Terror transformed into towering, all-consuming fury, burning away every last shred of Tantai Wuji’s reason. He stood hovering above a rooftop, gazing down at the common people below who were celebrating jubilantly at the sight of light descending upon the world — watching them link arms and dance with song, their faces wreathed in the smiles of survivors who had narrowly escaped catastrophe. He could not help but sneer coldly.

He summoned his demonic core, raised both hands, and sent it spinning. Pure, black, viscous demonic energy unfurled like countless black silken threads — venomous serpents that surged ferociously toward the crowd.

One could not blame him for employing such ruthless, direct slaughter through demonic power. It was Lang Jiuchuan and the righteous path of this mortal world that had driven him to this. He had originally planned to crush them gradually, to toy with these ants at his leisure, to harvest ever more dread, panic, and despair — a slow boil, like frogs in warming water.

It was Lang Jiuchuan who had made him miscalculate and then lose his mind. So if they wanted someone to blame, let them blame her. She was the one who had brought this calamity upon them. Let them curse their own ill-fated births and poor timing in this life.

The black demonic energy shot forth like a rainbow, erupting with a thunderous boom, coiling toward those unsuspecting people — like a malevolent demon king, ceaselessly harvesting lives and devouring fresh souls.

“Ah — it’s a monster, a demon has come!” Someone was the first to spot Tantai Wuji, his entire body shrouded in dense black demonic energy. That person screamed, and the crowd scattered in all directions.

But how could ordinary mortals possibly contend with Tantai Wuji, whose demonic arts had reached full completion? Those demonic tendrils plunged directly into their skulls, devouring their essence, blood, and souls. They didn’t even have time to cry out before they collapsed with a thunderous crash, shriveling into black, desiccated husks.

Ear-splitting wails and agonized cries for help rang out without end.

Tantai Wuji’s crimson demonic pupils were filled with savage violence and exhilaration. He merged those fresh souls into his power-diminished demonic core, then turned it against the righteous energy that had been gnawing at his malevolent demonic force. He laughed with a cold, rasping cackle.

The fear of mortal souls — that was the source of his power.

At last, what little remaining auspicious energy had existed was completely suppressed by the demonic energy and abruptly dissipated.

The human tragedy unfolding below continued. People cried out to the heavens, called upon the gods, and pleaded in desperate despair.

One mother held her two children tightly in her arms, pressing their heads against her chest, and huddled in the corner of a small earth god’s shrine. Behind her stood a small statue of the earth deity.

As those demonic tendrils drew near before her eyes, she squeezed her eyes shut in despair, her whole body trembling — and in that very instant, a brilliant golden light erupted from the earth god statue and twisted apart those tendrils.

Golden light blazed.

Like sweet rain descending upon the mortal world, it severed and scattered those demonic threads one by one.

The smile on Tantai Wuji’s face stiffened. He felt his demonic arts stall once more. The corner of his mouth twitched, as though he were suppressing a towering, raging inferno of fury.

They all obstructed him — everyone came to obstruct him!

Lang Jiuchuan had invoked the stars of the heavens to purify the demonic energy, which was already depleting his demonic core’s power — and now, the feeble gleam of golden faith-light from the so-called deities that mortals venerated also sought to block and hinder him.

Everyone was his enemy. They all deserved to die!

“ROAR!” Tantai Wuji threw his head back and howled to the sky. The demonic energy around his body rapidly erupted and spread, like an overturned vat of blood-stained black ink — thick and putrid, a suffocating Aura of Power radiating from him, carrying with it a madness that sought to destroy heaven and earth.

He floated high above the town, his entire demonic form transformed into a black void, indiscriminately devouring the surging despair and terror from below, replenishing his diminished power and the drain upon his soul.

He wanted the wails and anguished screams of ten thousand living souls to bolster his own strength. He wanted Lang Jiuchuan to bear the karmic burden of this age of chaos.

Boom.

Without any warning, the divine statue inside the earth god shrine exploded. Its shattered fragments scattered in all directions.

The golden light that had filled the sky dimmed and slowly faded. The people who had managed to catch their breath thanks to the arrival of that golden light were plunged back into despair. They stared at the sky, now dyed pitch black, their faces twisted in absolute, unmitigated terror.

It was precisely at this moment that a figure burst forth from the void. A bone-chilling aura of the Nine Netherworlds condensed into soul-binding chains that coiled toward Tantai Wuji — who could no longer be called human.

