“Taowu” suddenly stiffened. Li Qingshan had grasped Tu Wancheng’s location a long time ago, so the myriad slashes turned into one, plunging straight into “Taowu’s” body.

  “Obliterate!”


  The giant blade tore through the layers of army qi, thrusting straight towards Tu Wancheng.

  Tu Wancheng’s eyes rolled back, and his eyes twisted. His body trembled. Right when the blade was about to reach him, he suddenly split in half. There were two halves of the body, two lone eyes, and two mouths that said a single sentence slowly, “Bunch of… trash!”


  The voice was like a piece of wood thrust into their ears. The eleven Demon Sovereigns all felt their heads ache as their expressions changed drastically. They all bowed their heads on the totem poles.

  Ying Zhe’s lips curled up. The offering had already been accepted!

  Li Qingshan pierced “Taowu”, but there was no joy on his face at all. When he tried to draw out the blade, a strange force gripped the Frenzy Flower Blade of Path’s End firmly.

  The Blade Spirit of Frenzy Flower warned him. “Qingshan, something is up!”


  “Taowu” shrank at a visible rate, but the army qi was not dispersing. Instead, it was condensing.

  With a thud, the ground shook. The remaining million or so demonfolk suddenly threw themselves on the ground and shrivelled up as if they had been sucked dry. Wisps of demon qi gathered towards “Taowu”.

  This was no longer just army qi, but all of their vital energies. They had all become offerings, only leaving behind a small number of Demon Emperors and Demon Kings, trembling away.

  The deafening battle cries came to a sudden halt. The soldiers that fought for their lives abruptly lost all of their opponents. The battlefield fell quiet all of a sudden. The intense contrast was like a strike to their chests. It was so agonising that they wanted to cough up blood.

  Ke Xin paled in fright and covered her mouth, heaving away dryly. Terror completely filled her charming face.

  The direct disciples that originally conversed easily had all become sheet-white. They seemed to realise what had happened. They were closer to gods than mortals, so they better understood their horrors.

  Le Tian was in disbelief. “How is this possible? How can a battle like this lead to a Demon God descending with his consciousness?”


  It was just a measly Black Cloud city. The Human Sovereigns valued it dearly, but they would abandon it when they needed to. They had never considered seeking help from a Human Immortal, much less have a True Immortal come to save the situation, as it was not worth it at all.

  From the bigger picture perspective, this was only a local battle. The outcome had no sway over the greater situation. From a distance, it was perfectly normal to see the front lines be pushed to and fro.

  Time would fly, and no matter how many people fell in battle, more would always “spring forth”. Even if they lost a few Human Sovereigns, it was nothing. Since when did the world lack talented cultivators?

  Beyond the Nine Heavens, perhaps the amount of time elapsed was only enough to play a game of chess. Meanwhile, countless lives would have been birthed and died throughout the six realms of sa?sāra and the trichiliocosm.

  Why would the chess player leap onto the board to save a mere soldier? They were not exactly cold and heartless, but they really did not have the effort to spare to care.

  Speaking of which, this might have been a move made by the chess player himself. After all, the concept of a gambit was as simple as it could get. What mattered was the overall situation. Whether they were willing to sacrifice the chess pieces did not actually matter at all.

  All chess players would rather obtain victory without sacrificing any chess pieces, but before them sat another chess player. Even they themselves could not control the entire chess game, let alone a measly chess piece.

  However, once the chess player personally took the stage, even if it was merely a finger, the entire situation would undergo an overwhelming change. It was even possible for them to directly take the opposing side’s “king”.

  “Taowu’s” originally-blurry figure suddenly cleared up. His skin was wrinkled, like dead wood, while his torso was tall and straight. It reminded Li Qingshan of the Giant Lumberfolk from the nine provinces.

  The huge, lone eye was filled with colour. It swivelled around in its socket, taking in everything before returning to Li Qingshan in the end. “Who are you?”


  Li Qingshan was stunned. He felt like he was forced to answer, unable to find the courage to not answer. “I- I’m…”


  By now, “Taowu” had shrunken down to the same height as him, but the pressure only increased. The lone eye seemed to gaze down from high up in the heavens, overlooking the living creatures coldly.

  The Blade Spirit of Frenzy Flower yelled out, “Retreat, Qingshan!” This fearless, proud weapon also felt deep fear.

  This was not an illusionary totem but a true god. It was different from the monster that was purely a mass of power from earlier. Even if he had only descended with a wisp of his consciousness, his very nature surpassed all other existences present.

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  With Taowu’s descent, he demonstrated absolute brutality and strength.

  “I’m… your grandaddy!” Li Qingshan planted his foot against Taowu’s chest, wanting to draw out the Frenzy Flower Blade of Path’s End.

  “Heh!” Taowu grabbed the blade slowly with his great hand that resembled deadwood.

  Crack! Fractures began to spread. The indestructible armament was as fragile as ice in his hands.

  With a ping, it shattered. The blade was destroyed!

  His other hand extended into Li Qingshan in the meantime. His fingers grew like trees before splitting, before growing again, before splitting again… Black branches pierced and filled every part of Li Qingshan’s body.

  Li Qingshan widened his eyes and coughed up blood, spraying on Taowu’s chest. He was unable to recover.

  Taowu dragged his ruined body closer and sneered. “Undying body of asura?”


  At that instant, the tremendous damage that Li Qingshan had sustained even surpassed all the wounds he had endured since the start of the battle.

  The undying body of asura had its limits too, and Taowu had breached this limit with ease, creating a heavy wound that could not be healed.

  As the battle on the ground came to its conclusion, the blood-red swirl in the sky rapidly shrank. No matter how many demonfolk Xiao An “converted”, she was unable to shake its existence.

  Ying Zhe’s smile twisted. “This is a Demon God!” It was no longer a difference of strength but a disparity of cultivation.

  Taowu asked again, “Who are you?” It was as if he cared very much about the answer to this question.

  He had not descended to win the battle, but for the Black Sun Demon Heart. However, he had not actually come to obtain the Black Sun Demon Heart either. Instead, it was to grasp the opportunity and situation. He had to personally enter the chess board to observe.

  He had obtained this opportunity to observe by overwhelming all the other Demon Gods, and the situation did not disappoint him either. The appearance of a successor of white bone was already a shocking piece of news. However, compared to the man in his hands, that was nothing.

  Through the disintegrating undying body of asura, the weaving of fate had already become so complicated that he was unable to see it clearly anymore. There was a vague tie in there that even caused him dread.

  As a result, he asked again, “Who are you?”


  Li Qingshan’s lips quivered. Taowu got a bit closer. “What did you say?”


  “It's painful…”


  “Then hurry up and answer.” Taowu was already out of patience.

  “.……ly satisfying!” Li Qingshan suddenly plunged the broken blade towards Taowu’s lone eye.

  Taowu’s eye narrowed, and hundreds of black pieces of wood jutted out from Li Qingshan’s arm, completely sealing off all of his movements. He was a mere Human Sovereign, yet he was still bold enough to attack him. That kind of ability was nothing but exceptional.

  The lone eye seemed to see another smear of fate. “You’re the person of legends? No, there’s no need for you to tell me. I will check it myself. The person of legends can’t be killed so easily.”


  If it had been a different Demon God here, perhaps they would continue to observe without trying to kill him, but Taowu was not that kind of coward.

  Suddenly, he understood why the Demon Gods had accepted sending him for observation, as well as the strange smile on Qiongqi’s face.