao Qi's last trace of worry also fell away. At this moment, in this accelerating collapse, the Demon Nest core covered by the Demon Lord's devouring field, only he remained, facing that Demon Lord true form emitting boundless malice, whose aura had already surpassed its peak.
Facing the Demon Lord alone, retreat cut off.
The Demon Lord clearly did not care about Mu Xue's escape. In its view, that weak little ant was insignificant. This "slightly larger" ant before it, who had repeatedly provoked it and even withstood its strike, was the target it needed to crush. In its black-hole-like eyes, cruelty and mockery intertwined, as if savoring the prey's final struggle.
"Struggling... only increases pain."
The Demon Lord raised its hand again. This time, it was not a simple palm strike. In its palm, dark energy was highly compressed, transforming into a [Dark Star Spear] seemingly forged from the cores of countless desolate stars! The spear was entirely jet black, its tip bearing a point of ultimate darkness, as if capable of piercing through all order and light, carrying the terrifying intent to pierce the universe and end all things, locking onto Xiao Qi's qi!
This strike was more condensed, more lethal than the previous palm!
Xiao Qi suspended in the shattered void, his Green Lotus Sword Domain on the verge of collapse, his body surrounded by a flickering purifying halo, blood constantly dripping from his lips. Facing this certain-kill strike, his gaze was unusually calm, even carrying a tranquility of having seen through life and death.
He knew that conventional defense or evasion was meaningless against this strike. The gap in power levels between him and the Demon Lord was too great. Even at full strength he might not have been able to block it, let alone now when he was already at the end of his rope.
The only way forward was... a sacrificial strike!
Using himself as the offering, to invoke the deepest layer of Green Lotus Origin's power, fusing with the Nirvana Crimson Flame's true meaning of "destruction and rebirth," to slash out a strike that transcended his own limits! Not seeking survival, only seeking, before his demise, to deal this Demon Lord the heaviest blow, to buy the Three Realms, his departed loved ones, and his retreating companions the final time, leave behind the final hope!
"Demon Lord..."
Xiao Qi spoke slowly, his voice not loud yet carrying a strange penetrating power, clearly audible even amid the roar of destruction.
"You treat all things as insignificant, take pleasure in destruction... but do you understand, there are some things that, even if body dies and dao vanishes, cannot be extinguished!"
His two hands slowly came together before his chest, not forming a seal, but in an incomparably devout, incomparably resolute gesture, virtually embracing before his dantian.
As his consciousness guided, the Green Lotus Origin that had always guarded him, that had cultivated with his life, began to burn... in an unprecedented way!
Not consumption, but burning! Like throwing an entire lotus into the fire that burns the heavens, igniting, sacrificing without reservation its most fundamental origin, its purest purifying power, its most steadfast conviction to protect!
Dazzling brilliant cyan-white light erupted from within him, making him appear translucent! The green lotus phantom behind him, originally on the verge of shattering, at this moment not only did not dissipate but became more solid, more massive, as if a primordial green lotus rooted in nothingness, bearing countless prayers!
But behind this magnificent scene, was Xiao Qi's life origin rapidly depleting! His hair turned grey-white visibly, his skin lost its luster, his aura flickered like a candle in the wind.
Yet his eyes grew brighter and brighter, like two burning cyan stars!
"Nirvana... Crimson Flame!"
He low-roared. The Nirvana Crimson Flame Sword, not yet fully reforged but whose spirituality had awakened, let out a mournful yet resolute sword cry, emerging from within his body! On the blade, crimson-gold phoenix fire burned fiercely, the true meaning of "rebirth within destruction" pushed to its extreme!
"Green Lotus... Transform into Sword!"
His joined hands thrust forward violently!
The massive, solid green lotus phantom behind him, abruptly collapsed! Not dissipating, but transforming into endless, most pure purifying sword intent, like the sea accepting rivers, madly pouring into the Nirvana Crimson Flame Sword!
The crimson-gold phoenix fire and the cyan purifying sword intent, these two completely different yet at this moment perfectly fused powers, underwent a mystical transformation within the sword!
OONG—!!!
A sword cry as if splitting the heavens resounded throughout the collapsing Demon Nest, even penetrating the barriers, entering the external void!
The Nirvana Crimson Flame Sword disappeared.
Replacing it, was a brilliant sword light crossing the void, whose color transcended description!
This sword light seemed woven from pure light and hope, its core the unyielding spirit of phoenix fire, its edge the resolve of green lotus purification, its meaning Xiao Qi's offering of his life as sacrifice... the conviction to protect!
It was not large, was not grand, yet was refined to the extreme, fast to the extreme, as if transcending the constraints of time and space!
In the instant before the Demon Lord's [Dark Star Spear] was about to be released, this sacrificial sword light fusing Green Lotus Origin and Nirvana true intent, arrived before it despite being later released, disregarding spatial distance, disregarding the Demon Lord's dense dark field, like a hot knife cutting through butter, precisely, resolutely... slashed toward the exact center of the Demon Lord true form's semi-transparent obsidian chest—that was the core of its power, and also the node most tightly connected to the sealed dark pool below and the Demon Nest remnants being devoured!
The Demon Lord's black-hole-like eyes, which had always carried mockery and indifference, at this moment were finally replaced by unbelievable terror and a trace of genuine fear!
From that seemingly tiny sword light, it felt a purifying and destructive force, originating from the law level, sufficient to threaten its very foundation!
"NO—!!"
It let out the most terrified roar since awakening, trying to retract the [Dark Star Spear] to block, trying to mobilize all its power for defense!
But, too late!
The sacrificial sword strike, faster than lightning, absolutely decisive!
PFFT!
A slight yet utterly clear sound, as if piercing through some resilient membrane.
That sword light refined to the extreme, like a needle piercing a balloon, precisely, without obstacle... penetrated the core of the Demon Lord true form's chest!
Time, seemed to solidify at this moment.
All the Demon Lord's movements froze, its black-hole-like eyes filled with extreme pain, fury, and a trace of bewilderment.
The next moment—
BOOM!!!!!!!
An indescribable explosion, from within the Demon Lord true form, erupted thunderously!