When Tantai Wuji saw him, his demonic pupils sharpened with vicious intensity. “It’s you — the thief who stole my true body!”

The one he hated most was not Lang Jiuchuan, but this Feng Ya — this scoundrel who had appeared out of nowhere and seized the true body he had spent a thousand years painstakingly cultivating. Not only that, but Feng Ya had forced him, for the sake of self-preservation, to forcibly sever the karmic ties between himself and that true body, causing him to utterly forfeit his qualification to enter the role of a supreme sovereign through the righteous path.

If he could kill anyone first, it would be this villain. He would tear his soul to shreds and use them as an offering to his true body.

Now, seeing Feng Ya wearing his true body — that imposing, domineering aura of authority radiating from every inch of him — Tantai Wuji was consumed with such jealous hatred that he verged on madness. Had it been himself, he would have been even more authoritative, even more perfectly suited.

Tantai Wuji flipped his demonic claw, driving his demonic core to its absolute limit. It transformed into an enormous ghostly hand that blotted out the sky and obscured the sun. Carrying terrifying destructive might, it snatched toward those soul-binding chains.

What met his grasp was an aura of the Underworld’s depths — nearly of the same origin as Tantai Wuji’s own demonic energy. His pupils contracted in cold wariness, and he let out a rasping, cold laugh. “Think you’re some paragon of righteousness? You’re nothing but a dark practitioner who cultivates the Yin and the Underworld. And Lang Jiuchuan — she vaunts herself as walking the glorious righteous path, yet she colludes with Yin-evil. Ha, ha, ha — what a laughingstock!”

Two auras devoured and contended with one another. Sand flew and stones rolled as countless rooftops were torn away.

Tantai Wuji’s gaze shifted cunningly as he tried to beguile Feng Ya. “You and I share the same origin, and this physical form creates a karmic bond between us. Why must you, like those on the righteous path, force yourself into their circle? Righteousness and evil cannot coexist — once they know you are a creature of Yin-evil, they will eventually come to slay you. By then, you too will travel my old road, doing all the work only for others to reap the rewards. Why put yourself through that? Why not sink into ruin together with me and overturn this sky? You and I shall reign supreme!”

“Silence.” Feng Ya’s face showed undisguised impatience. He pressed his right hand’s fingers together into a sword-form. At his fingertip, a brilliance of gold light blazed with incomparable intensity and lanced toward Tantai Wuji’s demonic form.

That golden light became a sword, imbued with a supreme divine will that could destroy ten thousand techniques and pass judgment upon all evil. It cleaved off one of Tantai Wuji’s arms.

Tsst!

Struck by that golden sword of brilliant light, the righteous divine power blazed like fire from the earth’s core, ferociously scorching Tantai Wuji’s severed arm. The demonic energy dissipated, and his soul shuddered violently. His expression was one of pure terror.

“How is this possible? You are clearly the same Yin-evil creature as I am — how can you have condensed a righteous sword of golden brilliance?” Tantai Wuji’s eyes were wide with utter disbelief.

“Does even a grain of light dare to shine?” Feng Ya let out a cold snort, his voice dripping with contempt. “A filthy demon like you dares to compare yourself to me?”

He had once been a ghost immortal — it was only because he had defied the will of Heaven that his immortal body had been stripped away and he had fallen into the void. Yet he had once withstood the inquiry of Heaven’s overwhelming divine authority before ascending to immortality. How could he be incapable of condensing righteous golden brilliance?

And what exactly was Tantai Wuji? Nothing but a corrupt, wretched demon lord. He dared to compare himself to Feng Ya?

Feng Ya drove his golden righteous sword and cleaved once more toward Tantai Wuji. Tantai Wuji’s expression changed drastically. In haste, he condensed his demonic core before himself, forming a thick, viscous demonic shield.

Boom.

The golden brilliance struck the demonic shield, erupting in a blinding halo. A building nearby, caught in the shockwave, collapsed with a thunderous crash.

Tantai Wuji’s demonic shield was carved with a deep crack — it did not shatter, but the impact sent his blood and energy churning violently, his demonic form swaying.

The contempt on his face finally vanished completely, replaced by thunderous fury and grave wariness. This scoundrel’s power was truly formidable. No wonder he had been able to collude with Lang Jiuchuan and seize his true body.

“Good — very good!” Tantai Wuji’s fury reached its peak and erupted into a cold laugh. The demonic energy around him surged again with renewed ferocity, demonic clouds roiling as he shrieked in a shrill voice: “Let this sovereign see how many of my strikes you can take!”