The dozen tails continued to pull and tear violently.
Bones cracked and popped around Xu Zimo’s body with sharp crack-crack sounds.
His eyes were cold and focused. With a roar, he reversed his grip, seizing two of the tails in his hands and yanking them upward with immense force.
Inside his body, billions of Heaven-Shattering Power Vortexes spun furiously, flooding his limbs and bones with power.
The shadow of a colossal Heaven-Shattering Giant flickered faintly behind him.
With another shout, Xu Zimo flipped in midair, swinging Kui’s Evil Spirit form up and over.
The two of them collided and grappled through the void, hurling each other again and again.
Their terrifying auras clashed and burst apart in the air like falling comets.
Behind Xu Zimo, the Shadow Tyrant unsheathed itself, erupting with a surge of demonic blade intent. It sliced through the air, severing the many tails that bound him.
Both combatants separated quickly.
Kui’s long hair billowed behind her, her ten fingers dancing in midair like a musician playing an unseen instrument.
Countless tiny lights appeared in the air around her, densely packed and radiant.
In an instant, those points of light transformed into orbs of energy, beams of condensed power forming a rain of light cannons.
The bombardment came down in torrents, covering the entire sky around Xu Zimo.
The void trembled and shattered. Everything within its range collapsed into nothingness.
Xu Zimo pressed his palms together. A dark light surged from his body.
“Ten Forms of Demon, First Form: Realm Demon. Those who see gods within illusion lose all stability of mind.”
Around him, countless black lights appeared, a mirror reflection of Kui’s own attack.
The void itself seemed to mimic her technique, replicating her countless beams of energy.
The two barrages collided midair with thunderous explosions.
Shockwaves rolled outward, engulfing the entire Celestial Sage Mountain.
The mountain trembled violently. Midway down its slope, the whole peak split in half, like a massive tree bending under unbearable weight.
When the last of the explosions faded, there was little left of the Celestial Sage Academy.
The mountaintop was barren, devastated beyond recognition.
Kui’s eyes glimmered like twin moons. Her pupils narrowed into slits as she prepared to strike again, but she seemed to sense something below.
Her gaze turned toward the underground chamber, the place where the formation wall stood.
She roared in fury and dove downward toward it.
Xu Zimo stepped through the air and intercepted her, smiling. “What’s the rush? Finish our fight first.”
Kui glared at him, rage boiling in her dark eyes.
With a furious scream, she charged again, completely losing control.
Her tails lashed, her floating hair spread like wild fire, and her gray robes whipped in the wind.
As she ran, her body suddenly split into two forms.
One shone with holy light, rising into the sky, its voice echoing in the heavens, a songlike chant, sacred yet twisted with demonic tone.
The other form was pure sin, the embodiment of darkness itself. Rivers of the Yellow Springs flowed around it, the air thick with death, as it lunged toward Xu Zimo.
“Be careful! That’s Kui’s ultimate technique!” Jiang Mozhi shouted from below.
“One form is the Dirge of Heaven, The God’s Lament. The other is The Passing of Death, Impermanence’s End.”
Hearing this, Xu Zimo’s expression grew serious.
The radiant form continued to chant, its mournful cry resonating through the sky, as if heaven and earth themselves were grieving.
It was a spiritual attack, aimed at his very soul.
Black rain began to fall from the heavens. Each drop that touched Xu Zimo’s body turned into tangible force, assailing his spirit.
At the same time, the dark form, like the embodiment of Death itself, lunged straight at him,
trying to merge with him, to consume him entirely.“Don’t worry about me! Just contact the Ghost God Collegium!” Xu Zimo called out.
“There’s a barrier in front of the formation wall!” Xie Changliu shouted back. “It needs to be broken first, we’re almost there! Just hold on!”
Sword energy blazed around him as his sky sword struck the barrier again and again.
Visible cracks were beginning to spread across it.
As the two spectral forms attacked, Xu Zimo activated his Nine-Revolutions God-Tower Physique, a supreme physique that defended the soul.
No spirit assault had ever pierced its ninefold barriers.
With his soul safeguarded, he focused his blade on the dark form before him.
The hellish apparition was relentless. No matter how many times Xu Zimo slashed it apart, it reformed instantly, like water, impossible to cut no matter how sharp the blade.
“Fire!” Xu Zimo shouted.
The essence of flame gathered in his right hand, coating the Shadow Tyrant in blazing light.
He swung, igniting the dark figure in roaring flames.
But even fire couldn’t destroy it.
The entity charged through the inferno, desperate to devour him.
“Myriad Trees Ascend!” Xu Zimo commanded.
The Nomological Truth of Wood surged outward; emerald light filled the air as colossal trees burst from the ground.
Their trunks twisted together into a living cage, trapping the dark form within.
But the creature opened its massive maw and bit through the trees one by one with snapping crunches.
Evil energy spread as it broke free again, charging straight toward Xu Zimo.
He frowned, glancing at Xie Changliu and Jiang Mozhi still working to break the barrier below.
His patience ran thin.
“Go help them,” he said, hurling the Shadow Tyrant downward.
The sentient blade turned into a streak of endless sword energy, slashing toward the barrier below.
Raising both hands, Xu Zimo muttered quietly, “Ten Forms of Demon, Eighth Form: Sun Demon. Those who block the demon’s path are bound as its kin!”
Between his palms, a blazing sun took shape, a true miniature star of light and heat.
It was as if he had plucked the sun itself from the heavens.
The brilliance engulfed him completely; its radiance burned through the sky.
The searing sunlight incinerated the void, and the heavens turned crimson as the descending sun crashed down.
Everything beneath it was reduced to ash, the dark figure screamed but could not resist. In the face of absolute power, it was utterly annihilated.
“It’s open!” Xie Changliu shouted from the hall below.
Beyond the shattered barrier, a translucent wall of air appeared.
On it floated countless glowing characters, suspended in the void.
Jiang Mozhi sliced open his palm and pressed his blood-stained hand against the wall.
“What is it?” a vast, ancient voice boomed.
Before them, a spectral image appeared, a projection from another world.
“The Evil Spirit has escaped!” Jiang Mozhi cried.
At his words, the projection burst apart, vanishing instantly.
At the same time, the formation wall began to tremble and activate.
An overwhelming force swept across the land, sealing everything within a hundred miles of Celestial Sage Mountain.
Moments later, countless ghostly shadows descended from the heavens.
Through them, figures emerged one after another, beings stepping across worlds, arriving from the Ghost God Collegium.
Thunder rumbled through the sky.
Seeing this, Kui’s Evil Spirit screamed in fury.
Her roar shook the heavens, her rage surging higher and higher, as the power of her malice grew ever stronger.